Ian turned and saw Charlie looking right at him. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t have been able to hear what he’d said, but she obviously hadn’t missed the way he’d said it. Her face went soft as though she could offer him sympathy and peace from another room.

He felt himself go cold. Yes, that was better. Cold was infinitely better than the hot anger that threatened to overtake him. “Well, it’s the only way I can think about it.”

“I broke trust with Eve and we still made it.”

Ian rolled his eyes, turning away from his onetime wife and back to his best friend. “No, you were stupid. You didn’t listen to her and you both got hurt. Then you were stubborn for a really long time. It’s different. I knew fairly soon into the relationship that Charlotte wasn’t what she seemed to be, but I loved her. I knew she was in some sort of trouble, but I didn’t want to push her. I loved that woman more than anything I’ve loved in my life. More than Sean. More than my mother. I thought we had a bond. I married her because I thought she would turn to me. I gave her every chance to trust me. Instead, she let Nelson nearly kill her. She took a drug that probably had a fifty-fifty chance of ending her instead of turning to me. No. I will not trust her again. No. I will not let her back in. I know you think I’m missing a piece of myself. You think I’m a bastard and that somehow a woman is magically going to fix me, but you’re wrong. She was my shot and it didn’t work. We don’t all get to find our Eves. I understand if you would rather hang with the married guys. Women tend to get nervous around me.”

He hated the idea of losing Alex. Really hated it, but he didn’t let it show.

Alex sighed, standing up and putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m backing off now. Not from you. You’re my best friend and you have been for damn near my whole life. You can’t lose me. And Eve loves you. Grace loves you. I don’t know where these nervous women are because Serena really was taking notes and probably will put you in a book soon. You can rail at her and she’ll just smile at you. The only woman around here who’s scared of you is Phoebe, but then she screamed about a spider the size of a dime the other day. So I’m not too worried about her. I’ll go talk to Eve and tell her we’re sticking close to you for a couple of days to watch your back.”

He relaxed a little. “I don’t think you really need to watch over me. They’re after Charlie.”

“I don’t doubt they would love to take you out, too.”

“Whatever happens, you know that I don’t want Eve putting herself in danger. Maybe I should rethink this.” He was going in circles. He wasn’t thinking of anyone but himself. How could he really put his team in danger?

“Hey, we’re coming with you and that’s final. Eve can handle herself. She’s perfectly capable, and she knows when to duck,” Alex said with a smile. “They’ll be looking for your car. We’ll take mine to Sanctum and then go out to your place. I can get our bags from the hotel this afternoon and be back in time to get us out to the club. Is the backyard entrance to your place passable?”

There was a reason Ian had picked that particular location for his home. He owned several acres of the land around it and had long ago put in an alternative entrance to his place. It involved some country back road driving, but he could get inside undetected when he wanted to. “It should be fine.”

He would like the backup. The thought of being alone and responsible for keeping Charlie alive scared the shit out of him.

Alex winced a little. “I want you to know I’m sorry about putting you in a bad situation with Brighton. I’ll try to smooth that over, too.”

He held back a sigh but realized how much he would miss Alex and Eve if they weren’t in his life anymore. He was just starting to find a relationship with his brother again. Charlie was threatening to fuck all of that up. She was coming between him and the people he loved. She was forcing them to choose sides in this little war of theirs.

Maybe it was time to let her see just how hopeless this operation of hers was.

Alex walked out the door and Ian’s mind started working. He strode by the office she was sitting in, her eyes following him, but he paid her no mind.

He had an evening to plan. He got to his desk and picked up his phone, dialing a familiar number. “Ryan? I’m going to need you to do a couple of things before tonight’s play.”

Fifteen minutes later, he had most everything in place. At least this part of his world was running efficiently.

So why was his gut in a knot again?

Chapter Six

Charlie sat down on the bench in front of the locker she’d been assigned. The locker room at Sanctum was far more plush and luxurious than any club she’d been in before. Certainly nicer than Cuffs, the rattrap she’d been stuck in for months while she was working on the op that finally brought her to Dallas. That place had barely had lockers, much less carefully crafted full-length wooden ones with hangers for clothes and drawers for anything else a sub would need.

