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As close as he was to the other guys, there was a comfort level with Jake he just didn’t have with them. Probably because Jake really was more like a brother to him. Kind of the relationship Justin and Chris had together, except without the girl in the middle. Jake was probably the only person on earth Patrick felt like he could completely let his guard down around...
Which, he realized, might be why hiding what was going on with Lexie was so hard on him. He wasn’t used to hiding anything from Jake. Even when Lexie had first started working there, he’d talked it over with Jake before hiring her. He’d also seen the hesitation on Jake’s face before Patrick had promised he’d watch over her - of course.
“How’s the club?” Jake asked, as if he was somehow following Patrick’s thoughts. He did his best not to keep his expression blank, because Jake would immediately know he was hiding something. Instead, he smiled and hoped like hell it didn’t look as awkward as it felt.
“Things are good. I’ve had to ask some other Doms to help out with Introduction scenes since our friends are dropping like flies when it comes to getting girlfriends.”
“Good thing Andrew moved back into town,” Jake said, teasingly, and looking a little mournful, obviously missing home. Andrew had moved back right after Jake had been deployed, so he hadn’t been there to welcome him back. “I’m looking forward to seeing that fucker. What about Pixie? She’s pretty excited you’re letting her on the main floor of the club.”
Patrick couldn’t tell from Jake’s expression how he felt about his little sister actually being let through the door of the club.
“Yeah... she’s been pretty insistent about being let in.” His face felt like it was carved of granite as the pressure in his chest built. Should he tell Jake that Lexie had been down in the Dungeon now too?
“Ugh...” Jake ran his hair over his buzz cut and shook his head, like he was dispelling an unwanted image from his brain. “I really don’t want to think too hard about that. It’s one thing to know your friends are all perverts, it’s another to know your little sister is.”
Definitely not the time to tell Jake about Lexie’s most recent excursion into the club. Jake had teased his friends often enough about being ‘perverts,’ and of course he didn’t mean it in a derogatory way, but he was obviously struggling to come to terms with seeing his little sister in such a way.
“Just don’t tell me about anything she does at the club,” Jake said, grimacing in a half-joking, half-serious manner. “No brother should ever have to know about that.”
“It’s not easy for the rest of us either,” Patrick muttered shaking his head, but Jake just laughed.
“Yeah, but she’s not actually related to any of you, it’s different. Trust me.” Jake grinned. “So what’s going on with everyone else? Who else has shacked up since we last talked?”
Like Patrick, Jake was a bit in awe of the way their friends were dropping like flies when it came to relationships. He’d heard about Angel moving in with Adam, and about Hilary and Liam’s engagement, but not any of the details. They chatted for another half hour, Jake eagerly catching up on all of the news, before they finally got around to the question Patrick really wanted to ask.
“So when are you coming home?”
Jake’s face lit up in a brilliant smile. “October. I should be home just in time for Halloween.”
Relief flooded Patrick’s body. That was a month and a half away. Plenty of time for him to do some training with Lexie and get an idea of her needs and desires, but not enough time for them to get overly involved. He could hold out for a month and a half before Jake came home to talk to him. Even better, since Jake had specifically told him not to share anything about Lexie’s activities at Stronghold, he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about it.
After all, what could really happen in just a month and a half?
5
The hangover Lexie woke up with wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She definitely felt better than Leigh obviously did, since the other woman groaned and pulled a pillow over her head rather than getting up when the sounds of someone in the kitchen upstairs penetrated through to the basement. Both of them had slept on the comfy sectional.
Lexie had a hazy memory of Adam coming down sometime in the night, tucking a pillow under each of their heads and covering them with a blanket. He’d picked up Angel and carried her upstairs, unwilling to be apart from her for even one night if he didn’t have to be. It was enough to make a grown woman sigh with longing. She didn’t feel that way about Adam, but she loved seeing the caring protectiveness of her friends. Yeah, the guys could be obnoxiously overprotective and overbearing, but they were also super sweet sometimes. Sometimes she got a little taste of that sweetness from Patrick, but then he would always pull away again or act like he was only doing it because she was his friend or because she was Jake’s little sister.
Jerk.
Whatever, he was going to train her now.
Feeling surprisingly peppy at the thought, Lexie headed up the stairs to see who was up and what they were making for breakfast.
“Delayed hangover,” Lexie muttered as she rubbed her head. That was the only explanation. She’d had a good breakfast with Adam and Angel, although Leigh had slept through it, before heading back home. She’d felt totally fine - good even - until about half an hour ago when all her energy slowly drained, and a major headache came on.
Or maybe she was just hungry, now that she thought about it. The eggs, bacon and orange juice from this morning had probably worn off. Why hadn’t she thought about food?
Oh yeah, because she’d been furniture shopping on her computer for the past few hours. Yikes... longer than she’d thought, in fact. The little jibes Patrick had given her about the practically unfurnished space in her apartment had dug a little deeper than she’d initially thought apparently.
Her phone rang while she was microwaving some Ramen, feeling too lethargic to do anything more complicated. Before she even picked it up she knew it was one of the Stronghold girls; she’d set “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” as the ringtone for all of them. She’d set Patrick’s to M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.” Checking the display, she flicked the phone open. “Hey Hil.”
“Hey Lexie! How’s your weekend going?”
“Pretty good, how about you? I didn’t get you into too much trouble on Friday, did I?”
Hilary just laughed, which made Lexie feel better. At least with Angel and Jessica, Lexie had been able to see what their punishments were. Since Liam and Rick had dragged their girlfriends away, and Lexie hadn’t had a chance to call them yet, she wasn’t sure what their punishments ended up being. Rick, especially, could be a bastard when it came to punishments, especially because Lexie had heard that one of his kinks was orgasm denial. She should really call Maria and make sure she was doing okay.
