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“Yeah, but that’s not really going to help the issue,” Lexie said sadly. It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about that in the past, but it just wasn’t the same. “All the guys still see me as a little girl. What I need is to actually do a scene at the club; prove to them that I’m old enough to know what I want, that this is what I want, and I can handle it, but there’s no way Patrick would approve me for an Introductory Scene.”
“I could do a scene with you,” Olivia offered, although she didn’t look very enthusiastic about it.
Lexie immediately shook her head. “No, although thank you. But it’s the same problem. They’ll see you as safe because we’re friends and no matter what you do, they’ll feel like you’re going easy on me. Plus it’s not like there’ll be any sexual tension. They’ll think it’s like play time or something, or like you’re placating me... Patrick will find any excuse to see something other than what I’m trying to show him. I’ve learned that lesson by now. I need to shove it in their faces, in a way that they can’t ignore, but there isn’t a single Dom there that would help me do that. Whenever I’ve been on the main floor, no one even approaches me. They’re all too intimidated to do something that might cause trouble with Patrick or the rest of the Sentinels.”
Silence fell over the room, and Lexie curled in on herself. She’d been going over all these same problems in her head for far too long and hadn’t been able to come up with a better plan than the one that had failed so miserably today. Obviously the other women were at a loss too. Jessica and Hilary were looking at each other like they were having a silent conversation, but they didn’t know any more Doms than Lexie did. Definitely none outside of their group of friends. Jessica was in a threesome relationship with two guys, but they were two very possessive guys who didn’t share with anyone but each other. Hilary was even newer to the scene than Jessica and newly engaged to her fiancé, Liam, and she’d never had a chance to get to know any of the other Doms either.
Olivia had been at the club the longest, but Lexie knew all the same Doms that she did, and she knew they wouldn’t help.
“I know someone who likes to cause trouble,” Angel said suddenly. Lexie turned to look at her, but she was looking thoughtfully out into the distance, straightening her posture as she began to look more and more excited. Her slightly almond-shaped eyes, compliments of her half-Asian heritage, narrowed even further as a gleeful little smile spread across her lips. “I know someone who likes to cause trouble, has a membership, all of them would take seriously, and would probably be happy to help...”
Hope rushed into Lexie’s chest, making her heart pound as Angel jumped up and ran over to her purse, all eyes following her. The beeping noise of the phone as Angel selected a contact and hit the call button seemed incredibly loud in the silent room. Holding the phone to her ear, Angel’s eyes lit up. The room was so quiet that everyone could hear the deep murmur of a man’s voice answering the phone, but it wasn’t one that Lexie immediately recognized. She grinned at them, eyes dancing with mischief.
“Hey pretty boy,” she purred.
That rush of hope clawed its way up Lexie’s chest and into her throat, making it hard for her to breathe. Angel was a freaking genius.
Having barricaded himself in his office, Patrick did his best to ignore the little bit of noise that made it through his thick door from the club. Last night had been the first night without Lexie at the front desk, knowing that she wasn’t going to come back. She hadn’t answered his call today either. He hadn’t expected her to, but some part of him had still hoped that she would. It had surprised him how much he missed having her at the club.
Even though he’d become used to her presence, he didn’t think he’d actually miss her. Perhaps worry about what she was doing, now that she wasn’t right where he could look at her whenever he wanted, but not miss her. He kept reaching for the phone, wanting to call up to the front desk to share things with her - funny thoughts or observations - the way he always did, only to remember she was no longer there. Every time he glanced at the security camera display he expected to see her, and felt the disappointment when he didn’t. It was different from the way he felt on her nights off, because this time he knew she wasn’t going to be coming back.
So tonight he’d started to ignore the screens entirely for once, completely trusting the Dungeon Monitors to handle everything, without him overseeing the whole club. The less he looked, the easier it was for him not to think about how Lexie was never coming back.
Not that she was ever far from his mind. How could she be when he was sitting at the desk that he’d spanked her over? Flashing silver rings seemed to glint at the edges of his vision, his memory turning over how fucking hot she’d looked as she’d submitted to him. How fucking bad he’d wanted her. How much it fucking sucked to have to wait until her brother got home. He should really Skype Jake and see if he knew when he was coming home yet. The last time they’d talked, Jake had thought sometime in October or November, but he hadn’t had a hard date yet.
