Breaking the Chain Read online

  Angel and Adam, on the other hand, spent as much time bickering as they did just having a conversation, and sometimes Leigh thought Angel's main goal in life was to annoy Adam. Perversely, he seemed to almost enjoy being annoyed and it frustrated Angel to no end when she was sure she'd finally "gotten his goat" (as their friend Hilary would say) only to have him laugh and call her adorable. But then her frustration would melt away, and she'd grin, and cuddle up to him, and be perfectly happy to have finally found a man who didn't just see her as one of the guys and who appreciated her for her... quirks.

  Yeah, it was hard not to be envious.

  "Girls’ night!" Angel said, bounding forward and washing away Leigh's envy. It was hard to be down when Angel was in a good mood; she had a tendency to drag people along with her. "Let's get some food."

  By which, of course, she meant junk food. Living with Adam meant eating healthy 98% of the time, especially after he'd found out about Leigh's high blood sugar. Angel had practically gone starry eyed about him taking care of Leigh and becoming protective over her health, but that didn't stop the two of them from occasionally indulging when he wasn't around. Her mouth was already watering just thinking about the possibilities.

  As they went into the kitchen, Leigh was surprised to see that the oven was already on. "What's in the oven?"

  "Tater tots."

  Leigh moaned in appreciation as she sat down on one of the bar stools while Angel started pulling their junk food out of all the various hiding places she'd created. She moved them every time they ate, so Adam would have more trouble finding them, and so Leigh couldn't just eat whatever she wanted when Angel wasn't around. It was better that way, even Leigh admitted; she had shitty willpower when it came to things like Doritos.

  "I was just thinking I wanted some tater tots," Leigh said, sighing happily as she saw the bag of cheesy chips Angel pulled out from behind the cleaning supplies under the sink.

  "We're like, made for each other."

  "I love you."

  "I love you too, baby." Grinning, Angel pulled out a two pack of cream filled chocolate cupcakes. "Here's the proof."

  "Oh my god..." Leigh reached out, trying to snatch them away, but Angel was too fast.

  "Uh-uh, you get one and I get one, missy."

  "Greedy bitch."

  "Hey, someone has to keep an eye on your blood sugar."

  Leigh sighed, but she knew Angel was right. Indulging still had to be done carefully.

  An hour later they were in the basement, in front of Adam's big television, eating a multitude of cheese flavored things, and talking over the fourth Harry Potter movie. Not that they didn't love the fourth Harry Potter movie, but they'd seen it enough times that they could talk over it, still know what was going on, and instinctively fall silent for their favorite parts. And when Cedric Diggory died, which obviously wasn't a favorite part, but deserved their silence.

  "So you're really okay if Jared gets back together with Marissa?" Angel asked, skepticism filling her voice.

  "I mean... does it kind of hurt? Yeah, but probably not like you think." Leigh searched to find the right words to explain to Angel, because she really didn't want anyone giving Jared a hard time, and she knew the others would follow Angel's lead, considering her a barometer for how Leigh was really doing. "It's hard for it to really hurt when we weren't really involved. I mean, not on a level that meant anything. There are no broken promises, no misunderstandings... and he's been honest with me the entire time."

  Angel made a humphing noise, but she didn't interrupt.

  "It's more disappointment than hurt. I liked him. It would have been nice to... you know. Try some things with him. Like... Stronghold things." Leigh felt color rising in her cheeks as Angel perked up, staring at her and completely ignoring Harry Potter flying around an angry dragon.

  "Oh reaaaaaaaaally?" Angel drawled out the word, her eyes sparkling with glee. She hadn't pushed Leigh to do any experimenting in the club, but Leigh knew Angel thought it would be good for her. "So... you're open to that now?"

  "I mean... I was considering it. With Jared. Because I trusted him. I don't know if I could..." Leigh's voice trailed off as she recognized the almost manic gleam in Angel's eye.

  Dammit, the woman was already plotting.

