25. Zane

By the time they got home from the club that night it was after two in the morning. Zane carried Ruby from the car into the house and up the stairs. She’d fallen asleep on the couch in their office around midnight, and they couldn’t bear to wake her up when they were leaving, so he’d just carried her.

Jace jogged up the stairs ahead of them and turned on a lamp in their shared bedroom. Setting her down on the bed, he cradled her neck until she was lying on her back before he started removing her clothes.

As he started removing the romper, she stirred. “Daddies?”

“We’re right here, baby. Zaddy is just getting you out of your clothes so we can get you into some comfy pajamas,” Jace said gently.

A sleepy smile spread across her face as her eyes opened. She stared up at Zane, watching him as he worked to remove her clothing.

“Hi, Zaddy,” she whispered.

God. He would never get tired of hearing that. In reality, he didn’t give a shit what she called him as long as she was calling him something. Because he was something to her and she was something to them.

“Hi, little one. Let’s go potty and then we’ll put you in a pair of pajamas,” he crooned.

She nodded but didn’t move, so he lifted her from the bed and carried her bridal style into the dark bathroom that only had a small night light providing a tiny bit of light.

After being disciplined at the club, she’d been attached to both of them like Velcro for the rest of the night, which was no hardship for Zane, but he figured she would want to use the bathroom by herself after the last bathroom incident.

Setting her on her feet, he guided her to sit on the toilet. Once he knew she was sitting and steady, he started to back away, but she whimpered.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“Don’t want you to leave, Zaddy,” she said in such a small voice that his heart felt like it was going to explode.

Stepping back toward her, he reached out and brushed the stray hairs that had come out of her buns away from her face.

“Okay, baby. I won’t leave you. Go potty for me so we can get you into bed to snuggle.”

He stood quietly, stroking the top of her head. It took several seconds before he heard her peeing. When she finished, he automatically reached for a wad of tissue.

“Lean forward for Daddy,” he instructed.

To his surprise, she leaned forward without argument and let him clean her up. As soon as he was done, he lifted her from the toilet and carried her into the bedroom, setting her back on the bed. She stared up at him with a look of awe in her eyes.

Leaning forward, he gently kissed her lips and then looked her in the eyes. “Don’t ever doubt the lengths I’ll go to take care of you.”

She smiled and nodded, a blush rising to her cheeks.

“I need to go wash my hands. Can you get her pajamas on her?” he asked Jace.

Jace nodded and stepped forward with the footie pajamas already in his hand.

By the time Zane came back into the bedroom, Ruby was already dressed in the pajamas and looked as cute as could be. The fabric was light pink with white bunnies all over it and a drop seat that had the words ‘Cute as a Bunny’ embroidered into it.

Leaving the bedroom, Zane went into the nursery and grabbed a hairbrush. When he returned, he sat in one of the armchairs in the room and dropped a pillow down by his feet.

“Come sit in front of me so I can take your buns out and brush your hair,” he said.

She grinned and scrambled to get off the bed, having to drop the last few inches to the floor since she was so short.

He carefully removed the hair ties and pins and started brushing through her long locks.

“Tell us about your family, Ruby. Do you live with them?” he asked.

Jace gave him a warning look but he ignored it. They needed to know more about her. About who hurt her in the past.

She sat quietly for a long moment and he didn’t think she was going to answer him until she finally let out a sigh and spoke.

“My parents own one of the largest jewelry store chains in the United States. That’s how I got my name.”

Zane smiled. Rubies were known to be rare gems. That fit their girl perfectly.

“I don’t really know my parents very well. They travel a lot so when I was a child, I was raised by tutors, maids, and nannies. The only time I ever really saw my parents was when I did something that got me in trouble, and they would video call me to lecture me.”

“I remember when I was five or so, my mom told me that I would need to learn to be a lady so I wouldn’t embarrass them around their friends. But somehow, I always seemed to do something that embarrassed them.”

“I never went to public or even private school. All my schooling was done at home by tutors because my parents didn’t want the other kids at school to tell their parents how weird I was.”

Clenching his jaw so hard it felt as though his teeth were going to crack, Zane looked at Jace, who had a murderous expression on his face.

“You’re not weird, Ruby,” he ground out.

She shrugged and continued talking, “My dad was pretty much non-existent in my life. When he was home, he was always in his study working on whatever it was he worked on. I’m pretty sure he was having an affair with one of the maids, but my mom chose to ignore it since money and status was the only thing that mattered to her.”

“My parents’ dream had been for me to work for them after I went to college, but by the time I graduated high school, they decided I wasn’t cut out for their business. I wasn’t prim and proper like they wanted me to be. I wasn’t skinny enough or quiet enough. I was too emotional, too much of a troublemaker, too much of everything.”

“I wanted to go to college. It’s not like they couldn’t afford to send me to any college in the world, but my mother didn’t want me spreading my weirdness out into the world and it potentially affecting their lives, so they bought me an apartment and allowed me to do online college. I graduated early with perfect grades. I told my parents I wanted to get a job but they won’t allow it. They told me they would cut me off completely if I got a job.”

“Motherfuckers,” Jace barked, making Ruby startle.

Zane rested his hand on her shoulder to calm her as he glared at Jace who was visibly seething.

“Baby, you know you’re perfect just the way you are, right? You’re not too much of anything or not enough of something. You’re perfectly unique and amazing just the way you are,” Zane said.

He reached down and pulled her into his lap, cradling her in his arms. Tears filled her eyes as she studied his face for a long moment.

Jace walked over and sat in the other armchair, reaching over to touch her head.

“I’m sorry I scared you, baby girl. I just… I can’t believe they treated you like that. I… fuck. I can’t even process it,” Jace said.

Reaching out, Zane wiped her falling tears away as he began rocking her.

“We’re so sorry you had to go through that, baby girl. You were treated like a burden when you are anything but that. You’re a gift to us. Something we will always cherish, protect, and care for,” he told her.

“Do you still have contact with your parents?” Jace asked.

She nodded. “I hear from them every couple of months or so. They still travel a lot. I haven’t actually seen them in over six months, but I’ll see them again next weekend at their anniversary party. I’m kind of dreading it but my mother insisted I go.”

Yeah, he didn’t like that one bit. He didn’t even know her parents and yet he already disliked them. And the thought of her having to go to a party for them that she didn’t even want to go to made his stomach twist in knots.

“Sounds like you have no reason not to move in with us,” Zane blurted.