Walking into the front door, Michael flipped on the lights and grinned. The main room was really coming together. Hardwood floors, walls painted a dark burgundy red with white trim. The booths along the wall had been put in today; they were padded leather with black seats and white backs, curved so anyone from two to six people could comfortably sit in them and still see everything happening in the rest of the restaurant. Eventually, there’d be curtains hanging from the ceiling, which could be closed, so they could also be more private if they desired.

It looked good.

The bar was a wooden antique and had been brought all the way up from Savannah, Georgia. They’d picked it out online and it looked perfect in the new space. The wood had been polished to gleaming, and it tucked neatly along the side of the restaurant across from the booths. Matching wooden stools would eventually be installed in front of it, but they were still going through a little bit of refurbishing. The bar and stools were in great shape, but Michael and Patrick wanted them to be perfect.

Walking through the large, empty space, Michael headed to the back hall, past the bathrooms, to the staircase and went upstairs. Not much had been done up here yet, but Michael was possibly the most excited about this room and its stage. He’d already started talking to some of the dominants with specialties about doing demonstrations on the stage.

Rigging, fire play, cupping, whip demos... he wanted it all showcased here. Erotic but without sex. Instructional, but fun. The Dungeon at Stronghold was great for the exhibitionists and voyeurs, and Patrick occasionally used the stage at Stronghold to give demos, but that wasn’t what Michael was going for.

No, he wanted people to walk into this room, with dim lights barely reaching the alcoves where they would sit. He wanted all the focus on the demonstrations, on the circular stage in the middle of the room. Like performance art. Something to focus on, unlike the chaos of the Dungeon. A more intimate and close-up experience than Patrick could provide at Stronghold’s stage.

It wouldn’t appeal to everyone, especially not all the time, but Michael thought it would be a nice addition to what Stronghold already offered. Marquis was going to be smaller by necessity; besides, he wanted this club to offer something unique. He didn’t want it to just be an overflow space for Stronghold members, and Patrick agreed.

Where Stronghold was sex, Marquis would be seduction.

“Hey, we’re gonna hang out here for a bit, wanna join us?” Angel asked as Ellie wiped a towel across her face, cleaning off some of the sweat.