  "You know there's a whole class of newbie Doms right?" Angel asked, practically bouncing up and down with glee. "Some of them are... whoo!" She fanned herself dramatically. "Hot!"

  "Funny how you never mentioned that before," Leigh mumbled.

  "Yeah, well." Angel shrugged, mischief in her eyes. "It hasn't been the right time to bring it up."

  "Does Adam know you think they're hot?"

  "Of course not. It hasn't been the right time to bring it up."

  ******

  "You're really going to do this?"

  "Yes."

  "You're sure you can handle it?"

  "Yes."

  "You don't think this might be a huge mistake?"

  "No."

  Jared sighed. "Fine. But just so you know, I think you're going to pay for this later."

  Dark eyes glittered malevolently at him, but Jared stood firm, arms crossed over his chest as he shook his head. Patrick could intimidate almost anyone in the club with his size and aura of power, but Jared was even bigger than him and just as stubborn, even if he was quieter about it.

  "She deserves it."

  "I know."

  "There's nothing in our contract that restricts it."

  "I know."

  "She can safe word out at any time."

  "You know she won't."

  "She's my sub, and I'll punish her the way I see fit."

  Jared spread his hands in a placating gesture. "Of course. I'm just saying."

  On the bar beside them, Lexie made a muffled noise of outrage. Patrick had her bent over the bar, completely naked, with her legs tied together and tied to the bar. He'd put padding on the edge of the bar to make sure she'd remain reasonably comfortable, before tying her wrists down to it as well and then gagging her. In one hand she held one of those squeezie stress toys - this one was in the shape of a panda bear - which she was to drop if she needed to safe word out.

  Beside her, on the gleaming wood of the bar, was a two foot long and half a foot wide leather paddle.

  "So am I making the announcement or not?" Andrew asked, a look of amusement on his face as he watched from the other side of the bar. Lexie let out another outraged noise that sounded an awful lot like she was cursing him. Although Patrick claimed he'd gagged her because he didn't feel like hearing her sass right now, Jared was pretty sure it was because he didn't want her adding to her punishment by cursing at the other dominants. Or him.

  A small crowd had gathered, obviously wondering what was going on, although they were all pretending they weren't watching Lexie's predicament. Jared sighed as Patrick sat down on a bar stool next to his recalcitrant sub and girlfriend. The two of them were perfectly suited to each other, even though Jared thought Patrick might regret this particular punishment later.

  It was incredibly fitting though. Very close to an eye for an eye.

  "Make it," Patrick said, his voice hard. Lexie squealed and he reached out to give her a short, sharp smack on her exposed ass. "Quiet subbie. Unless and until you drop that toy, we're going through with this punishment. You know you deserve it."

  The expression on Lexie's face was more mutinous than remorseful, but she didn't try another useless protest again.

  Behind the bar, Andrew picked up the phone and pressed the button that cut off the music and let him make an announcement to the club as a whole. His voice echoed in the main room, the Dungeon, and upstairs; even the private rooms would hear the announcement. Considering it was a Saturday night, the club was pretty much packed, but everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. After all, club-wide announcements weren't actually made often.

  "Attention Stronghold members," Andrew said, his deep voice tinged with amusement. "
All members who have seen the YouTube video titled 'Dom on the Dance Floor' are requested by Master Patrick to stop by the bar sometime this evening and give his lovely submissive a whack on her bottom."

  Beside Patrick, Lexie made another outraged noise, her fingers twitching around the stress toy in her hand, but she didn't drop it. Jared covered his lips as they twitched upwards in a smile. He was pretty sure Lexie was going to want to get back at Patrick for this, and he didn't think the big man was going to enjoy seeing so many people appreciating Lexie's butt as it turned cherry red, but it was well deserved on her part.

  On New Year’s Eve, she'd gotten Patrick drunk and coaxed him onto the dance floor. Then she'd kept him there, and urged him to continue once she'd seen the camera was running. There was a reason neither Patrick nor Jared danced in public. They were both bad at it. Like, bad enough that it was laughable. Jared had been in the video too, but he hadn't been featured liked Patrick was, and - unlike Patrick - he hadn't had a naughty submissive encouraging him once she'd realized it was being taped.

