Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4)

by Golden Angel

  The worst case scenario was that all of this would blow up in his face, hurting not just his group of friends, but also the people that he considered his family. He wasn't actually their son, even if the Standishes treated him as such, but Lexie really was their daughter.

  Training Lexie meant testing the waters without actually starting anything with her. If they didn't match up in their needs and desires, if there was anything they couldn't compromise on, they'd find out before starting an actual relationship. It would suck, and it would probably kill him to watch her with another Dom at the club, but at least it wouldn't cause a serious issue with everyone in their lives.

  "That's why I'm just training her," he said, finally, answering Adam's question. He knew that the other man would follow his thought process, and that he'd share it with the others. They might have their own doubts and opinions, but they'd keep it to themselves. At least until Jake got home.

  Even Adam was looking a little bit more sympathetic now. "I'd better get out there and start working," he said, rapping his knuckles on the desk.

  "Yes, get out," Patrick ordered, but his heart wasn't in it. Adam just chuckled and left.

  Bracing his elbows on his desk, Patrick got back to work, doing his best not to think about Lexie or Jake or his friends. Right now, thinking too much was liable to drive him crazy.

  ******

  Lexie, Angel and Leigh had decamped from the kitchen and ended up in the basement, where Adam had a pretty sweet set-up. The basement was where all his video games were, along with the biggest screen tv that he had, and there was even a fridge. Fully stocked with booooooze. They'd moved the food trays down to the coffee table and were now sprawled out across the huge sectional.

  "I'm so fuuuull," Angel said, rubbing her stomach and taking another sip of wine. "Full and drunk!"

  "Drunk is good," Leigh said, leaning her head against Lexie's shoulder. Lexie hadn't been drunk with Leigh before, but she was starting to conclude that Leigh was a bi-polar drunk. She shuttled back and forth between energetically excited and depressingly morose. Twisting her head, Leigh frowned at Lexie's half-empty wine glass. "Lex, you're way behind us. You have to catch up."

  "I am, I am... just slowly," Lexie said, giggling a little. The truth was, Lexie and Angel were both way behind Leigh.

  Leigh poked her in the side. "Come on, hurry up and drink that. There are sober children in Africa!"

  All three of them burst into giggles.

  "That's so wrong!" Angel declared, between gasps for breath. Lexie couldn't stop giggling either, even though it hadn't really been that funny, but as soon as she caught either Leigh or Angel's eye, she started laughing all over again.

  "I'm serious!" Leigh said, even though she couldn't stop laughing either. "I don't want to be the only drunk one here!"

  "You aren't, you're just the drunkest," Lexie pointed out.

  "I need to be the drunkest," Leigh muttered, her giggles quickly dying as she made one of her lightening shifts in mood. Angel and Lexie both glanced at each other. So far Leigh had dropped a couple hints about why she was upset, but they hadn't really talked about it. She just seemed generally unhappy with her boyfriend. Lexie got the feeling that Angel had been purposefully getting Leigh a little bit plastered, so that she would open up a little bit more.

  "Why?" Lexie asked, a little bit cautious. She didn't want to force Leigh to talk if the other woman didn't feel like it.

  "Just, you know. Stuff." Leigh said, biting the ends of her words off. Angel and Lexie exchanged another glance as Leigh stared at the wall above the television. Her eyes were unfocused, like she wasn't really seeing what she was looking at. "I think Michael's going to break up with me. Again. That or I'm going to break up with him."

  Both of Angel's eyebrows went up. "Really?"

  Leigh gave her a baleful look. "Don't sound so excited."

  "Right. Sorry." The false sincerity in Angel's voice made Lexie start to giggle again, and even Leigh cracked a smile. "So... why would you break up with him?"

  "It's just... if I didn't know better, I'd think he was cheating on me." Leigh looked at Lexie, her expression earnest. "I know how that sounds, but Michael's not the type to cheat." She rolled her eyes. "He feels too guilty, so he dumps me first, before trying to even talk to another woman like that. It's kind of honorable, in its own stupid way."

