Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4) (29 page)

"I'm glad
ya’ll are here," he said, finally.  

Andrew patted
his leg.

"No
problem, buddy."

******

Not only had Patrick
not come over, he hadn't called her again either.  Lexie couldn't help but
feel a little sorry for herself when she woke up on Saturday, with a giant
crick in her neck from falling asleep on her love seat, and an empty
phone.  She really thought he'd make a bigger gesture to make things up to
her, and it hurt that he hadn't.  Even so, she was still tempted to call
him back now.  Just to hear his voice.

Ugh.  

She'd been so
wrong with everything she'd said to Leigh.  Had she really thought it
would be so easy to hate him and be angry with him for a while, simultaneously
acting like everything was normal?  If only her emotions were so simple.
 

Yeah, she was
angry.  Part of her hated him a little, mostly for making her feel foolish
for chasing after him for so long just to be rejected when she thought they
were really getting somewhere.  But that wasn't all she was feeling. 
She was still wistfully engaged, fantasizing about how things could go from
here, how he could make it better.  Another part of her was still yearning
to reach out and try to fix things herself; call him back and accept whatever
he was willing to give, even if it wasn't as much as she wanted.  The
anger and depression were there, but they were tempered by so many other
emotions. 

Groaning, she
gingerly pressed her fingers to her neck where it was sore.  Which, of
course, only made her think about all the times she'd gotten a neck or back rub
out of Patrick.  He had freaking magic fingers when it came to smoothing
away knots and aches.  She could really use that now.  

Twisting her
head back and forth, being as gentle as she could, she tried to loosen up the
muscles.  Ow.  That hurt.  A lot.  She could really use one
of Patrick’s neck massages right now.  Damn him.

Deciding that
a hot shower would help, she picked herself up and stepped over the mess she'd
made on her floor as she headed towards the bathroom.  Some tiny part of
her still wanted to stop and clean everything up, make it the way she knew
Patrick would like it, but she didn't.  Which was kind of dumb, because
she'd found that she also liked having a nice, neat apartment, so she was
cutting off her own nose to spite her face, but oh well.  Back to the
complicated emotions, since it made her feel a strange kind of vindication even
as she wanted to clean it up. 

The hot shower
did help, although the ache in her neck still didn't entirely go away. 
She rubbed some Tiger Balm onto it.  More things to remind her of Patrick,
yay.  He'd recommended the pungent stuff, which she rarely used. 
Liam sold it out of his dojo, because it was really good for sore
muscles.  It also smelled awful, but she put up with it when she was
really aching. 

All the
thinking about aching made her realize that her nipples no longer were. 
They were basically back to normal, until she pinched them, and even then she
only felt the remnants of their former soreness.  Which, stupid enough,
made her feel sad all over again.

Because she
was already feeling sad now, she figured she might as well check her
phone.  One text message received while she was in the shower, but not
from Patrick, of course.  From Leigh.

The contents
of the message made her forget her own drama.

I had sex
last night.

Letting out a
shriek, Lexie danced back and forth as she quickly hit the little green call
icon.  Fortunately the phone only rang twice before Leigh picked up.

"What do
you mean you had sex last night?!  You can't just leave it at that! 
I need details, girl, details!  With who?  Oh my god, please don't
tell me Michael - either of them."

On the other
end of the line, Leigh was laughing her ass off, which made Lexie start
giggling.  It felt really good to giggle and feel happy excitement over
something.

"No, not
Michael or Mike," Leigh said.  She sounded happy but also a little
anxious.  "It was one of Mike's friends.  Just a one night stand
thing... not even one night.  One hour, maybe."

"So, no
walk of shame?  Or did you take him home and then kick him out?"
 

"Well...
there was a walk of shame back into the party."  Leigh coughed.
 "I ah... might have hooked up with him in Mike's bed."

"Oh my
god..." Lexie cracked up at Leigh's slightly embarrassed confession, which
was also tinged with a kind of pride.  It was so not the kind of thing she
would have expected from Leigh.  "What
happened
?!  Tell
me everything."

