“Yeah, what about it? Everyone’s been raving about it. Tabloids have been lapping it up.”
“I was there,” I told him, and he laughed at me. Actually laughed at me.
“What in the living fuck were you doing at Tinsley Constantine’s ball?”
My eyes were daggers. “Plotting ways to execute her demise.”
He scoffed. “Sure thing, but that’s madness, right? How the fuck would you have made it out of there alive? And what the fuck has that got to do with Elaine?”
I wished I was a smoker, just to take a drag on a cigarette and break up my own damn mood.
“I saw her there, coked up and trashed, barging around the place like she owned it.”
“Yeah, I think the whole world knows she’s a cokehead. I heard she was in debt to the Power brothers last time the Constantine gossip was going around the Regent.”
That pricked my interest – one small sliver of Constantine intelligence that had slipped my ears.
“The Power brothers?”
“Yeah, the Power brothers. Big time, apparently. They say her mother is done with her. I think she’s hoping someone else will wipe her out and save them the embarrassment.”
I was mulling over this new information when he spoke again.
“So, what happened when you saw Elaine Constantine at the ball?”
I despised the shame and humiliation brewing in me. Hunter had been a trusted ear for decades, but I was struggling to voice this confession to him.
He saved me the battle.
“You grabbed her, didn’t you? You let your dick rule your hate, and you grabbed her?”
“That isn’t quite how it went–” I began, but he was already smirking at me.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Luke,” he said. “I’ve seen her. She’s quite a looker, even by Constantine standards. I mean, they’re all lookers, but she’s something else. I doubt there are many guys in that position who wouldn’t want to grab her and fuck the life out of her.”
He thrust his hips to demonstrate. It felt cheap to hear it framed that way.
“I was going to hurt her. It wasn’t anything to do with her pussy.”
He was still smirking. “Yeah, but it became about pussy, right? Believe me, I know you well enough to know she’s got you all fucked up over that tight little body of hers.”
“Forget it,” I said, and made to leave, too stinking with embarrassment to stand another minute of his smirking.
He pushed me back down in my seat, dropping his humor.
“Jesus Christ, Luke. You’ve got feelings for her. Are you out of your mind?”
“No!” I spat. “What the fuck are you talking about? I never have fucking feelings for anyone. It’s you who’s out of your goddamn mind.”
But he was shaking his head. “Nah, I’m serious. This isn’t you, pal. She’s done something to you.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I hissed, but he wasn’t believing me. I could see it in his stare.
I wanted to believe myself, and I should have. The concept was absurd. Never once in my life had I had feelings for anyone, let alone anyone with even the hint of a Constantine connection. I didn’t do emotions, let alone the fluffy bullshit of falling in love and all that crap. It was weakness. Nothing but weakness. People were flesh with a price tag. Nothing more.
“It’s all right, you know,” Hunter carried on. “Seriously, just spit it out. Whatever needs saying.”
“You’re not a goddamn counselor, Sparro. Nothing needs saying,” I countered, but he gestured to the clock above his fireplace.
“Not quite what you showing up here before nine on a Sunday morning is telling me.” He smiled. “I turfed Melissa out for this, you know. I was planning on at least one fresh round of fucking her ass before she left today.”
“Melissa?” I asked. “The bitch from behind the bar at the Aegean?”
“Don’t change the subject,” he said, and joined me on the sofa, kicking back with his hands behind his head.
I forced myself to speak, for my own sanity. At least if Sparro knew about my bullshit choices then he stood a chance of keeping tabs on me if I lost my head again.
I told him about Tinsley’s ball, and about how I’d grabbed Elaine in the bathroom. I told him how she’d wanted me, even through her fear. I told him how I’d liked it, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself.
“So, what happened next?” he pushed when I was done with the ball recounting. “Did she call you for a date night?” He laughed at the prospect.
That’s when it got awkward. That’s when I should have shut my mouth for good and bailed on out of there.
“I got access to her calendar through Alto. Her personal calendar.”
“What the fuck?” His whole body spun in the seat to stare at me. “You got access to her personal calendar? They’ll skin you for that, your side as well as hers. If they find you’ve got access to it–”