The bathroom section of the room held several tiled showers, vanities with various expensive-looking soaps and lotions, curling irons and hair dryers.

The subs at Sanctum were treated like queens.

“The men’s locker room has a row of recliners and a big screen TV. It’s one big mancave. I’ve caught Alex and Ian hiding in there from time to time with a case of beer. They think because it’s a men’s locker room that I won’t go in. They’re wrong.” Eve had the locker next to her. She adjusted the corset she was in. “That was a very nice spanking. Do you need me to lace you in?”

Ian had handed her a small stack of fet wear before sending her into the locker room with Eve. She’d soon found herself in a cozy world where Serena sat in a comfy chair, her feet up and a computer on her lap, while Avery O’Donnell sat in an equally comfy chair beside her knitting away on what looked like a very tiny sweater.

It was weird.

“Don’t mind the pregnant twins,” Eve said with a smile.

“It’s just not what I thought Sanctum would look like and I’ve been to a couple of clubs.”

Serena perked up. “Did Ian take you?”

Avery looked up from her knitting. “Oh, was it in Europe? I so want to go back, but when I mention it to Liam he gets a little green and says our next vacation is going to be in an RV because nothing bad ever happens in RVs. Has he not watched horror movies?”

Eve grinned. “I think he’s never seen an actual RV, honey. So, fess up, Charlotte. What clubs did Ian take you to?”

Should she answer that? Ian hadn’t exactly told her she couldn’t talk in the locker room. But then he’d sent her a nasty glare every time she even looked like she wanted to talk in the car.

“This is a Dom-free zone,” Serena said. “Unlike Eve, they really are terrified of coming in here. When I’m late, Jake stands outside and yells in.”

Avery nodded. “What happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room. This is where we plan most of our bratty behavior.”

Eve leaned against her locker. “They’re right, you know. We subs have to stick together. It’s just the three of us since Grace started staying home with Carys. We’ve started getting friendly with Jillian. She runs the bar here and is married to Ryan, the Dom in Residence. She has a sister who’s come in a couple of times, but she mostly just stands in the back and looks scared.”

“She’s not scared. She’s curious,” Serena said. “So have you been to The Garden?”

She shook her head. She knew about The Garden with its night-blooming flowers and its big bad Dom owner, MI6 agent Damon Knight. Knight had worked with Ian on a few cases, and he would probably very much like to haul her to London for questioning. “No. We didn’t go to any clubs in London. Ian was working. We went to a club in Paris, though. The Velvet Collar. It’s where I met Ian.”

Serena sighed. “See, you just get the sweetest look on your face whenever you mention his name.”

“It actually surprises me. He’s a little intimidating,” Avery admitted.

“He can be. But he can also be very sweet when we’re alone. Well, he used to be. Now, he’s mostly just an asshole, but he has his reasons.” She looked down at the corset and micro mini. He hadn’t left her shoes or undies, though she hadn’t really expected those. She was going to have to make a decision. Who was she kidding? “Can you help me into this? It’s been a while since I was in fet wear. I didn’t have to wear it at Cuffs.” She looked over at the pregnant contingent. “I didn’t have a Dom there.”

Serena tapped her keyboard. Multitasking seemed to be her default state. “I know. It’s where you were working to find the man who nearly killed Eve. I have it mostly written here, though names have been changed to protect the innocent.”

“He’s going to murder you,” Avery said in a singsong voice, as though she’d said it so many times it now had to be sung.

“He won’t read it. Ian doesn’t read anything but the newspaper and reports.” Serena waved her off. “And it’s not really about you and Ian. It’s just about a woman who’s been on the run for years and her spy husband thinks she’s dead but whoops, she’s not and she comes back for her man. Very little to do with you. What did they call the drug that made it look like you were dead?”

Yep, Ian was going to kill Serena, but Charlie kind of hoped she got to read that book. She definitely hoped it had a happy ending. She pulled her shirt over her head and tried not to think about how her boobs sagged a little. She wasn’t usually nervous. Ian had seen them earlier and he seemed to like them. Or at least his dick had liked them. She stood up a little straighter. She wasn’t a thin thing, but she was nicely curved and no one could accuse her of being fragile.