“It was… educational.” The desire to tell her friend what had actually gone down was like a physical ache in her chest. But standing in line at a brunch buffet hardly felt like the appropriate time to confess she’d lost her virginity in her father’s kink club.
Fucking hell, her life was a soap opera.
“I bet it was. Ruby said you got to watch her get strapped.” Worry replaced the glint of playful mischief in Lottie’s eyes. “Beckett can be really intense, especially for a newbie. How are you feeling after seeing that?”
“Okay, I think. It was really intense, like you said, but Ruby seemed happy enough afterward so I figure Beckett didn’t really hurt her.”
“Beckett spends ninety-nine percent of his time fretting over how to keep Ruby from hurting herself. He’d never harm a hair on her head, even when he’s leaving his mark all over her.”
The truth of her conviction rang out in Lottie’s words and shone in her expression. But even though it aligned with what Aria herself had seen, some part of it still felt… wrong. And it all left her with even more questions than she’d had going into the club.
A problem for later. Definitely not for the middle of her father’s wedding brunch. So she forced a smile for Lottie’s sake and nodded. “I know. Just like I know Dad would never actually hurt you.”
“Exactly.” Beaming like a teacher with an exceptionally bright student, Lottie gestured with the plate she’d slowly been filling with food. “Speaking of, we should get back to him. He gets antsy if I’m out of his sight for too long.”
“Why? It’s not like you’re a child who can’t be trusted to be on your own.”
Head thrown back, Lottie let out a loud peal of laughter. “First of all, I absolutely cannot be trusted. You should know that. And second, it’s not like that. He just… likes having me close. And I like it when he gets all growly and possessive.”
It was hard to reconcile her indulgent, doting father with words like ‘growly’ and ‘possessive’. Then again, wasn’t that a large part of why he and her mother hadn’t worked out? According to Layla, he’d been a controlling bastard, though Aria had never seen that side of him and over the years had begun to question her mother’s version of things.
But when Lottie returned to his side and his arm immediately went around her, pulling her close with his hand clamped on her hip, there was no denying the move felt particularly possessive, just as Lottie had said. Like she was his property and he couldn’t quite settle until she was back where she belonged, at his side.
Was that the kind of relationship Master O wanted? One where she was more property than human?
If so, they were definitely not going to work out.
As if she’d conjured him just by thinking his name, the doors to the ballroom opened and he stepped inside, his gaze scanning the room.
Looking for her?
That thought shouldn’t make her heart beat faster, especially on the heels of her revelations from this morning. And yet, said heart was galloping in her chest, thundering against her ribcage as she watched him saunter forward as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t look him in the eye here, of all places, knowing the things they’d done. The things she’d let him do to her. Not in front of her father, for fuck’s sake.
But his gaze never landed on her. Instead, his head whipped to the side and he grinned before shifting his course.
Jealousy, ugly and dark, twisted in her stomach as she watched him make his way over to a table. Which was ridiculous, because she didn’t have any claim to him. She sure as hell didn’t want him to have any claim on her either, so it was utterly ridiculous to feel this gnawing in her gut at the thought of him smiling at another woman like that.
It wasn’t, however, another woman who had put that grin on his face. And she felt even more ridiculous when he dropped down into a seat beside Jacob, his hand coming to rest on the other man’s shoulder as they chatted.
Fucking hell, Aria. Get a grip. You’re better than this.
Right. She was her mother’s daughter. Which meant she wasn’t going to go chasing after some man just because he’d rocked her metaphorical world the night before.
Turning away from the scene at the table, she focused again on her conversation with Lottie and Braden, forcing herself to smile as people came up to congratulate her father and his new bride, to laugh when appropriate, and to generally just ignore the looming presence of Master O behind her.
And it worked, at least for a few minutes. Right up until Lottie’s whole face lit up and she tugged on Braden’s sleeve. “Look! Killian made it!”
Turning, Aria scanned the crowd for who Lottie was pointing to.
And found the man she’d called Daddy making a beeline straight for her.
Fuck.
Killian
* * *
