Page 20 of Melt For Us, Daddy
“I know I hurt her. But I can’t make it right if you don’t let me talk to her.”
“She’ll let you know when she’s ready to talk.”
“I swear to god, Charlotte, if you don’t move right this second, I am going to march you down to your Daddy’s office and personally request that he wear his belt out on your ass.”
That did the trick. Lottie immediately stepped aside, but it was too late.
Ivy was gone.
With a snarl for the interfering Lottie, Cordelia stormed out of the kitchen, looking around for her babygirl. But she was nowhere to be seen.
“It’s not that big of a club, baby. You can’t hide from me forever.”
As it turned out, she didn’t need to. Every single time Cordelia spotted her, one of the members of their group popped up in her path, telling her to leave Ivy alone. Lottie, Frankie, Ruby, Silver, every single time, one of them was there to stop her.
Three hours into her shift, she was ready to take a paddle to all their asses. And though she normally prided herself on handling her own shit, she was obviously outmanned.
Marching over to the table the Doms of their group had snagged for the evening, she jabbed a finger at each of them. “Get your subs under control and out of my fucking way.”
“It’s lovely to see you too, Cordelia,” Braden said with his usual smoothness, though there was a bite to his words that said he clearly didn’t appreciate being spoken to so sharply by one of his employees. “What seems to be the problem?”
“Every time I try to talk to Ivy, someone pops up and keeps me from getting to her. And by the time I get them to move, she’s gone. I can appreciate female solidarity, I really can, but I will not tolerate anyone interfering with me and my girl. And since I don’t have carte blanch to whip their asses, I’m counting on you lot to do it on my behalf.”
Her demand was greeted with silence, and shared looks from her male counterparts that had her wanting to snarl at them all over again.
“I’ll get Ruby to stay out your way,” Beckett finally conceded. “But can you honestly say if it was one of us, you wouldn’t be right there with them?”
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t fucking know, Beckett. All I know is I need to talk to my girl and they’re getting in my way.” Dragging in a breath, she set her pride aside and forced her tone to soften. “Please. This is important. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn't.”
“We do.” Rising to his feet, Braden fiddled with the sleeve of his suit jacket, his mouth twisting up in a wicked grin. “I think it’s time for Lottie’s break, anyway. And Ice, didn’t you say Silver was just begging to try out that new toy you bought for her?”
“She was.” Chuckling, Ice joined Braden on his feet. “I think I’ll go find her and see if there’s a station open downstairs.”
One by one, they each rose and went in search of their women. And one by one, they were met with loud protests and cries of unfairness. Frankie, little firecracker that she was, flat out refused to go until Holden hauled her up over his shoulder and delivered a hard swat to her ass.
“Congratulations, little siren. I had a fun scene planned for us tonight, but you know the rules. Naughty girls don’t get Daddy’s cock and they definitely do not get to come.”
“Daddy, no! That’s not fair!”
Guilt twisted in Cordelia’s stomach, but dammit, they hadn’t left her any choice.
Once each of the interlopers had been accounted for, she scanned the dining room in search of Ivy. And she spotted her girl, just as she disappeared into the break room.
Gotcha, babygirl.
Ivy
* * *
Avoiding Cordelia was turning out to be more work than she’d expected. Thank god she had the other girls running interference for her, but even with that she was exhausted from constantly dodging and weaving. She was pretty sure her tables weren’t happy with their service, either, so she was probably going to get in trouble with Braden on top of everything.
Folding her arms on top of one of the tables in the break room, she dropped her head down with a groan. “This sucks.”
“I agree.”
Jerking her head up again, Ivy stared at Cordelia, watching as her woman slowly stalked across the room. And that was exactly what it felt like, with those slow, even movements and Cordelia’s eyes locked on her.
“What are you doing here?”
