Page 189 of Powerhouse: Boxed Set
I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to make her beg and shiver and cry.
I’d sipped my way through most of my mineral water when I saw a flash of perfect blonde on the other side of the dancefloor. My stomach did a twist, and the rage burned behind my eyes.
Yes.
Fuck, yes.
I knew it was her, even without a clear view. I knew it by instinct—by the hatred rushing through my veins. Or was that lust? It was getting harder to tell.
I made my way closer, keeping in the shadows.
She was standing next to a tall guy who looked like a hipster. Elaine was close to him, pressed up tight, but I knew he hadn’t laid a single dirty hand on her, not in any way that counted. It was another flash of instinct in my gut.
She was staring up at the stage, gazing at the guy bellowing into the mic up there. Yes, it was Elaine Constantine, but she looked…different. She’d almost have passed for a normal person, for anyone other than a Constantine. Almost.
Her dress was tight, and clearly expensive, but her makeup was…cat-like.
Hot.
Fuck, she was a hot little piece. Even hotter than she’d been at the masked ball.
She was swigging beer from a bottle, chugging it back nice and hard. It reinforced what I already knew—her alcoholic cravings must have been pretty damn desperate for her to be drinking the cheap shit. And there was more.
I only needed to watch her sway to the music to know she was lonely.
I couldn’t get any closer, not without catching her eye. I hovered just out of view, soaking her up as I bristled and boiled, imagining all the things I wanted to do with her.
I wanted to do so much to her that my mouth was watering.
Lust. Hate. Contempt. All of it simmering deep.
Her family had been fighting mine for decades. They’d torn us down once, but never again. We’d all bleed to death before we gave them a single inch of our wealth, or our pride.
I wondered how pretty Elaine Constantine would look with red marks on her perfect skin. I wondered how her eyes would glisten with tears as she stared up into the malice in mine. I wondered how much I could make her pussy stretch for me before she screamed.
It was funny, looking around me at all the people in the room, just how evil a monster I was amongst them. They had no idea such a sadist was in their midst.
A girl with pink hair banged into me as she swung herself to the beat, slamming hard into my chest and spilling the last of my water over my shirt. She spun around with asorry.
I tipped my head and forced a smile, and she smiled back, then kept her eyes on me.
“Hey,” she said. “Can I get you another drink?”
“No, thank you.”
Still her eyes stayed fixed on mine. “You sure? I’d really like to. Water, right?”
Her earrings were cheap. Metal painted with fake gold.
Sometimes I liked cheap. I liked tempting it with cash and demanding whatever I wanted. I’d learned at a very early age that there is nothing on this planet that is unobtainable.
Everything has a price. Everyonehas a price.
I glanced back over at Elaine, and she was still gazing at the prick on stage like a cat in heat.
“Sure,” I told the pink-haired girl. “I’ll have another water.”
“Cheap date.” She laughed and took my empty bottle from me.
