Chapter 6
Frankie
“So… What was all that about?” Eyes sparkling, Lottie bit into the muffin she was holding in her palm with all the reverence of an acolyte worshiping at the altar of their favorite god.
“Nothing. Just Holden being Holden.”
“Mmhmm. So he’s just being all extra-protective Daddy for no reason, huh?”
Telling Lottie the truth would only stress her out and make her feel guilty, which was out of the question on her best friend’s wedding day. But she couldn’t lie, either.
Luckily, she was saved from having to do either by a knock on the door. Turning, they both let out another squeal of happiness as a new arrival stepped into the room.
“Aria!”
The tall, willowy brunette grinned and struck a dramatic pose. “I have arrived! The party may now commence!”
Hurrying across the room, Lottie embraced her friend and stepdaughter-to-be. “Come in! Holden brought muffins and the hotel staff should be up in a few minutes to set up the buffet.”
“Oh, good. I’m starved.”
Lottie frowned as Aria plucked a muffin from the basket. “Did you eat last night?”
Pausing with her muffin halfway unwrapped, Aria sent her a look that was so eerily like her father, it was almost creepy especially considering she had Braden’s eyes. “Lottie, you know I love you, but you’re not even two years older than me. You can’t play mom, it’s weird.”
“Sorry.” Pink crept into Lottie's cheeks. “Force of habit. Ask Frankie, I do it to everyone.”
“She does. She’s basically the mom friend of the group, at least when Cordelia’s not around. Though I guess Cordelia would be the dad friend since she’s—”
“Anyway.” Lottie’s voice pitched up to a shrill squeak as she shot Frankie a glare. “The point is, I worry about all my people. I promise I’m not trying to be your mom because… ew.”
“Okay, good.” Lifting the muffin to her lips, Aria took a bite and then froze, her eyes glazing over a bit as a soft moan escaped. “Oh my god. This is the best muffin I’ve ever had. What’s in this thing? Fairy dust?”
“I have no idea,” Frankie said with a laugh. “Holden has the recipe locked down tight. He won’t even tell me.”
“Holden’s your husband, right? The hot silver fox I passed on my way over here?”
“That’s the one.”
Tilting her head to the side as she chewed, Aria raked her gaze over Frankie’s body, her mind clearly trying to work out the logistics. “How does he, you know… fit?”
“Oh my god, Aria!” Despite her assertions otherwise, Lottie did sound a bit like a horrified mother as she swatted Aria’s arm. “You can’t just ask people things like that!”
“Why not? My dad owns a sex club. I figure you guys know all about each other’s, ya know, private lives.”
Every ounce of color left Lottie’s face, and for a moment Frankie was legitimately concerned she might pass out. “You know about the club?”
Aria rolled her eyes. “Of course I know about the club. Mom told me all about it. I’ve been dying to go but Dad’s being all Dad about it and finding all these excuses not to let me in.”
“Wait.” The corners of Lottie’s mouth dipped down. “He knows you know?”
“Yeah. I’ve been bugging him to let me visit for like a year now.”
“Excuse me.” Spine stiff, Lottie marched toward the door of the suite and Frankie pulled her phone from her pocket with a sigh to shoot a text off to Holden.
“So much for keeping her stress levels down today,” Frankie muttered as she tucked her phone back in her pocket.
“Shit.” Aria winced. “I didn’t realize that was going to cause, like, a whole thing.”
“It’ll be fine.” Hopefully. “But if you really want to see the club, you should come with us tonight. A bunch of us will be going after the wedding to blow off some steam. There probably won’t be anyone for you to play with, but you could watch, get an idea of what the club is like.”
“Really?” Immediately looking perkier, Aria grinned. “You’d do that for me?”
“Sure. You’re of age, there’s really no reason for Braden to keep you away other than him being squicked out that his daughter is getting whipped and railed within an inch of her life.”
“Whipped?” Now it was Aria’s face losing color. “You guys get whipped?”
