Time had passed gradually and people had started to look around. Jaxon looked around too and wondered where Ruby had walked off to. She had been with him not so long ago but now he couldn’t seem to see her anywhere.
He thought nothing of it and assumed she was in a corner of the room where he couldn’t see her. He zeroed back in on the conversation with Damon and lost himself in it.
After he made rounds around the hall and had a few talks with some people he couldn’t talk to before. At the same time, he kept an eye out for Ruby because he had started to get worried.
He had taken a break from mingling when Damon came to find him.
“Your grandfather is wondering where Ruby is.” Damon informed him in a hushed tone. Jaxon frowned then pulled out his phone. His eyebrows lifted in surprise at how late it had gotten. But he was also surprised that the time for the toast had rolled around and Ruby was nowhere to be found.
“I can’t find Ruby.” He told Damon firmly.
“I can’t either, I checked before coming to meet you,” Damon said as worry flickered in his eyes. Jaxon heard what Damon had said and his frown deepened. Where has Ruby gone off to now? Especially when she had a toast to give.
Why would she leave the hall at all and not inform him of where she was going to? He didn’t think she would have gone far and that made his blood flare up that she might possibly be staying away on purpose.
A dangerous thought then came to mind when he thought further. Or had she been kidnapped? That couldn’t be possible because there were guards and the area was secure. He was still battling with his conflicted emotions when he heard a voice behind him.
“Do you think Ruby chickened out and then decided to hide so as not to give the toast?” June’s soft voice came from behind him. She moved until she was right in front of him then asked again. Damon was the one to respond.
“Well, she could have just said so. There’s no need to play games.” Damon answered with a slight frown. Jaxon mentally agreed with what Damon had said. If she knew she couldn’t do it, she would have let his grandfather know.
He doubted the old man would have held it against her. But he definitely knew the old man would hold this against her if she didn’t show up soon.
“There’s no need to play games but how mature is Ruby to see that?” June asked.
“What are you trying to say?” Jaxon frowned at her, irritated as he waited to hear her response.
“I was just giving my opinion. I didn’t mean to offend you.” She said then took a step back from me.
“Time is running out Jaxon?” Damon dragged out as he looked around the room.
“Don’t you think I know that?” Jaxon asked him. He was well aware but there wasn’t anything he could do.
He had tried calling Ruby’s number multiple times only to be sent to her voicemail. His anger had started to build up and he prayed that Ruby had a valid excuse for why she had disappeared from the hall.
“I’ve tried calling her several times as well but it’s gone to voicemail.” Damon put in after he saw him shove his phone back into his pocket.
“I’m not surprised,” June stated.
“I don’t think she’s coming guys, maybe she decided she didn’t want to do it anymore and left.” She added after both men remained silent.
“Look at your grandfather’s face, even from here I can tell that he’s furious,” June said to no one in particular. Jaxon glanced in his grandfather’s direction and found the old man glaring daggers blankly.
From all the way here, he could make out that his grandfather’s lips were pressed in a hard line and that the wrinkles on his forehead had become more prominent as he glared.
“Well I think Ruby is a coward for leaving everyone hanging and-”
“That’s enough!” Jaxon let out. He looked June in the eyes and then said,
“Don’t you dare talk nonsense about my wife? Even if that were the case, which it is not, I don’t want to see you talking bad about her.” Jaxon defended his wife fiercely and June’s heart almost sank as she nodded.
She left the fuming Jaxon and quiet Damon and decided to approach his grandfather.
“What are the odds she’s going to convince your grandfather to let her do the toast instead?” Damon asked Jaxon.
“The odds are a hundred percent,” Jaxon stated in a sure voice. He watched as June whispered something into his grandfather’s ear and ever so often the old man would nod or let out a murmur in response.
The thought of Ruby not being here still pissed him off greatly. He had checked his phone so many times to see if she had called back but still nothing. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his cool when he saw her again.
“Do you want me to go looking for Ruby?” Damon offered and Jaxon shook his head. He hadn’t been alerted that anything was amiss so Ruby was definitely still here. She would have to come out eventually.
Just like Damon had said, June had succeeded in convincing his grandfather to let her do the toast, though he doubted the old man was happy about it. June gave a beautiful toast, almost as if she had already had one prepared but he caught himself at the absurd thought.
There was a thunder of applause after June finished and he caught the self satisfied smile on her face. The guests resumed mingling while he went off to the corner to try to get a hold of Ruby again. And also partially to avoid his grandfather.
Ruby had entered full-on panic mode long ago. What was she going to say to Jaxon’s grandfather about missing the toast? That she was locked in the bathroom? That was a flimsy excuse. And what was she going to tell Jaxon?
She had paced on the bathroom floor while she thought of what to do. She hadn’t been able to get in touch with Jaxon on the phone, or anyone else for that matter.
She glanced at the door helplessly then made a last-ditch effort to see if it would open. To her shock it did.
She didn’t waste any moment and quickly rushed out of the bathroom and headed back to the hall. She had just entered it when she crashed into a wall. No, a chest. Jaxon’s chest. He glared down at her with blazing eyes.
“Where the hell were you?”