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As she and Leigh headed down the hall towards the stairs, she heard the guys muttering behind her.
“There’s a guy.”
“There must be a guy.”
“Did she say anything to you?”
“No, you?”
“She’s been way too quiet lately.”
“Maybe we should—“
Angel purposefully blocked them out of her hearing and headed down the stairs.
Adam
The club was starting to fill up. Adam had gotten there early because he wanted to make sure he didn’t miss Angel. Yesterday he’d come for a while as well but she’d never shown up. Since Thursday was a much quieter night around the club, he’d wanted to cover all his bases. He’d decided Olivia was right, he’d been too hard on Angel. The fact that his mom had called this morning and chatted with him in her usual airy, breezy, but loving way drove home to him how he did sometimes still hold onto his resentment over the sudden way she’d left them. She’d been unhappy and she hadn’t spoken up about it, not until the day she’d left.
Angel was the first woman he’d been attracted to in more than a ‘let’s do a scene’ way in a long time. He’d enjoyed talking with her at Chained, add in his attraction and it was no wonder he’d been obsessed with trying to figure her out. It had started with the mystery, but by the time they’d scened together he’d also found something more.
He figured he owed it to himself, and to her, to at least scene with her again and see if the chemistry was still there or if it was a byproduct of mystery, discovery, and anger. That, and despite knowing she’d presented herself as something she wasn’t, he still hadn’t been able to get her out of his head all week.
Patrick stalked in through the main door, past Will who was standing guard that evening, and immediately came over to where Adam was sitting.
“Bourbon shot,” he barked at Lisa. She raised her eyebrow at him, tapped her fingers on the bar, and waited. Patrick growled. “Please.”
“Don’t piss off the Dommes,” Adam said mildly.
“You’d think eventually someone would worry about pissing me off,” the big man grumbled. He looked as stressed as Adam had ever seen him. For the first time, in a long time, some stubble had dared make an appearance on his normally bald head. Patrick ran his hands over it, his head bowing for a moment before Lisa returned with the shot of bourbon.
Deciding the best policy was to remain silent, because pointing out the obvious—that ninety-nine percent of the people in the club were never going to risk pissing Patrick off—wasn’t going to help right now.
“What does she see in that little twit anyway?” Patrick was staring at the small glass in front of him rather than drinking it. “If Jake knew I was letting her run around with a little bastard like him, he’d come back home and kick my ass.”
“I think he’d realize you can’t control every aspect of Lexie’s life,” Adam said dryly. He studied Patrick’s bleak expression. “Unless, of course, you made her your slave.” Out of their group of friends Patrick was the only one who wanted anything close to resembling a full-time Master/slave relationship.
Instead of responding, Patrick picked up the shot of bourbon and studied it for a moment before lifting it to his lips and throwing his head back.
Nonchalantly, Adam let his gaze drift over to the lounge area, which was slowly filling up with the subs who wanted to play and didn’t have a current partner. “You could always work out some of your tension. Plenty of subs available tonight.”
“Is that what you’re planning on doing?” Patrick asked, deflecting the issue back rather than acknowledging he hadn’t done a scene in the club since Lexie had started working there.
“I’m waiting for a particular sub.”
“Oh really?” A little half-smile lifted Patrick’s face. “Does this mean you’re not going to be doing Introduction Scenes anymore?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
The only reason Liam, Justin, and Chris were no longer doing Introduction Scenes was because they were in committed relationships. He wasn’t anywhere near that with Angel. Wasn’t even sure it was what he wanted with her or whether she’d have anything to do with him after last week, and he wasn’t going to shirk his responsibilities to the club unless it was for something serious. Especially since that would leave Patrick shorthanded, although he knew the owner was already looking at some Doms to take over some of the duties.
“Well, next week there isn’t one because of the damn party Lexie talked me into throwing, and then Andrew said he’d cover your next session since you covered his, so after he and Olivia take their turns again it’ll be about a month from now before you have one again.”
“Right.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the subtle dance between patrons of the club. Ellie was in the Lounge again, Tom was watching her from the bar before he went over and propositioned Vicki for a scene. Although he glanced at Ellie to see her reaction, she wasn’t even paying attention. His gaze hardened, then he looked away and smiled at Vicki.
One of the older couples in the club, Walter and Marianne came in. They were both in their sixties and had been married for over thirty years. While they weren’t the only retirees who belonged to the club, and they weren’t even the oldest, they were the longest running couple. They occasionally made use of one of the private rooms, which they kept private by drawing the shades over the windows, but mostly seemed to enjoy being around people who indulged in the same kink they did. Marianne saw Patrick and Adam and smiled and waved. Seeing his Mistress’ attention, Walter peeked upwards and smiled at them as well before ducking his head back down as Marianne tugged on his leash. The stately gentleman—because that’s what he was—trotted meekly along behind her.
