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Lexie stiffened, but didn’t turn her head. He felt like growling as he saw Michael’s fingers stroke her neck soothingly before he turned to face Patrick. Holding Lexie by her neck was a surefire way to keep control over her, especially if it was stroked or massaged, something that Patrick knew damn well because he was the one that had trained her to it. She probably didn’t even realize how she responded immediately to pressure on her neck, he’d been doing it for so long.
“Your bartender is keeping us from going downstairs,” he said, mildly, although his hazel eyes flashed with amusement that didn’t quite go with the neutral expression on his face. Andrew bristled. Not too surprisingly, since he and Michael had actually become pretty good friends. The other Dom would see this as a kind of betrayal.
“Lexie’s not allowed downstairs.”
He kept his gaze on Michael’s face as Lexie opened her mouth, her eyes blazing, but Michael’s grip on her neck tightened a bit and she pressed her lips together in a straight line. Letting Michael continue to speak for her. It fucking killed Patrick to see her responding to another Dom. The inside of his chest felt like it was tightening around his lungs.
“I was informed Lexie no longer works for you,” Michael said coolly. A murmur of agreement went through the subs surrounding them, a few of them crossing their arms over their chests and nodding. “Therefore, you have no authority over her in the capacity of an employee. My membership has been approved to allow me to bring in a submissive, of my choice, to scene with for the evening. I have chosen Lexie.”
Patrick’s jaw clenched, his mind racing as he fought for control over his emotions. The determined, defiant jerk of Lexie’s chin made him want to spank her ass again. Anger swirled, along with a sense of loss. He was on the verge of telling Michael that his membership was canceled and to get the fuck out when Olivia hopped up from her perch.
“It’s clearly written out in your rules, Patrick,” she said, her voice hard. Those dazzling grey eyes of her were as unyielding as slate. A small smile grew on her face, but it didn’t reach those stony eyes. “The only right you would have to deny them a scene would be if someone else claimed Lexie as his or her submissive.”
From the emphasis she put on ‘someone else,’ Olivia made it clear she meant him. Beside Lexie, Michael stood waiting and looking entirely nonchalant, as if it didn’t matter to him what Patrick’s decision was. But the stillness in the other submissives standing there, and the Doms hovering on the outskirts, indicated they were all waiting to see what Patrick would do.
If he denied Michael, it would undermine all of their trust in him. He made the rules, if he didn’t follow him, then why should they?
His fists clenched. Goddamn it all to fucking hell.
They’d planned every last detail of this. He didn’t believe for one second that Lexie had come up with this on her own, and his quick appraisal of her friends confirmed that. Angel might look as defiant as Lexie, but she also looked nervous. Out of all Patrick’s friends, Adam was probably the strictest, and he was not going to be happy with her. Especially because she’d involved Michael. Adam and Michael got along fairly well now, but he still struggled with the fact that Angel had a bunch of very close guy friends and that her friendship with Michael had always been flirtatious.
Liam rarely punished his fiancé, Hilary, but Patrick doubted she was going to get away with a light spanking for showing up at Stronghold without him there, not to mention in support of Lexie getting into the downstairs portion of the club. Maria looked like she was ready to bolt, but she was also the newest member of their little group and probably felt like she’d fallen in way over her head. Privately, Patrick was surprised that Jessica had managed to get away from both of her boyfriends in order to be here tonight. All of them had probably lied their asses off to do so. Which would mean even more punishment coming their way.
Lexie had known Eric was going to be working as bouncer tonight. He was the only one who would have let her through the door without contacting Patrick, because he was too new to know better. He was also the only one who wouldn’t realize her friends shouldn’t be here without their Doms. Having Michael and Olivia with them would have been enough, he wouldn’t have thought twice about letting them in without notifying anyone.
Obviously Patrick was going to have to do a more thorough job training anyone who spent time at the front door. Although, now that Lexie wasn’t working for him, it wasn’t like she’d know what the schedule was after this week anyway. Jared or Will would have never let her in without contacting him first.
The public stand-off worked in Lexie’s favor too. He had to follow his own rules or invite chaos, not to mention a lack of respect from everyone else in here for not following his own goddamn rules.
“She hasn’t had an Introduction scene,” he said, his voice clipped, even though he knew that the excuse wasn’t going to work.
