Mastered (The Enforcers #1)

PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF MAYA BANKS

“Takes readers into the black depths of anguish . . . Her characters are a testament to the strength of the human spirit and to the power love has to heal even the deepest wounds.”

—Linda Howard,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Incredibly awesome . . . I love Maya Banks and I love her books.”

—Jaci Burton,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Really dragged me through the gamut of emotions. From . . . ‘Is it hot in here?' to ‘Oh my GOD' . . . I'm ready for the next ride now!”

—
USA Today

“[A] one-two punch of entertainment that will leave readers eager for the next book.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Any book by Maya Banks is a book well worth reading.”

—Once Upon a Twilight

“For those who like it naughty, dirty and do-me-on-the-desk HAWT!”

—Examiner.com

“Hot enough to make even the coolest reader sweat!”

—Fresh Fiction

“Definitely a recommended read.”

—Fallen Angel Reviews

“[For] fans of Sylvia Day's
Bared to You
.”

—Under the Covers

“Grabbed me from page one and refused to let go until I read the last word.”

—Joyfully Reviewed

“An excellent read that I simply did not put down . . . Covers all the emotional range.”

—The Road to Romance

“The sex is crazy hot.”

—Scandalicious Book Reviews

TITLES BY MAYA BANKS

FOR HER P
LEASURE

BE WITH ME

The Sweet Series

SWEET SURRENDER

SWEE
T PERSUASION

SWEET S
EDUCTION

SWEET TEMPT
ATION

SWEET POSSESSI
ON

SWEET ADDICTION

The Kelly/KGI Series

THE DARKEST HOUR

NO PLACE
TO RUN

HIDDEN AWAY

W
HISPERS IN THE DARK

ECHOES AT DAWN

SHADE
S OF GRAY

FORGED IN
STEELE

AFTER THE STO
RM

WHEN DAY BREAKS

D
ARKEST BEFORE DAWN

Colters' Legacy

COLTERS' PROMISE

COLTERS' GIFT

The Breathless Trilogy

RUSH

FEVER

BURN

The Surrender Trilogy

LETTING
GO

GIVING IN

TAKING
IT ALL

The Enforcers Series

MASTERED

ANTHOLOGIES

FO
UR PLAY

(with Shayla Black)

MEN OUT OF
UNIFORM

(with Karin Tabke and Sylvia Day)

CHERISHED

(with Lauren Dane)

SPECIALS

PILLOW TALK

EXILED

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

This book is an original publication of Penguin Random House LLC.

Copyright © 2015 by Maya Banks.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

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.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-19181-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Banks, Maya.

Title: Mastered / Maya Banks.

Description: New York, NY : Berkley Books, 2015. | Series: The enforcers ; 1

Identifiers: LCCN 2015037899 | ISBN 9780425280652 (softcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Man-woman relationships—Fiction. | Sexual dominance and submission—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Romance / Contemporary. | FICTION / Romance / General. | GSAFD: Erotic fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3602.A643 M37 2015 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015037899

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley trade paperback edition / December 2015

Cover photo: Black Leather Spikes © Imageman/Shutterstock.

Cover design by Rita Frangie.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Evangeline stared in the mirror, barely recognizing the wide-eyed woman staring back at her. She didn't react as her friends Lana, Nikki and Steph hovered around her, putting the finishing touches on her makeup and hair, ensuring everything was perfect.

“I can't do this,” Evangeline muttered. “This is insane and I can't believe I let you guys talk me into this.”

Nikki fixed her with a hard stare in the mirror. “You're going. No backing out now, girlfriend. I'd pay money to see the look on that jackass's face when he sees exactly what he's missing out on.”

The jackass in question being Evangeline's ex-boyfriend, Eddie.

“I'd say he didn't miss anything at all,” Evangeline said quietly, embarrassment washing over her all over again.

Lana's eyes were fierce and Steph's scowl was intimidating. Any other time, Evangeline would be heartened by their display of loyalty and friendship. But she regretted confiding in them the humiliating details of her breakup with Eddie. She should have just told them they'd decided to go separate ways. Except that Evangeline had already told her friends that she was a virgin and that her last date with Eddie was the night. She was going to give him her virginity, confident that he was the one.

What a hopeless, flaming idiot that made her. His words still rang in her ears. Every single one had been like a knife to the heart, only he hadn't been content to simply plunge the blade. He'd twisted it, drawing out her pain as much as possible.

“Eddie is an asshole,” Steph hissed. “Hon, we all knew it. Don't you remember us trying to talk you out of giving it up for him that night—or any night for that matter? You have nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing. He's a dick.”

