Stronghold (Stronghold 1) (45 page)

"That's quite a
recommendation."  Adam paused and then just decided to go for it.
 He picked up the next pot and watched Q closely.  "I'm
surprised you don't want her for herself."

For the briefest moment, Q froze.
 And then his hand went back to scrubbing again.  He didn't look at
Adam.  "It doesn't matter what I, or any other guy would want.
 It matters what Angel wants."

Not wanting to embarrass Q any
further, Adam changed the subject and asked the poor guy about what kind of
proposals he wrote for his job.  He'd been right.  Q did have
feelings for Angel that went far beyond brotherly or friendly, but he would
never act on them.  Because he knew what Angel's answer would be.  

And Q and any other guy could
crush as hard on Angel as they wanted, if she didn't want them back then it
didn't really matter what their feelings were.  Surprisingly, just
thinking over Q's words helped ease a lot of the jealousy and possessiveness
that Adam had been feeling.  Angel had had plenty of time to get together
with Michael or any number of other men in her life.  But she was just
friends with them and she'd chosen Adam to explore kink with, told Adam that
she liked him, and agreed to be exclusive with Adam.

So it didn't really matter what
anyone else wanted, did it?

When he and Q rejoined the
others, he could look at them with new eyes.  Michael and Angel were
seated side by side on the couch with almost no room between them and plenty of
room on either side of them.  It made him hesitate, for just a moment, but
then Angel glanced over at him and her eyes lit up.  She tilted her head
towards the space on her other side.

Did her eyes light up for others?
 Yes.  Because she was a vibrant, expressive person.  And he
liked her that way.  He knew that he had some trouble with being open
emotionally, he'd been closed off ever since he was a kid.  Even before
Brian had died, Adam had been pretty controlled in expressing himself, especially
with his parents always fighting over their kids’ love and attention.
 After Brian overdosed he'd become even more so, because he'd seen how an
excess of emotions had led Brian down the path to self-medication and
eventually destruction.  But he knew that he'd been overcompensating for
years.  Being around Angel made him feel like he was more open again,
because he couldn't help but reciprocate the incredible warmth that she gave
off.

And the moment he sat down, she
snuggled closer to him.  Grinning, he leaned back and watched the show.
 

The trash talking was epic.
 All of it coming from Michael and Angel, although Sam and Mark
occasionally returned fire.

"Mother fucker... Goddamn
it, how the fuck did you do that?"

"I have a straw here if you
want to suck it up."

"Angel, you're too
loud."

"Your mom's loud."

"Your mom was loud last
night."

"I would fuck your mom, but
she's a disease-ridden whore."

"Woah... woah guys, getting
personal here."

"FUCK!"

“Your mom’s a wet bandit.”

“I’m the bandit that left your
mom wet.”

“Left her wet?  What, you
couldn’t finish the job?!”

"Haha, take that!  I
just raped you so hard your ancestors felt it!

"Yeah well right now you're
a kindergartner and I'm Michael Jackson, that's how hard I'm going to rape
you!"

"You guys are idiots."

"Be quiet Q, people with
hair are talking."

"Fuck you, man."

Eventually Adam just stopped
trying to hold in the laughter.  On the other side of Michael, Q was
chuckling despite the insults that occasionally got thrown his way.
 Wisely, Adam decided to stay out of it.  Although apparently Angel
didn't entirely approve of his plan.

"What's the matter, scared
to open your mouth?" she taunted him, her eyes bright and teasing.  

Adam gave her his best quelling
look.  "If I want to hear your lip I'll scrape it off my
zipper."

Dead. Silence.

And then an explosion as the guys
started cheering and whooping for him.  Angel's jaw had dropped and she
wasn't paying attention to the screen in front of her at all as Adam's stern
look broke and he burst out laughing at her too.  He’d never seen her look so
thrown.

Then Sam started talking, his
voice almost an intonation.  "
And shepherds we shall be..."

Angel's entire body jerked around
to stare at the screen.  "What?  No!"

