“Are you going to kill her?” Serena asked with a little smile.
Charlie turned. “No, I’m going to be honest with her. She was honest with me about where she thought my place with the Master was. I’m going to return the favor.”
She strode into the dressing rooms. A woman like Amanda got away with crap by following a very specific set of societal rules. Charlie had her own rules.
She caught sight of herself in the mirror. Amanda wanted her to think she was fat? She looked damn good. Eve had a nice hand with the laces. Her boobs looked huge.
Britney stepped out of the shower section with a towel wrapped around her skinny middle. That towel would likely barely cover Charlie’s boobs, but Britney had it wrapped around her twice. “Oh, god, there’s a chick in the shower with the gnarliest scar on her leg. First that Avery chick and now this one. We’ve become the dungeon for cripples.”
Britney was easy. Charlie walked straight up to her, standing over her. “That’s my sister. Would you like to call her a cripple to my face? Let me explain what will happen if you do.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Britney swallowed twice, obviously unused to anyone calling her on her shit. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
She moved away and practically scampered out of the room.
“Wow, rude much?” Amanda asked. She was still dressed. She obviously hadn’t made it back to the changing rooms yet. “You’re not going to last long around here if the Master catches you doing that.”
“Are you talking about Ian Taggart?”
“Yes. I’m talking about the hot hunk of Dom I’ve already had a couple of times. I knew he would come back to me. Look, I was trying to be nice out there, but you should understand that he’s just letting you follow him around because you’re some sort of job to him.”
She towered over Amanda. Sometimes her height came in really handy. “I’m his wife.”
Amanda’s face screwed into an ugly mask. It was probably her thinking face. “He’s not married.”
“I have the paperwork that says otherwise, honey. I’m Charlotte Taggart and I have been for five years, so if you think I’m going to let you fuck my husband again, you’re totally wrong.”
Skin flushing to a mottled red, Amanda held her ground. “Well, he’s been cheating on you. With everyone. Hate to be the one to tell you, but your ‘husband’ is kind of a manwhore.”
“Oh, I think you love telling me, but you’re not saying anything I didn’t already know. I forgive him for the sleeping around. He didn’t know he was still married. Now he does. So he’s going to stop. I also forgive him for needing another sub to hide behind. He’s not very self-aware. He’s not good with the whole emotional thing, so I’m patient. But guess what? It’s not going to be you.”
“What are you talking about? Ian wants me.”
“Ian is going to have to live with disappointment because you are a rude, nasty piece of work, and your reign of terror stops now.”
Amanda laughed. “Who’s going to stop me? It’s sure not going to be Eve. Everyone thinks she’s the queen of the dungeon because she’s married to Alex, but she’s just an old hag. Alex married her because he feels sorry for her. And god, I don’t even know what Liam and Jake were thinking when they brought those fat little mice here.”
Charlie heard a gasp and realized Serena and Avery and Eve were standing in the background listening to all the crap Amanda was spewing.
It was time to take her place in the pecking order. Eve was a nice lady, but it was obvious to Charlie that she hadn’t been taking care of business the way she should have. “I like Eve, but Eve is not the queen. The queen is the sub who is married to the king, and there is only one king of Sanctum.”
“What are you going to do?” Amanda asked in a mocking voice. “Are you going to go to Ian and get me kicked out? It won’t work. Ian thinks I’m a sweetheart. All the Doms do. There’s not a lot any of you can do.”
“Oh shit.” Chelsea was standing in the hall that led to the showers. “You can’t kill her here, sis. We don’t have any acid. The showers would work. They’re nice and roomy, but where would we get a couple of gallons of acid at this time of night? And I don’t think even acid would work on those fake tits. We would have to bury them someplace. How are you going to explain walking around with two grade-D implants?”
Her sister was always cool in a crisis. Amanda was staring at her. It was one of those things that no one took seriously when it was said in anger, but Chelsea’s cool and calm demeanor had caught Amanda’s attention.
Charlie matched it. It was fairly easy to make up bullshit. They had never actually taken apart a body. Charlie had killed a couple of men, but she’d never had to bury anyone. Amanda didn’t have to know that. “Chels, she’s not worth killing. I mean the murder part would fun, yes, but there’s all that work we would have to do afterwards. Do you remember the last time we took apart a body? The smell was horrible and we had to wear all that protective gear and it smelled bad, too.”
