side could see the fury on my face.

“I’m sorry, Dylan, the city council have condemned the building for some reason. It’s no longer for sale,” Liz, the real estate agent, said from the other end of the line. “I will keep looking.”

“Please do,” I growled and cut the call. There wasn’t anything else I could say, really, so I ended the call. It was infuriating.

“I know this is the work of Trent Thompson, I just know it is,” I said to the person across from me. Freddy, the man who had shown me the ropes around town, and who knew all the right hands to shake. Obviously, Trent Thompson did too.

“It looks like he doesn’t want the competition, that’s for sure.” Freddy stubbed out a cigar and sipped at his brandy.

“I don’t get it. The place is crawling with resorts. It runs out of rooms on a regular basis during the summer, but he wants to block me?”

“Competition is fierce here, even if rooms do fill up. People want the newest, the latest, and they want a great experience. Something shiny and new at another hotel might draw the bookings away. Can’t say that I blame the fella, to be honest. It’s good strategy. Keep the new people out and you won’t have to compete so hard.”

“Fuck him,” I growled and glared at Freddy. “Whose side are you on

anyway?”

“Yours, my new friend, but I’m a realistic man. I’m not going to piss on your head and tell you it’s raining. I’ll tell you the facts of life, and the truth is Trent doesn’t want you here. That’s a fact that can’t be changed.”

I wondered for a moment if my past was the real culprit here. I’d been adopted, but not as a baby. I’d been old enough that the rumors that I’d killed my real parents had been plausible, if not likely. The rumors had persisted throughout my life. They’d included allegations of abuse, abuse so horrific that I’d snapped one day, killed my real parents, and ended up at an adoption agency.

Like the questions about Jesse James, I didn’t bother to sway people’s opinion on the matter; it was pointless.

Something like that followed you, and I could even find mentions of it in online forums still. It wasn’t talked about as much now, people soon had forgot about me, and more sensational killings eclipsed anything I might have allegedly done. Could that smidgen of history be the real reason Trent had worked so hard thus far to keep me out of the resort business here?

“I’d like to kick a few levels of sense into that man.” Then I thought about it some more. “Actually, I think his brothers help run the business too. I’d like to break them all, show them they can’t keep me out.”

Freddy looked at me with skepticism, but he nodded. “I don’t doubt you could do it too.”

“I could, one way or another.” I couldn’t think of how though. The brothers had bought up a lot of the property I wanted, and they had now blocked the sale of the latest place I’d decided to make a bid on. How could I break them?

It wasn’t a matter of money. I was a rich man, the properties I had on the west coast of America kept my bank balance eye-wateringly high, and I could buy almost any place I wanted to.

I really liked the atmosphere of Myrtle Beach, though, and I wanted to expand out this way as soon as possible. “Damn them all.”

I clenched my fist and pounded on the table. “What you need to do is relax, son. Ole Freddy will find you something. I promise.”

I nodded at the man, but I knew his kind of friendship came with a price I’d

have to repay at some point. I didn’t want to be beholden to him, and I wanted to find a place on my own. It didn’t look like that would happen, however.

“Zoning laws suck here, by the way.” There was a lot of property I could buy, develop into a resort, and make a killing off of, but zoning laws dictated what could be built where here, and they restricted a lot of land. Those laws were in place mainly because of hurricanes and were meant to help conserve the lush beaches in the area. I could understand that, but still.

“Can’t get around those. Many have tried and failed.” Freddy sat back in his seat at the bar we’d come to for drinks and a chat. We were in a dark corner, and the place was almost empty, so our conversation was private.

“I’ll think of something.” I sipped at the beer I’d ordered but hadn’t touched yet. Liz had called the minute I sat down and dropped the latest bomb on me.

“I’m sure you will,” Freddy said softly. “You heading over tonight?”

I knew what he meant. Elmo’s. “Yeah, hopefully I’ll find something to take

my mind off my troubles. I’m starting to get lonesome.”

“What are the girls like in Kansas?” Freddy asked and tipped his empty glass at the bartender for another.

“The same as here. It’s not all farms and windmills, you know? Our cities have some of the sweetest ladies you’ll ever find, and a lot of them are the right kind, if you know what I mean.”

We chuckled together, and Freddy said he’d have to travel out that way one

day. “Come see me, if I’m there. I travel a lot for business, but I’ll be glad to show you around if I’m there.”

“That’d be great.” Freddy nodded. The air around us was relaxed, and it stayed that way as more people came in. You want to head over to Elmo’s?”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here before it fills up too much. I hate crowds, and I know what it’ll be like in there by ten.”

“Wild.” Freddy grinned as we paid our tab and left.

When I got to Elmo’s, the parking lot had a few cars in it. Later, the party inside would be all but out of hand, but you wouldn’t be able to tell outside.

Most people came by taxi, or had a driver drop them off. That parking lot would never fill up.

I walked inside and found the music was already loud. It blared from the surround sound, and I saw Hayley, another dancer, on the stage giving it her all. I had been in Myrtle Beach for a couple of weeks now, and I hadn’t been laid since I got here. I was starting to get antsy, and the beauty on the stage caught my attention. She’d do for a night, maybe two.

Three was my limit, but I didn’t always make that clear. I liked to keep my options open. I wasn’t ready to settle down, and when I did, the woman would have to be more than special to keep my interest. I had women from all over the country at my feet, night and day, if I wanted them. I didn’t need to be tied down to one just yet.

Although, if I found the woman who could handle my kind of play … the woman on stage caught my attention again. She’d shifted into a new routine, one that had her writhing along the floor as she pounded her fist to the industrial music. She had a hard edge, the vixen on the stage, and might be an interesting partner. She’d definitely bite back.

I forgot all about the Thompson family as the beauty dropped her top, and I was given a full display of large rosy nipples. The kind you could suck on and not get tired of. Sensitive nipples from the looks of them. The buds were tightly puckered, and the end stuck out at least half an inch. Yeah, the kind you could really get your teeth on.

I felt a rush of blood straight down to my pants and adjusted myself. The way she bent over, in that tiny, little, frilly blue skirt with white trim made even more blood flow, and I had to shift around in my chair a little more. That ass, demarcated with garters that ran down her thighs, made the vision she was even more tempting. A quick fuck, even against a wall in the hallway, would be worth it just to feel that lush ass against my thighs.

And in my palms. My hands twitched as I thought about it. She finished her

set then, and a man came up to her. She melted into his arms, and I knew she was taken for the night, if not protected. Disappointment flooded through me, and I knew I’d lose it if I stayed there. Better to go into the dark confines below the building and find a dark spot to let my brain run free while I watched someone else partake in the game I wanted to play.

I’d had play partners before, quite often really, and I loved the thrill of it all.

It wasn’t always easy when you traveled the way I did, but every now and then I’d find someone who wanted to play as much as I did. I used the key Miss Maples had given to me and headed down the gas-lit hall. I knew where I was going and didn’t have to think about it.

A new couple was there today. A woman, on her knees, her arms chained up

over her head. She wore a mask, and it kept her long red hair from falling into her face. She wore a black PVC top that appeared to have been poured onto her torso and arms, and a pair of bright yellow panties. Something about those garish panties told me that her dom had put those panties on her.

I knew the pair inside couldn’t see me or shadows of the people who walked

by, but the man in there, in a mask that covered his entire head in black leather, looked in my direction. He moved to his sub; the small whip in his hands twitched along the woman’s breasts, and she stirred. Her head had hung down as if in capitulation until the brush of the leather against her nipples.

She hissed in a breath, but the dom’s face didn’t turn back to his submissive.