Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4) (11 page)

"What if you two aren't compatible?" Adam asked, his
face serious.  

That was a much harder question, because it was one that was very
close to some of Patrick's deepest fears.  He really didn't want to break
Lexie's heart, but he'd rather do that then have her constantly trying to be
something she wasn't in order to be with him.  He also didn't want to lose
her family or her friendship, but the way things were going, that was going to
happen whether he trained her or not.  The best case scenario would be
finding out that they were completely compatible, that she was happy having
something close to a total power exchange, and their relationship would just
grow and change from friendship.  

The worst case scenario was that all of this would blow up in his
face, hurting not just his group of friends, but also the people that he
considered his family.  He wasn't actually their son, even if the
Standishes treated him as such, but Lexie really was their daughter. 

Training Lexie meant testing the waters without actually starting
anything with her.  If they didn't match up in their needs and desires, if
there was anything they couldn't compromise on, they'd find out before starting
an actual relationship.  It would suck, and it would probably kill him to
watch her with another Dom at the club, but at least it wouldn't cause a
serious issue with everyone in their lives.

"That's why I'm just training her," he said, finally,
answering Adam's question.  He knew that the other man would follow his
thought process, and that he'd share it with the others.  They might have
their own doubts and opinions, but they'd keep it to themselves.  At least
until Jake got home.

Even Adam was looking a little bit more sympathetic now.
 "I'd better get out there and start working," he said, rapping
his knuckles on the desk.

"Yes, get out," Patrick ordered, but his heart wasn't in
it.  Adam just chuckled and left.  

Bracing his elbows on his desk, Patrick got back to work, doing
his best not to think about Lexie or Jake or his friends.  Right now,
thinking too much was liable to drive him crazy.

******

Lexie, Angel and Leigh had decamped from the kitchen and ended up
in the basement, where Adam had a pretty sweet set-up.  The basement was
where all his video games were, along with the biggest screen tv that he had,
and there was even a fridge.  Fully stocked with booooooze.  They'd
moved the food trays down to the coffee table and were now sprawled out across
the huge sectional.

"I'm so fuuuull," Angel said, rubbing her stomach and
taking another sip of wine.  "Full and drunk!"

"Drunk is good," Leigh said, leaning her head against
Lexie's shoulder.  Lexie hadn't been drunk with Leigh before, but she was starting
to conclude that Leigh was a bi-polar drunk.  She shuttled back and forth
between energetically excited and depressingly morose.  Twisting her head,
Leigh frowned at Lexie's half-empty wine glass.  "Lex, you're way
behind us.  You have to catch up."

"I am, I am... just slowly," Lexie said, giggling a
little.  The truth was, Lexie and Angel were both way behind Leigh.  

Leigh poked her in the side.  "Come on, hurry up and
drink that.  There are sober children in Africa!"

All three of them burst into giggles.

"That's so wrong!" Angel declared, between gasps for
breath.  Lexie couldn't stop giggling either, even though it hadn't really
been
that
 funny, but as soon as she caught either Leigh or Angel's
eye, she started laughing all over again. 

"I'm serious!" Leigh said, even though she couldn't stop
laughing either.  "I don't want to be the only drunk one here!"

"You aren't, you're just the drunk
est
," Lexie
pointed out.  

"I need to be the drunkest," Leigh muttered, her giggles
quickly dying as she made one of her lightening shifts in mood.  Angel and
Lexie both glanced at each other.  So far Leigh had dropped a couple hints
about why she was upset, but they hadn't really talked about it.  She just
seemed generally unhappy with her boyfriend.  Lexie got the feeling that
Angel had been purposefully getting Leigh a little bit plastered, so that she
would open up a little bit more. 

"Why?" Lexie asked, a little bit cautious.  She
didn't want to force Leigh to talk if the other woman didn't feel like
it. 

"Just, you know.  Stuff."  Leigh said, biting
the ends of her words off.  Angel and Lexie exchanged another glance as
Leigh stared at the wall above the television.  Her eyes were unfocused,
like she wasn't really seeing what she was looking at.  "I think Michael's
going to break up with me.  Again.  That or I'm going to break up
with him."