“You’re joking.” Amanda’s voice trembled just a bit.
“Am I? Well, like I said, you’re not worth it.” Charlie reached up and grabbed a handful of bottle blonde hair. “But I am going to teach you who the queen is.”
Charlie started to haul Amanda out of the locker room. The girls had said that what happened in the locker room stayed in the locker room, but in this particular case, she couldn’t keep her problem secret. It would likely get her in trouble, but some things were worth a spanking. And probably a lecture. And more quiet time.
“Someone help me! Get this Amazon bitch off me!” Amanda was screaming as they hit the lobby.
“Hey!” Alex was standing just outside looking awfully nice in his leathers. “What the hell is going on here?”
Amanda cried out, obviously looking for a savior. “Master Alex, please help me. She’s gone crazy. Please.”
“Charlotte, you will let her go this instant.” Alex proved he had a damn fine Dom voice.
Yeah, he wanted to mediate, but Charlie didn’t have time for that. She definitely wasn’t going to allow Amanda to get him on her side. “She called Eve old and pathetic.”
Alex’s eyes flared. “Are you fucking with me?”
Eve was in the doorway, an amused expression on her face. “Nope. Amanda isn’t the nicest girl.”
“She called me fat,” Serena said.
“She said my scars were ugly,” Avery added. “They are, but it’s not nice to point it out.”
A big bouncer was standing at the front of the door. Charlie was sure he was probably a big bad Dom, but he stared at her, obviously having no idea what to do when one sub attacked another.
“You should open the door,” Charlie suggested. “Miss Amanda here has had her membership revoked.”
“It’s all right, Brian,” Alex said. “As of this moment, Amanda is no longer a member of this establishment.”
“You bastard!” Amanda yelled. Her feet moved fast or Charlie would have been dragging her skinny ass. “I’m going to sue everyone here. I’m going to let everyone know what a bunch of perverts you all are.”
“Really?” a dark voice asked. Charlie looked up, and a tall man with broad shoulders was staring at the scene. “Because I think you should probably consider your other job right about now.”
“Derek? Derek, don’t let them kick me out. You know I can cause trouble,” she threatened.
“I can murder you in a dark alley,” Charlie retorted.
“And I can ignore the murder entirely. You could make it look like a mugging,” the man named Derek offered before switching his stare back to Amanda. “I told you your mouth would get you in trouble. Don’t forget that the chief has a membership here. I don’t think that he’s going to like being outed as a pervert. We’ll have a talk in my office on Monday if you survive the weekend.”
With that the door was opened and Charlie hoisted her outside. She tossed Amanda out and then locked the door behind her. She turned back to Eve. “See, that was very simple.”
“Was it?” Ian was suddenly in the lobby, his massive body taking up most of the space. He was in his leathers, and Charlie fought hard not to actually drool.
She had just taken another one of those liberties Ian tended to object to. Sinking to her knees, she decided to play it safe. She let her head fall forward, her hair brushing the ground as she placed her palms up.
“Now you choose to obey me.” Ian’s boots came into view. God, even his boots were sexy. They weren’t polished or new. They were lived in, with little creases here and there. “Charlie, I want to know what just happened.”
She brought her eyes up. “I just took out the trash, Sir.”
He was so serious for a moment that she worried she might join Amanda on the outside looking in. And then his head fell back and he laughed. “God, I’ve been waiting for the subs to toss her on her ass. I should have known you would be the one to do it. Derek, this is my…” he sighed before continuing. “This is my submissive, Charlotte. She’s also a pain in my ass.”
“All the good ones are,” Derek said.
“Come on then.” Ian held a hand out, helping her up. “I need a drink. Finish up in the locker room and meet us in the bar.”
He turned and walked away, but she could tell by the way his head shook that he was still laughing a little.
That went better than expected.
“So have you really taken apart a body using acid?” Serena asked. “Because I would like to interview you about that. How much did you have to use? How messy does it get?”