"Well,
Angel and I got to the party and I met Brian, his name was Brian by the way,
and we were just chatting and he was flirting.  It just felt good, you
know?  I mean, he was flirting with all the girls, he didn't really single
me out, but I started flirting back, and then he started focusing on me. 
I got pretty drunk, and then he pulled me back into Mike's room and started
kissing me.  I pulled away and went back out to the main party, and I
thought that he'd stop being interested in me, but he just kept flirting and
everything.  It was nice, you know, having him pay that much attention to
me.  He was cute.  Kind of alpha.  Not, like, forceful, you
know.  He was totally okay with it when I pulled away, but he was really
authoritative.  Not barking out orders like the Doms, but bossy in a more
vanilla way."

"Yeah, I
get ya," Lexie said, hoping that Leigh would stop explaining and get going
with the rest of the story.  She understood what Leigh was trying to say,
there were plenty of confident, alpha-type guys that weren't into kink. 
Hell, her brother Jake was one of them.  Hmm... maybe when Jake got back
she should introduce him to Leigh.  That was a thought to hold on to.
  Well, maybe not right away.  Leigh was definitely still rebounding,
hardcore, if she was doing one night stands.

"So
yeah.  We started kissing again, in the corner, and it was getting pretty
hot, and then he pulled me back into Mike's room again... and well, this time
we didn't leave."

"Was it
good?"

Leigh giggled.
 "Yeah, I mean... I came.  It was... different, you know? 
I've never had sex with anyone but Michael and, you know, there wasn't any emotion
involved, but it was nice.  Good.  Whatever."

"So
enthusiastic," Lexie teased, rolling her eyes.  Hopefully this would
help Leigh realize that Michael wasn't the end all, be all.  The fact that
she was even willing to hook up with another guy, when (according to Angel) she
never had any of the other times she and Michael had broken up, spoke volumes.

"Well, I
mean, I think part of me was just curious.  I was drunk, but I was
thinking perfectly clearly.  I can remember every single one of my
thoughts.  Like, I actually debated with myself if I was going to go
through with it while we were kissing."

"What was
the deciding factor?" Lexie asked, curious herself now.  "Just
the curiosity, or something else?"

It took Leigh
a moment to answer, and when she did, her voice was hesitant.
 "Well... every time Michael and I have broken up, it's been about
him wanting to date someone else.  Even this time, I found out yesterday
that there's a woman he met that he wants to try to date.  We talked about
it and, yeah, I was pissed at him, but I didn't have sex with Brian for
revenge.  It was more like... I feel like Michael always chooses his pride
over me.  I've always wondered, if I dated someone else, if I had sex with
someone else, would he get back together with me even if he didn’t get the
chance to have sex with someone else?  That’s always been one of his biggest
hold-ups, I feel like, the fact that all his friends have had sex with more
than one woman and he hasn’t.  The past times we’ve been on breaks…  I've
had the opportunity, but I never pursued it.  I guess I was trying to show him
what a good girlfriend I still was, how faithful I was.”  Her voice was
wistful, and then it hardened.

“I sometimes
wonder if I would have kept that up if he’d actually managed to get together
with someone else.  Anyway.  Then I met Brian last night, and yeah, I could
tell he was a player, but he was also definitely interested in me.  Even
after we had sex, he wasn’t paying attention to any of the other women at the
party, and he just hung out with me all night.  It felt good, but I also
wanted to know if Michael would get back together with me if he knew I'd been
with someone else."

"Wait...
wait... hold up.  Michael wants to get back together with you?  And
you're going to tell him you had sex with someone else?"  Lexie felt
like she was very, very behind on the gossip.  Obviously Leigh had been
keeping a lot of things close to her chest.  Probably because she knew
that her friends wouldn't approve.  

Not that Lexie
disapproved of Leigh having a one-nighter.  The girl needed to get a
little wild.  She'd been in the same relationship for six years and had no
experience outside of it.  But she definitely wouldn't support Leigh
getting back together with Michael.  Not that it was her decision to make,
but she'd be skeptical about it, so she couldn't blame Leigh for not wanting to
share.

"He
hasn't said that, exactly, but he's been kind of hinting at it," Leigh
said, laughing a little ruefully.  "Maybe not so much now
though.  I already told him about last night.  He ah... didn't take
it so well.  He was pretty pissed."

"Wow..."
 Lexie tried to find the right words to say.  This was not at all a
conversation she could have ever expected to have with Leigh this morning.
 "Okay... so, are you okay?  You don't sound too upset."

"I mean,
I was kind of expecting it," Leigh said with a sigh.  "That was
part of why I did it after all.  I definitely don't regret it."

