by Golden Angel
"I wish you hadn't phrased it like that..." Leigh muttered. "I'm not sure I really like the idea that I'm being controlled."
"But you were, even when you didn't call it that while you were with Michael," Angel pointed out ruthlessly. "And when it comes to the whole dominant - submissive thing, everything is about control and someone giving it up. If you want that to extend outside the bedroom a little bit, that's up to you - and Jared. Or whomever." She winked.
"Right." Leigh groaned and pushed at Angel. "Okay, story time is over, I'm exhausted and tomorrow's gonna be another late night... want to come to Stronghold with me?"
"Hell yeah." Angel leaned over and gave Leigh a quick kiss on her forehead. "Night, honey."
"Good night."
Snuggling under the covers, Leigh finally remembered to text Jared.
Home! Sorry, I almost forgot to text you - Angel was still up and wanted to chat.
Less than a minute later, her phone buzzed.
Thanks for letting me know, I was starting to get worried. Sleep tight, sweetheart.
Smiling, she couldn't help but think that what Angel had said was true. If it wasn't for all the ex baggage, Jared would be the perfect guy. Although, Leigh wasn't totally against the ex baggage since it was part of why they'd bonded so easily and so quickly. Besides, the ex baggage was out of the picture now, wasn't she?
Chapter 6
The night, which had started out so well, was taking a rapid downfall. Like, skydiver launching himself out of the plane and then discovering his parachute didn't work, kind of downward spiral.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled. "I thought you left for that job you got!"
Marissa pouted up at him, eyes wide and beseeching. "Why would I do that? I told you I was changed, that I was ready to be everything you need!"
"And then you told me that you were leaving for a job."
"Obviously, you didn't want me to, so I didn't."
The inside of his head was starting to pound as Marissa continued to look up at him with wounded, puppy-dog eyes. Over behind her desk, hunched forward as if trying to hide the phone she was whispering into, Lexie was glaring daggers at both him and his ex. Since she was whispering into the club's phone and not her cell phone, he doubted she was talking to Leigh but... dammit, he did not want to be in this situation!
His first instinct was to try and get Marissa the fuck out of there. They were done, he'd made that crystal fucking clear, and he knew Leigh was coming in tonight. Considering how well last night had gone, he did not want to give her the wrong impression just because Marissa had chosen to show up here.
"What you do no longer matters to me," he said coldly. "We're not together anymore."
"But..." Marissa conjured some tears. He crossed his arms over his chest, telling himself not to let it move him even as a pang of guilt struck him. They were in public, and he didn't want a repeat of their last interaction at his apartment; bodily carrying her out of the club would cause a major scene and be embarrassing for both of them. Not to mention, since she was a member, he wasn't even sure he had the right to, no matter how much he wanted her gone from the premises. "I told you I was willing to fix it. Doesn't me staying home, for you, show you how much I mean it?"
"It's too little, too late," he said gently but firmly. He didn't want to hurt her, but if she needed to hear it explicitly spelled out… "We're done, Marissa. If you want to go inside and find someone to play with, do it, but you need to leave me alone. I'm working and, even if I wasn't, I'm not interested."
Venom shot through her light brown eyes, darkening them as a bitter twist of her lips turned her mouth. "So what, because I took too long, you're just going to try to replace me? With who? That girl you were here with on New Year’s? You think that she's really going to want to put up with your issues? With you wanting to spank her just because she's living her own life?"
His gut churned. Fuck, he hated confrontations like this, and he hated Marissa's references to Leigh even more. She obviously didn't realize that he and Leigh had been dating, and that it hadn't just been a New Year’s Eve date, or who Leigh was within his group of friends. That was a relief, because he didn't want her approaching Leigh... especially not right now when Leigh was still trying to figure out what she wanted from him. Having a manipulative, dramatic ex hanging around wasn't exactly going to make him look like an attractive prospect.
"My life is no longer any of your business," he said, keeping his face calmly implacable.
