Page 28 of Big Daddy Christmas
All around them, the chatter and giggling fell silent and Silver cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Ah… I do, but I left my keys inside. Is it locked?”
“It is.” When Cordelia spoke again, she raised her voice enough for Ivy to clearly hear her through the glass. “Unlock the door, Ivy Mae.”
Pissed, and using Ivy’s middle name. Never a good sign.
“Uh-oh,” Lottie sing-songed with a drunken giggle. “Better do it Ivy. She sounds pissed.”
On the other side of the glass, Ivy danced from foot to foot, clearly at a crossroads and Frankie couldn’t help but wonder if they were about to get treated to Ivy getting her butt whooped right in front of them. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but lately Ivy had been getting much bolder. Something about discovering her hidden switchy side after Jacob came into the picture had activated her inner brat hard.
“Are you really mad?” Ivy asked, her voice tinged with worry.
“I am certainly getting there, little girl.” Cordelia’s voice was all Daddy, and Frankie had to suppress a shiver. “And if you don’t open this door right now our friends will have a front row seat to you getting your naughty bottom spanked bright red. One.”
Well that answered that question.
Fascination and sympathy warred inside Frankie as she watched the standoff, until Ivy finally opened the door and Cordelia announced she’d be taking her naughty babygirl upstairs for a bit.
They exited to a chorus of “Oooohs” as if Ivy was being called to the principal’s office. Which wasn’t too far off, really, though Frankie had a feeling Cordelia had something way more interesting than detention in mind for her babygirl.
“What do you think she did?”
Ruby’s curious question drew Frankie’s attention away from the door. “She locked Delia out of the house, that’s what she did.”
Looking thoughtful despite the glaze too much alcohol had given her eyes, Ruby shook her head. “No, Cordelia was gunning for her before that. Now I’m dying to know what happened.”
Beside her, Silver grinned and raised her wine glass in a toast. “Clearly we’re going to need a subbies-only sleepover after Lottie gets home from her honeymoon. We haven’t had one in a while and clearly Ivy’s been getting up to some mischief and we all know Lottie will be getting into plenty of trouble of her own.”
“Hey!” Feigning insult, Lottie tilted her nose in the air. “I can behave myself.”
Silver raised a brow in an almost eerie imitation of the kind of look their Daddies were always giving them. “For two whole weeks?”
“Yes.” A slow, sloppy grin spread across Lottie’s face. “Maybe. No, probably not. Okay, subbie sleepover it is!”
“You know Delia’s going to pout about it,” Ruby said with a giggle.
Letting out a derisive snort, Silver waved a hand as if batting away Ruby’s arguments. “We’ll send her off with the other Daddies, they’ll keep her occupied. And it will give them an opportunity to point out that they don’t get to crash our subbie nights either, which they love doing. It isn’t often they get to call her out, so really, we’re doing them a favor, too.”
“True…” Ruby’s gaze drifted toward the back door. “So… what do you think they’re up to?”
“I don’t know, but it’s got me wanting to make some trouble.” Lifting her glass to her lips, Lottie giggled. “Walking down the aisle with bruises on my ass feels rather appropriate.”
Lottie’s words landed like a rock in Frankie’s stomach. Even though she’d been talking about making some fun trouble for Braden to punish her for, all Frankie could think about was how disappointed her own Daddy would be when he found out she’d been keeping secrets from him. Secrets about her health, which was the one rule he never ever failed to enforce.
“Need to use the bathroom,” she mumbled, setting her food and wine aside and pushing to her feet. Hurrying back into the house, she headed straight for Silver’s bathroom, locking the door behind her as she pulled her phone from her pocket.
Holden
* * *
Watching Jacob hurry off toward the bathroom, his face as red as a fire engine, Holden grinned. One or both of his women had obviously sent him something to put that expression on his face, and from talks he’d had with Cordelia he knew Jacob wouldn’t be allowed to do a damn thing about it.
Poor kid. Lucky kid.
“Lucky bastard,” Ice mumbled, echoing Holden’s own thoughts as he leaned back against the couch with a grin. “Wonder what they sent him.”
“Nope.” Beckett shook his head. “Not going there. Not fantasizing about Jacob getting naughty selfies. He’s basically our little brother and it’s weird.”
“I’m not fantasizing, I’m just curious. You saw the look on his face just now. No way that was just some sexy selfies.”
