Lucky Boys (Il Fortunato #1)

41. Diego

CHAPTER 41

DIEGO

“Hi, angel.” I popped my head up, grinning as Wes walked into the office. I felt so cheesy about how giddy I was every time he walked in the room, but I couldn’t help it.

“Hi!” It was on the tip of my tongue to call him Daddy. I really fucking wanted to, but I kept tripping up every time I tried. It consumed all my thoughts, the idea of going all in on a relationship like that, especially when he came in with a tray loaded down with water, juice, my pills, and a real fucking breakfast.

He smiled softly and put the tray down on the empty desk that had basically become my and Wes’s table the last week or so. We’d eaten a lot of meals and snacks right there.

He turned to me. “Can I kiss you?”

This had become part of our routine too. I was never sure how much touch I could tolerate, but I wanted to try, so instead of avoiding it all together or forcing me, Wes would ask. He’d start with a kiss, which was just on the cheek or my forehead. If I said no, he’d ask about a hug. Sometimes I was good with that. Sometimes I needed to initiate the touch. Other times it was a no go completely. Wes never made me feel bad no matter what. Today, though, I was feeling kinda needy, so I nodded and offered up my cheek.

Fuck, the smile Wes rewarded me with was everything. He leaned over and kissed me, somehow making the innocent gesture more sensual than I thought possible.

“I brought you breakfast. Can you take a break?”

“Yes, please.” I stood up with a stretch. “I’m getting nowhere. I’m starting to think Mav was right and we’ll have to go after Bradley to find this kid.”

Wes rolled the other chair to the desk/table and took a seat. I dragged mine so I was sitting right next to him.

He hummed as he handed me my plate with food. I thought it would be awkward, how he took care of me. But honestly, it made me feel all squishy inside. Cherished and safe. Even if I’d never admit it.

“I get why Luc is reluctant though. The feds are all over that family and there’s a literal manhunt for Bradley right now. We don’t want to be in the middle of that.”

I picked up a piece of bacon and chewed on it thoughtfully. Wes had gone all out with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and even some fresh fruit. Blew my fucking mind. I hadn’t eaten a breakfast like that since we’d moved out of Mom and Dad’s.

“True. Maybe we should give them his location anonymously?”

“I’m not sure if we’ll ever find Matthew if we do that, angel. Unless we give them all the information we have, they don’t even know the kid is missing. If we do that, we’re putting a target on our back. I have some contacts if it comes to it, but I think we should give it some time before we resort to that. Once we have Matthew safe and protected, then we can hand Bradley over to them.”

It made sense, but I couldn’t help but worry that we didn’t have much time. Truth was, I was stretched thin. I was running out of ideas of where to look, not to mention still monitoring Covington, keeping on top of the investigation of Marshall Fieldburg’s murder, and watching Bradley. On top of all that, I was trying to find this stalker that was terrorizing Dakota and Jay. I felt bad because I just didn’t have the spoons to give that the attention it deserved. Wes never gave me a hard time about it, but I understood he was worried about them.

Wes’s pinky brushed my hand with a feather-soft touch. “You’re doing everything you can, Diego. We all know that. Don’t kill yourself over it. We’ll find Matthew. And in a few days, Luca and the guys will be back. You’ll have extra eyes and hands to help you.”

Since we were pretty sure Matthew was somewhere in the United States, the decision had been made that they’d come back home, regroup, then go from there. I was so fucking excited. By this time tomorrow, Brooks would be back!

I tried to let Wes’s words relax me. It wasn’t all on me. We were doing everything we could. I was doing everything I could.

For the rest of breakfast, we avoided work talk, discussing everything and anything else. It was so nice. Eventually, though, we had to move. Wes was finally officially leaving his job and had one last meeting with his boss this afternoon. Hopefully, he’d be done with them after this and be here full time.

“I’m going to take a shower. Need anything before I do?”

