Pieces of Stronghold

by Golden Angel

  It was like the room exploded with sound as everyone started talking at once. Andrew and blondie stood at the center of it, his hand holding the ice pack against her cheek, her hand on top of his. Seriously... What. The. Eff.

  "... she came running up...."

  "...fucker ran off..."

  "... never fucking allowed back here..."

  "...who IS SHE?" Hilary's voice echoed in the room.

  "Honey-girl," Liam growled in her ear. "Leave it alone."

  "No!" Hilary said stubbornly, glaring at the blonde. The anger that she, that all of the women in their group, had been feeling towards Andrew’s ex bubbled up inside of her. None of them liked the way that he treated the submissives at the club, going through them like they didn’t even matter and never considering their feelings… none of them felt like they could really say anything to Andrew about it, but here was the bitch right in front of her… "If she's Andrew's ex who left and broke him so badly that he doesn't even have relationships anymore, years later, but fucks everything that walks instead, and now she's back and looking at him with those 'help me’ eyes, and he’s acting like everything is just fine between them… no, just no!”

  "Broken?" Blondie echoed as Andrew turned his head towards Hilary, a placating look on his face. She smacked Andrew on the chest, drawing his attention right back to her with a look of surprise on his face. "Oh my god, tell me you did not become that guy. I know you're a romantic, but seriously Andrew, it's been five years... that's just pathetic. Please tell me you've dated."

  "Define ‘dating,’" Angel said with a snort, earning her a warning look from Adam. Her tone had been derisive, holding the same kind of bitter judgment that Hilary felt whenever she had to face that one of her best guy friends was a total asshole to women. They all loved Andrew, they really did, but they were not okay with how he acted. He just got away with it because they all knew that he’d been so fucked up by his last relationship. With Blondie. Who was apparently nowhere near broken up about it as he was.

  "Oh my god, please tell me you're not Crusty Cock?"

  "Crusty who?!" Andrew's confusion was tinted with amusement, making Hilary want to slap him - but on the back of his head, not on his chest like the bimbo.

  "Stay quiet," Liam growled, feeling her move against him as if she was going to intervene again. Normally that would kind of turn Hilary on. Well, not the trouble part, she really didn't like being in trouble, but the growling thing. Liam's arms slid around her midsection like iron bands, holding her in place.

  "I'm just being a good friend," Hilary argued, trying to squirm away. Blondie snorted, and Hilary turned murderous eyes on her. "Excuse me, do you have something to say?"

  "Sure... how about, if you're such a good friend, why on earth would you accept him sitting around and pining over me for five years? That's just fucked up. Not to mention stupid. Why didn’t you tell him to move on, like a normal person would? And if he's banging everything that walks, why haven't you told him to keep it in his pants before he catches something? Somehow it's MY fault that he hasn't gotten his act together? I haven't seen him in five years. You have. So if you're-" Blondie's diatribe was cut off by Andrew's hand being placed gently over her mouth, leaving Hilary feeling... she didn’t know how she was feeling. Blondie had made some good points, but at the same time, how was Hilary supposed to force Andrew to move on? And she had talked to Andrew about going through women like they were tissues. So had Lexie. It hadn’t done any good.

  "Hush, Kathy. I'm not pining away over you.” His voice was mocking, leaving Hilary gaping at him in shock. He gave her a somewhat disgusted look in return before turning his attention back to the bimbo and taking his hand off of her mouth. Seriously? If he hadn’t been pining away over the Barbie doll, then what the heck was up? Why did he act the way he did? It was as if a little piece of ground had fallen away from under her feet.

  Blondie narrowed her eyes. "And the fucking everything that walks part?"

  He sighed. "Not entirely true."

  "But true enough."

  Blondie removed her hand from atop his as she made a face of disgust, leaving him holding the ice pack by himself as she crossed her arms over her chest. This was probably not the time to notice that the blue coat she was wearing was really cute, but it really was. Not that the cuteness of her coat was a point in her favor, but...