Thoroughly enjoying herself, Frankie shrugged. “Holden prefers a flogger, but there are a couple guys there pretty skilled with a single tail. Nasty work, those things.”
“Wait. Does that mean… My dad and Lottie…”
“Does that mean your dad and Lottie are kinky as fuck? Yup.”
“I need to sit down.”
Amused, Frankie perched on the arm of the couch facing Aria. “You said you knew about the club.”
“I did. I do. I just didn’t know it was like… that.”
“What, exactly, do you think the BDE in Club BDE stands for, honey?”
“My dad and my uncles. It’s their initials,” she explained when Frankie frowned. “All of their first names start with B and their middle names start with D. That’s what Dad told me, anyway.”
“Huh. I actually didn’t know that.”
Curiosity lit Aria’s pale eyes, some of the color coming back into her cheeks as she tilted her head to study Frankie. “What did you think it stood for?”
“Everyone at the club always says it stands for Big Daddy Energy. Because most of the Doms there are Daddies of some form or another.”
“So my dad is Lottie’s… Oh my god. Well.” Blowing out a breath, Aria shook her head, as if she were physically shaking off this new information. “That certainly puts some things into a different light. I thought he was just super bossy.”
“Oh, my sweet summer child. I have so much to teach you.”
Holden
Frankie
WARNING. PISSED-OFF brIDE INCOMING.
Shit.
“Hey, Braden. Something happened and Lottie is—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the door to the suit swung open and a furious Lottie stormed inside, her white robe flapping around her bare legs as she made a beeline straight for her husband-to-be.
“What the fuck, Braden? Why are you keeping secrets from me?”
Frowning, Braden caught her arms just as she drilled a finger into her chest. “What secrets? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lottie-bug.”
“Aria! You never told me she’s been asking to come to the club! Don’t you think that’s the kind of thing your wife should know about?”
Uh-oh.
The confusion on Braden’s face cleared, replaced by the affectionate exasperation he often wore around his bride.
“Charlotte. You very clearly and specifically told me that you didn’t want to be involved in any of my parenting decisions because it was, as you put it, ‘fucking weird’ since you and Aria grew up together. I was just respecting your wishes.”
“Oh.” All at once, the wind seemed to leave Lottie’s sails. “I guess I did say that, huh?”
“You did. So now I’m left wondering if the real reason you came storming over here, hurling swear words at your Daddy, is because you need a bit of stress relief.
” Lifting his gaze over Lottie’s head, Braden locked eyes with Holden, his lips stretching to a wide grin.
“If you need us for the next twenty minutes or so… no you don’t. ”
“Duly noted.”
Cupping Lottie’s elbow, Braden guided her toward one of the bedrooms attached to the suite. “Come on, Lottie-bug. Let’s see what we can do about all that stress.”
Lottie’s cry of “Daddy, no!” was cut off by the door shutting behind them. The door, however, did little to muffle the sound of her Daddy’s palm striking her bare bottom a moment later, or her whimpers of distress.
They were still in the swing of things, so to speak, when the main door to the suite opened again and Jacob strode in, followed by Cordelia and Ivy. Jacob’s face lit up, and he opened his mouth to speak, but whatever greeting he was about to give was silenced by the sounds coming from the bedroom.
Cordelia raised a brow, her lips twitching with clear amusement. “Lottie?”
“Yup. Got pissed off about something and stormed over here to cuss Braden out about it. You can see how well that turned out for her.”
“Ahh. Clearly she needed the stress relief.”
Holden chuckled. “Funny, that’s what Braden said before he dragged her into the bedroom.”
Pink flooded Jacob’s cheeks. “Should we… give them some privacy?”
Not for the first time, Holden found himself wondering if Jacob would ever lose that innocence he still had from growing up so completely hidden away from the word.
“Son, you’ve watched Braden do way worse than give his babygirl a little spanking.
If Braden wanted privacy, he would have taken her somewhere else or told me to get the fuck out. ”
“Right.” The color in Jacob’s cheeks darkened. “You’re right. Sorry.”
