by Golden Angel
Something clicked in Jared's brain about what he'd just seen at the bar.
"Oh my god."
"What?" Startled, Lexie looked up at him, her eyes huge in her small face, with a slightly worried expression.
"Sharon's at the bar with Leigh, but I didn't see Kate... did they come in together when they got here?" Because they always came in together. They were living together, after all, so that only made sense, but they also never came to the club without each other. Maybe Sharon had wanted to come and Kate couldn't, but-
"Oh. My. God." And here Jared had thought Lexie's eyes couldn't get any bigger. She snatched up the phone, hitting a button, and then screeched. "Did you know that Andrew and Kate are scening together and not tell me?!"
Despite the fact that the front desk was across the room from where Jared was standing, and there was muffled noise coming from the club, he could still hear Patrick's roared response. "WHAT?!"
"Oh, okay, guess not." Lexie hurriedly hung up the phone. Jared guffawed.
"Did you just hang up on him?"
"Yeah... he's not going to want to talk to me right now. He's going to need to pace around his office for a bit, trying to figure out all the ways that could go horribly, horribly wrong and start thinking of contingency plans for every scenario."
Jared couldn’t help but laugh at how well Lexie knew her boyfriend. "You're probably right."
"Soo..." Even though they were alone, Lexie lowered her voice, leaning forward. "Do you think they're having ex sex like, right now?"
"How long has he had the room?" Jared asked. He'd only arrived ten minutes ago, allowing Will to go get a dinner break. Will would come back on door duty again later this evening, after his meal and probably a session with his girlfriend, Gina.
"Like, half an hour, but Sharon and Kate came in maybe fifteen..." Lexie glanced down at her computer screen again. "Twenty minutes ago."
"They might still be negotiating, unless they did that beforehand. Otherwise, considering that he's a sadist and she's a masochist, I doubt they've gotten right to the sex," Jared pointed out. "That's barely enough time to get her tied up and situated."
"Oh. True." Lexie looked a little disappointed. Then she perked up again. "They'll probably be doing it soon though. So um... speaking of exes... what do you want me to do about Marissa?"
A nagging little spike pricked into Jared's temple. Ugh. He'd been doing a good job not thinking about Marissa. "You mean if she shows up trying to chat again? Do whatever you want. If you want to blow her off, you don't need permission from me."
"Oh, okay, good," Lexie said with an exaggerated sigh of relief. "You deserve Leigh. She's so much better for you than Marissa."
"Does everyone really think I'm going to dump Leigh and get back together with Marissa?" he asked, frustrated. If everyone was sitting around doubting him and doubting his future, would that rub off on Leigh? He sure as hell didn't want it to. And he didn't really like what it said about his friends' thoughts on him.
"No, not really," Lexie said, making him feel marginally better. "It's just... I guess we feel like we have to make sure. And even when you and Truck Stop weren't together, you always wanted us to be nice to her." She eyed Jared, waiting for him to admonish her for using Olivia's nickname for Marissa. Her eyes widened in surprise and something like relief when she realized he wasn't going to. "Wow. So I really can say whatever I want to her, huh?"
"I'm done with her," he said firmly. "I have no say in how you treat her. Although I don't think that means you should be mean to someone for no reason, I have no real interest in the matter."
"Hallelu-"
The front door opened and, of course, Marissa walked in. Jared nearly groaned. Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Two of her friends came in behind her. Jared had very little to do with Caroline and Amy even when Marissa was home. Caroline was a mean-tempered switch who only came to Stronghold about once a month to indulge in her kink without the knowledge of her husband at home. While he wouldn't judge someone for needing at outlet, it did bother him when Marissa told him Caroline's husband had no idea what she did on her 'girls nights' and that Caroline tended to sleep with whoever she played with. It wasn't his business, but it didn't make him like her anymore. Amy was actually a very sweet submissive, who seemed to have just been swept up by Marissa and Caroline because they wanted someone to boss around. He actually felt sorry for her a lot of the time, but she did have other friends at the club she could hang out with, so that was her choice.
