Chapter 2 Cole Ryder's New Obsession

Cole Ryder's POV

"If I didn’t know you, boss, I would think you were interested in the girl dancing down there.”

The voice came from beside me. I had not noticed how intently I’d been staring at the lady on the dancefloor until my second-in-command spoke.

"And yet, here you are, implying it," I said with a hint of finality I hoped Jeffery would be smart enough to pick up on and leave me the fuck alone.

I have never been obsessed with anything except the blood of my enemies, but as I watched the girl in front of me dance, swinging her hips to the beat of the music while my eyes tracked and followed her every move from the VIP section of the club. I knew exactly what I wanted. Her.

I didn’t know her name, but as I watched her, drunk, and stumbling as she danced, I knew it did not matter. It would not be her own name she would be chanting at the end of the day anyways.

The need to bend and break her, to own her, possess her.

I did not even try to understand the feelings she welled up inside me… I have never truly understood myself lately anyways.

“I mean, If I didn’t know you...”

I didn’t look at him as I cut him off “...And if I didn’t know you, I’d think you valued your life, Jeffery.”

He snorted. “Threat noted. Still… you haven’t blinked in two minutes.”

Jeffery was like a dog with a bone. When he grabbed on to a train of thought, there was no pulling him back.

"You're still staring at her. We're having this conversation, and you've not turned to look at me even once."

"You overestimate the sight of your face, Jeffery. There's not much to look at in your direction. Also, I'm not interested in the girl, so drop it."

Lies....All of it. I was hooked on a woman I hadn’t even seen clearly.

Not only was I staring at the girl, I was picturing her in a thousand, different uncomfortable positions that would bring me joy. Crazy. Absolutely unhinged.

I forced myself to focus on the drink in my hand. I wasn’t in California for pleasure. I was here because one of my men had decided to grow a conscience...a fatal mistake in my world. Someone broke omertà, and I was here to send a message that would echo for decades.

The dungeon beneath this very club was waiting.

I was glaring at the glass in my hand when movement from the general dance floor caught my attention again.

Three men were surrounding my girl like vultures waiting for a dead body.

I did not even realize that I had named and claimed her in my head.

I turned to look at Jeffery, who was also looking at the scene unfolding below with a smirk on his face.

"Want me to go fix that, Boss?" Jeffery said without even bothering to hide the amused look on his face.

"Jeffery, you know I am the last person who would go in search of a woman. They are all better off without me in their lives. You know how it always goes..."

I knew Jeffery understood exactly what I meant—he always had. But it didn't stop him from smiling down at the dance floor.

I followed his eyes and this time what I saw made my blood boil. The drunk girl was fending off the men both physically and verbally, but they didn't stop.

They kept reaching out to touch her waist, her hair, and pulling her whichever way, disorienting her and making her stumble.

1...2...3...4. I counted the vultures. There were four of them.

I could hear her small voice saying "No, I don't want to dance...no, don't touch me," but the fools didn't care. One of them even took the opportunity, when she turned to speak to another, to drag her to himself...pulling her to his chest and trying to kiss her.

Son of a bitch.

I saw red. Drunk or not, I did not care. This fools clearly were not in love with their hands since they went around messing with my girl... touching her... forcing themselves on her like snivelling pigs.

The rage I felt in that moment can not be put into words. Images of their broken bodies scattered on the floor filled my dark mind.

The guy in the dungeon downstairs would be getting roommates, finally.

"Boss..." Jeffery whispered roughly.

That was all the push I needed. I would kill Jeffery later for hounding me... But I could not deny that I wanted...no...needed to save her.

I did not give myself another minute to think about it as I stood from my lush sofa in the secluded VIP section and walked down the small stair to the general area.

Sometimes, I forgot who I was. Times like this, I forgot the position I held in the mafia. So I visibly recoiled when the people instinctively cleared a path for me as I walked through the crowd.

I could hear the whispers of "Paimon" or "Buenaventura" while I walked, but everyone else went silent.

The weight of my position was a burden and sometimes a curse, but today, in that moment, as I walked slowly towards the group, it was a damn crown.

It gave me the darkest joy to watch the men surrounding my girl squirm as I approached. Good, they knew me. They may not know me enough to recognize me, but they knew the name. Paimon. The nickname and title I had earned from birth. The demon of darkness. Death bringer. I was darkness and death personified.

The men began to backpedal, trying to flee. They had not moved two steps backwards before my men had grabbed them and held them firmly. She was Mine!! And with every fibre of my being, I wanted to claim her.

A simple nod of my head and the men were pulled out of the club's dance floor and would be taken to the room downstairs. Jeffery was going to have a field day with them before I would get there to finish the job.

The disoriented girl in front of me swayed on her feet as she tried her very best to stay upright and awake.

I stood directly in front of her, my broad body shielding her from the small crowd that gathered and tried to peep a quick look at her.

I angled my body to protect her from the bright party lights while watching her struggle to keep her eyes open. I stared at her small figure, wondering what made her drink so much that she was inebriated.

"I don't want to dance," her small, soft voice whispered.

"Good thing I'm not much of a dancer," I responded and picked her up, expertly throwing her over my shoulder.

"Put me down, you big mountain man!!" she said, struggling weakly to come down from my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. She needed to sleep the alcohol off, and there was no safer place than my private room upstairs.