The Mafia's Beloved Angel

Prologue

Henry turned to me, his eyes smoldering and powerful. "Felicia, if you want me to leave, all you have to do is ask. I can walk out that door, and Tuesday we'll have a very nice, very polite date."

"Or?"

"Or I can stay."

Henry's words were accompanied by a promise of something in his eyes, something I'd never felt before. Sensual, and utterly satisfying, his eyes said to me that if I let him stay, my life would never be the same again. Still, my hand reached for the doorknob, resting on it for a moment before falling away to hang by my side. I turned and walked towards him, putting my arms around his neck. It was so different than the kiss in the parking lot. Without my high heels on, he almost towered over me, looking down into my eyes.

"You know, we never did finish that dance."

CHAPTER 1

Felicia

"Come on Felicia , you've been hiding up in your apartment for weeks now."

The disturbing voice in my ear belonged to Sassy, my best friend. A relentless man chaser, she lived by the motto YOLO. Five foot five, hourglass figure with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, she could pretty much seduce any man she wanted because they all wanted her.

How the two of us became friends is a mystery that really had a lot to do with luck more than anything else. Coming into a new city from high school, the two of us had been put together in the freshman dorms by pure random group assignments picked up by the computer.

I had been sitting at my desk, trying to set up my computer when Sassy walked in, two basketball players already following her, carrying some of her bags.

I'd braced myself for the worst. Sassy had the air of someone who could rule the social hierarchy without breaking a sweat. I, on the other hand, was an introverted bookworm from a small town, hoping to survive the big city without making a fool of myself.

There should have been no reason for the two of us to hit it off as friends, but we did and thank goodness we got each other.

"Hey, !" she had said brightly, flashing me a grin as she tossed her designer bag onto her table . "You must be Felicia. You look... studious. Don't worry, we'll fix that."

Her words caught me off guard, but her laughter was infectious.She wasn't wrong-I was a skinny, plain brunette who preferred jeans and oversized sweaters. There should have been no reason for us to hit it off, but we did. Sassy had a way of making people feel like they belonged, even when they didn't.

Because Sassy who not only made sure that the idiots around campus didn't give me any crap, but also helped me work my way around school's social life.

You can see how it went. By the end of junior year in nursing school, we were officially known among our social group as The Odd Couple, and did everything together. It was Sassy who convinced me to get a tattoo on my shoulder during senior year, and it was I who convinced Sassy not to just jump into marriage with the upcoming artist Jenz D, man she'd been dating who saw her more for her tight ass and perky tits than the young woman I called my friend.

"You came to college to get your degree, not your M-R-S," I told her. When Jenz D got caught cheating on his senior thesis and kicked out, she thanked me by taking me to the Bahamas for Spring Vacation.

Unfortunately, graduation caused us to drift apart some. Sassy went immediately to work on her MBA not wanting to be a nurse anymore , while I had to pick up two jobs, one as an unpaid intern in a local emergency room as a way to get my foot in the door with the local healthcare providers, and another tending bar close to the hospital.

I didn't blame Sassy for having so many choices and vacations in life, her parents were able to pay for it, mine couldn't. But over the past two years, we'd gone from seeing each other every day to maybe three or four times a month.

Tonight was one of my few nights off, and I had originally planned to spend it doing some long overlooked cleaning of my apartment, and then crash. I had it doing some long overlooked cleaning of my apartment, and then crashed.

I had an early double shift at the ER the next morning, running files, doing admin stuff, and avoiding Dr.Jacobs staring at my ass. He's a creepy bastard, plain and simple. When Sassy called at six thirty, I knew my plans were going out the window.

"Sassy, I've got a seven in the morning start down at the ER tomorrow," I said to her, trying to get out of it, not that it ever worked. "Seriously, can't we put this off until Saturday?"

"Are you kidding? DJ Dice is only in town through tonight. He's one of the best, and I was able to score tickets for three of us. So I invited you and Jerry. You know you two had fun the last time you went out with us. Besides, name the last time you had a Saturday night off. You're either slinging drinks down at the Bliss ,where you work , or down in the ER treating the same idiots you would have been serving any other night."

"I know, but you know what's going to happen. You're going to get drunk, Jerey going to get picked up by at least two women, and possibly go home with both, and where does that leave me? Catching a cab home after midnight and maybe putting you to bed? You've got a strange idea of what to do on a Wednesday night."

"That's called adventure!" Sassy chirped. "Anyway, it's a Wednesday, not a Saturday. You've got no excuse."

"Maybe for you. For me, it's exhausting."

Sassy sighed dramatically. "Felicia, you're young, you are not sixty.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. My apartment was a mess, and I'd planned to use the night to clean and unwind. The last thing I wanted was to be dragged into Sassy's whirlwind. Still, a part of me missed the carefree girl I used to be.

"Sassy, I-"

"Don't even think about saying no," she interrupted. "I'm already outside your building. You have ten minutes to get dressed, or I'm coming up there."

I glanced out the window and, sure enough, her red sports car was idling at the curb. She wasn't bluffing.

"Fine you are impossible," I muttered. "But you owe me coffee tomorrow."

She let out a squeal of triumph. "You won't regret it, babe. And wear something hot!"

As I dug through my closet, I couldn't help but reflect on how different my life had become. Back in college, I might have looked forward to a night like this. Now, between long hours at the hospital and my bartending job, I barely had the energy to socialize.

Still, as much I miss the carefree girl I used to be-the one who laughed at Sassy's wild antics and didn't think twice about staying out until 3 a.m.

I pulled out a little black dress that hadn't seen the light of day in months and slipped it on.

"Let's get this over with," I muttered to my