“Amen,” Nikki said fervently. “Which is why you're going to march into Impulse like you fucking own the place. You look hot. And I don't say that as your best friend trying to make you feel better about yourself. I say that as another female who is aware that a much hotter female is in her territory and I'd like to scratch her eyes out because I know I don't have a chance in hell of looking as good as she does.”

Evangeline's head reared in surprise and her startled gaze found Nikki's in the mirror.

Lana shook her head and sighed. “You don't get it, Vangie. And hell, I think that's half the turn-on for guys. You have no clue how beautiful you are. You're all big eyes, gorgeous hair, a figure to die for and you're good and sweet to your soul. If you had any hint of interest, you'd have men tripping over themselves to get next to you. They'd treat you like the queen you deserve to be treated as, but you honestly have no idea and that just makes them want you even more.”

Evangeline shook her head, utterly baffled. “You guys are crazy. I'm a twenty-three-year-old recently ex-virgin who's as gauche as they come. I'm barely off the farm and have a southern drawl that makes New Yorkers roll their eyes and want to pat me on the head and say, ‘Well, bless your heart.' I'm a fish out of water here and you all know it. I should have never come here. If it weren't for Mama and Papa, I'd go home and find work there.”

Lana threw up her hands. “One day someone is going to make you
see you the way everyone else sees you. Eddie is a smug bastard and saw you as a conquest. He knows he's not good enough to lick your shoes and he sucks in bed, but he'd never admit that so he tears you down instead.”

Evangeline lifted her head. “Please. Can we not talk about Eddie tonight? It's bad enough I might see him even though he may have changed his mind about going tonight. He could have lied about wanting to take me like he's lied about everything else. I'm not prepared for this. I'm scared to death and I have no wish to be humiliated all over again.”

“Sweetie, the point of tonight is to see him. Or rather for him to see you so he can kick himself in the balls for what he could have had,” Nikki reminded her.

Steph shoved a VIP pass into Evangeline's hand, making sure she took it and didn't lay it aside.

“I could only score one or one of us would go with you. But the line is long and people wait all night and never get in. With this pass, you walk straight to the front, show the bouncer manning the door the pass and voilà. You're in. And then, girlfriend? You work it. You walk in there, head high, like you don't need a man, and you give every man, including Eddie, a taste of what they could have but can't touch. You have a few drinks. And if Eddie looks your way, you do not cower. You do not lower your head. You stare him directly in the eye and you smile. And then you don't pay him another second of attention, like he doesn't exist. Dance if you want to. Flirt. Get your mojo back. Your confidence. And when you're ready to go home, you call the number on the card I gave you. Wait fifteen minutes and then go outside. Your ride will be there and then you get your ass back here to us and give us the 411 on the entire evening.”

Lana touched her shoulder. “And listen. If anything, and I mean anything goes wrong, you call or text us. We can be there in no time flat and we're not doing anything tonight. We'll be here for you when you get
home, but if you need us before then, you let us know. I don't care how long that damn line is. I'll kick the bouncer's ass if he tries to keep us from rescuing one of my girls.”

A smile hovered on Evangeline's lips and her eyes gleamed with amusement, not because she didn't believe Lana. She absolutely did. Her friends were fiercely protective of her, of each other, and Evangeline had no doubt that Lana would take on a two-hundred-plus-pound bouncer—and win—if she knew Evangeline needed her.

She reached for Lana's hand and squeezed. Hard. Then she glanced up to include Steph and Nikki in her grateful gaze.

“You guys are the best. Y'all have done so much for me. I don't know how I'll ever repay you.”

Nikki rolled her eyes and Steph just snorted.

“Like you haven't been there for us every bit as much? You haven't nursed us through our share of broken hearts, held our hair while we puked after getting shit-faced over some asshole guy who isn't good enough for us? Then told us that the douche bag who broke our heart wasn't fit to touch the hem of our shirts much less anything else? Sound familiar?”

Steph's reproach made Evangeline grimace. Because she was right. Everything they were doing now for her, she'd done for them. But she wasn't used to being the recipient. She didn't date much. Hadn't dated at all in the first two years after she'd moved to the city from the small town in the south she'd been born and raised in. She'd been too focused on working, taking extra shifts, saving as much money as possible to send back to her mama.

It wasn't until Eddie had walked into the bar where Evangeline waitressed and then kept coming back night after night until he had worn her down that she'd agreed to go out with him. He'd come on hard and fast, but Evangeline had rebuffed him. Looking back, she could see that she'd been nothing more than a challenge to him. Like waving a red flag
in front of a bull's nose. By holding him off and not putting out, she'd only made him that much more determined to get into her pants.

The fact that he was the first to do so just made his victory all the more sweet.

Bastard.