  "But... he's acting like he might be cheating?" Lexie asked, confused.

  "He's just working all the time. He gets home late, he's constantly on the phone... we haven't had quality time together in weeks. Not to mention that we barely have sex anymore, and when we do, I have to be the one who initiates it." She made a disgusted face. "I hate initiating sex, and he knows that. We used to have sex all the time, but now I have to practically throw myself at him. Even then, sometimes he doesn't always say yes."

  "What?!" Angel sounded totally shocked, which Lexie took as an indication of what Leigh's sex life used to be like.

  Leigh threw up one hand in frustration, her other hand jerking slightly and almost spilling the wine in it, except that Lexie reached out to steady it. "Thanks," Leigh said, giving her a little smile, before sighing in exasperation as she returned to the previous topic. "Last night, I made him a nice dinner - which he was late for - and put on some sexy lingerie under my dress, and I tried to make things all romantic, but as soon as dinner was over, he sat on the couch and turned on the television. Then, when I sat next to him and tried to... you know, get things going, he just kind of kissed me, patted me on the head and said he was tired. And yeah, I know men can get tired too, but we haven't had sex in two weeks... and goddammit, I'm horny!"

  There were tears sparking in her eyes as her movements became more jerky. Lexie rescued the wine glass from her hand and put it on the table as Angel moved in to hug her. Huffing little pants of air, like she was trying to keep herself from crying, Leigh stretched out on the couch, putting her head in Angel's lap. Pulling the elastic band keeping Leigh's hair up in a messy bun, Angel started to run her fingers through the long strands, in comforting, soothing motions. Lexie scooted in from behind, rubbing Leigh's legs, since she couldn't exactly hug her while she was lying down.

  "I just... it hurt, you know? The fact that we haven't had sex in so long - well, long for us, and then I try and just get rejected... plus, he barely even thanked me for the dinner. It's like he doesn't even notice that I'm doing all the stuff around the house, making dinners, doing everything I can to make his life easier because I know he's stressed at work right now... and then when I need something too, I just get pushed away. It sucks. It really, fucking, sucks." She let out another little huffing pant as both Angel and Lexie made sympathetic noises. Leigh pressed her face against Angel's thigh for a moment. "I'm sorry guys, I was trying so hard not to be a downer..."

  “Hey, no apologies,” Angel said sternly, her hands still gentle as she ran her fingers through Leigh’s hair. “This is what girls’ nights are for. Booze. Laughing. Venting. Whatever we need.”

  "If it makes you feel any better, I haven't had sex in months," Lexie offered up, although she couldn't imagine that it would actually make Leigh feel better. After all, Leigh was in a relationship. One where she was apparently used to getting sex on a pretty regular basis. But it did make Leigh blink and stop looking like she was about to burst into tears.

  "Months? Really?" Leigh shuddered. "I don't think I could do that."

  "That's because you've had a steady boyfriend since you first started having sex," Angel said, amusement threading through her voice. "It is possible to live without sex."

  "It just sucks," Lexie said, her voice wistful.

  "Have you been saving yourself for Patrick?" Leigh asked, her mood starting to swing back up. She twisted onto her back so that she could look at Lexie, curiosity replacing the unhappiness in her expression.

  Lexie laughed. "No, not exactly. But I'm not a big fan of one night things, and my last boyfriend, Trevor, turned out to be a dick, and w
e never made it to the bedroom. So... yeah. It's been a little over a year now."

  "Oh you poor thing!" Leigh sat up, only a little wobbly, and threw her arms around Lexie in a sympathetic hug. Angel snickered.

  "It's not that big a deal," Lexie said, a little exasperated. All of Leigh's relationship issues, and she was feeling sorry for Lexie? Ouch. "That's what vibrators are for."

  "They aren't the same," Leigh said, shaking her head morosely.

  "Oh my god," Angel said suddenly, grabbing Leigh's arm. "Please don't tell me you stay with Michael for the regular sex." Leigh hesitated and Angel fell back dramatically, the back of one hand against her forehead. "Noooo... come on, Leigh, you're better than that."

