Chapter Three
“So this is what a BDSM club looks like?” Maddie stared up at Sanctum like she expected it to transform into something else any minute.
Which just proved that she didn’t know as much as she thought she did. That was the trouble with geniuses. They often thought book smarts were everything. Deke meant to prove her wrong.
Deke stood back, allowing her to take it all in. He hadn’t spent time with her in over a decade, but some things didn’t change with Maddie Hill. She still studied the world around her carefully when she deigned to look up from studying books. She often missed what was going on around her because she was so focused on what truly interested her. Half the time in high school he would find her reading a book while she walked down the hallway and he would have to save her from taking a fall.
“This is what Sanctum looks like. I wasn’t around when it was founded. From what I understand, Big Tag bought the building for fairly cheap. It was once a soda bottling factory. Big Tag and the other founding members refurbished it and turned it into a club.” Sometimes Sanctum had felt like his second home. “This is the second version of Sanctum though. I never actually saw the first. By the time I was hired on and got my membership, McKay-Taggart was a huge financial success and Ian built his version of a pleasure palace.”
Her eyes widened slightly, and then she was back to staring. “They redecorated?”
“Oh, they pretty much rebuilt from the ground up. One of the guys on my CIA black ops team turned out to be a double, and he blew the club up. With people in it.” Deke did not remember that asshole with fondness.
Now Maddie turned his way. “What?”
He shrugged. “It happens. Nobody died. Well, the traitor did. Jake got shot. Ian actually made it out with his dessert intact. Sat right down on the rubble and ate it. The silver lining was it proved I wasn’t the traitor.”
It was weird to think that once he was on the other side of an MT investigation.
“Why would they think you were a traitor?” The question had an air of violence about it. Like Maddie would take on whoever had thought he was capable of turning on his country.
She’d always been a fierce woman. It was one of her many charms.
It seemed like a lifetime ago. “At the time I fit the profile. The CIA team I was on had a leak. Someone was giving out important intelligence and actively working against us. Big Tag had a couple of brothers on the team, so he stuck his nose in. They thought they were looking for someone who’d been turned while in captivity. I spent a couple of months as the guest of our enemy while I was in the Middle East. It isn’t completely unheard of for a person to break under torture and do things they normally wouldn’t. Three of us had been captured at some point. Me and Boomer and a guy we called Ace.”
Her expression softened. “I know. I mean I knew about you. Not about the others. I’m…I don’t even know what to say about that. There’s no I’m sorry that feels like enough.”
“It was a long time ago and like Sanctum, I’m all new and spiffy again.” Thanks to many years of therapy and the love of his family. Being around his nieces and nephews had done him a world of good. “Are you ready to see the inside?”
Her face flushed, and she went back to staring at the doors. “I don’t know. I’m still trying to get over how normal it looks. I thought it would look more like a nightclub, I guess.”
Deke tested the door and found it locked. Whoever Big Tag had sent to let them in wasn’t here yet. “I’ve found the club’s exterior charms usually reflect whoever built the place. Like this one. It’s utilitarian on the outside, but there’s a surprising amount of whimsy on the inside. Clubs are all different, though there are some things that are pretty much the same. You’ll find lots of the same equipment like benches and St. Andrew’s Crosses.”
“I’ve been reading books and watching documentaries so I could converse with Nolan.” She glanced around while Deke started texting.
“Sorry, someone was supposed to meet us here to let us in,” Deke explained. “The Domme in residence is not in fact in residence at the moment. She’s a lawyer and she’s got a big trial coming up, but someone should be here soon.”
“It’s bigger than I thought it would be.”
“That’s because most clubs aren’t run by ridiculously successful and obsessively competitive people.” Deke shot off a couple of texts and hoped for the best. The Ferguson Clinic was next door, and some of the people who worked there had keys and the alarm code to the club.