5. Ladies’ Night
Ladies' Night
Sam
Stronghold ended up being more than just Noelle and Morgan.
Sam found herself sitting in the Lounge area with a bunch of Morgan’s friends as well.
She’d met them but never actually hung out with them.
Noelle seemed thrilled to have found herself smack dab in the middle of a group of ready-made friends, which was about all that kept Sam from running.
If Noelle, who was completely new to all of this, could hang out with them, Sam could find the courage to as well.
She’d never been comfortable in groups of people, but with Noelle on one side of her and Morgan on the other, it was definitely easier. At least she was already friends with Morgan, and Noelle and she were in the same situation of not knowing anyone else, so that helped.
Caroline, Marissa, and Amy had been coming to Stronghold for a long time, so Sam had seen them around.
They hadn’t been particularly friendly to her, but they hadn’t been unfriendly, either…
though they’d snapped Morgan right up into their little group.
Caroline and Marissa were both slim and stunning and gave off a kind of mean-girl vibe, which had intimidated Sam.
Amy had always been super nice when Sam had run into her, but they just hadn’t hung out or anything since Amy already had her friends.
Tonight, Amy and Morgan were kind of acting as a bridge between everyone, with Caroline and Marissa sitting on one side and Noelle and Sam on the other.
“What’s the Dominance class like?” Amy wanted to know, leaning forward with her eyes alight.
“Pretty much the same as the submissive class,” Sam told her, smiling wryly. “Just from the other side of things. Master Patrick is a big believer in making sure all the Doms have experienced what they want to put a sub through.”
“Master Patrick is a control freak,” Marissa said, rolling her eyes. It wasn’t the first time Sam had heard such a thing, his own sub said it all the time, but there was something different about Marissa’s tone when she said it. It lacked any fondness or patience for his quirk.
“I think most Doms are,” Noelle said, laughing. She didn’t seem to see anything wrong, so Sam smiled. Maybe she was overreacting again. Or maybe that was just how Marissa always talked.
“That’s true,” Caroline smirked, tossing her dark hair back over her shoulder.
Sam was trying so hard not to be judgmental, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about Caroline.
More than once, Caroline had mentioned her husband waiting at home, but Sam knew she’d seen Caroline scening with and having sex with people at Stronghold.
Not my business. They might have an open relationship. She wouldn’t make assumptions.
“It’s always fun seeing if you can make them lose it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Patrick really lose it except the time that Lexie scened with Michael. That was hilarious.”
“Lexie scened with Master Michael?” Sam asked, surprised. She couldn’t imagine that.
“Yeah, forever ago, right before she and Patrick got together,” Caroline said, leaning forward with the juicy gossip. “That’s what pushed Patrick to finally make his move.”
Marissa snorted and leaned back in her chair.
She had a sharp angled face, but she was very pretty, with long light brown hair that flowed down her back.
The blue corset she was wearing made the most of her small breasts, though she was so skinny, she didn’t really need it to make her waist any smaller.
She could actually lounge in her corset, unlike Sam, who looking forward to when she could get home and take the damn thing off.
It wasn’t the lack of air, the way the movies made it seem, it was just that sitting up this straight for so long wasn’t comfortable. She wanted to slouch and twist.
“Patrick will do anything to stay in control,” Marissa said.
The familiar way she spoke about him and Lexie made it seem like she knew them, but there was a definite edge to her voice. Well, Sam thought there was. Should she ask? She wasn’t sure, so she took a sip of her drink.
“Amy, what are you doing?” Caroline asked exasperatedly, thankfully changing the subject. Everyone looked at Amy, who blushed hotly as she tugged on the tight top she was wearing.
“I… my top doesn’t fit me right anymore,” Amy mumbled. She hunched her shoulders forward a little, but her blonde hair was pulled back from her face, so she couldn’t hide behind it the way it seemed she was trying to do. “I’ve been putting on weight, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Stop eating cheese fries?” Caroline snickered. No one else laughed, so Sam didn’t feel bad about not doing so.
“I have,” Amy replied miserably. “I’ve been trying to get in shape for the wedding, you know that. I’ve been dieting and exercising, and I wasn’t losing, but now I think I’m actually gaining.”
Marissa frowned.
“You should probably go see a doctor about that.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Amy looked forlorn, which Sam hated to see. She’d had her own struggles with her weight over the years until she’d finally realized she was happy in her body and fuck whoever didn’t like it.
Amy had seemed that way, too, but weddings definitely did do that to people.
If Sam ever got married, would she want to lose weight?
She wasn’t sure. She didn’t think so, but who knew?
Not that she was anywhere near getting married.
Sam’s eyes drifted across the main room of Stronghold, taking in all the people packing into the space.
Would she find someone she could have a kink and romantic relationship with? Some people didn’t. Caroline kept hers completely separate. Sam had seen plenty of people who scened together without letting emotion get involved, and she’d seen plenty of people who became partners in every way.
If she was being honest with herself, that was what she wanted… but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to find it.
Awareness tickled the back of her neck, and she turned her head, feeling like someone was staring at her.
Dark brown eyes bore into her from across the room. Q was there, standing with Angel and Master Adam, and he was watching her. She could hear the others beside her talking, giving Amy suggestions, but none of it really registered as Q held her gaze.
Q
“Go ask her to scene.”
“What?” Q jerked his gaze away from Sam’s, wincing as Angel’s elbow jabbed into his side.
“Go ask her to scene. You’re not going to get anywhere just trying to eye fuck her from across the room.” Angel grinned up at him as Q pinched the bridge of his nose. Sometimes Angel gave him a headache.
“I am not eye fucking her.”
