Matteo

It was morning.

Nine in the morning.

It was nine in the morning and this dumb fucker was standing next to his bed.

What was even worse was the fact that he had a sombrero on his head, his fingers constantly pulling at the strings of the guitar causing Matteo's ears to bleed. He sang happy birthday to him in their first language, his voice way too loud and energetic in the morning that Matteo let out a loud groan and hid his face in the pillow.

He envisioned that he awoke to the view of a beautiful woman lying in his bed. She would be curled up in his arms with her head placed on his chest, the tips of her fingers tracing along the patterns of the ink on his skin. He realized that it was one of her favorite things to always peak at his tattoos and whenever she could gain the opportunity to touch them, he would give it to her.

He wanted his fingers to be lost in the soft and luscious locks of her beautiful strawberry blonde hair. Her hair was thick with just enough volume to frame her face and he loved how good it made her look.

He was unfortunately snapped out of his own dream world when the sound of his friend's loud screech that shocked him.

"Esci da casa mia prima che ti rompa il collo!" Matteo snapped in frustration, throwing one of his pillows against Reggie. (Get the fuck out of my house before I fucking break your neck.)

"Oye, mi amigo. No need to be so aggressive on your birthday, capo. Relax and celebrate-" he strum the strings of his guitar vigorously, "and have a fiesta!"

Matteo groaned. "You're hurting my ears."

Reggie laughed. "You need to wake up now, birthday boy."

"Fuck off."

Reggie forced him out of his bed, saying that there was a surprise for him downstairs. He was reluctant to do so but instead he decided to listen to his friend and hopped into the shower. When he was done and fully dressed, he got downstairs only to see his men along with Vincent and Reggie.

They wished their boss a happy birthday which followed with respectful bows before him. This was something new from the parties that they threw him, and now they showed up at his house which surprised him most certainly.

Reggie was still wearing that ridiculous hat and declared that he was about to sing a song for his boss, the birthday boy. Matteo sighed as he rubbed his temple with his two fingers, as Reggie strummed the strings of the guitar with a lot of aggression.

Before he could even let out a word, Vincent had approached him from behind and yanked off the hat. He scolded Reggie saying that no one was keen on hearing his terrible singing, and dragged him to his seat at the table.

"If Aurora was here, I'm sure she would have enjoyed my song." he grumbled. "Where is she by the way?"

"She's having a sleepover with Cordelia." he replied as he stabbed the fork into the scrambled eggs.

"That's shit timing. Why would she go there when it's your birthday?" Reggie asked in disbelief.

Matteo, being the observant man he was, noticed a faint smile on Vincent's face at Reggie's outburst.

Matteo shrugged. "She's a big girl, she can do whatever she wants."

She can do whatever she wants but fuck couldn't it have at least been with him?

"The way you just said that makes me believe that you are lying." Reggie said.

Matteo said nothing but sipped on his coffee and sent a glare at Reggie.

He almost spilt his coffee when Reggie shocked him by slapping his palm on his shoulder and gripping it, giving his body a slight shake.

He smiled widely at his boss. "Well, Mr bossman, you are going to have a good night with a boys, eh?"

His words brought cheers from the other men and Reggie chuckled along with them, his hand still gripping Matteo's shoulder.

"Do you value your hands, Reggie?" Matteo asked slowly.

He looked at him confused. "The ladies value them." he replied, confusion evident in his voice.

Matteo looked at him with a blank face. "Then get your hand off me before they lose their precious item."

Matteo looked at himself in the mirror in his bedroom.

It was six in the evening, the awaited time that the boys would pick him up and take him wherever it is they wanted to take him. He expected them to arrive at one of Cordelia's grand parties she always threw for him, but this time he had actually taken the time to dress up.

The reason being was because someone was at his former house, already a guest at the party who would be seeing him. He disregarded his casual attire that would show Cordelia he wasn't interested in the parties and sought for a very distinguished look this time.

He was dressed in a bit more formal attire than previous parties. It was a black tuxedo that he rarely wore paired with a black shirt and the same colored dress shoes. He knew that he appeared a bit dull and according to his sister very "gothic" but colors that were unnecessarily bright were not his thing.

He had combed his hair to the back, making use of the hair products that Vincent had gotten him a year ago. His freshly shaved undercut had three lines going along them on the right side, and he fluffed a bit of his hair at the front.

