So far as Adam knew, so far he hadn't done anything to piss Angel off or upset her. It was completely smooth sailing. Which was almost a ridiculous thing to worry about, but he didn't remember his parents' fighting much either. Because his mother would just shove down all of her emotions until they came out in passive-aggressive little snippets that his dad didn't notice, right up until the day she left.
Angel hadn't said anything to him about the way he'd treated her when she'd first come to Stronghold and he'd realized who she was. In fact, she'd pretty much just taken everything that he'd dished out. Sure, he'd searched her out and apologized, but she hadn't insisted on it and she'd forgiven him immediately.
Had she not been that bothered by it? Or was she just not the type to hold a grudge once she'd received an apology?
Or had she just sat on her emotions, the way his mother always had, rather than standing up for herself?
The various scenarios whirled around his head, eventually dragging him down into an uneasy sleep where his dreams were filled with running through the fog, a glass slipper in his hand, trying to find Angel, knowing that she was nearby but refusing to answer when he yelled her name. Needless to say, it was not a restful night.
******
"And tonight's gonna be a GOOD GOOD niiiiight!" Angel bounced as she parked the car in front of the apartment building.
She could understand why Lexie hadn't wanted to share the address with Patrick or any of her other "sentinels." It wasn't a terrible neighborhood, but it wasn't the best either. Definitely not the kind of place that Angel would feel comfortable going running at night in. Not that running at night was particularly safe in the first place, but it was true that it was safer in some neighborhoods than others.
As much as she wanted to sit in her car and finish out the song, she also knew that wasn't the best idea. Sometimes the whole proactive self-defense thing could take all the fun away from simple things. Was it likely that someone would come and car jack her while she was sitting and dancing in front of an apartment building? No. But she didn't want to be a statistic either.
Lexie had better be the first person enrolled in her self-defense class, Angel thought. Yesterday she'd talked on the phone with Patrick about it, they were going to start advertising soon. Monday and Wednesday nights. Which was good because it gave her something to do while Adam was at Liam's dojo on Wednesdays.
Silly, but she'd missed him this week even though she'd ended up seeing him yesterday. It was probably a good thing they'd had an evening completely apart. Things were moving fast. And by things, she meant her emotions. Yesterday it had seemed like he'd pulled away a bit. There was nothing she could put her finger on. He'd probably just been distracted by something at work. But she just didn't like feeling like she was falling in love with him - okay, was probably basically halfway there if not more - without knowing how he felt.
Not that she had any idea how to bring up that conversation.
Sighing, she grabbed the folding chair she'd brought from her backseat, along with the bottles of wine - one white, one red - and headed towards the front of the building.
******
Lexie hadn't been kidding when she said she didn't have any furniture. Since Jessica and Hilary had just gotten there right before Angel, and Olivia ended up practically following her into the building, they all got the grand tour together. Which consisted of being shown the bathroom and the tiny kitchen, which kept the small space from being considered an efficiency.
There was a mattress in the corner for her to sleep on, a large television set up on what looked like a pretty decrepit coffee table, and some cushions and blankets scattered in front of it. The tiny kitchen was fully stocked though, with the important things.
"Found it!" Lexie tossed the wine key to Olivia.
Angel just shook her head. "This is why twist off tops are the best."
"Corks are classier."
"But ultimately useless now that most wines are made to be drunk within a couple of years rather than being stored for decades."
"I should have known! He's corrupted you already," Olivia accused, waving the wine key at her threateningly. Angel cracked up, because she couldn't deny that her opinion definitely came from Adam - heck, she hadn't known why some bottles came with twist offs and some came corked until him.
"Come on you guys, bring out the glasses!" Jessica called from the other room.
With the wine key in one hand, wine glass in the other, Olivia sauntered out of the tiny kitchen, Angel and Lexie following her.
