The locker came open, and Kristen pulled out her bag. “I guess I thought you would be the type of woman who would want to go after Evans.”
“I don’t want revenge.” She never really had. She’d just wanted it to be over and then she’d wanted everything to be normal.
“I wasn’t talking about revenge. I thought you would go after him so he could never do it again. So no other woman would have to go through what you went through. I guess I read too much into it. I didn’t think you would want to hide from it.”
Eve bristled a little. “I’m not hiding.”
“But you’re also not here to take out Evans. It’s okay, but you should understand that is my goal. I’m going to make sure he can’t hurt women anymore. Because it’s the right thing to do and I do the right thing now.”
“I’m not hiding.” She wasn’t hiding from anything. She was trying to rebuild her life. “I’m just here to make sure Alex doesn’t kill himself.”
“Well, as long as we understand each other. I’m sure we can get along. You watch Alex’s back and I’ll handle the investigation part on the girl end. Was that really Sean Taggart?” She glanced back toward the door. “He’s Ian Taggart’s younger brother, right? I thought he would be bigger.”
Sean was six foot three. “He’s only small compared to Ian. There’s a reason they call him Little Tag.”
“Big Tag and Little Tag. That’s cute.” She settled the bag on her shoulder. “You have to watch out for Sienna and Sage. They’re twins and they’re mean-girl subs. They’ll very likely be all over Master A as soon as they lay eyes on him. Chazz tends to use them as arm candy when he entertains. That can happen in or out of the club, which is precisely why I needed someone on the inside. He always takes bodyguards with him, but I can’t trust any of them. It was a lucky thing that his last two bodyguards ran off. No idea where they went.”
Now Kristen’s irises flared just the tiniest bit. A lie. She’d done something to force the guards to leave. Very interesting. “Yeah, I’m sure that was a lucky happenstance.”
“Hey, a girl does what a girl has to do.” Kristen shrugged and got back to her rundown. “The waitresses run the gamut from dumb but well-meaning to annoying. Bunny is exactly what she’s named for. Fluffy and sweet. Karma is all right. I think she’s probably the most self-destructive of the group. Azure is the one who gave you the evil eye as you walked in. But the one you really have to watch out for is Chazz.”
“What’s he capable of?” Eve asked.
“I think he’s capable of anything, and I’m lucky he has a thing for me or I would be screwed. The key with Chazz is to pretend like he’s the shit. The minute he knows you think you’re above him, he’ll slit your throat without a single thought. Never drop the submissive routine. He talks like a dumb shit, but he’s serious, and in his head, you’re a slave and he’s the ultimate Master and he controls everything. If he decides it’s easier to kill you than keep you, he’ll do it.”
He sounded like he had a lot in common with Michael Evans. “How has he gotten away with this?”
“I think he’s got someone on the inside who’s protecting him. A couple of cops come to the club from time to time. Chazz has his connections. Remember that. This isn’t Sanctum. This is Hell, and we all just have to try to survive. They should be done soon. I’m going to go make sure the car is ready. Meet you back at the bar.”
Kristen walked out and Eve deflated.
What was she doing? She wasn’t a field operative. God, had she made a terrible mistake?
She sat down on the bench, trying to process everything the other woman had just told her, but all she could do was think about the fact that “the big boss” would be here in a few weeks. That was what Chazz had said. If Kristen was right, Michael Evans was the boss, and he would breathe the same air as her in a matter of weeks.
You’re just a little whore. That’s all any of you are.
She shivered in the cool of the room and closed her eyes, thinking soothing thoughts. It was the only way to make the bad images go away. She deserved her peace. She deserved to have a life that wasn’t filled with the man who had raped her. She was a damn psychologist. She wasn’t some warrior princess. She’d taken plenty of self-defense classes, but she hoped she wouldn’t have to use them.
She wasn’t hiding. She was helping out. She was here because she was the best person for the job and because Alex was her responsibility.
Her brain floated back to the day she’d told her parents she was marrying Alex. She hadn’t told Kristen what their response had been. They’d been all smiles on the day she and Alex had married, but they hadn’t been happy about it. Her mother and father had planned on her marrying a doctor or a lawyer, not an FBI agent. Alex had been too rough for them, too possessive, too real.
Her parents hadn’t known about the life they’d led. She’d hidden it from them. They still didn’t know.