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“Dude...” Andrew breathed out the word in shock and horror.
“What the fuck.” Patrick slammed his hand down on the bar. He’d met Leigh. He liked the girl. Unlike Angel, she wasn’t as outspoken, a lot less bratty, and kind of a pushover. He was pretty sure she was also submissive, which explained how she got stuck in a relationship with a guy who walked all over her, but seriously, what the fuck.
“Who even does that?” Jared looked shocked out of his own misery, possibly by the idea that there was someone out there just as callous as his own girlfriend.
“No, but seriously, who even does that?” Maria asked. She patted Leigh’s arm drunkenly. “I mean, we don’t really know each other and I’ve never met him, but... who does that?”
“I know!” Leigh gestured wildly. They had taken over Adam’s basement, with occasional trips upstairs for more provisions when necessary (mostly food, since all the alcohol was in the basement anyway). When Angel had called in the troops, she’d really called in the troops. Apparently, she figured Leigh needed to be surrounded by all the Stronghold girls, even the ones she didn’t know that well. Surprisingly, Leigh hadn’t been at all upset that Angel had done so. She responded immediately to Maria’s mothering presence and had spilled out the entire story, in detail, while Maria hugged her. Something Angel hadn’t been able to get her to do before then.
Maybe it was just easier telling someone who didn’t have any kind of stake in the events. It was around that time Angel had started shouting and Adam had hid the knives before fleeing. Probably for the best, since Jessica and Lexie had both immediately picked up Angel’s battle cry of “Stabby-Death.”
The amount of junk food Leigh was consuming was a bit worrying, considering her high blood sugar, but Angel had quietly assured Lexie she was keeping an eye on Leigh, when Lexie asked. Plus, a one night binge wasn’t a huge deal, as long as she was behaving the rest of the time. She had noticed Angel had been steadily feeding Leigh cheese and crackers, rather than letting her go for the less substantial and less healthy offerings on the table. Leigh seemed completely oblivious. Of course, that might be because she was wasted.
“Six years... more than six years! And then BOOM!” Leigh waved her hand. “I’m not in love with you anymore. Like... could that not have come out last night? Before we had sex?”
“You had sex with him last night?” Hilary shrieked. She’d been mostly consoling and comforting Leigh, maybe thinking someone in the room needed to not be on a murderous rampage. Looked like that was over. Also, apparently, Maria hadn’t quite gotten the full story. But it was aaaaall coming out now. “And he dumped you this morning?”
“Well, he didn’t exactly dump me...” Leigh said, suddenly turning wistful and teary. “I dumped him after he said he wasn’t in love with me, but it’s not like I really had a choice. He said he still loves me, he’s just not in love with me anymore. I can’t stay in a relationship like that.”
“What, so he wanted to stay together? Even though he said he’s not in love with you?” Angel’s face was getting bright red; she really did look like she was going to stabby-death someone. “I know you said he’s been taking you for granted lately, but what the fuck?!”
“He didn’t really say, but he didn’t say he wanted to break up either. It just sounded like he thought I should know.”
“All right. Where does this fucker live?” Olivia’s voice sliced through the room, which immediately went silent. Those were the first words she’d said since arriving, when she’d hugged Leigh and said “I’m here for you, honey.”
The Domme was the only one not in pajamas. Everyone else had changed upon arrival and seeing that Leigh and Angel were wearing theirs, as if it was some kind of show of solidarity. Only Olivia hadn’t changed, and she had obviously been getting ready to go to the club when she’d seen Angel’s text. She had shown up last, and she was wearing leather pants and a tight black leather halter-top that pushed her breasts up. Sitting kind of apart from everyone, in a chair rather than on the sectional, she was resting one ankle on the opposite knee, her hands on her thighs, and she looked like a freaking assassin. Leather assassin. Lassassin. Lady assassin. Leather lady assassin.
“No.” Leigh’s firm negation shook Lexie out of her drunken reverie. Reverie. Woo! “I don’t want anyone to hurt him.”
The toothy grin Olivia gave Leigh wasn’t at all reassuring. “I didn’t say anything about hurting him.”
“It’s not his fault if he’s not in love with me anymore.” Leigh’s mismatched eyes immediately filled with tears and Maria murmured something soothing, putting her arm around the other woman.
“It’s not yours either, bebé,” Maria said, rubbing Leigh’s shoulder. Angel immediately plunked herself down on the other side of Leigh, resuming her place. She’d been bobbing up and down depending on her level of anger and need to rant. Rubbing Leigh’s thigh, she echoed the sentiment.
“No, I know, I know,” Leigh said, reassuring them. “But I don’t want him hurt over it. I still love him even if he doesn’t love me.”
The tears spilled over, and Angel and Maria immediately hugged her. Lexie looked over at Olivia, who seemed a bit frustrated. With the others taking care of mothering Leigh, it almost seemed like the Domme was at a bit of a loss what her role should be. Kicking Michael’s ass would have been right up her alley, but Leigh was... well, even when she was angry she wasn’t vengeful. It was kind of depressing, because Lexie could see herself in Leigh’s position one day. If things didn’t work out between her and Patrick, even if he hurt her, she wouldn’t want anyone to give him grief over it.
Still, she couldn’t imagine Patrick ever being as fucked up about it as Michael had been. Like, really, who even did that?
“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Olivia said firmly, pushing herself up from the chair. Hilary and Jessica exchanged knowing glances. They’d spent a lot of time with the Domme, since they used to work with her, and probably knew her better than anyone else in the room except Lexie. Olivia crossed the room in a few long steps, leaning over to put her hand under Leigh’s chin and locking in her gaze. Despite Leigh’s firmness a minute ago, she was completely pliable under Olivia’s direction. Her big eyes looked up at Olivia, vulnerable and almost child-like. “You’re going to stop moping and start being pissed, because what he did was shitty. No matter how much you love him, how he treated you was fucked up. And if you ever change your mind about having his ass kicked, I will be happy to oblige. Now. We’re going upstairs. I’m going to heat up some chocolate and we’re going to dip stuff in it until everybody feels better.” Her voice dropped to a mutter as she straightened. “I know it’ll help me feel better.”
Everyone sat in place staring at her. Olivia put her hands on her hips.
“Move.” Her voice snapped out like a drill sergeant’s and six subbies immediately jumped to their feet to obey. Lexie included Leigh in her count, because she definitely was even if she didn’t realize it yet.
They tumbled up the stairs like a pack of bumbling puppies with a wolf on their heels. Leather wolf lady assassin.
“Holy fuck, she’s scary,” Leigh whispered to Lexie.
“Right?” Lexie whispered back. “But she’s right too. You should be pissed.”
“I’m having trouble getting past sad.”
Not for very long though. Olivia soon had them lined up around Adam’s island, each with a drink, while she heated up some water with melting chocolate in a bowl above it. Lexie watched, fascinated by the process as Olivia dipped all sorts of things into the stuff and handed them out.
Strawberries. Pound cake. Pretzels.
