“You do not want to add lying to your list of offences, Michelle Jean. Believe me, you are both in enough trouble as it is.” He turned the glare on Addy.
“Do you know what time it is, Miss Addy?”
She gulped and shook her head.
“It’s half-past one. What time were you meant to ring Dash and Eliot?”
“Midnight,” she whispered. Oh shit, she was in trouble.
“Oh come on, Rick, so she’s a little late, we were having fun!” Michelle exclaimed.
Addy wanted to shake Michelle and tell her to shut up. She was only making things worse, couldn’t she see that? But Michelle had enough alcohol in her to loosen her tongue and reduce her good sense.
“Well, while you two were having fun, Dash and Eliot have been going frantic trying to reach Addy. In case the pair of you didn’t notice it’s been windy as hell outside all night. The access to your house has been cut off by a large tree, Addy. It won’t be sorted until tomorrow. Dash has been trying to ring you to tell you that you’ll stay here the night and they’ll pick you up when they can. Only he kept getting your voice mail. I tried to ring you, Michelle, only to get the same. So I spent over an hour searching for the pair of you. I only just got home.”
Addy gulped, she now understood why he was completely furious. She also knew she was in deep trouble with her own men when she got home.
“Well, as you can see we’re perfectly safe, Rick,” Michelle said with a huff. Addy looked at her in amazement. “There’s no reason to scold Addy. We had to turn off our phones, it was one of the rules before we went out, we’d have looked stupid if we didn’t.”
“Better stupid than dead if something had happened and you needed to use your phone in a hurry,” Rick growled, running his hand over his bald head. “Anything could happen in the time it would take to turn your phone on. For God’s sake, Michelle, you have a mind on your own, you could have turned it on later when no one else could see.”
Michelle snorted, standing with her hands on her hips. “You’re just being mean and grumpy and finding something to pick on.”
“Addy.” Rick turned to her. “Please go and ring your husbands and tell them you’re all right.” Addy jumped up and went eagerly into the kitchen where the phone was.
“Rick, what? No!” Michelle yelled.
Addy winced as she heard the sound of a smack. She knew exactly what was happening, had heard that sound a thousand times before, but normally it was her yelling at Dash or Eliot not to spank her.
She dialed her home number with shaking fingers, sick with guilt over the worry she’d caused her men.
“Rick?” A worried Eliot spoke immediately, obviously having looked at the caller ID first. Addy almost smiled as she pictured him, so serious and studious looking with his glasses and slightly distracted air. He was an oral surgeon and owned his own successful practice. People might mistake him for bland and boring when they saw him, but he had a hidden streak of dominance that made her shiver, giving her orders in that quiet, calm voice.
“Eliot, it’s me,” she told him.
“Addy, thank God.” His relief was apparent and it made her feel guiltier. “Dash, it’s Addy,” he called out. “I’m putting you on speaker phone. Are you okay?”
“Addy?” Dash asked. “What the hell did you think you were doing, turning off your phone? Are you all right? Did something happen?” The questions came hard and fast as Dash yelled at her down the phone, his relief apparent despite his angry tone. Dash was the one with the temper, quick to fire and generally quick to forgive.
Once he’d taken his hand to her bottom.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “We all turned off our phones before we left Carly’s, she didn’t want any distractions.” It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
“Well, why didn’t you turn it back on when it got close to midnight?” Eliot asked practically, while Dash muttered words along the lines of ‘foolish little girl’ and ‘I’m going to spank you until you can roast marshmallows off the heat of your butt’.
Addy gulped.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly, looking down at her feet as she felt tears well up in her eyes. She hated letting Eliot down, both of them, really. But she felt Eliot’s reproach the deepest, perhaps because he was so quiet in his disapproval. Dash would yell and scold, while Eliot just leveled his gaze at her until she caved and begged his forgiveness.
“How much have you had to drink, Addy?” Eliot asked.
She sniffled. “A bit,” she admitted quietly.
“A bit?” Dash yelled down the phone. “You were only supposed to have one. You are in such trouble, young lady.”
“I know,” she said miserably.
“Addy, we can’t get in to pick you up until the access road is cleared tomorrow. You’re going to have to stay the night with Rick and Michelle,” Eliot told her calmly.