Page 54 of Bet On Me, Daddy

Ruby

“Okay,spill.”

The second they stepped inside the ladies’ room, Silver pounced, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Which was nearly enough to send Ruby into a full-blown panic attack. Not only did she have girlfriends for the first time as an adult, one of those girlfriends was apparently Amanda Sterling.

What the hell was her life?

“There’s not much to spill,” she said with a shrug as she made her way to a stall, praying silently she came off as breezy nonchalant instead of the nervous mess she was inside. “He took me home, we fucked, we talked, and here we are.”

“That feels like you’re leaving a lot of important shit out,” Silver said from the other side of the door. “Like how he went from ‘Sir’ to ‘Daddy’ overnight.”

“I think that was my fault. I said it as kind of a joke last night and he just sort of… snapped.”

“Snapped? How so?”

“I jokingly called him Daddy and the next thing I know I’m pinned to the bed getting fucked until I can barely walk straight. And while he was fucking me he kept saying things like ‘Tell Daddy what you need’.”

Silver let out a low groan. “God, that’s hot. I love that for you.”

Thankfully she was sitting down, or else she wasn’t sure her legs would have held her up right at that moment. “You do?”

“I do. I love Beckett and it’s about time he found someone to be happy with.”

Shit. Allowing the toilet to flush behind her, Ruby opened the stall door and bypassed Silver to walk straight to the sink so she didn’t have to meet the other woman’s eyes. “It’s not like that. He’s not like…Daddyall the time. Just at the club.”

Seemingly unconcerned, Silver joined her at the sinks, a wide grin stretched across her face. “Hey, it’s a step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.”

Ruby gave a noncommittal hum as she lathered her hands, and apparently her non-answer didn’t go unnoticed. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Silver’s smile fading into a frown.

“Youdolike him, right? You two have so much chemistry I swear it was a wonder you didn’t cause an explosion down in the pit the other night.”

“I mean, yeah, I like him. But I’m not looking for a Daddy. Especially not one like Beckett.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Double shit. Silver was the last person Ruby wanted to piss off, and it was clear from the snap in her tone that she was very close to doing exactly that. “I’m not looking for someone who needs so much… control. Especially outside of the club. In here, I’m more than willing to get on my knees for him and let him call the shots. But out there, in the real world? I can’t give him the control he needs. I did that once and it nearly killed me.”

Tripleshit. She hadn’t meant to say that part out loud. She seemed to be having that problem a lot lately.

“Oh, honey.” Wrapping her arms around Ruby, Silver pulled her in for a tight embrace. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Torn between gratitude for the comfort being offered and freaking the fuck out over who was doing the comforting, Ruby gave the other woman an awkward pat on the back. “It’s okay. It’s done. In the past.”

Pulling back slightly, Silver smiled, though the gesture was tinged with sadness. “It’s not in the past if you’re letting it have this much control over your future. Just something to keep in mind.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Or maybe she’d just learned from her mistakes.

“We should probably get back.” Looping an arm through Ruby’s, Silver rolled her eyes. “The last thing we need to do is leave those two sadists alone to plot against us.”

Tossing her head back, Ruby let out a loud laugh. But deep in the pit of her stomach, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Silver had made some very good points about her and Beckett’s… relationship.

With those points, and her own more-complicated-than-she-would-like feelings rolling around inside her, they made their way back to the table. Where she was surprised to find that Beckett had shifted over to the right, leaving a space for her beside him.

Not wanting to assume and get herself in trouble, she paused beside the bench and waited, silently, for instructions.

Like a good girl.