Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4) (19 page)

"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 long
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?"