Both of Angel's eyebrows went up.  "Really?"

Leigh gave her a baleful look.  "Don't sound so
excited."

"Right.  Sorry."  The false sincerity in
Angel's voice made Lexie start to giggle again, and even Leigh cracked a smile.
 "So... why would you break up with him?"

"It's just... if I didn't know better, I'd think he was
cheating on me."  Leigh looked at Lexie, her expression earnest.
 "I know how that sounds, but Michael's not the type to cheat."
 She rolled her eyes.  "He feels too guilty, so he dumps me
first, before trying to even talk to another woman like that.  It's kind
of honorable, in its own stupid way."

"But... he's acting like he might be cheating?" Lexie
asked, confused.  

"He's just working all the time.  He gets home late,
he's constantly on the phone... we haven't had quality time together in
weeks.  Not to mention that we barely have sex anymore, and when we do, I
have to be the one who initiates it."  She made a disgusted face.
 "I hate initiating sex, and he knows that.  We used to have sex
all the time, but now I have to practically throw myself at him.  Even
then, sometimes he doesn't always say yes."

"What?!"  Angel sounded totally shocked, which
Lexie took as an indication of what Leigh's sex life used to be like.
  

Leigh threw up one hand in frustration, her other hand jerking
slightly and almost spilling the wine in it, except that Lexie reached out to
steady it.  "Thanks," Leigh said, giving her a little smile,
before sighing in exasperation as she returned to the previous topic.
 "Last night, I made him a nice dinner - which he was late for - and
put on some sexy lingerie under my dress, and I tried to make things all
romantic, but as soon as dinner was over, he sat on the couch and turned on the
television.  Then, when I sat next to him and tried to... you know, get
things going, he just kind of kissed me, patted me on the head and said he was
tired.  And yeah, I know men can get tired too, but we haven't had sex in
two weeks... and goddammit, I'm horny!"

There were tears sparking in her eyes as her movements became more
jerky.  Lexie rescued the wine glass from her hand and put it on the table
as Angel moved in to hug her.  Huffing little pants of air, like she was
trying to keep herself from crying, Leigh stretched out on the couch, putting
her head in Angel's lap.  Pulling the elastic band keeping Leigh's hair up
in a messy bun, Angel started to run her fingers through the long strands, in comforting,
soothing motions.  Lexie scooted in from behind, rubbing Leigh's legs,
since she couldn't exactly hug her while she was lying down. 

"I just... it hurt, you know?  The fact that we haven't
had sex in so long - well, long for us, and then I try and just get rejected...
plus, he barely even thanked me for the dinner.  It's like he doesn't even
notice that I'm doing all the stuff around the house, making dinners, doing
everything I can to make his life easier because I know he's stressed at work
right now... and then when I need something too, I just get pushed away. 
It sucks.  It really, fucking, sucks."  She let out another
little huffing pant as both Angel and Lexie made sympathetic noises. 
Leigh pressed her face against Angel's thigh for a moment.  "I'm
sorry guys, I was trying so hard not to be a downer..."

“Hey, no apologies,” Angel said sternly, her hands still gentle as
she ran her fingers through Leigh’s hair.  “This is what girls’ nights are
for.  Booze.  Laughing.  Venting.  Whatever we need.”

"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't had sex in
months," Lexie offered up, although she couldn't imagine that it would
actually make Leigh feel better.  After all, Leigh was in a
relationship.  One where she was apparently used to getting sex on a pretty
regular basis.  But it did make Leigh blink and stop looking like she was
about to burst into tears.

"Months?  Really?"  Leigh shuddered.
 "I don't think I could do that."

"That's because you've had a steady boyfriend since you first
started having sex," Angel said, amusement threading through her voice.
 "It is possible to live without sex."

"It just sucks," Lexie said, her voice wistful.  

"Have you been saving yourself for Patrick?" Leigh
asked, her mood starting to swing back up.  She twisted onto her back so
that she could look at Lexie, curiosity replacing the unhappiness in her
expression.

