Epilogue

Stronghold was an urban fortress of sex, sin, and kink. The club was blatantly in-your-face about what it provided, especially after a walk-through of the Dungeon.

Marquis was quiet seduction, an invitation to watch those in the spotlight while indulging your own desires in the dark. There were plenty of shadows to hide in, making everything feel a little bit more secretive, a little bit more wicked.

Except for those on stage, of course.

Sharon watched breathlessly from one of the secluded alcoves as Patrick finished the intricate Shibari knot work around Lexie’s slim body. They were the first ‘act’ of the evening and already she was feeling hot and antsy just from watching. Unfortunately she was sharing her alcove with Andrew and Kate, and she wasn’t sure if she felt comfortable masturbating with them right there.

Although the soft, feminine moan from across the dark nook told her that Andrew had no such qualms about touching his girlfriend even though her best friend was sitting across from them.

She pressed her thighs together, which really wasn’t enough stimulation at all. If she had someone to play with her, she wouldn’t have cared about Andrew and Kate being there either, but it was different when it was just her and she’d have to touch herself.

Hogtied, wrapped in so many ropes it looked like she was practically wearing clothes (except all the important bits were left uncovered) Lexie was slowly being lifted into the air.

Shibari and suspension. Two things Sharon would never have the patience for… She was way too squirmy and that level of bondage made her twitchy just looking at it, but she did like to watch. The look of pure bliss on Lexie’s face as she was raised almost made Sharon wish she had the temperament for it. Almost.

Her breasts peeped out between the ropes, nipples hard with their jewelry dangling towards the floor. Lexie’s knees were apart, ankles and wrists bound to a hoop with supporting ropes between them to keep any strain from being put on her limbs. Her head hung down a little, so it was obvious he didn’t intend to keep her up there for too long.

As an opening scene for the new club, it was very impressive though, which Sharon supposed was the point.

“Are you comfortable, Pixie?” Patrick asked. He wasn’t speaking overly loudly, but his deep voice could be heard throughout the whole floor anyway.

“Yes, Master,” Lexie said dreamily, raising her head to look at him with an expression of complete contentment on her face. Sharon sighed wistfully in pure envy, and then wished she’d remained silent as she saw both Andrew and Kate’s heads turn towards her. It was dark enough she couldn’t see their expression and they couldn’t see hers, but they’d definitely heard her.

She didn’t want her friends’ pity.

Fortunately they were all distracted a second later when Patrick dropped to one knee, reaching into his pocket. Shocked, delighted gasps filled the room as Lexie let out a startled cry.

“Good, because I have a question to ask you. And I’m perfectly willing to wait as long as I need to in order to get the answer I want.”

“Oh you asshole…” Lexie breathed out the words, her voice already choked with happy tears as Patrick pulled a ring box out of his pocket. He ignored the insult. “You’re doing this now?!”

As Patrick lifted up the box toward her, tears were already running down her cheeks and it was like the entire room held a collective breath.

“Lexie Standish. You have made me whole in a way I never thought I could be. I have always loved you, but since I fell in love with you I have never been happier. The collar around your throat and your willing submission to me is more than a man could ever deserve, but I want even more. I want my ring on your finger and you as my wife.”

Lexie was now openly weeping and she wasn’t the only one. In the darkness, Sharon had her hand over her mouth to keep from making any noise as the beautiful scene caught at her emotions.

“I’m so mad at you right now!”

“That’s okay,” he said earnestly. “Take all the time you need to think about it. I’ll wait.”

A chuckle went around the room and even Lexie laughed, shaking her head and her happy tears went flying.

“Of course I’ll marry you!” she cried out, wriggling in her ropes. “But I’m still going to kill you!”

Jumping up, Patrick planted an enthusiastic kiss on her lips, cradling her face in his dark hands. The contrast between his chocolate skin against her pale cheeks and black hair was stunning. The love between them seemed an almost tangible thing, swelling and touching every heart in the room.

******

As much as he loved his best friend and little sister, Jake wished he could plug his ears as the story of their proposal was told and retold over and over again. There was a reason he hadn’t gone upstairs for the beginning of Marquis’ performances, even though the idea of watching scenes from the anonymity of a dark alcove definitely appealed to him. Especially if he could find some company to watch with him.

However, watching Patrick and Lexie was a definite hell no.

Now that they were done he might go upstairs at some point to check out the staged scenes for the evening.

The opening of Marquis and its party had been split into three parts—the downstairs restaurant area which looked like a regular New Year’s Eve party. Just a very exclusive one, with an open area for dancing. The second floor stage area featured scenes between experienced dominants and submissives who enjoyed being watched were scheduled throughout the evening. Of course, the private rooms were also up there. As far as Jake knew, all the private rooms had already been rented out for the evening—at exorbitant prices.

Well, except for whichever one Patrick and Lexie were staying in, which they’d disappeared to after doing the rounds of congratulations from everyone.

Feeling a bit out of place now that Patrick and Lexie had gone upstairs, Jake went to grab a beer from the bar and then looked around for someone to talk to. The biggest problem with all his friends having a significant other now was that they were all cuddled up and being extra lovey-dovey after Patrick’s proposal. Jake got it. Even he felt a little stab of envy when he saw his sister’s glowing happiness and the supreme satisfaction in his best friend’s eyes.

They had something special. And those with a special someone of their own were feeling extra romantic after witnessing Patrick and Lexie’s connection.

But Jake didn’t have that and he didn’t particularly want to feel like an interloper on his friend’s time.