"
For thee my Lord for
thee,
" Mark joined in with Sam in a chant-like rhythm as both Angel
and Michael cursed and started pushing buttons frantically.  "
Power
hath descended forth from Thy hand, our feet may swiftly carry out Thy
commands.
"

Adam recognized the quotation of
the prayer from
Boondock Saints
, but he didn't understand Michael and
Angel's reaction, since neither of them were dead yet or even under fire.

"Mother fucker... "

"
So we shall flow a river
forth to Thee
..."

"Mike, Mike, just run!
 FUCK, I hate you guys!"

"
And teaming with souls
shall it ever be
...."

"No, no, no, No, NO
NO!"

"
In Nomeni Partri, et
Fili, et Spiritus Sancti
."

Both of Angel and Michael's
screens went down and dark.  Angel threw her hands up in the air.
 "Fuck you guys!  I was distracted!  That wasn't
fair!"

Sam and Mark were laughing and
sending each other long distance high fives from their armchairs.  

"We haven't gotten to do
that in ages!"

"Fuck yeah man!"

"Thanks Adam!"

Adam blinked.  "What
just happened?"

Angel groaned and Michael
chuckled, shaking his head.  "If you're ever playing any game against
these guys and they start chanting the Saint's prayer, just know that you're
about to die."

******

After having the pie that Adam
had brought over, Mike left, then Sam, Mark and Q had all suddenly decided that
they were going to go to their respective rooms to do... whatever.  Not
very discreetly, but Angel was still touched by the gesture.  

She grinned at Adam.
 "I had a really good time tonight.  I'm glad you could come
over."

"Me too."  The
smile that he gave back in return was different than it had been earlier.
 More relaxed.  Maybe it was because all the other guys were gone,
but she'd noticed a very subtle change in him ever since he'd come back from
helping Q out with the dishes.  Normally whenever guys she'd dated had
talked to Q they'd come back more tense than relaxed, which made her wonder
what he and Q had talked about.  She figured Q was the one to usually
deliver the "hurt Angel and we'll hurt you" speech, but she couldn't
imagine why that would make Adam so relaxed and cheerful.  "Although
I don't think I'll be playing Halo with any of your housemates any time
soon."

"Worried you can't keep
up?" she teased.

"Worried I'd be buried by
the trash talk."

Angel laughed.  She'd been
so shocked when he'd lobbed the zipper comment back at her, it had been so
utterly unlike Adam, but she'd been delighted too.  Maybe that made her
weird, to be so impressed by the insult, but it was true.  Especially
because it had been so unexpected.

"You held your own."

"That I did."

They grinned at each other for a
moment and his hand reached out to stroke the side of her cheek.  Angel
snuggled into the caress.  She liked how tactile Adam was, and the fact
that it seemed to be more than possessiveness or initiating sexual contact.
 

His hand dropped down to the
collar of her sweater.

"I like this color on
you."

"Thanks, me too."
 She glanced down at the sweater.  "I like bright colors."

"So I've noticed.  I'm
more of an earth-tones guy, myself."

"Really?  All I ever
see you wearing is white collared shirts."

Now it was Adam's turn to laugh.
 "I do wear other things on occasion.  But white collared shirts
are easy and they work for any occasion."

"Guys have it so much easier
than girls," she complained snuggling closer.  She was really trying to
work up the courage to ask him to go up to her room with her, but it wasn't
easy prepping herself to make the first move.  "We don't have any
articles of clothing that really do that."

"What about a little black
dress?"  Adam traced his finger down her nose to her lips as she
tilted her head back at him.  Being tucked under his arm was nice.
 Now if only she could get him to kiss her and then she could suggest they
could go up to her room.  

"That's still only
appropriate for certain occasions.  Besides, I don't think I own
one."

"Somehow that doesn't
surprise me."  He brushed a soft kiss across her lips, not at all the
kind she was looking for and then sighed as he glanced over at the clock.
 "I should head out."

"Oh..."  She tried to
keep the disappointment out of her voice but she knew she wasn't entirely
successful.  So much for being a good actress.  "I was hoping
that maybe..."

