“No? I told you once that everything to do with Aefre is to do with me. If you are hurting her, I will be forced to do something about it.”
“I’m not hurting her,” Cole says, only mildly worried.
“So you plan to tell her of your activities?” Constantine presses.
“How do you know she doesn’t already know?” he responds.
“I know the walk of shame when I see one,” he says.
Cole has no doubt that he does. Not because he has ever done it, you understand, but there must be thousands of women he has sent down that particular path.
“Yes, I plan on telling her,” Cole says, as there really isn’t much point in denying it further.
“Good, be sure that you do the minute you speak to her. It’s better if she hears it from you.” The implied threat lingers in the air like a bad smell.
“You can’t interfere without giving her reason to wonder why,” Cole says, brave in the face of his growing anger and hatred.
“True, but I only have her best interests at heart. She will see that if I am forced to reveal that her husband is keeping secrets.” Constantine spits out the word “husband” and it gets Cole fired up. Constantine brings out his petty side and as hard as he tries to ignore him, he just knows exactly which buttons to push to piss Cole off.
“My wife and I don’t have secrets,” he says and takes great pleasure in seeing the very fleeting wince at the word “wife.” “We know everything about each other.”
Constantine smirks at him again. “Well, now I know that isn’t true. She has many secrets that she keeps from you. Secrets that I share with her.”
Cole’s anger is turning to rage now, but he puts a lid on it. They are the same height, the same build. If they were humans, they would probably be evenly matched and whatever the consequences, he would punch that smirk off the prick’s face. But, as it is, Constantine can knock his head off without even thinking about it. Cole knows he would never throw the first punch, but he would strike back if Cole hit him first, regardless of whether Liv would forgive him or not.
“That’s what you think,” Cole says, even though he knows it is probably a lie, and Constantine probably does as well.
“Really?” he asks in mock disbelief. “So she speaks with you about the plans we make for our future?”
Cole bunches his fists against his sides and grits his teeth. “You don’t have a future with her. Not until I say so, and I will never let her go.”
“Until you say so?” Constantine repeats in genuine disbelief now.
“That’s right,” Cole says, pleased to have knocked him off his peg, even by a fraction of an inch. “I will never leave her. That’s what your whole plan hinges on, doesn’t it? Me leaving her. You know that she won’t leave me. She chose me. She chose me to turn so she could love me forever and be my wife. She chose me in Vegas when I offered to let her go. Do you really think that if she wanted to be with you, she would have turned me down?” Cole is goading him and is not ashamed to admit that the look in the older Vampire’s eyes scares him. Cole has seen his ruthlessness and he has heard the tales of his bloodthirsty ‘Roman warrior’ side. He takes one look at the sheer hatred in Constantine’s eyes, that have now gone jet black, to know that the tales are the stone-cold truth. No fiction necessary.
“She won’t leave you because she would never abandon a new charge,” Constantine says calmly, which is in complete contrast to the rage swirling in his eyes. “Make no mistake that when she thinks you are strong enough; she will leave you and come to me.”
“We’ll see,” Cole says offhandedly, not wanting Constantine to know that he is getting to him. Cole turns to head up the rest of the stairs, wanting to get as far away from those evil eyes as possible, but Constantine stops him with his next words, uttered just as quietly, just as calmly as before.
“She is already taking steps in preparation for becoming my wife. She has taken ownership of half of my estate and calls our castle our home.” If that wasn’t enough to rip Cole’s heart out, he continues, lowering his voice even further, “She cannot keep her hands off me when we are alone together and she tells me she cannot wait to be with me, to be my wife. When I am buried deep inside her, with my arms wrapped tightly around her, in our bed, with her lips pressed against me, she tells me how much she loves me and needs me.”
Cole raises his clenched fist and, hoping desperately that he gets out of this alive, he pulls back his arm to punch Constantine in the face, but his hand has closed over Cole’s before he could blink.
“I would think very carefully about that next move,” Constantine warns him as his hand tightens.
He can see Constantine’s muscles bunch up on his bare chest before the sickening snap of his bones and the blinding pain that comes as he breaks his hand. Mother of fuck that hurts, but Cole won’t give him the satisfaction of showing just how much.
“You will learn respect if I have to wait for these moments to teach it to you. I can be a patient man. I can wait for the next one.” Constantine squeezes his hand again and Cole’s focus goes blurry before he lets go.
“Constantine?” Sebastian asks, at his side in concern.
Fuck, his hand hurts, Cole thinks before he straightens it and it heals and thankfully the pain goes.
“Is everything okay?” Sebastian asks.
“Yes, no problem,” Constantine says with a loving smile to his charge, which turns to ice as he glares back at Cole. Cole returns the glare and stomps up the remaining stairs to the bedroom, practically punching the damn door off its hinges. He detests that man so much. None of what he said was true. He was just saying it to get to him. Liv wouldn’t do that to him. He knows she wouldn’t. He turns to close the door and catches sight of the two of them disappearing into Sebastian’s room. He flexes his hand, but it’s fine now, and he raises his eyebrow as he quietly closes the door. They are both dressed in just pajama bottoms, although Constantine had a robe on. Could it be that there is more to that relationship? Cole has often wondered how he shows affection to his male charges. Or at least how same sex sire-charge relationships in general work. He has to suppose that in his two thousand plus years, Constantine has been with men as well as women. He just never would have expected to see it. He wonders if Liv knows that he is screwing Sebastian behind her back. She said he was remaining faithful to her, so he is betting not. That makes him smile as he now has something to tell her that she probably won’t be best pleased about. And he doesn’t feel as filthy as he did earlier, knowing that he isn’t less for giving in to his need. Seems Constantine is just as disgusting. He strips off and balls up his clothes into the hamper and stands under the shower for a good few minutes before he washes thoroughly and turns the jets off. He is bone tired now. It creeps up on him when she isn’t here. It’s 4 AM and this is his normal time to wake up. Thank fuck that he doesn’t have to go in today. His head hits the pillow and he is about to crash when he hears Liv call to him. “Cole?”
His eyes fly open and he sits up. He is still alone. He must have already been dreaming.