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Lexie sighed internally, wistfully, and turned away from what seemed like an inherently private moment. As she turned her head, she caught a glimpse of Leigh’s wistful, longing expression as well. Since Leigh was in a pretty serious, long-term relationship and lived with her boyfriend, that really didn’t bode well for where she was mentally right now. Lexie’s heart went out to the other woman. Here she was, high on happiness and the hope she and Patrick might finally be moving forward, while Leigh was obviously having the opposite experience.
Both of them reached for a square of cookie dough at the same time, just as Adam lifted his head up and frowned at them.
“Seriously you two, that’s disgusting. You shouldn’t be eating that shit raw.”
“It’s fine,” Angel said, poking him in the side. Her finger basically bounced off of his stomach. Lucky bitch. Once Lexie had started noticing her brother’s friends, it had been pretty hard to miss what a seriously hot group of guys they all were. Each in their own way. It was Lexie’s misfortune to be attracted to the biggest, baddest, pushiest and most infuriating of the lot. Although, in her opinion, Adam ran a fairly close second. He was nearly as bad as Patrick with the demanding over-protectiveness, although he’d eased up a bit since he and Angel got together. Probably distracted by having to keep her in line. “I eat it all the time and I’ve never gotten sick.”
“Yet. You haven’t gotten sick yet.” He scowled and poked his finger at the discarded plastic wrapping. “It even says on the packaging not to eat it.”
“That’s just so we don’t sue them if we get sick,” Leigh said. Her eyes were sparkling as she grinned at Adam, any hints of envy or wistfulness completely wiped away by the bantering. “So far, we haven’t.”
“It’s still disgusting.” Adam’s gaze took in all three of their expressions and he shook his head, giving up a fight he obviously wasn’t going to win, and turning his attention back to Angel. “Patrick called, he needs an extra Dungeon Monitor for tonight, so I’m going over. Are you three going to behave yourselves?”
“Sure.”
“Uh huh.”
“Nope.” Angel grinned up at him, the only honest one in the bunch. “But we’ll keep the trouble contained to the house.”
“Good.” He looked up and pointed his finger at Lexie. “You especially. No more talking your friends into crazy schemes.”
Angel elbowed him in the side before Lexie could even respond. “Hey, she didn’t talk us into anything. I was the one who thought of calling Pretty Boy.”
“Of course you did.” Adam suddenly looked decidedly more grouchy, making Lexie want to giggle. She thought it was hilarious that, out of all the guys, it was Adam who had ended up with someone like Angel. Lexie wasn’t the only one with mostly guy friends, but Adam hadn’t known just how many close male friends Angel had when he first met her. In fact, Leigh had been Angel’s only close female friend before she’d met the Stronghold girls. She’d been living with three male housemates, something that had definitely gotten under Adam’s skin until he’d finally convinced Angel to move in with him. Even though he respected her friendships, and did his best to tolerate the fact that she tended to be extremely affectionate with all her friends, certain male friends definitely got under his skin more than others. Master Michael being at the top of the heap. Considering how possessive Adam was, watching his discomfort as he tried not to be an asshole for Angel’s sake was highly entertaining.
“And it worked, so it was worth it,” Angel said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss his nose. Adam’s head swiveled around and she caught his cheek instead, as he looked at Lexie.
“What do you mean it worked?”
Lexie smiled, smugly. Adam had always stepped into Patrick’s place as leader of the Sentinels when Master Mold wasn’t around. It had driven her up the wall. Some of the other guys, like Chris or Andrew, she could wheedle her way around when she wanted something. Occasionally even Justin, who was normally a major hardass. Patrick or Adam, never.
“I’m going back to work at Stronghold, and Patrick’s agreed to start training me as a submissive,” Lexie said, smirking at him. Ha! Take that!
Adam’s expression darkened. “I see.” He looked like he wanted to say something more, but his jaw muscles tightened, and he nodded his head. “Ladies, I’m going to shower, and then I’ll be out of your way.”
As soon as he was out of the room, all three women burst into giggles. Lexie knew that if she hadn’t been drinking, she probably would have been more pissed than amused. The guys were always thinking they could run her life, but with Patrick finally on her side, there wasn’t much they were going to be able to do.
4
“What the hell, Patrick?!”
Patrick lifted his head from his paperwork and grinned at the irate Domme standing in front of him. Dressed in her leathers, her flaming hair up in an intricate bun, Olivia had one hand on her hip and the other holding a crop which she was tapping against her thigh. The club submissives, seeing her in such a position, would immediately fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness for whatever crime Mistress thought they had committed. Patrick, on the other hand, was filled with a sense of satisfied glee.
Apparently someone had gotten around to looking at her next Introduction scene assignment.
“Yes, Olivia, is there something I can help you with?” He said the words with relish, indicating he knew exactly what she was upset about, and that he’d done it on purpose.
Her silvery eyes narrowed at the same time as her usually lush lips thinned. “Lexie belongs in the club, and you know it.”
“This has nothing to do with Lexie.”
“You’re such a liar sometimes.” She let out a frustrated huff of air, the crop tapping at her calf a little faster. “Fine. I’ll take my punishment, for pointing out the obvious and calling you on your idiocy.” The tip of the crop came up to point directly at him. “But you’d better not try to keep that girl out of the club anymore. If I have to do Introduction scenes with mewling subbies, whom you know Lisa and Erin would prefer, then you have to follow your own damned rules and stop trying to block Lex from getting what she needs.”
He grinned. It felt good, finally being one up on the Domme. Not only had he already agreed to train Lexie, but Olivia was going to have to deal with her least favorite type of submissive. The most recent male sub asking for an Introduction scene had indicated he was eager to serve, enjoyed being humiliated and degraded, and he would happily lick the boot of whatever Domme put one in front of his face. Mistresses Lisa and Erin both liked their subs like that.
This Introduction scene was going to frustrate her and do nothing to turn her on, but she was honor bound to make the submissive happy. Which she would, even though it wasn’t her preferred type of scene. Hell, half the time, when he gave her the eager-to-please subbies, they ended up begging her to serve her past the Introduction scene. The fact that she was less interested in them only made them want her more.
Before he could tell her that he’d already arranged to train Lexie, the door to his office banged open, and Adam came barreling in, looking like the blue-eyed Viking Angel claimed he was. Except, instead of Viking armor, he had on black leathers.
