Chapter 3 SAVING MATTEO

JENNIFER'S POV

Excitement is a way to put it. I got a paycheck this evening which means I won't get kicked out after all. I am in a cab and on my way to my next job and the sum of money in my bag already puts me high up there on cloud nine and all I can think of now is the extra cash I will make on my next big, that will certainly be enough to pay completely for my rent and get the landlord off my back.

The vibration from my big drags me out of my blissful thoughts. I dig my hand into my bag and brush past the bundle of cash placed carefully inside, it takes a whole lot not to squeal in excitement.

I pull out my phone and when I see the caller ID flashing on the screen of my ringing phone, I hold back my reflex urge to hiss.

Big Bro.

That's what flashes on my screen.

Seriously.

Way to destroy my mood in seconds.

I busy the call and chuck the phone into my bag. I refuse to think of him. I will not think of him. I shall not think of him, I definitely can not think—

"INCOMING CALL FROM BIG BRO." A tiny robotic voice sings out from my phone.

Oh fuck you Siri and your annoying voice!

Hmph! Not picking. I decide to think good thoughts, okay what to think about, maybe the fact that I am about to make extra cash, yeah that should work.

It doesn't work. Not at all. My excitement has been ruined by this call. You will be wondering what kind of a sister I am but honestly, if you were in my shoes, you'd do the same, especially if you have a deadbeat brother like mine and he calls on your payday, just when you are about to get kicked out of your trashy basement, it definitely will not be wise to pick his calls.

He calls the third time and my conscience pokes at me which raises frustration in my chest, I wish I could ignore this man just for today because I just cannot afford to be homeless and—

I hiss in annoyance and dig out my phone, I swipe to answer the call and what assaults my ear is a blast of music,

Seriously? See why I can't be bothered to pick up his calls.

"Yeniver." He drawls, barely pronouncing my name well, I zone out for a moment admiring the drunken pronunciation of my name, Yeniver, sounds sexy...or not.

Back to what he is saying, I arch my head back and press the phone tightly to my ears so that I can hear him through the noise.

"Yeniver, I am drunk, I can't move, help." He coughs and stumbles around his words.

See?

I close my eyes and rub my hand on my temple suddenly feeling a headache coarse through me.

"Matteo, I can't come, your friends should help you out, I have a job right now okay?" I reply softly but loud enough for him to hear. Again, I would have gone to his rescue for the nth time if I did not have a gig I needed to be at in like five minutes.

"Alone, came alone and —bleurgh!"

I still as I hear him gag. "Matt"

"Jennifer, I — bleurgh!"

I hold my breath and calculate in my head, this is not the first time Matteo calls at night in a club and they all did not end well, I always had to pay for his drinks or his debts if he lost a gamble. What if this is another ploy to get me to come to the club? But what if he just needs someone to drive him home? His gagging is scary.

"I'm coming, where are you?" I blurt out before I can stop myself and I immediately regret it, but he is my brother and only family after all.

"Xxx club " He drawls between hiccups and the line goes silent.

Toot! Toot! Toot!

He already got off the call. Just like that.

I turn to the driver who is already near my destination and I say in a pleading voice, "Please can you change destination? I have an emergency, I'll pay double the price, I promise."

He murmurs something under his voice but still swerves his car and that is how I know that he is turning, "where?"

He sounds grumpy but I do not mind his grumpiness, even though I feel grumpy too.

"Xxx," I say and he zooms off towards the location. This club or wherever Matteo is present, I have never heard of it before, honestly. It does not sound like one of his usual locations where he went to play bets and drink in a stupor. It sounds exquisite. It has a luxurious ring to it and I pray sincerely that it is not as expensive as it sounds.

I place my hand on my jaw and press the button by the door to wind the windows down. I shut my eyes and wonder.

At the back of my head, I have arranged that this impromptu rescue mission will be swift, I will pick him up, drop him at his apartment and head to my next gig, I planned to be early but with fate working hand in hand with both Amanda and now Matteo I doubt I will make it early anymore, in short, I won't.

I let the cool breeze assault my face and massage my hair with its cool caress and I have a really bad premonition but I shove this thought down my stomach. Everything about Matteo never turned out well for her.

"Ma'am, we are here." The driver stops immediately after his words and I alertly flip my eyes open.

"Thank you," I say to him and get off, tipping him and still further expressing my gratitude.

I close the door behind me and I step onto the curb ramp and I behold a very big club.

I am about to die and resurrect because what the hell is my broke-ass brother doing at a high-end club like this? This spits money, it spits exclusive, it spits class, and it reminds me of the tall and gorgeous skyscrapers opposite my workplace in the district.

I look down at my outfit and I cannot help but feel so out of place in the place. I step closer to the club and I see that there is a bouncer or rather, there are bouncers lined up and looking all bucked and murderous. I can't even make my way past them even if I wanted to because they are going to ask questions, how the hell am I supposed to make my way through?

How the hell did Matteo make his way through?

I glance at my watch impatiently and see that a whole thirty minutes has passed since I left my last job at the coffee shop.

God, please keep that job for me, pretty please.

My brother certainly will be the death of me.

"Hey, excuse me, you are in the way." I feel a tap on my shoulder and I look over to see a lady in—

Well, clothes and long lashes, flicking her exaggerated nails at me.

She screams Old fucking money despite the craziness of her carriage, it is just a bad sense of taste and fashion maybe.

I step out of her way immediately and watch her saunter further, chewing her bubblegum quite loudly and of course I hear her snicker, "Dirty rats everywhere these days."

A sense of shame washes over me, but I remind myself that I don't have the time, whether I look like a drowned rat or my cheap perfume smells like a refuse dump is none of my business.

I watch as she shows them her card and they push open the door of the club to her.

Once again, how did Matteo make his way inside?

I dig out my phone and call Matteo, but it rings continually and that's it. I call a few more times but I am met with this response.

I walk to the side of the clubhouse and pace in deep thought. It would have been easy for me if Matteo answered his call, this way I would have told him to come out and we would have headed away from this place.

A car pulls over, not just any car but a sexy-looking Rolls-Royce Phantom, don't ask me how I identified it. One step out and the other, and I'm swooning, but that's not the point, the point is that the man who comes out of the car is dangerously handsome, he was busy with his phone but just his side profile was so handsome at first glance that Eli's entire profile would grovel in comparison.

So sorry Eli.

A sudden thought surges through my head and impulsively I head towards the man but immediately another man draped in a suit comes in between and holds me like a thief.

Bad choice, Jen, bad choice.

I immediately struggle to let loose, and at the same time I call out to the man who stood there behind the meddlesome lackey and plead,

"Sorry to intrude but I need your help please."

The man just with the wave of his finger motions to the other man who lets go of me but not before he throws me a stink eye. I don't have the time to gloat but dive straight to business as the man is busy with his phone,

"Please can you help me get in?"I ask, and I seriously think I sound stupid as it leaves my mouth, to that effect, I shrink into my shoulders and wait for his reply which was only a few seconds but it felt like minutes.

He slowly puts away his phone and looks down at me—He is towering over me.

All I can say right now is that I am speechless.

No, I am not, because what?!

You know those movies where the man is so Italian, a CEO and dangerously handsome? The type that pins you to a wall and does things to you? (I know that's a lot of detail.) That's what he looks like, what am I saying? He is even way better! His dark eyes look like they are piercing down into my soul, his nose is pointed and even straighter than Eli's, his eyebrows full and sabre and his—

"Why?" His voice drags my attention back to the situation at hand but melts me in the process because the baritone with it was so...

"Huh?" I ask dumbly.

Jen. Seriously?!