  "And you haven't had another relationship since me?"

  "No."

  “Why not?” The question was asked with a hint of exasperation.

  “Because.” Andrew’s shoulders tensed. Hilary watched, fascinated. She was dying to know what the heck was going on, what they were talking about. So was everyone else in the room. It was better than a soap opera. Why the heck hadn’t Andrew dated if it wasn’t because of his ex?

  The look on Blondie’s face softened with sympathy and something very like regret. "Drew... you know that wasn't your fault."

  "Yes it was."

  "It wasn't."

  "I was in charge of the scene-"

  "I asked you to-"

  The door to the outside of the club opened, cutting off both of them. Everyone in the room jumped a little; they'd completely forgotten that the rest of the world existed. Master Will and Gina, his sub, stood in the doorway; their expressions turning awkward as they realized that they'd walked in to something.

  "Sorry, we're in the way," Patrick said. He turned and circled his finger around, indicating everyone in the room except Will, Gina, Freddy, Liam and Hilary. "You all, in my office. The rest of you, go about your business."

  "But-" Hilary started to protest. She barely got the word out before Liam had her upended over his shoulder. Oops. She could feel him practically simmering with fury beneath him.

  Yeah. She was in trouble.

  ******

  Although he was eaten up with curiosity about what exactly was going down in Patrick's office, Liam had a stubborn, recalcitrant, little sub to deal with first. A nosy, disrespectful one. He definitely understood Hilary's desire to protect Andrew, but at the same time, Hilary had never met Katherine before. She had no fond memories to buffer her anger at the other woman.

  Not that he was sure he was supposed to be angry any more.

  What the hell had gone down between her and Andrew when they broke up? Andrew had never really talked about it, so everyone had been left to draw their own conclusions from the very little he did say, and now Liam wasn't sure that any of their conclusions were right.

  Also, how the hell had Katherine gotten hurt?

  No matter how angry he was at her, both on Andrew's behalf and on the fact that she'd ditched their entire group of friends when they'd broken up, Liam was ready and willing to hunt down and beat the shit out of whomever had done that to her. She'd been a gorgeous girl, and now she was a stunning woman; the mark on her cheek hadn't taken away from that, but it had made him pissed off as hell. The way Leigh and Angel had been hovering around her had spoken of more complications as well.

  "I'm sorry, Liam, you can put me down now." Hilary's voice, sincerely contrite, reminded him of where his focus should be.

  He smacked her butt, making her gasp, since he rarely spanked her. "I could, but I choose not to. I think you've forgotten who's in charge, honey-girl."

  His attention had been torn between her and everything else that was going on in the lobby, but now there weren't any other distractions.

  "No, I didn't, I just-"

  SMACK!

  Hilary gasped and wriggled.

  "Hold still, honey-girl," Liam said as he started down the steps into the Dungeon. Since it was Thursday night, he was pretty sure that he remembered there were two rooms totally free right now. Olivia had the Dom class in the Doctor's Office, but he could take Hilary into Jail or the Interrogation Room. After a more public demonstration.

  He didn't like to spank Hilary very hard, but she was definitely due a serious punishment. Not just because she'd been trying to intervene in something that def
initely was not her business - although he wasn't sure she'd caught the look Andrew had given him when she was mouthing off - but also because she hadn't stopped when he told her to. Since Hilary also wasn't much into exhibitionism, they never played outside of the private rooms. Giving her a mild spanking, which would probably still feel like a lot to her, in public over one of the benches in the Dungeon would be a fitting punishment.

  The way her face paled when he set her down next to one of the benches had him nodding in satisfaction. The club wasn't very full, but more people would be coming down soon, and she knew it.

  "But... but..." Hilary looked around wildly, even though no one was paying attention to them yet.

  "Over the bench, honey-girl," Liam said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. He refrained from tapping his foot. "I want to see that ass in the air."

