Page 99 of Bet On Me, Daddy

CHAPTER 33

BECKETT

Groaning, Beckett pushed himself up on Ruby’s very lumpy, very uncomfortable couch, pressing the heels of his hands to his aching eyes. He hadn’t slept worth shit, mostly because Ruby hadn’t slept worth shit. She’d been up half the night coughing, until he’d been able to bribe Sonja to bring him some cough syrup. Thank god for twenty-four-hour pharmacies.

After that, Ruby had slept better, but he’d been up every half hour to check her temperature with the thermometer Sonja had also brought him. He’d also checked her breathing, which sounded a little wheezy to him, but maybe he was just overreacting. After all, he wasn’t a doctor.

But the second his doctor’s office opened, he was dragging Ruby there and demanding they figure out what the fuck was wrong with her, whether she wanted to go or not.

Grabbing his phone from the coffee table, he ignored the messages from work and placed an order for breakfast. Coffee for him, tea with honey for his babygirl, and a variety of pastries that would have given Candace a heart attack just to look at them.

With breakfast taken care of, he slipped into Ruby’s bedroom to check her temperature again.

She was still below three figures, which seemed promising. But as he was tucking the thermometer back into its case, she started coughing again. Deeper, rougher than the night before.

Worry threatened to spin out into panic as he sat rubbing her back, listening to her cough. Whatever was wrong with her, he was pretty sure it was more than just a cold.

Not again. Please, God. If you’re listening. Don’t make me do this again.

Memories, ones he’d tried his damnedest to keep locked away, flooded his mind. The cold hospital room, the figure in the bed, looking so small and lifeless despite the dozens of machines hooked up to her for the sole purpose of keeping her alive.

The doctors, pity in their eyes as they told him they’d done everything they could possibly do for the woman he loved.

Watching, helpless, as she slipped away from him.

A soft whimper yanked him out of the blackness of his grief and back to the present. Ruby shifted restlessly under the blankets, her face scrunching up as another dry, hacking cough wracked her body.

“Shh, baby. You’re okay,” he murmured, running a hand over her hair. “Daddy’s here. I’m right here. I’ve got you, Ruby Red.”

To his relief, she settled down, snuggling into her blankets with a contented sigh.

Almost as soon as she did, however, her phone buzzed against her nightstand. Not wanting to risk it waking her, Beckett snatched it up and hurried from the bedroom as he hit the button to answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Hello?” the voice on the other end answered shrilly. “Who is this? I’m calling for Ruby Matthews.”

“This is her…”Her Daddy. “Friend. I’m afraid Ruby’s ill and unable to come to the phone. Can I take a message?”

“You can tell her to get her ass into the office as soon as possible. She hasn’t even been here a week and she’s already proving how unreliable she is.”

Fury sparked in his chest at the woman’s callous tone. “Ruby is sick. She won’t be in today. Or the rest of the week, most likely. I’ll be sure to have the doctor send you a note if?—”

“Absolutely not. You tell Miss I’m-Too-Good-For-This-Job that if she doesn’t come in today, she doesn’t need to bother coming back at all.”

Well, that was an easy call. Even if shewasn’tsick, Ruby didn’t need this bullshit in her life. “What’s your name, so I can pass the message along?”

“Nancy. Nancy Garrison.”

“Thank you. Now I know who to fire first when I buy your pathetic excuse for a company.” He didn’t actually know if the company was pathetic or not. He hadn’t done any research on them when Ruby had first started there.

A mistake he wouldn’t make again.

“What? You can’t do that! Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m the man who is about to make your life a living hell. You can tell whoever needs to know that Ruby won’t be in today, or ever again. And feel free to give them a heads-up that you’ve likely cost them all their jobs, as well. Goodbye, Nancy.”

Hanging up on Nancy’s sputtering was intensely satisfying, and he only regretted that Ruby hadn’t been the one to tell her to go fuck herself. Ah, well, he’d make it up to her somehow.

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