by Lexi Blake
“I don’t know how this club has worked up until this moment, but I just officially became the Dom in Residence here, so this just became, for all intents and purposes, my club. So I’m going to teach you the first rule of this club. Don’t you fucking touch my sub. Mine. That collar on her neck was placed there by me. She belongs to me, and this isn’t some happy little office where there are civilized rules and I have to put up with you hitting on my woman with a smile and hope that she doesn’t reciprocate. This isn’t the civilized world and the next time I find you alone with my submissive, I’ll make sure you never do it again. Am I clear?” He was a caveman, a Neanderthal, a freaking possessive maniac, and she kind of wanted to do him hard right then.
“Clear as crystal, boss.” But there was a grin on Jesse’s face.
“It better be.”
Eve wanted to say something, to protest, but this wasn’t the place. Alex turned, grabbing her hand and starting down the hall.
She practically ran to keep up with him. Nothing had changed? She was fooling herself because from the moment she decided to get on that plane, everything had changed.
She just needed to figure out how to deal with the fallout.
* * * *
Jesse Murdoch watched the ridiculously titled Master A walk away, his shoulders squared off and a possessive arm around his…what did they call her? Submissive? Why did they have to fuck things up with different names for shit? He wasn’t sure he got the whole BDSM thing.
Scratch that. He was damn sure he didn’t get that shit. It seemed an awful lot like a way to abuse a woman to him.
The first few times he’d had to watch Chazz take a whip to one of the girls had sent him straight to the bottom of a bottle. He still wasn’t sleeping, but fuck, he never slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the dirty cell that had been his home for so long, smell the shit and piss and blood that had been his life.
The brunette turned slightly, her eyes trailing behind, finding him.
He had to admit, she was a looker. A little thin for his tastes, but there was an almost innocent appeal to her. He gave her a smile and she turned away, disappearing down the hallway with her psychotic boyfriend.
Was Master Asshole the one who had given her those scars on her neck? Fucker.
The new Dom and his pretty punching bag were more than just a curiosity for Jesse. They were a complication he didn’t need.
He glanced once and then twice down the hallway. Empty. By nightfall, the whole place would be buzzing and a mad sort of chaos would take over, but, for now, all was quiet.
Like he liked it.
He slipped inside the women’s locker room. He had to use the women’s locker room because some asswipe had bugged the men’s. No prying eyes or ears in there this time of day. He gave the whole place a quick lookie-loo. No one in the stalls or the showers. He shoved a trashcan in front of the door. It wouldn’t keep anyone out, but it would let him know if someone was coming in.
He moved back to the shower stalls and pulled out his cell phone, the one he kept in his boot along with his knife. He had two cells. This one was utterly untraceable and had only one number programmed in. Jesse hit the button and waited.
“You have something for me?” His contact was always succinct.
“A couple of new players.”
“Names?”
“Anthony Priest and Amanda King. I just met them. Chazz brought them in to, I don’t know, I think they’re supposed to fuck in front of a crowd or something.” He was still a little hazy on what the dickwad was supposed to do. “He’s forty or so. Buzz cut. A couple of tats. She’s a brunette with some scars. Nice tits. She’s less mouthy than Kris. The dude is Kris’s brother.”
“Really? Because as of three months ago, she didn’t have a brother.”
He should have known. “Fuck.”
“Calm down. There’s a reason you leave the intelligence work to me. You’re a useful vessel, Murdoch, but you’re a soldier.”
He wasn’t anymore. He’d lost that as surely as his honor had been stripped away, along with his humanity. “Who the fuck is he, then? And why did he show up now? If Kris is pulling some shit, what does she know that I don’t?”
It sat in his gut—this feeling that she was on top of him. She wasn’t what she said she was. He knew that even before he’d been told to watch out for her. But his contact didn’t want her touched. Not yet. Somehow, it had been there in the back of his head that maybe she played for the same team as him, and he’d been brutally surprised to discover it wasn’t true.
He didn’t want to kill her, but he would if he had to.
“Just lay low for now.” His contact had a deep voice. He’d never met the contact, only been given a phone number along with living expenses and the keys to a rathole loft he’d quickly turned into his little hidey-hole, but he’d seen pictures of the man. “I want everything in place when it’s time for me to come in.”
That was his job. Make things right. “What do you need from me?”
“Well, I seriously doubt that Anthony Priest is anything but an alias. I need pictures. I want pictures of him and the woman who’s with him. Do it quietly. I don’t want them to suspect a thing. You’ve gotten close to Chazz?”
“I’m in the inner circle. He’s a loyal employee from everything I can tell.”
“See that he stays that way. I want reports on anything out of the ordinary. And if it comes to it, I might need you to take out the new guy.”
Jesse took a long breath. This was kind of what he’d been dreading and hoping for since the moment he’d decided to move to the dark side. What his father had done was all pure and white hat, but this was something different. It was all he had left. “Yeah, I can snuff him if I need to.”
“And the girl?”
He’d never killed a woman before. He swallowed once and then again. He wasn’t sure he could, but he knew what he had to say. “Yeah. I’ll do her, too, if I have to.”
