Chapter 6
Silver
Poor Ruby. After she’d finished with her makeup, she’d dragged herself over to the other suite to face her Daddy’s wrath. Even knowing she’d feel better once it was all said and done, Silver couldn’t help the sympathetic twinge in her chest knowing her friend was facing a doozy of a punishment.
As soon as the door shut behind Ruby, Lottie clapped her hands from where she was seated in the stylist’s chair, getting her hair curled and pinned up into an elaborate updo she’d be cursing herself for later that night.
“Okay, girls. We have a bit of a change of plans for the ceremony, but it’s top secret and I need everyone to swear they won’t breathe a word of this to Ruby.”
All at once, everyone in the room was on alert, sitting up like prairie dogs scenting something on the wind as they nodded and murmured their agreements. Curiosity sparked in Silver’s chest as she watched Lottie’s expression turn feral with excitement.
“Beckett bought Ruby a ring. And he’s going to propose after the ceremony.”
Silver’s heart contracted in her chest as squeals of excitement erupted around her. Ruby was right. The extra ring she’d found was for her and Beckett really was going to propose.
Beckett Stone, the man she loved like a brother, who’d once been so wary of falling in love he’d outsourced aftercare for the women he scened with, was getting married.
Holy shit.
Tears of happiness pooled in her eyes, earning her a sigh from the makeup artist still putting the finishing touches on her look. “Sorry, sorry,” she apologized with a breathless laugh. “This is just… I’m really fucking happy for them.”
“It’s all right, hon. Everything is waterproof, so it should hold up to some tears. Just let me get your lipstick on and this setting spray and you can go cry over your friend’s good news.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The cheeky response got her a laugh and a wink from the artist. And though it killed her to wait, she listened intently as Lottie lined up the plans for Beckett’s proposal. It was adorable and unexpected and Ruby was going to kill them all once she got over the shock.
Worth it.
They’d managed to calm themselves down by the time Ruby made her way back into the room. She didn’t look like she’d been crying, so maybe Beckett hadn’t been too hard on her, after all.
Which only made Silver’s curiosity over what had happened over there even more rabid.
Making her way through the sea of half-naked bodies, Silver grabbed Ruby’s hand. “We’re going to help each other get dressed and you’re going to tell me everything.”
Silver dragged her over to the rack where all their dresses had been hung and grabbed the two with their names. “Strip and talk, baby. Strip and talk.”
The blush on Ruby’s cheeks darkened. “There’s not much to talk about. He spanked me, which I expected.”
“You were over there for like half an hour. Either that was one hell of a spanking or there was more to it.”
Rolling her eyes, Ruby untied her robe and tossed it aside so she could step into the dress Silver was holding open for her. “After he spanked me, he put a plug in my ass. With ginger oil.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” Sympathy welled in Silver’s chest. Beckett had let Ice borrow the ginger lube once at the club just to try it out, and Silver had very quickly put it on her ‘Only For Serious Punishments’ list. “He’s a devious sonofabitch.”
“He is. But I feel so much better. It sucked and I can still feel the burn a bit, but I feel lighter, you know?”
“I do know. I’m glad you feel better and it all worked out.
” Tugging the dress up so the single sleeve draped over Ruby’s shoulder, Silver stepped back and sighed at the vision her friend made.
The green teased out the hints of red in Ruby’s hair, and whatever the makeup artist had done brought out the golden flecks in her eyes.
“You look so pretty. That color is gorgeous with your hair. I might be a little jealous of you and Frankie today.”
Ruby snorted out a laugh as she pulled Silver’s dress off the hanger to help her into it. “Please. With that figure? Ice is going to swallow his tongue when he sees you in this dress.”
“Hell yeah he is,” Silver agreed with a wide grin.
But as she wiggled into the dress, the worries that had been plaguing her all morning crowded her again.
To the point she couldn’t resist the urge to ask one of the questions that had been nagging at her ever since she’d realized there was a whole person growing inside her.
“Do you ever worry that Beckett’s feelings for you would change if you changed? ”
“I mean, I’ve changed a hell of a lot since he and I met and he still loves me. Why?”
Tears burned at the back of Silver’s throat. She wanted to talk to someone, anyone about the worry and fear and joy she’d been keeping bottled up all damn day.
