Chapter 1

Looking around the darkly seductive, high-gloss finishes of the main second story room in Marquis, DC’s newest BDSM club, Luke felt a certain amount of pride. And anticipation.

Neither emotion was surprising.

After all, not only was he a silent partner in the club, but his company, LD Construction and Remodeling, had done the work to turn the old speakeasy restaurant and office building into its current formation. Downstairs a large chunk of it was still a restaurant, which his younger brother Nick would soon be the Executive Chef of, but a portion of the back was sectioned off, using the same hidden panel the speakeasy had.

That part led to the staircases going up and down. Downstairs was a wine cellar, upstairs was where the fun could be had. The second floor was mostly devoted to the main room, although there was also a very small foyer which led to both the main room as well as two large changing rooms with attached bathrooms available for use. The foyer itself was richly furnished with maple wood furniture, dark red velvets and brocades, and leather padded walls, despite its smallness. 

The main room was decorated in the same theme, with little alcoves set all around the room. Each alcove had its own table and bench seats, custom made by Andrew Baez who specialized in BDSM carpentry. The seats were also padded with black leather–courtesy of Patrick Murphy, one of the other shareholders in Marquis, who had designed the alcoves personally. Patrick also owned another BDSM club, Stronghold, which had become so popular he’d decided to open a cousin club. Now he, Luke, and Michael Waverly were all partners in Marquis, the more upscale, more decadent, and more expensive club. For anyone who wanted raw sex and leather, who wanted their BDSM to be loud, sinful, and rough, Stronghold was the place to go.

Marquis would appeal to dark, quiet fantasies, those who preferred to lurk in the shadows and were willing to pay the money to do so. Unlike Stronghold, voyeurs to the stage would be able to close the curtains on their own activities; each alcove had two sets—a translucent black curtain which would allow them to see out to the well-lit circular stage in the center of the room, and a thick, red velvet curtain which would completely block sight and muffle sound. There would still be Dungeon Monitors, of course, but it made the entire experience seem more clandestine, more illicit than the in-your-face exhibitionism and voyeurism of Stronghold. Also the DMs of Marquis would be wearing suits, unlike those at Stronghold who could pretty much wear what they liked as long as they also had their DM badge on.

The contrast would serve both clubs well.

It would also serve his new partnership well.

The fees for a membership to Marquis were very high. Originally they’d wanted those with Stronghold memberships to be able to come fairly regularly, but when Luke had thrown his money into the pot they’d realized how expensive everything was going to be. Ultimately, they’d decided Stronghold members would able to visit Marquis once a month using their regular membership; Marquis memberships, on the other hand, allowed unlimited visits to both clubs. Stronghold members could still come to Marquis more than once a month if they wanted, but they’d have to pay an extra fee.

Many of the members of the new club were paying the hefty prices for the higher security and discretion Marquis provided, as well as its luxurious atmosphere, theatrical demonstrations, and overnight capabilities. Business owners, politicians, actors and actresses—people with something to lose—were the clientele. They wanted to know they were in private and able to be themselves, without having to worry about being recognized, photographed, or gossiped about.

Anyone entering the back stairs of Marquis would have to sign a nondisclosure. Anyone breaking it would be black listed, not just from Stronghold and Marquis, but from any clubs Patrick knew the owners or managers of—so basically the person would need to move about three states away. Patrick was thorough in his protection.

“It looks good.” Michael’s voice made Luke turn to see the other man entering the room, his girlfriend and submissive Ellie by his side, her small hand tucked into his larger one as it often was. Luke smiled at them in welcome. Michael was tall and lean and Ellie was petite and curvy. They both had dark hair, but Ellie’s was nearly black and her creamy pale skin was much lighter than Michael’s, who managed to look at least a little tan no matter what time of year it was. “The finishes are amazing. I’m glad we went with the darker metal for the cuffs and chains, it blends in a lot better.”

