Jake had suggested he go knock on her door and threaten to break it down if she didn’t let him in. He’d been mostly joking, but Sharon had practically unleashed the furies of hell on him anyway. A ten minute lecture about why Michael was doing the right thing by giving Ellie her space and letting her choose what she wanted, rather than forcing himself on her, kept anyone else from making any similar jokes.

If he wasn’t already half in love with Ellie – okay, maybe more than half if he was being completely honest with himself – he’d probably be worshipping at Sharon’s feet.

Even though he was pretty sure he’d have to fight off Jake for a chance with her. He’d decided their sniping at each other was like a really aggressive, slightly angry form of foreplay. Focusing on others who weren’t happily paired up let his mind rest a little, distracted him from his own issues. Sharon and Brian had stopped scening together, which seemed to make her even more mouthy with Jake. The two of them were definitely attracted to each other, but neither of them seemed happy about it, was the conclusion Michael finally came to.

They were nearly as fascinating as watching Luke and Olivia circle around each other. Luke had shown up tonight to get a feel for Stronghold, as well as BDSM in general, and he seemed perfectly at home in the club already, even if he was wearing jeans and a button down shirt like Jake rather than leathers. He was also obviously smitten with Olivia who was just as obviously doing her best to have nothing to do with him. Michael found it more interesting that she focused on avoiding him rather than smacking him down. She’d groused some more about him and Patrick taking on Luke as a partner, mostly because he was both a newbie to the scene and unknown. There’d been a rather wicked gleam in her eye when she’d demanded Luke go through the newbie class like all the other Doms before being allowed to play.

Michael and Patrick had agreed.

Luke had agreed when they’d talked to him about it tonight.

They’d told Olivia he’d agreed, although they hadn’t told her everything. They were both looking forward to seeing her expression when she realized.

At least it gave Michael something to look forward to.

His head swiveled around as the door to the lobby opened again and another group of people came in.

Still no Ellie.

All he could do was hope she would show up. Hope she’d be willing to talk.

Hope Lexie and Angel had been right. That she didn’t blame him. Although if she didn’t, he wasn’t entirely sure what her problem with him was, but he wanted to talk about it.