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Lexie’s bright blue eyes looked suspiciously watery as she took a deep breath. “Okay... I’ve never actually come right out and said, but I think everyone knows I have a thing for Patrick. To put it mildly.” They all nodded. “So, today, I decided to go for it. I showed up at Stronghold and told him I had something I wanted to show him...”
Her voice trickled off, her eyes unfocused.
“Lex? What did you want to show Patrick?” Angel asked, patting her on the leg to get her attention.
“Oh, right.” To everyone’s surprise, Lexie actually blushed. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I stopped doing the tape over the nipples look... and I did it for a reason.”
“Oh shit,” Olivia whispered, obviously realizing what Lexie was implying, even before Lexie pulled down the front of her tank top and the padded bra she was wearing. Two bright silver hoops decorated her nipples, gleaming against her pale skin. “You go girl.”
“Yeah,” Lexie smiled half-heartedly. “I was pretty excited about them.”
“That’s hot... did it hurt?” Jessica asked, looking both interested and a little scared.
“Like a bitch. Especially for the first few days afterwards. That’s why I’ve been wearing the padded bras, it helped to keep them from rubbing against things and then it helped keep them hidden so no one knew.”
Suddenly Hilary let out a chortle. “Oh my God... and all the guys were so relieved you were covering up more that none of them even thought about it.”
Everyone laughed, including Lexie, lightening the moment. When they all looked back at her again she seemed slightly calmer after the brief moment of levity.
“So yeah. I was wearing a thong and a waist cincher and heels, and nothing else under my jacket. So I opened it up and for a minute I thought it was really going to happen. He looked at me like I was a real woman, you know, and not just… me.” Her expression was so openly wistful for just a brief moment. “He told me to bend over his desk, and I did...” The wistfulness began to slide quickly into anger and hurt again. “I did everything perfectly dammit. I did exactly what he told me to, but all he did was spank me and then kick me out of his goddamn office. He told me I wasn’t allowed to dress like that in the club, ever, as long as I was working for him... so I told him... I told him I quit.”
The defiant look Lexie gave all of them made it clear she expected some kind of censure from them.
Instead, Angel pulled the younger woman into her arms and hugged her tight. Olivia came in from the other side, and then they were all piling on, wrapping Lexie in a sisterhood of warmth and support. A muffled sob came from the center of the pile, while they all murmured words of encouragement for her and threats against the idiot Dom.
Finally they all pulled back, only Angel keeping her arm around Lexie as she sniffled a bit, her eyes rimmed with red but she was under control.
“I just thought... I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve had a crush on him for so long and then I grew up and I think I might be in love with him, but how can I be in love with someone I’ve never done anything romantic with?” She sniffled again. Maria sat silently, not sure what to say, because it wasn’t like she’d been around for very long or really understood the situation. Of course, none of the others seemed to know what to say either. “He was just always my white knight, you know? Rushing in to save me from whatever... but then instead of getting kissed I always got a pat on the head instead.”
Angel squeezed her. “I’m sorry honey, but sometimes your knight in shining armor is just another idiot in tinfoil.”
Staring up at her, Lexie choked on a giggle. Then giggled again, and then suddenly everyone was laughing hysterically... it was somehow all too easy to picture Patrick wrapped in tinfoil, stomping alongside a frustrated Lexie. Scaring off all her other potential suitors along the way.
Eventually though, the mirth died down and they returned back to the seriousness of the situation. It was serious, because even Maria could tell Patrick had a thing for Lexie too.
“I think he definitely has more than friendly or brotherly feelings for you,” Olivia said, looking around the room for support, and getting a bunch of nodding heads in return. “He just doesn’t know what to do about them. He’s the biggest control freak out of the bunch, and he has no control over how you’ve grown up. My guess is he has no idea what to do now that he sees you as a woman and not a little sister.”
Lexie rolled her eyes. “It’s not that hard. Naked girl in front you, insert penis here.” She pointed between her legs, at which point Angel lost it completely and burst out laughing again, setting off another round of hilarity. Maria actually had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.
“So... if you quit, are you able to go back to the club?” Maria asked, once she got her giggles under control. She couldn’t imagine Stronghold without Lexie, either welcoming people at the front desk or earnestly enjoying herself at the bar. The guys would miss her too, for all their grumblings about her presence.
“I can bring her, any time she wants to go,” Olivia said. Her smile was almost evil. “In fact, it would be my pleasure.”
“Yeah, but that’s not really going to help the issue,” Lexie said sadly. “All the guys still see me as a little girl. What I need is to actually do a scene at the club. I need to prove to him—all of them—I’m old enough to know what I want, this is what I want, and I can handle it. I’ve tried everything I can think of to goad Patrick into spanking me, but the second he was done, it’s like he shut down again. There’s no way he’ll approve me for an Introductory Scene much less a membership.”
“I could do a scene with you,” Olivia offered, although she didn’t look very enthusiastic about it.
Lexie immediately shook her head. “No, although thank you. But it’s the same problem. They’ll see you as safe because we’re friends and no matter what you do, they’ll feel like you’re going easy on me. Plus, it’s not like there’ll be any sexual tension. They’ll think it’s like play time or something, or like you’re placating me... Patrick will find any excuse to see something other than what I’m trying to show him. I’ve learned that lesson by now. I need to shove it in their faces, in a way they can’t ignore, but there isn’t a single Dom there who will help me do that. Whenever I’ve been on the main floor, no one even approaches me. They’re all too intimidated to do something that might cause trouble with Patrick or the rest of the Sentinels.”
Silence fell over the room.
“I know someone who likes to cause trouble,” Angel said suddenly. They all looked at her, but she was looking thoughtfully out into the distance, straightening her posture as she began to look more and more excited. “I know someone who likes to cause trouble, has a membership, all of them would take seriously, and would probably be happy to help...”
The gleeful look in her eyes made Olivia look at her worriedly, but then her eyes lit up too and she nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face. Angel jumped up and ran over to her purse, all eyes following her. Lexie looked confused, and also like she wanted to be hopeful but didn’t quite dare to be. Maria was caught up in the suspense of the moment, because it felt like something big was about to happen... something important, something game-changing.
Holding the phone to her ear, Angel’s eyes lit up. The room was so quiet everyone could hear the deep murmur of a man’s voice answering the phone, but going by the looks they were giving each other, no one had any idea who Angel had just called. She grinned at them, eyes dancing with mischief.
“Hey pretty boy,” she purred.