“Thanks. I’m pleased with how it turned out,” Luke said. He was pretty sure his reno crew had been under the impression this was some kind of burlesque club or something; as the only one in his company to sign a non-disclosure agreement, he’d been the only one to know exactly what they were building. Which was why, after his crew was done with the main work, he and Andrew had added all the kinky finishes. Like the chains and cuffs in every alcove tucked into the seats and special notches in the tables.

Walking further into the room, Ellie trotting along to keep up, Michael started examining every inch of the place with the same intent interest Luke had been. His lips twitched. He didn’t doubt that when the third member of their partnership arrived, Patrick would be just as thorough. Maybe more so. 

The manager of Marquis probably would be too, and just the thought of her had Luke shifting his stance a bit uncomfortable as his pants tightened. Just a little. It happened a lot when he thought about the sexy red-headed Domme. He’d had a definite thing for Olivia Williams from the moment he’d met her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to feel the same way about him. Sometimes it seemed like she might be attracted to him too, but even then it felt like she didn’t want to be. Which he got, since he was kind of going to be her boss, but that hadn’t stopped him from lusting after her. Hard.

“This is gorgeous,” Ellie said, letting go of Michael’s hand to further explore one of the alcoves. She sat down on the bench and smiled impishly at Luke, who was standing on the other side of the room from them now, across the stage. “Oooo I can just imagine sitting here and watching a scene! It’s gonna be so hot. I mean, voyeurism isn’t really my thing, but with this set up I think I want to give it a try.”

“You’re going to see it from the other side too,” Michael teased her, leaning his shoulder against the outer frame of the alcove, tucking his hands into his jeans as he watched her. “We’re the opening act, remember?”

Ellie just shrugged, smoothing her hands over the leather on either side of her, completely unperturbed at the notion.

“What about you, Luke?” she asked. “Think you’ll end up performing?”

He blinked, a little taken aback. “I hadn’t actually considered it.”

“He has to take the newbie class first anyway,” Michael said, his grin widening. Even Ellie smirked and she didn’t know the half of it. Michael and Patrick were very insistent that Luke not tell anyone of the ladies exactly which newbie class he was going to be a part of. Apparently they were looking forward to Olivia’s reaction and didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Truthfully, Luke was kind of looking forward to Olivia’s reaction too. The wait was almost over.

From a few things she and the others had said, the women apparently all thought he was interested in the class for new dominants. Which, he assumed, was part of the reason Olivia had an issue with him, despite the zing of attraction between them. She was a Domme through and through, with absolutely no interest in subbing for any man.

“Holy shit snacks, this is gorgeous!” Lexie’s voice filled the room, making Luke jump a little as he turned to face the new arrivals. The only downside of phenomenally good sound proofing was that they couldn’t hear anyone approaching the door until they were actually walking through it—and the door was as quiet as possible so as not to draw attention.

Petite and slender, living up to the “Pixie” nickname Patrick used for her, Lexie practically pranced into the room in front of him and Olivia, who followed behind her with impressed expressions on their faces.

“Check out the staaaaaaaaaaage!” Lexie sang out, immediately jumping onto the circular platform and spreading her arms wide, spinning around a couple of times. Amused, Luke watched her, rather than focusing in on Olivia, whose opinion he was the most desperate to receive. Maybe pretending he didn’t care when he absolutely did was a little childish, but oh well. “I can’t wait to be up here!”

Chuckling, Patrick came to stand next to Luke as Lexie pirouetted and posed, winking and preening for every single member of her ‘audience.’

“She’s excited now, but just wait till she finds out what I have planned for our first show.” His voice was deep, heavy with amusement and indulgence as he watched his girlfriend dance around the stage.

“You haven’t told her yet?”

“No, it’s going to be a surprise.” The smug satisfaction laced through Patrick’s voice seemed to hint at something deeper in his words, but Luke had no idea what.

He leaned forward to look at the woman standing on the other side of Patrick, who so far had yet to acknowledge his presence. “Hello Olivia.”

“Luke.” The sternly clipped way she said his name probably shouldn’t have turned him on, but it did. He’d been reading up on BDSM and had decided he was probably a bit of a brat. Especially when it came to Olivia.

