Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
BECKETT
J ust like at the coffee shop that morning, he wasn’t sure if he was looking forward to seeing Ruby at the club, or hoping she’d stayed home to rest. Because as much as he wanted to get his hands on her again, he was more interested in knowing she was taking care of herself.
Then again, if she showed up tonight, he could always use his ‘Daddy at the club’ status to help her relax. A nice sensation play scene, maybe some light flogging, followed by enough orgasms to wring the tension from her body like a sponge should help ensure she got plenty of sleep tonight.
Buoyed by the prospect of feeding both his need to dominate her and his need to care for her, he made his way into Club BDE, all but whistling as he greeted Vivian at the front desk. “Evening, Viv. Is Ruby here?”
“Yes, Sir. She’s up at the bar.”
Probably having a drink with the girls. Hopefully she’d only had one so far, or else he’d have to shift gears for his evening plans. Or wait until her head cleared before he took her down to the pit.
Which, of course, he would have to punish her for. Making her Daddy wait to get her up on a cross was definitely a spankable offense.
God, he couldn’t wait.
But his excitement faded when he reached the top floor and he realized that when Vivian had said she was at the bar, she hadn’t meant Ruby was simply hanging out.
She was working.
Again.
Fury bubbled in his veins at the sight of her behind the sleek wood, with dark circles under her eyes that her makeup hadn’t quite been able to hide. Riding high on it, he stalked over to the bar. “What the hell are you doing?”
Eyebrows winging up toward her hairline, Ruby looked up at him. “I’m working. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Let me rephrase. Why the hell are you working when you already worked two other jobs today?”
They were drawing a crowd, but he didn’t care. In the club, she was his responsibility. And maybe he couldn’t stop her from working herself to death outside the club, but in here, he could and damn well would put a stop to it.
“Tara’s sick and nobody else could cover. Braden asked if I could, so here I am.”
“Go find Braden and tell him your shift is over.”
Annoyance flickered in her eyes, which was at least better than the exhaustion he’d seen dragging her down a moment ago. “Absolutely not. I agreed to work tonight so I am working. If you have a problem with that, you can go.”
“Are you telling me no, little girl?”
Her eyes widened, a hint of worry creeping into the brown that had those dark, depraved parts of him crowing in triumph.
But his victory didn’t last long.
“Yes.” Her chin tilted up, defiance etched into every gorgeous inch of her face. “Our agreement was that you could play Daddy in the club, except when I’m working. So like I said, if that’s going to be a problem for you, then you can leave.”
“ Is there a problem here?” Braden stepped behind the bar wearing his ‘owner of this fine establishment’ face. The one that said he’d be polite as long as he needed to, but he also wouldn’t hesitate to kick troublemakers out on their ass.
Beckett didn’t care. Let Braden try to kick him out. He wasn’t leaving without his girl. “Yes. You need to find someone else to cover the bar tonight. Ruby is going home.”
Raising a brow, Braden turned to Ruby. “I know you and Beckett have an… arrangement of sorts. If I tell him to fuck off, am I going to be stepping on toes?”
Red rose to Ruby’s cheeks, but she stood firm and shook her head. “No, Sir. Our arrangement specifically excludes working hours. He’s not my Daddy right now.”
“Thank you for clearing that up for me, Ruby. Second question. Do you need to go home?”
“No, Sir. I’m fine to finish my shift.”
“All right. I expect you to tell me if that changes. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Helpless. He hadn’t felt this fucking helpless since the night he’d woken up to two state troopers standing on his front steps.
This was why he’d promised himself no more brats. He’d let himself forget that, and now here he was, watching the same bullshit play out right in front of his eyes.
Without bothering to argue, because what good would it do anyway, he turned on his heel and headed for the stairs.
If Ruby Matthews wanted to kill herself for a few extra dollars in tips, that was her business. But he’d be damned if he was going to hang around and watch it happen.
Ruby
Her knees buckled when Beckett stormed away, but she managed to hide it by leaning against the bar. Or so she thought.
“Are you sure you’re okay to work tonight?” Worry colored Braden’s voice. “I can close the bar down until Nina gets here, if you need to go home.”
“No. No, I’m fine. And you need the bar open.”
