Chapter 12

As first ‘dates’ went, not that tonight had been an official date, it was pretty much a bust. Luke sighed as he watched Olivia head down the stairs to the Dungeon to take over as Dungeon Monitor for Will, who had just been called out because his girlfriend Gina had slipped on some ice. She’d called the club from the emergency room and Vicki, who was manning the front desk, had immediately gone running for Will. As far as she knew, Gina was mostly okay but she’d torn a ligament, needed crutches to walk, and driving was completely out of the question.

Unfortunately for Luke, Olivia had been the first person who could step in as Dungeon Monitor that Will had spotted when he’d come upstairs in a panic to leave. Being who she was, of course she’d immediately agreed to take his shift. Although, there hadn’t been too many other options anyway. Although Andrew was at the club, he and Kate were downstairs in the Interrogation Room, Jared was on door duty, and Michael and Ellie hadn’t arrived yet. Patrick probably would have taken over, but he was overseeing a scene with a new couple who were in the lifestyle and had applied to the club after just moving to the area. He liked to ensure someone watched new members scene together if they claimed they didn’t need the newbie class, and tonight he was the one observing.

They’d barely had twenty minutes to actually talk before Will had come upstairs.

“Hey Luke! Are you here alone?”

He almost jumped at the greeting. He’d been so wrapped up in his own thoughts and wistfully watching Olivia go to work that he hadn’t even noticed Domi and Rae coming up to the table where he was sitting. Domi’s curls were held back by a headband tonight, which seemed to make them appear even wilder in the back, as if any bit of constraint had them attempting to revolt. Her dark-rimmed eyes went with the black and red corset she was wearing and the lacy black skirt. Beside her, Rae looked like the picture of innocence even though she was also wearing all black too. Her black skirt was fluffy and short, showing off her long legs, and the corset she was wearing somehow looked softer and more feminine than Domi’s more aggressive look. Luke found it amusing how Domi, who tended to look like an ethereal fairy when she wasn’t wearing club gear, went for a more hard-edged look while Rae, who could appear a little fierce in her regular clothes, tended to soften herself for the club.

“Ah, for the moment,” he said, answering Domi’s question. Despite her attire, she smiled sweetly at him as she hopped up onto the barstool next to him. Rae flashed a smile at him too, but she was looking around the club.

“Mind if we join you for a bit?” she asked. “We were gonna go downstairs and watch what’s happening the Dungeon, but I wanted to get a drink first.”

“Sure, come sit down and join me,” he said teasingly, making her giggle. Having finished her look around the room, Rae took a seat as well.

“I hope we’re not crashing your night,” she said, sliding onto the stool next to Domi’s. “Domi wanted a drink but we didn’t want to go into the Lounge and make anyone think we’re here to play.”

Since the Lounge was the official-unofficial area for submissives looking to be picked up for a scene, and none of the class was supposed to be scening outside of the class yet even if they could visit the club, that made sense.

Luke smiled. “I’d be here all alone if you hadn’t, so thanks for keeping me from looking pathetic.”

Both of the girls laughed. A club sub named Traci came around to take their drink orders; Domi got a beer and Rae a Dirty Shirley Temple. They amused themselves talking about the class, the Baby Doms (although Luke didn’t tell them the guys were called that), and the people on the dance floor. About half an hour later they were joined by Kincaid and Zach, then Michael and Ellie finally showed up, followed by Leigh and Sharon. Luke amused himself watching all the group dynamics flowing.

Kincaid was eyeing Sharon, but there was some weird tension going on between him and Zach as well. Domi kept looking at Kincaid, but it was hard to tell if there was any real interest there on her part—she was a hard read. Sharon, who wasn’t very submissive, ignored both Kincaid and Zach for the most part, keeping her attention on Leigh while the other woman waited for Jared to finish his door shift. Rae, for all she paid attention to Domi, was constantly distracted as she kept looking around the room, almost like she was expecting—or hoping—to see someone. Luke sympathized, since his eyes kept going to the stairwell of the Dungeon hoping to see Olivia return. He wasn’t sure who Rae might be looking for.

Unsurprisingly, Michael and Ellie were wrapped up in each other and not really paying attention to anyone else.

When Patrick came upstairs, done observing the new couples’ scene, and asked Michael and Luke if they wanted to come to his office to talk about Marquis’ upcoming opening, he figured why not. He hadn’t seen head or tail of Olivia since she’d gone downstairs to monitor; might as well do something useful.

