Page 11 of Mimosa (Murphy's Pub #2)

Chapter Eleven

The sky was melting into shades of rust and a yellow he could almost taste as they sat on the veranda, watching the kids play chase.

The meal Eazy had made had lulled them all, making them soft and relaxed. Well, except for Katie and Little Mick.

They were on high speed, and Katie, who was usually so sedate, was leading the sugar rush.

“I told you those parfaits were going to make them crazy,” Murphy told his husband.

Eazy, who was sipping his tea and smiling, said, “It’s good for them now and then.”

“Leave my little sibs alone,” Ryan said as he laughed and chased them until he lost his energy. He sat on the floor of the veranda next to Mims’s chair and pointed, “You remember when I was that little, Dad?”

“I do. You were as bad when you got a snootful of sugar, too.”

Ryan, who was as beautiful as his father, but young, smiled at that. The best thing that Murphy had done for his oldest child was never let the two babies overshine him. Ryan was shown all the love he ever had, even when his youthful stubbornness got the best of him.

Blond haired, blue eyed, and smart as a whip, but all Ryan wanted was to join the family business of thievery.

“We have a meeting tonight,” Murphy said as he got up and stretched. “If we can stay awake.”

“Turkey breast with cranberry glaze? Really?” Haze groaned. “Best meal ever, Eazy, but now we all want Thanksgiving naps instead of working.”

“Tough. Go to work. I’m gonna stay out here with the kids a while.”

“Ryan, you coming or not?” Murphy asked his son.

“I’m in. Let’s go,” he said, his energy suddenly revived.

The theft was happening the next night. Mims would be in enemy territory, watching them, assuring they didn’t know about the theft.

For the first time, he couldn’t be there to make sure his friends were okay, that they weren’t being discovered. He had to teach Hippy the computer, a three-hour crash course, on checking the security cameras, intercepting any security alarms they didn’t know about before the security companies got alarms. It was a pressing job, one that took split second timing, but he had to trust Hippy with it, as he was going to a barbeque.

As they all filed into the meeting room, Mims was staring into the computer room with longing. Abs saw and whispered, “He’ll be fine!”

“I’m a control freak when it comes to my computers and you guys.”

“That’s completely new information,” Abs snarked.

Mims laughed, as everyone knew how he was with the computers. “Sorry, but if something happens, I need to be there, to see it before it even happens.”

“Hippy can do it. Calm and get ready to do something even more nerve wracking!”

After they sat and Murphy stood at the head of the table, he said, “Okay, guys. We’ve got everything together for this job. Mims, how you doin’?”

“Not well. Not only am I not going to be there for you guys, I have to keep an eye on the cops without letting them know I’m keeping an eye on them, and without letting Sonny know too!”

“Honey, we just don’t want him culpable for any of our jobs. He’s a real cop, takes his oath or whatever it is, seriously. We don’t want him to feel like he’s in on these crimes anymore than we have to.”

“I know. I just don’t want to start off lying to him. That’s all.”

Abs held his hand and told the others, “We need to get used to this. If they’re together, Mims is going to feel like this a lot.”

Haze said, “We know, and we’ll help all we can to keep him out of it, Mims, and make it so you don’t have to lie. This time, well…you don’t have to lie, you know. Just don’t blurt out, hey, we’re robbing this really expensive painting and I’m only here to make sure the dirty cops don’t figure it out.”

Mims laughed a little and it did make him feel better. “That’s true. Okay, well, what do you think I should look for?”

Murphy said, “They’re going to be looking at you, honey. They’re going to be checking you out, seeing how you act. It’s fine, that is expected, but if there is excessive whispering, or if you hear anything, see anything, or if a few or a bunch of them suddenly take off around the times you know we’re going to be boosting the painting, then you give us a heads up when you safely can. Do not risk yourself anymore than you are.”

“I don’t know him, don’t trust him yet,” Hippy said, “but I think Sonny will look out for you.”

“I know he will.”