But she couldn’t. Even if she’d told Ice already, today was about Lottie. And a little bit Ruby. No way was she taking anything away from her friends. “Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“Hey.” Pausing with the dress halfway up Silver’s body, Ruby laid a hand on her arm. “What’s going on? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just feeling a little emotional, I guess.” She smiled again, praying it didn’t look as strained as it felt. “Weddings always get to me. I’m a sucker for romance.”
“Same.” Ruby's gaze roamed Silver’s face, worry etched into her features. “But you promise you’d tell me if you were sick or something, right?”
“Pinkie-swear.”
For a moment, she thought Ruby was going to push the issue. But her friend let it drop and went to assist Aria, who was looking a bit panicked as she fussed with her straps.
The others helped Lottie into her confection of a dress, and Silver once again had to fight back tears as Lottie’s oldest friends gifted her with the locket holding her mother’s picture they’d all chipped in to buy for her.
It was, Silver realized, Eva and Portia’s way of inviting the rest of them into the fold.
They could have easily afforded the necklace without anyone’s contribution, but they’d been adamant that the gift be from all of them.
When Lottie was finally dressed and her tears dried, they made their way down to the ballroom where Lottie would soon say her vows to the love of her life.
Her father was there, a silver fox in his own right, dressed in a perfectly fitted tux that highlighted his broad shoulders.
Aria was looking him up and down, open curiosity in her gaze as she took him in.
Jesus Christ, Aria.
“You look beautiful,” Emmett murmured to his daughter, running his hands down her lace-covered arms to grip her hands, his eyes wet with unshed tears. “Just like your mother.”
“Dad…” Throwing her arms around her father, Lottie clung to him as her body shuddered.
Silver blinked against the tears pooling on her lashes. Fucking hell, she never cried like this.
Just as she was trying to get her emotions under control, a hand clamped around her upper arm, hauling her away from the group and into a hard, familiar chest.
Ice. Turning, she glared up at him, though it was a fight to keep the smile off her lips. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Whatever I want.” His gaze raked down her body, hot and possessive before returning to her face. “You look… delicious.”
Heat pulsed through her veins. “You’re going to have to wait until later for a taste, Mr. Turner.”
“We’ll see.” He glanced over at Lottie, then back at her. “You heard about Ruby and Beckett?”
“Yes.” The grin split her face, impossible to stop in the face of so much love and happiness swirling around them. “It’s very romantic. Gonna be hard for you to top.”
Something flickered in his eyes, an emotion that was there and then gone too quickly for her to place it. “Does that mean if I asked you to marry me, you’d say yes?”
“Of course I’d say yes.” How could he doubt that for even a second?
But then again, hadn’t she been doubting him? Questioning his commitment to her all day? Wasn’t that why she hadn’t told him yet that he was going to be a father?
Ice’s gaze was steady on her face, and as always, she was left with the unsettling impression that he saw far more than she wanted him to see. “Do you want to do the whole thing? The big wedding, the paperwork, the flashy rings?”
“Do you?”
“I want to make you happy, Silver. And if that means a splashy front-page wedding, then hell yeah, I want to do it.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.” All of a sudden, the answer seemed so very big. Important. Like their entire future hinged on what he said next. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me, Elias Turner?”
“Baby.” Cupping her face, he brushed a tender kiss across her lips.
“I have spent half my life loving you from afar. And I will spend the rest of my life loving you from right here. I almost lost you once, Silver, and it damn near killed me. So yes, baby, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to have my name, if that’s what you want.
But that’s all just trappings. What matters is you and me, against the world. Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Swallowing hard against the emotion lodged in her throat, she nodded. “Yeah. Listen, Ice, I need to tell you—”
But before she could get the words out, Holden was there, clamping a hand on Ice’s shoulder and flashing her an apologetic smile. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve gotta go take our places.”
Right. Lottie, Braden, wedding. There was time later for her to say the things she needed to say.
Ice pulled her in for one of those quick, hard kisses that always left her a little breathless. “After this is over, you’re all mine. We have things to discuss.”
With that cryptic warning, he followed Holden into the ballroom. Silver pressed a hand to her jumping stomach.
Just a few more hours. And then she’d tell him everything.