Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(42)

Eve turned a nice shade of pink. “Maybe once when she first came into the club, but you have to understand…”

She understood. “He screwed everything in a corset who would let him. I’m not worried about that. Tell me if they had a relationship. I want to know if he had a thing for her.”

“No. He can’t stand her. He’s the only one who sees through her bullshit. Charlotte, he hasn’t had a relationship with anyone.”

Serena shook her head. “He never spends more than a couple of nights with any sub, and all of his contracts state that he isn’t interested in anything permanent. The few times he’s trained new subs, he didn’t sleep with them.”

Avery’s mouth dropped open. “How do you know about his contracts?”

“Oh, I really wanted to read one and he keeps copies on Ryan’s computer. Ryan never changes his password, so it was easy for Adam to grab me one. I totally used it as the basis for the contract in Sweetheart in Bloom.” She flushed a little. “Now might be a really good time to remind everyone that what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room.”

Eve rolled her eyes. “You are going to get in so much trouble one day.”

Charlie needed them to stay on track. So he’d picked someone he couldn’t stand in order to annoy her, to show her that he couldn’t be won back. Well, he picked the wrong girl to pull that shit with. If he’d picked someone sweet and nice, then Charlie would have trouble dealing with it, but Ian made everything easy. “So Ian is pretending to have two subs with him tonight. Me because of the whole shooting thing and trying to keep the cops from figuring out who I am, and skinny bitch because he wants to make sure I know he’s only topping me because of the shooting thing. You all let her talk to you like that?”

“She never says anything that can’t be taken two ways. She’s the queen of the backhanded compliment. If I called her out, she would say I took it wrong,” Avery explained.

“No one ever calls her on her shit?” Charlie was really shocked.

Eve sighed. “It’s the South. We all just kind of suck it up and say ‘Bless your heart.’”

Blessing wasn’t what Charlie was going to do with Blondie’s heart. Ripping it out and forcing it down her throat sounded like a much better idea. “Okay, I am going to show you how to deal with this.”

Eve’s eyes widened. “I don’t know if that is such a good plan.”

“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 f*ck 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.”