The Devils Love

Chapter Two - Angel

Matteo Romano

For once, I didn't have a meeting to attend. I didn't have a new business partner to greet and welcome into my world. I didn't have any orders to bark at my employees. Everything was quite.

Too quite.

Most people enjoy peace and silence. It's just relaxing to them. I am not one of those people. Silence was never comforting and peace has never lasted long in my world. Since I was barley a teenager, I was taught to work my ass off and never stop. I blame my 'father' heavily for that, but now it's just become my life.

Wake up, work, make money, sleep, repeat. My 'father' always raised me to follow in his footsteps to groom me to take over 'the family business'. At times, I wonder that if I wasn't adopted into this life, where would I be now? Those thoughts never stick around long because I know what I was made to do and I do it well.

My job is too instill fear in everyone around me. To bend people to their breaking point just to benefit myself. No matter how far I have to go to get it, people always give me exactly what I want. The majority of people will give me anything and everything with no questions asked, but there will always the difficult ones. Those people learn fairly quick why I am known as 'The Devil'.

There is absolutely nothing I wouldn't do to someone to get what I want.

The quietness of my penthouse had been driving me up a wall for hours now. I tried to play music, I tried to work out, I tried to take a long hot shower, I even tried to go to sleep at eight. Nothing seemed to work. Not having any type of work to do put me on edge. It could practically drive me to drink all night.

I could feel the last bit of my sanity leaving my body as I paced the penthouse with nothing to do. So, with a final lap around, I grabbed my phone and wallet to tuck them both into the pockets of the black jeans I had on. 

I didn't bother to change into anything nice or fancy like I usually did. If I wasn't going stir crazy I probably would have, but the only thing I needed  to do was get the hell out of this apartment. 

Right before walking out the door, I grabbed my handgun and tucked it into my waistband. It's something I never walked out of my door without. I'd be a fool to go anywhere unarmed. While I did like to have at least one of my men with me anywhere I went, I still always made sure I was armed. You can't always trust that anyone would save or protect you. You will always be the one to have your own back even when no one else does.

My building is always crawling with my men, considering I do own the entire building and a large amount of my people reside here as well. I passed a few of them on my way through the building and out to the street where my personal driver awaits. I told the driver where to go and without a word from him or the guard in the passenger seat, we take off down the streets of New York City.

The club of choice for the night was Echo. While I have never been before, I did know the owner. If it wasn't for me, Echo wouldn't even exist. Some people never deserved my help and Alexander Hall was one of them. That is something I wish I would have known before I decided to give it to him. I found it in the kindness of my heart to give him a loan in order for him open Echo. In return I would be able to run my own 'business' within the club.

Well that hasn't happened yet. Alexander has been avoiding me like the plague. Sneaky little bastard won't be able to hide for very long though.

As far as I knew, he was never really in Echo on Thursdays. This provides me the opportunity to check it out and start formulating my plans for what I could do to him. Many different scenarios and ideas ran through my mind until I felt the car come to a stop.

There is barely a line to get in, so it must not be crowded.

Even with the small line, because I am an associate of Alexander, I skipped right ahead of everyone else who was still waiting.

Bright neon lights flashed and danced all around the large open space. The music being played was so loud that I could feel the floor vibrating underneath of my feet. People were dancing, drinking, talking, yelling, laughing, and some were trying to keep their balance as they drunkenly walked out.

Not bad Alexander. Too bad you couldn't keep your end of our deal.

I made my way through all the dancing bodies with my guard right on my heels. The bar I walked up to was the bigger one out of the three. A group of men that were definitely in their thirties or forties were sat at one end of the bar, so I sat at the complete opposite end.

There was something about this group that didn't sit right with me and it gave me an uneasy feeling. They were all whispering to each other while making motions towards the female bartender that had her back turned to them.

Anger.

That's all I felt. They were staring at her like she was their prey. One thing that has always angered me was men treating women like objects. Women are much stronger than most men give them credit for. I could only imagine the disgusting comments they were making about her. I had started to let my mind get the better of me and wonder, when suddenly a figure appeared in front of me.

My eyes instantly landed on the long tan legs that looked like they were never ending. The skirt she had on did nothing to help my mind that was wondering what her legs would look like completely bare.

Damn. Now I'm no better than the creeps at the other end of the bar. 

"Hey, tattoos. My eyes are up here."

Shit.

I didn't even try to stare for so long. I'm not even sure if she had said anything before she snapped me out of my daze. If she had, I didn't hear a word of it.

Wait. Did she call me Tattoos?

Most people know exactly who I am without me even saying a single word. I hope this girl was just oblivious and not stupid.

"Tattoos?" I questioned her just to see where her mind was with calling me anything but my name, which should be known in here, especially by the staff.

"Well I'm sure you're aware that you are covered in them, so I do believe calling you tattoos is fitting." She had a small smile on her face as she said it. I could tell it wasn't a fake one like most people put on in my presence to try and hide their nervousness.

She has no clue who I am.

I let a light chuckle slip past my lips at the thought of her being completely oblivious to the fact that she was talking to the most dangerous man in New York. She seemed so innocent. The way that she kept trying to pull her skirt down to try and cover herself more. The way her eyes were so bright even in the darkness of the club.

If she could give me a nickname, I would give her one in return. One that I believed fit her well.

"I am fully aware, so Tattoos it is then Angel."