  "What? I like sex! He gives me orgasms. Really good ones. Also, there's the whole I'm in love with him thing, which I don’t seem to be able to get over, but yeah... the regular sex is part of it. That's what being in a relationship is, getting regular sex!"

  "Amen," Lexie muttered.

  "I'm not staying in the relationship just for the sex though," Leigh said, glaring at Angel even as she started petting Lexie's hair. Lexie giggled, pretty sure that Leigh didn't even realize what she was doing. Maybe they were all a little more drunk than they'd realized. "Especially if he keeps taking me for granted the way he has been. For better, or worse, but not for granted. That's my new motto."

  "You go girl," Lexie enthused, hugging Leigh around the waist. That was a sentiment she could get behind. Sometimes it seemed like Patrick took her for granted. Especially once he had her working at Stronghold, like he thought that sitting at the front desk should satisfy her for the rest of her life, as long as she was in the club.

  Being trained by him was actually probably going to make things harder on her than they'd been before. She'd always been able to push for more, to hedge around his dictates, and to sass him as much as she wanted. As a sub, as his sub, she wasn't going to be able to do that as often. Even if Patrick wanted a strong submissive, someone who would stand up for what she wanted, he would also expect his word to be final. Right now, she could argue with him, and if he didn't agree with her, she would often just do whatever she wanted to anyway. She didn't think he'd be tolerating that anymore.

  Now he had something to hold over her. They were going to be much more involved, and if she didn't follow his lead, he could stop training her. Even more, it would show him that she couldn't be the kind of submissive that he wanted. Sometimes, Lexie wasn't sure how well she'd be able to let Patrick lead her, but as long as she was finally getting what she wanted - needed - from him, she'd manage.

  ******

  When Patrick's computer pinged to let him know he had an incoming Skype call, he almost jumped in his seat. Even though he'd done his best to focus on work, he'd become more and more nervy while waiting for Jake to call. The muted sounds of the club were still filtering through his office door. Nearly midnight, the club was still in full swing, but he hadn't been called out of his office to put out any fires so far. Which made it a good night.

  Putting down his pen, Patrick took a deep breath and pulled up the screen. As soon as he saw Jake's face, he grinned. His best friend was looking good. Tanned, smiling, and uninjured. Some of Patrick's tension immediately leaked out.

  "Hey Patty-cake, looking good," Jake said by way of greeting. Jake was the only one who could get away with calling him that.

  "Better looking than you, at least," Patrick said, grinning back.

  "Only because the shower facilities out here leave a bit to be desired," Jake said. They bantered back and forth for a few minutes, helping to relax Patrick even further.

  As close as he was to the other guys, there was a comfort level with Jake that he just didn't have with them. Probably because Jake really was more like a brother to him. Kind of the relationship that Justin and Chris had together, except without the girl in the middle. Jake was probably the only person on earth that Patrick felt like he could completely let his guard down around...

  Which, he realized, might be why hiding what was going on with Lexie was so hard on him. He wasn't used to hiding anything from Jake. Even when Lexie had first started working there, he'd talked it over with Jake before hiring her. He'd also seen the hesitation on Jake's face before Patrick had promised that he'd watch over her - of course.

  "How's the club?" Jake asked, as if he was somehow following Patrick's thoughts. He did his best not to keep his expression blank, because Jake would immediately know he was hiding something. Instead, he smiled and hoped like hell that it didn’t look as awkward as it felt.

  "Things are good. I've had to ask some other Doms to help out with Introduction scenes since our friends are dropping like flies when it comes to getting girlfriends."

  "Good thing Andrew moved back into town," Jake said, teasingly, and looking a little mournful, obviously missing home. Andrew had moved back right after Jake had been deployed, so he hadn't been there to welcome him back. "I'm looking forward to seeing that fucker. What about Pixie? She's pretty excited you're letting her on the main floor of the club."

  Patrick couldn't tell from Jake's expression how he felt about his little sister actually being let through the door of the club.

