Chapter 3
Ruby
Panic gripped her by the throat as she stepped out of the bathroom. “Are you fucking serious, Beckett? You lost our friends’ wedding rings?”
“Try that again, little girl.” Fury rippled beneath his words, and Ruby swore she could feel the color leaching from her cheeks.
“Sorry. I know you didn’t lose them.” She’d apparently lost them. Because Beckett never misplaced a damn thing. If he said they were in his nightstand, then they were in his nightstand. “I really don’t remember if I moved them or not, though.”
“All right.” Closing his eyes, Beckett dragged in a deep breath. “I’m not mad, baby, but we really need to find those rings. Let Frankie know you’re going to be late and I’ll let Holden know. The more contained we can keep this, the better.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Hurrying around to her side of the bed, she tapped out a quick text to Frankie, asking if someone could switch with her for hair and makeup.
If someone else could take her place, that would at least give her time to help find the rings and, if she was lucky, for Beckett to beat her ass again.
Unlike the sexy spanking she’d gotten in the shower, she had no doubts the one she was in for once they found the rings was going to be a doozy and she had no desire to put it off any longer than necessary.
Thanks a lot, drunk Ruby.
“Frankie’s handling it,” she told him, tucking her phone back into the pocket of her robe. “Okay. Rings. I didn’t leave the bedroom last night after you went downstairs so they have to be around here somewhere.”
“You check your side of the bed and your closet, I’ll check mine.” There was none of the usual flirtatious inflection in his tone, or even the stern firmness she’d come to expect when she was in trouble.
“Yes, Sir.” Misery welled up inside her as he turned away. She watched him for a moment, tears stinging her eyes. “Daddy?”
“What is it, Ruby?”
Again, his tone was flat, not angry, and that flatness threatened to smother her. “Nothing. Never mind.”
Blinking back tears, she turned away and hurried into her closet.
Even though she couldn’t remember going in there the night before, she needed a moment to herself.
She knew she was being ridiculous, but Beckett had never been so…
cold to her before, and she could barely breathe through the weight of his disappointment sitting on her chest.
In her closet, she gave herself a moment to breathe. Just breathe. In and out, the way her therapist had taught her when she’d been suffering from multiple panic attacks after she’d left her first Dom.
Oddly enough, the thought of Preston helped to settle her. If it had been his friend’s wedding she’d ruined, no matter how unintentionally, she would never hear the end of it. It was the kind of thing he’d throw in her face no matter how many times she apologized.
Beckett would never do that. As pissed as he might have been at that moment, he’d eventually calm down and they’d talk things out. Then he’d spank her, mostly because she would need him to in order for her to feel better, and that would be that.
So she could handle him being a little icy for the time being. God knew she deserved it.
How the hell could she have been so stupid?
Fresh tears welled in her eyes at the thought, but she willed them back as she pulled open a drawer to rifle through her underwear.
No rings.
She repeated the process with every drawer in her closet, panic once more wrapping its insidious tendrils around her chest as each and every one turned up empty.
Where the fuck were those damn rings?
Closing her eyes, she dropped down onto the padded bench in her closet and tried to think.
She hadn’t been anywhere near blackout drunk when she’d gotten home, and she did vaguely remember moving the stuff in the bathroom around.
But that was the problem. All of her memories were far too vague to actually be of any use, and she gave a frustrated scream as she dropped her head into her hands.
“Guessing you haven’t had any luck either.”
Worry slammed into her gut, making her stomach roll as she forced her head up to meet his quietly furious gaze. “No, Sir. Beckett, I’m—”
He held up a hand to cut her off. “I know you’re sorry, Ruby. Saying it again doesn’t help us find those rings any faster.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The corners of his mouth dipped down in a frown, and for a moment she thought he might call her out for not using his proper title. Even before they’d officially become a couple, he’d preferred Daddy to Sir.
But he didn’t call her out, and her stomach twisted, making her very grateful she hadn’t eaten yet.
“I’m going to go downstairs and check the cars. I know I brought them inside when I picked them up from the jeweler, but at this point I’m at a loss as to where they could be.”
Another apology trembled on her tongue, but he’d already told her he didn’t want to hear any more from her, so she swallowed it down and nodded.
