Acknowledgments

So much gratitude for everyone who helped me with these books. I never expected the Stronghold Doms to receive as much love as they have or for the series to go on as long as it did! I didn’t think I’d be writing a book for Olivia or Jake, but I fell in love with them and once Sharon came along as Kate’s best friend I knew she needed her own story - and who it needed to be with.

A massive thank you to my beta readers - Marie, Annie, Karen, Sir Nick, Tris, and especially Katherine. These books were all made better because of your help.

Some extra special gratitude to several readers who contributed to Hardcore Vanilla:

Chelle, one of my former beta readers who actually came up with the name Hardcore Vanilla.

CoraLee June for all the creative euphemisms Sharon uses for her ladyparts.

Lanai Dameron for Sharon’s speech to her cousin.

And, as always, this is for my husband, whose support and love has made all of this possible.

Stripping the Sub

Book 8 of Stronghold Doms

Prologue

14 years ago

Eleanor hugged herself as she got onto the noisy school bus, her head slightly tucked under, shoulders rounded. The bus ride home was always the worst part of her day this year. The ride to school wasn’t nearly as bad because she was at the first bus stop, which meant she had first choice of seats. Unfortunately, for the ride home, she was always one of the last people on the bus because her seventh period class was so far away from the front doors of her high school.

No one wanted to sit at the back of the bus with the three jerks: Kevin, Ryan, and Lawrence. They were all sophomores on the football team and thought they were too good to be riding the bus. When they weren’t tormenting their fellow passengers, they spent their time talking about what kind of cars they’d be driving next year and what position they’d have on the football team. All of them bragged to each other about how they’d be starting, even though starting positions usually went to seniors, not juniors. Reality didn’t seem to matter to them.

Her steps faltered a little bit as she saw a new head sitting back there, in the very last seat, which Ryan usually claimed. Well, not new exactly, just unusual.

Mike. His head was tipped back against the seat, his eyes closed, and he looked like he was asleep.

A senior, he rarely rode the bus, but it happened every so often. Unfortunately, it meant there was no buffer seat between the terrible trio and the rest of the bus. Everyone else’s gaze skittered away from hers as she walked down the aisle, her heart rising in her throat. She kept her eyes on the seat in front of Kevin, who always sat in front of Lawrence. With a choice of Kevin or Ryan, Kevin was definitely nicer. He was a little bit more of a follower, which meant he wouldn’t immediately feel the need to start anything with the person sitting in front of him just for kicks. And, hopefully, being across the aisle and one seat up from Ryan would be enough of a buffer.

Even though he’d never done anything to her, she really kind of hated Mike in that moment. Couldn’t he have sat in front of Ryan’s usual seat? Did he have to sit in the very back?

Taller than anyone else on the bus, Mike had long, lean swimmer’s muscles which looked good on him. He didn’t play football like the other back-seat jerks; he was on the swim team when he wasn’t the lead in the school show. Ryan had tried to make fun of him for the theater thing once and only once. Mike had stared at him, brown eyes completely focused, strands of long, brown hair brushing against his high cheekbones, until Ryan had cringed and turned away.

It wasn’t like Mike was intimidating at first glance, but he was just so focused, so intense, and had the kind of self-confidence Ryan and the others only pretended to. Eleanor wished she could even pretend.

Sliding into her seat, Eleanor let out a quiet sigh of relief. Ryan had barely glanced at her, and Lawrence and Kevin had ignored her completely. She pulled out the book she was reading for English class - Ender’s Game - and went to her bookmark. Maybe she could just read the whole way home and they’d ignore her.

That hope lasted until about two minutes after the bus started moving when Ryan snatched the book out of her hands.

“Hey, bookworm, whatcha reading?” he asked, not bothering to even look at the title as he held the book away from her.

Eleanor half stood, one knee on the bus seat. “A book for class. Give it back, please.”

“Aw, she said please. That’s cute,” Ryan said, making a face at Kevin and Lawrence, who both laughed like the jerks they were. He tossed the book back to Lawrence, and Eleanor lurched forward trying to catch it, but didn’t even manage to graze it with her fingertips. “Oops, too slow, Sandler.”

