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“Good job,” Patrick said, echoing Angel’s sentiments, giving Laura an encouraging smile. Andrew and Rick immediately followed his lead and saw the sparkle come back into Laura’s eyes and he realized she’d been a bit worried about how the Doms might react. As soon as she got her reassurance, from the owner of Stronghold no less, she was flying higher than ever.
Rick realized that by asking the Doms to be her test dummies, Angel had set up the final exam so the subs would be taking on men they usually craved approval from, so when they got it, their self-confidence would go even higher. Laura was practically glowing as she went out the back where Angel had set up drinks and food for a small post-class party on the patio, while Angel went to get Victim #2.
“Did you hear how loud she shrieked when I grabbed her?” Andrew said, grinning. “This is even more fun than I thought it would be.”
Patrick snorted. “If you think that was loud, you’ve been whipping your subs incorrectly.”
“Think you can do better?” Andrew asked, challengingly.
“I know I can.”
“Loudest shriek wins?” Rick asked, pretending to stretch out his back nonchalantly even though he couldn’t actually stretch anything. It was about the look, not the reality.
“You’re on.”
They all fist bumped in the center of their little circle, grinning.
“I call next turn,” Rick said, just as the door opened behind them.
Turning to see who it was, Patrick just nodded his head.
Unfortunately Rick had inadvertently chosen Erin, one of the Dommes, who didn’t shriek at all when he grabbed her. Although she did stomp on his foot and elbow him in what would have been his solar plexus if he hadn’t been appropriately covered. He went down with a realistic groan and watched with enjoyment as she literally just pushed past Patrick, ignoring Andrew completely, as she rushed out of the closest opening.
Next up was Jessica, who did shriek and jump when Patrick grabbed her by the waist, hauling her back against him. He got an elbow to the gut for his pains, and then a jab to the head when she spun around to face him. Rick reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Patrick. It took her a second to break his hold, and by then Andrew was circling around. She broke loose and darted between them, going for the opening.
They didn’t have a real problem until Ellie, who panicked and screamed with real fear when Andrew grabbed her by the hips. She burst into tears almost immediately, causing all three Doms to start panicking as well. Andrew and Angel took her off to the side, since they were the ones who knew her best. Rick knew she was a masochist and one of Andrew’s favored playmates, because neither of them seemed to be looking for anything beyond a scene. She tended to work with the same Doms over and over again, as long as they didn’t get attached. Rick had no idea what had set her off, but he had the sinking feeling that, for Ellie, the class wasn’t just about prevention of a possible attack. Of course he knew the number of women who had been through some kind of sexual assault was infuriatingly high, he hadn’t actually talked to anyone who had spoken about it from personal experience. Not that they’d told him. Knowing shy, stunning Ellie might be one of them made him want to go punch things.
Angel escorted Ellie out to the patio to calm down with the help of the other students. Rick hoped it would help. Then Angel headed to the lobby again and came back with Lexie. Neither Andrew nor Rick argued when Patrick indicated he wanted to take her first.
Lexie shrieked like a banshee when Patrick lifted her up off the ground from behind. She pounded on his arms and—going by his grunt—would have gotten him a good kick in the nuts if he hadn’t been shielded by all the pads. Patrick let her go and Lexie spun around, jumping at him with her shoulder. She got him right in the chest and the big man went down, a look of surprise on his face that turned to shocked fury when she kicked him in the nuts again. That was when Rick decided to back off, stepping back with his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender, but Andrew still made a feint for her. Even though Lexie could have easily gotten out of the circle at that point, she took the time to kick Andrew in the thigh, hard, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she turned to face Rick.
“Lexie, you’re supposed to be trying to escape, not take them down,” Angel called out, sounding both exasperated and amused.
“You said in class to try and make sure perps couldn’t follow,” Lexie said as she darted out of the circle. She was grinning and bouncing just like the others had, but she also smirked at Patrick as he got to his feet, looking pretty disgruntled. Andrew and Rick exchanged looks but hid their grins before Patrick could see them.
She’d taken the big guy down hard.
“Good job,” Andrew said, when it looked like Patrick wasn’t going to be the first to speak.
“Yeah, I didn’t even want to go after you,” Rick told her, reaching out to tussle her hair, since he was close enough. Lexie made a face at him as she ducked away, trying to get her short locks back in place.
“Thanks guys,” she said with another smirk, apparently unconcerned that Patrick hadn’t spoken up. Sauntering out onto the patio, she looked immensely pleased with herself.
Angel raised her eyebrow at Patrick as soon as Lexie was outside. “What, no accolades for her? She did very well, even if she did forget her primary goal was to get out of the danger zone.”
“She doesn’t need any encouragement,” Patrick said, but the very edges of his lips were curved up. Just a little.
They got through the rest of the class. Rick managed to make Hilary shriek when he tickled her as he grabbed her by the waist, high and shrill enough that he winced and let go of her immediately. That was the best he managed to do for their little contest, although she’d shrieked at least as loud as Lexie had.
And he learned a few things. Surprisingly, it was the sweetest subs who had the tendency to go for their balls, not something he would have expected. Ellie came back in at the end, grimly determined. Even though he wanted to go easier on her, Angel had warned them not to. They circled around her, whispering, brushing their fingers against her, feeling her tension. This time, Patrick grabbed her with one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist, and Ellie screamed bloody murder again, but she didn’t panic and cry this time. Nope, she managed to break away from all three of them, knocking them aside as she ran out. Fastest time out of the entire class probably. All four of them piled on the praise as she grinned up at them, absolutely buoyant and shining with happiness.
Rick saw Andrew whisper something in her ear before she headed out towards the patio. Probably a promise of a reward during the upcoming weekend.
Before joining her students, Angel helped each of them take off the pads on their hands and forearms. Then she deserted them to help each other get the rest of their gear off. During which time they debated who had won their little bet.
Granted, Ellie had screamed the loudest, but Andrew didn’t feel right taking the prize for that. All he would say was she had some “issues” he knew about, although he hadn’t realized it would be a problem today, her scream hadn’t actually had anything to do with him. Which meant either Hilary or Lexie had been the winning shriek, and even acting as an impartial judge Andrew couldn’t decide who had been louder.
Once they’d gotten their pads off, they joined the ladies outside. Grabbing a beer, they stood back along the edges of the patio and just watched the exuberant subs and the two Dommes enjoying themselves.
