Page 181 of Powerhouse: Boxed Set
Nobody could ever understand my body, so tainted in its strengths, and my mind to match.
Not even Elaine fucking Constantine.
CHAPTER FIVE
Elaine
“Are you outof your mind?”
Tristan’s face was a picture, hands in his hair as he paced my lounge.
“He didn’t tell anyone,” I told him. “Even Silas had more sense than that.”
“Yeah, but hecouldhave. He could have gone straight out of there and told the whole ball that Lucian Morelli was in the building. You wouldn’t be standing here, Elaine. There’s no way your mom would let you sleep at night knowing you’d messed around with him.”
“Plenty of thingscouldhave happened. Lucian Morellicouldhave stolen me. But he didn’t.”
“Oh, that’s a comforting thought.” Tristan Fields had been my best friend and most trusted ear in this world since I was twelve years old. He’d seen me do plenty of wild things in the past thirteen years, but nothing had ever made him stare at me like this.
I sipped my wine. “It’s not like I’m ever going to see him again.”
“I’d fucking hope not. Believe me, baby, I’d be telling your mom myself if I thought that was gonna happen. You’d stand more of a chance of making it out alive with her on your case than him. Close call, but I know where I’d put my cash.”
I closed my eyes to ease off my thump of a hangover, but it made no difference. My brain was jammed plenty by Tristan carrying on his speech.
“You do know he was playing you, right? He wants something from you. If he didn’t think he could trick you into giving him what he needs, he’d have hurt you the second he had you alone.”
Something about that offended me. It may not have made any sense that it did, because he was probably right. Tristan’s words made perfect sense. Still, it offended me. Something about that concept twisted my heart and made it hurt.
I was naive to want to believe there was anything other than hate behind Lucian grabbing me at Tinsley’s party…but I wanted there to be. Some twisted part of me wanted there to be.
I shrugged. “Yeah, he was probably playing me.”
“Definitely. He wasdefinitelyplaying you.”
“Yeah, he was playing me. Like I said, I’m never going to see him again. What does it matter?”
He tipped his head and matched my stare. His eyes were cold, green pools of disapproval, and I hated that. Tristan was always on my side.
“If you see him again, Lainey, you have to scream and run, understand? No matter how slick he is, no matter what he says, you have to scream and run.”
“Of course I will,” I told him, telling myself at the same time. “I might have been reckless, but it’s never going to happen. I won’t even see him again.”
The way he shook his head showed me he didn’t believe me. In that moment, he thought I was as flighty as the rest of the world did. I felt offended all over again, but I didn’t say anything. I deserved this. I always did.
“Have you told Harriet yet?” he asked.
“No.”
“Hopefully Silas doesn’t tell her before you do.”
“Silas doesn’t tell Harriet anything. He may be her brother, but they have about as much in common as a swan and a rhino.”
He grinned at that. “I’m not sure Silas would like the analogy.”
I smiled back, even through my hangover. “He can be a rhinoceros.”
“True enough.”
