Page 80 of Lesson In Honesty
“Why? The beast fucker here came to us, encroaching on a private conversation. If he doesn’t like what he hears, he can turn around and go back to his pet monkey.” She flicked immaculately manicured nails in a dismissive gesture. “Shoo, beast fucker. I think I hear the baboon screeching for you.”
Fury ignited, a whisper of a spark connecting with two hundred and twenty pounds of testosterone and gunpowder. Even as he struggled to contain it, to control himself, he felt his emotions slip through his fingers.
“Jesus,” she continued, “have you been fucking it so long, you’ve forgotten how to speak? Dustin, explain it in a way the beast fucker understands.”
Tittering, Dustin curled his hands under his armpits and started making monkey noises.
“Dustin, stop. I don’t like this.” When her friend didn’t listen, the blonde grabbed Portia’s arm. “Please, you’re going to get us all in trouble.”
“We’ll stop when that hairy cunt gets its marching orders.” Nose in the air, Portia stared Mack down. A flicker of something resembling alarm trickled into that arrogant gaze, but she obviously couldn’t rein in her tongue. “We paid a fucking fortune to be here, Maryann. We should be able to enjoy ourselves without being exposed to thatthing.”
Mack forced his eyes to break away, landing on the blonde. She looked so apologetic, his heart almost managed to feel pity for her through the inferno encasing his chest. “Go.”
She blinked at him. “Me?”
He nodded once. “Now. Find Master Merrick.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Don’t tell her what to do, beast fucker.”
Feeling his lips begin to curl in a snarl, Mack reiterated his order, adding dominance to the same sequence of words. When Maryann paled, shot a terrified look at her friends, and wriggled out of the booth as though it was suddenly full of snakes, his temper finally frayed to the last strand.
“God, she’s such a fucking pussy.” Portia lifted an eyebrow and smiled, sharp enough to cut glass. “Maybe they have a monkey costume in the gift shop. You and your blond friend won’t have to share the beast for once.”
Still acting like an ape, Dustin hooted in amused agreement.
Snap.
The twang of his control giving way was oddly freeing, Mack decided as his hand lashed out and wrapped around Dustin’s nape. For so long, he’d kept himself rigidly locked down, burning himself out with the effort of being the perfect businessman, employer, innovator.
Violence didn’t really solve anything in his world.
Smashing Dustin’s face against the table, listening to the pop of cartilage breaking and watching blood spray across the glossy wood, felt so fucking liberating.
Portia’s mouth dropped open, but the scream didn’t come from it.
Dustin, however, wailed like a baby.
Wrenching the asshole up, Mack prepared to slam him down again. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, take his rage out on a woman, even one as vile as the bitter viper sitting an arm’s length away, but he had no issue whaling the putrid poison out of another man.
“The woman you’ve bullied is ten times the woman you will ever fucking be.” Holy hell, where did that darkness in his voice come from? The words sounded,tasted, black. “She’s gone through hells you will never understand. Money doesn’t make you a queen, Portia. The clothes, the diamonds, the makeup can’t conceal what you are.”
Dustin tried to claw at Mack’s hand; Mack just reintroduced him to the table.
“I’ve been weighing you up. At first, I thought family money. Youngest daughter maybe, the spoiled bitchy brat. But every time you open your filthy mouth, you give me a different vibe.” Mack let his stare bore into hers, hard and cold. “No ring on your hand, Portia, but you forgot to hide the mark. Bet you married an old fucker—what is he, seventy, eighty? Or did you go for the fast pot of gold and head straight for the nineties? A few quick fucks, hoping to give the poor bastard a heart attack?”
She paled slightly under the layers of makeup.
“Yeah, that’s it. He’s not dead yet though—otherwise Maryann wouldn’t be here.” Scrubbing Dustin’s face through his own puddle of blood, Mack yanked him up again. “Vacation time with the boyfriend. Bring along a friend who’s sweet and innocuous for cover in case hubby snaps out of his senility long enough to check his finances and wonder what his wife’s been up to. I’m going to guess there’s a prenup with an infidelity clause.”
Now she blanched.
Grinning, Mack shook Dustin by the neck. Blood splattered from his broken nose and the coward whimpered. “I have friends, Portia. Many friends in a lot of places. It won’t take long for me to find out who you are, where you’re from, which rich bastard you conned into marrying you. Friends who love thatmonkeyyou’ve spent all week torturing because she’s different from you.”
Dustin tried to speak, but Mack just tightened his hold.
“People love her for who she is. They don’t care what she looks like, because it doesn’tfucking matter.” His voice rose to a roar. He didn’t care that he was drawing attention. “They see that she’s kind and sweet. Shy and easily hurt by assholes who are so fucking jealous of her, they resort to cruelty and bitchiness.”