“What do I say to him?”
“After watching you beat the shit out of him, fuck him, then let him walk out of here without any care, I doubt you’ll lose much sleep over it,” Spencer said.
“Are we clear?” I asked. Norman nodded, and I turned and walked out of the room. I knew Spencer was right behind me without looking. We never left one another hanging.
“I feel like I should go check on that kid,” Spencer murmured as we made our way down the hallway.
“From what it sounds like, he may be used to this.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s okay, West.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
I stopped and took hold of Spencer’s forearm and turned him so I could look him in the eye. Whenever we’d co-topped, Spencer had always leaned in the Daddy Dom direction. He was the one who could spank or flog and then wrap them in blankets and cuddle. He naturally wanted to take care of all the bottoms after he whipped them.
“It’s damaging to be emotionally stripped bare and then left to wander about.”
“I know, Spence. I’m not stopping you from checking on him. I’m just gently trying to tell you not to expect him to eat out ofyour hands if he’s used to this treatment. You and I will show up next weekend, and we’ll see if he wants to play with us.”
“I’ll go check the locker room and see if he’s still there. I would feel better seeing him before we leave.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you in the main room.”
Spencer and I went in different directions once we reached the end of the hallway. I spotted Steph and David sitting on a couch. I walked over to them, and before I took a seat across from them, I asked, “Mind if I sit?”
“Feel free,” David said as he gestured to the chair across from them. “So how was your time with Mitzi?” he asked. He and Steph both had huge smiles on their faces. They were there and saw the joke of a session it turned out to be.
“Disappointing probably sums it up,” I replied. They nodded as if they weren’t surprised. I glanced in the direction of the hallway as my thoughts drifted back to Norman and the guy he’d played with. “Hey, let me ask you something.” I leaned closer, over the narrow coffee table, to keep our conversation as private as possible. “Spence and I were watching Norman and a guy play tonight. They were playing rough, and Norman just let the guy leave without any care. Do you have any idea who it was?”
“That’s the kid we were talking about earlier.” David sat up straighter and moved to the edge of the couch. “That’s Skyler. He’s the opposite of just about all the new young people. You’d never know all those screams and cries come out of him,” David said.
“He just plays with Norman and quietly leaves,” Steph said.
“Like a ghost,” David commented.
“A rope ghost,” Steph added.
“Why?” David asked me.
Spencer walking into the main room caught my attention, and my eyes naturally gravitated toward him. Both of us werecraving a third who could handle both of us. This Skyler kid might be worth talking to.
As Spencer sat in the chair next to me, I smiled at him and then looked at David before saying, “I think Spence and I want to catch the ghost.”
5
Shawn
After I left Edge, I walked a few blocks to the bus stop. I was still warm from the shower at Edge, but my hair was wet. So by the time the bus arrived, I was more than ready to get into some shelter from the cold, shitty weather. I rode the bus for a few stops and then got off at the one closest to my favorite fast-food restaurant. Having just earned some money, I was able to pay for rent and get myself a treat.
As I hurried into the well-lit, inviting restaurant, I realized how sore and stiff I felt from playing with Norman tonight. While I perused the menu, I reminded myself that I needed to take some ibuprofen.
I ordered a double roast beef sandwich, two orders of curly fries, an apple turnover, and a chocolate shake. I ate some of the fries and sipped on the shake while I waited for the sandwich to be done. Going from the frigid temperatures outside to the warm bus, then back out in the cold, and into the warm restaurant, had made my fingertips feel as though they were on fire. Before I leftthe fast-food place, I wrapped some napkins around the shake so it wouldn’t be so cold.
It was just after midnight when I turned onto my street. Given the weather and the aches that had already set in, I was actually looking forward to getting inside. By the time I closed and locked the door behind me, those napkins hadn’t done much to combat the cold. I went straight to my room, flipped on my light, and set the bag of food on my dresser before I peeled the soggy napkins away from the cup. My hands were cold, and the ends of my fingers were hot.I hate Denver winters.
I’d just unzipped my puffer coat when Mills appeared in my doorway. Mills was my landlord of sorts. He operated differently than most conventional landlords. Anyone who stayed here worked for him too. He basically told all of us where to be and who we were spending time with. He knew how much we were supposed to receive after each job, and he expected at minimum that amount. If we were short the monthly rent, it was up to us to figure out how to come up with the rest of it. Others called him a pimp, but I slept better at night calling him my landlord.
We were all in shitty situations, running from something and had no better options. It was either be homeless and hungry or do whoever he said. I couldn’t use my real identity anymore, so getting a legit job, earning a paycheck, and maintaining a bank account wasn’t an option for me. I had to pay a small fortune for a driver’s license with a fictitious name that was passable at first glance.
