Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4)

by Golden Angel

  Fortunately, while she was trying to decide if she should bring any more booze, Freddy texted her back and said he could cover. She sent him a thank you, in all capital letters, grabbed what she already had in her bag, and got out the door.

  ******

  The club was packed, as usual, since it was Saturday night. Patrick found himself at the bar, trying not to scowl. It had taken him a few hours to admit it, but he missed Lexie's presence there. The text messages she'd sent him today hadn't just caught him off guard, they'd pleased him. More than they should have. Sneaky little brat had even sassed him with a perfectly respectful answer.

  To his surprise, Jared was sitting at the bar too. Will was on door duty, so Patrick honestly hadn't expected to see Jared here tonight. The big Dom rarely came in unless he could play. It was no fun to be in a BDSM club feeling like a little kid with his nose pressed against the window. Which was the exact spot Patrick was in right now, he realized. Andrew was at Jared's end of the bar, chatting with Jared when he could, although the members who had finished their scenes and could now drink were keeping him busy. The big man was resting on his elbows, staring at the wood grain of the bar, and toying with his drink rather than actually drinking it. The two ice cubes that he always had with his scotch had already melted into the liquid. Not good.

  "Hey man, what's up?" Patrick asked, sitting down at the bar stool next to Jared. He gave a finger wave to Andrew, gesturing towards the tap. Andrew would know to bring him any of the darker beers.

  Jared didn't even try to prevaricate. Wasn't really his style. "Marissa called me today. She's staying in California for another month. Got some kind of part in a play or something out there."

  "Does she want an open relationship again?" Patrick asked dryly, as Andrew appeared on the other side of the bar with his beer. Andrew snorted, looking contemptuous. He didn't even need to ask who Patrick was talking about. They all knew.

  "No, but I think I might," Jared muttered.

  Andrew and Patrick exchanged looks. This was new. Andrew had obviously already heard it tonight, which meant that, maybe this time, it wasn't just random venting. They could only hope.

  "I'm so fucking tired of this." Jared's fingers tightened around the glass. Fortunately, all the bar glasses were thick and supposed to be hard to break. It was just good business sense, and particularly fortunate in this case because Jared was definitely the most physically strong out of their group of friends. The thick, ropey muscles in his forearms tensed as he glared at the drink. "I think... I might finally be able to dump her. It's not like she needs me anymore. She can't possibly, she's never around."

  Patrick knew that was the hardest part for Jared in his relationship, trying to get out of it while Marissa insisted she still "needed" him. Granted, she was definitely a little unstable, but she was also narcissistic and manipulative. She liked to keep Jared hanging, someone she could always come back to, who would be there waiting for her no matter what. So far, he hadn't disappointed her.

  "Sometimes... " Jared's voice trailed off. Patrick waited patiently, not wanting to say anything. They never knew what might make Jared feel protective or defensive. Half the time he didn't seem to care that they verbally pounded on Marissa, the other half of the time it would get his back up and just seem to make him more determined to make things work with her. Whenever Olivia was involved, it was usually the latter. Of course, the fact that she called Marissa "Truck stop" didn't help. Looking at Andrew, he saw that the other man had come to the same conclusion and was just waiting patiently, not moving away in case it distracted Jared from whatever it was he needed to get out. "Sometimes I wish she would just get hit by a bus."

  It was so fucking unexpected that Patrick almost choked on his beer. Andrew looked like he was having a similar reaction, caught somewhere between laughter and worried horror.

  Looking up, Jared caught their expressions and laughed. "Don't look so worried, guys... I'd never push her in front of one. It would just be easier, you know? If one day she was just gone, and I didn't have to worry about her coming back."

  Because Jared sucked at breaking up with her. They all knew he'd tried before. Told them that he was going to. Somehow, she always came back. Like a bad penny, as Hilary would say. Patrick thought she was more like herpes.

  "Andrew... my hero... my love... beer me!" Adam appeared beside them, begging. Obviously he hadn't heard any of what was going on. The man looked wrecked. He was wearing a t-shirt, rather than one of his usual button-ups, and jeans. Which weren't zipped. And the expression on his face was a bit shell-shocked. He looked like he needed more than a beer.

