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Tuesday night found Patrick feeling much more settled. The swinging group which came in on Tuesdays were easy to deal with. They basically just wanted a place where they could meet up that was neutral territory. The bar was in full swing (no pun intended) as well as the dance floor, and the theme rooms were always popular. Especially the one with the giant bed and the video feed to the movie theater. The swingers were easy to deal with, especially because he didn’t need Dungeon Monitors since they basically just rented out the club and policed themselves.
The easy night wasn’t why he felt settled though, it was because Lexie was back at the front desk where she belonged. Wearing appropriate clothing. She rarely wore her sexiest stuff on Tuesdays anyway. The tight, v-neck t-shirt she was wearing was hot on her, but it wasn’t an article of clothing that would be classified as sexy.
Just knowing she was there, back under his jurisdiction, made him feel better. Some people might think it was a little stalkerish, his always wanting her where he could see her, he just figured it was common sense. Lexie had a penchant for getting into trouble. Okay, maybe not trouble, but things he’d rather she didn’t do. That was how she’d found out what kind of club he owned in the first place. Plus, he’d picked her up from countless girls’ nights where she’d been too drunk to drive. The guys always kept some kind of watch on girls’ nights, ever since Jessica’s ex had nearly gotten into a physical altercation with them at a club.
He grinned, remembering how pissed Lexie had been when he’d shown up, tucked her under his arm, and literally carried her away from the douche. Drunken Lexie was a little warmonger when she wanted to be. Of course, she’d turned that on him when he’d picked her up from Rick’s over the summer. She’d gone with Angel and Maria to confront him about the fact that he was being an ass when it came to Maria. Not that it was her or Angel’s business, but they’d gone anyway. Rick had texted Patrick and Adam, and they’d immediately shown up.
Lexie had ended up spending the night at his place, in his guest room, because she’d been way too drunk to drive, and she’d refused to let him take her to her apartment. Of course, now that he’d seen it, he understood why, but that night she’d insisted she didn’t want to go home and be alone. Thankfully, she’d passed out in his car before she could make a move on the sexual interest that had been in her eyes when he’d first carried her out.
She’d slept over. Not for the first time. In the morning he’d made her breakfast and kept everything carefully platonic. Just taking care of her fed some of his basic emotional needs, if he was honest with himself. Just like having her in his club, under his control, did.
Of course, on Thursday he was going to have to deal with the other side of the equation.
With a groan, he decided he was going to take a break for a beer. The bar was looking more sparse now as the couples paired off, hitting either the dance floor or one of the theme rooms. They tended to spend a fair amount of time in the bar at the beginning and end of the night, but there was always some time in between where everyone was otherwise occupied.
Andrew stood behind the bar, wiping down the gleaming wood surface in preparation for the second, later rush. He looked up as Patrick approached.
“Beer?”
“Yep.”
Reaching under the bar, Andrew pulled out a bottle and popped off the top before sliding a coaster in front of Patrick as he sat down and placing the bottle in front of him.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. So Lexie’s back?”
“Yep.”
“You’re gonna train her?”
“Yep.”
Patrick took a long pull of beer while Andrew ran his bar cloth over the same spot over and over again. Looking up to see his friend’s expression, expecting the same condemnation Adam had felt, he almost groaned at the look of amusement on Andrew’s face. Yeah, he was glad to see his friend acting like his old self and becoming less serious and less depressed, but at the same time, he so did not need to deal with his sense of humor. At least Chris wasn’t here. The two of them together were like two rowdy teenage boys sometimes.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Andrew finally asked, but he sounded more like someone anticipating watching a particularly entertaining movie rather than a big brother protecting his sister. Not exactly what Patrick had expected, even from Andrew.
“Why are you taking this so well? I thought you didn’t want her in the club.”
Andrew shrugged. “I never said that, exactly.”
“You were trying to keep her out on Friday.”
“That’s because she was with Michael.”
“I thought you liked Michael.” Dammit. Patrick was starting to feel a stronger urge to drink. Talking to Andrew was going to give him a headache. The more frustrated he got, the more amused Andrew looked.
“I do. But I didn’t think you’d want her going downstairs with Michael.”
Patrick jerked his chin up challengingly. “So you don’t care if Lexie comes into the club, gets tied up, whipped and fucked senseless, as long as I’m the one doing it.”
Coughing and laughing at the same time, partially in shock, Andrew leaned against the bar and gave Patrick a big grin. Big enough that the corners of his eyes crinkled. “Better not say it that way to Adam or Justin, they’re liable to try and kick your ass.”
“But not you.”
“I haven’t been around the past few years,” Andrew reminded him, straightening and grabbing his own beer from under the bar. Apparently he realized Patrick was settling in for a long talk. “Being up in New York and then coming home... every time I visited there were major changes in our girl. You guys didn’t see them, because you were around her all the time, but every time I saw her I had to adjust to a new Lexie who was just a little bit more grown up.” He shrugged. “So I deal with it better than the rest of you, because when the changes are gradual, it’s easy to miss them completely. Plus, unlike the rest of you assholes, I’ve got my own little sister to worry about, and Iris is a hell of a lot more trouble than Lexie is.”
Huffing a laugh, Patrick lifted his beer in acknowledgment of that point. All of them knew part of the reason Andrew had come home was to help out his family. His dad was getting on in years and having some trouble, especially when it came to Iris, who had been running wild since their mother died. When Andrew and Katherine, his ex, had been together, Iris had idolized her, and she’d taken their break-up pretty badly. She’d also blamed Andrew for the loss of a second mother figure to her.
