by Golden Angel
"Pink glitter," Lexie chimed in, her blue eyes sparkling. "So for my punishment he's got me working every shift possible for the next month... supposedly it's supposed to keep my idle hands busy."
"Personally I think he's just doing it to keep you off the club floor," Jessica pointed out, taking a sip of her wine. Keeping quiet, Maria mixed the drinks and just listened, a small smile on her face, to the club gossip. She'd wondered what Lexie had done yesterday.
"Whatever, he can't keep me from getting someone to cover my shift, and since I'm not going to be on the club floor tonight anyway he can't even yell at me about it," Lexie said smugly.
Laughing, Angel accepted her drink from Maria. "At least, not tonight. You are just asking for a spanking."
Fluttering her ridiculously long lashes, Lexie gave Angel a sweet smile. "Why yes... yes I am."
"From Patrick?" All three of them looked at Maria, who blushed a bit as she realized the surprise in her voice could be considered kind of insulting. "Sorry... just... he's kind of intimidating." Both Angel and Jessica nodded agreement, but Lexie just shrugged. Unfortunately Maria didn't get to finish the conversation because she had finished making their drinks and there were already other people behind them trying to catch her eye so they could order. Moving away from the bar, the three stood together, talking and laughing, and also keeping an eye out for Maria.
Even though they were no longer talking to her, she still felt included. She knew they were waiting for her. Doing a girls night with them sounded perfect. Heck, even if things didn't work out between her and Rick, there was no way she was giving up these girls now. Especially since it seemed like they liked her just as much as she liked them.
******
Maria was in heaven. Girl heaven, that was.
Hanging out with the girls of Stronghold was just as much fun as hanging out with her sisters. Maybe more so because she felt a little freer, and she didn't already know everything about them already. So far the night had held several shocking revelations, all coming out after multiple drinks.
Olivia was sitting pretty as Queen Bee in a plush, red velvet armchair that was just barely a dark enough shade to keep from clashing with her red hair. Even the fuzzy little sheep on her pajama pants couldn't take away from her regal posture. On the love seat, Hilary and Jessica were cuddling, both of them in pajama pants and tank tops. Hilary's were both a shocking shade of pink while Jessica was wearing what looked suspiciously like men's boxers and a ragged blue t-shirt.
On the couch with Maria were Lexie and Angel. Lexie was sprawled out and taking up at least half the couch, her legs resting over both Angel and Maria's laps. Unlike the others, Maria, Lexie and Angel were all still in their regular clothes. Jessica had brought some to change into and Hilary had been at Olivia's and already in her pjs when they'd arrived.
Jessica was finishing up explaining her solution to the marriage question, which Maria was completely fascinated by. The whole threesome relationship kind of boggled her mind, especially once they'd gotten on the topic of marriage. Apparently, Chris and Justin wanted a wedding, but the big question was which one of them would actually, legally marry her. And apparently, so far, the two were trying to work it out on their own without including Jessica in their conversation. Jessica's solution was brilliant simplicity - and Maria was pretty sure it wasn't just the alcohol talking.
She didn't want to legally marry either of them. Have a ceremony and say vows, making a commitment? Sure. But she figured they could set up trusts and legal avenues for all the financial stuff in case something happened to one of them, and same thing for any kids they might have. Jessica was perfectly happy to just be with both of them, and she was worried that being legally married to only one of them would upset the balance that their relationship had achieved.
"So what do the guys think?" Lexie asked, tapping the rim of her glass. Maria had no idea what Lexie was drinking, they'd all been making their own concoctions out of the ample options Olivia had supplied.
"Ha." Jessica snorted. "I'll tell them as soon as they get around to asking me what I think we should do."
Olivia laughed while Angel shook her head, amused.
"Alpha men. Go figure. Idiots."
Now Maria laughed. "And Rick kept going on about 'communication' in BDSM relationships, what the hell."
"By communication, they mean they tell you what to do and then you do it," Lexie said succinctly, wagging her finger at Maria. "It works out so well for them too." The saccharine sweetness in her voice was more effective than sarcasm, and everyone burst out laughing.
