Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(43)

“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 f*cking 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.”