Abs smiled over at him and agreed, “He will. He’s crazy for our Mims.”

“Okay,” Haze said, bringing back the conversation to the job. “The house has only standard security that we can see. Abs has studied on disabling it, and Hippy will have the button to push to take the alarm if it does go off.

“I have mapped our route to the community and into the house. Goldie is staked out there whenever he’s not here, and he can tell you more.”

Goldie started with, “I gotta say, this guy is a dick. He hires hookers almost every night and all of them look like hell when they leave. I followed one back to the bar where the guy picked her up in the first place, and she wouldn’t talk about it much, but said he was a real bastard, but he paid up front, which, I guess isn’t easily done with a lot of those guys.”

“New money,” Mims said. “He had an uncle that made great money and lived simply. Saved all his life, and this guy was the only living heir. He’s throwing it around like an idiot, and he likely won’t have it long.”

“Why get the painting?” Murphy asked. “Seems kind of obscure for someone just showing off wealth. Why not go for a Rembrandt or something that more people know?”

Mims chuckled dryly. “His girlfriend loves Maxfield Parrish.”

“Girlfriend? But you just said he gets hookers!” Abs whispered. “What an ass!”

“He is. He’s like a real piece of shit. So, doing this, and helping someone out with the proceeds is even better than we thought. And, he’ll probably write it off as whatever and go buy another one for her,” Mims said.

“Well, boys, I think this is a go. Mims, just please, be careful.”

“I can help Hippy with the computer,” Ryan offered, and that made Mims relax more.

“Ryan, I forget you took those computer courses! Will you help him if he gets stuck on something? That’s all I really worry about. I know Hippy is good.”

“No worries,” Hippy said laughing. “I get it. If you were in charge of the weapons, I’d feel the same way.”

Murphy smiled around at his crew, pride glowing. “I can’t believe you are all so…good. I mean that in all senses of the word. You are risking a lot for less pay than normal because you all want to help someone’s family. I can’t tell you how that just…gets me.”

“We want to help people,” Abs said.

Cosmo, the one who’d prompted them to start helping people, he just beamed. “We do. It feels good.”

“It’s all because of you, Cosmo,” Mims said. “You saw that we could, and it’s already helped us in the neighborhood.”

It was true. They’d made friends of all the homeless, the discarded, and the self-proclaimed freaks that those in fancy cars drove by and looked down their noses at. They saw the bartenders or Murphy and his family, and they stopped them to shake their hands, tell them to have a good day.

“It’s good for a lot of reasons, reasons we hoped, and it’s happening,” Murphy said. “The word is spreading that if someone needs help that the cops and proper channels ignore, we are there. They know it, they’re going to come to us for favors and in turn, we’ll ask them the same, if and when we ever need it.”

“Godfather,” Hippy said, laughing.

“Shut up,” Murphy said with a smile. “If that’s what it takes in this world now, a world where the dirty cops outnumber the good, where the ones who are supposed to protect us don’t, well, we need to help each other.”

That got them all in the chest. Mims felt it and looked around the table to see they all felt it too.

Abs’s hand in his squeezed.

That gave him the courage he knew he needed.

“I’m…I’m still scared to be in the belly of the beast, but knowing that we are helping people by doing what we do, it’s going to make it easier. I just love you guys and I want you to be safe. Ryan, you and Hippy, you watch everything. Grow a few more eyes and have each set on each and every camera, and listen to the police scanner, all of it all at once. It’s hard.”

“I play video games too, Mims,” Ryan said with a smile. “I’m used to watching multiple things.”

Once the meeting ended, Abs helped him find an outfit to wear to the barbeque. “It’s gotta be toned down, which is hard for me. T-shirt, jeans, sneakers. Do you have those things?”

Mims pulled a pair of jeans off the hanger in his closet. “These are my jeans. I have three pairs, different colors.”

“Are any of them, you know, like blue? Blue jeans?”

“Teal! I have a teal pair,” he said rifling through his clothes.