Lexie was so right though, it did seem like Rick had some issues with listening to what Maria had to say. Hell, this morning he hadn't even given her a chance to talk! Stupid men.
"Men suck." She scowled at her drink. Which was her... what? Third one? Fourth one? Shit, she was starting to lose track.
"Ha, try living with one of them." Belying her statement, Angel grinned. "Actually, right now, I technically live with three of them, but even combined they're easier to deal with than Adam."
"That's because you don't live with men, you live with minions," Olivia said, grinning. "Anytime you want to send them over here, feel free. I could use some minions around this place."
"Oh Lord..." Hilary rolled her eyes. "You would eat Sam alive, Olivia."
"Yeah, but Q could probably go toe to toe with me." Her tone was surprisingly wistful.
Maria looked at the redhead curiously. "You want a guy that can go toe to toe with you?"
"Yep. Right up until I put him on his knees." The redhead grinned wickedly.
Drunken giggles broke out around the room. Yeah, Maria could see that. Olivia was a Domme who liked a challenge, kind of like how Angel challenged Adam and Lexie challenged Patrick. Hilary and Jessica seemed more sedate. What did Rick want? Maria had a sinking feeling that she was kind of a challenge; did Rick want someone who was more like Jessica? Or was she only thinking that because she knew that they had once had sex?
"I need more booze!" Hilary announced, pushing Jessica off of her and distracting Maria from her thoughts. The brunette protested, flopping down behind Hilary's back as the blonde leaned forward to refill her drink. Picking up a bottle of salted caramel vodka, she gave it a loving little rub on the side before unscrewing the cap. "Hello vodka... goodbye dignity..."
"Dignity is overrated!" Jessica said, pumping her fist in the air so that it was just visible over Hilary's shoulder, her voice slightly muffled from being smushed between Hilary and the love seat. Maria had to laugh, and her insecurities about Jessica faded again. She was just being stupid about that and she needed to get over it.
Not surprisingly, two and a half hours later, Maria was drunker than she'd been in a really, really long time. Somehow she'd ended up on the floor with Lexie and Angel behind her. Lexie's head was in Angel's lap while Angel played with her hair and Lexie played with Maria's, utterly, drunkenly fascinated by the little curls at the back of Maria's neck. Olivia was still in her throne, except now she was kind of sprawled on it and was drinking straight from an almost empty bottle of Jack. The last time she'd gone for a refill she'd realized it was almost gone and had decided to just take the bottle.
"Hey... hey... anyone got a camera?" Olivia held up the bottle, grinning like a loon. "I need a drink of me finishing this!"
Blinking owlishly, Hilary peered at her. "A drink?"
"I mean a picture!"
"Maybe you shouldn't finish that."
Giving Hilary a one-fingered salute, Olivia brought the bottle to her lips and swallowed the last couple of gulps. Maria was in awe. "Hot damn."
"Did anyone take a picture?" Olivia looked around at all of them. None of them had moved and she scowled. "You subbies are useless. Useless I say! Spankings for everyone!" Even she couldn't keep a straight face through the threat though, and they all ended up laughing hysterically.
Lexie was laughing so hard that she nearly fell off the couch.
"Whoa!" Maria rolled the other woman back. Even though she was "drunk as a skunk," as Hilary had said earlier, Lexie managed to keep her glass held straight up so that she didn't spill a single drop.
Sniffing at the cup, Maria smelled cinnamon. "You're not drinking straight Goldschlagger are you?!
"Oh god no," Lexie said, pushing herself up to a mostly sitting position. Even though Maria's vision was kind of swirly, fuzzy, she could see that Lexie was just as bad off. "It's Goldschlagger, Malibu and triple sec."
She said it so reasonably that Maria didn't even catch the issue until Angel smacked Lexie on the arm. "That's like, three times the alcohol!"
"There's ice in it..." Smiling, Lexie took another sip of her drink.
"You puke, you clean it up," Olivia said regally. Lexie just gave her a thumbs up.
