Sympathy for the Devil
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Cosmic Chaos
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17
“Tell me you’re not scared of me,” Alejandro says, and Destiny… doesn’t move. He still kisses her hand like a gentleman. Which makes it worse. Destiny is a freshly minted master’s grad with a blacklisted name and a fridge full of excuses. Then the city’s most gorgeous nightclub king decides her career is his personal hobby. He watches her dance like he already owns the view, slips her his card, and smiles when her friends call him “bad news” (because of course they do). You’ll love her because she’s trying to be careful and still wants soft things like rent paid on time. You’ll hate him because he keeps fixing her life with one phone call and zero permission. He should not be turning her lights back on at midnight. He definitely should not be tucking her into bed like he’s the only safe thing in the room. Then he leans in and murmurs, “Come to my club at 10 a.m. Ask for me.” So… are you going, or are you lying? 😉
Chapter 1: Letting Off Steam
ALEJANDRO
“I told you everything I know! I fucking swear it!” Myles shouts at me from the chair that he’s firmly tied to.
The dim light is making the blood on his skin glisten, and I feel a wicked smile pull at the corners of my lips.
“Oh, but Myles…you fucked up.” His eyes go wide, and I feel the adrenaline surging through me as his fear deepens.
“I don’t fucking know what the fuck you’re talking about!” Myles snarls.
I chuckle, and I can tell the sound makes him even more uneasy, something I hadn’t thought would be possible, but I’m delighted to have been proven wrong.
“I gave you a chance to come clean when Oscar brought you here, but you waited until I beat the fuck out of you to spill everything. I don’t like liars, and I don’t ask nicely twice.”
His body tenses as I reach behind my back, pulling out my 9 mm and firing a bullet square between his eyes. I look down and grimace at the blood splatter on my white button-down shirt.
“Fucking prick!” I kick Myles’s lifeless leg.
“Boss, I brought in a change of clothes for you. You want to go blow off some steam?” Oscar asks.
I give Oscar a wicked grin; he knows me so well.
I quickly get changed and into the car, sitting in silence as Oscar takes me to my club. Among my many illegal endeavors, I own a nightclub and a company that “helps” businesses that are struggling, and I do use the term “help” loosely.
Basically, we sweep in, offer them an obscene amount of money to buy them out or pull them into our grips, and then use them to produce income and launder money. I’m the most feared man in Halinburg, and God, how I love it! We pull up outside the club, and one of the bouncers out front rushes to pull my door open for me.
“Good evening, Mr. Torres,” the bouncer, Tidus, mumbles out while keeping his eyes lowered.
“Good evening, Tidus. Is my room ready?”
He smirks but keeps his eyes trained on the ground. “Yes, sir,” Tidus replies.
I hand him two hundred dollars and pat him on the shoulder as I walk past him and enter the now open doors to the club.
The music is loud, and I’m immediately approached by several women who are dressed in a way that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, but their attempts to be seductive only manage to irritate me. I shove them away from me and turn left, taking the stairs to my private lounge.
The lounge is much quieter than the rest of the club, but you can still hear the music; you just don’t have to shout over it to have a conversation. The bartender slides a glass with four fingers of scotch across the counter, and I gladly take it as I make my way to the black leather couch that sits in front of the large window overlooking the club.
I hear several sets of footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by the door opening and deep, rumbling laughter.
“Hey boss, Oscar here was saying that pussy begged for his life…did he really?” Stephan asks.
I smirk at Stephan and nod.
“He certainly did, but most do.” I take a greedy drink of my whiskey, then lean forward as someone below catches my eye.
Toward the edge of the dance floor is a small, pale-skinned woman with long black curly hair, curves that would make a priest blush, and a large chest—Ds if I’m not mistaken—and a dress that hugs her like a second skin, but gives my mind plenty of room to still be curious about what she’s hiding beneath it. Oscar notices my body language and quickly comes over to see what’s managed to catch my attention.
“Damn, she’s a total knockout!” Oscar lets out a whistle and pats me on the back.
“Have her brought up here,” I say.
Oscar chuckles at my order but does exactly as he’s told, like he always does.
I watch as he approaches her, and I see the way her body tenses as he guides her to the stairs. I sit back on the couch and wait for them to arrive, only having to wait a few seconds as the door opens.
Oscar leads her over to the couch, and I can feel her eyes on me the second she’s in the room. She’s standing beside the couch, silent and clearly terrified.
“Have a seat.” I turn to face her, and my breath catches in my throat. She has large emerald-green eyes that never meet mine, perfectly defined cheekbones and jaw topped off with the most beautiful pouty lips.
“I’m sorry, he said you’re the owner of the club…did I do something wrong?” the woman asks.
I motion for her to take a seat, and after a moment of hesitation, she slowly slides onto the opposite end of the couch.
“I am, and to my knowledge, you haven’t. I had you brought up here to see if you would like to have a drink with me,” I say.
She shifts nervously in her seat, and it makes my lips pull into their usual wicked grin.
“I don’t even know you, and my friends are downstairs waiting for me. We’re celebrating.” She smiles softly, and it makes my fucking dick twitch—fuck, she’s stunning.
“What are you celebrating?” I ask.
Her eyes shoot up to meet mine, and her smile widens.
I’m not used to people making eye contact with me, and part of me wants to be angry, but a much bigger part wants her to never stop.
“We all just finished our last semester of college. We’re celebrating finally being done with school.”
I study every detail about her, becoming more intrigued by the second. Not only is she beautiful, but she has a college education too? Fuck me!
“What did you study?” I ask.
She turns toward me, and I can see that she wasn’t expecting me to show interest in her studies, but she seems somewhat excited that I did.
“Business law. I got my master’s.”
I raise my brow in shock; her answer is not at all what I was expecting.
“So where are you planning to work?”
She shrugs softly, and I watch as several strands of her black hair slide over her shoulder. “I’m going to start putting in résumés on Monday.”
The shift in her mood is impossible to miss.
“Do you have any companies you’re interested in working for?”
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Not really. I had a job lined up, but there were…complications.”
I see how nervous she’s becoming, and it makes me feel strangely uneasy.
“What if I could help you out?”
Her eyes immediately land back on mine, and she looks confused. “Why would you do that?”
I chuckle, and it makes her body tense more. “I swear, it’s just to help you. I don’t expect anything in return other than you working hard. If you decide you’re interested, you can call and let me know.” I hand her my business card that has only my name and cell phone number on it.
“Um…thanks. I really should get back to my friends before they think you kidnapped me.” She giggles nervously.
I stand from my seat to walk her to the door.
“I may be a wicked man, but I would never hurt a woman, especially not one as beautiful as you.” I grab her hand and pull it to my lips, gently kissing the back before letting go and returning to my seat.
I watch for a while longer from the window as she dances and sways her hips to the music, and another woman quickly joins her as they sway and caress each other, hypnotizing me with every fluid movement they make.
“Boss, they got Danny,” Oscar calls out to me, pulling me out of my trance.
An evil grin slides across my face. “Well, let’s not keep him waiting,” I say.
