“Do you want the fare?”
“No,” I barked. “I haven’t finished yet.”
I knew he was feeling awkward as fuck. He should count himself lucky I had other things on my mind than pursuing cheap evil pleasures.
We were still parked at the sidewalk with no cab lights on when the front entrance finally swung open almost an hour later. There she was, stumbling, almost taking a fall before pussy boy grabbed hold of her and held her tight. She was swaying and gesturing him away, and I smiled to myself inside.
Silly little girl.
The Blue Hawk guy came out after them, and her friend was practically drooling in adoration.
I knew pussy boy had somewhere he wanted to be going, and it sure as fuck didn’t involve Elaine Constantine screwing his chances of getting dick that night.
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.
Pussy boy stared, torn. His singer cock-buddy 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, signalling he’d call her, before heading down the street after a promise of dick, leaving Elaine alone with just a cab to protect her. Yeah, I knew it. There was no damn way the Constantines would have ever let her head downtown, let alone with no damn security cover.
“Follow them,” I grunted at the driver, and again, he spun in his seat to face me.
“The cab?”
“Yes,” I hissed. “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 rage that maybe I’d read her journey wrong, and that by some bullshit fuck up I’d been following a random fool to the wrong part of town. But no. It was the same blonde beauty that swung her unsteady legs out of the cab ahead of us, teetering her way towards the block entrance.
I checked out the sign. Gaol Street. What an utter shithole.
“Here,” I told my driver and threw him a handful of notes 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 floor 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 towards the door.
“What the fuck? It can’t be . . . It can’t be . . .”
I gave her a smirk as I pulled the fake glasses from my face. “Oh yes, darling. It most certainly can be.”
Even in her fear, I saw the rage 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 a crazy bitch for thinking you’d lower yourself to check out such a weird little club downtown!” I hated how she smirked right back at me as she paused. “Hmm, I guess we can both say we didn’t expect to find each other in such a loser part of town, then, can’t we?”
I laughed a malicious little laugh at her. “Believe me, Elaine, I don’t enjoy such a loser part of town. It stinks like liquid shit.”
I despised her childishness when she laughed right back at me. “Yeah, well, so do you. You’re a loser who belongs in loser hell, Lucian Morelli. Eat shit and die.”
“Watch your mouth,” I told her with a sneer.
Once again, I couldn’t take my eyes from the beautiful bitch’s eyes. Interesting didn’t cut it. Not for a second. Not about her.