******

Olivia poked her head into Patrick’s office before leaving, having been informed by Sharon that Luke had gone in there with Michael and Ellie. After being reassured they weren’t talking about anything she needed to be updated on, she gave Luke an apologetic smile before leaving. When he started to make a move to follow her, she shook her head at him.

She really just wanted some down time. Some her time. She’d come to Stronghold ready to… well, maybe not play but ready to flirt and enjoy her evening. Instead she’d ended up Dungeon Monitoring, which wasn’t a bad evening but it’s not where her head had been at. Every scene she’d watched had just made her think of all the dirty things she wanted to be doing to and with Luke. She’d started planning out what they might do.

Now she was all revved up and she didn’t want to just take him home with her like he was her own personal masturbation toy. Okay, that was a lie, she definitely wanted to do that, but they weren’t there yet.

Which meant she needed to go home alone, and it would be a lot easier for her waning willpower if Luke didn’t walk her out to her car, because she would be very tempted to jump him in the parking lot.

When she finally walked outside, the frigid blast of air which slammed into her body convinced her she probably hadn’t needed to worry about molesting him in the parking lot. It was too damn cold. Although she could have used him for body heat… Yeah, and this was why she’d come out alone.

As she walked to her car, she heard footsteps coming up quickly behind her and immediately spun around, going into a defensive fighting stance, her heart pounding…

Only to realize the footsteps had sounded closer than they actually were. Someone was hurrying across the parking lot, too bundled for her to recognize them, headed for the warmth of the club. She might have tried to convince herself she wasn’t worried about whoever had keyed her car, but obviously Luke hadn’t been the only thing she’d been swimming in denial about.

Sighing, she quickly got in her car and started it, pulling out of the parking lot before it had fully warmed up. If she was going to be truthful with herself, she didn’t feel completely comfortable just sitting there in her car on her own. Even though Patrick had added new cameras and now constantly kept an eye on the lot—and probably would for a while—she was still too antsy to just sit there waiting.

Twenty minutes later she was back at her apartment building and looking forward to maybe taking a bath and breaking out her waterproof vibrator.

Maybe her sense that something was off in the parking lot had been some kind of psychic warning, because the chill that ran up her spine when she saw her apartment door felt very similar to how she’d felt back at Stronghold. Red paint made angry slashes out of words across her door, standing out stark against the brown paint behind it.

I’M COMING FOR YOU CUNT!

Fucking great.

The anger welling up inside of her helped drown out some of the immediate fear as she spun around in a circle, looking for a possible culprit and already knowing there was no one else there. When had this been done? Was the person still here?

Was it Roland?

How did he know where she lived?

The hair on her arms and the back of her neck were standing straight up, her heart beating fast the way it did when she was sparring, only with more anxiety. Fucking dammit.

Moving forward, she tested the door… still locked. So that was something at least. Being that close to the paint creeped her out though. She could actually see some of it running a little; clumps slowly moving downward due to gravity. Whoever had done this, they hadn’t done it that long ago.

Spinning around so her back was against the wall beside the door, Olivia’s hands shook as she pulled her phone out of her purse. She sure as hell wasn’t going inside by herself, even if the door was locked. For all she knew, her harasser had managed to get inside and then lock the door behind him—or her—and was inside waiting.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She felt like she was starting to lose it a little. She couldn’t even tell if that was really a legitimate concern or if she was just being paranoid and freaking out.

“Hello?” Kincaid’s deep voice drew her back to reality, anchoring her a little.

“I…” To her horror, her throat was choked up and she realized her eyes were burning slightly with the need to cry. Not because she was scared exactly, although a little bit that, but because she was so angry. This was way more upsetting than her car being keyed in a public lot, a larger violation, and she felt fucking helpless because she didn’t even know who was doing this.

“Olivia?” She could hear the rising concern in Kincaid’s voice.

Clearing her throat, she pushed back her angry, upset tears, forcing herself to a calm she didn’t actually feel. “Hi Kincaid. I need you to come to my apartment. Whoever keyed my car knows where I live and left me a message on my door.”

******

The sparkle was gone from her gray eyes.

That was the first thing Luke thought when he saw her standing outside of her apartment, talking to Kincaid while a uniformed cop talked with an older man Luke assumed was her neighbor. The person inspecting the paint on her door must be some kind of forensics, because she was scraping some onto a slide, presumably for evidence. Kincaid had called Patrick on his way over to Olivia’s while Luke and the others had still been in Patrick’s office, which of course meant they all immediately left Stronghold to come over. Luke had no doubt Lexie had probably been busy texting everyone else on the way.