"You think I'm going to let some bitch just steal you from me?" Marissa asked, her hands clenching into fists. Jared couldn't help but stare at her in a kind of shock as her voice raised. Time after time, Marissa had been the one to say she wanted an open relationship when she would leave for one of her "opportunities." He knew that she'd seen other men while she was away. A couple of times, he'd slept with other women during their breaks, even though he'd never gotten involved in any kind of real relationship with any of them. The fact that she would even try to couch the situation in those terms was baffling to him. "You better not think you can just bring her here! I won't let you humiliate me like that-"
"You'll just humiliate yourself." Patrick's strident, no-nonsense tones cut across Marissa's shrill screech. Thank god. Jared was all too aware of the door shifting behind him, opening just enough that some nosy bystander was checking out the drama in the lobby. Probably someone who had been on their way out but had decided to wait and see what was going to go down in here.
Just great.
Marissa whirled around, facing Patrick, and her chin lifted up stubbornly. "This is between Jared and me."
"You're in my club, which means it's now between you, Jared, and me." Glaring down at Marissa, Patrick's expression was one of utter contempt. Wearing his black leather pants and a tight, black leather vest, he looked completely in charge and intimidating. Jared had no idea when the club owner had come in to the room, he'd been so focused on Marissa, but he felt more than a little humiliated that Patrick had decided he needed to intervene. "You're a member on your own Marissa, but you need to leave my bouncer alone while he's working. Something that you already know. And you will leave all other members alone. I'm not going to kick you out just because you and Jared broke up -" Marissa's mouth opened to protest, but Patrick's fierce glare actually managed to stop her "- but if you harass or otherwise cause any shit with him or anyone else in this club, you're out of here. Got it?"
Of course, that was the moment Adam, Angel, Leigh, Kate, and Sharon chose to walk in. Jared groaned internally, although he kept his face stoically blank. Even with Patrick's threat, he didn't want to react to Leigh's arrival.
Not just because he thought Marissa might cause a scene, despite what Patrick had just said, but because she looked so lost at the moment that he didn't want to rub it in her face that the woman she'd been talking about had just arrived. Plus, even if she didn't cause a scene immediately, Marissa could approach Leigh, and he was stuck with door duty for the next two hours. While he knew his friends would watch over her, it wasn't good enough. He needed to be the one watching over her, protecting her...
Which, right now, meant not looking at her.
Even though he could feel the combined gazes of all the ladies on him. Including Lexie's. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see them taking off their coats and handing them over to Lexie to be put away, but he didn't dare take a closer look at what Leigh was wearing. No matter how badly he wanted to.
"Define harass," Marissa said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked up at Patrick, her voice softer now, more appealing. She was always better behaved with an audience, which was why he was surprised she'd become so vocal before. Then again, maybe she thought she'd garner more sympathy, but with an audience that she knew was friendly towards him... No wonder she'd softened. "I mean, I'm just trying to talk to Jared here and, yes, I got upset, but -"
"He's working right now. If he's amiable to talking to you later, that
's his decision." Patrick's tone of voice was bland, but somehow his opinion on what he thought of that came through.
Pretending like nothing was happening, the group at the desk finished whispering with Lexie and came over to the door. Jared nodded noncommittally as they passed him. Seeing Marissa watching him, he didn't look at any of them directly, even though all of them were looking at him as they passed. Actually, he was kind of relieved by that, since it meant Marissa wouldn't be able to pick Leigh out of the bunch. He would just have to explain to Leigh later.
"But what constitutes harassment?" Marissa pressed, with her best wide-eyed, innocent look, even though the door was closing on their audience. Of course, maybe she just felt the need to try and brown-nose Patrick now that she realized her membership could be in jeopardy. "If I just want to talk to him-"
"You can try talking to whomever you like, but if they ask you to leave them alone, and you continue to press them, I will count that as harassment."
"That's not fair!" Now she seemed mad again, dropping the wide eyes and soft voice. "You wouldn't kick someone else just for trying to talk to someone!"
