Maria opened her mouth to respond… and hesitated.
“I wouldn’t accept that challenge if I were you,” Ellie murmured, picking up her menu to hide her smile. Next to her, Angel was practically quivering in her seat, obviously hoping Maria would fall for the bait.
Sitting back in the booth, Maria crossed her arms over her chest. “So what’s everyone eating?”
Slumping in disappointment, Angel elbowed Ellie, obviously blaming her for Maria’s retreat. Ellie just giggled. When she looked up from the menu, Olivia was studying her from across the table, a contemplative expression on her face. Uncomfortable, Ellie looked back down at her menu, but when the server came over to take her drink order, Olivia was still looking at her with that piercing gaze. It wasn’t judgmental, but it was just a little too focused for Ellie to be able to relax. Everyone ordered their food, and Ellie ordered a glass of wine at the same time.
She spread her fingers across the edge of the table nervously, concentrating on the smooth wood it was made out of. Angel and Maria started chattering, with Olivia’s occasional interjections, but Ellie could still feel Olivia’s focus on her. Which made her feel nervy. The Domme had the same kind of penetrating gaze Michael did, like she could see more than a normal person. Not exactly a comfortable feeling.
“… new club.”
“New club?” Ellie asked, echoing Angel’s last words.
“Yeah, apparently Michael and Patrick are going to be business buddies,” Angel said, playing with her straw wrapper. “Patrick can’t fit any more people into Stronghold, but new applications are still coming in, and there are some people who want to come and would be willing to pay big bucks for a more discreet location.”
“So the new club is going to be more expensive?” Maria asked.
“Only for people who want membership exclusively there or to be able to visit as often as they want,” Olivia said. Ellie dared to look up and was relieved to see Olivia’s focus had shifted to Maria. “Regular Stronghold members will be able to visit there four nights a month with their Stronghold membership, and it’ll be open Wednesday through Saturday every week so they’ll have plenty of chances. Or they can pay more for more visitation days, etc. if they want to, or even apply for a full membership to the new club, but the regular membership dues to Stronghold aren’t going to change.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Maria said, resting her hand on her chin. “I bet it’s going to get slammed when it first opens though. Everyone’s going to want to check out the new place.”
“The smart people will take advantage of Stronghold being emptier to get the reserved rooms they want,” Angel said. “Lexie said it’s getting harder and harder to manage the reservations… especially when people go over their time.”
Olivia snorted. “Don’t remind me. I had to kick Mitch and Caroline out of a room on Friday night because he was taking his sweet old time. Not the best way to end the scene, but my Baby Doms are going to have to learn to play by the rules.”
Pressing her lips together, Ellie tried not to laugh. Only Olivia could manage to sound like a mom when talking about a group of very dominant, alpha men. Calling the newly trained Doms ‘Baby Doms’ made them sound like something they definitely weren’t. Ellie had helped out as a subject for the classes, so she’d gotten to know them a little, and none of them were what she would call ‘babies’ in any way, shape, or form. Even if Mitch liked to try and bend the rules sometimes, he was all alpha male when he wanted to be.
“Speaking of Michael and room reservations, I heard he’s got another room reserved for this weekend,” Angel said wickedly, turning her head to Ellie. “Know anything about that?”
“Maybe,” said Ellie, keeping her voice even and smiling at their server, who had arrived at the table with their food.
Pretending to gasp, Angel put her hand over her heart and leaned back as her chicken risotto was placed in front of her. “Oh my goodness… Ellie, are you teasing me?”
“Maybe.” This time it was more of a struggle to keep her face straight.
Maria snorted laughter as Angel shook her head. “Michael’s already been a terrible influence on you. Just horrible.”
“Take that sass into the club and the Doms aren’t going to know what hit them,” Olivia said, sounding amused as she picked up her fork to dig into her salad. Ellie just shrugged, but a little smile played on her lips.
“If you tell me whether or not Michael’s scening with you, I’ll tell you what room he’s reserved.”
The offer had Ellie straightening up with interest and speaking without thinking. “You know what room?”
“Ah HA!” Angel pumped her fist. “I knew it! You’re scening with Michael for a second week in a row!”
“So?” Ellie said, shrugging her shoulder like it wasn’t a big deal as she picked up her chicken club sandwich.
“So? So?!” Angel shook her head, sharing disbelieving looks with Maria. She tried to catch Olivia’s eye too, but Olivia was already focused back on staring at Ellie like she was trying to crawl inside her head. “You never scene with the same Dom two weeks in a row. Not even Andrew. And you never scene in a private room with a Dom other than Andrew. But now you’re breaking both rules for Michael. That’s big!”
“I’m pretty sure she knows it’s big,” Olivia said dryly. “However, the bigger a deal you make it, the more pressure it is on both of them.”
“Oh… Right, sorry,” Angel said a little sheepishly. “I just get excited. I love Michael, and I really like you, and he obviouslyreallylikes you and… well… I just want him to be happy…”
Alarmed, Ellie froze as Angel teared up. What the- what should she do?
“Pregnancy hormones alert!” Maria passed a tissue over to Angel, who took it.
“Thanks… ugh… I don’t even know why I’m crying. I know I said I love Michael but I don’t love him enough to cry over him. Oh my god, please don’t tell Adam I cried about Michael. And definitely don’t tell Michael I cried about Michael. I will never hear the end of it.”
