by Golden Angel
"Pretty good, how about you? I didn't get you into too much trouble on Friday, did I?"
Hilary just laughed, which made Lexie feel better. At least with Angel and Jessica, Lexie had been able to see what their punishments were. Since Liam and Rick had dragged their girlfriends away, and Lexie hadn't had a chance to call them yet, she wasn't sure what their punishments ended up being. Rick, especially, could be a bastard when it came to punishments, especially because Lexie had heard that one of his kinks was orgasm denial. She should really call Maria and make sure she was doing okay.
"No, Liam was pissed, but he had mostly calmed down by the time we got home. I got a bit of a spanking, but it wasn't too bad, I'm sure the other girls got worse." There was something in Hilary's voice that made Lexie think the honey-blonde was also feeling a little bit guilty. She just wasn't set up for serious kink in a lot of ways. She liked being dominated, but most of her and Liam's play consisted of role-play and him bossing her around. Lexie knew none of the others would think that Hilary had gotten off easy though. Since Hilary didn't enjoy pain, any kind of spanking punishment was much more influential on her than it would be on a spankophile like Angel.
"Glad to hear it," Lexie said, hoping to relieve Hilary of some of her guilt. "I hung out with Angel last night and she seemed pretty happy."
"Oh good. Jessica said her butt was smarting this weekend, but she didn't sound like it was necessarily a bad thing," Hilary said, making Lexie feel even better. "The only person I haven't talked to is Maria. I should really call her."
"I was just thinking that too," Lexie said, giggling a bit. She really liked how all the Stronghold girls watched out for each other. Sure, they were kind forced into hanging out by default, because of the guys, but there was definite genuine affection and friendship on all their parts. She just had to look at Jared's on-again, off-again girlfriend Marissa, who never hung out with the group because everyone hated her, to know how special that was.
"Anyway, I was calling because I have a very important question to ask you..." Hilary let her voice trail off expectantly, obviously waiting for Lexie to ask what she wanted. Even without knowing what was going on, Lexie felt the stirrings of excitement. That was just how girls worked. When something big was coming, they liked to draw it out.
"Oh yeah?" Lexie feigned nonchalance. "What important question?"
"Will you be a bridesmaid in my-"
"Oh my god, YES! Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!" Lexie cut Hilary off, jumping around the kitchen and thrusting her spoon in the air. Tears sparked in her eyes from both excitement and warmth. She considered the Stronghold girls to be her best friends now, but she knew that, other than Angel, they all had female friends outside of the club. The fact that Hilary considered her a good enough friend to ask her to be a bridesmaid was a huge honor, and it made her feel all warm and fuzzy and weepy inside. On the other end of the line Hilary was laughing in delight. Lexie didn't care that she was providing her friend with amusement, this was just too, too good to be anything but exuberant about. "I am so honored! And excited!!!"
"I'm excited too!" Hilary said with a bit of a squeal. "There's a pretty big group of you, so be prepared. Jessica's my Maid of Honor of course, and I've asked Angel to be a bridesmaid as well, my friends Brooke and Cassie, and three of my cousins."
Lexie did a quick count in her head as Hilary rattled them off. "Holy crap, that's eight of us!"
"I know," Hilary said, and Lexie could practically hear the other woman rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't have included by cousins, but my mom got all wedding Nazi about having even sides. It doesn't matter to me, but it matters to her... and it is nice they're included, I just originally wanted a smaller bridal party." Her voice turned a little bit smug. "Liam's going to have Olivia as one of his groomsmen, and he's insisting that she choose whether or not to wear a bridesmaid dress or a tux, so at least I get to watch my mom struggle with that."
Ha. Hilary's parents were pretty rich. Well, mostly her mom. She had some major trust funds, apparently, and spent a lot of time doing charity work and was a really good person, but she also had certain ideas about the way things should be done. On the other side of the equation was Hilary's father, who was a university professor, and didn't seem to care the slightest about his wife's social rules. Most of the time, Hilary was pretty good about following 'the rules,' but Lexie could see some epic battles coming up with the wedding planning.