  Dom on the Dance Floor had over a thousand views before it had been taken down from the website. Fortunately, the club's channel was private, so only members had been able to watch, but that just made it more obvious that many of them had gone back for second, third and fourth viewings. Patrick had been incensed on many levels.

  Lexie had been in time out while the club owner figured out her punishment. The actual videographer, Olivia, had been much easier to discipline, despite the fact that she was a Domme. Patrick could have denied her use of the club, but instead he'd decided she'd have to work it off. After all, they were friends, and she hadn't instigated anything... she'd just recorded it for posterity. Plus, this way, Patrick got some help around the club. Olivia would be allowed to scene again once she'd worked as many hours as the video had views before it had been taken down. Personally, Jared thought it was rather inspired. There was no way Olivia could protest that such a punishment was unfair, it was definitely proportional with her 'crime,' and she could take as much or as little time about it as she wanted.

  Considering she'd added extra Dungeon Monitor and Introduction Scene duties to her schedule of teaching the new dominants, Jared figured she was looking to work it off as quickly as possible. Making her wait to play was the best punishment Patrick could have devised for her, although he doubted Patrick would actually really make her work the full thousand hours. He’d relent after a month or two.

  Working at the club wasn't exactly a punishment for Lexie, nor would it have been as appropriate as Patrick's solution. Already there was a line, queuing up behind her upturned bottom, of eager looking dominants and nervous submissives. It was the dominants that made Patrick frown and were the biggest reason for Jared's reservations. Even though Patrick often liked to see Lexie prancing around his club in various states of undress, he was a possessive bastard. Letting someone else spank her, even if they didn't actually touch her, was going to be hard for him.

  No matter how elegantly perfect the punishment was.

  On the other hand, his honest distress at the situation was probably going to be as hard for Lexie to bear as the physical side. So, hopefully, she'd learn her lesson and it would be a while before she was up to her tricks again.

  "Get in line," Patrick said in a tense voice, nudging him in the side. He wasn't even looking at Jared, he was glaring at the quivering submissive who barely tapped Lexie's butt with the paddle. "Try that again, Freddy, that wasn't a spank at all. And I happen to know you watched that damn video at least three times, so you better swat her hard enough to count for every single view."

  The young man winced, but seeing as Patrick was both a scary as hell dominant, and his boss, it wasn't like he had much of a choice. "Sorry Lex."

  SMACK!

  Lexie howled in outrage, but Jared had no doubt that by the end of the night there'd be a lot more remorse in her voice.

  He went and got in line just behind Adam, who was watching the goings-on with amusement. Glancing at the Dungeon Monitor vest Adam was wearing, Jared raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be on duty?"

  "We're taking turns standing in line," Adam said with a grin. "Well, except Olivia. She doesn't get a turn." The big, blond man gave Jared a once over, almost carefully, a kind of wary look in his eye that made Jared want to cringe. "So ah... how are things with you?"

  Considering Adam currently lived with Leigh, Jared knew Adam knew exactly how things were with him. But he appreciated the other man's discretion. Their group of friends could be worse than small town old ladies when it came to gossip.

  "I'm fine."

  The silence hung between them as Adam waited, both of them listening to the sound of leather against flesh, barely audible above the music, before the line would shift forward again.

  "So... Marissa, huh?"

  Outwaiting Adam didn't even feel like a triumph. Jared had known the other man would ask. Leigh and Angel were like sisters and Leigh had been living in Adam's house for weeks now; it was only natural that he'd feel protective. It was even deserved.

  “We’re not back together,” he said, clipping off his words. Even to himself he sounded defensive.

  “Do you want to be?”

