CLUB

When Eros entered his room, Cassandra wasn't there, and it gave him some time to think. He slumped down on the bed, ran his hands over his face, and looked around the room.

"What am I doing? What is going on with me?" he asked himself. He has been asking himself those questions since morning and had not been able to answer them.

Cassandra was occupying his mind in an unhealthy way. It was no longer about sex; he was attracted to her in ways he couldn't even explain, and it was frustrating him because he can't keep on living like that. He tugged at his tie, dragged it away from his neck, and started to pull his shoes. During the interview, all he had thought about was Cassandra and the events of last night. He found himself smiling most of the time at the memories, making the reporter give him confused stares.

He stood up, grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand, and dialed Javier. He had to put a stop to his before it gets out of hand. This was not him; this was not what his father wanted for him, and his father would be so disappointed in him right now. He was losing his mind and surrendering to a woman.

"Mr. Castillo?" Javier's voice came from the other end, jerking him out of his thoughts.

Eros rolled his eyes; he knew Javier was teasing him right now by being formal. "Where are you?"

"I went to supervise the shipment. How did the interview go?"

"Great. I need you to find someone for me."

"Who?"

"A therapist. I need the best one in the country."

There was silence at the other end of the line as if Javier was taking in what he just said. "Wow, what made you change your mind about getting one? You have never agreed to seek help..."

"I don't need help!" Eros spat through gritted teeth. "Well, not that kind of help you are talking about. I think I need to find a professional to speak to."

"What exactly are you working on?"

"It's my life..."

"I need to know what kind of person I am finding exactly."

"Just find someone that deals with mental issues," Eros gritted and hung up, tossed his phone on the bed, and sucked in a sharp breath. His heart dropped to the floor when the door opened, and Cassandra walked in. He sat on the bed, looking at her.

"Er...I'm sorry, I didn't know you were back and in the room."

Eros ignored her. His heart was racing so fast just at the sight of her, he didn't know how his voice will sound if he speaks. To his surprise, Cassandra walked up to him.

"You look stressed out, the interviewer must have harassed you with questions."

What was she doing now? His whole body tensed up when she climbed in behind him and held his shoulders. His face crumpled into a confused frown as she started to massage him gently. This might be another wet dream.

"What are you doing?" he asked, hoping his voice came out as gruffly as he wanted it.

"I am helping you relax," she said slowly, almost in a whisper.

Was she seducing him right now? He shrugged her off before he completely loses his mind. Her touch was sending currents down his body, and he might snap out of control. He stood up. "What is this?"

She huffed and pouted. Damn, she looked so cute doing that, he had to look away from her to be able to remain sane.

"I am trying to apologize for last night, please, I was only drunk and didn't mean whatever I said and for hitting you, I'm sorry about that too... I figured that since you took care of me last night...I should pay..."

Was he angry with her? He had forgotten about that already. "Get out," he said.

"But..."

"Get out!" he snapped. She got down from the bed and headed toward the door. "Get ready, we are going to the club tonight," he said calmly now.

She didn't say anything and left the room. When she shut the door, he fell back on the bed, letting out a deep breath and looking at the ceiling.