"Are you guys paying for the wedding or are your parents?" Because that always made a difference.
"They are. I mean, we could pay for it on our own and, I thought about it, but honestly it's better to just let my mom have this. We can invite everyone that we want to, even if it does mean some extra hassle on some things, but it’ll be amazing. She keeps insisting that she's going to let us make all the decisions, even though she pushed for the even numbered sides of the wedding party. I didn't have anything against even sides, so that one just isn’t worth fighting, but I could practically hear her grinding her teeth over Olivia in a tux," Hilary said, sounding somewhere between exasperated and amused. "My parents paying does means we can invite everyone that we really want to, which we wouldn't be able to afford if we were paying for it on our own. I don't care if she has input on a lot of stuff, but there are certain things that I am not going to compromise on. Olivia being one of Liam's groomsmen is one of them."
"She'll make a hot groomsman," Lexie said. "Five bucks she chooses the tux."
"I am so not taking that bet," Hilary said, snickering. She sighed. "I'm feeling kind of bad about not having Maria as part of my bridal party, because I already feel really close to her, and I think we'd probably stay friends even if she and Rick broke up, but we're not actually close yet, you know?"
"Don't worry about it," Lexie said, reassuringly. "We just met her a few months ago, I seriously doubt she expects to be asked to be bridesmaid."
"That's what Jessica said too." Hilary still didn't sound entirely convinced though.
"She'll be fine, trust me. I didn't think I was going to be a bridesmaid, and I was fine with that. The important thing is being invited and getting to be there. She's still going to get to come to the wedding, and the bridal shower and the bachelorette party, right?"
"Yeah, and the rehearsal dinner as Rick's date."
"Are you going to do that stupid thing with the head table where you don't let the wedding party's dates sit with them?"
Hilary laughed. "Trust you to come up with the most insulting way to ask that. No, we're not. We've been talking about it, and I don't think we even want a head table. It would have to be a mile long, and I am not separating people from their dates. That's not an honor, it's just rude. Even my mom agrees that it's an antiquated tradition."
Antiquated. Now there was a word that Lexie didn't hear often, but that was Hilary through and through. Her dad used a lot of old fashioned sayings and terms and so did Hilary. Liam was picking up on them too, along with the rest of the group to a lesser degree.
"So she's going to be involved in every step of the wedding process anyway, except that she doesn't have to spend money or plan anything on the parties, and she gets to wear whatever dress she wants the day of. She'll be thrilled."
"Good grief, you make being a bridesmaid sound awful," Hilary said, giggling. "Can you please say that in front of my mom? She'd probably faint."
"I'll try to work it in sometime."
"You are going to get to choose your dress though. My mom has agreed to pay for them just so we can pick them from this fancy boutique that she likes without you guys having to shell out an arm and a leg - I told her it was that or David's Bridal because I wasn't going to make you guys pay something ridiculous for a dress - and I'm just going to choose a color and you can get whatever style you want. Oh, as long as it's floor length." Hilary rolled her eyes again. At least, Lexie was pretty sure that she did. Even though she couldn't see Hilary, she could just sense it.
"Awesome," Lexie said, a bit relieved. Eve
n though she'd never seen Hilary's cousins, the other bridesmaids that she did know (and she'd met Cassie and Brooke once) all had very different body types. Lexie was definitely the smallest, in every way, and a lot of the dresses that would look gorgeous on the others wouldn't look good at all on her.
They chatted for a little bit longer as Lexie filled Hilary in on the new arrangement with Patrick. Of course Hilary was excited for her, although a little bit worried about breaking the news to Liam. All of the guys were so overprotective of Lexie. Didn't any of them worry that maybe she could do Patrick some damage? She scowled a bit as she hung up her phone and put it back in her pocket.
It was definitely Ramen time.
