Page 5 of Taco Daddy

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Rita

Staring at herself in the mirror, Rita wondered yet again what the hell she was doing.It was one thing to read about kink and Daddy Doms and another thing to actively look for them.At a kink club.Why couldn’t they have attended a munch or something first?

Eden had said she had an in at the Outlands, a kink club in downtown Pittsburgh, and Bree had jumped at the chance.Rita had a bad case of FOMO—Fear of Missing Out—and wasn’t about to be left behind if she could help it.Even though she wasn’t sure that she actually wanted her fantasies to become reality.

Or you totally do, but you’re afraid of rejection.

That might be a big part of it.Rita had her life together.She had a good job and kept up with her finances, was thrilled to let her friends take care of her when she was sick, wasn’t the type of person to let anyone take advantage of her, and didn’t need anyone to come in and pick up the pieces of any part of her life.She had it pretty good, in fact.So, what would a Daddy Dom want with her?

Sure, she knew fiction didn’t always reflect reality, and a lot of books probably exaggerated how helpless some heroines appeared to be.It seemed to her that in order to want to have someone to take care of everything for you, you shouldn’t be able to do it all yourself or at the very least, should be bad at it.

Rita was fully self-sufficient.She didn’tneedsomeone to take care of her, so she didn’t think she really needed a Daddy Dom.

But she really wanted one.

“You look amazing,” Bree said, meeting Rita’s eyes in the mirror.“Don’t look so serious.”

“Why so serious?”Eden hissed, imitating Heath Ledger’s joker and making them laugh.

Rita didn’t think she looked bad, exactly.She just didn’t look as good as Bree and Eden.She felt awkward in her bright aqua corset with its white lace edges and the ruffled blue and white crinoline she was wearing with it.She was pretty sure her awkwardness clearly showed while Bree and Eden looked completely at home and confident in their outfits.

Bree had done her hair in two big poufs of curls on either side of her head and had opted to wear a lacy white negligee with white fishnets instead of a corset.She looked like a naughty angel.Eden was decked out in all pink to match her hair, wearing the cutest Lolita dress that covered everything, yet was still sexy with its short, ruffled skirt and lowcut neckline.

Next to them, Rita looked like she was trying too hard.

“Nervous, I guess,” she said, instead of admitting she was having second thoughts.Although, at this point, it was more like twentieth thoughts.Especially since she didn’t want to admit she thought she looked out of place.She didn’t want them to think she was fishing for compliments.“Don’t you ever worry that you’re going to make a big fool out of yourself?”

Eden paused fixing her hair and raised her eyebrows at Rita.

“This coming from the woman with foot-in-mouth disease?”

“That’s why I know how much it sucks,” Rita retorted.“I don’t actually try to put myself in situations where I make a fool out of myself.It just kind of happens.Which is why I usually try to avoid situations where it seems highly likely.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense.”Bree leaned forward, putting on her lipstick and giving her lips a smack before smiling at herself in the mirror.“But no, not really.I mean, I have Samuel.I don’t really care what anyone I meet tonight will think about me.”

Meeting Eden’s gaze in the mirror, Rita pressed her lips shut to keep from saying anything.Bree was in a good mood, and Rita didn’t want to be the one to ruin it by reminding her that Samuel was one of the people who was supposed to be there tonight.She still couldn’t believe he wasn’t coming.

While she was all for trusting your significant other, there was a point where the ‘I don’t care what they do, I trust them’ went a little too far.No, Bree would never cheat on him, but still… she was going to a kinky sex club for the first time ever, and her boyfriend didn’t want to come.How she wasn’t sobbing with the feeling of rejection, Rita didn’t understand.She knew that’s what she would have been doing in Bree’s place.

Shrugging one shoulder, Eden pointed to her hair.

“Pink hair, don’t care.”

“Okay, but is the pink hair the reason you don’t care or is it a byproduct of not caring?”

“Definitely a byproduct,” Eden said with a grin.“I spent way too much time caring what other people thought of me, not because I wanted to, but because my ex cared so much.I wanted the freedom to have pink hair and not care.”And once she’d gotten that freedom, she got her pink hair.

Rita could understand that.She was much more likely to do something if someone told her not to do it.Which was kind of messed up, but that was how her brain seemed to work, and she didn’t know how to undo it.

If she’d had the thought to dye her hair pink and was told no, she would have gone from thinking about it to actively wanting to do it.And if she was told no again, she would be twice as likely to buy the dye in an act of defiance.She would also never admit to any regret later, even if she felt it.

“I’m not gonna care tonight, either.”She said the words out loud as if saying them could make them true.

“That’s the spirit.”Eden held her hand up for a high five.“We look awesome, and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can fuck off.”

Rita slapped her palm against Eden’s, then Bree held hers up, and they both high-fived her.Pep talk complete.

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