Stronghold (Stronghold 1) (13 page)

Normally she had no problem walking in high
heels, in fact the higher the better, but her knees were definitely wobbly as
she made her way to the front door.  She double checked the address,
because this really didn't look like a sex club... but it was correct. 

Taking a deep breath she pushed open the door
and was immediately coaxed inside by the warmth that came seeping out.

Okay, not as much to look at as she might
have thought.  Chained’s first room had been a lot more impressive.  This
was obviously an entryway lobby, meant to give you the option to turn around
and run screaming if you'd somehow happened into it by chance.  A bored
looking pixie-ish girl with black hair was sitting behind a desk in front of
what looked like a closet; the only other person in the room was standing in
the doorway to what Angel assumed was the club. 

He was huge; possibly the tallest person
she'd ever seen in real life.  Gorgeous, with creamy mocha skin and short
bristles of hair that hugged his skull.   If he ever got a bald spot, no
one would know; you'd have to be a pro basketball player to be tall enough to
see the top of his head.  Of course, he'd never be able to sit down again.
 The thought made her grin, and then blush as she realized he was smiling
back at her, his dark eyes studying her almost as intensely as she was studying
him.

Ducking her head at that scrutinizing gaze,
Angel turned her attention to the girl behind the desk, assuming that's where
she was supposed to go.  The girl was studying her too, but she wasn't
nearly as scary as the big guy.  

"Hi, I'm Ang- Angie," she said,
remembering the club name that she'd chosen.  "I'm here for an
Introduction Scene."

The girl's face lit up.  She had bright
blue eyes with long black lashes, startling with her pale skin and black hair.
 It was pretty though.  Angel had always wished she had some kind of
exotic combination like that, although she'd eventually grown to love the
amberish cast to her own hazel eyes.  Dressed in definite Goth clothing
with a black fishnet shirt, black bra and black skirt, she made Angel wonder if
she should have gone with a more 'traditional' fetish outfit.  But her
white cincher was the only one she had that left her breasts free... all her
other corsets completely covered them and would have had to be taken off if the
Dom wanted to play with her boobs – she wasn’t sure that would prohibit it. 

Kind of slutty reasoning, on one level, but
she didn't want to miss out on any experiences and yet she didn't relish the
idea of being entirely unclothed. 

"Welcome to Stronghold, I'm Lexie,"
she chirped back, grinning in a warm and friendly fashion.  Angel found
herself relaxing immediately.  "Can I take your coat?"

"Yes please... do I need my ID and
things?" 

"Yeah, you'll want that kind of stuff to
give to Patrick.  He'll hold onto them while you do your scene, although
normally you'll turn that stuff in here.  Leave your cell phone here though,
they're not allowed in the club unless you're a doctor or police officer or
something like that."  Lexie looked at her questioningly and Angel
shook her head.  

Taking the small clutch out of her pocket,
Angel shrugged off her coat and held it out to Lexie.

"Oh my god... I love your outfit!"
Lexie was staring in frank admiration.  "I've never seen an all-white
get-up like that... where did you get the corset?"

"I made it."

"Holy crap... it's gorgeous!"
 Lexie's eyes traveled all over Angel, taking in the way her breasts were
propped up and accessible, and how tiny her waist had been pulled in.
 "Do you think you could make one for me?"

Angel grinned.  "I have a shop on
Etsy, although if you let me measure you I can make you one for free."
 She figured it didn't hurt to get in good with the front desk if she was
going to be coming to Stronghold on a regular basis.  

"Oh no, if you actually have a shop I'll
order one.  Although I wouldn't say no to a discount."

"You'd better order one of the shirts
too," a deep masculine voice chimed in.  "In fact one of those
shirts would be perfect.  Any kind of shirt at all would be welcome."

Lexie glared and Angel giggled as she turned.
 The big man had come up behind her and had obviously been listening to
the conversation.  "Angie, this is Jared... one of my many
self-appointed big brothers.  Jared, this is Angie."

