Highest Bidder (Salacious Players’ Club)

Ronan

I scoop Daisy up in my arms, and she’s already opening her eyes when I carry her out the front door. Garrett is quick on my heels, followed by a few others concerned about Daisy.

“Do we need to call an ambulance?”

“She just needs some air,” I reply.

“Someone get her a bottle of water,” another person shouts.

Once we reach the warm night air, Daisy takes in a deep breath and a bit of color returns to her cheeks. I’m already carting her to my car without a destination in mind.

In my head, I’m running through all the things she needs from me. I can feed her. Take her to the emergency room. Give her a warm bed. My warm bed.

“Is she okay?” Garrett asks as I set her in the back seat of my car.

“I’m fine,” she mutters, sounding tired. Mia appears behind me with a bottle of cold water, passing it to Daisy.

“She does this a lot,” I say through gritted teeth as I stare down at her with disappointment. I’m willing to bet she didn’t eat enough today. And judging by the apologetic look on her face, my suspicions are correct.

“I’d feel better if she was seen by a doctor,” Garrett replies, and I understand from a liability standpoint that he needs to be sure his employees are healthy and well taken care of medically.

“I’ll take her,” I answer in a rush.

“Is that okay with you, Daisy?” Garrett asks.

She’s halfway done with her bottle of water before replying, “Yes. He can take me. I’m so sorry, Garrett…”

“Don’t apologize. Just get some rest and feel better.”

“Thank you,” she mumbles.

“Thanks again for your donations, Ronan,” Mia adds, pulling me in for a hug before I turn to climb in after Daisy.

“Of course.”

After I shut myself in the back seat, we wave goodbye to the couple through the window as my driver takes us directly to BP Medical Center. The moment Daisy and I are alone, I turn to check on her.

“I’m okay, really,” she says, but I can tell by the listless way she’s leaning back on the seat that she’s not feeling well.

I no longer resist the urge to hold her. Now, I just do it. Gathering her up against my body, I wrap my arms around her and breathe in a giant sigh of relief. It feels amazing to have her back, for as long as she’ll let me.

When I feel her body shudder like she’s crying, I pull her away from me to stare down at her face.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?”

“I missed you,” she sobs, her fingers clutching my suit jacket tightly in her fists.

I kiss the top of her head and hold her closer. “I missed you so much.”

“I’m sorry if I was too needy and I’m sorry for not telling you about my mother. I’ll do whatever you want to make it up to you.” She whimpers against my chest. “I’ve done everything you told me to, and I’m doing so much better. I go to counseling and I pay my rent on time. I’m taking care of myself and I don’t need you anymore, Ronan. But I want you more than anything in this world.”

I tilt her face up to mine, brushing her tears away as I smile down at her. “Hush, baby girl,” I whisper, kissing both of her cheeks to quiet her crying. “I’m not letting you go. Not for a second.”

When she licks her lips, I close the distance and press mine firmly to hers, sucking the bottom one between my teeth, and she hums, clutching my neck tightly to hold me closer. As our tongues tangle in soft friction, I barely come up for air at all.

I’m so relieved to have her here that I never want to stop kissing her. As she starts to recline, my body follows her, draped over her small frame in my cramped back seat. My cock is growing thick in my boxer briefs and I grind between her legs, just to hear her moan against my lips.

I missed the taste of her mouth, and I’m half tempted to take her straight home now and reacquaint myself with the taste between her legs. A growl emits from my chest at the thought.

The glass partition lowers, and I hear my driver mutter, “Mr. Kade, we’re here.”

It takes my mind a few lagging moments to register where here is—the hospital.

“Just take me home.” Daisy gasps breathlessly against my lips.

“I promised Garrett we’d get you looked at. They’re just worried, baby girl. As soon as we get home, I’ll make it up to you, okay?”

“But I feel fine,” she whines.

Lifting myself from her body, I give her a stern glare. “Daisy.”

With a relenting sigh, she nods. “Okay, fine.”

It takes us a moment to compose ourselves and fix our clothes—and wait for my stiff cock to soften—before Daisy and I climb out of the car and head into the ER waiting room.

