Chapter 7
Ice
He watched as one man he loved like a brother vowed to love the woman in front of him through sickness and health, to death did they part. And then he watched as another of his brothers got down on one knee and asked the woman he loved to marry him.
Ruby stood there, clearly shocked at first, until Silver nudged her and whispered something nobody else could hear.
Then Ruby was squealing out a “Yes!” and throwing herself at Beckett so hard she nearly knocked him flat on his back.
The room erupted into cheers, and he caught Silver’s teary gaze across the aisle.
Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me, Elias Turner?
She’d sounded so… urgent. Like everything hinged on his answer, and she wasn’t quite sure what that answer would be.
But how could she not know? Had he not told her enough, shown her enough that she was his everything? That he would burn his entire life to the ground just to be with her? Was the doubt he’d seen in her eyes some kind of residual trauma from her relationship with Ace?
Too many questions, and not nearly enough time or privacy for him to get the answers he wanted out of her.
After what felt like hours of pictures, they were ushered into the reception area where everyone was milling around, talking and laughing as hors d'oeuvres were passed around on gleaming silver trays carried by waitstaff in perfectly pressed suits.
His hand on Silver’s back, Ice looked around for somewhere they could slip off to.
Even if he couldn’t get all the answers he wanted, he was damn well going to find out what had been eating at her all day.
Why she’d been so damn jumpy this morning.
And then, if they had time, he’d get on his knees and eat her pussy until she was ready to come—and then he’d tell her all about their big news.
But before he could figure out where they might sneak off to, he found their path blocked by a tall brunette, the hair she usually kept pulled up in a ponytail loose and curling around her shoulders.
Braden had recommended Dr. Naomi Winters to them back when they’d first been getting settled in Charleston as their permanent residence.
She ran a concierge medical practice that catered to rich assholes like himself and Braden, and she specialized in discretion.
“Ice. Silver.”
“Dr. Winters.” Was it his imagination, or did Silver sound… nervous?
Naomi shot her gaze to the side and then back to them, shifting her weight restlessly. “Have you seen Killian?”
Surprised by the question, Ice blinked down at her. “Killian?”
“Yes. We’re supposed to be each other’s plus ones, but he isn’t here. At least, I haven’t been able to find him.”
Unease crept up Ice’s spine. He was still getting used to having a literal crime boss in his orbit, but Silver was partial to the Irishman, so he’d made an effort to be friendly if not necessarily friends with Killian O’Rourke.
“We haven’t seen him.” Worry colored Silver’s tone as she looked up at him. “Should we tell someone? Braden?”
“No, don’t do that.” Naomi waved her off, but she couldn’t hide the concern in her pale eyes. “I don’t want to upset the bride and groom. I’m sure he’ll turn up. He always does.” Her smile flashed, though it was tight at the corners. “Like a bad penny.”
Silver opened her mouth, likely to protest and insist they should tell someone that Killian was missing, but she was interrupted by the DJ asking everyone to take their seats.
Pressing his hand to Silver’s back, Ice nudged her away from Naomi and toward their table. And tried not to feel too resentful that he’d have to wait even longer to get the truth out of his babygirl.
Silver
Ice was sulking.
Not openly. To everyone else, he probably just looked like the bored rockstar he pretended to be. Slouched in his chair, one arm slung over the back of hers, his hand resting at the nape of her neck in that easy, proprietary way he had, he didn’t look like he was sulking.
But he was. And she wasn’t sure why.
Was it because of their conversation before the wedding? Replaying the conversation over and over in her head, her stomach tied itself into knots as she picked apart every word.
Should she have said she didn’t want to marry him? Maybe she’d been too pushy. Or had she been too evasive? Had he wanted her to throw herself at him and tell him she couldn’t wait to marry him?
Fuck, the not knowing was killing her, even more than the anticipation over telling him her big news.
She forced herself to smile at their friends as they ate and chatted.
To laugh at Aria’s toast as she poked fun at her father for falling in love with a woman the same age as his daughter.
Though she didn’t have to fake the tears when Aria told Lottie she’d always thought of her as family, they’d just made it official, or when Frankie had sniffled her way through telling Braden that he’d found himself the best damn woman in the world and he’d better be good to her or she would sic Holden on him.
And when Braden led his glowing bride out onto the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife, Silver’s heart stammered in her chest at the love shining from their faces as they swayed together, clearly lost in their own little world.
After that first dance, the atmosphere shifted, as if they’d all heaved a collective sigh of relief that it was almost over, and they’d made it, and they could all finally just relax.
But then the hand on the back of Silver’s neck tightened and Ice leaned in, his voice a low growl in her ear. “Dance with me, my naughty little goddess.”
Feeling like a high schooler at prom being asked to dance by the boy she had a crush on, Silver let him take her hand and guide her onto the floor. It was a slow number, one that allowed him to pull her close, his hands gripping her hips as she draped her arms loosely around his shoulders.
“Beautiful,” he murmured.
“It was.” A soft, dreamy sigh slipped free before she thought to squash it. “Leave it to Lottie.”
“I’m not talking about the wedding.”
She lifted her eyes to his, and suddenly her lungs were too tight for her to drag in enough oxygen. “Oh.”
“Mmm.” Pulling her even closer against him, his hard cock pressing against her belly, he nuzzled at her neck. “You always look beautiful, baby. But tonight…”
“You clean up pretty good yourself, Mr. Rockstar.”
Laughter rumbled in his chest. “I still prefer your goddess of the night look. But this dress… yeah, you’re keeping this dress.”
Need heated her skin as his thumbs rubbed distracting little circles over her hip bones. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love me.”
“I do.”
Somehow, he’d managed to maneuver them to the opposite end of the dance floor, closest to the doors.
The music switched, soft and romantic giving way to pumping bass and electrifying beats.
Gripping her hand, Ice tugged her toward the doors and through them as the crowd behind them jumped and sang at the top of their lungs.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere private.” Like a dog hunting its prey, he swung his head around, looking for… something. What, exactly, she wasn’t sure.
But then he locked in, and she saw the corner of his lip curl up. “There.”
“The bathroom?” She couldn’t quite hide the incredulity from her voice as he tugged her toward a door with a little plaque beside it marking it as a ‘family bathroom’.
He gave the knob a jiggle, then yanked it open when he found it unlocked, pulling her in behind him. The door shut again, and he flipped the lock before turning to pin her with a look that was so Daddy it had her stomach dropping to her knees.
“All right, little girl. We need to have a talk.”