"Did you
get Brian's number?"

"No. 
I'm so not in the right place to start dating another guy.  Part of me is
still hoping that Michael gets over himself and realizes that I'm the best
thing that ever happened to him, even if I have had sex with someone else and
he never has.  If he did that, and came back without having been with someone
else, then I'd know he really does love me, because he'd finally be choosing me
over his pride."

To Lexie it
sounded like Leigh wanted Michael to prove his love to her, before he talked
her into getting back together, but she could understand that.  With the
way Michael treated her, it was no wonder she needed that reassurance. 
Hell, Lexie was kind of trying to do the same thing with Patrick.  Not
that Patrick had ever treated her as badly as Michael had treated Leigh... but
she wasn't going to make Patrick jump through the same kind of hoops
either.  Good for Leigh for finally making Michael do so.

"Anyway,
Adam's taking Angel and me to Stronghold tonight.  I think Mike's going to
come too.  Come with us?"  Leigh's voice went pleading again,
and Lexie bit back her immediate response, which was no.

She wasn't
sure she was ready to face Patrick again.  On the other hand... she really
wanted to see him.  By going to the club, she'd be able to see his
reaction to her being there.  Get a hint what he was thinking.  And,
if he was still being a jerk, rub it in his face that he couldn't control her
if he wasn't willing to pay the price.  Not that being her Dom should be
considered a price, but he seemed to think it was.

"Yeah,"
she found herself saying.  "I'll be there."

He was getting
too old for this shit.  

Drinking, that
was.  Fortunately he'd slept through most of his hangover, but he was
still dragging, and his head felt like his brain had started to turn to
mush.  Andrew had slept over on his couch and hadn't seemed that much
better, so at least he wasn't alone in his misery.  They'd gone to the
coffee shop around the corner for a very late breakfast, because neither of
them had felt up to making anything.

Now that he
was at Stronghold, he just felt drained.  No more late nights drinking for
him.  It was amazing the difference between his twenties and his thirties,
because he could remember not that long ago when he'd have been up and fine a
hell of a lot earlier than he'd woken up today.  It made him feel
incredibly old, especially when he thought about Lexie. 

Maybe the age
difference between them was a bigger deal than he'd thought.  After a
certain point, age differences didn't seem to make much of a difference, but
she was still a hell of a lot younger than him.  Just because all her
friends were older and she acted older most of the time didn't mean that she
was actually ready for a relationship with someone who was ready to settle down
and soon.  Maybe she was still too young for him.  Having graduated
college, and from the way she talked, he'd thought that they were on the same
playing field now, but... maybe he'd been wrong. 

Ditching him
the second he did something wrong wasn't the action of someone who wanted to be
in a real and meaningful relationship.  Or maybe it was as Olivia had
said, and she'd put him up on a pedestal and didn't know how to deal with it
when he proved he wasn't perfect.  Either way, he wasn't going to put up
with this radio silence from her for much longer.  Today she got another
free pass, because his head hurt and he was needed at the club, but if he
didn't hear from her by tomorrow, he was going to take matters into his own
hands.  Because, even if she didn't want to be his submissive, if she
didn't want to be more than friends anymore, than as her friend, he still
deserved better than to be shut out.  He'd call her again tomorrow, and
she'd better pick up.

Putting his
cell phone in his desk, so that he didn't give into the temptation to text her
now, he headed out into the club.  He paid a cleaning crew to come in and
clean the club every morning, and everyone was supposed to clean up their
station after using it at night; but every so often, when he needed the
cleaning therapy, he would go through and do some additional polishing. 
There was something incredibly satisfying about polishing the crosses and
benches till they gleamed.  He also used the time to check over everything
that was riveted into the walls, make sure nothing was coming loose.

On a day like
today, when he couldn't concentrate on any kind of paperwork, it was exactly
the kind of activity that he needed.  Mindless, yet important.  

He did the
upstairs first and then finished down in the Dungeon, not coming back to the
main floor until people started to trickle downstairs to scene.  The time
had passed a hell of a lot more quickly than if he'd just been barricaded in
his office - been a lot more relaxing for him too.  The muscles in his
shoulders and neck had loosened and he was feeling ready for the night
ahead. 

"Hi
Patrick."

"Hey
Patrick."