Braden snorted. “Trust me, I could close the bar and the restaurant down for a month and still turn a profit. This place runs very deeply in the black.”
That was surprising, seeing as how Club BDE paid better wages than anywhere else she’d found and Braden was very generous with bonuses. He must be charging the paying members a fortune.
Pushing herself up on steadier legs, Ruby forced a smile. “Either way, I’m fine to stay. Don’t be such a worrywart, Daddy B.”
Braden’s eyes narrowed. “When you and Beckett make up, I’m going to make sure he impresses upon you just how much I hate that nickname.”
“Bold of you to assume he wants anything to do with me after I basically told him to fuck off.” Her heart was still racing from the confrontation, and her stomach was full of so many butterflies she’d nearly lost her dinner all over the bar.
“Beckett Stone doesn’t scare that easily, unfortunately for your backside. You two will work things out.”
“Maybe.”
Amusement flickered in Braden’s pale eyes. “Well, it appears as though your entourage has arrived. I’ll leave you in their capable hands. But I meant what I said, Ruby. If you need to leave early, I expect you to tell me. Because even if Beckett isn’t your Daddy when you’re working, I am your boss. And I expect absolute honesty out of my employees when they are under my care. Am I making myself clear?”
“Crystal, Sir.”
“Good girl. I’ll be around if you need me.”
He turned and left just as her entourage, as he’d called them, descended.
“Oh, honey.” Lottie’s voice, soft with sympathy and concern, reached her a moment before Lottie herself. Hurrying behind the bar to throw her arms around Ruby’s neck, she rocked back and forth. “It’s okay. He’ll come back.”
“I’m fine, Lottie.” And she was. Her heart wasn’t breaking, and if it felt like it was, that was simply the feeling of realizing Beckett really was just another rich asshole who wanted to control her every move.
She really should learn to trust her instincts more.
“Are you sure? Do you need to sit down for a bit? I’m sure I can cover the bar while you take a minute.”
“Lottie, I have never seen you mix a drink in your life.” Frankie slid onto one of the bar stools, her expression alight with amusement.
“I can pour whiskey and wine like a champ,” Lottie said with a delicate sniff. “That’s half of what everyone in this club orders anyway.”
“I suppose you have a point. But right now I’m more interested in exactly what our girl said to get Braden to back down. I was too far away to actually hear the argument.”
“Same.” Silver joined them, settling onto the stool beside Frankie. Unlike her companion, Silver’s expression was all concern. “Are you okay, honey? What happened?”
“Beckett came storming in here, demanding that I tell Braden I couldn’t work tonight and that I was going home.” Now that the confrontation was over and her system had settled again, she could feel the anger burning in her veins. Of all the fucking nerve . “I told him I was not doing that, and if he had a problem with it he could go home. So he left.”
Frankie, who was watching her with something akin to awe sparkling in her eyes, slammed a hand down on the bar. “Okay, you have got to tell me how you did that. Whenever I tell Holden to buzz off, he just doubles down!”
“That’s because Holden is man enough to admit he wants you,” Silver said, her tone taking on a hard edge Ruby had never heard before. “Beckett is apparently too much of a fucking coward to say the same about our Ruby.”
Breath catching in her throat, Ruby shook her head. “No. That’s not it. I keep telling you guys, we negotiated all this the other night and we were both very clear about not wanting anything serious.”
“Oh?” Shifting in her seat, Silver raised a single dark eyebrow. “You mean the other night, when Beckett took you back to his house, which he has not done once in all the time Ice has known him?”
Shit . “That doesn’t mean what you think it means.”
“I think it does.” Lottie gave Ruby’s arm a sympathetic squeeze. “And the Daddy thing? Braden said he’s never once let a submissive call him that. It’s always been ‘Sir’ and nothing else.”
“Fucking hell.” Groaning, Ruby closed her eyes, dropping her head into her hands. “We were trying so hard to keep this from getting messy but it’s not just messy. It’s a fucking disaster.”
“Sounds a bit like it.” Silver’s voice was filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“What’s going on?” Despite being dressed like a high school cheerleader, complete with blonde pigtails bouncing with each step she took, everything about Cordelia screamed ‘pissed-off Domme’ as she strode up to the bar. “Someone said Ruby was crying. Whose ass do I need to beat?”