The noise the five of them made getting off the elevator had everyone in the hallway turning to see who they were. Olivia groaned at the sight of them, her expression drawn and tight with stress.

“Oh good grief, what do you people think you are, the Scooby-Doo Gang?” she asked, snapping the words out.

Neither Patrick nor Michael seemed upset at her antagonistic tone though. Probably because they could see the same things Luke could—her eyes were flat, her skin pale, and she was holding one arm across the front of her body so she could grip the opposite elbow. A defensive, protective stance. Not the usual open, wide spread stance she usually stood in.

“If I say yes, can I have a Scooby-snack?” Luke asked, jumping in quickly to make sure he was the first person to speak. Hoping to lighten her upset and unsure of how any of the others would respond.

She didn’t smile, but the flatness of her eyes warmed a little and he thought she might have almost smiled. “You are not nearly as cute as you think you are, cupcake.”

He scowled. “I don’t think I’m cute at all, Scarlet.”

“The two of you are too cute for words,” Lexie said, moving past him and heading straight for Olivia with arms outstretched. For a moment, he thought Olivia wouldn’t accept the hug, but she opened her arms as Lexie reached her and pulled the younger, smaller woman into her embrace. It took Luke a moment to realize Lexie needed the hug maybe even more than Olivia did, and—as always—Olivia made sure everyone else got what they needed.

Which was why he was going to focus on what she needed tonight.

“Is there any reason we’re still out in the hall?” he asked, coming forward to stand next to and slightly behind Olivia. She was still cuddling Lexie, who was practically clinging to her. Patrick placed his hand on the back of Lexie’s neck, his dark eyes looking over Olivia like he was trying to see inside of her.

“I just wanted to know if my neighbors knew anything,” she said, looking over to where the uniformed officer had just finished up his interview.

Overhearing her comment, the man shook his head. Looking to be in his mid-twenties, with sandy-blonde hair, his eyes flickered over all three women now standing there, making both Patrick and Michael move a little closer to their respective girlfriends. Making Luke wonder if he had the right to do the same. He shifted his weight a little bit closer to Olivia.

“No one heard anything,” he said almost apologetically to Olivia, before turning his attention to Kincaid. “I’m not sure we’re going to be able to do much. The front desk said there are no cameras in the hallways and there are too many people bundled up against the cold coming through the lobby.”

“I know,” Kincaid said sighing and running his hand through his dark hair. He rolled his head around his neck. “Get the video they have anyway and we’ll see if anything comes of it.”

“Alright, well you’re all here, you might as well come inside,” Olivia said brusquely, but Luke noticed she looked a little calmer and she didn’t relinquish her hold on Lexie, keeping her arm around the other woman’s shoulders as she led the way.

Luke paused next to Kincaid, keeping his voice low as the others followed Olivia into her apartment. “Is there any reason I can’t wash that shit off of her door tonight?”

Kincaid shook his head. “Do it. We’ve got everything we can, which isn’t much unfortunately. She’ll feel better once it’s gone though. Are you going to stay again tonight?”

“That’s my current plan,” Luke said, giving Kincaid a rather grim smile. “Hopefully I can convince her of it.”

He’d need to make sure Molly still got her walks and breakfast, but his brother wouldn’t mind taking care of her again, especially considering the circumstances.

******

When her friends had first walked out of the elevator, Olivia hadn’t known whether she was more relieved to see them or pissed that Kincaid had obviously ratted her out to Patrick. She didn’t need them there.

Although, she had to admit, it was nice to have them.

Especially Luke.

He was doing an awful lot to assuage any lingering doubts she had about getting involved with him.

While Patrick had gone around her entire apartment checking all of her windows (which was just silly since she wasn’t exactly on a low-level floor and she’d already checked everything—which she’d told him. Control freak), and Michael had started looking up information about security cameras on his phone, Ellie and Lexie had wanted to sit down in the living room and talk about who Olivia thought might be harassing her and how he’d found out where she lived. They were all kind of assuming it was a ‘he.’ In fact, they were all kind of assuming ‘he’ was Roland.

During all that, Luke had gotten her a glass of water and some cheese and crackers from her fridge, put her purse on the chair she’d left it in the last time he’d been over, and gone to wash off the front door. A moment after realizing what he was doing, Patrick had followed him out there to help but she’d seen it was Luke who had quietly just gone to do what needed to be done. Taking care of something she’d already known she would find emotionally stressful to tend to. Knowing she didn’t have to was a huge relief.