"Hello Angie."

"Nice to meet you... Sir."
 Angel tacked the honorific on to the end, assuming by his size and the
strength of his presence that he was a Dom.  Even if he wasn't, couldn't
hurt to be careful.  

"If you could make Lexie some shirts,
nice and high necked like this one, we'd all appreciate it."  He
grinned down at her, obviously teasing Lexie and yet entirely serious about the
suggestion as well.

The young woman bristled.  "There
are plenty of women who wear a lot less than I do when they come to the club,
Jared."

"Um..." Angel didn't really want to
get involved in this, but she did want to know where she was supposed to go
next. 

Just then a side door banged open; it was
almost concealed as part of the wall so that she hadn't really noticed it
immediately.  Lexie jumped and spun around as Jared seemed to stand a
little straighter.

The newcomer was shorter than Jared but not
by much.  He was dark-skinned, completely bald and had a wicked looking
scar running down the side of his face.  The kind that women might swoon
over as being dangerous.  And speaking of not being dressed in much, he
was wearing nothing more than a pair of leather pants.  Not that Angel was
going to complain, because the scenery was just delightful.  

He fixed Lexie with a look that could have
killed.  "Why is it that you haven't let me know that Angie arrived
yet?  And that you're keeping her out here instead of sending her into my
office?"

"Because we were talking and I was
getting to know her.  She got here early so it's not like she's late yet.
 Sir."  The tone of Lexie's voice was distinctly bratty and
Angel stared at the back of her head with something like awe.  She didn't
know if she'd have the balls to talk like that to this man.  Beside her
she could feel Jared moving away, returning to his post, leaving her and Lexie
alone with Mr. Wrathful. 

Dark eyes like onyx skimmed over Lexie's
attire.  "Why aren't you wearing more clothes?  I told you to
stop dressing like this."

"This is more than I wore last week and
I'm within dress code for the club.  Deal with it."

"The dress code is for the floor, not
for employees."

"Well I'm not allowed on the floor,
remember?  So I guess I should just be able to dress however I want."
 Now Lexie's tone was distinctly mocking, and the storm clouds on the
man's face were growing.  Obviously he was some kind of boss - and maybe
even lover - to Lexie.  He definitely sounded like a jealous lover.  And
Lexie was definitely poking the bear, trying to get some kind of reaction.
 Angel was ready to give her a medal for bravery.  She didn't want to
draw any attention to herself while the man was glaring like that.
 Unfortunately something was making her nose tickle.  As
unobtrusively as she could, she let her hand creep up to rub it. 

"You'll be on the floor for that damn
Valentine's Day party."

Lexie snorted.  "That's not in
return for my outfits, that's because you don't want me going away for a weekend
with Tyler."

"Damned right I don't.  I'll let
you throw the damned party but I'm not going to act happy about it.  And
you'd better not try to sneak out early with the little bastard."

Even though her back was to Angel, she could tell
that Lexie was rolling her eyes as her fists found their way to her hips.
 "Who died and made you king?"

"Your brother left me in charge."

"He sure as hell did not."

"As good as."

Crap.  Angel sneezed.  Which she
regretted on several levels.  Watching Lexie and Mr. Scary battle was as
good as a soap opera; the sexual tension levels were out of this world although
obviously Lexie was seeing someone else.  She also regretted it because
now those dark eyes that had been glaring at Lexie were focused on her and he
still looked pissed as hell. 

"I'm sorry," she muttered as Lexie
handed her a tissue. 

"Don't worry about it," Lexie said.
 She jerked her thumb over her shoulder.  "This is Master
Patrick.  He's in a mood right now.  Don't let it bother you.  I
don't."

A growling noise sounded from behind her but
Lexie ignored it, flipping up her skirt before she sat back down.  Angel
was pretty sure that she'd just given Master Patrick a pretty good view of what
was under it.  The look on Lexie's face, now that Angel could see it, was
part defiant, part fearful and part expectant.