Great. Even more public humiliation, and not the fun kind. “I am not crying. I’m fine, Cordelia.”
“You don’t look fine.” Eyes narrowing, she raked her gaze over Ruby’s face. “You look pissed. What’s going on?”
“I don’t even know,” Ruby said with a groan. “I told you guys Beckett was acting weird at the coffee shop this morning.”
“Right. Did you text him?” Silver asked.
“I did. He said everything was fine and he was just ‘in his head’ about something and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on me again. So I figured we were fine. Until he came storming in here, guns blazing, trying to pull the Daddy card and telling me I needed to go home.”
Lottie frowned, her brows drawing together in confusion. “I thought he was your Daddy. At least when you’re here at the club.”
“Not when I’m working. That was part of the deal.”
“That makes sense.” Ivy, who had joined them at some point without Ruby noticing, nodded. “Mixing that kind of dynamic with work can get really complicated.”
Taking hold of Ivy’s ponytail, Cordelia tugged, pulling her girl’s head back. “It’s only complicated when you decide to be a brat.”
“Or when you start worrying about me for no reason,” Ivy shot back with a sassy grin.
“Can the foreplay wait until we hear Ruby’s story?” Frankie’s tone was dry as she raised an eyebrow at the pair, earning her the same from Cordelia in return.
“Of course.” Cordelia’s tone was smooth and clearly unbothered. “Continue, Ruby.”
“I mean, that’s pretty much it.” Ruby shrugged. “I reminded him of our agreement and told him if he had a problem with me working tonight he could leave.”
Cocking her head to the side, Cordelia studied her in a way that told Ruby her Domme side was about to come out to play and Ruby just barely resisted the urge to squirm under her scrutiny. “Why would he tell you to go home? It’s not like he didn’t know you work here.”
“I guess he’s pissed because I worked all day, already.” Which she had every right to do without Beckett’s approval because he wasn’t her Daddy.
But judging by the way Cordelia pursed her lips, he had at least one ally in the group. “At the coffee shop?”
“Yeah. Well, I had a short shift there this morning and then I went to my temp job.”
“Whoa, wait up.” Lottie held her hands up in the time-honored ‘time out’ gesture. “What temp job? Since when do you have three jobs?”
“Since always, but my third job is usually just running food deliveries at lunch. You can make decent money during the lunch rush.”
“What about the other job?” Lottie pressed.
“I have a friend who manages a temp agency and sometimes when they’re in a bind she taps me to come help out. I worked for them yesterday, and apparently they liked me enough to ask if I would come back today, too.”
“So you worked a shift at the coffee shop, then I assume a full eight-hour day at this temp job, and then you agreed to come in and cover a full six-hour shift at the club?”
Yup. Just as she’d expected, Cordelia was in full Domme mode. And clearly on Beckett’s side.
“You’re making it sound worse than it really is. I’m only working until Nina gets here in a couple hours.”
“She also hasn’t had a day off in over a month,” Silver offered up.
“Oh, honey.” Ivy’s voice was filled with sympathy as she stepped forward to wrap her arms around Ruby. “No wonder he’s so worried about you. That’s not sustainable.”
“I know. But I have bills to pay, and it’s not like people are just giving away good-paying jobs these days.”
Understanding lit Cordelia’s eyes, but it didn’t soften the steel in her gaze one bit. “Trust me when I tell you that nobody here understands that as well as me. But we need to find you a schedule that doesn’t risk putting you in the hospital.”
Looking around at the women gathered around her, Ruby frowned. “We?”
“Duh.” Lottie rolled her eyes. “You’re ours now. Frankie and I both have contacts, well, pretty much everywhere. We’ll start poking around, see who has openings.”
“No.” Panic wrapped icy fingers around Ruby’s throat. “I don’t want a job someone else got for me. I don’t want to owe you.”
“You wouldn’t owe us anything, silly. It’s what friends do.”
Friends. Right. She had rich, powerful friends who could give—and take away—anything they wanted.
How the hell had she gotten herself back into this position?