“Soooo… Luke’s kind of really awesome,” Ellie murmured, seeing Olivia’s eyes shift towards the closed front door again. Olivia glanced at Michael, but he seemed pretty engrossed in his phone. Plus, while he was a bit of a prankster, he and Ellie mostly stayed out of the gossip chain.

“Super awesome,” Lexie said, picking up a cracker with cheese for herself. “He’s pretty bossy for a submissive though.”

“Not in the bedroom,” Olivia said with a wicked smile, and then inwardly cursed as her friends immediately perked up. She coughed. “From what I’ve observed at the club.”

“Liaaaaaaaaaar. I knew something happened when he stayed over!” Lexie whispered as the front door opened back up. “You are so getting grilled at Girls’ Night tomorrow!”

Geez. She’d almost forgot Ladies’ Night was tomorrow. Relief spilled through her. She wouldn’t be alone tomorrow night. Although she’d have to endure a super girly interrogation. Might be worth it to stay home. If she’d thought she had a chance of that being the end of it, she might have seriously considered the option.

“Olivia, what’s your plan for tonight?” Patrick asked, coming to a halt behind her couch. Luke headed to the kitchen, the bucket and sponges he’d grabbed in his hands.

Hands on his hips, Patrick looked like he was ready to take charge if Olivia didn’t grab the reins of control away from him. If she let him start telling her what to do now, he wasn’t going to stop until the culprit was stopped. Hell to the no was she putting up with that.

“Staying here.” She turned her head toward the kitchen before Patrick could do more than scowl, raising her voice to ensure Luke could hear her. “Luke? Would you like to spend the night again?”

She ignored Lexie elbowing Ellie in the side, a smug expression on her face. Ellie was grinning, the anxiety finally leaving her expression completely.

“Uh… yeah? I mean, yes, that’s fine.” Luke’s head popped around the doorframe. He looked almost comically surprised. She liked that he hadn’t assumed he’d be invited. “Great. Yes.”

“I guess that’s fine,” Patrick mumbled. Olivia ignored him too.

“I’ve emailed you about some security systems you should look into,” Michael said, moving around Luke to rejoin everyone in the living room. “Nothing crazy expensive, but just some basic stuff which might help us catch this asshole.”

“Thank you,” Olivia said. Kind of nice to have her own little set of minions doing all the things she’d planned on. The guys could be so cute when they kicked into high gear, even if she wished it wasn’t necessary.

******

By the time everyone else left, Luke had managed to maneuver himself onto the couch beside Olivia with her bare feet in his lap so he could give them a massage. She was laying back against the arm of the couch, an almost sleepy smile on her face, and a lot of the tension leeched from her body. Seeing her so relaxed, after being so anxious and upset, made him feel like a freaking king.

“This is nice,” she said, rubbing the foot he wasn’t massaging against his leg almost teasingly. Her leg twisted, curving her foot around to caress the inside of his thigh. “I hope you like giving foot massages because you’re giving me ideas for date nights.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” he asked, sliding his fingers through her toes and enjoying her pleased moan. His cock was already half hard just from this. Serving her, taking care of her like this, was a turn on for him even if he couldn’t exactly explain why. This was the easy part of submitting to her.

“Movie and massage nights. I choose the movie of course.”

“Shouldn’t the person giving the massage choose the movie?” he asked mildly, sweeping his thumb up into the ball of her foot and pressing. Her moan was almost orgasmic and his cock jerked.

“I suppose it might be fun to let you try and convince me,” she said, teasing.

Keeping the eye contact between them, he brought her foot up to his mouth and pressed his lips against the top of it. Heat and desire flared in her eyes, and she reached up to brush a lock of her flaming red hair off her forehead.

“I think that sounds like a lot of fun, Scarlet.”

Her lips pressed. Twisted slightly.

Goal achieved.

“Not tonight though,” she said, sighing as she reluctantly pulled her foot out of his hands. She glanced over at the clock and made a face. “It’s after midnight, I need to go to bed. We need to go to bed.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“We’re not going there tonight, cupcake.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said again, standing and holding out his hand to help her up. He still liked the glint she got in her eyes when he called her that even if she stayed true to her word and didn’t do anything more than give him a very thorough kiss goodnight before curling up around him and falling asleep.

It was a new experience being the little spoon.

Luke decided he liked it.

******

“Liar!” Lexie pronounced dramatically, pointing her finger at Olivia. “J’accuse!!!! Ellie and I both heard you admit it!”