He stared at the tie around his neck and after a long debate on whether he should keep it on or not, he decided to take it off. He felt like he was suffocating and hated wearing them, opting to opening only two buttons of his shirt which revealed his thin silver chain.

Honking of the car outside of his home alerted him that it was time for him to leave. He walked out of his bathroom and went to go shut off the lights, noticing Aurora's cat lying on his bed. If it wasn't hers, he would have thrown it out a long time ago, so he ignored it.

The boys were acting more weird that usual during the duration of the car ride to whatever destination they were going to. The first thing he noticed was that Reggie kept tapping the gear stick, which was something he did when he was excited. He would also notice the secretive glances he would exchange with Vincent and honestly, it ticked Matteo off.

Whatever it is these two were up to, he wanted to find out.

"What the fuck are you smiling at?" Matteo asked, exasperated at the constant smile plastered on Reggie's face.

Reggie cleared his throat, sitting up straight in his seat. "Nothing. I'm just excited for tonight."

Reggie noticed his boss looking at him through the rear view mirror and smiled once again, with a glint in his eye.

"Don't worry, bossman. You're going to enjoy your birthday tonight."

Soon enough, the three men arrived at a fancy looking Italian restaurant. Matteo was confused at that moment, taken by surprise at the different location from his old house. He glanced over at his men clearly wanting to know why they were here, but Reggie just chuckled and got out of the car.

The two men followed suit, walking behind Reggie who seemed to know very well what he was doing. He was at the receptionist before Matteo could overhear his conversation, only hearing that Reggie had thanked the woman standing behind the counter.

Reggie turned around with a smile. "Follow me, bossman."

He hated not knowing what was going on.

He decided to go along with whatever his men were planning and judging by how clam Vincent was, he was clearly informed about the night ahead of them. Reggie had him walk to a secluded section of the restaurant, not many people were in view anymore and Matteo grew even more confused.

There was one table in front of him.

One table with only two chairs.

"Explain." he turned to his men, raising one brow.

Reggie smiled, clasping his hands together. "I would love to but I have to go...park the car."

"The car is already parked, Reggie." he said, his irritation surfacing.

"Unless you're disabled then we can gladly stay in that spot."

Matteo said nothing. Reggie chuckled at his boss before walking away, Vincent walking behind him which confused Matteo.

"Where are you going?" he asked him.

"Making sure he parks in the right spot." Vincent answered him while still walking away.

He stared at the spot where his men had just left. He had never been more confused in his life than he was at this very moment. He glanced back at the scene displayed in front of him, where a single table with two chairs close to each other were located.

There was a glass window behind the table, and he walked around the table still watching the table. There were flower petals at the centre of the surface, decorated with cutlery as well as the glasses and plates they needed. If today was February fourteenth, it would have suited that day perfectly with how romantic the set up had appeared to be.

While he waited for those fuckers to arrive and explain to him what was going on, he stood by the glass window and looked outside. There was the view of the city along with the sun that had nearly disappeared from the sky.

He was growing impatient, clenching his jaw as he waited for those two imbeciles to come back. His ears caught the distant sound of heels clicking against the floor, but not the sound of his usual dress shoes but this time it was different to that.

He had been waiting for over five minutes for those idiots and he grew impatient and more frustrated the longer they took. He was ready to demand questions, turning around to see if they had arrived yet when he heard a small gasp behind him.

He turned around, his own breath now caught in his throat at a sight different from his two men in their casual attire. An even better and much more remarkable sight was gifted to his eyes as he drank in the beauty of what she was wearing.

She looked at him with wide eyes. First looking at him before she scanned the entire room and had his same reaction when he saw the scenery of the place. She seemed to be confused as much as he was, and her eyes flitted back to his.

"Matteo?" she whispered.

Her voice was so enticing that he realized how much he had missed the whisper of his name from her mouth.

"What's going on?" she asked.

He clenched his fists in his pockets as he realized what his friends had just done to him. Their only purpose was to lure the two of them here to force them alone together. There was no party, and no celebration with the big family but instead his birthday was going to consist of just a date.

A date.

A date with his precious girl.

He stepped closer to her. "You tell me."

Hi everyone!!!

Your girl is going to be a freshman in uni omgggg. I'm so excited and nervous.

I hope you guys are liking this book. Don't forget to vote and comment, love you all :)