Stronghold (Stronghold 1) Page 5

  It took an interruption from the cute submissive who had been so eager to get her a drink last week to bring her back to her senses. She was feeling pretty comfortable here, even though it was only her second visit. The atmosphere and the people appealed to her. But what had really intrigued her last week were the men that she had met. And, truth be told, she'd rather latched onto Adam. Even if he wasn't her type. Other than being far too sexy and obviously very dominant. It was probably a good thing he wasn't really her type or she'd be more interested in coming here than in going to Stronghold, and the hour long drive just to get to a club really sucked when she knew there was one a lot closer to home.

  Looking around the club, Angel decided that there was currently nothing for her here. Being in the club just made her want to shed the Domme persona she was hiding behind and be who she truly was. She felt like she could be brave enough to do that now. Especially if she went on a Thursday. Stronghold was open five nights a week, three of them for BDSM. The other two nights were devoted to swinging and fantasy play. She'd heard a lot about the incredible fantasy rooms that they had there, pretty much anything you could desire for roleplaying. Chained didn't have that at all, everything was pretty much just in this one room. Maybe eventually they'd be successful enough for renovations and they could upgrade. Not that she'd be sticking around for it. Way too far away from home.

  With one last regretful sigh, Angel glanced at the clock on the wall and headed for the door, trying not to feel like she'd wasted gas by coming down here. Maybe she wouldn't be back. Maybe she should just go straight to Stronghold next weekend and get what she'd been looking for. Well she couldn't go next weekend. Or the weekend after that. She had dress rehearsal Thursday nights and then shows on the weekends. So after closing night of her show, then she'd go get what she really needed.

  ******

  The benefit dinner was actually rather nice. Not only did Angel get to dress up in her favorite red silk floor length dress that she hardly ever got to wear, but she got to spend some time with Leigh, eat good food, and her date, Owen Michaels, was very charming and fun. They were having a pretty good time together, both being big flirtatious teases, although he tended to rely on her to lead him around the room rather than the other way around, even though he knew a lot more people than her. He was also very obviously in love with his wife, who texted him every thirty minutes or so to make sure he was staying in line. Angel even talked to her for about ten minutes on the phone to reassure her that Owen was acting like a perfect gentleman.

  "She’s a riot," she said laughing as she closed Owen's phone and handed it back to him. “It’s too bad she’s cooped up at home tonight.”

  "Yeah, she hates being sick. And she especially hates leaving me in the lurch with a beautiful woman,” he said, winking at her. Even though it might appear to an outside observer like he was flirting there was a definite ‘unavailable’ vibe to Owen and she could tell that his wife didn’t have anything to worry about. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of women who started throwing themselves at me just because I’ve been on television.”

  Angel shrugged. “Well next time you text her, you can tell her that you’re safe with me, I hardly ever watch television. I just wait for the shows I’m interested in to come out on DVD.”

  “But you’ve seen my show right?”

  “Nope.”

  "Well that explains a lot," he said laughing as they wound their way through the crowd back to Leigh and Michael. Michael was chatting with some of the other business men that were attending while Leigh stood there with a smile pasted on her face. As much as Angel was enjoying spending time with her best friend, seeing her in this kind of environment only heightened her misgivings about the relationship she was having with Michael. Leigh used to be such a carefree, spontaneous, silly person, very much like Angel herself, and Angel hadn't seen one hint of that all night, as if being here with Michael was forcing her to keep her impulsive energy bottled inside.

  "What does it explain?" she asked.

  "Why you have so many questions to ask me, rather than already knowing the answering," he said teasing. Owen rolled his eyes at Leigh as they joined her orbit. "This crazy woman in red has never seen my show, can you believe it?"

  "That's because reality television is made up of made up of a bunch of attention whores," Leigh said teasingly, laughing loudly.

  "Leigh!" Michael's voice interrupted the conversation and Leigh winced, smoothing her face over in a bland mask as she turned to the businessmen that Michael had been talking to. One of them looked appalled, the other amused, and Michael looked infuriated. Angel's lip curled. Okay, maybe Leigh had been a little loud when she’d said ‘attention whore’ but that didn’t mean Michael had to use that tone of voice with her. And his uptight colleague could suck it.