"You're so tiny," Maria said, watching in wonderment. "How can you drink so much?"
"Lots of practice..." Lexie said, but instead of sounding snarky she almost sounded a little sad. "My guy friends all still see me as a kid, I can't get into the fun parts of Stronghold and Patrick won't fuck me... what else do I have to do?"
Maria patted Lexie's knee comfortingly, because everyone else was too busy choking. "I'm sorry honey. I'm not getting laid either."
"You didn't get laid last night?" Jessica sounded shocked.
"Nope. Was totally okay with it too, but Rick said he didn't want to do it there... not that he wants to do it anywhere now. Fucker wouldn't even talk to me this morning. I wanna do it. But not if he doesn't want me."
"Oh honey, he wants you," Angel said, reaching down to pat her head. "I've been waiting for the right time to tell you. I had a little chat with Adam and he had a little chat with Rick... and apparently Rick said something to the effect that you don't want him."
"WHAT?!" Outraged, Maria sat straight up, nearly spilling her drink. Which, might not be a bad thing at this point, because she was immediately dizzy from the fast movement, a clear indication she'd gone well past her usual alcohol limit.
Angel snickered. "Yeah, apparently he thought you were going to give the 'let's just be friends' talk."
Olivia burst out laughing. "Oh gawd... Maria you should see the look on your face."
Laughing ruefully along with the others, Maria tried to clamp down on an emotion. Any one emotion. They were all kind of distant and fuzzy feeling. Hope, confusion, relief, anger... all mingled together and yet somehow separate from her. Probably an effect of the booze.
"Why the hell would he think I just wanna be friends," Maria complained, putting down her drink on the coffee table so that she could throw her hands up in the air. "I let him spank me, tie me up, and then put his hands and fingers all over me! And in me! My nipples have been sore all day!"
About to say something, Jessica paused, thinking over Maria's words. "Your nipples?"
"Yeah, he put little pinchy thingies on them." Maria pouted, rubbing her hands over her breasts.
"Oooooh, clamps. I like clamps." Angel made a happy little sighing noise. Dammit. Maria wanted to sound like that when she talked about Rick. What the fuck was wrong with him?
"Oh honey, he's a man," Lexie said, sympathetically. Oops. Maria had spoken out loud. "Did you guys talk after the scene last night?"
"Yeah..." Maria tried to focus and remember. "He was super nice and cuddly. Asked if I wanted to go out for dinner and back to Stronghold tonight and I asked if we could talk about it today. Except when I went to the pool to talk to him about it, I got the cold shoulder!"
"Awww Rick... nooooo..." Jessica groaned, running her hands over her face while Hilary giggled at the dramatics.
"What? What am I missing?"
"Boy logic," Angel said sagely, nodding her head. "Trust me, I'm like the guru of boy logic. I will bet you... I will bet you anything, that when you didn't immediately say yes to dinner and sexy time, he took it as a 'no.'"
"But that's not what I said!"
"Yeah, but I bet that's what he heard," Olivia chimed in. "You'd be amazed at how sensitive some of these alpha guys can be. Especially when they're worried about being rejected. Rick was already second guessing himself constantly when it came to you."
"So when you said you wanted to talk today, he thought everything was a big fat no go," Angel finished up triumphantly.
"But I meant what I said! I wanted to talk," Maria griped, clenching down her jaw. An emotion was definitely coming through more clearly now. Anger. She was pissed off. "I just needed some time... last night was just a bit overwhelming you know!"
"We know. He even probably knows. But..." Olivia sighed. "Try to remember that he was probably overwhelmed too. And Rick's a full-steam ahead kind of guy. Once he gets going, it's hard for him to remember that 'slow-down' doesn't mean full stop."
"A trait most of our men share," Hilary said, shaking her head with amusement. "I swear, I think that's why they like the stoplight safeword system. Very clear directions for them."
Maria shook her head, disbelieving. "Great. Okay. So obviously he and I need to talk but... ARGH. Why couldn't he just speak up last night? Or this morning? Dumbass."
"You know what we should do," Lexie said slowly, as if thinking out loud. "We should go make him talk."