"She is a woman, she is cunny, I shouldn't go easy on her, I shouldn't let her manipulate me," he said and kept repeating them to himself as if they will get him back to his sense.

~~~

Evening came quick and Cassandra became nervous. She was going out again with Eros Castillo, on another pretended date, she only hopes he doesn't kiss her again. Earlier, she had tried to carry out her plan, making him comfortable with her and hopefully make him fall for her. Thinking about that, makes her cringe. She can never picture Eros Castillo as a lover boy, he didn't fit into the description, all she sees when she looks at him is an angry misogynist, a tyrant, and a man whore and she was not ready to work so hard on anyone to change them.

She dressed up in a red, lacy, strapless evening dress, with a slit that ran up to her thigh in Eros' bedroom when he was not there and applied some makeup. Her mind still wandered to Apollo and what he did, but she decided to push the thought to the back of her mind. She won't let that ruin her night or make her not play along.

Their car pulled into the club's parking lot after a few minutes' drive and the driver quickly left the car to open the doors for them. Cassandra noticed another car pulling around and caught glimpse of Bully and Javier with two other men she didn't know their names coming out of it. Eros' has not spoken a word to her since he sent her out of his room earlier and it was beginning to worry her.

"Er...Is something going on? Why are they with us?" she asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"I have men follow me wherever I go to," he answered without much interest and took her hand in his. "Let's go in now."

"But last..."

"We are here to meet a cunny bastard; he is in the mafia and should not be trusted."

Just like you shouldn't be trusted, Cassandra thought.

"Last night, we met with foreign clients and that was the business aspect of my work, this is the dirty part and I need to be ready," Eros continued.

"Oh," Cassandra said. "Shows why we are meeting in a club."

"Yes, and also, I have a gun with me." He opened his suit jacket and Cassandra saw a gun tucked into his inner pocket. When he noticed her discomfort, he closed it and smiled. "Don't worry, I won't be using it on you this time, it's just here for protection anything can happen at any time." He couldn't believe he was explaining himself right now.

"I don't like the mafia and I don't want anything to do with it, but you are scaring the shit out of me right now with these talks."

He squeezed her hand and looked at her smiling. Her heart rate spiked, but she tried to ignore it. "It's just precautionary measures, tesoro. Don't think too much about it."

She nodded as they stepped into the clubhouse. They were greeted by loud music blazing from the sound systems and disco lights spinning around the place. Half-clad girls were carrying trays filled with drinks and were walking around the place, serving people, some people were dancing and drinking, but the activities didn't stop the people in the club from noticing them.

Eros was popular among this kind of people and everyone turned to look at the woman Eros walked into the club with, whispering amongst themselves. The eyes on her made her want to dig a hole in the ground with her feet and disappear into it. The women were scowling at her, while some ignored her and greeted Eros, showing off their endowments. Eros ignored them and held her hand tighter as they walked up the stairs in a corner.

Cassandra had never been to a club before, so she had to hang onto Eros for direction. They walked into a room where a few men sat around, smoking and drinking with women by their sides on their bodies. Eros' grip tightened on her as they approached an older man, a man in his mid-forties with a mischievous smile on his face. He almost undressed Cassandra with his eyes, and she felt Eros' grip even tighter on her, his jaw was as sharp as a blade when they got to the man's table.

The man's eyes never left Cassandra and he didn't hide his interest from Eros as he looked her up and down. Cassandra felt very uncomfortable and expected Eros to do something, but all he did was glare at the man.

"Marco, fucking get to business," Eros finally gritted as he sat down beside Cassandra.

The man's eyes left Cassandra and rested on Eros. "Is the dama for me? I like her already."

"If you don't keep your fucking opinions to yourself, I will punch you so hard you won't have any teeth left in your fucking mouth and then I will rip off your tongue and shove it down your throat." Eros was fuming already; his anger just needed a little trigger and it was all blown over.

The man barked out a laugh, grabbed the glass of wine on the table, and leaned back on the couch, not ruffled by Eros' threat at all. It got Cassandra wondering who he was. She knew Eros well enough to know that he would have ordered the man to be beaten to a pulp first for making fun of him, Eros only solved problems with violence.

"How much?" the man asked.

It took Cassandra a few seconds to understand what he meant. Her anger began to seethe, and she glared at the man. Was he being serious right now? She looked at Eros who had gone silent and for a while, she thought he was considering the offer. Of course, he was, to him, it was all business and nothing more, she was worth nothing to him and she knew this man will offer him a huge amount just to get her.

"She is not for sale, Marco, get to business, I am losing my patience."

"That is your problem, impatience. Five hundred thousand dollars." When Eros said nothing, he shrugged. "A million dollars..."

"Excuse me," Cassandra cut in when she couldn't take it anymore. "I am right here, and I am not a piece of property." She turned to Eros. "Is this why you brought me here, to sell me?"

"Wow, feisty one, I love them feisty," Marco said with a cocky grin.

"Leave us for now," Eros whispered to her. "No one is selling you."

Cassandra was angry but she didn't want to act irrationally. Eros should better have a perfect explanation for his sudden calmness of his tonight. She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the place, heading for the stairs.