Page 80 of Mimosa

“Try to keep me away.”

Taran came to the pub the following day and Cosmo and Mims took him down to the basement to meet with Sonny, sitting in on the conversation.

“I’m glad you got out when you did. They killed Rex as soon as he bailed out. They made it look like a suicide.”

“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy,” Sonny quipped. “All the captives?”

“Safe,” Taran said and they all heard Sonny’s sigh of relief. “They’re being cared for at a local hospital, but the only ones that they could identify were Jacob, Rex and you. They were blindfolded when they came in, as you know. Jacob is in hiding and the rest are laying low, but they have reached out to certain people that we have ears with. They’re looking for you. It’s pretty obvious that you were the one that told the location of that party.”

“We figured that.”

“Well, we have the place being watched and Tally took the kids for the time being. Everything is set for them to come, but without a court order allowing them access, Murphy will refuse them entry. That will make them suspicious, of course, but it might make them more suspicious if he just let them in.”

“Right. Franklyn would know I’m here, or that they would know where I am. Better to have him combative.”

Mims said, “Whoa! I don’t get that at all!”

“Murphy is a criminal, Mims,” Taran explained. “Most criminals know their rights. They’re not letting anyone search their places without a piece of paper pushing it. With them? Who the fuck is going to let them in here? They’re not even from the same precincts, so no matter what they could say, it’s going to be rough. Not impossible, though. Each and every time they leave you in here, Sonny, you lock that door. Who knows, someone posing as a patron could come snooping.”

“I always do. Mims won’t leave the other side until I do.”

“Good job, Mims.”

He preened. “I take care of my man.”

“Yes, you do.”

Taran smiled and gazed lovingly at Cosmo. “I have one of those.”

“I’m way meaner than Mims,” Cosmo teased.

Sonny said, “Okay, well, if they come, and they will, everyone needs to look after Mims. Don’t leave him alone with Franklyn if you can help it. Franklyn prides himself on being able to see lies.”

That night, Mims entered the secret room after knocking. Sonny opened his arms and Mims stepped right into them. He was held, and he felt the brush of lips on his hair. “How is it I can be so close to you and yet…still miss you so much?” Mims asked in a small voice.

“I feel the same. You’ve turned my world upside down, Mims, in the best way possible.”

“Same here. Before I met you, I was chasing old men.”

“No more of that. At least not until I get a few more grays.”

Mims pulled him to the bed on the western wall of the meeting room and pulled him down, lying with him closely. “Even when you’re old and gray, you’re going to be beautiful.”

“Will I?”

“Yes. I just really hope I still know you then.”

Sonny took his hand and kissed over each knuckle, and the feeling of those warm lips on his hand made him sleepy and content. “I want to know you until I die.”

Mims smiled against Sonny’s chest as he turned his head. Giddy, he was. That was the only way to describe what he felt when he was with Sonny.

“You know that love at first sight shit? I never bought into that. The guys I’ve been with, it took me a long time to so much as like them. You changed me, Mims.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one that changed.”

Sonny pulled him up and kissed him, moving slowly over him as his bare cock rubbed against Mims’s sweat pants. “Why are you still dressed?”

“My man didn’t undress me.”

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