Liam and Hilary had been next and they had already moved in together, although they were talking about moving to a new place since the apartment they were living in now had been Liam's for years and Hilary was feeling a bit like an intruder into his space. And, most recently, Adam and Angel had gotten together and he knew that Adam was working his way towards getting Angel to move in with him. They'd been dating since almost the beginning of the year and Adam made it no secret that he was head over heels serious about her. So far Angel had been ignoring his hints that he wanted her around on a 24/7 basis, but Adam had told Rick that more and more of her stuff was slowly finding its way into his house.
Even Lexie and Patrick’s situation seemed to be coming to a head. He'd actually let her onto the main floor of the club twice now - more if you counted Angel's self-defense classes that Lexie took part in twice a week, but Rick didn't count those - and it would be a third time in a couple of weeks. She was running the theme night parties at Stronghold that Patrick had decided to allow her to hold for holidays; they'd done Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day, the Independence Day party was next.
As the rest of Rick's friends came in the door, carrying the last of his possessions, he thanked each of them. Guiltily, he also felt better when he saw Jared and was reminded that just having a relationship wasn't what he wanted, he wanted a good relationship. Jared's submissive and girlfriend Marissa was off on another one of her overseas jaunts; she'd been thrilled to be offered a small modeling contract in Italy. Not surprisingly, she'd once again told Jared that she wanted an open relationship while they were apart.
Man he hated that bitch.
So it wasn't just about having a relationship, it was about having a good relationship. But really, Jared was the only one of his friends who had the kind of relationship that Rick didn't aspire to.
He was ready to settle down, find a submissive for the long haul. Hell, he'd been looking to for months now. Knowing that he wanted to move and then finding a new job and a new apartment had helped to relieve some of the impatience he'd felt about it, but now he was up in Maryland near his friends and near the club. Patrick had asked him if he wanted to be put on the Introduction Scene rotation, figuring that would be a good way for him to meet new submissives, but Rick had declined.
It wasn't that he was against newbies, but he'd be able to meet those subs eventually anyway. And he didn't want to have to deal with the whole, "when to stop doing the Intro Scenes" issue, the way Adam had with Angel.
Looking around at his amazing friends, who had all come together to help him move into his new apartment, he couldn't help but think about what an incredibly lucky he guy he was in so many ways. It was just the one way he was missing that bothered him. Going into the kitchen to grab the beers that he'd bought while they waited on the pizza, he glanced out the window. He had a fantastic view of the pool outside from both the kitchen window and his balcony.
There weren't too many people out there right now, surprisingly. He'd been told it was a pretty quiet neighborhood. A couple of skinny teenage boys, rough-housing in the pool itself, and a curvy brunette sunbathing by herself. Rick took a moment to appreciate the scenery, as she had very nice curves. It wasn't like he could enjoy any of the very nice curves that were currently in his apartment, so it was nice to have a bit of eye candy for a moment.
"Rick, are you getting the beer?" Olivia's voice came closer, as if she was heading for the kitchen, and he turned away from the window.
"Yeah, coming."
He grabbed the cooler that was filled with beer and ice that he'd set up that morning. They should be nicely chilled by now.
Putting a smile on his face, he returned to the main room. Everyone was sprawled out on either his couch or the various chairs that had been pulled over from the dining room area, looking sweaty but satisfied. Rick noticed that all of the couples - and the trio - had ended up on his sectional so that they could sit next to each other. Patrick, Olivia, Jared and Andrew were all sitting in chairs. Although Lexie was sitting on the ground in front of Patrick, a pretty frequent position for her. He wondered when the big man was going to notice that Lexie often set herself up in the position that would normally be reserved for his submissive.
"So... I just wanted to thank you all for coming and helping me out today. It means a lot. Pizza is on the way, and here's the beer." With a grin, he set the cooler down in the center of the room as everyone cheered. The mood was relaxed and happy, but Rick couldn't help envying those on the couch as he sat down in one of the chairs.
He hated feeling jealous, but he had to wonder, when would it be his turn?
Look for Rick’s story, book two of the Stronghold series, Taming the Tease, coming in Spring 2014.
About the Author
About me? Right… I’m a writer, I should be able to do that, right?
I’m a happily married young woman, no kids so far, and I like tater tots, small fuzzy animals, naming my plants, hiking, reading, writing, sexy time, naked time, shirtless o’clock, anything sparkly or shiny, and weirding people out with my OCD food habits.
I believe in Happy Endings. And fairies. And Santa Claus. Because without a little magic, what’s the point of living?
I write because I must. I live in several different worlds at any given moment. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
You can follow along with my blog at http://goldeniangel.blogspot.com/. I try to update it regularly.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the story… and don’t forget, the best thing you can do in return for any author is to leave them feedback!
Stay sassy.
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