This time the look that Adam gave
her was amusement tempered with a sensual hunger that made her insides feel all
jumpy.  "Are we still going to Stronghold tomorrow night?  We
can play there... or you can come home with me afterwards.  Or both."

"Yes," she purred,
pressing her breasts against his side.  

Adam chuckled and brought his
mouth down on hers, much more roughly, stealing her breath away with the
intensity of his kiss.  When he finally released her, her body was
throbbing.  "I really do have to go though.  If you don't have
any plans, I'd love to have you stay the weekend with me."

"I have to teach a dance
class on Saturday for my parents..." she smiled hopefully up at him.
 "Want to come?"

"Sure."

This time the smile she gave him
was nothing short of brilliant.   

When Angel arrived at the club, she still
felt the same amount of nervousness as last week as she pulled off her coat.
 Lexie gave her an approving once-over.

"Hot damn woman!"

Angel laughed.  "If I'd seen you
last weekend, you would've seen this outfit already."

The crisscrossing leather straps were
surprisingly comfortable, or would be once she got in the club.  The
entryway was a little cold though.  The low whistle by the door separating
the lobby from the rest of the club made her glance over; Jared was on duty
tonight and he gave her an encouraging wink. 

Lexie groaned.  "Yeah, I'm sorry
about that.  I heard you got here just in time for all the drama."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lexie said stoutly.
 But Angel couldn't help but notice that tonight she was dressed a little
more modestly in a baby blue corset and hot pants.  Seeing Angel looking
at her clothes, Lexie shook her head.  "People have been telling
Patrick all week how much they enjoyed the Valentine's Day party.  I think
Stronghold needs to do more themed nights, so I'm going to try to convince
Patrick of that tonight... which means not pissing him off with what I'm
wearing."

Looking over Lexie's outfit again, which was
incredibly sexy on her slim little body, Angel could only shake her head.
 "You think this won't piss him off?"

"Well in comparison to what he knows I
could
 be
wearing..."

They both giggled.

"Well, good luck," Angel said.
 "I love the idea."

"Thanks.  Have a good night tonight
- uh... where's Adam by the way?"

"He should be here soon," Angel
said.  They'd decided to take separate cars to Stronghold.  Well, she
had decided.  She'd agreed to spend the entire weekend at his house, but
for her that meant that she also wanted to be able to leave when she needed to
or go out and run an errand if she wanted to.  Not that she thought there
might be any negative reason to want that, but she just liked the freedom of
having her own car there.  

"Great, well go on in.  No one else
is here yet except Andrew, he's behind bar."

"Thanks!"

She stopped to chat with Jared
for a couple of minutes on her way in.  The big guy wasn't looking so
good; his eyes looked tired and even though he smiled at her, there was an
exhausted resignation hanging about him that she didn't like.  To be
honest, it kind of reminded her of the way Leigh was when things weren't going
well with Michael.  Adam had told her a little bit about Jared's
relationship with his submissive Marissa, and to Angel it sounded like she was
dragging the big Dom around on all sorts of strings. Kind of emotionally
abusive really, which was weird to think about when the victim was a big,
hulking guy like Jared, but that was life.  At least she managed to make
him smile, telling him a little about Adam's evening with her housemates the
night before. 

Then the door to the club opened
and she shivered, she'd almost forgotten that she was basically completely
unclothed, and Jared scolded her and shooed her into the club.  He was
such a nice guy, like a gentle, caring giant.  

It really sucked that some bitch
was taking advantage of that.

Seeing some of the looks that she
was getting from the few available Doms scattered around the tables at the bar,
Angel decided she should head right to one of the barstools and wait for Adam
there.  Not that she couldn't take care of herself, and she knew that
Stronghold took care of its own, but she had to admit that she did feel safer
when one of his friends was around.  Besides, she taught the women in her
classes to act defensively in all aspects of their life, and right now all of
her goodies were covered but not much else was, and she was in a sex club with
a bunch of men - and women - who were sexual dominants while she was a sexual
submissive.  While her pride and independent nature might want to sit at a
table by herself, it was silly to go asking for trouble when no one would
proposition her while she was under Andrew's eye.