  "Dude, XYZ," Patrick muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

  "Shit," Adam said, as he yanked it up. Jared burst out laughing, completely distracted from his own troubles as he looked Adam over. Picking up his scotch, the big man downed it like a shot. Didn't even flinch. Even more surprising, Adam didn't seem to notice.

  "What's with you?" Andrew asked, amused, as he pushed the beer across the bar top. Adam grasped it like a drowning man reaching for a lifeboat. He took a long gulp... and another... and another... when he put the glass back down, it was more than half gone.

  "There is an epic amount of man-hating going on at my house," Adam said solemnly. "I had to make a run for it. Things were getting out of hand, and anything with testosterone was going down."

  "Lexie's over there now," Patrick said, by way of explanation as Adam desperately gulped the rest of his beer. "She said that Leigh and Michael broke up, and Angel called an emergency girls' night."

  "Leigh? That's Angel's best friend right?" Jared asked, looking sympathetic. Of course he would.

  "You haven't met her yet, have you?" Andrew asked, shaking his head. "Poor thing, she's a sweetheart. From what I've heard, that ass didn't appreciate her anyway."

  "Yeah, but she's another long-term relationship casualty," Adam said, jerking his head at Jared. "Like this one here. They've been together almost seven years or something. From what I heard, he woke her up in bed this morning, told her he realized he'd fallen out of love with her, and that was that."

  "Dude..." Andrew breathed out the word in shock and horror.

  "What the fuck." Patrick slammed his hand down on the bar. He'd met Leigh. He liked the girl. Unlike Angel, she wasn't as outspoken, a lot less bratty, and kind of a pushover. He was pretty sure she was also submissive, which explained how she got stuck in a relationship with a guy who walked all over her, but seriously, what the fuck.

  "Who even does that?" Jared looked shocked out of his own misery, possibly by the idea that there was someone out there just as callous as his own girlfriend.

  ******

  "No, but seriously, who even does that?" Maria asked. She patted Leigh's arm drunkenly. "I mean, we don't really know each other and I've never met him, but... who does that?"

  "I know!" Leigh gestured wildly. They had taken over Adam's basement, with occasional trips upstairs for more provisions when necessary (mostly food, since all the alcohol was in the basement anyway.). When Angel had called in the troops, she'd really called in the troops. Apparently, she figured Leigh needed to be surrounded by all the Stronghold girls, even the ones she didn't know that well. Surprisingly, Leigh hadn't been at all upset that Angel had done that. She responded immediately to Maria's mothering presence and had spilled out the entire story, in detail, while Maria hugged her. Something that Angel hadn't been able to get her to do before that.

  Maybe it was just easier telling someone who didn't have any kind of stake in the events. It was around that time that Angel had started shouting and Adam had hid the knives before fleeing. Probably for the best, since Jessica and Lexie had both immediately picked up Angel's battle cry of "Stabby-Death."

  The amount of junk food that Leigh was consuming was a bit worrying, considering her high blood sugar, but Angel had quietly assured Lexie that she was keeping an eye on Leigh, when Lexie asked. Plus, a one night binge wasn’t a huge deal, as lo
ng as she was behaving the rest of the time. She had noticed that Angel had been steadily feeding Leigh cheese and crackers, rather than letting her go for the less substantial and less healthy offerings on the table. Leigh seemed completely oblivious. Of course, that might be because she was wasted.

  "Six years... more than six years! And then BOOM!" Leigh waved her hand. "I'm not in love with you anymore. Like... could that not have come out last night? Before we had sex?"

  "You had sex with him last night?" Hilary shrieked. She'd been mostly consoling and comforting Leigh, maybe thinking that someone in the room needed to not be on a murderous rampage. Looked like that was over. Also, apparently, Maria hadn't quite gotten the full story. But it was aaaaall coming out now. "And he dumped you this morning?"

  "Well, he didn't exactly dump me..." Leigh said, suddenly turning wistful and teary. "I dumped him after he said he wasn't in love with me, but it's not like I really had a choice. He said he still loves me, he's just not in love with me anymore. I can't stay in a relationship like that."