The three of them were dressed to kill under their coats, which Marissa and Caroline swept off almost immediately. His ex gave him a significant look as she posed, before slowly walking over to Lexie to sign in and check her coat. She was wearing a skimpy bra that barely covered her nipples, showing off the small mounds of her breasts, and a thong. At one point in his life, seeing her like that, about to enter the club without him, would have driven him crazy. He would have been pissed, aroused, and frustrated. Now, thinking about Leigh sitting at the bar in her green bustier and flirty black skirt that just barely covered her ass, he thought Marissa just looked like she was trying too hard by comparison. Seeing her like that didn't stir any emotions except maybe regret that she was still trying to twist him around and he knew that his indifference was going to hurt her.
Next to her, Caroline and Amy were both dressed a little more modestly, although they still looked incredible. The curviest of the three, Caroline was wearing a silvery grey corset that pushed up her breasts and brought out the highlights in her dark hair. Her long legs were encased in fishnets and very short leather shorts. Amy was wearing what almost looked like a teddy, except that it was made out of leather instead of satin or lace. It was a pretty hot look with her blonde hair and generous curves. He hoped, for her sake, that a Dom picked her up quickly so that she didn't have to spend her whole evening hanging out with the terrible twosome.
Posing provocatively, Marissa purposefully bent forward as she was signing in, like she was hoping the sight of her exposed ass with just the g-string between her cheeks would entice him. He'd never been more aware of how little he was attracted to her anymore. It wasn't her body - she looked fantastic - it was the history between them and her personality that had whittled down any physical desire that he'd felt for her in the past. Heck, the last time she'd been home and they were a couple, they'd barely ever even had sex. Neither of them had been all that interested.
"Hi Lexie," Marissa said, overly loud, as if she wanted to make sure Jared heard her being nice to his friend. "How are you tonight?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Jared could see Lexie give Marissa a scathing look. "I was better a few minutes ago. Now go away. I don't have to talk to you."
Marissa's head snapped around to look at Jared, to see his reaction. He kept his face blank and turned towards the front door. As far as he was concerned, what was going on between Lexie and the three women had nothing to do with him. He doubted Lexie would thank him for any interference anyway - and Marissa definitely wouldn't because he wouldn't be coming down on her side.
"Taking the homewrecker's side?" Caroline sneered, flicking a strand of dark hair over her shoulder. She put her hand on Marissa's back in a show of support. "How tacky."
"Not nearly as tacky as calling someone a homewrecker when that's a total lie," Lexie said with a derisive snort. "If Marissa didn't want someone to go out with her ex then maybe she shouldn't have spent so much time not in a relationship with him."
"Whatever, we all know what Marissa and Jared's relationship was," Caroline said. She shot a dark look over at Jared, which he ignored. "They were always on-again, off-again."
"Aren't you worried about your friend once Jared dumps her when he wants to be on again with Marissa?" asked Amy; and to her credit, she sounded sincere. It was obvious that she really thought Jared would eventually want to get back together with Marissa, and that he was being unfair leading Leigh along.
"I'm not going to dump Leigh
," he said, deciding it was time he joined the conversation. All three of the women turned to face him, moving closer. He kept his eyes on the door, not bothering to deign to look at them. "I like Leigh. I'm happy with her. Marissa and I are over and she needs to accept that and move on. I'm not doing the on-again, off-again thing anymore. Whatever has been tying us together over the years, it's broken now and I'm not interested in going back."
"You're so mean!" Marissa cried out, her voice full of actual tears, as she shoved past him and into the club. Caroline followed after her, glaring at Jared as she passed, and calling Marissa's name.
Which just left Amy. Surprisingly, Lexie was staying quiet behind her desk, just watching what was happening. He wouldn't be surprised if she was taking notes. As Amy stared up at him, Jared sighed internally and looked down at her. Her pretty face was thoughtful and concerned, her brow furrowed. Once he was meeting her gaze, she straightened a little.