“Michael can handle it,” Olivia said, raising her eyebrow at him. If it had been anyone other than Olivia, he probably would have taken them out front to go a few rounds in the parking lot. But Patrick didn’t hit women, he only spanked, whipped, flogged and caned them when they begged him to - nicely. Besides, if he was being 100% honest with himself, he wasn’t sure he’d come out on top. Olivia took her Krav Maga seriously, and he doubted she’d have any real concern about damaging him, whereas he would never be able to make himself go all out against her. “Besides, you don’t require an Introduction scene for submissives who come in with an established Dom.”
No, he didn’t, although he usually assigned someone to ‘oversee’ any new couple in the club for their first few scenes. Just as a precaution. Not that Michael was new exactly but... fuck, he was going to regret this.
“Fine. Andrew, get back to work.” There was a loud exhalation, as if everyone suddenly started breathing again all at the same time. It would have been funny if he wasn’t so righteously pissed off. He looked Michael directly in the eye. “I’m going to be overseeing.”
Master Michael raised one haughty eyebrow. Damn, he was nearly as good as Olivia at that. Beside him, Lexie looked like she was caught between being thrilled and scared.
Patrick could only hope scared would win out.
“Holy shit.” Hilary’s soft voice didn’t carry far, probably only Lexie and the others within a two foot radius of her could hear it, but it was enough to help break the tension she was feeling. The pretty blonde almost never cursed. She was incredibly outgoing and bubbly, but she was also incredibly prim in some ways. In fact, Lexie was pretty sure that she could count the number of times she’d heard Hilary curse on one hand.
Swallowing hard, she was tempted to drop a few choice words of her own, but she didn’t want Patrick to see how anxious she was. She’d had no idea whether or not this would really work. Just getting into the club had been a major victory. Poor Eric, she hoped she hadn’t gotten him into trouble. It wasn’t his fault that he was new and she’d taken advantage of that. Patrick was fair though, he wouldn’t blame Eric for something he had no control over. Especially because Patrick would blame himself for not giving Eric the four-one-one. But she knew that this was the first, last and only time she’d be able to get into the club without Patrick knowing the second she set foot inside the door.
Only Michael’s steady presence and soothing hand on the back of her neck had kept her from doing anything stupid. Like opening her big mouth and saying something disrespectful enough to get her kicked out of the club. Respecting the Doms, especially those who worked there, was a big thing. Respecting Patrick even more so, and she had to remember to curb her temper and her tongue, something she wasn’t used to doing. Michael had also kept her from her immediate impulse to drop to her knees and beg Patrick’s apology as he looked at her with those big, angry, hurt, chocolate eyes.
She kind of felt like she’d kicked a puppy. Not that Patrick resembled a puppy in any way, except for the eyes.
The only thing keeping her from feeling too guilty was that Patrick was obviously not going to step in the way she’d secretly hoped. She’d known from the beginning there was no way she was going to get downstairs without some kind of confrontation. Olivia had promised there was nothing Patrick could do to stop them, not without seriously undermining himself, and she’d stepped in just in time to keep him from saying anything he’d regret, but there was another option too. If Patrick had claimed her, or asked her if he could take over, she could have chosen to go with him instead of Master Michael.
Instead he was just going to watch? If he didn’t have those puppy dog eyes, she’d be feeling pretty hurt and rejected herself, but she could tell he was upset in a way that had nothing to do with big brother feelings. Not like Andrew, who looked like he wanted to kick Michael’s ass. She really hoped this didn’t mess up their friendship, although honestly she couldn’t figure out why it would anyway.
Why was it anyone’s business who she hooked up with? Or scened with? She could kind of understand Patrick’s reluctance because of his friendship with Jake, but why did everyone think they got a say in who she dated? And the whole thing with Jake was why she was doing this now!
She didn’t think her brother would be thrilled about her going to Stronghold, but this was what she wanted. It was what turned her on. There’s no way he’d prefer her going to a different club, when this was the safest and closest one in the area, not to mention, it was filled with people who would watch out for her. The hardest part would be if she and Patrick started dating, and then it didn’t work out. That’s why she wanted to try and push her fantasies about Patrick into reality now, before her brother came home. Having him home would just put more pressure on them, because he’d always be looking over their shoulders.
It was one thing to come home to see her in an established relationship, where she could say without hesitation that Patrick and his particular kinks were what she wanted, rather than Jake having to sit back and watch them make those awkward first steps. She didn’t want the awkward first steps of a relationship to be complicated by her brother breathing down their necks, watching their every move. Everyone else was already going to be. Not that it was really anyone’s business but hers and Patrick’s. This was just another step in her plan to make him notice her as a woman, rather than as a little sister, and she knew it was working. She just had to get him to admit it. Preferably soon, so she could show him she could handle his lifestyle before Jake returned.
