Playing With The Mafia Prince

Chapter 7: Games

"How do you make dangerous so beautiful?"

Twinkling colorful lights. Impossibly high stilettos and ridiculously tiny dresses. The promise of intoxication and meaningless f*****g hanging in the air like an inevitable. That was Nia’s party in a nutshell.

How her stepmother could allow something like this, never mind organizing it, was beyond me.

I suppose the upper class didn’t abide by the same rules as the rest of us.

“I still can’t believe your stepmom rented out a club,” Alex muttered, his voice so low he was barely heard over the thundering music.

Nia gave him a wolfish grin. She caught sight of someone behind him, someone she must’ve found attractive, and started tugging her dress to reveal more of her cleavage.

“I really hope Lucas comes through,” Dev whispered to me.

Apparently, her stepbrother had promised to bring Matteo to the party as his birthday present for her. I refrained from telling her that Lucas’s promises were probably worth as much as some salt in the ocean.

“I can’t believe your stepmom rented out a club,” Alex muttered, his voice so low he was barely heard over the thundering music.

Dev gave him a wolfish grin. She caught sight of someone behind him, someone she must’ve found attractive, since she tugged on her skin tight silver dress in a way that revealed more of her cleavage.

Alex rolled his eyes when she strutted over to the man, just as Valerie dragged me onto the dance floor by the wrist. I, in turn, clutched onto Alex for dear life because what kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t make him suffer with me?

“I love this song!” Val squealed, releasing me to wrap her arms around Amy instead.

Her poor girlfriend was wide eyed and, even in the crazy lighting, I could see how red her face was.

She was pretty much the only girl in the club dressed in a knee-length dress that was modest and flattering at the same time.

I was about to make a run for it, to head over to the buffet that was set up in the back, but Alex grabbed me around the waist. He was holding a bottle with a label that I couldn’t read, yet I safely assumed was some type of alcohol.

I hadn’t even noticed him pick it up.

My best friend lowered his mouth to my ear to make himself heard over all the noise. “Dance with me.”

“I have three left feet,” I protested.

“I thought it was two left feet.”

“It is! That’s how bad I am!”

He laughed.

Alex’s hand moved lower, to my hip, the other hand coming up to offer me the bottle. I accepted it because, standing here with a man’s seductive voice crooning about f*****g and Alex’s body pressed against mine, I needed all of the liquid courage I could get.

The rim of the bottle was cold and hard against my lips. I tipped my head back to let Alex pour some of it down my throat. It was vodka; I could tell by the sting when I swallowed.

Alex watched me through hooded green eyes, then he started to really move. I lost track of time as we both swayed to the rhythm of a thousand songs, occasionally switching positions to face away from each other.

All I knew was the bottle that we shared, his hands touching me, feeling me, and a voice in the back of my head reminding me that Alex was just a friend.

But that voice grew quieter the more I drank.

At one point there was a noticeable shift in the club, a ripple that ran through the crowd. People were making way for something. Or someone. My head turned on its own accord, my neck craning to see over Alex’s shoulder, and I froze.

Brown clashed with gold.

Matteo and I locked eyes from opposite ends of the club. I could feel Alex’s warm mouth on my neck, and I ground my hips against his, making him groan.

I watched a beautiful girl with red hair slither up to Matteo and kiss him. She was all over him, but his gaze held mine, intense and unwavering.

His eyes moved down to my body, skimming the short black dress I was wearing.

They left a scorching trail of fire in their wake, and I bit down on my lip hard.

Matteo smirked against the red head’s mouth.

I gathered my curls in my hands, lifting my arms up and moving slower, eyes falling shut as I did so.

When I looked again, it took me a second to find Matteo. He’d taken a seat at the bar with his friends surrounding him and the redhead standing between his legs. She seemed blissfully oblivious of the fact that his attention was solely on me.

He buried his fingers in her hair, tugging on it roughly, shooting me a wink like that’s what he wanted to do to me.

Jesus.

He let his hands drift from her hair, down to her body, without breaking eye contact with me. I didn’t know what kind of game we were playing, only that the alcohol I’d consumed made me want to win.

Slowly, I reached up and mimicked his touches on my own body. He shifted in his seat, and for an exhilarating moment, I thought he was going to come over.

All too soon, the spell was broken by Dev’s insistent shouting in my ear. I pulled away from Alex, flushing at the realization that I had forgotten about him the second I saw Matteo.

“He came!” Dev looked like she was about to start bouncing up and down with joy.

“Who did?”

The glare she gave Alex communicated how much of an i***t she thought he was. She pointed subtly back at the bar, and Alex grimaced when he saw them.

Matteo had lost interest in watching me and had diverted his attention over to his boys.

Before Alex could comment on anything, Dev had wrapped her fingers tightly around my upper arm.

What is up with everybody grabbing me today?

She was dragging me over to the bar, obviously intent on getting me killed.

“No, no, no, Dev! Stop!” My efforts at surviving went to waste.

I was about to scream at her that I was far too young to die at the hands of a manic blond, but in my tipsy haze, I was at her mercy.

I managed a quick scan of the bar as we got closer, nearly sighing in relief when I noticed that Lucas wasn’t there.

Thank God for small mercies.

Once we were in Matteo’s line of sight, he called out to Dev—something about her being the “main attraction.”

My friend beamed under his attention, her smile so wide I was sure her face would burst. Matteo began to clap, causing everyone else to clap too.

In a few seconds, he had the whole club stop everything they were doing and start singing happy birthday. I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of this from her for days.

When the singing was over, he strode over to her and kissed her on both cheeks.