  Hilary's face flamed bright red, her doe-eyes as large as he'd ever seen them get. Any fiery defiance she'd been feeling had melted away, leaving a scared, little subbie in her place, which was damn gratifying after she'd practically ignored him upstairs.

  "But people will see," she half-whispered, her eyes darting around the room.

  He nodded. "Just like everyone saw you disobey me upstairs. Just like the public scene you started which was potentially embarrassing for Andrew, no matter what your intentions were." Hilary opened her mouth, and he held up his hand. "What happened upstairs was none of your business. Did you think that Andrew actually needed your help, or did you just jump in because you wanted to?"

  She blushed again, and he sighed. "As much as I laud your instinct to help out your friends, you should wait to find out if they want help before you do so."

  "I just didn't want her to get her hooks into him again! Did you see the way he was looking at her?"

  Liam gave her a look, which had her wilting a bit as she wrung her hands in front of her. "I know we don't talk about Katherine much, but she was no Marissa. And obviously, whatever we thought went down between the two of them, it was more complicated than any of us realized. No matter what though, Andrew is an adult, and more than that he is a Dom. He can take care of himself, especially here. Now stop protesting and get on that spanking bench. The longer you procrastinate, the more people are going to be arriving at the club and the bigger an audience you're going to have for this."

  Practically squeaking with dismay, Hilary paled and then blushed again before turning around and gingerly putting herself over the bench. She'd seen others do it often enough, even though she'd never done it herself. Even though he knew that part of her obedience was because she didn't want a large audience, Liam was still pleased by the alacrity with which she obeyed. This time.

  The little, pink, flippy skirt she was wearing was easy to toss up, baring her bottom for him. Those creamy cheeks were bisected by a bright pink g-string. It was perfect for giving her a spanking without having to show off every part of her. The thin fabric of the panties was tight against her pussy lips, but they were completely covered. His cock hardened as he admired the view.

  Being a possessive kind of person, Liam didn't exactly enjoy knowing others could see the parts of Hilary that he considered his and his alone, but he knew the public aspect of this would make it a more memorable punishment for her.

  As she gripped the hand rests on the spanking bench, Liam couldn't help but grin. She'd positioned her hands perfectly so that she could see her sparkling engagement ring. He'd noticed that she liked to look at it when they were in the bedroom, especially when he was dominating or punishing her. There was something incredibly cute about it.

  Even if her behavior had been anything but.

  He put his hand on her upturned rump, satisfaction sliding through him as she winced in anticipation. Smoothing his hand over the cheek of her butt, he squeezed it gently.

  "Do you understand why you're being punished, honey-girl?"

  She sighed deeply, finally showing a bit of remorse.

  "Because I tried to jump into something that wasn't any of my business."

  "And?"

  "And I didn't listen to you when you told me to stay out of it."

  "And?"

  Although he couldn't see her face, he knew that she was chewing her lip as she paused, thinking.

  "And we're in the club, which means I have no excuse for not obeying you."

  "Good girl."

  A subtle tension in her shoulders trickled away. Although Hilary might not like being spanked, Liam knew she liked it even less when she felt like he was upset with her. Which he was, he realized. While he might appreciate Hilary's defense of Andrew, he'd also seen a side to her that he didn't like as much - and not just because of the small flash of jealousy he'd felt over her intense emotions involving another man. She'd been outspokenly judgmental about someone that she'd never met before and had never exchanged a word with. While part of him understood that, another part of him remembered the sweet, funny Kathy that had been his friend, and even if he didn't know how to feel about her now, at least some small part of him felt protective of her.

  Especially with that bruise on her face.

  Shoving those thoughts aside, Liam focused back on what was currently important and lifted his hand, bringing it down sharply and firmly on Hilary's creamy butt cheek. She gasped, jerking forward slightly, a pink splotch forming in the center of her buttock.

  "Stay in position, honey-girl."