"You're really not interested in getting back together with Marissa?"
"No. Not ever. I stopped being happy with her a long time ago. I realize we had a cycle, but the cycle was bad, and even though she thinks she's offering me everything I want, I don't want it with her. We just don't work together the way we wanted to."
Amy pursed her lips, giving him a sidelong look. "Alright. I think I believe you." She reached up and patted his shoulder. "I'll see what I can do."
He grabbed her hand as she removed it, turning towards her, and giving it a squeeze and a thankful smile. "You're a good friend, Amy. It's not that I don't care about her anymore, I do, but I don't want to be with her."
"I get that. Good luck, Jared." Giving him a wry smile, Amy pushed open the door to the club. The sound of a loud argument immediately filtered through and Jared froze, recognizing the voices, before turning and shoving his way through the door after Amy.
Aw fuck.
******
Sharon made a face as she looked over Leigh's shoulder, which of course immediately made Leigh turn to see what Sharon was looking at. Marissa was coming into the club dressed in next to nothing, and she looked upset. Following behind her was another woman, pretty and tall with brown hair that swung just past her shoulders, that Leigh didn't recognize, obviously trying to catch up with Marissa as she headed for the locker room.
"Great, the Wicked Witch of the East is here," said Sharon. She cocked her head as they watched the brunette catch up with Marissa, putting her arm around Marissa's shoulder as the two of them almost immediately exited the floor. "Going by how upset she is, I'm guessing that you don't need to worry about whatever went down between her and Jared in the lobby."
"I guess not," Leigh said, feeling strange. She was relieved and happy that Jared had obviously not been influenced by Marissa and her incredibly sexy outfit, but at the same time she felt bad that the other woman was so upset. On the other hand, that wasn't really her problem. She looked down at her own outfit. "Do you think I should have worn something sexier?"
"Nope, the sweetly innocent submissive look suits you," Sharon said immediately, turning her attention back to Leigh and shaking her head. "You've got the girl-next-door thing going on and I think Jared likes that better than if you were strutting around in something super skimpy."
"I hope so," Leigh muttered, because she didn't think she'd be comfortable trying to pull off the super skimpy look like Marissa. Even though she didn't want to pull of that look, it would be nice to think that she could if she wanted to.
A flash of bright, platinum blonde hair in her peripheral vision caught her eye and Leigh's head swiveled away from the door to the women's locker room and over to the staircase coming up from the Dungeon. Her eyes widened as Kate stormed into the room, Andrew hot on her heels, tall and tanned and looking just as pissed as the gorgeous blonde he was chasing.
It was like someone had turned down the radio, as every other conversation suddenly petered out, leaving just the soft strains of music that were always playing so that everyone could hear Kate and Andrew's angry words.
"None of them meant anything to me!"
"Is that somehow supposed to make things better?" Kate shot over her shoulder angrily.
"Does it?"
"No!" Whirling around, Kate stabbed her finger straight into Andrew's chest as he skidded to a halt. "What the fuck? Am I supposed to feel special or something, by the implication that I will somehow mean something and all the other women you've slept with haven't? All it does is make me feel disgusted to know that you've used women that way, that you take their submission for granted and don't even think of them with gratitude or respect when you're done with them."
"That's not... that's not what I meant!"
"Didn't you?"
Andrew loomed, glaring down at her and Leigh unconsciously held her breath, leaning forward as she watched the drama unraveling right in front of her. The air around Andrew and Kate seemed to crackle with tension. It was like they were unaware of their audience, like they were the only two people in the room and even as anger darkened their expressions, the sexual energy between them was palpable.
"I take care of every woman I'm with! They have no cause to complain, I give them exactly what I promise. They know that I'm not looking for more than the scene, I'm always up front about that. If I think they're starting to get attached, I cut them loose. I'm not responsible for any misunderstandings on their part."