Michael and Ellie were upstairs performing, and as far as Jake knew Andrew, Kate, Jessica, Justin, and Chris were all upstairs watching them. Liam and Hilary were on the dance floor, swaying to the music and completely ignoring the actual beat as they stared into each other’s eyes. In one of the booths, Leigh and Jared were curled up around each other, talking softly and also doing the staring into each other’s eyes thing. Rick and Maria had chosen another corner and were doing the same thing, except Maria had a glassy-eyed look which meant Rick was probably using some kind of remote controlled device on her. She had that look at Stronghold often enough when they were there. Adam and Angel hadn’t come out, as she hadn’t been feeling well and was heavily pregnant.

He spotted Luke and Olivia standing against the wall, and his eyes lit up, but before he could begin moving to them Olivia snaked her arm around Luke’s neck and pulled him down for a searing hot kiss. Which was fun to watch, but like hell Jake was going to interrupt that.

Sighing internally, he looked around and scowled as his eyes fell on Sharon, the only other single member in their group of friends, staring wistfully across the room at her ex-boyfriend, Brian. The guy was nice enough, but they’d been broken up for months now. He didn’t know why it irked him to think she was still hung up on the guy—he didn’t even like her (okay, part of his body liked her, but his cock was not running the show). Brian was talking to two gorgeous submissives—one had skin the shade of chocolate, her hair in two pigtails over her shoulders and the other very petite and pale as cream with very big, curly hair. They were very striking together, and Brian seemed to think so too.

Deciding she had spent enough time staring at her ex, Jake ambled over to cut off her view. He didn’t have anything better to do after all.

As soon as he stepped into her field of vision, her head jerked up to meet his gaze and she scowled.

Even glaring, she was pretty. Although Jake normally liked lady-like women who tended to be feminine and frilly, soft-spoken, and elegant—basically, someone to help soften his own rough edges—there was something appealing about her feisty nature. That it was packed into a generously curved, petite body with long, silky black hair, big dark eyes, and lips that were straight out of his pubescent fantasies didn’t hurt. When she was quiet it was easy to forget he found her obnoxious, crass, and far too attention-needy.

Thankfully, she wasn’t quiet that often so he didn’t have that much trouble remembering.

“What do you want?” she asked, her tone already hostile.

******

Dammit, just what she needed—Grumpy Captain America.

Lexie’s brother was hot as fuck, muscled like the soldier he was, with short dark hair and piercing blue eyes that made her wish he had a better personality, but they did not get along. Whenever he was around he looked at her with judging, condemning eyes that reminded her far too much of her formative years. It had been fun to needle him for a while, but when his attitude never changed it started to prick at old wounds and she’d been doing her best to just avoid him for the past month or so.

Especially after Angel’s wedding. Apparently, she’d gotten super drunk and actually danced with him. Kate had teased her for days about how cozy they’d looked on the dance floor. Sharon couldn’t remember a bit of it, so she had no idea what she might have said to him and she was mortified to think of the things that might have come out of her mouth.

She went through life doing her best pretending she didn’t care what anyone thought, but the truth was she cared far too deeply. She just didn’t want to.

“Just wanted to see how you’re doing,” he said amiably, although the hard look in his eyes was just like what she remembered. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

Her skin itched, like a cat with its fur rubbed the wrong way.

“Shouldn’t that be a relief to you?” she asked, wanting to sound sassy but mostly just feeling tired by it all.

It was too close after the Christmas holiday, too close to having had to deal with her parents and all the reminders of why she normally didn’t see them. She didn’t have the energy to deal with Grumpy Cap on top of that right now.

Jake shrugged, glancing over his shoulder. “Thinking about getting back together with your ex?”

“Why do you care?” she snapped, her ire reigniting.

No, she wasn’t. She already knew she and Brian didn’t work. It had become pretty clear that he was a Daddy Dom, and while Sharon was a total brat—which was probably what had attracted him in the first place—she was not a baby-girl. That didn’t mean she didn’t get lonely or miss parts of their relationship. Even if they’d never gotten super serious, it had been nice to have someone.

Right now she was feeling the lack of having anyone and had been feeling sorry for herself. Was it so much to ask to be able to do that in peace? She just wanted to wallow for a few minutes and then maybe get drunk and have a New Year’s Eve one-nighter with one of the hot Doms walking around. It wouldn’t matter that nothing would come of it because she wasn’t submissive enough for any of them.

She just wanted to feel a man on top of her for a night.

“I don’t, but I don’t have anyone else to talk to right now,” he admitted, his lips twisting in a smile as he lifted his beer to take a sip.

Well at least he was honest. Sharon sighed.

“Fine. But no being judge-y. Or looking at me with your judge-y eyes.”

“Judge-y eyes?” he asked skeptically and she pointed her finger at him, glaring.

“Like that! No looking at me like that!”

He rolled his eyes and then closed them, sighing. Resigned. Yeah, she could relate.

Opening them up, he looked at her, a bit of amusement dancing in his baby blues. Damn him for being attractive when he wasn’t being a dick.

“Wanna dance?”

“Dance?” she asked, surprised and clutching her drink a little tighter, feeling strangely nervous.

“Yeah, dance. We actually get along on the dance floor.”

Did they? Sharon couldn’t help but feel a little bemused to know that. Ah, what the hell. Maybe if she danced with him again she’d remember what had happened the last time. Or maybe she could get him to drop some more tidbits about it. The blank in her memory gnawed at her. And she definitely wasn’t going to get that drunk again, so this time she’d remember everything.

Lifting her glass, she took the last of her drink as a shot.

“Sure, why the hell not.”

Hopping up from her seat, she ignored his wince at her cursing.

Oh yeah. Nothing could possibly go wrong, dancing with her friend’s brother, a guy who didn’t even like her most of the time.

Ignoring the little voice in her head, she let him lead her to the dance floor.

******

Hardcore Vanilla, Sharon & Jake’s Story, releases September 2018