“I did no such thing,” Olivia said calmly, taking another sip of her… what was she drinking? Sharon had made it and called it some kind of punch. Inside she was holding down all sorts of giggles, but on the outside she was cool, cold, calm, and in control.

The four Cs.

Was that a thing?

It should be a thing.

“Mmmm, I’m going to have to go with Lexie on this one,” Sharon said. Her petite curves were packed into a sock monkey pajama set, top and bottom, complete with footies and a hood with a sock monkey face on it. For some reason, which no one had adequately explained, both she and Kate were wearing matching ones. “That’s two nights you two have spent together. And we aaaaaall see the way you two look at each other. You cannot tell me you have not bumped uglies.”

“If they’re both attractive is it still bumping uglies?” Angel asked, musing from her position next to Sharon, whom she was petting because the sock monkey pajamas were very soft. “Or are they pretties?”

“You aren’t even drinking,” Leigh said, looking at her somewhat aghast.

“So? It’s a legit question! I don’t have to be drunk to ask legitimate, interesting questions!”

“Is it interesting?” asked Jessica, tilting her head at Angel with a skeptical look on her face.

“It is to me.”

“Who is more interested in getting Olivia to talk more about Luke?” Jessica asked, shoving her hand in the air. Hands all around the room went up except for Olivia’s and Angel’s.

Angel pouted. “Well fine then.” She tried to slump but was somewhat hampered by her belly.

Sighing, Olivia took another drink of her punch. Fruity. Sweet. Probably hiding a shitload of booze, knowing Sharon. She might be tiny but she could drink large men under tables. Multiple men and multiple tables probably.

The only people who weren’t drinking were Angel and Maria, who wasn’t feeling well but had made it out anyway.

“Okay. This is the one and only time I’m going to say this,” Olivia said, straightening up. Immediately the room went silent, eyes growing wide with anticipation. “The first night he was over, we did play. A bit. There were no ugly or pretty bumpings. However there was mutual pleasure.” She knew she was over enunciating her words a bit as she tried to speak precisely with a tongue that was feeling fuzzier and fuzzier with every passing minute.

“Woo!” Lexie lifted her glass in the air. “I knew something happened!”

“But nothing happened last night,” Olivia reiterated. “Just cuddling. I spooned him.”

“You spooned him?” Hilary asked, blinking and tilting her head to the side as if trying to picture it.

“Patrick likes to be spooned sometimes,” Lexie whispered. Which had all of them cracking up at the visual. Lexie’s ass was going to be sooooo sore when Patrick found out she’d spilled that little tidbit. Didn’t exactly go with his hardass demeanor.

Which reminded Olivia, she’d better warn Luke about what would happen to his ass if he ever spilled about her occasionally liking to be the little spoon. He didn’t know yet… but he would. If things worked out.

“I think we should make a posse,” Sharon said out of nowhere, leaning back against the couch she was sitting in front of. Across from her, cuddled into one of the armchairs, Maria raised her eyebrows.

“Aren’t we already kind of a posse?” Maria asked. She’d been pretty quiet, maybe even a little withdrawn up until now, which they were all chalking up to her not feeling well.

“No, but like, a protective posse. Or a… investi- invest- a detective posse. We can find this douche stalking Olivia and give him a beat down!” Sharon made the motion of slamming her fist into her palm, but since her palm was holding her cup it kind of lacked the intensity she was probably going for—although she did manage to slosh some of her drink on herself. “Oops.”

“I don’t need a posse,” Olivia said, sighing. “Whoever it is, they’ve only done two actual things and neither of them were actually all that damaging.”

“Ah-ah-ah, no,” Angel said waving her finger at her. “Just because other people have had worse happen to them, does not make your situation not bad. This shit-gibbon is escalating.”

“Shit-gibbon?” Jessica looked at Angel and then almost everyone’s head swiveled towards Hilary, who held up her hands to show her innocence.

“I didn’t teach her that one!” Hilary had a tendency to use outdated words and phrases.

“Michael got her a Shakespearian insult generator book for Christmas and gave it to her early,” Ellie confessed with a sigh. She’d been the only one who hadn’t looked at Hilary to blame. She shot Angel a look. “There have to be better ones in there.”

“I like shit-gibbon. It’s fun to say.”

Olivia didn’t think she’d ever be relieved to have an entire conversation go down the rabbit hole over the phrase ‘shit-gibbon.’ She didn’t want to think about her stalker, as Sharon called him. Not right now anyway. Tonight was supposed to be about getting away from all of life’s troubles.

She’d much rather talk about proper insults any day.