"That's a lousy justification." The look Kate gave him now was of pure disgust. "You tell them up front so that you don't have to feel guilty if you hurt them. It's an excuse to behave as badly as you want without feeling bad about it later. Well guess what, that doesn't let you off the hook for hurting people. Just because you treat them like their feelings don't matter doesn't make it true."
"If you think so little of me then why the hell did you agree to a scene?" Andrew snarled at her, his fists clenched at his side. The absolute fury in his eyes was terrifying; Leigh didn't know how Kate was standing her ground, not looking even the tiniest bit intimidated despite the fact that Andrew was twice her size.
"Because I didn't realize making sex a hard limit would turn you into such a fucking baby! I agreed to a scene because I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of dominant you're like now, outside of sex. When I said I wanted to scene with you, I had no intention of hopping on the meat train. I wanted just that, a scene. You're the one making a big fucking deal about the sex."
With her hands on her hips, Kate glared up at Andrew while his jaw worked without emitting a single sound. His mouth opened and closed and he obviously couldn't think of a single retort.
Over in the Lounge area, one of the subbies started applauding, breaking the silence that was hanging in the air. Kate and Andrew both jumped, as if surprised by the sound, obviously not realizing that the entire club had stopped just to listen to them. Even Jared and Lexie were standing inside the door, watching with fascination, rather than being at their posts out in the lobby. Conversations suddenly spouted up again, muted, because everyone was waiting to see if the loud argument would continue.
Looking back at Andrew, Kate shook her head almost sadly. She said something quiet that no one else could hear and then started walking towards the women's locker room.
"Um, I'll be back," Sharon said to Leigh, hopping down from her bar stool. She paused. "Unless you want to come?"
"No, I'll stay right here for now," Leigh said, as Andrew looked over and met her gaze. The expression on his face was... beaten. Resigned. A little ashamed. That last had been a long time coming in her opinion, but she had a feeling he needed a shoulder to lean on as much as Kate did right now. Maybe more, because - after all the times someone had said something to him - it looked like the message had finally gotten through and hit home.
So Sharon trotted off after Kate, and Leigh sat there and waited for Andrew to make his way over to her. She glanced over at the door to the lobby, but saw that Jared and Lexie had disappeared, back to their jobs, now that the firewo
rks were over.
The big man folded himself onto the bar stool, not looking at Leigh as he did so. She turned, watching him as he stared down at the gleaming wooden surface of the bar, tapping his fingers against it, and she waited. Mostly because she really had no idea what to say. She agreed with everything Kate had said, but she also knew that Andrew wasn't a bad guy really. She was pretty sure he didn't mean to hurt any of the subbies - he just didn't really seem to particularly care if he did. Because Kate was right, he justified it to himself by 'warning' the women... but Leigh had seen how he treated the subs. He did treat them well, other than denying them aftercare.
Was it any surprise some of them started to fall for him?
He was sweet, funny, had that sexy brooding thing going on most of them, a bit of a mystery, and a lot of women probably wanted to be the one to break through the rules he always put up. Which was why Ellie was so suited to him as a play partner, since she had the same rules, but that didn't stop Andrew from playing with subs who were more soft-hearted, more easily attached.
Mistress Lisa passed by, sliding a beer bottle across the bar to Andrew without comment. Which was kind of surprising in and of itself. Andrew looked relieved.
He glanced at Leigh.
She cocked her head at him.
He sighed.
She raised her eyebrow.
"You agree with Kate, don't you?"
"I'm fairly certain all of us have expressed our... disapproval of your standard operating procedures at one point or another," Leigh said.
"You haven't before. Neither has Angel."
Leigh shrugged. "You never asked us. I'm pretty sure that's because you knew what we would say."
"And you and Angel never say anything without being asked."
"I wouldn't say never, but we do try to keep out of things unless invited."