The phone rang, distracting Patrick from his musings. He realized that he’d been staring at the same sheet of numbers for the past five minutes without even seeing it. So much for doing the accounting. With a groan, he reached out to pick up the phone without even looking at it. If someone was calling into the office, it usually meant something had gone wrong.
“What?”
“Get out here. Now.”
Andrew’s voice was thick with the kind of tension that had Patrick springing to his feet. He didn’t consider asking what was going on, he just slammed the phone down and headed straight for the door from his office into the club. The bouncer on duty tonight was a newer Dom, named Eric, who couldn’t quite afford the membership dues to the club, so was working in exchange for lower fees. He was a good man, a steady man, but he wouldn’t be as good at spotting trouble as the long-time members.
There was no way Andrew would be calling Patrick out of his office, sounding like that, for anything small.
The second he entered the main floor of the club, Patrick’s eyes darted around. He was used to taking in the big picture and focusing on whatever was out of place, but right now it wasn’t hard to figure out what the problem was. The Lounge area where unattached subs congregated was almost empty, and those that were still kneeling there were watching the bar with the same interest as the few couples who were on the dance floor. Some of them weren’t even dancing, they were just swaying slightly, their attention too caught by the drama at the bar.
That’s where most of the people in the room were, the majority of them clustered at the center of the bar.
Possessive fury flamed sudden and hot inside Patrick’s chest as he focused on the combatants in the center of the stare-down. Andrew had his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Michael Waverly, who had one hand on the back of Lexie’s neck. Her short black hair was clipped back from her face, so he could clearly see her mulish expression as she glared up at Andrew, who didn’t take his focus from Michael. The short black skirt and bright blue bustier she was wearing screamed “Ready to Play,” to any Dom who observed her.
The other subs were ranged around her. Not just Angel, Hilary, Jessica and Maria, but also others that she’d befriended during her time working at the front desk. Ellie, who was Andrew’s most frequent play partner, had positioned herself at Lexie’s side - although she was also shooting little looks at Michael. Possibly disapproving, but in his distraction, Patrick couldn’t quite interpret what those little looks meant. The only reason he even noticed was because she was the only sub whose focus wasn’t entirely on Andrew. He looked like he was holding back an army of rebelling submissives.
Off to the side, perched on a bar stool, sat Olivia, looking like Queen Bee. The fiery-haired Domme was stunning in all black leather that clung to her like a second skin. Her legs were crossed, and the look of amusement on her face was completely out of place with everyone else’s expressions.
Dammit.
Patrick knew exactly who she was going to side with. Every step he took towards the group felt like he was actually being pushed, down into a pit where would be impossible to escape, and yet he couldn’t do anything else. Lexie was here, in his club and ready to scene, but with another man.
Probably the only man who would have dared to do this. Master Michael didn’t come to the club very often, he’d been too busy, but he’d had a membership for a long time. It had lapsed when he’d moved away and then been reinstated on his return. A decision Patrick was definitely regretting now. Like Andrew and Chris, Michael was a bit of a prankster with a penchant for trouble. Unlike them, he didn’t have a history that would make him feel brotherly towards Lexie.
“Move Andrew, you’re being ridiculous,” Lexie said, biting out the words. Patrick could see the tension along her slender shoulders. With her arms crossed under her breasts, the small mounds were pushed even further up than they had been by the bustier.
As if sensing his approach, Angel turned her head and saw him, her eyes widening. She reached out to her side and grabbed Jessica’s hand, alerting her. Not that they looked any less rebellious. If anything, they looked more defiant than ever. Probably because they knew their asses were going to be grass once their Doms found out what they’d been up to. They shouldn’t be at the club by themselves, period, much less involved in a mass revolt. Which every single one of them knew damn well that it was.
Their awareness of him passed through to the others next to them. Both Hilary and Maria were avoiding his gaze, but then, Hilary was extremely submissive and Maria didn’t know him as well as the others did. Not that it made either of them step back, of course. Even the other little subbies who would normally fear his wrath were bracing themselves. Dammit. It didn’t look like anyone was going to be backing down any time soon.
“What’s going on?” he asked, pitching his voice to carry. Not that he needed to be very loud. Conversation around the club had completely stopped, so, other than the music, there was no sound for him to compete against.