I swallowed. If I were Brooks or Skye, I’d say something like, “Yeah, your dick.” But I was me, so I just said, “No. Thanks.” Fucking lame. Wes didn’t seem frustrated though.

“Okay, I’ll take the tray. You know where to find me if you need me.” And then he left.

I had just settled at my desk to get back to work when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Brooks.

I opened it and immediately started to crack up. It was a picture of him holding up a cucumber the size of his fucking face. Skye was next to him and was licking his cheek.

The message read: B: Do you think this will fit . . . in my suitcase.

I rolled my eyes even if he couldn’t see that. Diego: Don’t come to me when that thing gets stuck inside you.

Brooks responded with a string of emojis: the shocked eyes, the arms crossing in the no sign, and the monkey covering its eyes.

B: Please, I’m not an amateur. No food anywhere but my mouth. Wait, that sounds kinda dirty too.

Laughing, I was struck with an idea. A wild idea. I didn’t know if I’d have the courage to actually do it, but I got up and left the office, traveling to Wes’s room, where I figured he’d gone to shower. He hadn’t been sleeping there most nights, as we either crashed in the office, on the couch, or in my room, but I knew he still cleaned up in there most of the time.

My heart was beating out of my chest by the time I got to the door. He had it partially open and I could hear the water running. I took a deep breath and pushed the bedroom door all the way open before I had second thoughts. He’d even told me I knew where to find him, and he’d left the door open. If he didn’t want me here, he would’ve locked it. This was fine. I was fine.

I stepped into the bedroom. It was pretty much empty besides a couple suitcases and an old gym bag. On the bed, he had laid out a pair of black pants and a button-up shirt. Professional.

The bathroom door was wide open and I could hear Wes humming to himself. He did that a lot. I never knew what he was trying to hum, he was pretty fucking tone deaf, but whenever he was doing mindless tasks, like cooking, showering, cleaning up, he’d hum. I was becoming addicted to the tuneless songs.

I walked into the bathroom. Wes was standing directly under the stream. The glass door was fogged, but I still could make him out clearly. He had his head tilted back so the water streamed down his face and body. I didn’t know how he dealt with the stream hitting his face like that, but it didn’t bother him. He soaped up his body with the loofah in his hand and just sang and swayed to himself.

I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling awkward. Wes startled, his head snapping in my direction. He immediately relaxed when he saw it was me.

“Is everything okay, angel?”

“Um, yeah. I just.” Now I felt silly. “I wanted to take a picture, but now that I’m here, I feel dumb.”

Wes shut off the water, still sudsy and everything. He opened the door, grabbed a fluffy white towel, wrapped it around his waist, and walked immediately toward me. I stood still as stone, completely hypnotized by the water and soap dripping down his chest.

“Diego, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Like I could say something coherent now. He’d stopped his damn shower for me. So instead, I just held up my phone and showed the text thread.

Wes read it, confused at first, but then his face cleared. “Did you want to send Brooks back a picture, angel? Is that why you came in here?”

“Yeah.”

“I love it. I got an idea. Can I touch you?”

A shiver ran through my body, but it wasn’t fear. I nodded. “Y-yes.”

Wes maneuvered us so he was standing behind me. “I’m going to touch your waist. Let me know if I need to stop.”

Gah, this man was going to be the death of me. He was so fucking sweet. Right now, though, I really wanted to know what that big hand felt like on my waist.

“Okay.” He went so slow, putting light pressure at first, until I started to breathe easier, and then he held me a little tighter. He angled my phone up and then snapped a picture.

When he showed it to me, I grinned, thrilled. At the angle he’d taken it from, there was a perfect view of Wes’s wet, half-naked body. You could even see some of the towel.

“That’s perfect. Brooks is gonna lose his shit.”

Wes squeezed my hip just once before backing off. “I’m always here whenever you want to torment your brother.”

I hit send. Brooks responded almost immediately, but I never got a chance to look at it because an alert came through that I had set up if there was a hit on any of the multiple searches I had running constantly.

I’d found Matthew.