He nodded his
own greetings back to the people coming down the stairs as he went up.  It
never failed to fill with him a sense of satisfaction to see all the smiling
faces in his club, knowing that he was providing them with a safe place to come
play.  Master Will was headed downstairs with Gina again.  Nice to
know someone's relationship was working out, he thought.  Even if his
wasn't, he could feel good about other people's. 

The bar and
Lounge were filling up with people.  Doms and Dommes mostly at the bar,
subbies kneeling in the Lounge, giggling to each other while they waited to see
if someone wanted to play.  There were a few subs at the tables around the
bar as well, either because they were with someone, they weren't ready to play
yet, or they were just there to socialize.  Most of the single ones stayed
in the Lounge though, to talk with their friends, because they weren't as
comfortable surrounded by dominants. 

A few people
were already on the dance floor, with varying degrees of intimacy, bodies
undulating against each other.  Olivia was dancing with Lance, a rather
beefy sub who came in on occasion.  At one point, the guys all thought
there might be something between the two of them, because Lance was definitely
her type, but Olivia said she needed the scene more than he did.  He only
came in every couple of months to fulfill his needs in a scene, but outside of
the scene he wasn't interested in submitting.  Olivia preferred to be in
charge ninety-nine percent of the time in the bedroom, which Patrick could
understand since he preferred it one hundred percent of the time. 

"You look
better than you did this morning," Andrew said, when Patrick slid into a
seat at the bar next to Maria.  Rick was standing behind her, one arm
wrapped around her body, his free hand holding his beer as they chatted with
Andrew.

"I feel
better," Patrick said, smiling at Maria, who ducked her head
slightly.  It always amused Patrick to see how intimidated she became in
the club, because outside of it she was all confidence and sass.
 "Nice to see you two out and about.  Are you scening
tonight?"

"Yeah,
I've reserved the Locker Room," Rick said, grinning.
 "Apparently Maria had a thing for the wrestling team in high
school."

"What can
I say?" she asked, tilting her head back to look at her boyfriend with
sparkling eyes.  "They were hot.  But you're hotter."

"Glad to
hear it, gorgeous," Rick said, laughing as he kissed her temple.  

As happy as he
was for his friends, Patrick couldn't stop the envy that welled inside of him. 
On the other side of the bar, Andrew was just shaking his head, an indulgent
smile on his face.  Still, Patrick had to wonder if seeing all these
couples was just as hard on Andrew as it was on him.  After all, Andrew
had been the first to try and have a serious relationship with a woman who was
both his girlfriend and his submissive.  One which had crashed and burned
badly enough that he hadn't tried again.   Then again, since he wasn't
interested in trying again, maybe it didn't bother him.

"Does
that mean you brought one of those unitards to wear?"  Andrew asked,
amused.

"Hell
no," Rick said, scowling as Maria burst into giggles at the idea.
 "I'd look fucking ridiculous."

"If you
were serious about the role-play, you would have," teased Andrew, winking
at Maria.  "You should have insisted, sweetheart."

"Maybe
I'll just suggest the scenario to Hilary," she said, giggling again. 
They all laughed then, because Liam was dedicated to his role-play, but it was
doubtful he could ever be talked into one of those outfits.  The farthest
Patrick had seen him go was when he'd worn a football jersey to play with
Hilary in the Locker Room, a wrestling unitard would be a whole other level.

"Oh
fuck..." Andrew suddenly said, his face sobering as he stared towards the
door. 

Some instinct
tapped at Patrick's consciousness, and somehow he knew what he was going to see
before he even turned to look.  

Lexie.  

Of
course.  Looking stunning in a black bustier with cream colored trim and a
black skirt short enough to show off that she was wearing garters and
stockings.  

No collar.

Her eyes
skittered around the room, darting this way and that, and he knew that she was
looking for him.  The second she saw him, their gazes locked, and her chin
lifted defiantly.  Then she turned to look up at Master Michael, who had
come in with her, and smiled at him.  Behind her, Adam was stone-faced and
disapproving.

Fuck this.

Fingers
gripped his arm, digging in.

"Whatever
you're thinking of doing, don't," Rick said softly.  "Go to your
office and cool off.  I'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

To Patrick's
surprise, Maria turned her head to look at him and nodded in agreement and
support.  Relief trickled through him.  Even if Lexie wouldn't listen
to Rick, he knew she would listen to Maria.  He hadn't been thinking about
doing anything but going to his office and not leaving until she was gone,
because he wasn't playing whatever fucking game she was, but it was good to
know Rick and Maria had his back.  