Lexie laughed.  "No, not exactly.  But I'm not a
big fan of one night things, and my last boyfriend, Trevor, turned out to be a
dick, and we never made it to the bedroom.  So... yeah.  It's been a
little over a year now."

"Oh you poor thing!"  Leigh sat up, only a little
wobbly, and threw her arms around Lexie in a sympathetic hug.  Angel
snickered.  

"It's not
that
big a deal," Lexie said, a little
exasperated.  All of Leigh's relationship issues, and she was feeling
sorry for Lexie?  Ouch.  "That's what vibrators are for."

"They aren't the same," Leigh said, shaking her head
morosely.  

"Oh my god," Angel said suddenly, grabbing Leigh's arm.
 "Please don't tell me you stay with Michael for the regular
sex."  Leigh hesitated and Angel fell back dramatically, the back of
one hand against her forehead.  "Noooo... come on, Leigh, you're
better than that."

"What?  I like sex!  He gives me orgasms. 
Really good ones.  Also, there's the whole I'm in love with him thing,
which I don’t seem to be able to get over, but yeah... the regular sex is part
of it.  That's what being in a relationship is, getting regular sex!"

"Amen," Lexie muttered.

"I'm not staying in the relationship just for the sex
though," Leigh said, glaring at Angel even as she started petting Lexie's
hair.  Lexie giggled, pretty sure that Leigh didn't even realize what she
was doing.  Maybe they were all a little more drunk than they'd realized.
 "Especially if he keeps taking me for granted the way he has
been.  For better, or worse, but
not
 for granted.  That's
my new motto."

"You go girl," Lexie enthused, hugging Leigh around the
waist.  That was a sentiment she could get behind.  Sometimes it
seemed like Patrick took her for granted.  Especially once he had her
working at Stronghold, like he thought that sitting at the front desk should
satisfy her for the rest of her life, as long as she was in the club. 

Being trained by him was actually probably going to make things
harder on her than they'd been before.  She'd always been able to push for
more, to hedge around his dictates, and to sass him as much as she
wanted.  As a sub, as
his
 sub, she wasn't going to be able to
do that as often.  Even if Patrick wanted a strong submissive, someone who
would stand up for what she wanted, he would also expect his word to be
final.  Right now, she could argue with him, and if he didn't agree with
her, she would often just do whatever she wanted to anyway.  She didn't
think he'd be tolerating that anymore.

Now he had something to hold over her.  They were going to be
much more involved, and if she didn't follow his lead, he could stop training
her.  Even more, it would show him that she couldn't be the kind of submissive
that he wanted.  Sometimes, Lexie wasn't sure how well she'd be able to
let Patrick lead her, but as long as she was finally getting what she wanted -
needed - from him, she'd manage.

******

When Patrick's computer pinged to let him know he had an incoming
Skype call, he almost jumped in his seat.  Even though he'd done his best
to focus on work, he'd become more and more nervy while waiting for Jake to
call.  The muted sounds of the club were still filtering through his
office door.  Nearly midnight, the club was still in full swing, but he
hadn't been called out of his office to put out any fires so far.  Which
made it a good night.

Putting down his pen, Patrick took a deep breath and pulled up the
screen.  As soon as he saw Jake's face, he grinned.  His best friend
was looking good.  Tanned, smiling, and uninjured.  Some of Patrick's
tension immediately leaked out.

"Hey Patty-cake, looking good," Jake said by way of
greeting.  Jake was the only one who could get away with calling him
that. 

"Better looking than you, at least," Patrick said,
grinning back.  

"Only because the shower facilities out here leave a bit to
be desired," Jake said.  They bantered back and forth for a few
minutes, helping to relax Patrick even further.

As close as he was to the other guys, there was a comfort level
with Jake that he just didn't have with them.  Probably because Jake
really was more like a brother to him.  Kind of the relationship that
Justin and Chris had together, except without the girl in the middle. 
Jake was probably the only person on earth that Patrick felt like he could
completely let his guard down around...