"That's what you get for coming in here and trying to cause a scene in my lobby," Patrick said, his voice growing harder, his demeanor implacable. "Not to mention threatening one of my employees with more public tantrums. I don't care who your ex is, you will behave appropriately in my club or you will be out. Got it?"
The dark glare he was giving her actually had Marissa bowing down a bit. Her head dropped, and even though her words were grudgingly muttered, there was respect in them. Despite the way she acted sometimes, she really did have a bit of a submissive streak.
"Yes, Master Patrick."
"Good. Now either get in or get out." He pointed his fingers to the two doors, one after the other.
Pursing her lips, Marissa shot Jared a dirty look. "In."
"Fine. Go."
As the door banged shut behind her, Jared slumped. "I'm sorry, Patrick."
"Shut up."
"No, but really-"
"No, but really, shut up. You need to stop taking responsibility for Marissa's actions. What she chooses to do is on her, not you."
Seeing the surprise on Jared's face, Patrick sighed, uncrossing his arms and clapping him on the shoulder. "Look, if I could kick her out, I would, but since she hasn't actually done anything, I feel like it's a bad precedent to set."
"No, I don't want you to kick her out," Jared said, feeling the guilt that such a move would cause him even though it hadn't happened. "She hasn't done anything to deserve removal from the club."
They both ignored the derisive snort that came from Lexie's direction.
"Well, if she does, let me know and I will happily kick her to the curb," Patrick said, giving him a half-smile. "And in the meantime, you know you're going to have to apologize to Leigh for ignoring her when she came in and you were talking to your ex, right?"
Jared groaned. "I just didn't want Marissa to focus in on her."
Shaking his head, Patrick gave him another slap on the shoulder, this one a little harder. "Like I said, you need to stop thinking you're responsible for Marissa's actions. You're only responsible for your own, and that's what you're going to end up paying for, guaranteed."
"Damn straight," Lexie muttered. "Idiot."
"That's a ten-count," Patrick said as he moved away from Jared, shaking his head. "No disrespecting dominants, especially when you're on duty."
As Patrick disappeared into his office, Lexie stuck out her tongue at Jared, knowing that he wouldn't tattle on her. He probably deserved more than that. He really hoped that he hadn't hurt Leigh or pissed her off.
******
"That asshole! He didn't even look at you!"
"What the hell was he doing with her anyway?"
"We should have stayed out there."
"You should go back out there and give him a piece of your mind."
"You should go back out there and tell her ‘hands off!’"
"You should-"
"Enough," Adam said firmly, to Leigh's relief, cutting across whatever suggestion Sharon had been about to make. "Everyone should mind their own business. Got it?"
All of them humphed, but no one protested. Angel slung her arm around Leigh's shoulders, still looking kind of pissed. To Leigh's surprise though, it had been Angel who thought she should go out there and tell Marissa ‘hands off.’ She'd honestly thought Angel would be more pissed at Jared.
Not that Angel really had any reason to be. Neither did Leigh. They weren't dating. She was the one who'd told him she wanted to just be friends. He hadn't promised her anything. And he hadn't even looked happy to be talking to Marissa; from what it sounded like, she'd been the one talking to him, and he'd been trying to get her to leave him alone.
But the fact that he hadn't even looked at Leigh... well that had kind of hurt. Or it should have, but she just felt kind of numb and hollow inside.
Last night had been wonderful. Really intimate. And then...
No, she wasn't going out there, not to face him or Marissa. It wasn't her place for one. For two, she really wasn't interested in "fighting for" another guy - especially not one she wasn't even in a relationship with. They'd either get together or they wouldn't, but she wasn't going to be throwing herself at him if he was still thinking about Marissa.
"There she is!" hissed Kate, already throwing daggers across the room with her eyes. "I can't believe Patrick let her in here!"
"If he was going to keep out exes of his friends, you wouldn't be allowed in here either," Leigh pointed out, even as her heart sank. She really had no interest in seeing Marissa around the club, and she couldn't imagine it would be easy on Jared either, no matter the situation. Unless Marissa was in the club because Jared had said he wanted her there...
