Pieces of Stronghold

by Golden Angel

  Leigh had a feeling that even if it had been Jared's ex that had stepped in and saved Leigh, Angel would have been pretty starry-eyed.

  Thank goodness it was Andrew's ex instead, and he didn't seem to have a problem with Kate, despite everyone's obvious expectations. Going by what she'd seen so far, Leigh was really going to like Kate. A lot. Of course, it did raise the question of why they broke up in the first place, but Leigh figured they'd find out eventually. All she would have to do is sit back and wait for Angel to get impatient for answers. Which wouldn't take long. Her best friend was a bit of a nosy bitch, and she was really good at getting people to talk.

  Leigh was also relieved to have the attention away from herself again. She felt like such an idiot. Not because she hadn't been able to get away from that asshole Dom - he had been much bigger and stronger than her - but because Angel's self-defense courses were all about situational awareness. The defensive moves she taught were a last resort. Leigh hadn't been able to utilize them very well when she'd been pinned against the car, but she couldn't help feeling a bit ashamed about getting pinned in the first place.

  She'd been so excited about seeing Jared that her head had been in the clouds. Stronghold was somewhere she'd always felt safe, despite the fact that she knew problems had arisen before. There had always been someone looking out for her here.

  Although, looking around the room, she doubted that would be a problem again. All of the Doms were on edge, and she was sure once word got around, over-protectiveness was going to be the byword for a while. Jared's fingers were stroking her shoulders, but she could feel the tension in them, despite how gentle he was being. Part of her really wished that he could hold her, the way Adam was protectively holding Angel, but it's not like Jared was her boyfriend. She wasn't even sure whether or not they'd actually been on a date. So she probably didn't rate protective hugging. Although, the shoulder massage was nice, so she'd take it.

  Lexie exclaimed over Kate's injured eye, and Andrew drew the two of them to the side to quietly update Lexie, while Patrick turned his attention back to Leigh.

  "Do you want me to call the cops?" he asked.

  "Is there a reason not to?" Angel interjected, looking furious, before Leigh had a chance to respond. Although she was going to say yes, of course, she realized that Angel had seen something she hadn't - Patrick was hesitant to. Adam smacked his girlfriend on the ass, and she winced. "Master Patrick."

  Patrick sighed. "Yes and no. Because of the security footage and Kath- Kate's injury, we definitely have a case - and I'm sorry that I didn't catch what was happening on the camera sooner - but there's no audio on the footage. Because of the nature of the club, and the possible prejudices of those who might prosecute or judge, he can make it into a he said-she said case. We do have some couples here who enjoy rape-play. Not to mention, BDSM makes for a sensational headline; Leigh could very easily end up in the papers."

  Immediately she paled, tensing at the thought. It was one thing to say that it wasn't anybody's business... reality was different. She was a teacher. High school students were difficult enough to deal with, much less their parents, all she needed was for them to find out that she went to a sex club in her free time. Even if she didn't get fired, the kids would be impossible to control after that.

  "What else can we do?" she asked. Off to the side Angel looked torn... which Leigh totally understood. Someone like Roland needed to be stopped, but at the same time, stopping him could completely upend Leigh's life. Like she hadn't already gone through enough of that in the past year. Not to mention that she kind of needed her job if she was ever going to move out of Adam's house.

  "We could pay him a little visit," Jared rumbled. Leigh scowled up at him.

  "I'm in," Andrew said from the other side of the room, obviously keeping an ear in both conversations.

  "In what?" Lexie asked. She and Kate both looked up, obviously confused. Leigh was happy to see that they seemed to be getting along well, now that they were talking.

  "No one's paying a little visit to anyone," Patrick said firmly. "I can contact the other clubs and make sure none of them let him in. They're a lot more lax about members and visitors, but knowing that he actually attacked and injured submissives isn't going to be tolerated by anyone in the area. Roland won't be welcome anywhere."

  "That might not stop him from hurting someone else though," Leigh said. Guilt welled up in her; what if she didn't report him and he did hurt someone?

