Page 8 of Ruin Me, Daddy

Silver

“Wait, wait, wait. So you guys have all been best friends since high school, and you run a business together, and you’ve been on-and-off romantically with your other business partner?” Shaking her head, Lottie let out a low whistle. “That is messy, girl.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Silver muttered, tossing back another shot of… something. She’d started with whiskey but then Lottie had suggested some kind of fruity shot with a sexy name and Silver had lost track of exactly what she was drinking two shots ago. Whatever it was called, it was delicious, and she immediately reached for another one from the row of glasses Lottie had lined up on the table between them. “We’re all members of the same kink club back in California, and every year they host this thing called Roulette where you sign up and gamble on who’s going to be your partner for the evening.”

“Oh that sounds fun!” Lottie’s eyes lit up. “I wonder if Daddy would try something like that.”

“He’d never let you play.” Chuckling at her friend’s pout, Frankie patted Lottie on the shoulder. “You know that man is as possessive as they come, Lottie baby.”

“Yeah, yeah. Still sounds like fun, though.”

“It does. But our new friend was telling us a story and I have a feeling it’s about to get good.”

It took Silver several seconds to realize Frankie was talking about her. “Right. Me. I’m the new friend,” she said with a giggle before tossing back another shot. “So, Roulette. I signed up this year because, well, things happened and I decided I was done with The Asshole—that’s what I call my ex, he doesn’t deserve a name—like really done, for good this time. But then I get there and guess who else fucking signed up?”

A shocked gasp burst from Lottie’s lips as she pressed her palms to her pink cheeks. “The Viking!”

“The goddamned Viking. And of course he spins my name. We should have backed out. We almost did but I practically begged him to play with me and… God it was a fucking disaster.”

“Why?” Frankie, who was possibly the only one of them who was still remotely sober, cocked her head to the side. “Was he not good?”

“Are you kidding me?” Silver let out a low groan as the memories flooded her. “We didn’t even have sex and it was still the best goddamn night of my life. Until I ruined it.”

“Oh, honey.” Sympathy dripping from her slightly slurred words, Lottie reached across the table and gripped Silver’s hand. “Did you tell him you loved him or something? Good dick will do that, you know. Make you say shit you didn’t really mean. Or so I’ve heard. I’ve only had one dick, but I know it makes me wanna do some crazy shit.”

“Hear, hear,” Frankie cheered darkly, raising her glass in a toast.

“No.” Silver shook her head, immediately regretting the action when the world spun around her. “No. Just the opposite. We kissed, and he told me he’s been in love with me since we were teenagers. And I flat-out rejected him. Told him there was no way we could be together.”

Fuck. She hadn’t actually meant to tell them that. She was supposed to be telling them how Ice had ditched the ‘business’ and gone to find himself or whatever and she’d been sent to find him. How the hell had she ended up talking about their night at Black Light?

Too many fruity shots, that’s how. Picking up an empty glass, she glared at the remnants coating the inside. Little fuckers were sneaky. At least with whiskey you knew you were getting fucked up.

“What?” Voice pitching up into a shocked squeak, Lottie stared at her as if she’d just confessed to being an alien lifeform, jerking Silver’s attention away from the shot glass in her hand. “The man who just gave you the best night of your life—your words—tells you he loves you and you reject him? What the fuck is wrong with you, woman?”

“I had to think about everyone else.” Despite the voice in the back of her head screaming at her to shut up, the words kept coming, spilling out of her mouth against her better judgment. “My ex, the guy I’ve been fucking for years? He’s a jealous asshole. And The Viking is his best friend. If The Asshole finds out his BFF even thought about touching me, it would be the end of our… business.”

“So why are you here?” Frankie’s head tilted to the side, her dark eyes seeing far too much despite their slightly glazed state. “Why come all this way to see him if you can’t be with him?”

“Officially? We got an offer we can’t refuse and we need The Viking to make it work.”

“Unofficially?” The question was soft, full of understanding when Frankie asked it.

“I really fucking miss my friend,” Silver confessed, tears blurring her vision. “This is going to make me sound like a selfish bitch, but god, I miss him. Even if we can’t be together, you know, like that, I just want my friend back.”

“Aww, honey.” Even slurred, Lottie’s words were full of sympathy. “We’ll get him back.”

“How? He won’t even talk to me.”

“I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out.”

CHAPTER 4

ICE

Normally, watching Beckett work over a willing little subbie was one of Ice’s favorite pastimes. But even though the girl on the cross was putting on a hell of a show, his attention was elsewhere. Namely, upstairs with the love of his goddamn life, wondering what kind of mischief she was getting herself into.

Not your problem.

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