His contact chuckled over the line. He seemed to have a dark sense of humor, but then that wasn’t so surprising. “It’s good to know I can count on you.”
The line went dead, and Jesse shoved the phone back in his boot. He moved quickly, exiting the locker room before anyone came in. He shoved the trash can back into place and found the hallway empty. He made his way back out on the floor just in time to see Kristen leave with her so-called brother and the pretty brunette he might have to kill.
His stomach turned a little at the thought. Not that he would have to kill her, but that he might like it. He might like it a lot. He was an addict. Oh, he wasn’t addicted to anything so cheap as liquor or meth. He’d become a little addicted to violence, to spilling blood, and he’d been off his own personal sauce for a while now. He was worried that this time, he might not be able to come back.
But he would do it because it was his job, and it was the only fucking thing he had left. Maybe he was still a soldier deep down, and a soldier didn’t falter when the job at hand was a little nasty.
He watched as the big guy shoved out the front door, holding it open for his woman. She was so small compared to him. She had scars that proved her life wasn’t that great. Maybe he would be freeing her in the end.
It didn’t matter. He had to keep his head in the game. Amanda King didn’t matter. Kristen Priest would go, too. Hard decisions would be made, and he would carry them out. He steeled himself.
Anything for the mission.
Chapter Seven
Alex pulled the SUV into the underground parking garage, his every movement a precise response to nearly going out of control. He’d been on autopilot since the moment he’d realized Eve was here and in danger and had actively attempted to wreck his plans.
It was a betrayal. It burned in his gut. She was sitting behind him, but he kept glancing back at the rearview mirror, looking at her, trying to make eye contact. His brain was working overtime trying to figure out exactly what she was doing. His heart and head had been racing ever s
ince she’d walked through the door.
Watching her smile up at that far too young for her himbo had done nothing to calm him down. Too young for her? Was Jesse Murdoch really too young for her? Or was Alex getting too old? He’d thought seriously about choking the fucker when he’d walked in on Jesse looming over Eve. The younger man had her practically pressed against the wall as he talked to her. Did Jesse think he’d invented that move? Dumb fuck.
“What floor are we on?” Sean asked from the passenger-side seat, his voice pulling Alex back into the here and now.
“My place is on three, but the whole building is protected. There’s a security guard at the gate to the island. Once you’re here, you have to have a key fob to get into the building from the front or side doors. Even if someone can get into the building, the elevators are protected. You have to put a passcode in to get to the right floor,” Kristen said, leaning forward. She was sitting in the back with Eve. “I see Adam is already here.”
The spot beside them was already taken by a non-descript sedan. Adam had been given everything he needed to set up his equipment. “Do we only have the two slots?”
The parking was assigned.
“Yes,” Kristen explained. “When Sean’s car is delivered, one of us is going to have to park in front of the building. There’s a side door that takes you straight to the elevator. There’s one on each side of the building, so in all there are four points of entry, the garage, two side doors, and the main entry where guests have to go.”
It seemed fairly secure, better than he would get if they were at a motel. “The last one in parks outside. How many bedrooms do you have?”
“I have three. Adam is already set up in one. I thought Eve and I would share.”
No fucking way. “Eve stays with me.”
She’d made her bed and she was definitely going to lie in it with him.
“Alex, we don’t need to play games outside the club,” Eve said in a far too patient voice. She’d been the calm one, the easy one to deal with. She hadn’t been snippy with anyone and everyone who asked a question or had a comment. And it was pissing him off. He was a volcano waiting to go off, and she was an ocean of calm.
He put the car in park, slammed out of his side, and hit the button to release the trunk. He stalked around to the passenger side of the back and had Eve’s door open before she could do it herself. He turned his back because if he laid a hand on her at this point, he just might have her over his knee right then and there. Getting the luggage was easier than dealing with Eve.
Even from the parking garage he could smell the salt in the air, hear the sound of the Atlantic hitting the shore. It was a soothing sound that did nothing to ease his anxiety.
What the hell was he supposed to do?
Sean walked up beside him and leaned in, grabbing his suitcase and a rolled up piece of luggage that he’d explained contained his knife set. He’d checked it at the airport but had been carrying it around ever since. “Don’t do something stupid. You need to think about this for two seconds.”
“I don’t think I have to do something stupid. You already did that for me.” Sean should have made sure Eve was safe at home. It was what he would have done for Sean.
Sean shook his head. “You’re my friend, but she’s my friend, too, Alex. If I had stopped her, she would have shown up anyway and then everything would have really gone to hell.”
“Yeah, I think that was her plan. She tried to talk me out of this. She couldn’t get her way so she manipulated the situation until I had to make a choice. I could give up looking for Evans or place her in danger. I’m either doing her bidding or I’m the bad guy, but that’s the way the last few years of our relationship have been.”
“I never made you the bad guy, Alex,” Eve said, her voice as steady as when she talked to her patients. He was getting her shrink voice. Awesome. She stood there, her grave eyes staring him down, and he felt like the bad guy. He was the asshole who always let her down.