As soon as he saw her, Andrew
shook his head.  She just grinned at him as she sat down.  

"Are you looking to start a
fight tonight, little girl?" he asked, leaning on the bar.  There
weren't too many other people there yet, so he could pay the attention to her.
 "Adam's going to flip his shit when he sees you wearing that."

"Then he shouldn't be
running late tonight.  Besides, he already saw me wearing it at the
party," she countered.  "Not that he did anything about it
then."

"Ah.  Yeah, things got
kinda messed up on Friday.  What do you want to drink?"

"Just a water.  Adam
should be here soon and I think we're going to play."

Andrew laughed.
 "Dressed like that, you'd better believe you're going to play."

The big Dom flipped a glass off
of its stack and grabbed the soda hose.  Angel admired the economical
grace of his movements.  It was something she'd noticed that a lot of
Adam's friends had in common; they were large, and in charge, but surprisingly
graceful about it.  Maybe it was the fact that most of them went to Liam's
dojo.  Angel knew that Adam went there most Wednesdays nights and he said
the other guys would show up on a fairly regular basis as well. 

"So what's doing, little
girl?"

"I'm not exactly little, you
know," she pointed out.

Andrew raised his eyebrow at her,
those dark chocolate eyes looking rather reproving.  "You'd better
not be running yourself down."

She rolled her eyes and gestured
to the leather straps crisscrossing her body.  "Does it look like
I've got body insecurities?"  
Okay, well that wasn't entirely true, she had
some, but for the most part she liked her curves and her body and she wasn't
afraid to wear something crazy.  But it really hadn't been what she was
talking about.  "I meant that just because you're a freaking giant,
that doesn't make me little."

Staring at her for a moment, Andrew barked a
laugh.  He smiled, tilting his head as if he didn't quite know what to
make of her.

"Oops... that was disrespectful wasn't
it?"  She made a face as Andrew laughed again. 

"You're fine, little girl, I can tell
you didn't say it to be a brat.  You aren't that type."

"Why do you make that sound like a bad
thing?"

She'd surprised him, she could
tell from the way his eyebrows jerked up when he looked at her before his gaze
slid away.  Then he smiled, a slow, hot, flirtatious smile and crossed his
arms on the bar, leaning forward across the wood. 

"Because I'm a sadist,
little girl, and I like to hurt little brats."

Wow... her pulse was racing and
not because she was turned on.  Nope, because she wanted to run.  

"You're kind of scary,"
she blurted out, falling back on an old tactic - whenever she was uncomfortable
she would say the first thing that came to her head, because she'd found that
it usually broke the tension.

And, as usual, she was right.
 Andrew laughed, a deep-throated, full-bodied laugh that suddenly seemed
to take years off his face.  She stared, absolutely fascinated.
 While she'd seen him laughing and joking with his friends, she'd never seen
him laughing like this, with complete abandon.  It changed his face
completely and she suddenly realized how often he looked almost angry; it was
just that before she assumed that was the natural shape of his face.

Turned out, it wasn't, and when
he lost that air of tension, he looked a lot more approachable and open. 

"So ah... what's with this
song?"  Angel asked, waving her hand up in the air, when he finally
stopped laughing, although he hadn't lost the twinkle in his eye.  The
throbbing strange noises were kind of getting to her, she hadn’t heard anything
quite like it before.

"It's called 'Timestretch'
by Bassnectar, why?  Don't you like it?"

"I don't know... it kind of
sounds like Transformers having sex."

Andrew lost it again.
 Around the bar, Angel could see people's conversations slowing or
stopping as they stared at the big Dom.  Good to know she wasn't the only
one surprised by his unusual enjoyment of her quips.  Then again, she'd
never had a one on one conversation with him before.  But she really hadn't
been trying to make him laugh, that was really just what it sounded like to
her. 

"Holy crap, Angel... no
wonder Adam's finally starting to loosen up," Andrew said, grinning at
her.  "The shit that comes out of your mouth, you kind of remind me
of..."