  "What, so he wanted to stay together? Even though he said he's not in love with you?" Angel's face was getting bright red; she really did look like she was going to stabby-death someone. “I know you said he’s been taking you for granted lately, but what the fuck?!”

  "He didn't really say, but he didn't say he wanted to break up either. It just sounded like he thought I should know."

  "All right. Where does this fucker live?" Olivia's voice sliced through the room, which immediately went silent. Those were the first words she'd said since arriving, when she'd hugged Leigh and said "I'm here for you, honey."

  The Domme was the only one not in pajamas. Everyone else had changed upon arrival and seeing that Leigh and Angel were wearing theirs, as if it was some kind of show of solidarity. Only Olivia hadn't changed, and she had obviously been getting ready to go to the club when she'd seen Angel's text. She had shown up last, and she was wearing leather pants and a tight black leather halter-top that pushed her breasts up. Sitting kind of apart from everyone, in a chair rather than on the sectional, she was resting one ankle on the opposite knee, her hands on her thighs, and she looked like a freaking assassin. Leather assassin. Lassassin. Lady assassin. Leather lady assassin.

  “No.” Leigh’s firm negation shook Lexie out of her drunken reverie. Reverie. Woo! “I don’t want anyone to hurt him.”

  The toothy grin that Olivia gave Leigh wasn't at all reassuring. "I didn't say anything about hurting him."

  "It's not his fault if he's not in love with me anymore." Leigh's mismatched eyes immediately filled with tears and Maria murmured something soothing, putting her arm around the other woman.

  "It's not yours either, bebé," Maria said, rubbing Leigh's shoulder. Angel immediately plunked herself down on the other side of Leigh, resuming her place. She'd been bobbing up and down depending on her level of anger and need to rant. Rubbing Leigh's thigh, she echoed the sentiment.

  "No, I know, I know," Leigh said, reassuring them. "But I don't want him hurt over it. I still love him even if he doesn't love me."

  The tears spilled over, and Angel and Maria immediately hugged her. Lexie looked over at Olivia, who seemed a bit frustrated. With the others taking care of mothering Leigh, it almost seemed like the Domme was at a bit of a loss what her role should be. Kicking Michael's ass would have been right up her alley, but Leigh was... well, even when she was angry she wasn't vengeful. It was kind of depressing, because Lexie could see herself in Leigh's position one day. If things didn't work out between her and Patrick, even if he hurt her, she wouldn't want anyone to give him grief over it.

  Still, she couldn't imagine Patrick ever being as fucked up about it as Michael had been. Like, really, who even did that?

  "Okay, that's enough of that," Olivia said firmly, pushing herself up from the chair. Hilary and Jessica exchanged knowing glances. They'd spent a lot of time with the Domme, since they used to work with her, and probably knew her better than anyone else in the room except Lexie. Olivia crossed the room in a few long steps, leaning over to put her hand under Leigh's chin and locking in her gaze. Despite Leigh's firmness a minute ago, she was completely pliable under Olivia's direction. Her big eyes looked up at Olivia, vulnerable and almost child-like. "You're going to stop moping and start being pissed, because what he did was shitty. No matter how much you love him, how he treated you was fucked up. And if you ever change your mind about having his ass kicked, I will be happy to oblige. Now. We're going upstairs. I'm going to heat up some chocolate and we're going to dip stuff in it until everybody feels better." Her voice dropped to a mutter as she straightened. "I know it'll help me feel better."

  Everyone sat in place staring at her. Olivia put her hands on her hips.

  "Move." Her voice snapped out like a drill sergeant’s and six subbies immediately jumped to their feet to obey. Lexie included Leigh in that count, because she definitely was even if she didn't realize it yet.

  They tumbled up the stairs like a pack of bumbling puppies with a wolf on their heels. Leather wolf lady assassin.

  "Holy fuck, she's scary," Leigh whispered to Lexie.

  "Right?" Lexie whispered back. "But she's right too. You should be pissed."

  "I'm having trouble getting past sad."