She didn’t know why Ryan called her by her last name, but somehow it always felt like an insult or a way of making her less than she was, and she hated it.

“May I have my book back please, Lawrence?” she asked, trying to keep her tone even though she couldn’t stop the blush of anger rising in her cheeks. Getting mad just made them happy. Sometimes, if the person they were tormenting stayed calm, they’d get bored and leave their victim alone; so she always tried to stay calm, and most of the time it worked.

Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that today was her day.

Lawrence looked at Ryan for a cue of what to do, but Ryan was still looking at Eleanor.

“Hey, Sandler, you’re not bad for a freshman. How about you give me a kiss and we’ll give you your book back?”

Ice slid down Eleanor’s spine, spiking through her body and into her hands. Geezus... no.

It wasn’t that Ryan was bad looking. He wasn’t. None of the trio were. Blond haired, blue eyed, square jawed, and tall for his age; Ryan looked like he should be quarterback of the football team - and he might be in a couple years. Kevin was taller than him, with rich mocha skin, his curly hair shaved close to his head, and melting, chocolate brown eyes. The shortest of the three, Lawrence was also the most muscular; he had wavy black hair that was constantly falling in his hazel eyes and lashes which made every girl who met him sigh with envy. Put together, they were gorgeous. Unfortunately, their insides didn’t even come close to matching their outsides, and Eleanor had absolutely no intention of kissing Ryan.

“No,” she said in a low voice, keeping her gaze averted from all of them because if they saw how mad they were making her, they’d never stop. At least, she told herself it was just anger they’d see in her eyes. She glared at the textured green back of Kevin’s bus seat, halfway between looking at him and Lawrence. “Please just give it back.”

“What’s the matter, bookworm? Too good for me?” Ryan moved closer, crowding her, and Eleanor fought her instinct to move away, because she could only move in one direction - further into her seat.

The other teens on the bus were noisy, talking to each other, ignoring or unaware of the drama taking place in the back. The bus driver was either too far away to care or just didn’t care period. Everyone was used to the terrible trio harassing whoever was unlucky enough to sit closest to them. Everyone was used to the back of the bus being loud. If Ryan pushed her into the seat and made her kiss him - or worse - she didn’t know if any of them would help, even if she started screaming.

Maybe if she started screaming someone would intervene, but then what? The terrible trio all lived in her neighborhood. They knew where she lived. Even if Ryan got kicked off the bus, it wouldn’t make anything better. It would probably only make things worse, especially since then both Kevin and Lawrence would be pissed at her, and she would still have her last class in the farthest room from the bus pick-up.

All she wanted was her book back... but it wasn’t worth whatever Ryan was leading up to.

“Forget it, keep the book,” she said loudly, too loud in her attempt at sounding strong. She turned back towards the front, but Ryan grabbed her arm as she turned, setting her off balance. His fingers dug in, hurting her, and making her voice shrill with the fear she couldn’t hide. “Let me go!”

“Let her go.”

The deep, low tone was almost like a growl, and Eleanor whipped her head around to see Mike unfolding himself from the back seat, a pissed-off expression on his face. He grabbed the book Lawrence was still holding high in front of him. The bus lurched along the road, and Ryan’s grip released as he stumbled back into his seat.

No one else on the bus seemed to notice or care as Eleanor sank into her seat, feeling completely breathless, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she could actually hear its rapid beating. It felt like she’d just run a mile at top speed.

A shadow loomed over her, and she looked up to see Mike standing over her, scowling.

“Scoot over,” he said, jerking his chin at her. The bus seats on the left side where she was sitting could usually squeeze in two people, but Mike always seemed larger than the other teenagers on the bus and she wasn’t sure they would both fit. Eleanor scooted anyway.

Then she was breathless for an entirely different reason as folded his body into the seat beside her, trapping her against the window and he handed her book to her. He had such a presence it almost seemed strange he could fit on the seat beside her. She took the book from him with nerveless fingers, hyper aware of the silence in the seats behind her, a strange counterpoint to the noisy chatter across the rest of the bus.