“What do you think?” he asked her, smiling wider as Patrick moved away, obviously feeling his presence wasn’t needed. 

Olivia shot a dark look at the other man’s back as he walked towards Lexie, and Luke suppressed a smile. That was one of the things he liked about Olivia. Some men might be put off by her disdain, but Luke appreciated her lack of pretense. She didn’t trust him, wasn’t sure she liked him, and she didn’t hesitate to make it known. While she was never outright rude, she sometimes pushed the bounds of being civil.

“It’s beautiful,” she said shortly, turning back to him. “But you already knew that.”

“I still like hearing you say it,” he responded flirtatiously, sidling a little closer to her.

A tiny spark flared in her gray eyes, but he wasn’t sure if it was ire or interest on her part. She looked amazing, as she always did, in a green button down shirt, fitted slacks, and red hair coiled in a neat bun on the top of her head. Professional, but in a manner that reminded him of the naughty librarian fantasies he’d had as a teenager. If she ever wore a pencil skirt and glasses in front of him, he’d probably fall to his knees right then and there.

Her lips pursed as she looked at him, openly studying him. Luke could practically hear the gears working in her head.

A month ago, at their friends’ Adam and Angel’s wedding, he’d managed to get her in his arms for a dance.

One dance.

Mostly thanks to Sharon, another of her friends, literally drunkenly knocking Olivia into his arms. By the end of it, Luke had thought she was softening up towards him, but the next time they’d seen each other—when she’d been visiting to view the construction progress on the club—she’d been back to being coolly, civilly professional. Not at all the type of relationship she had with his two partners.

Patrick and Michael, she treated like a pair of brothers—bossing them around when she could, respecting them when she couldn’t, mindful of the fact that they were owners but also being their friend. With Luke, she was pure business.

“I hope you’re not going to flirt like that with all your employees.” Her tone was severe.

Luke’s grin widened. “Just you, Scarlet.”

Olivia scowled and his balls tightened, his heart rate picking up with excited interest. He was a sick, sick man. “Do not call me that.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her lips pressed together again, because it wasn’t like she could complain about him calling her ma’am. In fact, he was pretty sure she liked it when he did. 

But she didn’t want to like it.

Which only made him want to do it more. 

He honestly wasn’t too sure how he’d feel about receiving a spanking—the whole being dominated thing appealed to him but he wasn’t sure if pain in the bedroom would—but lately a lot of his fantasies had involved Olivia and a crop in her hand. 

Since the new submissives class started tonight, he supposed he was about to find out.

******

Being attracted to a man who was basically her boss really, really sucked. 

Especially because he was exactly the kind of man she liked. Taller, bigger, and stronger than her. The kind of man she loved to put on his knees and reduce to a quivering mess who begged to pleasure her. Every time he called her ma’am, the word she heard in her head was Mistress.

Not a good place to be.

“Hey Luke, can we get a look at the upstairs rooms?” asked Michael, grinning from ear to ear. He was obviously excited and Olivia didn’t blame him. Although he, Patrick, and Luke were pretty close to being equal partners in the club, Michael had the largest interest and was going to be the one mostly running things along with Olivia and her two assistant managers once the club opened. Their security managers, Trey and Camilla, would also be involved. In a lot of ways, this was more Michael’s baby than anyone else’s. He’d invested a big chunk of the money, come up with a lot of the design and ideas for how the club would be run, and had quit his day job to be involved in running it.

Luke had just come in to do the contracting thing and somehow ended up being part-owner.

Realizing she was starting to scowl again, Olivia smoothed out her brow. It’s not that she thought Patrick and Michael had done a bad job of picking a third owner, if they had to have one, it was just that she hadn’t liked being left out of the conversation. Even though she wasn’t an owner, only Michael was going to be more involved than her in the actual day-to-day running of Marquis. At least, unless Luke decided to stick his nose into things.