She nearly bared her teeth as anger made her cheeks go hot, but she didn't want to mess up her carefully applied lipstick or makeup. The girls had spent an hour making sure she was made up to perfection. And the entire time they'd hovered, offered their unconditional support—in between muttering threats that didn't bear repeating against Eddie—and boosting her nonexistent confidence.

And it was because of these three women that Evangeline was going to walk into the club that Eddie had been bragging about being a member of, even though the mere thought of it made her want to hide under her bed for a week, and she was going to pull it off. Bold. Beautiful. Confident. Give Eddie a taste of exactly what he could have had.

Her mouth nearly turned down into a moue. He'd
already
had her. And by his accounts, it was nothing special. No, not even that. It—she—had been terrible. How the hell was she going to walk into a club and make a man regret fucking her over when he'd already had what her friends said he'd regret what he could have had?

It was more likely he'd laugh in her face and ask her what man would ever want a frigid bitch like her.

The confidence she'd spent the entire afternoon summoning fled in a heartbeat and she glanced up at her friends in the mirror, her mouth opening to call the whole thing off, when all three of them pinned her with their fiercest glares.

How did they do that? They knew exactly what she was about to say. But then they'd always been able to read her like a book. For that matter, according to Eddie, so could everyone else. He made it sound like a bad quality. Honesty. Not playing games or pretending to be something she wasn't.

She didn't mind it with her girls because it made her feel special. Like they were close enough friends to know what she was thinking at any given time. But it hadn't been remotely comforting to find out that apparently she was transparent to everyone else in the world as well.

How the hell was she ever supposed to protect herself, guard herself and keep from getting hurt if she couldn't disguise her thoughts and feelings?

“Don't even think about it,” Lana warned.

Nikki knelt down so she was eye level with Evangeline where she was perched on the vanity stool. Where she'd spent the last hour being fussed over by her friends. Her sisters. Her expression was gentle and understanding.

“Listen to me, honey. You need to do this for yourself. Not for us. Sure as hell not for Eddie. Not for anyone else but you. He took something from you and you need it back. If you let him get into your head and you start believing that shit he fed you, then he wins. And you cannot let him get to you that way. Because what he said is bullshit. It is not true. And I won't have you believing it. So get it out of your head now. You have fifteen minutes until the taxi gets here to take you to the club, so get yourself sorted out. Do whatever you have to do, but do it for you.”

Evangeline blinked furiously to keep tears at bay. Her friends would kill her if she ruined her makeup. They'd have to start all over and she'd be way late to the club and it would only give her added incentive to back out. And Nikki was right. This was something she needed to do for herself.

Eddie had taken something from her and not just her virginity, which, by the way, was vastly overrated.
Sex
was overrated. He'd stripped her of her dignity and what little confidence she possessed. He'd left her with nothing but humiliation and no sense of self-worth.

No man was worth that, and it pissed her off that his words still stung. The sex? Completely unmemorable. But the words she'd never
forget. They'd burned a hole in her brain and caused a wound she wasn't sure could ever be repaired.

If tonight would give her any part of the spine she so desperately lacked, then it was worth walking into a crowded, popular club alone and riding it out.

Her friends hadn't wanted her to go by herself. Not at all. But Steph had only been able to get her hands on one VIP pass, and VIP passes to Impulse were rare and precious, reserved for beautiful people. Rich people. Important people. Evangeline was none of those, but what would it hurt to pretend for one night that she did fit into that world?

Why couldn't she be Cinderella for one night and maybe get back a little of her own by flaunting in Eddie's face what he'd thrown away? Because Evangeline might not have had the most self-confidence in the world, but she did have confidence in her friends' abilities to make
any
woman look hot.

Tomorrow she could go back to being boring, quiet and mousy Evangeline. Working late nights at a bar where the tips were good and the owner looked out for his girls and she could put Eddie behind her for good. Not to mention swearing off men for good. She wasn't here to find a man, to date, or even to have a sex life. She was here because her family needed her support, and for them she could and would put her life on hold indefinitely.

Sure, she had dreams and goals. Things she wanted out of life that didn't include waitressing in a pub wearing a skirt that barely covered her ass and heels that had her feet screaming for relief at the end of the night. But for now her job provided what she and her family needed. There was plenty of time to pursue her own path. She was only twenty-three. She'd work four, maybe five more years. Stockpile enough money so that her mother didn't have to worry about finances.

She'd made a promise to herself that by the time she turned thirty, she'd do what she wanted. Make a life for herself. Have a life she could be
proud of and surround herself with good, solid friends like Steph, Nikki and Lana.

She wanted to go to school. Learn a profession. She wanted to be more than a waitress barely scraping by. Her parents hadn't been able to afford to send her to college. She'd only managed to finish high school by gaining her GED because she'd been forced to get a job as soon as she was old enough to work so she could provide for her family.