“Let’s table that conversation until Ruby here doesn’t look like she’s about to pass out,” Silver said with a quiet laugh, and if Ruby hadn’t already been half in love with her she would have fallen right then and there. “Back to Beckett. So he freaked out on you because he was worried about you working too much?”
Something in Silver’s tone told her Cordelia wasn’t the only one turning against her. “I guess. But like, I wouldn’t even be mad if he hadn’t gotten all bossy and demanding about it. We were very clear that when I’m working, he’s just Beckett. Not Daddy.”
Her friends all shared sidelong glances that spoke volumes. It was Lottie who finally spoke up with a sigh. “Look, I’m not saying he wasn’t wildly out of line, because he was. And we are one hundred percent on your side as far as the whole ‘this isn’t what we negotiated’ thing goes.”
“But?” Ruby prompted.
“But…” Reaching out to give Ruby’s arm a squeeze, Silver sent her a sympathetic smile. “We also understand his reaction. It’s obvious he cares about you, Ruby, whether you want him to or not. I’m not saying you owe him an apology, because you don’t, but maybe don’t be too hard on him when he finally gets his head out of his ass and realizes he crossed a line.”
“It’s not that I don’t want him to care about me. It’s just… complicated.”
“Have you considered telling him why it’s complicated?” Silver asked softly.
“No.” Because she’d been deliberately ignoring all the signs that the growing attraction between them was deeper than just the physical. For both of them. “But I guess I should.”
“Good.” From across the bar, Frankie glared at her. “Because you obviously like him. A lot. You should have told me that when we made our bet or whatever the fuck it was.”
“I have been doing a very good job of convincing myself I didn’t like him like that, thank you very much.”
“Almost as good of a job as Frankie has done convincing herself she doesn’t like Holden,” Ivy teased.
“Oh my god, not you, too. I do not want anything to do with that overbearing beast of a man!”
“Right, right.” A knowing smirk tugged at Silver’s lips. “Well, you’ve heard Ruby’s tale. Obviously the way to get Holden to back off is to stand your ground, let him know in no uncertain terms that you have not negotiated any kind of dynamic with him and that he needs to back the fuck off. Use your safeword if you have to. Holden, as overbearing as he may be, is a good Dom and a good man. If you really want him to leave you alone, that should do the trick. And if it doesn’t, just let Braden know and he’ll fix it.”
Throwing her hand up in the air, Frankie gave an exasperated huff. “I’ve tried to tell him that!”
“Have you?” It was Cordelia who spoke up now, her green eyes burning with a righteous anger that had Ruby swallowing hard—and it wasn’t even directed at her. “Because all I’ve seen is you baiting him. Putting yourself in the auction, flirting with other Doms but only when he’s around. Basically doing everything you can to get his attention and then pretending you don’t want it. So it’s time to ask yourself, Francesca, do you actually want him to leave you alone or are you just enjoying the chase?”
“I’m not… that’s not… you’re making it sound so much worse than it is,” Frankie mumbled, looking a bit like she wanted to disappear into the floor.
“Sorry not sorry, but it’s time for a little tough love.” Cordelia shrugged. “I’m all for being a girls’ girl, but I’m also a Domme and I know how I’d have felt if Ivy had given me the runaround like you’re giving Holden. You both deserve better, Frankie.”
“As do Beckett and Ruby,” Silver said, pinning Ruby with a look that would have done any Domme proud. “Every single one of you need to get your heads out of your collective asses and fucking communicate. I happen to be very fond of this friend group and I’m going to be pissed if it implodes. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Frankie and Ruby answered in unison, earning them a round of laughter from the rest of the group.
“All right. Now that the crisis has been handled, we need to get back to work.” Cordelia flashed Silver a wide, approving smile. “But any time you want to try out those Domme muscles, let me know. Ivy would love to help you practice.”
Tossing back her head, Silver let out a loud, smoky laugh. “I appreciate the offer, but for the time being I think my Domme side is reserved for when my friends need a kick in the ass.”
“Ah, well. More’s the pity. But the offer stands if you change your mind. Come on, blossom. Back to work.”
As her friends dispersed, Ruby shifted her attention to the few people gathered at the opposite end of the bar, patiently waiting on her to take their orders. Pushing Beckett Stone firmly to the back of her mind, she plastered a smile on her face.
And got to work.