  "Yeah... she's been pretty insistent about being let in." His face felt like it was carved of granite as the pressure in his chest built. Should he tell Jake that Lexie had been down in the Dungeon now too?

  "Ugh..." Jake ran his hair over his buzz cut and shook his head, like he was dispelling an unwanted image from his brain. "I really don't want to think too hard about that. It's one thing to know that your friends are all perverts, it's another to know that your little sister is."

  Definitely not the time to tell Jake about Lexie's most recent excursion into the club. Jake had teased his friends often enough about being 'perverts,' and of course he didn't mean it in a derogatory way, but he was obviously struggling to come to terms with seeing his little sister in such a way.

  "Just don't tell me about anything she does at the club," Jake said, grimacing in a half-joking, half-serious manner. "No brother should ever have to know about that."

  "It's not that easy for the rest of us either," Patrick muttered shaking his head, but Jake just laughed.

  "Yeah, but she's not actually related to any of you, it's different. Trust me." Jake grinned. "So what's going on with everyone else? Who else has shacked up since we last talked?"

  Like Patrick, Jake was a bit in awe of the way their friends were dropping like flies when it came to relationships. He'd heard about Angel moving in with Adam, and about Hilary and Liam's engagement, but not any of the details. They chatted for another half hour, Jake eagerly catching up on all of the news, before they finally got around to the question that Patrick really wanted to ask.

  "So when are you coming home?"

  Jake's face lit up in a brilliant smile. "October. I should be home just in time for Halloween."

  Relief flooded Patrick's body. That was a month and a half away. Plenty of time for him to do some training with Lexie and get an idea of her needs and desires, but not enough time for them to get overly involved. He could hold out for a month and a half before Jake came home to talk to him. Even better, since Jake had specifically told him not to share anything about Lexie's activities at Stronghold, he wouldn't have to feel guilty about it.

  After all, what could really happen in just a month and a half?

  Chapter 5

  The hangover that Lexie woke up with wasn't as bad as it could have been. She definitely felt better than Leigh obviously did, since the other woman groaned and pulled a pillow over her head rather than getting up when the sounds of someone in the kitchen upstairs penetrated through to the basement. Both of them had slept on the comfy sectional.

  Lexie had a hazy memory of Adam coming down sometime in the night, tucking a pillow under each of their heads and covering them with a blanket. He'd picked up Angel and carried her upstairs, unwilling to be apart from her for even one night
if he didn't have to be. It was enough to make a grown woman sigh with longing. Not that she felt that way about Adam, but she loved seeing the caring protectiveness of her friends. Yeah, the guys could be obnoxiously overprotective and overbearing, but they were also super sweet sometimes. Sometimes she got a little taste of that sweetness from Patrick, but then he would always pull away again or act like he was only doing it because she was his friend or because she was Jake's little sister.

  Jerk.

  Whatever, he was going to train her now.

  Feeling surprisingly peppy at the thought, Lexie headed up the stairs to see who was up and what they were making for breakfast.

  ******

  "Delayed hangover," Lexie muttered as she rubbed her head. That was the only explanation. She'd had a good breakfast with Adam and Angel, although Leigh had slept through it, before heading back home. She'd felt totally fine - good even - until about half an hour ago when all her energy slowly drained, and a major headache came on.

  Or maybe she was just hungry, now that she thought about it. The eggs, bacon and orange juice from this morning had probably worn off. Why hadn't she thought about food?

  Oh yeah, because she'd been furniture shopping on her computer for the past few hours. Yikes... longer than she'd thought, in fact. The little jibes that Patrick had given her about the practically unfurnished space in her apartment had dug a little deeper than she'd initially thought apparently.

  Her phone rang while she was microwaving some Ramen, feeling too lethargic to do anything more complicated. Before she even picked it up she knew it was one of the Stronghold girls; she'd set "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" as the ringtone for all of them. She'd set Patrick's to M.C. Hammer’s "Can’t Touch This." Checking the display, she flicked the phone open. "Hey Hil."

  "Hey Lexie! How's your weekend going?"