“You sound like you agree with Lexie about it being Roland?” he asked, although not skeptically since it sounded the same way to him. Luke had never met the guy but he’d been listening to what the others had said. The man sounded like a complete ass. The kind of guy who thought he should be able to just do whatever he wanted without ever considering the people around him. Self-involved and narcissistic, not to mention a misogynist. Focusing on the Domme who had kicked him out of her class—which meant he couldn’t play as a Dom at Stronghold—rather than the male owner of the club. He’d also probably been unable to find anywhere else to play, according to Patrick, who had done his best to blackball the man in all the clubs.

Roland had a bit of a history with Stronghold’s parking lot, apparently, attempting to accost Leigh in it on his way out when he’d been expelled and now tonight. Assuming it was him tonight.

“I mean, who knows,” Olivia said, but she wasn’t very convincing. Luke raised his eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “Yeah, I think it was probably him. The timing is too coincidental. We run into him one night where he starts screaming at me and the next night my car is keyed? I also probably like the idea of it being him because I already don’t like him and I also don’t like the idea of two people out there disliking me enough to key ‘cunt’ on my car.”

The way her lips twisted when she said ‘my car’ made him want to get up and give her a hug... but he didn’t know if that would be okay so he stayed put and just gripped his beer bottle a little tighter.

“I don’t like the idea of there being one,” he muttered, and was rewarded with another small smile, a little sparkle of amusement making its way back into her eyes.

“There’s probably quite a few who would like to,” she said almost teasingly. “Just not many who would actually be cruel—or stupid—enough to follow through. I’m pretty sure even my Baby Doms really hated me at least once or twice while they were going through their initial training. After all, they have to experience everything they want to put a submissive through.”

“Should that make me afraid?” he asked, grinning wider at the sight of a truly relaxed, flirty Olivia. Even more so than she had been when he’d stopped by to chat with her during the afternoon. The office was her space, but it wasn’t truly hers in the way her apartment was. There, she felt the weight of her position as manager and his as silent partner in the club. Here, she didn’t seem to.