  "You could make a report and decline to press charges," Kate said, obviously having caught up to what they were talking about. Everyone looked at her. "At least that way something's on file, even though you aren't pressing charges. Does that work here? I talked to a woman who had to do something similar. She worked in a senator's office and couldn't let it get out that she was kinky on the side, but she wanted to make sure that at least it was on record."

  "I'd be comfortable with that," Leigh said.

  "I'll report it then, and keep your name out of it," Patrick said. For a moment, Leigh thought about telling him she could handle that, but Jared's fingers pressed more firmly into her shoulder just as she was about to open her mouth. When she looked up at him, he gave her a subtle shake of the head, his eyes flicking to Patrick. Looking back at the club owner, who had already turned his attention to his computer, Leigh realized that he needed to do this.

  Something had happened on his turf that was completely out of his control and ended in someone getting hurt. This was his way of taking back control and also making amends. He needed to feel useful.

  "Come on," Jared said, holding out his hand. "I'm sure Freddy's already called Brad in to take over my shift early, let's go sit at the bar, and I'll get you a drink."

  Apparently, Patrick wasn't the only one who needed to feel useful. There was a definite protective air about Jared; he was standing much closer to her than normal, and he curved his fingers slightly around her back, as if he needed to touch her. Leigh wasn't going to argue. It was an incredible relief to just hand over responsibility and direction to the Doms right now.

  "Do you want to come have a drink?" Angel asked Kate.

  The blonde hesitated, glancing between Andrew and Patrick, whose attention hadn't wavered from his computer screen. She pulled the ice away from her eye and touched it gingerly. Frowning, Andrew watched, wincing a bit as she pressed her fingertips to the puffy flesh.

  "I actually just came tonight because I wanted to join the club, but I wanted to talk to Patrick in person rather than just sending in an application-"

  "You're in. You're sure as hell not going anywhere else," Andrew said fiercely. Patrick paused in his typing, raising his eyebrow to give Andrew a quick look, but he shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

  "That's fine. Send in the application and I'll approve it," Patrick said.

  "Thank you... and thank you," Kate said to Angel. "I think I'd like to go home tonight though."

  "I'll walk you out to your car." Andrew's tone dared anyone to argue. No one did.

  As Andrew and Kate headed for the door to the front lobby, and Adam and Jared steered Angel and Leigh towards the club, Lexie went to Patrick's side and knelt.

  "Master, may I go sit with our friends?"

  Leigh almost giggled as she saw Lexie rub her boobs on Patrick's legs. That was one way to convince a man to say yes.

  "Once I'm done with this, Pixie, we'll go sit with them." Sighing, Lexie nodded and gave Leigh a little wave when she saw her looking.

  Fortunately, Jared was still guiding her, so she didn't run into the door frame while she stared. She'd kind of expected Lexie to protest, especially since Patrick hadn't given a time frame for when they'd be joining the group at the bar. Instead, Lexie just pressed her head into Patrick's thigh, obviously content to sit and wait for however long he needed.

  There was something really beautiful about that, Leigh thought as she walked towards the bar. The pressure of Jared's hand on her back was a nice warmth; she'd alwa
ys liked being touched. A lot. It was probably why she and Angel were such good friends - they were both cuddle whores. Michael had never really touched her enough, and so she'd gotten a lot of her much needed cuddling from her bestie. Needed because being touched made her feel sane and grounded - especially necessary after hard days at work.

  Right now, it made her feel safe. Although, she was also starting to feel a little bit shaky. Everything had happened so quickly; the revelation that Kate was Andrew's ex - and that he didn't seem all that heartbroken to see her again - had distracted Leigh from all the fear and anger that had been whirling inside of her.

  "Leigh? Fuck... Leigh?" Jared's voice broke through the fog that seemed to be swirling around her head, and she realized that they'd stopped moving. He was looking at her with concern. "Shit... you'd been holding up so well, I didn't realize..."

  She squeaked as she suddenly went airborne, reaching wildly for something to hold on to, and ended up with her arms around his neck. She blinked. He was holding her like she was a damsel in distress on the front of a Harlequin novel.

