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“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry, Sir.”
Olivia was still sitting in his office, holding down the fort. The Domme looked up from his computer, giving him a half-hearted smile.
“How’d it go?”
“I didn’t talk to her,” he said, ambling over to one of the chairs sitting in front of his desk. He waved his hand at Olivia as she started to stand. “You’re fine where you are, stay.” She lowered herself back into the seat, raising one eyebrow in surprise as she did so. For once, he didn’t feel the need to establish his position by reclaiming his chair. It didn’t really seem to matter where he sat. “I just followed her home to make sure she got there safely. I figured she could use more time to calm down.”
“Good. Running away from you shouldn’t be rewarded with attention,” Olivia said. Her voice wasn’t exactly condemning towards Lexie, but she didn’t sound pleased either. That kind of topping from the bottom was something Olivia would never tolerate. It was one thing for Lexie to need some time to put herself back together in the locker room, another for her to split while she was obviously still in the middle of sub-drop.
But then again, he and Olivia had both realized Lexie didn’t know, or didn’t want to acknowledge, that was part of what had been driving her emotions tonight. Olivia said she’d still been denying it in the locker room, although she hadn’t been willing to relay anything else Lexie had been saying. She’d just let Patrick vent out his own side, for once without pithy comments.
“I’m not sure,” Patrick said, rubbing his hand over his face as he slumped back against the chair he was sitting in. Reaching out with his foot, he hooked it around a leg of the other chair and pulled it into position so he could stretch out his legs and rest his feet on it. “I fucked up, severing the connection between us so quickly and completely. I should have been gentler about it, more supportive. I just reacted without thinking.”
Olivia threw a rubber eraser at him, the big one he used when he was doing the accounting. Scowling, he snatched it out of the air before it hit him in the head. “You’re not perfect, Patrick, and it’s time she realized that. Yes, you made a mistake tonight, but Lexie has a tendency to put you up on a pedestal. She’s been fantasizing about this for so long that she expects everything to go off without a problem, and now she’s throwing a tantrum because something didn’t turn out the way she wanted it to. Granted, she was experiencing sub-drop, but her reaction was still extreme even taking that into consideration. She has all these expectations in her head, and you’re doing your best to meet them, but you can’t beat yourself up because you were taken by surprise tonight and are kicking yourself in hindsight.”
Her reassurance only made him feel the tiniest bit better.
“I’m still the more experienced one, and the dominant. I should have been more prepared.”
“You can’t prepare for everything.”
He didn’t really have anything to say to that, so he fell silent. Surprisingly, so did Olivia. She rocked gently back and forth in his chair, watching him. The quiet stretched, only broken by the muted noises from the club.
Finally, he looked at her again, questioningly. “So what do you think I should do? I have to admit, I expected a lecture and some sharply spoken advice once I got back here.”
The Domme, who had bullied and prodded every single one of their friends during their relationship trials, just grinned at him. “Sorry to disappoint, but I think you’re already handling it the way you should be. You gave her the space she needed in the locker room, tried to ensure she’d talk to you before she left, followed her home when she didn’t, and didn’t indulge her with extra attention for disobeying. Honestly, right now she probably just needs more time to calm down and to remember that you’re only human.”
Patrick stared at her, completely flummoxed.
“Hold on... I did it right? Really?” He couldn’t help but laugh. “I should make an announcement... declare a national holiday. Olivia, the Queen of Correction, thinks I did everything right!”
“Not everything,” Olivia said, teasing him. “Just everything after you fucked up. Which, I don’t blame you for. Unlike you, I am perfectly aware you aren’t infallible and sometimes make mistakes.”
“Yes, well, thank you for that,” he said dryly.
“Just remember, she’s young,” Olivia said, standing up and stretching, obviously ready to go. “That doesn’t mean she can’t make her own decisions, but she hasn’t had a really serious relationship before, because, consciously or unconsciously, she’s been waiting on you. She’s pretty grounded, but she also has this idea of how she thinks things should go between you two. You shouldn’t have been so harsh with her, but she also shouldn’t have gone running without talking to you. Tomorrow you’ll both be able to talk more calmly.”
Walking around his desk, Olivia dropped a kiss on top of his head and left him there to ponder her advice and think about what he was going to do next.
Unfortunately, his best plan was to wait until tomorrow before he did anything. It was going to be a long fucking night.
11
Two calls that went unanswered and three text messages was Patrick’s limit. He’d asked Lexie to call him back and, by the last text message, demanded that she do so, to no avail. Not one single fucking response. He’d called Olivia, who had reassured him Lexie was alive and well, which was the only reason he hadn’t shown up at her front door to beat some sense into her bratty, little ass. Well, that and because he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jake yet.
When he’d gotten home last night, he’d had an email back from Jake, saying he’d be able to Skype on Sunday. Two days. Patrick could wait two days. It would also give him enough time to try and figure out exactly what he was going to say to Jake.
Knowing Lexie was still pissed at him was making him restless. He’d barely been able to concentrate on anything all day, even though he’d tried to distract himself by running through the membership applications and assigning Introduction scenes. Usually that took his entire attention, but today he’d found himself staring off into space more than once. He’d had to re-read more than one application.
The hours until her shift had ticked by far too slowly. He’d had to turn off the security camera feed from the Lobby to keep himself from watching to see if she’d come in to talk to him beforehand. Or just show up early. So when he finally flicked it back on, and saw Shondra sitting behind the desk instead, his temper came roaring to life.
One of the few true switches in the club, Shondra still jumped when he slammed open the office door and came stomping into the Lobby. Standing by the entrance to the club, Will regarded him warily, and Patrick tried to reign in his anger. It wasn’t Shondra’s fault Lexie wasn’t there.
“Where’s Lexie?” he asked, as calmly as he could. Not quite calmly enough, going by the way Shondra eased her rolling chair a little farther away from him. She blinked, her expression unsettled.
“Ah... she told me she quit and asked if I could cover her shift for tonight.” Although she was an eager submissive, Shondra could wield a whip as mean as any of the Dommes; he’d never heard her sound quite so uncertain before. Her usual confidence seemed to have deserted her as she wavered under his glare. Dammit, he had to get control of himself. If Shondra was leery of him, he could only imagine how one of his more submissive workers would react.
Growling, Patrick turned and stormed back into his office, feeling like a thundercloud. He just wished he had a few lightning bolts to throw, help him work off some steam.