Turning on his heel, he strode from the room, and she indulged herself in a short ugly cry before forcing herself to her feet. Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket, groaning at the alarm she’d set for her new departure time.
If she didn’t leave soon, she’d miss her spot in the hair and makeup line. Which was probably fine, it wasn’t like they didn’t have a dozen other people to work on while they waited for her.
The real problem was Lottie. It was only a matter of time before she realized Ruby wasn’t there and started asking questions. Frankie’s plan of telling everyone she’d gotten in trouble would only buy so much time before Lottie started to get suspicious.
Mind made up, she shrugged out of her robe and pulled on the cute mistletoe underwear Lottie had given them all at her bachelorette party a couple weeks ago.
Ivy had already reported very favorable results from the underwear after she’d surprised Cordelia with hers, so maybe they’d be enough to make Beckett laugh whenever he got his hands on her later.
At this point, she was willing to do pretty much anything to mitigate the punishment she knew awaited her at the club.
Once she was dressed, she grabbed her phone and headed for the stairs. Only to bump straight into her Daddy’s hard chest.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Swallowing hard, she forced her head up to meet his icy gaze. “The hotel. If I don’t leave now, they’re going to start to worry about me and I figure the best thing I can do right now is keep Lottie from freaking out.”
Again he frowned, and she wasn’t sure if she was hoping he would stop her or let her go.
“You’re probably right,” he said after a long, drawn-out silence. “Text me when you get to the hotel, so I know you made it safely.”
The familiarity of the order had the knots in her stomach finally unraveling, at least somewhat. “Yes, Daddy.”
Unsure of what else to say, what else she could say under the circumstances, she slipped past him and headed for the stairs.
She paused at the top of the steps and turned back, searching for something, anything to tell him to make things even a little bit better.
But one look at the quiet fury on her Daddy’s face had the words turning to ash on her tongue.
Blinking back another wave of tears, she turned and forced herself to walk down the stairs.
Get to the hotel. Pretend everything was fine. Be the best damn bridesmaid anyone had ever had.
And pray she hadn’t ruined her friend’s wedding.
Beckett
Watching Ruby hurry down the stairs, his stomach twisted at her clear distress. He wanted to call her back, to tell her it would be okay, but goddammit he was still too fucking angry. Better to wait until he’d found the rings, or at least until he’d calmed down to try and talk to her.
Which meant he needed to get to work. The sooner he found them, the sooner he could talk to his girl.
And, if they had time, impress on her exactly why she needed to be more careful with her pranks in the future.
With that in mind, he turned back toward their bedroom with a sigh, doing his best not to think too hard about the mess they were leaving in their wake.
Standing in the middle of the room, he stared at the bed, trying to piece together Ruby’s movements from the night before. Obviously she’d gotten out of bed at some point and gone to the bathroom, because she’d moved everything on the vanity around.
The question was, had she done that before or after making trouble in the bedroom?
Either way, she could have hidden the rings somewhere in there, so he made his way to the bathroom and began opening every drawer and cabinet he could find.
And, for the first time, considered that maybe Ruby had a point about their house being far too big for two people.
When he’d bought it, he hadn’t entertained the possibility that one day he’d have a bratty submissive in his life who enjoyed driving him crazy by moving his things all around the house.
Then again, back then, he hadn’t considered ever having another woman in his life.
After the loss of his wife, he’d been very careful not to get emotionally tangled-up with any of the women he played with.
Especially the brats. He’d wanted control, complete and utter control over every aspect of his life, and a bratty sub had been antithetical to everything he’d thought he wanted.
Until Ruby. She’d knocked him off his feet the moment she’d flashed that bright, sassy smile at him from behind the bar of Club BDE and he’d been struggling to stay on steady ground ever since.
Every single day with her was an adventure, and despite the promises he’d made to himself, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Even now, with the growing tension headache at the base of his skull thanks to her bratty ways, he wouldn’t trade a second of his life with her for anything.
The bathroom, unfortunately, did not offer up any further clues as to the location of the rings. Blowing out a breath, he looked around him, and said a little prayer he’d be able to lay his hands on them sooner rather than later.