He kind of was.
For some reason, he didn’t want to admit it. He also wasn’t sure if he should go over. Sure, they were paired together during class, but that didn’t mean she would want to do anything outside of it.
It wasn’t as if they’d talked or anything since Monday after he’d walked her to her car. Not that she’d ever given him her number, but he had it. He’d needed it to change her ringtones, which didn’t make him sound like a creeper at all.
Ugh.
“You were definitely eye fucking her. Wasn’t he?
” Angel turned to Adam for support, widening her eyes as she looked up at him.
Her dark curls bounced slightly from the movement, and she leaned toward him to give him the best view of her cleavage.
In her heels, she was nearly as tall as her blond Viking of a Dom, so it was quite a view.
Not that it had the effect she wanted.
Adam shook his head at her, and she pouted.
“You’re incorrigible.” He looked at Q, expression apologetic, then reached up to smooth his fingers over his goatee. “As much as it pains me to agree with her…”
“YES!” Angel pumped her fist.
“I would say you and Sam were definitely eye fucking each other.” Adam grinned at Q’s chagrin.
Sometimes, he wished for friends who weren’t quite so blunt.
“You should go over there and ask her to scene,” Angel insisted.
“I’m supposed to be meeting Asad and Connor.”
Angel rolled her eyes at him. “Like they won’t understand. You know, at some point, Asad will ditch you to scene with a sub, anyway.”
“Just like we’re about to ditch you.” Adam grinned as he stepped away from the table, tugging on Angel’s arm. Unsurprisingly, she dug in her heels, clearly not wanting to retreat until she had what she wanted. Very Angel.
“Go over there, then you won’t have to stand here alone. You could at least see if she’s— AH! Adam!” Tired of waiting for his wife, Adam had spun her around and flipped her up over his shoulder.
“She’s not wrong, you know,” he said to Q before turning to stride away.
“Hey, it’s just like old times!” Angel slapped Adam’s ass as he walked, then started giggling and using both hands to play his cheeks like a drum. Encased in his leather pants, the sound was not terrible. “Butt bongos!”
The laughter that followed them didn’t quite cover up Angel’s squeal when Adam took his revenge by administering his own hard slap to her upturned butt. Q watched with envy as they headed up the stairs. That kind of relationship was what he wanted.
So, listen to Angel and go get it, dumbass.
Right. That would make sense. His gaze cut back across to where Sam was sitting.
Did he really want to try with her?
On the other hand, it wasn’t like he’d met any other sub here he felt a connection with. He also didn’t know if he and Sam would keep that chemistry in the bedroom. What if it fizzled the moment they actually touched each other? What if what they were feeling was left over from high school?
Only one way to find out.
He could wait for Monday, but that was a classroom situation. There would be a lot going on in terms of new experiences for him. Not really the best scenario for trying to test out an attraction.
Shaking his head, Q went over to the bar and lifted a hand to catch Andrew’s attention. Another of Angel’s friends, he didn’t work the bar as much as he used to but stepped in on nights when they needed help.
“Hey, if you see Asad and Connor, can you tell them I went to scene?”
Andrew’s grin lit up his face, his teeth flashing white against tanned skin.
“With Sam? Good luck.”
Q almost asked how Andrew knew, then shut his mouth and shook his head. Angel’s group of friends made gossip an Olympic sport. Heck, the whole club did. If Angel was pushing him to make a move on Sam, he wasn’t at all surprised the rest of their friends knew about it.
Headed to where Sam was sitting, he saw her shooting him a few small glances, then her eyes widened when she realized he was making his way to her group. He knew all of them. She was sitting with some of the people Angel and her friends didn’t get along with.
Angel’s best friend Leigh was now engaged to Jared, Marissa’s ex.
Q’s understanding was Marissa hadn’t been thrilled about letting Jared go, even though they’d been broken up when he met Leigh.
They’d had an on-again off-again relationship similar to what Leigh had been going through.
Leigh and Jared had leaned on each other while getting over their exes—a rebound story that had actually worked, much to everyone’s surprise and relief.
Well… not everyone. Marissa and her bestie, Caroline, who was also sitting with Sam, didn’t stir up drama but they weren’t pleasant. Caroline was a real piece of work on her own. She had no problem coming to the club to cheat on her husband and bragged about how he had no idea.
They’d latched onto Morgan for some reason, who had been so excited to have real friends, no one had the heart to tell her that her friends could be pretty awful people.
They had been good friends to Morgan since meeting her, so there wasn’t a real reason to try to pull her away from them.
They were trying to let her make her own decisions, and no one wanted to undermine her confidence in being able to do so.
The person that didn’t make sense in their little group was Amy, who was one of the sweetest people Q had ever met.
On the other hand, that sweetness allowed Marissa and Caroline to push her around.
Amy was always trying to smooth over the messes they left behind.
She was also the one Morgan hung out with the most, which might be another reason no one intervened. Amy was a good friend for her to have.
Sam would be, too.
Q was a lot less sure about Noelle, but he would try not to judge without reason.
He still didn’t know the full story about what went down between her and Iris.
He did notice that both Caroline and Noelle sat up a little straighter as he approached, Caroline smiling with interest while Noelle eyed him curiously.
Like he’d ever scene with Caroline. That hadn’t stopped her from trying.
He gave everyone else a noncommittal nod, focusing his attention on Sam. The confusion on her face was adorable.
“Hey, Sam, I was wondering if you’d be interested in scening tonight?”
She blinked as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard what she thought she’d heard. Morgan elbowed her in the side when she didn’t answer.
“Oh, um… now? Who’s in charge?”
He grinned wider.
“I am.”