  Not for very long though. Olivia soon had them lined up around Adam's island, each with a drink, while she heated up some water with melting chocolate in a bowl above it. Lexie watched, fascinated by the process as Olivia dipped all sorts of things into the stuff and handed them out.

  Strawberries. Pound cake. Pretzels.

  Then Hilary handed her a celery stick, and things just went downhill from there. Angel broke out the leftover bacon from breakfast that morning. Jessica and Maria went rooting through Adam's cabinet. Lexie stayed with Leigh at the island, making sure she didn't slip back into despondency. The topic of conversation had somehow moved around to Lexie's training... then again, it wasn't too surprising, really. Leigh definitely had a fascination with the club and BDSM.

  "I think he's testing me," Lexie said, aware that everyone was listening even if they weren't all completely in tune with the conversation. "Trying me out and seeing if I can handle it. Why else would he have me in his office for hours last night? Doing nothing?"

  "How did you not get bored, that's what I want to know," Angel said, making a face as she coated strips of bacon with chocolate. Olivia was still stirring, ensuring the chocolate didn't stick to the glass bowl. "I mean, I know you guys have said he wants a full-time submissive, but if he doesn't actually have anything for you to do, shouldn't you get... I dunno, time off?"

  "I liked it," Lexie said, shrugging because she couldn't really explain why. "I was happy just being there. It was kind of like meditating except that I was super aware of him."

  "That doesn't sound very sexy," Leigh said, accepting a piece of chocolate covered bacon from Angel. She took a bite and moaned. "Holy guacamole, that's so wrong, it's right."

  "Gimme a bite," Lexie said, leaning over so that Leigh could put it in her mouth. Smokiness, salt and sweet exploded on her tongue. She wouldn't have tried it sober... but Leigh was right. It was fucking good.

  "I get it," Maria said, coming out of the cabinet with Jessica behind her. They were both holding various bags of snacks. Nuts, chips, dried cranberrries... "Sometimes Rick just leaves me tied up with a toy in me, and does his own thing. I don't get to cum, but waiting for him, knowing that he's thinking about me during that whole time... it's hot."

  "Yeah, but that's sexual," Angel countered. "It doesn't sound like anything about last night was sexual."

  "Submission isn't always about sex," Jessica chimed in, ripping open a bag of chips. Mmmm, more salty and sweet. They were going to need more chocolate soon. "Sometimes it's just about submitting. Patrick's a serious control freak. Even if something isn't overtly sexual, that doesn't mean it's not a turn on for him. Especially since Lexie isn't always exactly cooperative, which makes it
a bigger deal when she is."

  "Why does Patrick want that?" Maria asked, looking to Olivia for answers, as the only dominant in the room. "Is it just because he's Super Dom and the more dominant a guy is, the more control he needs to have?"

  "Nah, Adam's almost as Dommy, and he's fine just being dominant in a scene," Angel said, swiping her finger through the chocolate in the bowl and sucking it off before Olivia could manage to whack her hand with the plastic spoon. She winked at the Domme, who shook her head at her.

  "Do not ever let Adam hear you say he's 'Dommy,'" Olivia advised in a dry voice. "He's plenty controlling, you just don't always notice because he's a hell of a lot sneakier about it than Patrick." Angel scowled, looking like she was about to disagree, and Olivia raised an eyebrow at her. "When was the last time you hung out with any of your guy friends by yourself? Or made a new guy friend?"

  The shocked and disgruntled look on Angel's face made it pretty clear she hadn't even thought about either of those things and that the answer was – not since she started dating Adam. Lexie couldn't help but giggle, but that was okay because the others were too.

  "I think Patrick's a control freak partly because of his parents," Lexie said thoughtfully. "He's always been like that since I've known him."

  "What's with his parents?" Maria asked. "If it's not too nosy... were they super controlling to him?"

  Olivia shook her head as Lexie answered. "Just the opposite, they were barely in his life. He pretty much hung out with Jake and my family all the time, and, from what I can tell, my parents cared a hell of a lot more about what he was up to than his parents did. They're not unloving, exactly. When he got hurt in that sword fight with Jake, they were super upset and took care of him when he first got out of the hospital, but as soon as he was okay they went right back to being indifferent. He's just always had to take care of himself."