“Skyler Diego,” I said under my breath.
I leaned back in the chair to admire the picture and stared unapologetically at him. I took a screenshot of his member profile page, including the picture, then cropped out everything with the exception of the photo and sent it to my phone.
He wore a confident smirk on his face, one that looked like he wanted to make sure he came off as a tough guy or was hard around the edges. West and I had seen that type of guy with our everyday jobs, and it usually annoyed the fuck out of me, but I didn’t mind it with Skyler. After seeing genuine tough guys daily, I could tell that Skyler was all bark and no bite.
The playful gleam in his eye told me he reserved that side—the playful side—for a select few. West and I wanted to be lucky enough to see that side of him. Hell, wewanted to be the men who pulled the playfulness out of him.
His jawline was a mix of masculinity and youthfulness. Though he wasn’t clean shaven, I imagined it was a few days’ worth of hair growth. My guess was that he often kept the scruff so he’d look older and rougher. I smiled as I remembered how scruffy his face felt, but the hair wasn’t rough or abrasive.Yet.
I stared at him for a few long minutes, imagining how well he would fit in with West and me. Visually, Skyler did things to my body. Not only were the butterflies dancing around erratically, but my cock had stiffened and demanded attention. I unzipped my pants, reached into my boxer briefs, and took hold of my shaft. Leaning back in the chair, I pulled my shirt up so it wouldn’t get messed up while I jacked off to Skyler’s picture on the screen. I didn’t prolong anything and quickly came on my chest. That took the edge off for now, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d need more of Skyler. I sat upright as best as I could without making more of a mess and yanked a bunch of tissues out of the Kleenex box behind the laptop screen. As I cleaned the jizz off my chest and abdomen, I grew curious about the age gap.
“How old are you exactly?” I wondered out loud as I tossed the tissues in the trash can next to the desk. I scrolled below his picture and found the date of birth and did the math. “Okay, so twenty-four.”Not too bad.I didn’t feel like West and I were robbing the cradle at least. West was only eleven years older, and I was thirteen years older.
Working for Michael Alatorre at Black Diamond had afforded me access to nearly any system I wanted, or needed, access to. When looking up potential clients and partygoers of Michael’s, I had four systems that were tried and true. Theyalways gave me a solid page or two of valid personal info that I needed in order to give Michael the approval or denial on whoever I was looking into. After the four systems had failed to feed me anything on Skyler, I leaned back in my chair and stared at the screen.
I was perplexed and a bit confused as to why I couldn’t find anything on Skyler while searching the routes that almost always turned something up. If I couldn’t locate info on someone using these methods, it typically meant the person was good at hiding and purposely trying not to be found. Those were the type of people I would advise Michael to steer clear of and not let into his resort parties or open a tab for. While common sense was telling me to listen to my own advice, my heart was telling me otherwise. There had to be some explanation.
“What are you hiding?” I murmured.
Determined to find out something on him, I moved on to the darker recesses of the web. I was immersed in searching and was startled when my phone vibrated on the desk with an incoming call. I pried my eyes away from the screen and was shocked to discover I’d been obsessively searching for hours, and now it was going on noon. I swiveled around in the chair to face the window while I answered the call from Sawyer. I didn’t want to be distracted by the screen when talking to him.
“What’s up, Sawyer?” I asked.
“Hey, Spence. Michael and I are in Denver for the afternoon. Want to grab lunch?”
“Yeah, that sounds great. Just tell me when and where.”
“We’re planning on stopping by my parents’ restaurant on Larimer.”
“I’m definitely down for that.”
“We’re on our way now, and I’ll let the hostess know you’re coming. I tried to reach West to see if he wanted to join us, but he didn’t answer.”
“He said he had some things to do for Michael today, so I imagine he’s occupied with that. I’ll grab my jacket and head over.”
“See you soon.”
As much as I would have rather continued on with my Skyler snooping, I knew better than to decline the invite to lunch with Michael and Sawyer. I closed down all the tabs on my laptop and powered it down before I went to change into something more appropriate to meet with Michael and Sawyer. I quickly put on some black slacks and a white button-down shirt, then slid a black sport coat on. I glanced at myself in the mirror once more and grabbed my key fob and wallet, then I was on my way.
About twenty minutes later, I pulled into the valet section of Lombardi’s. At times, West and I thought Sawyer was more connected than Michael was, even though Michael was head of the organization. Sawyer knew everyone, or people who knew everyone, which I thought might come in handy regarding Skyler. Sawyer’s philanthropic family was well known and loved all over Denver, which was so funny because if they knew the sinister things Sawyer was doing for Michael, they’d probably die of shock. But Michael’s group understood discretion and kept things close to the vest in regard to what we actually did.
“Welcome to Lombardi’s,” the young woman behind the podium greeted me as soon as I walked in.
“Hi. I’m meeting Sawyer and Michael,” I said.
“Right this way.” I followed her into the dining room and spotted Michael and Sawyer right away. They stood as we approached and smiled while the hostess pulled a chair out for me. “Enjoy your meal, gentlemen,” she said.
“Thank you,” Michael replied.
Before the three of us sat down, a server stopped by the table to fill my water goblet and take my drink order.
“Just an iced tea, please,” I said. As soon as the server walked away, Sawyer groaned, and Michael and I looked him. Moments later, one of his sisters, Scarlett, appeared at the table. The three of us stood, and Michael walked around the table to hug Scarlett and kiss her cheek.
“These guys aren’t nearly as good looking as Taylor is,” Scarlett said, teasing Sawyer about dining with Michael and me instead of Taylor.
“I assure you, we’re not that exciting either,” Michael added.
“I wonder what it would be like to be able to have a meal without my family harassing me,” Sawyer said.