He didn’t want to have this conversation here with witnesses. Hell, he didn’t want to have this conversation at all. He nabbed his bags and shoved Eve’s on top of his and started to follow the arrows that led to the elevators.
He was such an idiot. She was topping from the bottom and here he was still carrying her fucking bags around because he couldn’t stand the thought of not doing it. Because a long time ago, he’d promised her father that he would treat her like a princess for the rest of her life, and she was still alive so he was still held to that vow and that meant Eve St. James didn’t carry her own bags or open her own doors.
And she sure as fuck wasn’t sleeping alone tonight. There was a limit to his generosity.
“This is fun. All we need is some popcorn because this is a whole lot of drama.” Kristen gave him a wink as she walked through the door he held open. The elevator was immediately to his left. The door between the garage and the elevator was open, but the garage itself had a gate and a remote entry and security on site. Eve walked through next and then Sean.
Alex looked around. He needed to get his head out of his ass and start assessing their situation. This was going to be their home for the next couple of weeks. He needed to figure out the weaknesses.
“I count two CCTV cameras. One right behind you.” Sean held up his middle finger with a smile. “Hello, Adam.” He shrugged. “You know he’s already watching. It probably took him like five seconds on arrival to cut into the feed.”
Eve and Kristen were standing next to the elevator, just out of range. He lowered his voice. He just couldn’t fucking let this go. “Why would you do this to me? Adam, I get. He’s always been closer to Eve, but I didn’t expect it from you.”
Sean frowned. “I did not betray you, and Kristen is right. You sound like a drama queen. Eve is not some girl off the street. She’s Eve St. James, and she’s smart and more capable of doing this particular job than anyone else. I brought her here for the same reason I came here myself. To watch your back because you are not capable of being reasonable about this. So calm yourself down before you do something truly stupid. Every single one of us walked away from something to be here to back you up, and we did it because we’re a family. Every one of us except that girl you’re placing so much trust in. She’s hiding something.”
He didn’t like looking at himself through the filter of Sean’s eyes. “I wouldn’t have brought Grace into this. Never.”
Sean’s eyes rolled. “Grace isn’t a trained agent so no, of course, you wouldn’t have brought my wife here. It’s a completely different scenario. I’m going to give you a piece of advice and you can take it or leave it. This is your last shot with her. If you bungle it, I think she’s going to leave permanently, and there is no way you recover from that. You can think that the last few years have been bad, but nothing is going to be worse than not being able to watch over her. She’s here because she loves you whether she can say it or not. So make sure she can say it. She placed herself in your hands, in your complete control.”
Alex huffed at the very idea. He knew exactly how this would go. He had been playing this game for five years with her. “Eve thinks she can play the role at the club and then do what she likes outside of it. It’s the way she’s worked ever since the divorce.”
“This isn’t Sanctum, man.” Sean reached out and gave his arm a brotherly smack. “This is an op. What’s the first thing Ian taught all of us?”
“Live the op so the op can’t die.” Don’t break cover. Live and breathe the cover. It was the only way to survive. Eve’s cover was to be Master A’s sub.
His submissive.
“Are you two going to stand around holding the door open forever or do you want to come see my party pad?” Kristen asked. Eve simply stood by the elevator, a wary look on her face.
He kind of liked that look. She was always so sure of him, so sure she could handle him. It was good to know he had her off-kilter for once. “We’re coming.”
He crowded her, for
cing her to the back of the elevator.
“Do you have to stand so close?” Eve asked, her eyes turning up.
It was time to start laying out some ground rules. “You’re my sub. There’s no such thing as personal space for you. Not when it comes to me. You act like this out in the field and you’re going to give us away.”
“We’re not in the field. We’re in the elevator.” She didn’t sound quite so calm now. She spoke in a breathy, slightly shaky voice, the one that let him know she was off her game. She stared at a place just below his chin, as though she couldn’t quite look him in the eyes.
He forced her chin up, bringing those chocolate brown eyes to meet his own. Thank god she hadn’t covered up her eye color. “We’re always in the field, pet. I’m going to call you pet most of the time because I just can’t bring myself to call you Mandy. It doesn’t fit. Pet is so much better. It’s more descriptive of just what role you’re going to play.”
Her jaw firmed and those perfectly waxed eyebrows climbed up in a stubborn expression. “If you’re trying to scare me off, it won’t work.”
“I can’t scare you off, pet. You took that choice away from both of us. If I do that then I have to leave the whole operation behind, and I’m not going to run home with my tail between my legs. Sean seems to think you’re competent. Tomorrow you can prove it. You’re back on training sessions.”
Her eyes flared. “I don’t need training sessions, Alex. I’ve been your sub for a long damn time. I think I can handle myself at the club.”
He let a little smirk cross his mouth as he pressed her further against the wood panels of the elevator cab. “Not that kind of training. Self-defense. Exercise. If you want to be in the field with me, you’ll be trained by me.”
“This place comes equipped with a full workout room. It’s really nice,” Kristen added helpfully as the elevator dinged and opened, the doors revealing some sort of private entry hall.
Eve frowned up at him. “I don’t know that training sessions are necessary.”