“What’s up man?” Jake asked, reaching across to slap the table in front of Patrick and making the big man jump. As Patrick scowled across the table at his best friend, Lexie placed her hand on Patrick’s chest and looked up at him in concern.

“Are you thinking about the club again?” she asked, her tone worried, which of course made everyone else standing at the table worried. Chris straightened, the grin gone from his face, and Michael felt a trickle of alarm go up his spine.

Patrick owned Stronghold, which was open five days a week, and operated mostly as a kink-club. On Tuesdays, it was open for swingers; on Wednesdays, they’d added classes (women’s self-defense, along with BDSM 101 for new subs and Doms); and Thursday through Saturday nights, it was a full on BDSM club. It was where they all spent most of their time when they went out. Michael hadn’t thought it would be in trouble; it was always packed, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, and there was always a wait to use the equipment and the private rooms.

“What’s wrong with the club?” Chris asked, sounding as alarmed as Michael felt.

“It’s too successful.” The tone Patrick used was the complete opposite of his words. Usually people didn’t talk about being successful like it was some kind of horrible outcome.

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, while Jake and Chris stared blankly at Patrick.

“We’ve had to start turning away newbie applications,” Lexie explained. “We’re running at full capacity, but we can’t expand without either getting rid of the gardens or buying land on either side, but those warehouses aren’t interested in selling.”

Patrick’s arm tightened around Lexie, his dark fingers stroking her pale cheek, although the gesture looked more like it was to comfort him than her. “I’ve also been getting some pressure to make the club more select. We have some members who want more privacy and security because of their positions in the real world. I’ve thought about opening a second location, but I’m not sure I want the hassle. Honestly, I never thought the club would be this successful. I don’t really like the idea of opening another club all on my own.”

“You have me,” Lexie pointed out, scrunching up her nose at him. They all knew she was just doing it to make him smile, and it worked. While Lexie did help immensely with running the club, they all knew there was no way Patrick would be okay with letting her run a club in a separate location from him. Out of the whole group, their relationship was the closest to being a 24/7 Master/slave dynamic. It worked for them, but it also made Patrick extremely overprotective and intent on having her nearby.