Brilliant. Lexie was fucking brilliant. That’s exactly what they should do. After all, Rick had said BDSM was key to communication. No wait, communication was key to BDSM. Yeah, that’s what he’d said. So she was gonna make him communicate.
Dammit.
Chapter 17
Maudlin. That's how he felt. Fucking maudlin.
It hadn't been the best evening. When he'd gotten home from Adam's office he'd hung around his apartment, passing the time by going on a cleaning spree that had left his kitchen and bathroom sparkling. He'd even dusted all the surfaces and then vacuumed. Just trying to get time to pass faster until Maria should be home from work.
He'd knocked on her door at seven o'clock.
Again at eight.
And one last time at nine.
No answer. No movement on the inside. Yes, he'd pressed his ear to the door to listen. Yes, he’d realized how creepy that would make him look if any of her neighbors had happened to open their doors while he was doing it. Hadn't stopped him. Unfortunately, he'd had to come to the conclusion that she wasn't home.
So he sat out on his balcony until about ten o'clock. Somehow sitting on his balcony wasn't really something he did much of, even though part of the reason he'd chosen the apartment was because it had a nice balcony. Private. Not adjacent to any of his neighbors. Bonus: it looked out over the parking lot. When Maria finally got off work and came home, he'd be able to see her coming in.
Of course she'd be able to see him too, but he was okay with that.
He was feeling more balanced now. Less raw. Like he could handle it if she gave him the friends talk. Although, he was hoping that maybe he'd misread that situation.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That was his motto for tonight. He hoped he'd misread the situation and once they talked today she'd have a good reason for putting off talking to him last night. But he wasn't going to get all amped up just in case he hadn't been the one to misunderstand.
After way too long with his thoughts, staring up at a sky whose stars he could barely see because of all the lights from the apartment complex, Rick had gone back inside and sat down in front of the television. Obviously Maria was coming home late tonight. Maybe the night manager had called out. Or maybe she'd accepted a date with some other guy. Yeah, he knew he was being kind of illogical.
That's why he'd turned the TV on. Distraction, pure and simple. Although really it was just soundless noise and meaningless shapes because he wasn't really paying attention to it at all. Still it helped him fuzz out his brain. Sink into the couch. Let his thoughts go and clear his head.
So when someone pounded on his door, it came as a bit of a shock to his system. Even more shocking were the giggles that followed immediately afterwards.
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"Rick! Rick, I know you're in there, open up!"
It was Maria's voice, but different. The words slightly slurred. A slower cadence. Rick practically vaulted over the back of his sofa and was at his door in two steps, a frown already forming on his face. Was she drunk? And who was giggling?
Whatever he'd expected to see when he opened the door, it definitely wasn't Maria leaning against the door jamb with Lexie and Angel standing just a foot behind her, leaning against each other for support.
"What-"
"You!" Maria poked her finger into the center of his chest, pushing herself up to stand straight, as she cut him off. "We are talking! Communicating."
"Um...." Rick rubbed his chest, his other hand still on his door, as he took in the scene. Shit, he needed to get all three of them inside. Angel and Lexie's giggles were getting louder and while Maria hadn't exactly shouted her demand, she wasn't quiet about it either. "Right. All three of you, in here, now."
Sticking her chin up in the air, Maria swanned past him, only stumbling slightly, her gait definitely unsteady. Rick pinched the bridge of his nose where he could already feel a headache forming as Angel and Lexie passed him, both weaving as they walked. The three of them were completely wasted. Digging into his pocket, he watched the very drunk trio and stumble their way to his couch, falling onto it like a pile of unruly puppies, while he sent identical text messages to two recipients.
She's at my place and she's wasted.
What he really wanted to say was 'get your ass over here now so I don't have to deal with this,' but he knew that what he'd actually sent would get faster results.
The giggling, feminine pile of limbs and bodies just made him sigh. This was not how he'd expected to talk to Maria tonight. He'd expected her sober and without back-up. Although at least he should feel grateful that Angel had been giggling and not plotting mayhem.