"Go,
before she comes over here," Andrew said, his voice hard.
 "Don't let her get any satisfaction from this bullshit."

As much as
part of him wanted to march over and claim her, she'd come in with Master
Michael and without the training collar.  Considering that she'd run out
on Patrick two days ago and hadn't talked to him since, he really couldn't
receive a clearer sign that she wasn't interested in their agreement
anymore.  He wasn't going to force her into something that only he wanted,
or use the fact that she used to have a crush on him, if she no longer had
those feelings anymore.  Sure, he could probably seduce her, but that
wasn't going to create anything lasting.  Besides, if she actually wanted
to be with him, then this little stunt was more than just trying to top from the
bottom, it was a downright slap in the face.  A childish prod to try and make
him dance to her tune.

Maybe it would
be better if she could do what she needed, grow up a little maybe, before he
tried anything with her again.  In the meantime, he couldn't just stand
here and act like everything was normal, and he had nothing to say to her right
now.  All the tension he'd worked off was back, and he knew that if he
tried to talk to her now, he'd end up losing his temper and saying something
unforgivable.

So he stalked
to his office with a single-minded purpose that didn't allow him to look
back.  Not once.

******

Dammit...
Lexie's heart sank as Patrick went straight to his office without even looking
at her again.  For a second, when she first walked in, she thought she'd
seen that possessive need, that heat, in his eyes, and then he'd just shut it
down again.  It frustrated her that he could do that so easily.

"What the
fuck was that?" Adam asked, hissing in her ear as his hand clamped down on
her shoulder.  Behind her she could hear Angel and Leigh chattering. 
Pretty much all of Angel's focus had been on Leigh, which Lexie didn't blame
her for, but right now she probably could have used the backup.  Adam was
already pissed enough that Lexie was here tonight.  She knew that he'd
texted Patrick, but going by the way Patrick had looked when she'd walked in,
he hadn't gotten the text.

"What was
what?" she asked irritably, trying to shrug him off, but his fingers just
dug in as he spun her to face him.  Even more annoyingly, Michael didn't
seem interested in stopping him, he was too busy looking over the submissives
in the Lounge area.

"That
little show you just put on for Patrick," Adam growled, keeping his voice
low.  "Looking at him, and then smiling up at Michael and pretending
you're with him.  Like you weren't already fucking with Patrick’s head by
showing up with another Dom, especially Michael, and without your training
collar."

"Fuck
off, you have no idea what's going on," Lexie snapped.  

"I know
that I had to come in last night because Patrick stayed home," Adam said,
his blue eyes hard as icicles, stabbing into her.  "Jared said he got
completely shit-faced last night.  I know you decided to show up without
your training collar tonight, and now you're trying to fuck with his head some
more. If you had an ounce of sense in you, you'd be knocking on his door,
getting on your knees, and begging for forgiveness for your disrespect."

Tears sprang
up in her eyes, and she tried to tell herself it was because she was pissed,
but honestly she was a little hurt too.  Adam didn't know what went down
between her and Patrick on Thursday, how dare he judge her?!  At the same
time, she felt a little sick knowing that Patrick hadn't come into the club at
all yesterday.  Patrick never missed a day at the club, definitely not to
stay home and drink.  She'd wanted proof that he'd been hurting too, so
she guessed she'd just gotten it.  Somehow it didn't feel as vindicating
as she'd thought it would.

She really
hadn't meant anything by smiling up at Michael.  It was just that he'd
made a low whistling noise that she'd found funny.  But Adam wouldn't have
been able to hear it, probably, and who knew if Patrick had understood why
she'd smiled up at Michael.  Dammit.  Okay, so she'd messed up a bit
there, but that didn't mean she should be the one to go groveling.

"Uhh...
Adam, Lex?  Everything okay?"  Angel had finally noticed that
something was going on between her boyfriend and Lexie.  His grip loosened,
and Lexie jerked away.

"Fine. 
I was just giving Lexie some advice," Adam said, his voice bland and yet
somehow still giving off a flair of extreme disapproval.  Jerk.  Lexie
glared at him, throttling her urge to cry.  She wouldn’t give him the
satisfaction.