shook away the thought. Stephen had never forced a woman. He wasn’t used to the fact that she wasn’t falling at his feet for more. Being a wealthy man had made him impatient and expectant. “Don’t start. What do you want?” he asked, wiping the sweat off his face with a towel. “I talked to Lucas last night and thought I’d tell you not to bother asking. I’m not accepting every fucker into my club who think they’re a Dom. We both know it takes a lot to be an expert, and not every man or woman has it,” James said. “I made it as a suggestion. I’ve got petitions up my ass for a fucking playroom in my club. Give me a break for trying.” He threw the towel away then walked out of his gym. Most days he worked from home. The Knox holdings didn’t need his constant attention. He had a board of directors whom he met with in order to keep on top of everything. There were only a few people he’d gotten rid of since taking over from his father. “I already have a day every week where demonstrations take place. They’re crammed full of the people I keep refusing admission to regularly.” Stephen switched the light off, making his way downstairs. “If these petitions don’t stop I’m going to have to start revoking membership from Possession. I personally don’t think many men are truly that possessive over their women. I mean, look what happened to Rebecca Black.” He referred to the woman who had been abused by one of their members. They never talk about it, but it was the reason they had started to make more cut-backs on memberships. There were too many people who abused the clubs for their own sadistic means. “Speaking of old members, Sean has been visiting Ravage asking lots of questions. He’s starting to upset a lot of customers.” Stephen cursed. He knew there was a past to Sean, but he didn’t want to know about it. “I’ll deal with it.” “Warn him that if he comes into my club again asking questions I’ll have him removed,” James said. “You are aware we haven’t agreed on anything,” Stephen said. “I know, but we’ve agreed there are too many applications. I think we need to meet and decide on what we should do next.” Stephen made the necessary arrangements as he entered his office. He opened the blind and the window allowing some cold fresh air to come in. When they said their goodbyes, he threw his mobile on the desk. He was getting sick and tired of dealing with something he no longer believed in. Sean was becoming a problem with his own fucking past. Running his fingers through his hair, he started up the computer and pulled the contact information for Sean up. He dialled the number and wasn’t surprised when Sean didn’t answer. Stephen called Lucas, telling him to go and check on Sean with the same information that James had given him. Lucas hung up agreeing to go. Stephen turned away from his computer to look out over his garden. He saw Rick the gardener trimming back some dark green bush. Stephen didn’t like gardening and couldn’t care for the work. Spinning back, he stared at the picture of his father and mother on the wall. When his father had died Stephen couldn’t bring himself to take the double portrait down. His father had loved his mother in such a possessive, consuming way that Stephen had thought it was possible to love a woman in such a way. After the last twenty-plus years, he’d come to see it was a waste of time. No woman had ever left him with such deep yearning or with the feeling he would rather kill someone before letting them touch his woman. The women he’d been with, he’d shared with other men. There was none of the instinct his father talked about. He didn’t mind watching another man sink his cock into a woman’s cunt. Since none of the emotions his father had was inside him, he found Club Possession hard to deal with. At some point he thought it was jealousy at the fact other men had a woman they felt possessive