******
Tuesday night found Patrick feeling much more settled. The swinging group that came in on Tuesdays were easy to deal with. They basically just wanted a place where they could meet up that was neutral territory. The bar was in full swing (no pun intended) as well as the dance floor, and the theme rooms were always popular. Especially the one with the giant bed and the video feed to the movie theater. The swingers were easy to deal with, especially because he didn't need Dungeon Monitors since they basically just rented out the club and policed themselves.
The easy night wasn't why he felt settled though, it was because Lexie was back at the front desk where she belonged. Wearing appropriate clothing. She rarely wore her sexiest stuff on Tuesdays anyway. The tight, v-neck t-shirt she was wearing was hot on her, but it wasn't an article of clothing that would be classified as sexy.
Just knowing she was there, back under his jurisdiction, made him feel better. Some people might think it was a little stalkerish, his always wanting her where he could see her, he just figured it was common sense. Lexie had a penchant for getting into trouble. Okay, maybe not trouble, but things he'd rather she didn't do. That was how she'd found out what kind of club he owned in the first place. Plus, he'd picked her up from countless girls’ nights where she'd been too drunk to drive. The guys always kept some kind of watch on girls’ nights, ever since Jessica's ex had nearly gotten into a physical altercation with them at a club.
He grinned, remembering how pissed Lexie had been when he'd shown up, tucked her under his arm, and literally carried her away from the douche. Drunken Lexie was a little warmonger when she wanted to be. Of course, she'd turned that on him when he'd picked her up from Rick's over the summer. She'd gone with Angel and Maria to confront him about the fact that he was being an ass when it came to Maria. Not that it was her or Angel's business, but they'd gone anyway. Rick had texted Patrick and Adam, and they'd immediately shown up.
Lexie had ended up spending the night at his place, in his guest room, because she'd been way too drunk to drive, and she'd refused to let him take her to her apartment. Of course, now that he'd seen it, he understood why, but that night she'd insisted that she didn't want to go home and be alone. Thankfully, she'd passed out in his car before she could make a move on the sexual interest that had been in her eyes when he'd first carried her out.
She'd slept over. Not for the first time. In the morning he'd made her breakfast and kept everything carefully platonic. Just taking care of her fed some of his basic emotional needs, if he was honest with himself. Just like having her in his club, under his control, did.
Of course, on Thursday he was going to have to deal with the other side of that equation.
With a groan, he decided he was going to take a break for a beer. The bar was looking more sparse now as the couples paired off, hitting either the dance floor or one of the theme rooms. They tended to spend a fair amount of time in the bar at the beginning and end of the night, but there was always some time in between where everyone was otherwise occupied.
Andrew stood behind the bar, wiping down the gleaming wood surface in preparation for the second, later rush. He looked up as Patrick approached.
"Beer?"
"Yep."
Reaching under the bar, Andrew pulled out a bottle and popped off the top before sliding a coaster in front of Patrick as he sat down and placing the bottle in front of him.
"Thanks."
"No problem. So Lexie's back?"
"Yep."
"You're gonna train her?"
"Yep."
Patrick took a long pull of beer while Andrew ran his bar cloth over the same spot over and over again. Looking up to see his friend's expression, expecting the same condemnation that Adam had felt, he almost groaned at the look of amusement on Andrew's face. Yeah, he was glad to see his friend acting like his old self and becoming less serious and less depressed, but at the same time, he so did not need to deal with his sense of humor. At least Chris wasn't here. The two of them together were like two rowdy teenage boys sometimes.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Andrew finally asked, but he sounded more like someone anticipating watching a particularly entertaining movie rather than a big brother protecting his sister. Not exactly what Patrick had expected, even from Andrew.
"Why are you taking this so well? I thought you didn't want her in the club."
Andrew shrugged. "I never said that, exactly."
"You were trying to keep her out on Friday."
"That's because she was with Michael."
"I thought you liked Michael." Dammit. Patrick was starting to feel a stronger urge to drink. Talking to Andrew was going to give him a headache. The more frustrated he got, the more amused Andrew looked.
