Chapter 9 #2
“Knowing what you’re getting involved in before you get involved is always recommended.” Michael smiled as he looked at me. “In fact, I have a guy who does all of that for me,” he quipped. I was his guy.
“Yeah, he’s good at finding things,” Sawyer remarked.
“Not good enough.” I laughed.
“You’re incredible at what you do, Spencer,” Michael affirmed.
“Thanks.” I took a sip from the water goblet, then looked at Sawyer and then Michael. “There’s something about this guy, I think.” I pulled apart a piece of a soft breadstick and popped it into my mouth, hoping to settle the butterflies in my stomach that started flying around.
“Why do you think that?” Sawyer asked.
“Does he have some Mafia family last name or something?” Michael asked.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s Diego,” I offered up.
“Nothing comes to mind about a Diego,” Michael said and then looked at Sawyer to confer. Sawyer shook his head in agreement.
“So why do you think there’s something going on with him or about him?” Michael asked.
“Is there a chance you’re just obsessed with him and are afraid to bring a third into the equation because it could cause problems with you and West?
Are you just looking for reasons not to get involved and then blame whatever you dig up as the reason the three of you can’t be together, rather than have the balls to admit you’re scared?
” Sawyer’s eyebrow was arched as he looked at me.
“Sawyer is watching too much daytime television,” Michael said as he shook his head.
“Speaking of obsession, how is Taylor?” I asked in an attempt to pull the topic away from me, because yeah, there might be some truth to Sawyer’s daytime TV regurgitation.
“She’s ghosting him,” Michael said.
“What? No, she’s not. I’m good to her.”
“Better be, or I’ll break your neck,” Michael threatened.
It was a lighthearted threat, but it was also loaded.
Everyone in the organization knew Michael and Sawyer were as thick as thieves, but Michael had an incredibly soft spot for Taylor.
She was the only female who worked for Michael in the same capacity as me, West, and a few others. Michael would kill anyone who hurt her.
“My money’s on Taylor,” I said. “She could break his neck for you, Michael.”
“Taylor’s got it bad for me. She just doesn’t like admitting it yet,” Sawyer pointed out while Michael and I laughed.
“Give me something to go off of, Spencer. What’s giving you bad vibes about the guy?” Michael turned the topic back to me.
“I can’t find anything on him. It’s like he’s a ghost.”
“What do you mean you can’t find anything on him? This is what you do.”
“I know. That’s why it’s concerning. I spent most of the morning looking. The only thing I can come up with is that he has a fake driver’s license and used it to become a member at Edge.”
“So you just have an alias?” Sawyer asked.
“Yeah. Oh, and an address where he lives. The property is buried with a rental management company, and the owner of the management company is another company with multiple owners and LLCs.”
“You and West have been with him, though, so you have a face to go from, right?” Michael asked.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and brought Skyler’s picture onto the screen. I turned the phone around so Sawyer and Michael could see it. Sawyer reached for the phone, but Michael grabbed it first.
“He’s a good-looking guy. I’m sure you and West will love waking up with that on your dicks each morning,” Sawyer stated. And yes, it was true. I knew without a doubt that West and I would love waking up to seeing the top of Skyler’s head between our legs.
Michael held my phone in his hand and studied Skyler with his eyebrows furrowed.
“What did you say his first name is? Skyler?”
“Yes. Skyler Diego is what he’s registered in the club’s member profile as and what matches his driver’s license. But obviously, the ID is fake.”
“Yeah, it’s fake.” Michael handed me the phone back and his eyes bore into mine. My heart pounded wildly in my chest while the butterflies fluttered around.
“What? Do you know something?”
Michael looked at Sawyer and then back at me. “That’s the picture of a wanted man.”
“What?” Instantly, a chill washed over me. Somehow, West and I fell hard and fast for a guy who had already pissed off the wrong people in life. My stomach dropped, and I felt sick. I was angry at myself for believing that the perfect third was out there, and that West and I had found him.
“I can’t remember his first name, but his last name is Gardner. He’s the son of Steven Gardner—”
“That piece of shit senator who’s running for president again?” Sawyer asked.
Fuck.
Michael nodded. There were so many things racing around in my head. Too many things to just focus on one. I thought the senator’s wife was worth more than he was. She was an actress with a perfume line. I could picture the billboard ads of her perfume bottle.
“What’s he wanted for?” Sawyer asked.
Michael snapped his fingers and gestured to the phone. “Shawn Gardner,” he said with confidence and nodded. “Shawn is his first name.”
“He was supposed to marry the daughter of Dimitri Bruno.” Michael gestured to the picture of Skyler—Shawn.
“He didn’t show up for the wedding and just vanished.
That’s why he’s wanted. Dimitri and the senator had some business arrangement that obviously went south over this.
So it makes sense why he’s using fake credentials,” Michael said.
“I wouldn’t want to be married to a Bruno,” Sawyer commented.
“You don’t want to be married, period,” I added. Sawyer grinned.
“But no one had seen Shawn, until now,” Michael noted.
Suddenly, I worried about what Michael was going to do about it. My thoughts must have been written all over my face because Michael tried to put my concerns to rest.
“Relax, I’m not going to hand him over to Dimitri. I’m more interested in making sure you and West are happy.”
I leaned back in the chair and stared at the plates of food being brought out and set in front of us. I wasn’t hungry at all but shoveled the food in anyway.
“Dude, relax,” Sawyer said.
“I can’t. This guy must constantly be looking over his shoulder.”
I thought about how heartbroken West was going to be. Like me, he believed this was right and was going to work out.
The three of us finished lunch and walked out of the restaurant together. While we waited for our SUVs at the valet, Michael looked at me.
“Spencer, if you and West want to pursue Shawn, do it.”
“Knowing that someone could be coming for him would put all of us in jeopardy,” I said. And that was the honest truth. If another family felt disrespected, they would have words, potentially violent words, with any of us associated with Michael Alatorre for sheltering Shawn.
Sawyer’s Range Rover pulled up first, and as he walked past me, he mumbled, “Love makes you do anything for it.” He turned around and slowly walked backward toward his SUV.
He gestured with his thumb toward Michael.
“I take my life in my hands daily for Taylor,” he said, and disappeared around the Range Rover.
Michael sat in the front passenger seat with the door open and looked at me.
“Get your guy, Spence. We’ll take care of the mess,” he said.
I was once again filled with hope, and I wasn’t going to push for the details of how he was going to fix it. All I could do was trust him.
“Thank you,” I said.
My Porsche was now waiting for me. As soon as I got in it and pulled away from the valet of Lombardi’s, I called West, and he answered on the first ring.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey. Are you busy?”
“Kind of.”
“Okay, when you have a few minutes, call me back. We need to talk about Skyler.”
“Wait! What is it?”
“I had lunch with Michael and Sawyer today and found out some interesting things about him.”
“What? How? How would Michael know anything?”
“It’s a long story. Besides, I thought you were busy.”
“I have a few minutes. I’m kind of doing some surveillance. Hurry and tell me,” West insisted.