"Come on back, Angie."

Patrick strode away through the door he'd
popped out of, leaving it open behind him.  

"Sorry about that.  He's my older
brother's best friend," Lexie said with a sigh.  Now she looked both
disappointed and resigned.  If Angel had a guess, she'd bet that Lexie was
deliberately poking at Patrick.  The girl had a crush, even if she was
dating someone else, and Mr. Scary was resisting.  "Stop by on your
way out and let me know how your scene goes?"

"Definitely."  Angel smiled.
 She didn't always make new friends with girls easily, but Lexie was
impossible to resist and she didn’t have any of the cattiness or reserve that
Angel tended to associate with her own gender.  

Going into Master Patrick’s office was a
little scary, but though he seemed kind of riled up it wasn’t like he had laid
a hand on Lexie.  Even though she’d been pushing for it.  And he’d obviously
wanted to. 

The entirety of the office seemed to be
designed for both comfort and intimidation.  Everything was made out of either
maple wood or black leather, implements for spanking lined one wall, another
was covered in some of the most beautiful and erotic bondage photographs that
Angel had ever seen.

The desk that Master Patrick sat
down at was huge, it made her feel like a dwarf by comparison.  A man
smaller than him would have looked overwhelmed by it, but it suited him
perfectly.  

"Have a seat."

Yeah, no mistaking this man for
anything other than "in charge."  The authoritarian tone of
voice had her moving before she even thought about it, to one of the cushy
black leather chairs in front of the desk.  It was incredibly comfortable.
 The kind of chair that she'd like to curl up and wallow in, read a book
on a rainy day... it would have worked just as well in front of a fire as it
did in this office.  

But with the scary man behind the
desk, his hard gaze fixed on her, she couldn't relax.  Instead she shifted
her weight, taking tiny peeks at him because for some reason she couldn't bring
herself to directly meet his eyes for more than a moment or two.  She'd
managed it with the Doms at Chained, but they hadn't known she was submissive.
 It had been easier there.  No doubts welling up in her mind, no
second thoughts about what she was about to do.  

"I'm sorry about my ah...
altercation with Lexie," he said in clipped tones.  Definitely not a
man used to apologizing.  "You shouldn't have had to see that."

"It's okay."
 Angel met his dark eyes for a moment and then dropped her head again.
 "Sir."

When she peeked at him this time
he had the faint traces of a smile around his lips, which made him seem a lot
less intimidating.  

"Did you read over the
contract that I sent you?"

"Yes Sir."  About
fifty times.  It had included all the rules and regulations that governed
Stronghold.  

"Good girl."  

Something inside of Angel warmed
as he reached into his desk and pulled out a stapled stack of papers.
 Yeah, she wasn't attracted to Patrick, even though she could acknowledge
that he was extremely attractive, but she still liked being called a good girl
by him.  There was just something about it that satisfied a need deep
inside of her and made her feel all happy and glow-y.  

"This is the same thing, in
paper form.  You can look it over if you want.  And then you need to
sign it."  He glanced at the clock.  "Your Dom for the
evening should be here any minute."

She felt a little awkward looking
over it in front of him, because part of her said to trust his word, but the
more cynical part of her that taught self-defense said always be sure.  So
she skimmed it, familiar enough with the sentences by now to know that they
were identical to the one that he'd sent her online.  Even though she
couldn't read as fast as Leigh, she was pretty fast skimming, which cut down on
the length of time that she was looking it over. 

As she picked up a pen to sign,
Patrick's phone rang.  

"Hello?..."  There
was a long pause.  "Shit.  Alright, I'll be right down."

Putting down the phone with
enough force that Angel jumped (okay, so she might be a little bit jittery
considering that she'd just signed a release to have all sorts of dirty and
debauched things done to her), Patrick sighed and gave her a reassuring sort of
smile.  It warmed his face and enabled her to meet his eyes.