His voice trailed off and the joy
leeched from his face so fast that Angel almost wondered if she'd imagined it.
 Most people would let it go.  Most people would realize that it was
something he didn't want to talk about. 

But Angel always liked to ask.
 Especially when she sensed the kind of pain that she was feeling from
Andrew right now; sometimes talking about it helped.  Adam had mentioned
that Andrew’s mom had passed away years ago, was that somehow connected to the
sudden loss of joy in his face? 

"Remind you of..."
 She trailed off the same way he had.  There was a long pause, one of
his fingers drumming on the wooden expanse of the bar.  "You don't
have to tell me if you don't want to."

For some reason, those were so
often the magic words.  Andrew gave her a half-hearted smiled that didn't
make it up to his eyes.  "I was going to say you kind of remind me of
my ex."

He said it without heat or even
anger.  Angel reached out her hand and put it over top of his.
 Partly to comfort, and partly because the incessant tapping of his finger
was starting to drive her crazy.  

"Is that a good thing or a
bad thing?"

There was another long moment of
Andrew studying her again.  She met his gaze calmly, sensing that this was
a strange moment for him.  But she truly wanted to know.  No one had
been willing to talk much about Andrew's ex, although she knew enough to know
that the break-up had been bad.  Bad enough that he hadn't had a
relationship since, nothing more than club play with submissives who understood
the score.  She didn't want to increase his pain by reminding him of his
ex if it was a bad thing.

"You know... I think it
might be a good thing," he said, his half-grin spreading a bit.
 "Kate would always say ridiculous shit too, but she did it because
she knew it would make me laugh.  You just say shit and it's
ridiculous."

"Yeah, my verbal filter's
kind of like Swiss cheese," she said a little ruefully, and was rewarded
with another chuckle from Andrew.

It wasn't the same as his
laughter before, but at least it was genuine.  

Then his eyes flicked over her
shoulder and he pulled his hand away.  "Hey man."

Hands slid around Angel's waist,
over skin and straps, and Angel twisted her head around to look up at the man
whose heat was suddenly surrounding her.  "Hey you."

******

Adam really hated the twist of jealousy that
he'd felt seeing Angel's hand on Andrew's.  When he'd come in, they'd been
in the middle of what looked like a serious conversation, with her hand over
his, and Adam had felt some of his stupid doubts rising up again.  After
all, she'd wanted to experience BDSM and he'd taken over that completely, not
allowing her to try anything with anyone else.

Was she craving something rougher
than Adam could give her?

Fortunately he had enough brains
to take a deep breath and stamp on his doubts before they welled up and
overtook him completely.  Angel wasn't that type.  And Andrew would
have been an extremely poor choice for her even if she was.  Besides, if
she wanted a session with a sadist, all she'd have to do is ask Michael.
 There was no doubt the man would oblige, with or without sex as part of
the scene.  

Looking down into those gorgeous,
golden eyes, which were so obviously filled with pleasure at seeing him, he
couldn't doubt that she'd been nothing but friendly to Andrew.  Angel was
just a tactile person and he really needed to get used to that. 

"You look stunning," he
told her, lowering his head to hers for a rather searing and possessive
kiss. 

Just in case anyone in the club
was wondering.  He hadn't missed the looks that other Doms were giving
Angel, but while she was talking to Andrew it wasn't like anyone was going to
try and interrupt that.  However, everyone also knew that Andrew never
played for more than a night, although after a period of time he might come
back around again.  

Kissing Angel in the bar, outside
of a scene, let everyone know that she was spoken for far beyond the
Introduction and second scene that Adam had done with her.  He heard some
of the surprised murmurs behind his back and when he came up for air again,
Andrew's eyes were glinting in appreciation. 

"You kids go have fun,"
he said, clearing away the glass of water that Angel had been drinking.
 The look he gave Adam was indecipherable, something intense and complex
enough that Adam wasn't entirely sure what Andrew was feeling.  "Hold
onto this one Adam, she's a keeper."