I pulled myself together as I headed for the exit, talking some damn fucking sense into myself. I wanted to destroy her little body. That’s what I wanted. That’s the only thing I wanted.
There were drunken clusters of people outside the bar when I stepped out onto the sidewalk. I ignored the line of people hailing cabs, and instead found an empty few feet of shadows to wait for her. The front entrance finally swung open almost an hour later.
There she was, stumbling, almost taking a fall before Tristan grabbed hold of her and held her tight. She was swaying and gesturing him away, and I smiled to myself inside.
The Blue Hawk guy came out after them, and her friend was practically drooling in adoration.
I knew Tristan had somewhere he wanted to be going, and it sure as fuck didn’t involve Elaine Constantine screwing his chances of getting dick tonight.
Sure enough, she pulled away from him, shrugging as she stumbled and pointed at an approaching cab down the street. He called her back to him, gesturing, but she waved him away, clearly insisting she’d be fine as the cab pulled up next to her.
Tristan stared, torn. His musician friend was determined to pull him along in his direction, just as much as Elaine was determined to leave.
Her good friend Tristan hovered. Stalled. And then he gave in to them.
He held up a hand, signaling he’d call her, before heading down the street after a promise of dick, leaving Elaine alone with just a cab to protect her. I knew it. There was no damn way the Constantines would have ever let her head downtown, let alone with no damn security cover.
I hailed a cab quickly and shoved a few hundreds through the window. “Follow them,” I grunted at the driver, and again, he spun in his seat to face me.
“The cab?”
“Yes,” I said, gesturing to the red taillights. “The fucking cab.”
We stayed close behind her, and I strained to watch her silhouette in the rear window. I could barely see her, but my mouth was watering at the thought that she was almost in my grasp, just a few short breaths away.
She could have easily been headed to the Constantine compound, and if that were the case I’d have ordered my driver to overtake them on the long straight before Bishop’s Landing, just to get my hands on her. But no. She wasn’t heading to the Constantine compound. She wasn’t heading to anywhere uptown, in fact, let alone anywhere in the billionaire district.
My interest was piqued as she headed for one of the dregs, her cab rolling through blocks of cheap apartments before finally pulling up at the sidewalk amongst some rancid, mediocre housing blocks.
For a moment, I had a flash of frustration that maybe I’d read her journey wrong, and that by some fuck up I’d been following a random person. But no. It was the same blonde beauty that swung her legs out of the cab ahead of us, walking on her stilettos toward the entrance.
I checked out the street sign. Not a nice part of the city.
“Thanks,” I told my driver and tossed him another handful of hundreds before bailing out of there. He sure as fuck didn’t hang around for me to answer any questions, just raced away with a screech of tires along with the rumble of Elaine’s ride.
I was lucky she was a clumsy mess as she fished in her clutch for some keys under a flickering orange light. I was close enough to hear her curse as she dropped them to the ground and struggled to feel around on the concrete to find them.
“Well, well, well,” I said. “I never expected to find you here.”
She lurched back to her feet without the keys in her hand, then backed away toward the door. “What the fuck? It can’t be…It can’t be…”
I gave her a smile. “Oh yes, darling. It most certainly can be.”
Even in her fear, I saw the anger burning on her cheeks. “I said it was you. I told Tristan it was you, and he wouldn’t believe me. Told me I was crazy for thinking you’d lower yourself to check out that club. Hmm, I guess we can both say we didn’t expect to find each other in this part of town, then, can’t we?”
“Why are you here, by the way?”
“None of your fucking business, Lucian Morelli.”
“Watch your mouth.” I couldn’t take my gaze from the beautiful siren’s eyes. Interesting didn’t cut it. Not for a second. Not about her. I felt my gut churning, my mind trying to untangle the knots of her and fathom just what the fuck the girl was made up of.
She was a whirlpool of chaos, flashing colors melding as one.
A mess of them, splashing and clashing, so consumed by their own momentum that I didn’t stand a chance of understanding the taste.
She was a mass of confusion and rage.
Rage and want.
Rage and fascination.
Rage and being so fucking butchered by her own pain that she was a pool of risk, waiting for anyone around her to step up and take what they wanted from her.
Money. Or blood. Or pussy.
Somehow, it was the thought of people taking her pussy that made me grit my teeth.
My words were quiet and cold. “What are you doing here, Elaine?”
“You tell me. You’re the one who’s supposed to be the genius, aren’t you?”
“Among other things,” I said.
She pressed into the wall, flinching as another sweep of fear flashed through her eyes. I reached down and picked up her keys, jangling them in my fingers.
She was quiet as I carried on speaking. Silent as her whirlpool kept on spinning.
“Among other things like the fact I’m a sadist who pushes so fucking hard that people never come back from the pain. The fact that my family owes yours so much torment that none of you would make it through alive.”
“I know, I know. We hate you, you hate us. La la la. Like I give a fuck about that.”
I took another step closer, and this time she didn’t flinch. Didn’t even drop her stare. The whirlwind was speeding up inside her, sure as fuck not slowing down. I could taste her as I closed the distance, my mouth watering at the orchids and plums.
“You’ll give a fuck when I punish you for being a Constantine,” I told her, but again, the whirlwind inside her kept on spinning. I could feel it pulsing from her. Fear. Rage. Hate. Confusion.
But more.
I could feel so much more.
She took a breath and slumped her shoulders, casting a glance up at the shitty night sky.
“What makes you think I’d give a damn about anything?” she asked me. “Just get on with it, or get the fuck away from me, will you?”
Chapter Eleven
Elaine
I really was done with it. I was done with caring. Done with feeling. Done with living. Maybe Lucian Morelli would be the monster that liberated me from this painful existence.
To the outside world I had it all. Money. Designer clothes. Bentleys.
But inside, my world was pain. Pain I’d been breathing through in agonizing little gasps since I was a little girl trying to be good for Reverend Lynch and his sick friends. Fucked up, and used, and twisted. Hurt by so much of the life I’d held dear.
Seeing Tristan gazing so adoringly at Blue Hawk tonight, and knowing Blue Hawk’s dick was coming to him, had only compounded the obvious inside me.
I’d never feel like that about anyone, even if I was allowed to.
My family had already destroyed that for me.