“You can move the fuck along,” the man from the house said.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” the man from the car said while looking at the other guy. “Can I just get my money back, and I’ll get out of here?”
Everyone looked in the direction of a lady and her two small kids coming out of the house next door.Good, additional eyes.The man from the house glared at me as he handed the money over. His eyes were blazing and still on mine as the other man drove off.
“Well, you better be a paying customer, because you just cost me four grand.”
It didn’t take me long to figure out that this guy was making money off of Skyler.
“Four grand? Man, no blow job or quick fuck is worth four grand,” I replied.
“There wasn’t anything quick about it. Skyler was going to stay the week with that gentleman. No limits,” the man smugly said.
What the fuck?Skyler’s silence told me he’d been trained on when to speak, but when I made eye contact with him, I could see the defiance in his eyes.
“Does Skyler have a say in that?” I asked.
“Skyler is a bit short on rent since he lost his best paying client. So now he has to make his rent payment.”
None of this was okay, and I wasn’t leaving without Skyler.
“You alright, Skyler?” I asked. Skyler nodded quickly but remained silent.
The man looked at him as he smacked Skyler’s upper arm and asked, “You know this asshole?”
“I’m not an asshole,” I answered.
The man ignored me and grabbed Skyler’s arm. He asked again, “Do you know him?” Skyler nodded. “Is he a new client you found on your own?”
Skyler looked at me, and something in his expression begged me to go along with the story.
“Yes,” Skyler replied. That response seemed to calm the man down immediately, and he turned to face me.
“I apologize for my outburst. I had Skyler arranged for a week with a new customer. I didn’t realize he already had something scheduled.” The man held his hand toward me to shake, but I made no move to exchange pleasantries with him. He withdrew his hand and looked at Skyler. “Don’t forget, rent is due at the end of the week,” he said before retreating inside.
“Do you need anything in that house?” I asked him.
“I don’t think so. I have my coat and phone.”
“No, I mean forever. Do you need anything in there, because you’re not coming back here.”
Skyler turned his back toward the house and reached for his hood to pull it over his beanie. “It’s my home. I have to come back,” he said quietly. Though he said the words, I didn’t think he wanted to believe them. His eyes told me he was trapped.
“It’s not your home. It’s your hiding place.”
Skyler’s gaze moved and looked around me. By calling it his hiding place and seeing his reaction, I knew that Michael’s info on him must have been true. It was obvious Skyler was nervous about being found.
“Who are you?” he asked as he took a step back.
“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. And I’m not going to hand you over to Dimitri Bruno either.”
“Who are you?” he asked again. “Have you been following me? How do you know about Bruno?”
“I happen to work for someone who isn’t in the business of handing innocent people over to the Mafia.”
“I thought you worked for Black Diamond Resorts.”
“I do.” Skyler looked around again as he digested everything. It would take a while, but he’d understand. I glanced towardthe house and saw the pimp watching us from the window. “Skyler, I’m not going to explain everything to you out here. And I understand your apprehension, but we need to get off this sidewalk and into the SUV.”