God save her from writers. Charlie followed Eve back in to get ready for the evening.
* * * *
Ian stared out at the dungeon, trying not to think about the sub at his side. Trying not to think about just how right it felt to have her there. From his seat in the back of the bar, he could see everything that was happening, but they were far away enough that their conversation wouldn’t interrupt the scenes. “Should I assign a Dom to your sister or is she all right negotiating for herself?”
He’d been surprised at how comfortable the little sister was in the dungeon. He’d kind of expected tears and recriminations from the girl. He’d expected to have her hole up in the locker room or the conference room, but all she’d requested was something that covered her legs. He’d found some PVC leggings and she’d turned and walked away from him without another word.
“Chelsea?” Charlie asked from her place on the floor. She was sitting on one of the large fluffy pillows many of the Doms used when they had their subs kneel or recline at their feet for long periods of time. From this angle, Ian could see the curves of her breasts, perfectly pushed up by the tight corset. He’d picked green, an emerald color that set off her hair. She wore far too much black. She looked pretty in greens and blues. Vibrant colors, like the woman herself.
He liked the fact that she was flustered. She’d been an Amazon queen when she’d hauled the mean girl out, but she’d seemed a bit lost ever since. Like she didn’t trust anything he was doing. They had sat and talked with Derek Brighton for a good thirty minutes, or rather he’d talked to Derek while Charlie had sat at his feet and allowed him to feed her little snacks. She’d kept looking up at him like he was about to poison her. It was kind of fun. “Yes, unless you have another sister you haven’t told me about.”
“It’s not her first time in a dungeon.”
So they had been playing. That didn’t sit well. “So you were lying about not taking a Dom. It shouldn’t surprise me.”
Her head shook. “No, I didn’t have a Dom. I promise. I haven’t played in years. I just found a couple for Chelsea. Most of the time I hired them to come out to wherever we were living at the time, but a couple of times we were invited to dungeons.”
“I wouldn’t take her for a sub. If I had to make the determination, just glancing at her I would say she would prefer to top someone.” Chelsea Dennis wasn’t an unattractive woman. She was actually quite lovely, but she didn’t smile. There was a tightness to the way she held herself that let Ian know she wanted to be in control.
But maybe that wasn’t what she needed. Charlie had the same tightness in her bones all those years ago until that first week they were together. He’d watched as she’d fought to let go, to trust him. When she had, she’d fully let go, giving him everything she had.
Well, of her body. She’d never really trusted him or they wouldn’t be in this position. Adam was trying to track the known assassins, but they were damn good at their jobs. They had disappeared. There were definitely times Ian wished Dallas had more CCTVs. They would come after her again. The only question was when. He had to sit back and hope one of them took the bait. So far all he’d had was a text from Liam that all was quiet and he’d lost a hundred bucks to Karina while playing poker.
“I can’t imagine her flicking a whip.” Charlie stared at her. “But she does love the flogger. Actually, I should probably be the one to negotiate. She’s not that great with Doms.”
Up on the stage, Alex was using a four-foot whip on Eve. He and the whip moved with the grace of long use. The cracking sound the whip made belied what Ian knew was nothing more than a sting along her skin followed by a lovely warmth. Charlie used to love the whip. He’d felt like a real Dom the first time she’d subbed out while he was working on her. He felt like he finally truly understood why he’d been attracted to this life. It wasn’t for the kink or because he wanted the control. It was because when she relaxed, he felt necessary. He felt like something beyond a highly paid piece of cannon fodder.
He forced himself away from dangerous thoughts.
“If she wants to find a Dom here, she’s going to have to talk to him herself or I’ll assign one. So she uses it as therapy? The endorphins help with the pain from her leg?” Ian asked, looking back at Chelsea.
“Yeah. She resisted at first, but after she tried it, she really saw a difference. It helps her in a way massage doesn’t.”
“Hidden sub?” Ian asked thoughtfully.
“I think so. I think Chelsea would be much happier if she could let go, but I doubt my sister ever will. She spent too many years without any control. She was very young when my father took us to Russia. She was barely nine. I know she remembers our mom but not like I do. My mom was wonderful. I worry Chelsea didn’t get enough of her.”