"So you don't have a couch, but you have wine glasses," Hilary said, giggling as she sat down on the chair she'd brought, accepting the glass that Angel had brought her. "Thank you." The soft pink sweater she was wearing set off her blonde good looks; she might be one of the most sincerely nice people that Angel had ever met.
"Priorities," Lexie responded cheerfully as she plopped herself down on the floor after handing Jessica a glass. Angel sat down next to her, feeling a little awkward about sitting in her chair when Lexie was on the floor; Jessica sat down too. Looking down at them, Olivia snorted and sat in her chair.
Even though she was relaxed, wearing blue jeans and a blue long sleeved t-shirt, Olivia still couldn't be mistaken for anything but a take charge woman. Then again, Angel knew she appeared that way sometimes too. She just didn't like taking charge in the bedroom or in a relationship. Pretty much anywhere else she was okay with it.
The redhead eyed the line of wine bottles that they'd all brought. Since everyone had apparently decided to bring at least two bottles, it was quite a little array they'd gathered.
"There is more wine here than we could possibly drink in one night."
"Challenge accepted!" Jessica and Hilary's voices echoed through the apartment and they all cracked up.
"Are we going to make it out tonight if we do?" Angel asked, laughing. They'd all brought clothes to change into in case they decided to go out, but she didn't think she would make it if they were seriously going to drink all that wine.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Lexie said cheerfully. "I don't know about you guys, but I definitely intend to get hammered tonight."
"At least if we go out, it can't possibly be as dramatic as last time," Jessica said. She looked at Angel and shook her head. "Last time we had a girls’ night out, my asshole ex-boyfriend ended up at the same club as us and tried to get in my face. And then Lexie got in his face."
"And then the guys showed up and Olivia finally came back from paying the bar tab," Hilary added cheerfully. "It was a hot mess."
That led to a much more in depth recitation of how Jessica had ended up with Chris and Justin and Hilary with Liam than Angel had gotten to hear before when the guys were around. Which was fascinating. The Venus School sounded amazing, although Angel didn't really feel the need to go there... although if things didn't work out between her and Adam...
What impressed her the most was how at ease everyone was with Jessica's decision to be with two men. Hilary admitted that she hadn't been too sure about it at the beginning, but she'd supported her friend and now she could see how well the relationship worked. Not that they had everything worked out; Angel could see that Chris' estrangement from her family pained Jessica, even though she didn't say it outright.
Hilary and Liam's story was a little bit more conventional. And then it was Angel's turn to divulge the full story of how she and Adam met and got together; which included some revelations from Olivia.
"You should have seen him when you answered your phone with 'Pretty boy!'" Olivia cackled. "He actually pouted."
"I would give anything to see Adam pouting," Lexie said, giggling madly. Tipping the rest of her wine into her mouth, she looked mournfully at her empty glass. "All this talking is thirsty work. Should I open another bottle of wine?"
"Am I drunk yet?" Angel asked, thrusting out her own empty glass.
All of them dissolved into laughter again.
"Sho
uld we order some food?" Jessica asked. "I could go for some pizza or Chinese or something to help soak up all this wine."
"That depends, are we staying here, or going out?"
They all looked at the line of wine bottles, of which they'd only worked through about a third so far.
"Staying in!"
******
Pizza arrived, they put on Princess Diaries 2, and no one paid attention to the movie because they were all too busy talking. Okay, they paid some attention to the movie whenever there was something worth watching on it. Like anytime Chris Pine was on screen. Even if he was ridiculously young in the movie, they all knew what he looked like now so it didn't matter that he was practically a baby back when the movie had been made.
But mostly they talked. And Angel reveled in the girl gossip. Especially since she was getting all sorts of insights into the group of men that Adam was friends with, and some insights into Adam himself. She was amused to find out that Jessica and Hilary had both been intimidated by him, although she could understand why. Still, Justin was just as intimidating and it's not like Chris and Liam were exactly pushovers. Lexie and Olivia, who had known him for longer, mostly seemed amused by Angel's effect on him.