  "I'm sorry, gentlemen," Leigh said. Although she was in complete control of herself, Angel knew very well that Leigh only went expressionless when she was covering up emotion. They'd done theater together so Angel knew that Leigh was more of a singer than an actress, and when it came to situations where she was feeling upset she just shut down rather than being able to pretend everything was truly alright. "I didn't mean to be so crass."

  "We'll talk about this later," Michael said to her in a low undertone that the businessmen couldn't hear. Owen looked rather uncomfortable at the entire situation and Angel had to exert all her self-control not to toss her drink on the patronizing ass. When had Michael turned into such a jerk?

  "Come on Leigh," Angel said, grabbing her friend's hand. "Let's go to the bathroom so these men can finish their super important discussion." It was an effort not to let any sarcasm drip from her voice but she managed. Lacking the sarcasm just made the remark sound even more biting. She could practically feel Michael's eyes glaring daggers into her back as she pulled Leigh away, but she didn't care. What an asshole. When had he started acting like this? Was this why Leigh had been so upset lately?

  As soon as they were in the privacy of the ladies room Leigh's eyes filled with tears and Angel grabbed some tissues for her.

  "What crawled up his ass?" she asked, wrapping a comforting arm around her friend. Leigh looked so pretty tonight with her long brown hair up in a simple chignon, silvery earrings dripping from her ears down to her bare shoulders, and the simple gray strapless sheathe dress she was wearing. It killed Angel to see her so upset on a night when she should be feeling good about herself.

  "He's been like that lately," Leigh admitted, dabbing under her eyes. "Damn him... good thing I wore waterproof tonight." She sighed, looking over her shoulder in the mirror at Angel. "He used to love that I spoke my mind, thought it was cute that I was loud and silly and occasionally crass. Now I feel like he's embarrassed by me half the time. I hate this job but he's just getting more and more involved in it and I'm afraid I'm losing him. Did you see the way Mr. Friedman looked at me? I just know he’s going to say something to Michael and then Michael’s going to be even more mad at me and… ugh. It’s just so frustrating!"

  "Oh honey," Angel said, pulling Leigh into her arms as her friend sniffled. She held her tightly, letting Leigh lean into her shoulder.

  "He's going to leave me again," Leigh whispered. "I know it. He's going to want to find a woman that fits the image he needs for this stupid job."

  Angel squeezed her tighter, feeling furious at Michael and even a little bit at Leigh. She deserved so much better, which was not a new sentiment, but no matter how many times Angel told her that, Leigh just wanted Michael. "If he can't see that you're the perfect woman then he deserves whatever bimbo hag he ends up with."

  Leigh snorted a laugh, pulling away and dabbing at her face with a tissue again as she rolled her eyes. "How do you always know exactly what to say?"

  "I'm serious," she replied. "And he's not worth you feeling like this. Are you even happy in the relationship anymore?" Leigh hesitated and then shrugged.

  "I'm not sure. But I don't know what I'd do without him.
We've been together so long... I can't just throw that away."

  It was the same conversation they always had whenever Angel brought her reservations about Michael up. He really wasn't that bad a guy, even if right now she wanted to tear him a new one for hurting her friend. But even if he wasn't that bad a guy, he didn't seem right for Leigh either. She was the most self-sacrificing person that Angel knew and she needed someone who would boost her up and not take advantage of that. Unlike Michael who seemed to constantly be using that side of her for his own benefit. Still, it's not like she could do anything about it. Leigh's life, Leigh's decision.

  So they went back out into the room where Owen was waiting by the door, chatting with a good looking guy in his early thirties. Michael was still over talking to the businessmen, apparently completely unaware that his girlfriend of five years had been upset enough to cry in the bathroom. Going by the concerned look that Owen shot Leigh, he'd noticed. Too bad Owen wasn't single. He was a pretty fantastic guy.