Mike leaned towards her, his voice low enough she doubted anyone else could hear it. “I’m going to hold your hand, okay?”

She couldn’t find her voice, so she just nodded her head, still clutching her book, staring at the back of the seat in front of her. She wanted to just curl into a ball and shut out the rest of the world, but when Mike’s fingers slipped through hers, his much larger hand cradling hers, suddenly she could breathe again. That simple touch made her feel less alone, less frightened.

“If they think you’re mine, they’ll leave you alone,” he murmured into her ear.

Eyes wide, she couldn’t stop herself from looking at him in shock. His? He didn’t care if they thought he was interested in a freshman? She’d thought he was just trying to make her feel better not... not make them think something. But Mike just smiled at her, his brown eyes warm and encouraging.

“Thank you,” she mouthed, too stunned to find her voice.

He leaned into her. “So, what’re you reading?”

They ended up talking the entire way to the bus stop where he got off with her and immediately recaptured her hand. Behind her, she could hear Ryan, laughing and joking with Kevin and Lawrence, as they followed along. For the first time, hearing them heading home on the same route as her didn’t make her feel tense or anxious. She felt completely safe.

Which kind of sucked.

“What’s with the scowl?” Mike asked, looking down at her with a frown. “Should we stop holding hands now?”

She suddenly realized he thought there was someone in the neighborhood she didn’t want witnessing their hand holding.

“No... it’s just...” Her voice trailed off, because after he’d saved her, she didn’t want to offend him.

“Just what?”

Eleanor couldn’t help but glance back over her shoulder. The terrible trio didn’t even notice, they were too busy doing their own thing, or at least pretending to. They hadn’t even glanced at her when Mike had stepped out of the bus seat and gestured for her to go in front of him, keeping his body between her and them.

“It makes me so mad they couldn’t just leave me alone,” she said finally. “Thank you for stepping in, but it just...”

“It sucks that I had to,” he finished for her when she struggled for a way to finish her sentence. Since he didn’t sound offended, Eleanor nodded. “That’s their problem, you get me? It does suck I had to step in, but that’s because they’re shitty and no other reason. If they weren’t little jerks, they would have taken your no as a no, and they should have.”

“So why didn’t you just tell them that?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking the question.

Mike raised his eyebrows at her. “Do you think that would have made much of a difference?”

She made a face, seeing his point. “Maybe for like, a day.”

“Yeah. They’re assholes. Eventually, hopefully, life will set them straight.”

“Karma’s a bitch.”

“Exactly.”

When he smiled down at her, his hand warm around hers, she had to remind herself he was just doing this to be nice. To protect her from the assholes. After all, she was just a freshman, and he was a senior.

But it still felt nice to hold his hand.

1

It didn’t surprise Ellie that holding Michael’s hand brought up a whole host of memories. Although they’d both changed a lot since high school, somehow holding his hand still felt the same. Like he was cradling her fingers against his, there for support and strength, there to protect her.

The whole rest of her freshman year, he’d ridden the bus, and every day she’d sat next to him. They’d become friends. He didn’t have a girlfriend that entire year - and even though she’d had a huge crush on him, she’d still hoped it wasn’t her fault. She would have felt pretty guilty if he’d missed out on having a girlfriend just to protect the little freshman girl on his bus; but she’d always been too scared to ask. Scared, embarrassed, whatever. He hadn’t gone to prom, although she’d dreamed about him asking her, despite knowing it was a silly dream. When she’d asked if he was going, he’d just shaken his head, but his shoulders had stiffened in a way that made her think he was uncomfortable about the question, so she’d immediately changed the subject.

Then he’d gone off to college, and in the days before social media, they’d lost touch. Her cell phone plan in high school hadn’t included texting or calls for a long-distance friendship. Besides, as a college student, would he really have wanted to keep in touch with a sophomore in high school?

Although, if he had, maybe she wouldn’t have made such stupid choices.

As if he could sense the sudden tension gripping her, Michael’s thumb swept over her skin in a comforting manner. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see he was studiously watching the choral concert, but somehow he’d known.

Pushing thoughts of the past away, Ellie focused on the present. It was a pretty good present after all.