  "I can walk," she said, protesting. Although she didn't know why she was protesting exactly, because this felt really nice. Maybe because it felt silly for him to carry her to the bar, which was literally only thirty feet away.

  "You're shaking, and you might be in shock. Dammit, we all got so distracted by Kathy- Kate." Big brown eyes looked at her, full of guilt. "I'm sorry, little one."

  The pet name made her blush. No one had ever called her that before. Then again, at 5'8" she wasn't exactly little, unless the person speaking was a behemoth. Which Jared kinda was.

  "Hey, I was distracted by Kate too," she said, not liking the guilt in his eyes. She resisted the urge to snuggle into the crook of his neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she could already see Rick and Maria at the bar, watching them, just as Angel and Adam turned around to look at them too. "I was feeling fine, really, until just a second ago, and then it kind of all came crashing down on me."

  Some of the guilt leaked away from Jared's eyes, although the frown remained on his face. "I still should have taken better care of you."

  Geezus, he was already taking better care of her than Michael would have. Michael would have accepted that she was fine and then been irritated at her delay in falling apart. He definitely wouldn't have picked her up and carried her just because she was a little shaky.

  Adam stopped Angel from trying to come to her, making her wait till Jared reached them.

  "You okay, honey?" Maria asked, already in mothering mode as Jared put Leigh down on her feet. He sat down on one of the barstools and pulled her in between his legs, propping her up. "Do you need ice or anything?"

  "No," Leigh said, shaking her head as she settled her weight back against Jared. He was like a solid tree trunk; one arm curved around her body, holding her in place. It was really nice. "I'm not hurt, just a little shaky, and the big guy decided that meant I couldn't walk."

  "You were fine in Patrick's office," Angel said, her eyes full of worry. Behind her, Adam was looking Leigh over, as well as giving Jared a look. Leigh decided to ignore that; the guys could fight out who was going to be in charge, she didn't need to get involved.

  "Delayed reaction, I think," Leigh said with a wan smile. "I got all caught up in the Kate-Andrew drama and kinda forgot about everything else, and then it all just hit me."

  "I'm going to get you a soda - diet or regular?" Jared asked.

  "Diet, no caffeine please," Leigh said. Jared nodded and raised his hand to one of the subbies serving as a cocktail server, who immediately bounced over to take the order, curiosity in her bright eyes. She was looking at Leigh and Jared like she'd been taken over by a gossip gremlin and had the juiciest story on the block. Oh goody. Leigh decided to ignore her.

  She had just started to tell Rick and Maria what had happened when she saw Andrew coming back into the club and cut off mid-sentence. "Well, that didn't take long."

  "What?" Rick twisted around, and his eyes widened as he saw Andrew heading towards him. "He's back already?"

  They all fell silent and stared as Andrew grabbed a free stool and plunked it down at their table. Leigh really didn't mind that everyone was paying more attention to the Andrew-Kate situation, because she wanted to know what was going on just as badly. Plus, then she didn't have to talk about how she'd been so distracted that some asshole managed to get the jump on her in the parking lot.

  Andrew looked at her. "You sure you're okay? We didn't really check you over once we saw Kate's eye." Unlike Jared and Patrick, he didn't seem to have any trouble remembering Kate's preferred name.

  "Jared did, I'm fine," Leigh said. "How's Kate?"

  "A bit shaken, but fine. I told her about the New Year’s Eve party tomorrow, I think she might come." The tension at the table increased. Silence reigned. Andrew sighed. "It's fine guys. I just walked her out to make sure she got to her car okay. We're going to be friends."

  "Friends?" Adam asked, his eyebrow raising. He didn't sound particularly happy about the concept, which had Angel and Leigh both frowning. "Really? I have to ask, if you're fine enough to be friends with her, what the hell is up with all the comments you've made over the years?"

  Andrew actually looked confused. "What do you mean?"

  "Uh, like when you advised me not to get involved with Maria because she didn't seem to know whether or not she was interested in BDSM," Rick said, hugging his girlfriend and submissive tightly to him. Maria just smiled at him, obviously having heard it before.