"In a good way," Lexie reassured her. "It's just nice to see him loosen up a little. Hell, he needed it."
"Poor Rick though," Olivia said with a laugh. "He got all of the guys to come down to Virginia with him and Adam was the one who walked away with the girl!"
"Yeah, we need to find Rick someone good once he moves up here," Jessica said. She looked at Angel, hazel eyes sparkling with interest. "What about your friend Leigh?"
"Back with her ex," Angel said a little glumly. "I wouldn't recommend her anyway, not until she and Michael finally finish their little carousel ride."
"That's a good way of putting it," Lexie said. "Reminds me of Jared and Marissa."
"Yeah, I had the same thought when Adam told me about them. I don't really get their relationship. Or Leigh and Michael's."
"I try not to be too judgmental, since a lot of people don't get my relationship," Jessica said thoughtfully. Leaning back against a pile of cushions, her curls tumbled about her face, she looked extremely relaxed but a little sad. "Sometimes I don't get my relationship."
"What do you mean by that? I thought everything was going well." Lexie shifted over, putting her hand on Jessica's thigh and looking concerned. Next to them, Hilary sighed and stretched.
"It is... it's just..." Jessica threw up her hands in slightly drunken frustration. "They won't talk about the future. I get the feeling that they don't want to even think about it. Sometimes one of them will say something about marriage or kids, but the second I try to actually turn it into a conversation they change the topic or... well... you know." The fact that she could still blush when talking about sex was pretty darn cute Angel thought. "They know it bothers me, but they still won't talk to me about it."
"Maybe they don't realize how much it bothers you."
"How can they not know that it bothers me that we don't talk about the future? When we first got together, we always talked things out. Now they just keep shutting me down every time I try. When I first seriously thought about being a threesome instead of a couple, I always worried about not being enough for them or coming between them. I didn't want them to feel like they had to compete over me or like I loved one of them more than the other. Now I feel like there's no way I need to worry about driving a wedge between them, because I'm the one getting left out!"
"Have you ever specifically told them that it bothers you? Or do you let them shut you down."
The pretty brunette pursed her lips, looking both thoughtful and defensive. She sighed. "I let them distract me."
Lexie shook her head. "Okay, lesson number one for the night. Boys are not psychic."
"You know, you probably shouldn't give out advice that you don't follow," Olivia said mildly, swirling the red wine in her glass. She was looking up in the air, her tone as innocuous and innocent as possible.
"Shut it," Lexie said glaring. "I'm... I'm just shy."
The tension in the air broken as everyone cracked up again. Except for Lexie, although even she was giggling, her pale skin splotched with pink. She didn't blush pretty at all, but there was still something endearing about that.
"Look," said Olivia finally, still chuckling every time she looked at Lexie. "Thought we adore men individually, as a group, I'm sure we're all aware, they're kind of stupid. And Jess, you unfortunately always have to deal with them as a group, albeit a small one. Worse, they're a dominant group. Which means that if something is bothering you, and you hide it, they're probably going to operating on the mentality that everything is just fine because they're taking care of it. At least, they think they are"
"That's what I was trying to say," Lexie complained.
"If they're not talking to you about something," Olivia continued, ignoring Lexie, "then it's probably because they think they have it covered. If that bothers you, then you need to let them know because otherwise they're just going to keep doing it."
"But how am I supposed to force them to talk about it when every time I try to, they just start kissing me and then... you know."
"You could always tie them to the bed while they're sleeping and then wake them up to start the conversation," Angel suggested. Everyone stared. Not at her, but at Olivia who had just literally fallen off of her chair because she was laughing so hard - which of course started the rest of them laughing again.
"Oh god..." Olivia gasped out between burbles of hysterical laughter. "I can just see it... tied up... side by side..."
"Stop... oh god, stop it hurts!" Jessica had tears streaming down her face. Angel couldn't even say anything she was laughing so hard at the picture in her mind - which she somehow hadn't even considered before she'd suggested the tactic. There was no doubt that they would both be furious.