  Immediately she shifted back, making his half-erection begin to lengthen to a full one. Fuck, he loved it when she immediately did what he said. Probably why he'd been a bit pissed about her ignoring him in favor of defending Andrew.

  SMACK!

  SMACK!

  SMACK!

  Hilary let out little yelps, squirming and wriggling, and always moving right back into place as Liam started to spank her. He kept the slaps firm but not too hard, carefully spreading them out over the entire expanse of her ass, turning it a pretty pink. Despite the fact that he knew he wasn't hurting her that badly, a little sob entered her voice as she whimpered.

  Pausing, he rubbed his hand over her warm cheeks, making sure she was okay. Then he realized she wasn't getting tearful over the spanking, she was getting tearful because she'd noticed people were watching. She kept looking over at the other occupants of the Dungeon, and her face was a brighter pink than her ass was.

  Time to get her attention back on him.

  ******

  Oh please, just hurry up and get it over with! ... If I safe worded now, it'd be over with... No... I can do this. I can.

  Her butt was burning, but so was her face. Hilary never thought she'd see the day when she wanted Liam to really spank her hard, but right now she wished he'd decided to give her a really brutal, private spanking. Everyone in the Dungeon had to know she was being punished; there were a lot of familiar faces and they were all looking at her, fascinated. Because everyone knew that she and Liam only played in private. Which meant that everyone knew she'd done something worth being punished over.

  She was really wishing she'd just held her tongue upstairs. At the very least, she should have simmered down after Liam had tried to get her to stop. Andrew was a grown man, and he didn't need her to fight his battles - especially since he obviously hadn't even appreciated it. She felt a bit guilty about how she’d jumped on Kate… but how was she supposed to know? They’d all assumed that Andrew acted the way he did because of his previous relationship. That’s definitely what he’d implied. This was definitely not how she'd planned for her night to go! She'd never been on display before, not like this, and she felt absolutely humiliated.

  Especially because she knew that she was wet.

  She couldn't help it. Liam doing the caveman thing and then ordering her around turned her on, apparently no matter what the circumstances were. If everyone knew she was turned on, she'd be utterly humiliated. Maybe she was prim and proper the way Jessica accused her of being, but she didn't want everyone knowing. Everyone seeing.

  Liam's h
and slid down her butt and between her legs, his fingertips pressing gently against the damp crotch of her panties, and Hilary moaned, burying her face against the headrest of the bench. She started to draw her legs together.

  "No moving, honey-girl."

  The authoritative demand made her even wetter as she spread her thighs back apart. The second Liam had started to touch her, to pet the damp material over her swollen lips, all her awareness of other people had flown the coop. The sensation of his fingers exploring, stroking, while her spanked buttocks tingled warmly, was all she could concentrate on.

  "That's it."

  She cried out as his other hand came down sharply on her already chastened tush. The press of his fingers had her squirming for an entirely different reason, even as he started spanking her again.

  Pain was not her thing, not at all, but that didn't stop her from getting wetter and wetter, even as his hand was sprinkling her bottom with hot, little strikes. Liam knew exactly how to touch her, how to stroke her, to make her shake with arousal. Hilary knew he liked to get her to the point where she couldn’t always control her body's reactions, where she forgot to even try, and she always fought it... and Liam always won.

  Suddenly, she was being lifted off the bench; her fingers tightened around the bar for a moment before some part of her brain realized that it was Liam doing the lifting, and then she let go. Her ass was on fire, but it felt good as the flames of her arousal licked at her skin, her swollen pussy soaking through the crotch of her thong. The world swung and spun in a chaotic mix that was almost too much for her already distracted brain to handle. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  There was a bang, and the sound of people suddenly muted. She'd forgotten that there were others all around them until suddenly they were gone and she was set down, butt first, on something hard and unyielding. The cool wood of the desk almost felt good on her fiery cheeks, except that it was so hard!