  "Or any time anyone has interest in a newbie," Adam said. "You never shut up about people needing to have the same desires. It always seemed like you were talking about your experience with Kathy."

  "Kate," chorused Angel and Leigh. They looked at each other and giggled, breaking some of the tension around the table.

  It kind of seemed like Rick and Adam were a little bit pissed at Andrew. Like he'd lied to them about something.

  "That's because I was," Andrew shook his head, his expression becoming closed off. The way it often did when his ex was brought up. Even Leigh had heard him making those kinds of comments, and it's not like she'd been hanging around that long. "Kate and I... look, everyone learns from their mistakes. But I'm glad that, if she wants to play, that she's here where it'll be safe. That's it. Period."

  His voice had deepened, and Leigh felt a little shiver go through her. That was what Angel called the "Dom" voice. Andrew was trying to use it on his friends, to get them to leave him alone. And it worked.

  Maria turned back to Leigh. "Alright then, sorry for the interruption hun. Keep going, the asshole came out and grabbed you and then what?"

  Sigh. Oh goody. "He grabbed me and said he was a Dom in need of a sub." Leigh went back to telling her story.

  By the end of the night, she'd told it two more times, but it got a little easier each time. Especially since no one even asked how he'd managed to grab her without her noticing his approach. Olivia was practically ready to go on a murderous rampage when she finished teaching her class and came upstairs, where she finally heard about it. Leigh was actually really relieved that the whole Kate and Andrew thing had happened tonight, otherwise they all probably would have spent the entire night talking about what happened to her. And she really wasn't comfortable with that much attention on her.

  Instead, after Andrew left, everyone wanted to talk about Kate's return and his reaction. They all doted on Leigh, making sure she had whatever she wanted to eat and drink - with Jared at the head of the pack - but she wasn't the main focus. In fact, she'd noticed that every time the conversation seemed to be headed back her way, if she tensed, Jared would make sure to change the direction. She heard him talk more with his group of friends tonight than ever before.

  For her.

  At the end of the night, he walked her to her car, even though Angel and Adam were leaving at the same time so that they could follow her car home, and dropped a kiss to her cheek. This time
, it was definitely closer to her lips than the last two had been. Practically right next to them in fact. A flutter of excitement went through her, but she squashed it down. Right now she was just going to take everything as it came… if Jared made a move on her, she wouldn’t turn him down, but she wasn’t going to initiate it either. If there was something happening between them it was growingly slowly and she was just fine with that.

  Chapter 11 - Justin, Chris, & Jessica

  "So, what do you think?" Jessica asked, spinning in a circle.

  The silvery skirt of her dress flew up practically to her waist, showing off a matching silver thong underneath. Chris pounced, jumping forward and stopping her spin as her body pressed against him, getting his hands on that sweet ass. He squeezed the soft globes, grinning down at her.

  "I think you're asking for it."

  "For what?" Jessica purred, arching into him. Since moving in with him and Justin she'd become a little bit of a vixen at home. There were still times when she was shy, but she'd become a lot bolder about initiating sex with them. Chris fucking loved it.

  "For this, hopefully," he said, grinning as he rubbed his cock against her. The material of the skirt was bunched between them, slightly uncomfortably, but who the fuck cared?

  "Cut it out you two," Justin said, coming out of the bathroom, adjusting his tie. "We're leaving in ten."

  Chris pouted. "Or..."

  "No."

  "How can you not want a piece of this ass, Justin?" He gripped Jessica's cheeks more firmly, turning her backside towards their third. Both of them adored Jessica's ass, but it was possible that Justin adored it just a little bit more than Chris. He was definitely an ass man. When they double teamed their girl, Justin took the rear entry about 75% of the time. Which was just fine with Chris because that meant he got more kisses and more pussy than Justin.

  "I absolutely want a piece of that ass," Justin said, a smile breaking his solemn expression as Jessica giggled. "And I will get a piece of that ass at the club. Jessica took the time to get all dolled up for us, I'm not going to let you wreck that before we get the chance to show her off."