  Jared hesitated, and then decided to give Adam full disclosure. If nothing else, it might keep the man off his back while he tried to figure things out. “Look, I like Leigh a lot, okay? But Marissa is… fuck, stubborn doesn’t even begin to describe it. I don’t want Leigh having to deal with her shit, and if we’re dating, or even talking, you know what kind of shit storm Marissa is capable of.”

  “I do,” Adam said calmly, his blue eyes meeting Jared’s dark ones, measuring him. “I also know that Leigh is a big girl and can take care of herself. That’s if Angel doesn’t take care of anything that comes her way for her.”

  “She shouldn’t have to,” Jared said irritably. “Not for me.”

  “So you’re getting back together with Marissa.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  The line shifted forward as Adam looked at him thoughtfully. “If Leigh weren’t part of the picture, if you didn’t think you needed to protect her, would you even be considering getting back together with Marissa?”

  Hell no.

  Ah fuck.

  He was so fucked.

  Jared growled. “I really hate you sometimes.”

  “Sometimes the hardest things in life turn into the best rewards,” Adam said with a kind of serene smile that made Jared want to punch him even more. Although, if anyone would know, it was Adam. He and Angel hadn’t exactly had an easy start of it either.

  Either. As if he was already seeing his and Leigh’s relationship heading towards where Angel and Adam’s already was.

  Fuck. Yeah, he was screwed.

  And they’d reached the front of the line. Lexie’s butt was bright red, and Patrick looked ready to murder Mitch, one of the newbie Doms from Olivia’s class. The big idiot was grinning like a loon as he turned away, with one last lingering look at Lexie’s ass, obviously seriously lacking any sense of self preservation. He handed the paddle to Jared.

  “Hey Patrick,” Jared said, distracting the club owner and probably saving Mitch’s life – or at least his face from a pounding. “I need to leave early tonight. I have some uh, things I need to take care of at home.”

  “Fine,” Patrick grunted. He patted his sub’s back, almost encouragingly. “Give Lexie a whack and you can head out.”

  The noise Lexie made now sounded much more remorseful.

  SMACK!

  Chapter 2

  In the end, it was both harder and easier than he'd anticipated.

  When he got home, Marissa had been surprised at his early arrival. She'd been in the middle of setting up candles and cooking him food. Something which she'd never done before. Some small part of him twinged, wondering if he shouldn't give her another chance...

  But she'd also been on the phone, with her agent, and she'd been surp
rised enough to let it drop why she was cooking him a romantic dinner.

  Another trip. Another 'opportunity.'

  It hadn't even been two days and she was already looking to leave again; although this time she didn't want to have an open relationship while she was gone. This time she wanted to be exclusive. She wanted him waiting to welcome her back.

  Fuck that.

  Two years ago, Jared would have been willing to work with her, been willing to compromise. Considering he’d already been resisting getting back together when she’d been promising that she wasn’t going to leave again, there was just no fucking way. It just confirmed what he’d been thinking – she wasn’t ever going to actually change. It was a relief to have a real, solid reason to tell her they were never getting back together and she needed to get out of his apartment.

  "Don't you want me to be happy?" she sobbed, stinging him with guilt that he was all too familiar with.

  "Not at the expense of my own happiness."

  It had been painful. It made him feel like shit. It had required packing up her things for her and physically taking them out the door while she trotted along behind him, still crying and begging him to reconsider. He'd almost caved when she'd sat outside, on her suitcase, still crying.

  Except, just when he'd almost decided to go to her, to at least try to comfort her, she finally stood up and left. Stomped away angrily, actually, into the darkness to her car. Jared watched her go from his window, saw her get into the car and leave. She was upset, but not too upset to drive, since she didn't peel out of the parking lot.

  Part of him wanted to text her, to find out where she’d gone and whether or not she’d gotten there okay, but he resisted the impulse. Which made him feel both relieved and guilty. Part of him thought that it couldn't hurt to check in on her, but another part of him thought that would just send a mixed signal. She had friends, or, if she really didn’t want to call anyone else, she could go to a hotel. She’d be fine.