Page 67 of Big Daddy Christmas
“I’ll only be a minute.” Turning his back on the rest of their friends, Ice pinned Ruby with a look that had her squirming in her chair. “I haven’t heard from Beckett and he’s still not here. What’s going on, Ruby?”
Heat flooded her cheeks. Even knowing that the situation was handled and Beckett had found the rings, it was embarrassing to admit she’d done something so reckless. And while Ice was much more laid-back than her own Daddy, she’d learned the hard way he could be as ruthless as the tattoo on his chest claimed he was when it came to bratty subs.
“Nothing, Sir.” It wasn’t a lie. Nothing was going on now that Beckett had found the rings.
Ice’s eyes narrowed. “Ruby. Are you being honest with me right now?”
Unable to meet that hard gaze any longer, Ruby dropped her gaze to the floor. Thankfully, Silver stepped in—literally. Jumping up from her chair, Silver placed herself bodily between Ruby and Ice. “We’re handling it, Elias.”
Oh, shit. She’d called him Elias, which she hardly ever did. Ruby risked a peek up through her lashes at Ice, who had his steady gaze locked on his babygirl. “You’re handling it.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You’d tell me if there was something wrong. If Ruby was hurt.”
Warmth filled Ruby’s chest, alongside a pressure she recognized as guilt. Ice cared about her, and Beckett, and here they were, keeping secrets from him.
They’d have to find a way to make it up to him later.
“Yes, Daddy. I would tell you,” Silver said softly, her hand coming to rest on his chest.
“And you?”
“Sir?” Silver’s voice pitched up, and Ruby couldn’t help leaning forward a bit.
She wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, it seemed.
“You’d tell me if there was something going on with you that I needed to know.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
Oh, crap. If the look on Ice’s face was any indication, he knew Silver was lying, and he was ready to drag her off somewhere to get the truth out of her.
But before he could, Frankie came barreling back through the door of the suite. “Oh, no you don’t, Elias Turner. We don’t have time for—” She waved her hands at him and Silver. “Whatever this is.”
Sliding an arm around Silver’s waist, Ice jerked her toward him and whispered something that had Silver’s face reddening before he released her and Silver returned to her seat.
As he stalked out of the room, Ruby turned to her friend, curiosity replacing the worry that had been churning in her gut all morning. “Okay, what the hell was that all about?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nose titled in the air, Silver looked every inch the goddess Ice often referred to her as, but Ruby wasn’t buying it for a single second.
“What are you keeping from him?”
“Who says I’m keeping anything from him?”
“Me. I say you’re keeping things from him. Why?”
Because she was watching so closely, she noticed the color creeping into Silver’s cheeks, even as she raised one shoulder in a gesture of nonchalance. “I have my reasons.”
“C’mon, Sil, I told you my thing! Tell me yours!”
Sighing quietly, Silver looked over, her expression serious. “I would if I could, I promise. And I will, when it’s time. But today isn’t the day, which is why I haven’t told Ice.”
Now the worry returned, though for a completely different reason than before. “Can you at least tell me if everything is okay? You’re not sick or something?”
Silver smiled, so bright and happy it nearly hurt Ruby’s eyes to look at it. “Everything is more than okay, I promise. Don’t worry about me, honey. You should be worrying about the state of your ass once Beckett gets a hold of you.”
Groaning, Ruby leaned back in her chair as her stylist continued the process of spraying and curling her hair within an inch of its life. “Trust me, I won’t be thinking about anything else until he gets here.”