Ugh stop making up situations in your head. You have no idea what went on out there.
"Yeah, but everyone likes me. No one's ever liked her."
Apparently, dislike for Marissa had traveled with Kate across the country and back. It was amazing the amount of vitriol one woman had engendered in one of the nicest groups of people Leigh had ever met.
"So what's her nickname?" Angel asked Sharon. "I know you've given her one."
"Of course I haven't," Sharon said, giving Angel a look of sheer disbelief. "Why would I feel the need to usurp the glory that is Truck Stop?"
Laughter broke out around their table. Even Adam smiled. Leigh shook her head, part of her feeling a little sorry for Marissa. Even if the other woman deserved it, it must really suck to have this many people truly dislike you.
It seemed she had friends though. The woman made a beeline straight to a small group of three other submissives sitting in the Lounge area.
"Poor Adam!" Mike appeared at Leigh's elbow, startling her. "You look like you could use some help. Imagine being in charge of all these gorgeous submissives all by yourself." He shook his head, his long brown hair sweeping over high cheekbones as he draped his arms over Leigh and Angel's shoulders.
Adam growled as he yanked Angel off her bar stool and into his arms. "Find a different submissive to be in charge of," he snapped out, although his tone wasn't entirely hostile. He knew that Mike just liked messing with him when it came to Angel.
Grinning, Mike moved around the table, inserting himself between Kate and Sharon who immediately started pretending to swoon and loudly thanked their lucky stars that there was now someone to "take charge" of them. Giggling, Leigh couldn't help but think it might not be an entirely bad thing Mike had joined them. Despite the fact that they were all sitting at the bar, rather than the Lounge where available submissives looking to play gathered, their group was getting a lot of assessing looks from the dominants nearby, looking like they were thinking about approaching.
Angel was in one of her signature, mandarin-collar corsets, this one a gorgeous bronze color, and a short black skirt with her curls in a loose pile on top of her head. It was pretty obvious
she was with Adam though - and that she was the only one with Adam. Kate and Sharon were perfect foils for each other; Kate in a sky blue, latex dress that hugged her hourglass body, tucking in just under her ass, and made her big eyes seem even bluer, while Sharon showed off her darker, curvier, petite good looks in a purple corset and skimpy, black leather daisy dukes. Since she'd known she was going to see Jared, Leigh had also dressed to impress, letting Angel talk her into a green corset dress with a skirt that flared out from her hips and came down to mid-thigh. Underneath it she was wearing black thigh highs with a matching lacy, black garter belt and a lacy, black thong, and black high heels that made her feel like she was towering over everyone - although she'd still be nearly a whole head shorter than Jared. She'd even left her hair hanging long down her back, with a couple of clips keeping it out of her face.
Maybe she should regret dressing up so much to see him, considering he hadn't even glanced at her, but the interest of the other men in the bar boosted her mood a little. At least it was confirmation that she did look good.
"So where's Ellie?" asked Sharon, looking up at Mike, her attempt at innocence totally nullified by her overacting.
Mike's expression didn't even twitch. "Doing a scene with Andrew."
She couldn't help it... she looked at Kate. They all did.
Kate groaned, rolling her eyes. "Guys, do you not understand the meaning of the word 'ex?' I don't care who he scenes with. It'd be nice to scene with him sometime to see how much he's changed as a Dom and a sadist, but I'm not pining away over here."
"What about scening with someone you're not familiar with that's also a Dom and a sadist?" Mike asked, giving her a smile that reminded Leigh of a tiger. Oh my... this could get interesting fast.
Leigh knew Mike was interested in Ellie, even though he didn't talk about it. As far as she knew, he hadn't played with anyone else since he'd kissed Ellie on New Year’s Eve, even though she was avoiding him. On top of that, Andrew hadn't been scening much either since Kate's return. Adam had commented that Andrew had already been scening less before Kate came back, but in the past few months he'd barely scened at all - and when he did it was with Ellie, who was as commitment-phobic as he was.