  "Ladies this is my friend Jordan, Jordan this is Angel and Leigh." After introductions were completed Owen smiled genially at all of them. "Angel, I was hoping for a dance perhaps? And Leigh, would you mind accompanying Jordan to the dance floor so that I don't have to worry that I've abandoned him?"

  "Thank you," Angel said to Owen as he led her onto the dance floor. Glancing over at Leigh she could see that her friend actually had a genuine smile on her face as she looked up at Jordan. He was a pretty attractive guy, seemed just as friendly and nice as Owen, and this would give Leigh something to do other than standing next to Michael smiling like some kind of Stepford Wife.

  "No problem. Is she okay?"

  "Sort of. But I shouldn't talk about it."

  "Ah, I see," Owen nodded as he began to move her around the dance floor. Although he didn't know any fancy moves, he was good enough that he didn't step on her feet and Angel didn't feel the need to constantly look over her shoulder to see where she was going. She did look around at some of the other guests anyway. All the beautifully attired wealthy people, smiling and talking. There were politicians, minor celebrities like Owen, CEOs and trust fund babies, all packed into the same room like glittering ornaments. Such a huge different from the dark, kinky atmosphere of Chained last night. If this were one of her romance novels, Master Adam would be here watching her dance with Owen and he'd feel such jealousy at the sight that he'd come and claim her.

  Now that was a thought that did devilish things to her lady bits. Too bad things like that didn’t happen in real life. And even if he was here, he thought she was a Domme so it’s not like he’d claim her anyway. That would be rude. Still. It was a fun little fantasy to have.

  "What's that smile for?" Owen asked, giving her a slightly puzzled smile of his own.

  "Oh," Angel said, covering her lips with her hand immediately and then laughing before placing her fingers back on his bicep. "I was just thinking about something."

  "Another man?" He pouted at her. "Figures, I have a beautiful woman in my arms and she's thinking about another man."

  "Better watch those compliments Mister or I'll think you're trying to turn my pretty little head with your celebrity ways."

  "And what if I am?" he teased.

  Angel mock glared at him. "Then I‘ll tell your wife on you."

  “Aaahhhh, she pulls out the big guns!”

  They both laughed. Angel really enjoyed hanging out with him, even if she was somewhat disappointed at missing out on a Saturday night at Chained. They danced, they mingled, and Owen kept both Leigh and Angel on his arms. Leigh danced with Jordan again and with a couple other men who were also attending the benefit, giving Michael plenty of time to make his own connections and conversations. All in all it was a pretty fantastic night, even though she found her thoughts constantly wandering to Chained and wondering if the group of men she had met last week had returned.

  Wondering what her night would be like if she had gone there instead.

  Chapter 3

  They'd ended up taking a van down to Chained because Chris, Justin, Jessica, Liam and Hilary had all decided to come with Adam to "see Rick." Although obviously the main goal was to see the Domme that Chris, Andrew and Rick had told everyone else about. All in all, Adam was almost surprised it wasn't a larger party. They were having a pretty good time razzing him. Well, the guys were. Jessica and Hilary just seemed honestly intrigued. He really liked both of them and he thought his friends were pretty lucky to have found them. They all had the kind of relationship he’d started thinking he would like. Which is why he wondered, for the umpteenth him, why he was wasting his time by going to Chained again tonight. Despite the many questions his friends kept asking about Angela, Adam just kept replying that she was nice and that she was not the reason he was going there again.

  Liar.

  Although the look on the others' faces when they got their first good look at the tacky decor inside Chained was almost worth the drive just for itself. Chris just sighed as he looked around.

  "I kept thinking that maybe I was misremembering when I thought about the decor, but if anything it's worse than I remembered," Chris said, his fingers wound firmly through Jessica's hand as she looked around the space with an expression caught between horror and amusement as she took in her surroundings. Hilary was snuggled up under Liam's arm, giggling to herself with wide eyes. He shot her a smile. She'd come a long way from being the terrified little tourist who had practically run for the hills after her first night at Stronghold. Liam was a lucky man.