After college she’d become involved in the BDSM scene when she’d finally gathered the courage to step offline and try some real, in-person experiences. She’d ended up at Stronghold for one of their open houses and had ended up signing up for an Introduction Scene. One week later, she’d actually orgasmed with another person, for the first time, and they hadn’t even been having sex. And she hadn’t been even a little attracted to the Domme topping her, Ellie could appreciate an attractive woman but she was only attracted to men. Mistress Lisa was a sadist though, and it turned out Ellie was a masochist.

She’d played with just the Dommes at first, without much of a sexual component to her scenes since she was straight. After talking with them, the other subs, and finally feeling completely safe in the club (especially down in the Dungeon where there was always a monitor on-site and everyone could see everything), she’d tried her first scene with a Dom.

The only problem with scening with Doms was they knew she was straight, and so some of them became hopeful something more would come out of scening together. Unfortunately for them, she wasn’t interested. And she didn’t do scenes in private rooms until she met Andrew, and they had only clicked because neither of them wanted a relationship. He’d been safe, emotionally. Fun, outside of the scene.

Ellie had even started to make real friends at the club. She was friendly with plenty of the subs, but she hadn’t been hanging out with them outside of work initially. First was Lexie, the sweet, extroverted receptionist, who seemed to take Ellie’s standoffish demeanor as a personal challenge. Then Ellie had taken the self-defense class with Angel, a pretty brunette who now engaged to Adam – Adam also being a friend of Andrew’s. Angel, unlike Ellie, drew people to her and, if she liked them, didn’t let them go. Or, as Angel put it, decided to ‘keep’ them.

Not long after Angel showed up, so did Michael - all grown up and gorgeous, and the only person who called him Mike now was Angel. The first time Ellie had seen him, her past had come rushing back in an instant and she’d panicked. Immediately avoided him, even when he’d try to seek her out. The shame that had welled up inside her hadn’t been anything new, but it had been something she’d thought she’d gotten past.

She wasn’t the same girl he’d known back in high school. She didn’t have the same positive outlook on the world, she didn’t have the same courage, the same confidence. He’d spent so much time her freshman year, helping her build up all of that, and after he’d left, she’d held onto it for a while... until she’d fucked everything up. Now she was broken. She didn’t trust. She didn’t do vulnerability and openness. And she hadn’t wanted him to see the new her. The fact that she was very much attracted to him didn’t help her state of mind either. Ellie didn’t do very attracted. Ellie did do scenes, but with strict boundaries, witnesses, and plenty of emotional space.

But when she’d tried to start pulling away from Angel, Lexie, and Andrew, somehow she’d found herself being pulled back. At one point, Angel, who was very close friends with Michael, had even told her, “I don’t care what weirdness there is between you and Mike, I like you, so I’m keeping you.”

It had warmed Ellie from the inside out. She still tried to keep herself a little separate from the group of friends, but... she liked having friends. So she’d tried to keep herself separate from Michael. And that had worked.

Until she’d gotten all pent-up and unable to hold herself together. Work had been crazy, being around Michael at the club had been driving her crazy, and she asked Andrew for a scene - which also stressed her out because he’d finally gotten back together with his ex-girlfriend. Not that she was asking for a sexual scene, they hadn’t had one of those in months anyway, but she’d needed the pain... needed the release.

Andrew had agreed, as long as Kate could be there to watch, but he’d also included a fourth party to the scene. Even though Ellie had been blindfolded and the guest Dom never spoke and left before her eyes were uncovered, she’d known exactly who it was. But the blindfold had let her pretend, and it had been one of the most intense and satisfying scenes she’d ever done.

She’d tried to lie to herself that the high of the scene was because having two Doms working her over was an incredible experience, but deep down she knew that wasn’t all of it.

Then, she’d been invited to come to Kate’s choral concert. She couldn’t say no. Not after Kate had been generous enough to let Andrew scene with Ellie. Besides, she liked Kate. She liked Andrew’s group of friends. She liked being included. They were the first friends she’d made that she spent time with outside of the club as well as in it.

The Story Continues on BooksBarbecue!

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