“My sweet boy.” Chuckling softly, Cordelia cupped his face in her hands and rose onto her tiptoes to brush a kiss over his lips. “We’ll be right across the hall if you need us. All right?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Ivy took her turn kissing him goodbye and reassuring him they were close by if he needed them before sliding her hand into Cordelia’s and following her Domme out of the room.
Poor kid looked so out of place, standing there in the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the ceiling like he’d rather be anywhere but there.
“Did Cordelia talk to you last night?”
The question did nothing to ease the embarrassment in Jacob’s cheeks, but it did seem to distract him from the noises still coming from the other side of the door, so Holden considered it a success. “Yeah. She told me you tattled on me.”
Unabashed, Holden grinned and passed him a cup of steaming coffee. “She would have done the same in my position. We look out for each other, and that means looking out for each other’s subs. Hopefully she wasn’t too hard on you.”
“She wasn’t.” Still blushing furiously, Jacob shrugged and added what Holden considered way too much milk and sugar to his coffee, but he knew better than to hassle the kid about it, no matter how playfully.
Cordelia had read them all the riot act the one and only time someone had dared to tease Jacob about his drink preferences in front of her.
“I think she was more worried than mad.”
“Because she loves you and she hates to see you being so hard on yourself.”
“I know. And I guess I appreciate you telling her, even though you’re a big snitch.
” Sipping his doctored coffee, Jacob rolled his eyes.
“The three of us talked about it and I do feel better about things. They told me it’s okay if I never do anything really important like what Hannah wants to do. If I just want a quiet life.”
There was a hint of question in his voice, like he was looking to Holden for confirmation.
Which he was all too happy to give. “They’re right.
You did your part by testifying against your father and the other elders.
And I have no doubt that even if you don’t pursue a career like Hannah’s, you’ll continue doing good. It’s part of your DNA.”
“That’s the stuff that makes us who we are.” Jacob’s entire face lit up with excitement. “I learned about it from Jurassic Park, and then made Ivy teach me all about it. But apparently you can’t actually make a dinosaur out of leftover DNA in a mosquito. I still kinda want to try, though.”
“Boy, there are like ten movies explaining why that’s a horrible idea. No more science class for you.”
“Spoilsport.”
“Damn straight I am, when it comes to you potentially unleashing dinosaurs on the earth.”
“What’s this about dinosaurs?” Striding into the room looking exactly like a rockstar on his day off with the ripped jeans and loose-fitting silk shirt, Ice grinned. “What’s our boy up to now?”
“Apparently he watched Jurassic Park and now he wants to make it real life.” Holden shot Jacob a mockingly stern glare, which only earned him an even cheesier grin from the boy in question.
“Oooh, if you do, I want a pocket-sized T-Rex. In the movies they’re always trying to make them bigger, but you just know if they made them purse-sized everyone would want one.”
Turning his glare on Ice, Holden narrowed his eyes. “You’re not helping, Elias.”
Ice’s smile shifted to a smirk. “Who said I was here to help?” Glancing around, he raised his brows. “Quick subject change. Where’s the groom?”
Holden nodded toward the closed bedroom door. “Needed a few minutes with his babygirl for some, ah, stress relief.”
“Ah, the age-old dance. Wonder if Silver will be in need of some 'stress relief’ before the wedding.”
“Knowing our women, they’ll all be over here at one point or another.”
“True,” Ice said with a laugh as he reached into his pocket, his laughter fading. “Hey, I gotta take this. It’s Simon.”
Fuck. If Ice and Silver’s manager was calling, odds were something was going down, possibly with Silver’s ex who had, somehow, manage to escape any jail time for his attack on her last year.
Watching Ice step out onto the balcony to take his call, Holden tried to push down the worry as his own phone buzzed. Pulling it from his pocket, he frowned down at the message on his screen.
Beckett
Running late. Not sure when I’ll be there. Cover for me
What the hell was that all about?