  "So where's Mistress Angela?" Justin asked, scanning the people rather than the decor. He dismissed things like that as superfluous; his interest was in seeing "Adam's Mistress" as he'd been calling her all week, not in seeing the club. Adam had a feeling that Justin had picked up the nickname for Angela from Chris, but Chris would never use it in front of Adam because he knew he probably wouldn't be able to get away with it. Since Justin worked for Adam, he had to show a little more restraint. Beating up his employees didn't exactly do much for morale, even if they deserved it.

  "I don't see her," Chris said, scanning the room now for the same thing. "I do see Rick though. Hey man!"

  They all turned to the direction where Chris was looking as Rick walked up to them, looking rather surprised at the large grouping. Of course it didn't take him long to figure out why.

  "Well if I'd known a Domme was all I needed to get you guys down here to Virginia I would have found one a long time ago," he joked as they headed to a table near the bar. Well, some of them. Justin and Chris split off to play with Jessica since Angela wasn’t there yet, leaving him, Liam, Hilary and Rick to sit at the table. Liam pulled Hilary onto his lap, stroking her silky blonde hair as she settled into him. Both Rick and Adam watched somewhat enviously.

  It had been way too long since he'd had a relationship. The last one had been Brooke, just after college, and had lasted a little over a year. They'd both been interested in BDSM but it hadn't worked out because the more they'd learned the more they'd realized they weren't really compatible. Brooke was more of a masochist than Adam was a sadist. While he liked to see a pretty butt reddened from spanking as much as the next Dom, Brooke wanted hard whippings and canings along with a little bit of needle play. Which was just a little too much for him. When Brooke had gotten a job across the country and had to move away it had been a relief to end a relationship which had already been on its way out. After that, he'd taken the time to really learn about what he wanted. At Stronghold he often did erotic flogging demonstrations and he was one of the Doms that Patrick used to help introduce new subs into scening. Actually, most of their group of friends helped with that, as well as occasionally serving as Dungeon Monitors.

  Now that he wanted to settle down and find a woman to have a relationship, he was getting stuck on Mistress Angela. And why? It couldn't just be pure physical attraction. There were plenty of women who were physically attractive. But there was just something about her. The confusing response
s she gave him were intriguing. He'd enjoyed seeing her light up with excitement last week after taking a tour of the club. And there was the theater connection. Not that he'd been involved in that since high school, but there was always a certain kindred spirit thing when it came to theater people.

  The young male submissive serving them caught his eye. It was the same one as last week.

  "Excuse me," he said, catching his attention.

  "Yes, Sir?" he asked, keeping his eyes cast downwards in the proper manner. Well trained. Attractive. So why hadn't Angela had an interest? Especially after the young man seemed more than willing to bend over backwards for her?

  "The woman who was with us last week, have you seen her here tonight?"

  "No, Sir. Mistress Angela was here last night."

  "Thank you," Adam said in dismissal, trying to stem the wave of disappointment that he felt. Why had she come last night instead of tonight? Chance? Or was she avoiding seeing him in the same way that he was trying to see her? As he turned back to his friends he realized that the conversation had stopped and Rick, Liam and Hilary were all grinning at him, obviously listening in on his questioning of the server.

  "What are you going to do if she even shows up?" Rick asked, his eyes dancing with laughter.

  Adam sighed and rubbed his goatee. "I don't know," he admitted. Now that he was here he was starting to think that coming had been a pretty dumb idea. And that letting his friends know was an even worse one.

  "But you just had to ask," said Liam. "Man have you got it bad."

  "Be nice," Hilary said, looking up at Liam who raised his eyebrow reprovingly at her. She rolled her eyes at him. "Please be nice, Master." All of the Doms smiled, hearing the gentle reproof in her voice. Their relationship didn't include the Master honorific and Hilary only called him that when she thought he was being overbearing. Liam's mouth quirked in the ghost of a smile and he gave her ass a reproving slap, although not an overly harsh one, earning a stunning smile from her.