That was what she didn’t like. Not having control over the situation. With Michael, she knew he would listen to any concerns or ideas she had and the same with Patrick. Luke, on the other hand, flirted with her and she wasn’t sure he would give her the same respect Patrick and Michael did. She could fight the battle, but she didn’t want to. That was why she’d left her last job; the new head of her department had been a complete dick who didn’t believe women could really bring anything to the table. Olivia hadn’t even been considered for important projects, which should have gone to her because of her seniority and track record, and they’d instead been given to male colleagues who were left to flounder.

Since Olivia didn’t like to see anyone struggling, she’d helped them out. Then she’d gone to both HR and upper management about her supervisor, but since the projects had come out just fine they didn’t see anything wrong. The men she’d helped tried to speak up when they found out what had happened, but they were just told to be proud of the work they’d done.

Olivia had left rather than having to choose between letting someone else have the credit for her work or watching them drown. 

Even now she cringed inwardly, thinking about what must be happening at Boyds without her there to help them along. She didn’t care about the projects failing—served the uppers right—but she didn’t like to think of the coworkers she’d left behind being defeated by work they couldn’t, and shouldn’t have had, to do.

“Olivia?” Luke’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts and she blinked, suddenly realizing everyone else had already started up the stairs to the third floor. Luke was standing in the doorway, holding the door open and looking at her. “Are you coming up?”

“Yes,” she said, pretending she wasn’t bothered at all about being so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t even noticed everyone leaving the room. Since she prided herself on being observant, it actually bothered her quite a bit. The job change and the addition of Luke to the club was not helping her mental equilibrium. 

At least she had a group of new subbies to look forward to tormenting tonight. That always helped.

“Are the rooms ready for the classes?” she asked Luke, ignoring the little tingle through her right side as she brushed by him. Once they’d had Luke’s influx of cash to play with, Patrick and Michael had decided to rush construction so they could have a soft open before the New Year’s Eve official opening gala. Part of the soft open included the new class of submissives getting their introduction here rather than at Stronghold, which would give Olivia and her helpers a chance to test out the new private rooms and give feedback. She was using her Baby Doms as helpers; they’d all recently passed the new Dom class and she’d told them all that the best way to prove they’d learned everything was to use it for teaching. Under her watchful eye.

“Completely finished and stocked,” Luke said, and even though she was walking up the stairs ahead of him she could hear the smile in his voice.

Even as she tried not to think about whether or not he was staring at her ass, she could feel her hips giving a little extra swing to her step.

“Good.” She cleared her throat, realizing she was venturing a little too close to sounding completely unfriendly. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, ma’am.”

If only he knew how close she was to ordering him to his knees and demanding he do everything.

“Olivia stop being so slow! You have to come see this room, it’s amazing!” Lexie popped her head out of the first door on the right in the hall, blue eyes bright with anticipation. “The little girls and their Bigs are going to love this!”

“The room across the hall is for the little boys and their Bigs,” Luke said easily from behind Olivia, sounding only a little awkward with the terminology for the age-play kinksters.

“Let me guess, one is blue and one is pink,” she said, torn between amusement and resignation. Part of her wanted to insist blue didn’t have to be for boys and some girls didn’t liked pink, but she knew most of the age players liked to play heavily into gender stereotypes. Those that liked to cross them would just choose the room they preferred. Having strongly stereotyped rooms would actually make them all pretty happy, and that was what was important.

Stepping into the little girls’ room, she almost came to a full stop, blinking.

It really was a dream come true for the Baby Girls in the club and their mommies or daddies; a naughty, perverted, frilly, pink dream come true. Even Olivia got a little nostalgic pain. When she was eight, she would have killed for this room—without all the naughty extras and the baby themed stuff.

Set up as a child’s playroom, the walls were a light rose pink, the trim was a duskier rose, and every bit of furniture and frills was a creamy white. There was a small table with cushions set around it for seats already set with a tea party, a canopy bed with a comforter made entirely of lacy ruffles (which helped to hide the restraints), a huge dollhouse in the corner with dolls to play with, shelves full of bright books and crayons, even a large television fully stocked with kids movies. There was also a rocking horse, although the saddle looked a little different from a regular rocking horse saddle. Olivia had the feeling it came with… attachments. Along one wall was all the baby equipment, easy to use or easily ignored depending on a couple’s preference, including an adult sized changing table (with all the necessary accoutrements), crib, and highchair. She was sure the wardrobe was fully stocked as well as the cabinet next to it; one with clothes, the other with everything a Big might need to discipline their naughty little.