Abs stared at the purple pants and sighed, “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

After finding one t-shirt that would work and nothing else, not even socks, Abs pulled him along to Murphy’s apartment, where he told Eazy the problem. Katie was right there, helping her father frost a cake. “Are you dressing like a boy?” she asked.

“We’re trying,” Abs told her, laughing.

“Boys wear ugly clothes,” she commented before dipping her finger in the chocolate frosting.

Eazy playfully smacked her hand. “Not yet, missy!”

“Daddy, I’m making sure it’s good.”

“You get the bowl.”

“By then it will be too late! The cake will be frosted.”

Her reasoning sound, Eazy shrugged. “Okay, well, taste it and tell me.”

Katie tasted the frosting on her finger, cocked her head and after she swallowed, she gave her approval. “It’ll do.”

“I’m so glad it passes your inspection, dear.”

“You’re welcome.”

Once Eazy was done with the cake, he took the two men to his closet. “I’m bigger than Mims, but I can probably take them in enough so they’re not falling off his ass.”

“Not too tight,” Abs instructed as Eazy handed him the faded blue jeans. “Tight pants are gay.”

“No, they’re not, Abs,” Eazy said.

“To a bunch of butch cops?”

“Right. Not too tight.”

Haze had a pair of sneakers that weren’t pastel, and Hippy had a jean jacket he could wear, once the liberal pins were removed. He offered a fedora that made Abs roll his eyes. “Really? Hey, maybe a baseball cap!”

“Sorry, fresh out of those.”

Again, Abs took his hand and dragged him to Goldie’s room, the athlete of the bunch, and he did have a cap. A plain black cap. “I need that back for my runs.”

“We’ll bring it back, cleaned and…do you press caps?”

“Just bring it back, no cleaning it or pressing it,” Goldie growled before he kissed Abs on top of his blond head. “Lord.”

After they had everything set, except the pants, which Eazy promised by morning, Abs looked over the clothes and shoes on Mims’s bed. “Perfect. You’ll blend.”

“I want to blend, right?”

“Yes. I mean, they have a gay cop around them, so they’re not going to beat on you for being gay, but there’s no use taking chances, and this way, you’ll be more invisible to be able to listen in on conversations.”

“That’s good. I want to be invisible.”

“Yes, you do.”

Abs sighed heavily, smiling a little. “I will be worried about you.”

Mims took his hand and said sternly, “I will be fine. I have Sonny. You have to concentrate on what you’re doing. That’s it. That’s all. If you mess up, we could all get in trouble.”

“I know. I’ll have my head on right. You just…Mims, please, just be careful.”

“You too.”

As they hugged, Mims felt himself, maybe for the first time, saying goodbye to his old family.

The times they’d had, well, they were always overshadowed by their father. He never let joy and fun get in the way of studying, of striving for success. Mims couldn’t remember being hugged by the man.

For so long, he wanted a replacement, and that came with Sonny, in the strangest way. He didn’t suffer foolishness, and yet he had no trouble hugging and kissing Mims, looking into his eyes with empathy and love.

Maybe he didn’t need his father recreated, but substituted in the right ways. Strong, stern, dominant, but sweet and loving too. No one he’d met could fill all except for Sonny.

The faithful afternoon came with Mims bent over the toilet, puking for the third time from nerves. Sonny would be there any minute to get him, and he was retching that morning’s terrible choice of coffee.

Like he needed to be kept awake!

He brushed his teeth again, finished dressing, and looked at himself in the mirror. He almost could pass for straight.

Abs came in dressed in all black, ready for their night as well. “Ready?”

“Is he here?”

“I don’t know, I just came to check on you. You look…terrible, but like you should.”

“I’ll never get laid looking like this.”

“Well, you can always take the clothes off after and that might get you laid.”

“Might?”

Abs winked as he laughed. “Listen, good luck, Mims.”

“You too. Get that painting.”

“Will do.”

When Sonny came, he pulled up to the curb and Mims jumped in the cab of the truck, smiling shyly. “I know, I look awful.”