Luckily, it’s quiet here tonight, and we only have to wait for a few minutes before the nurse calls us back. With my jacket draped over her shoulders, Daisy explains to the triage nurse how she’s been feeling lately, and I start to find myself a little concerned that it’s not just one fainting episode, but weeks of feeling run-down and dizzy.

I clutch her fingers in mine as they take her blood for testing and then reluctantly let go of her while she slips into the bathroom to provide them with a urine sample. This testing feels like too much, and I have to talk myself down from panicking.

I assumed they’d hear her symptoms, tell her to eat better, and send us home. But when the doctor mentions a CT scan and possibly keeping her overnight, my stomach sours with fear.

“Could this be something serious?” I say, Daisy’s fingers squeezing mine tighter.

“We won’t know anything until those tests come back. It shouldn’t be too long.”

“Thank you,” I mutter, forcing myself to swallow.

When the doctor leaves us alone, I pull Daisy into my arms. Why did I have to be such an ass and let her be alone for two months? How stupid would I have been to let her go for longer? I hate myself for wasting that much time as it is.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she whispers against my neck. It sounds as if she’s comforting me. “Maybe low iron or low blood sugar or something like that.”

“Yeah,” I mumble with my lips in her hair. “Tell Geo you’re moving out,” I say.

She lets out a laugh and pulls away. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Well, you just spent all the money you had saved up.”

Her laugh is louder this time. “It was worth every penny.”

When the doctor returns a few moments later, I quickly pull away from Daisy, but remain positioned next to where she sits on the paper-covered examination table. He’s looking down at the chart in his hands, and I wait on bated breath for whatever those results are about to tell us. In my mind, I just keep praying it’s going to be something like she said—blood sugar, iron, anything that could be easily remedied so my girl can be healthy again.

“Well,” he says, drawing out the tension. Then his eyes scan upward, landing on my face, and I furrow my brow at him. It’s as if he’s trying to discern if I should be here, if I’m her family, worthy of standing next to her to hear whatever he’s about to deliver.

“What is it?” Daisy asks. When she pulls our clasped hands into her lap, he glances at her.

“Your pregnancy test was positive.”

The blood drains from my face as his words penetrate my ears, and at first, they don’t make any sense. He’s confused. He has the wrong results or something. We didn’t ask for a pregnancy test. Then, I turn toward Daisy and she’s staring at me with her mouth hanging open, tears brimming in her wide eyes, and it all feels…right.

“Judging by the HCG in your urine test, I’d say you’re well over eight weeks along.”

“I thought…” The words die on my lips. It seems so trivial now, whether or not Daisy was on birth control or whether or not she took it.

She’s pregnant.

At the exact moment that a smile starts to stretch across my face, Daisy slaps her hands over her face and starts sobbing. Ignoring the doctor behind me, I gather her up in my arms and hold her tight against me.

“I’m sorry, Ronan,” she cries.

“Why are you sorry, baby girl?”

“I forgot to take it for a few days. We were in Paris, and I j—t…I’m so stupid—”

Taking her face in my hands, I pull her away from my chest and let her see the solemn look on my face. “You are not stupid, Daisy.”

“Are you mad at me?” she asks through her tears.

The ridiculous grin returns to my face. “Mad? Are you kidding me? I can’t remember the last time I was this fucking happy.”

“But…what are we going to do?” Her voice is tight and trembles with fear. I hate to see her so terrified.

I force my smile away as I stare into her eyes. I suddenly realize that Daisy is so young and this might not be what she had planned for her future—no matter how I feel about it. “Baby girl, we’re going to do whatever you want to do, and no matter what, I’ll be here. Okay?”

Teary-eyed, she nods. When she finally smiles in return, it’s a beautiful wide look of joy and excitement and I can’t help but kiss her right then and there.

Thoughts are running rampant in my head until our lips touch, and then everything goes silent. No worries or fears. It’s just us, and a long, beautiful future together full of the unknown.

Who knows what the fuck is going to happen from here, but in this moment, everything is perfect.