Chapter 3 Befuddlement

Eros Draeger pov

Slapping my forehead I realized that I didn't want to go to the human bar at this hour and exhaled deeply.

“Guess I will go to the Relruz,” I murmured and headed to my ensuite. After showering and dressing myself, I grabbed my wallet and keys.

Exiting my bedroom, I saw Tess on my white leather couch, brushing out Samson and leaving piles of black fur in small piles. The feline looked like he had died and gone to heaven. I was surprised that he wasn't reciting sonnets to the woman.

Rosie was washing my large windows that overlooked the Vegas strip and my walk-out balcony.

“I'm going and won't be returning later so please lock up when you're finished, Rosie,” I called out.

“Certainly, sir,” she responded and I noticed that Tess looked up at me. Our eyes connected, and I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my heart. I rubbed at my chest absentmindedly.

Scowling I looked away and continued to my door. Stopping by the table, I grabbed my cell phone, intending to call Faro, my dear friend, and ask about this unusual feeling I was experiencing.

Hoping that he could stop by the bar for a bit to have a drink I called him after I exited my home and headed toward the elevator.

The call continued to ring but then Faro answered.

“What do you want Eros,” he asked me without a hello.

“Meet me at the bar,” I barked and he snorted.

“It's nine in the morning; are you getting a head start on your day? Is the bar even open at this hour?” he asked in bewilderment.

“Yeah, they always are in Sin City, but I'm heading to Relruz. You know that it will open up for me and, well, our kind,” I whispered as I passed the lobby and the humans that mingled about as they started their day.

“Well, you're not going there for your evening entertainment, huh? Now I'm intrigued. Give me thirty minutes to collect this soul and I will meet you there.”

I replied with a curt yep and ended the call as I stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed to the demon-owned establishment located conveniently across the street.

When I entered the bar attached to the hotel the bartender glanced up at me and gave me a slight nod in welcome.

“Faro will be joining me. Are the private rooms upstairs open?” I asked the subservient demon disguised as a human.

“Noah is in the first room so head to the second one,” he said gruffly.

“Send up a bottle of Macallan as well,” I demanded.

Scoffing, he growled, “ That's forty thousand a bottle, Eros!”

Not bothered by the cost, I smirked, lifted two fingers, and told him to bring me two then.

Shaking his head, I watched him lift up the receiver to the telephone to either get it or call the owner, Noah Brinx, to approve the purchase. I gestured to him that I was going upstairs and he waved me off before shouting that both bottles would be sent up.

Loosening my tie I sat down in the sectional and stared at the stripper pole that was in the center of the private room.

Not long after I sat a scantily clad female demon entered with the two bottles of the expensive Scotch and asked me if I needed to be entertained.

Giving her a narrowed glare I growled, “Do whatever you want. I don't give a shit what you do.”

Rolling her eyes I watched her go toward the pole and begin her routine.

Normally I would have been enthralled but now only visions of that tiny redhead filled my thoughts and gave me a bitter taste in my mouth as if I had sucked on a lemon.

Rubbing my eyes to clear my thoughts I heard the door open and Faro’s excited voice at seeing the stripper.

“Awe, is this all for me,” he questioned cockily.

Side-eyeing him, I gave him a sarcastic laugh and said, “Entertainment comes with a private room.”

“I see, so dear friend what in the hell is going on with you?”

Pouring a few fingers of the liquor into a glass, I offered the blonde-haired reaper some, but he declined.

“I'm on the clock and can't reap properly intoxicated,” he said firmly and I shook my head before downing the entire glass contents.

“I met a female, and my chest started hurting and she smelled exotic,” I explained roughly.

Faro’s eyes were on the stripper pole and ignoring me completely.

Digging in my wallet I pulled out a couple of hundred dollar bills and waved them into the air.

“Take this and leave us, wench,” I demanded sternly of the woman.

She quickly snatched the money and scurried out of the room covering her bare breasts with her forearm.

Finally gaining Faro's attention I repeated what I had first said.

His strange eyes studied me closely before a grin broke his face.

“Sounds like you have met your mate,” he said matter of factly and I huffed in annoyance.

“Bullshit, Bud. I'm an incubus demon, and mates don't exist for us,” I rebuked, and he chuckled.

Shrugging, he sighed and said, “If she's not that, then I don't know what to tell you. Fuck her and see if it's different from all the other holes you've put your cock into.”

Shaking my head, I told him that would be difficult since she was my housekeeper, and he burst out into obnoxious laughter, infuriating me.

“I don't want a mate even if she were. I don't know the first thing about having a relationship other than getting a part of their life force and sending them on their merry way. Plus, Lucifer condemns it from his demons, especially me,” I asserted, and the bastard just nodded his head at me.

“I understand the lack of relationships. I'm literally death. Do you think it's easy for me?”

Rolling my eyes, I told him that none of this was about him, and he deflated before asking me to pour him a drink.