Page 15 of Double Bucked

He cuts in, his voice sharp. “You and I both know you could do better. Your form was sloppy. You slouched. What are you doing for core work?”

Getting fucked religiously by Riley Ransom.

“I’m seeing Nina.”

“The Pilates instructor?”

“Yes.”

“How often?”

“Three times a week.”

“Make it five.” The twin doors open from the kitchen. The server steps in with my plate. My anxiety turned my stomach to knots before, but now—maybe from my previous nightly Pilates—I’m feeling famished, and the crisp skin on the duck makes my stomach pinch.

Just as he’s about to set the plate in front of me, however, my father gestures with his knife.

“No need. Take her plate away. Thank you.”

Fury rises into my cheeks. The server hovers, unsure, but knows better than to disobey and so, slowly, starts to back away.

I stand abruptly. “If I’m not eating, I won’t sit here.”

Daddy looks up at me, his gaze flat. There’s a shiny piece of duck in his mustache. “Then ask.”

My molars grind. “May I be dismissed?”

“You may.”

As I start to back away from the table, I suddenly feel as though a string is attached to my palms, pulling me back.

This could very well be the last time I see my father.

If I don’t tell him now…I never will.

That knowledge summons up a new courage into my chest. I turn and look square at my father. “Daddy?”

“Hm?” He’s already turned his gaze away from me, digging back into his food.

I find my gaze examining him studiously, the way he examines me. I size up the bald patch on the back of his head. The wisps of white hair growing from his ears. The deep valleys of creases along his forehead.

This man loved me once, didn’t he?

Did something change in me to make him love me less?

Or did something change in him?

I press my lips together. “You aren’t perfect either,” I state. “But that never stopped me from loving you. I just wish you’d do the same for me.”

He pauses the motion of his fork and knife. His gaze hits me. There’s a ghost of something in his gray eyes. A whisper of regret, maybe?

Or perhaps he’s just stunned that his precious puppet spoke out of turn.

It’s none of my business anymore. I’m done waiting for him to grow a heart.

The poor server is still hovering, so I take advantage and pluck the dinner roll from my plate. I stick it in my mouth, swivel out of the dining room, and quickly scale the steps. When I make it to my room, my blood is prickling with a new kind of heat. The second I’m inside, I text Ransom.

[text:] One hour, cowboy

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