“That’s not even possible,” he said before he kissed Mims.

“Hush,” he said, laughing.

As they drove through the many one-way streets of downtown Denver, Sonny grew serious. “Listen, Mims, we started this…fast. If you ever need to slow down or back off, besides what we have to be in front of the BBC, let me know. I won’t be hurt. Well, not a lot. I get it.”

“I’ve thought about that. I have, sure, but…I really like you, Sonny. I haven’t liked anyone this much in…ever.”

“Wow. That’s a lot to live up to, Mims.”

“You can call me Ali, but not in front of anyone.”

“I’d say you can call me Santiago, but…that’s a mouthful and I like other things in your mouth.”

As he giggled and wriggled on the seat, pinching his rapidly growing dick, he said, “Stop! Not before we get to a place full of macho cops!”

“You don’t think they get erections? Even Marion. I think her erections are bigger than most of the men.”

“Ew! That’s disgusting!”

“Why? Never been with a woman?”

“No! I’m gold star, baby.”

“Well, I was with a few, back when I went through a phase of pure denial. And it’s not gross at all. We’re all humans, sexual, beautiful humans.”

Mims smiled over at him, more at ease than he’d been in days. “That’s really nice, Sonny.”

“And true. Now, I’m not leaving you when we get there. If I have to, don’t freak out, I’ll be back quickly.”

“I hope you’re not gone much.”

“I won’t be. They’ll ask you questions, and they’ll watch your face and body for reactions. Cops are lied to all the time, and they can tell, usually, unless you know your tells and can stop them.”

“My tells?”

“Yeah. Like bluffing in poker. If you fidget, if you bite your lips, nails, if you look away while you’re answering, or if you look in their eyes too much.”

“Do I just…what do I do?”

“Be yourself. Act. You dance and act behind the bar every weekend. You’re not really interested in all the men you flirt with, at least I’d hope not.”

“I’m not,” he said with a laugh.

“Okay, well, you can act. Pretend this is just a family picnic. Sure, it’s a bunch of cops, but pretend they’re my family. Pretend you’re meeting the folks for the first time. You’ll be nervous but not in the same way.”

Mims perked and breathed, “Yeah. I can do that!”

“I know you can. And I’ll be there, by your side.”

That was the topping on the pie. “I’m glad of that most of all.”

Sonny was so gorgeous, Mims could barely look at him without melting. His profile while driving was sexy, just as he was facing Mims. His thick wrists, big hands, muscled forearms all showed nicely as he drove the truck, and when he’d turn his head to throw a smile Mims’s way, it was riveting.

“How are you single?”

Barking a laugh, Sonny asked, “Me?”

“No, the other guy in the truck.”

Sonny shook his head and answered, “Well, I fuck, or I did, but I didn’t think I had time for a guy around more than a night or two. Now I feel differently. I think I forgot that a man needs more to fight for than revenge. That’s fighting for the past. It’s better to fight for the future.”

That made Mims speechless.

Sonny reached over and squeezed his leg. “Want a future with me, maybe?”

Coyly, Mims said, “Yeah. Maybe.”

Sonny licked over his lips and turned as soon as he pulled up to a stoplight. “Baby, it’s gonna be tough getting rid of me, if you don’t want a future with me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Mims felt that in his heart, a warmth and joy that he couldn’t explain, at first.

Then, when it came to him, he felt like crying. Someone that wasn’t going to throw him away. Someone…that wanted him enough that he would fight to keep him. That was the opposite of all the men in his life, except for the men at the pub. Finally, a man he could fall in love with that wanted him enough to fight.

It meant everything to Mims.

“We’re almost there, Mims. Now, I’m calling you Mims, though I’m sure they either know or will soon know your real name. They’ll ask me, and I’ll tell them you only divulged your nickname. They don’t know we’re…as together as we are. They think we just started to kind of date.”

“It’s mostly true.”

“Yeah, true, but…yeah. It’s true,” he said, laughing. “We’re almost there, in the lion’s den. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”