Lexie and Ellie were already cooing over one of the dolls, which was gorgeous. They ignored the looks the men were exchanging.

“The bedroom is back here,” Luke said, walking past everyone. Michael and Patrick both looked uncomfortable in this space, which Olivia found a little hilarious. Daddy Doms they were not. She bet their friend Jared would be just fine in this room though, even though he wasn’t a full on Daddy Dom.

All of the rooms were set up in this configuration, according to the floor plan drawn up by the three men. The front part of each small suite held a play room with all the necessary items to indulge heavily in a fetish, while the back part had the ‘hotel’ portion of the room where the actual bed for sleeping was, as well as a full bathroom. Although, of course, the bedrooms weren’t kink-free.

Rings for attaching restraints or chains were tucked into the bed decorations so neatly only someone who knew what to look for would spot them. The furniture was heavier, darker, than that of the other room—this was definitely the Big’s space—but there was still a water color of flowers on the wall, a small stool in a corner meant for time-outs, and a teddy bear propped up against the pillows on the bed. The bathroom had a gorgeous tub for two, with jets, as well as a hook for an enema bag between the tub and the toilet. The shower curtain rod was made of steel and Olivia knew it could hold up to three hundred pounds before buckling or damaging the walls. All of the bathrooms were equipped in basically the same way, although the decorations would be different.

This particular bathroom also came with scented bubble bath and bath bombs. Olivia eyed a glittery pink one, her lips quirking when she saw Patrick eyeing the same one warily. Yeah… he was still occasionally finding pink glitter in random places after the glitter bomb Lexie had booby-trapped his office door with. It was the gift that kept on giving.

The rest of the rooms upstairs were similar. The little boy’s room was set up just like the little girls, but with dinosaurs, robots, and no glitter bath bombs. Just past the pet play and pony play rooms (the pony room had honest-to-God hay bales in it), there was also a teenager room for littles who were too old for the younger rooms. The medical room was the closest to being the same as Stronghold’s doctor’s office, but even there the finishes felt higher end and there were extras like a tens unit setup, strait-jackets, and a much larger selection of enema instruments than any of the other rooms in either club. Across from the medical room was the Foot Fetish room, which almost made the top of her list just because of all the gorgeous shoes and pedicure station set up in it. 

But Olivia’s favorite room was the Medieval dungeon across from the teen room; the wallpaper actually looked like rough-hewn stone and there were electric torches with fake flames, the bathroom looked almost entirely wood (it was all false wood, but it still looked great) and there were all sorts of fun torture implements in the play room. Not just the usual St. Andrew’s Cross, although that was there too, but an actual rack, stocks, and the walls were lined with all the implements of torture a sadistic BDSM player required. She saw Luke eyeing the selection of crops and had to turn away to shut down her brain’s immediate fantasies of using one on him. 

Stupid brain.

The last room in the hall was for the staff and security teams, and included both a break area and a small room full of televisions so they could monitor the rooms without actually having to go in them. They’d decided to make security even tighter because overnights could make things more dangerous for some of the attendees if they didn’t know what they were getting into. Every Dom and sub who entered Marquis would be given both a written and verbal rundown of the safewords, be informed of the video and sound being monitored (but not recorded) 24/7, so that no matter when a sub said their safeword, the DMs would hear it. The DMs would also have a list of each submissive’s hard limits and keep an eye on what was happening in the rooms. Gags were forbidden.

Downstairs it wouldn’t be as much a problem, although there would still be Dungeon Monitors stationed around the room and there was also a small break room and security office on either side at the bottom of the stairwell. 

It was an amazing club and, even being smaller and much pricier than Stronghold, it was going to make the guys a hell of a lot of money and be a place to be proud of.