"I do. But I didn't think you'd want her going downstairs with Michael."
Patrick jerked his chin up challengingly. "So you don't care if Lexie comes into the club, gets tied up, whipped and fucked senseless, as long as I'm the one doing it."
Coughing and laughing at the same time, partially in shock, Andrew leaned against the bar and gave Patrick a big grin. Big enough that the corners of his eyes crinkled. "Better not say it that way to Adam or Justin, they're liable to try and kick your ass."
"But not you."
"I haven't been around the past few years," Andrew reminded him, straightening and grabbing his own beer from under the bar. Apparently he realized that Patrick was settling in for a long talk. "Being up in New York and then coming home... every time I visited there were major changes in our girl. You guys didn't see them, because you were around her all the time, but every time I saw her I had to adjust to a new Lexie that was just a little bit more grown up." He shrugged. "So I deal with it better than the rest of you, because when the changes are gradual, it's easy to miss them completely. Plus, unlike the rest of you assholes, I've got my own little sister to worry about, and Iris is a hell of a lot more trouble than Lexie is."
Huffing a laugh, Patrick lifted his beer in acknowledgment of that point. All of them knew that part of the reason Andrew had come home was to help out his family. His dad was getting on in years and having some trouble, especially when it came to Iris, who had been running wild since their mother died. When Andrew and Katherine, his ex, had been together, Iris had idolized her, and she'd taken their break-up pretty badly. She'd also blamed Andrew for the loss of a second mother figure to her.
"Well at least one of you isn't going to hate me for training her," Patrick said, sighing a bit. He didn't like to think of the stress that this was going to put on his friendships. "Although I can always hide behind Olivia, I guess." Both of them chuckled at that, because they knew Patrick would never actually do that… but the truth was, she'd probably be even more effective than him at putting the other guys in their place.
"No one hates you, they're just worried," Andrew said. His tone was more matter-of-fact than reassuring though. "They don't like the idea that Lexie's all grown up, and they're worried about what she'll do to you."
"What she'll do to me?" Patrick asked, raising his eyebrows. That was definitely not what he'd been expecting to hear. This little impromptu chat with Andrew was digging up all sorts of revelations. "Not what I'll do to her?"
"Of course not," Andrew scoffed. "We all know you'll handle her with
kid gloves. Heck, if anything, you're too lenient with her sometimes. Nah, they're worried what it'll do to you if things don't work out. Or if Jake has a problem with you training her."
"Do you think he will?" Patrick asked. It was a moment of vulnerability for him, because he would have never asked that question normally. He went through life confident, choosing his path and, once set on it, never questioning his decision. But Andrew had just reminded him that, out of all their friends, he had the true big brother perspective and Patrick needed to know. "What would you think of one of us wanted to bring Iris to Stronghold?"
"You're all too old and perverted for her," Andrew said immediately, pointing a big brotherly warning finger at Patrick in jest. "Seriously though? I don't want to know that much about what my sister likes... ah... in the bedroom. I also automatically don't like any guy she dates. Then again, the guys she dates are all douchebags."
"Yeah, but are they douchebags because they're assholes, or are they douchebags because they're dating your sister?" Patrick muttered, taking another fortifying swig of beer. He could only imagine what hoops Andrew made his sister's boyfriends jump through when meeting him.
"A little bit of both," Andrew admitted. "I dunno... if one of our friends wanted to date her, I'd struggle with it. But that has as much to do with the age difference as anything. On the other hand, it might do Iris some good to have a boyfriend that she couldn't just push around and bend to her whim when she wants to run wild. She could probably use a spanking. Or three."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to hope Jake will be as open-minded as you are." Catching what he just said, Patrick coughed. He hadn't meant to admit that he wanted to date Lexie. Even though he knew Andrew knew. It just made him feel better to leave that off the conversational table until he had a chance to talk with Jake about it. Jake should be the first guy he openly talked about it with. "I mean, about me training Lexie."
"Uh huh." Andrew's dark eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth as Patrick let out a little growling sound.