I wanted to be happy for Dev because this was everything she’d hoped for on her birthday.

Instead, I found myself shaking my head.

This man hadn’t remembered her name the other day, and now here he was, treating her with all the familiarity of an old friend.

The redhead that had been draped all over him was scowling at Dev and I.

She was even more beautiful up close, with perfect, porcelain skin and startling blue eyes. I would’ve been much more impressed by her beauty if it wasn’t for the disdain etched into her features.

She stepped closer to Matteo, putting a possessive hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to remember to introduce her.

“Ads, this is Devyn Jones, Luca’s stepsister. Devyn, this is Adeline Serra, a good friend of mine.”

Great. He wasn’t gonna bother acknowledging my existence. I didn’t know why I’d expected any different.

I glanced over at the dance floor, longing to go back. I couldn’t see Alex through the crowd, but I caught a glimpse of Val’s unmistakeable sparkly dress.

“Nice to meet you.” Dev offered a kind smile.

Adeline didn’t smile back. “Pleasure,” she sneered.

I forced my gaze away to avoid punching her. There was a guy standing beside me whom I recognized as a member of the CSN. He caught me looking and made an exaggerated imitation of Adeline’s sneer.

I coughed to cover my laugh.

“Don’t take it personally.” He lowered his voice. “It’s just Ursula’s default expression.”

“Ursula?”

He shrugged. “Red hair reminds me of Ariel, but Addie’s too much of a b***h. Figured Ursula’s close enough.”

“More like Chucky,” I muttered under my breath.

The guy let out a booming laugh that was so loud and obnoxious it made me chuckle as well.

“Cassian!” Adeline called in a high pitched voice.

“If you’re done flirting with… whoever, we’re going to the back.” She nodded towards the VIP section of the club. “It’s way too crowded here.”

And the infamous sneer returned.

I could’ve sworn I saw at least three other girls roll their eyes.

Cassian shook his head wordlessly at her offer.

Adeline scoffed, glared at me, then flipped her hair over her shoulder with a dramatic air that rivaled Dev’s.

The rest of the group reluctantly followed behind her, shooting glances at Cassian and I as they went. Dev wiggled her brows at me suggestively.

I rolled my eyes at her and looked away as Cassian leaned over to speak to the bartender.

“I need about a hundred drinks to get rid of the image that you just put in my head.” He glared at me playfully.

“You’re telling me she doesn’t normally walk around with bloody clothes and a butcher’s knife? Well, go figure.”

Cassian laughed again, shaking his head at me. “What’s your name?”

“Emma,” I responded as the bartender handed him a glass of what looked like whiskey on the rocks.

“Can I get you a drink, Emma?”

I bit my lip at his question, looking around the club again in search of Val, Alex, or Amy. Nothing. I faced Cassian again and tilted my head to the side to observe his expectant face.

He seemed like a chill guy.

“No, I’ll take the money, though.” I smiled and sat on the stool next to him to show that I was joking.

He chuckled, and I told him I’d have the same drink as him. I’ve never actually tried whiskey before, but he didn’t need to know that. The second the bartender slid an identical glass over to me, a curvy, beautiful woman sauntered up to us. She gave me a distasteful glance, then turned her attention on an alarmed Cassian.

She slapped him on the arm reproachfully. “Cassy baby, where’ve you been?”

I fought back a grin as Cassian’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“I—uhm…”

“You didn’t see my texts? My snaps? What happened to ‘calling back in a minute?’”

Cassian scratched at the back of his head, looking genuinely at a loss of what to say. He turned a pleading stare onto me, and I decided to help the poor guy out.

It’d be my good deed of the night.

“He’s been busy,” I said, interrupting whatever the woman had been about to say.

She narrowed her eyes at me. I grabbed Cassian’s hand and placed it on my stomach.

“He was so excited after he found out about the baby. Poor guy forgot about everything else. Didn’t you, honey?”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded vigorously. “So excited.”

The woman’s eyebrows shot up. She stared from my sickly sweet expression to Cassian’s relieved one.

“A baby? Damn. Congratulations, I guess.” She patted Cassian on the arm again, smiled at me in a considerably less hostile way, then sauntered back off.

Cassian sighed with relief. “Thanks for that one.”

“No problem, Cassy baby.”

“Shut up.”

“Don’t forget that favor of mine when we’re battling for custody in a few years!”

“Emma, I swear to f*****g god—“

I gasped with mock outrage. “Not in front of the baby, damn it!”

Cassian groaned, but I could see the smile pulling at his lips.

He put his forehead against the smooth surface of the bar. “I feel so nauseous.”

“You mean nauseated.”

“What?”

“You feel nauseated. Nauseous actually means causing nausea, not feeling sick.”

He blinked at me for a few seconds before laughing again. We chatted as we drank. I learned that he was a year older than me and majoring in business. His parents were close friends with Matteo’s, hence his acceptance in the CSN.

“I would’ve quit a long time ago if it wasn’t for my father’s insistence,” he admitted.

“Oh? Somebody steal your snap-back?”

Cassian downed the rest of his whiskey and gestured to the bartender for another one. I was still halfway through my first.

This s**t was strong.

“It’s not what people think it is. All those preppy boys chasing prestige and clout.” He shook his head, downing the next glass and wincing. “The schmucks don’t know the half of it.”

“You could always quit, you know. These are the best years of your life. Don’t waste them doing something you hate.” I knew it probably wasn’t my place to be telling him this, but I was no stranger to having to do something you don’t like out of family obligations.

He opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by a voice that made my stomach clench.