******

Several hours later, Olivia was standing on the first floor of Marquis, in the restaurant area (which she thankfully wouldn’t have to manage at all, it was being kept almost entirely separate from the club upstairs unless someone ordered room service), trying to hide her proud smile as she looked over her group of Baby Doms. They were all lined up along the bar, confident and self-assured, and already making the new subbies nervous.

Olivia only counted four new subbies, which meant they were still missing one for the class. Patrick had sent her a message only fifteen minutes ago saying there was a last minute addition, but he hadn’t provided a name. It didn’t really matter, since they weren’t going to be doing anything too crazy tonight; showing them around the club, going over soft and hard limits, safewords, and maybe starting just the bare beginnings of dominance. 

That way if any of them decided to chicken out after seeing more of what was involved, they’d do so before any clothes needed to come off. Olivia couldn’t help but wonder if all five would come back on Thursday. 

This was the first time they were doing a subbie class instead of Introduction Scenes and then hooking the submissive up with mentors if it was necessary, but all five of the new submissives were completely new to the scene and Patrick was running low on instructors for the Intro Scenes. His trusted dominants were all getting into serious, monogamous (or committed poly in one case) relationships and preferred not to do scenes with others even if sex wasn’t involved.

Besides, this way the Baby Doms got to play mentors in a controlled situation and Olivia could see how much they’d really learned. 

She smiled at the group of women huddled at one booth in the back of the restaurant, giving them a little wave, which only one of them returned nervously. Despite their chosen seating arrangement, Olivia doubted they all knew each other. They were like a small herd of prey, feeling there was safety in numbers when there were predators nearby.

The predators in question were Olivia’s Baby Doms. Personally, Olivia didn’t find them particularly threatening, but the new subbies definitely did and her boys were getting off on it. Which made her smile. She loved seeing her students enjoying themselves.

“Hello, ma’am,” Kincaid said, the moment she reached the men. All of them had straightened up as she approached, which was even more gratifying that she still had that effect on them. Especially because it obviously made the little group of submissives even more nervous when they realized the men they all considered the predators were now making way for her.

That’s right, little girls, the big dog is in the yard now.

And Olivia was the biggest, baddest bitch on the block—or, in the room anyway.

“Gentlemen,” Olivia said with an affectionate smile. She’d come to enjoy all of their company, even Zach whom she’d had her doubts about at first since he’d originally come into the club with a misogynist ass named Roland. Roland had been kicked out and actually tried to attack Leigh in the parking lot on his way out. Unlike Roland, Zach had decided to stay.

In fact, Olivia was pretty sure the class was part of what had given Zach the confidence to do so. In her opinion, Zach might be more of a switch than a Dom. He was kind of fascinating to her, because he had definitely been able to turn on his more dominant side when they were using female submissives for practice, but he also tended to follow the strongest male around. From what she could see, it wasn’t that he was a misogynist like Roland, it just seemed to be how he was wired—and when he’d started coming to the class he’d not only started to gain more confidence, but he’d veered more towards Kincaid than Roland.

Not that Olivia blamed him. When she wasn’t around Kincaid was definitely the alpha male in this little pack of alphas; the same way Patrick tended to be top dog among her group of friends. The police detective was tall, handsome, and had exuded both authority and compassion from the moment he’d walked in the door. He also enjoyed dominating both men and women, which was already making him very popular at Stronghold.

“My lady,” Mitch said, giving her a courtly little bow from the waist, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth. She felt her lips twist as her smile broadened, which made his own smile grow. He was the class clown, but he was also turning into a very good Dom. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of Chris and Andrew.

“Ma’am,” both Brian and Zach chorused as she looked at them. Brian tended to be quieter than the others—not shy exactly, he just didn’t say anything unless he felt he had something worth saying. He looked a little nervous now, though, probably because he hadn’t really faced off with Olivia since he and her friend Sharon had broken up a little over a month ago. Olivia didn’t care about that though; she’d never been the type to get in the middle of friends or exes.

“Good to see you all,” she said, and saw Brian relax marginally. “Are you ready for this?”