She wondered what Adam's reaction would be to something like that. Sure it'd be hot as hell to have him at her mercy, but she knew half the reason she'd be turned on by it would be because she'd be thinking about what he might do in retribution. Very, very bad things.
"I wonder what would happen if I tried that," Lexie said. Hilary actually half-screamed with drunken delight before she rolled back and forth, her hands on her stomach as she laughed. None of them could talk. While it hadn't explicitly been said outright tonight, it was very clear to all of them exactly who Lexie would want to try that on.
Angel thought she had balls for even imagining it.
"If you ever do that, you have to take a picture of his face!"
"If any of us ever do that..."
"Well, except for Olivia, that's the norm for her."
"Ok, Liv, if you ever have a sub and -"
"None of them of them would dare." The way Olivia drew herself up, regally disapproving, had all of them sucking in their breath for a moment, worried that they'd gone too far. Then her eyes sparkled and she burst out laughing again. "Oh my god, your faces..."
By the time Angel drunkenly slid into sleep, her head pillowed on Jessica's arm, she realized that for the first time she'd had a ladies' night with a group of girls where she truly liked every single one of them. It was a novel experience. She was sad that Leigh hadn't been there to share it.
Chapter 26
The morning after involved going to a nearby diner, a lot less conversation and a lot of vows about never drinking that much wine again. Afterwards Angel went over to Adam’s. To her surprise, he wasn’t at all interested in going to Stronghold again that night, even though Rick went. Instead they ended up curled up on his couch, watching Condor Man, one of his favorite movies from childhood. It was silly and ridiculous and a lot of fun. And after it was over he took her up to his bedroom and paid her back for every single teasing remark she'd made during it.
******
A week later, Adam was sitting at the Stronghold bar, chatting with some of the Doms that were there while
he waited impatiently for Angel. Not that she was late, he was just feeling impatient because she'd spent the evening before and all of today with her friend Leigh. He'd gotten a lot done around his house but he'd missed her presence. It had only taken a couple of weeks for him to get used to having her with him all weekend.
They'd had another good week together. And he was still trying to convince himself that all the smooth sailing wasn't a bad thing. Just because it kind of reminded him of his parents and the way his dad had thought everything was fine when it really wasn't, that didn't necessarily mean that something was wrong. Maybe everything really was fine. Sometimes he felt like there was no possible way one of them wouldn’t mess things up. Maybe this was why he hadn’t had a real relationship in a while, the risk to his emotions were high. The more invested he became in her, the more worried he became that something was going to go wrong.
"Hey man, can I talk to you for a second?"
Adam swiveled around on his stool to face Patrick. Excusing himself from the other Doms, he and Patrick moved away towards the less populated side of the bar, closer to the entrance. Since Andrew was running late, everyone was down on Mistress Lisa's side of the bar.
Just then, Angel came in through the entrance, her face lighting up when she saw him, followed by Liam, Hilary and Michael. The tall lanky Dom hadn't been to Stronghold in a couple of weeks, Adam realized. Angel had mentioned that he was busy most evenings. Although he'd been showing up and doing good work at his temp position, Adam had already been contacted by the company that Michael was currently contracted to. They liked him a lot.
He was pleased to realize that it didn't bother him at all that Angel and Michael had shown up at the same time. Smiling back at Angel, he waved a hand at the others as his pretty little sub came and snuggled up under his arm. She was wearing a soft dark green velvet bustier, rather than one of her corsets, and a short black skirt. While he liked her corsets, if they were going to play then the bustier was a lot easier for him to get into. Last week when he'd chosen her outfit he'd known that she was surprised he'd picked something that was almost modest. Not that he didn't like the blatantly sexy as well, but he knew that she would choose that on her own, which made him want to see her in something slightly different. Today's outfit was almost a mix between the extremes.
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