“Oh yes,” Mitch said, his smile changing to something more predatory as he eyed the small group of women. Silence on the other side of the room probably meant they were trying to overhear what Olivia and the Doms were saying. “Do we get to choose who we work with? Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

She couldn’t stop her chuckle. “Well, you know how I like it when you beg. You will all have to work it out among yourselves.”

“Dibs on Rae,” Mitch said immediately. 

“You might want to wait,” she warned him. “Patrick told me there’s been a last minute addition to the class. Hopefully she’ll be here before we really get started.”

“You’ll let her stay if she’s late?” Zach asked, a little startled, since they all knew Olivia was a stickler for being on time.

“Total newbies always get a little more leniency,” Olivia said. “For all we know, she showed up twenty minutes ago and is out there sitting in her car, trying to gather up the courage to walk in. You’re all used to playing with submissives who have been in the scene for a while and you were new. Now the shoe is on the other foot; you’ve been playing in the scene and know what to expect, and you’re the dominant. As you all know, at least you’d better after our time together, it takes a lot of inner strength to be a submissive and let someone else have so much control over you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they all chorused together.

The door at the back of the room opened up and Luke, Patrick, and Michael all came walking in, obviously still having been upstairs in Marquis. Olivia couldn’t help but wonder if they’d all been up there since she’d left—and what they’d been doing since she didn’t see Ellie or Lexie.

“Ready to start your class?” Patrick asked, his expression a little odd. The scar on his face sometimes made him hard to read, but Olivia felt a strange twinge at the amount of anticipation she saw on his face. A strange sense of impending alarm creeped up the back of her spine. He was up to something.

“Just waiting for your last minute addition,” she said, keeping her suspicion out of her voice. “Unless she’s called to cancel?”

“Oh no, he’s right here,” Patrick said, grinning so widely it looked like his smile was about to split his face. “Sorry we held him up a little.”

Looking into Luke’s bright blue eyes, which looked torn between amusement and a bit of regret, Olivia froze. Her jaw clenched to keep from dropping, her body flashing cold and then hot as shock and anger washed over her.

Those bastards set her up.

Tearing her gaze away from Luke’s, she glared at Patrick.

He grinned, satisfaction showing in his eyes.

Payback, his expression said.

He should be grateful she’d helped Lexie get into the club and pushed them together, dammit. Look at how happy he was now!

Olivia narrowed her eyes.

It was not the same situation.

He raised his eyebrow at her. Wanna bet? 

She raised hers right back. I won the last one.

Olivia had bet Angel would go through with the surprise wedding Adam had thrown her. Patrick had thought she’d at least punch or slap him, if not outright run.

“Are you having an entire conversation with your eyebrows?” Mitch asked, sounding fascinated. “Is that a dominant thing, or just for you two?”

“We’ve known each other a long time,” Olivia said smoothly, almost thankful to Mitch for giving her a reason to look away from her long-time asshole of a friend. Who was so going to pay for this sneak attack. She focused back on Luke, who was smart enough to look a little worried. As he should be. What did the idiot think he was doing, signing up for the submissive class? Olivia gestured to the booth on the other side of the room. “Go sit with the other submissives.”

As soon as Luke was moving, she glared at Patrick and Michael. The latter had been smart enough to hide slightly behind his bigger friend, but she didn’t miss the amusement in his eyes. “You two, out.”

“Have fun,” Patrick said, still smirking. He offered up a piece of paper as Michael hurried past, still grinning. “Here’s his survey and limits. Sorry they’re a little late.”

Her eyes narrowed at his retreating form. There was definitely going to be payback.

Brian cleared his throat. “Ma’am? What would you like us to do?”

Giving herself a shake, Olivia refocused on what she was supposed to be doing right now.

Class.

New subbies.

Baby Doms.

Got it.

A sadistic little smile curled her lip. “I’ve rethought my stance. Mitch, I’ll pair you up with Rae, but I’m going to make the mentor assignments for this evening.”

Although none of them could know exactly what was going on, they were all observant enough to get the gist. A similar smile to her own appeared on Kincaid’s face, obviously already anticipating what she was going to do.