17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Working out the details was fast work. Murphy was a seasoned negotiator and Liam admired him for his highest priorities. His family at that, whether or not he liked it, included the men living and working with him.
“These guys are good men. Every one of them. They’ve done crimes, so what? They hurt no one that didn’t rightly deserve it, and even then, they try not to.”
“Stealing hurts people,” Rymes reminded him.
“We only steal from people that can afford the losses, and you should know yourself, most of the very rich in this country have a lot more blood on their hands than the poor.”
“Are you seriously counting yourself among the poor? You own half a block near downtown Denver. I’ve seen how much a storefront rents for there.”
“And? My dad owned that place when those high rents weren’t around. We made meals of rice and gravy more times than we had meat, and I remembered. I remembered those fat cats driving by in their Lincolns and Corvettes, looking down on the ragtag bunch of kids walking along those streets. I was there when Colfax wasn’t quaint and edgy but had real hookers on the street corners and drug deals in every alley. I swore my kids would have better, that I’d have better, even if, like them, I had to do dirty shit to get there. Now, look at you. You’re throwing in with the likes of me to get what you want, too.”
Liam was prouder of Murphy in that moment than he’d been of anyone in his entire life. Rymes let his head drop in defeat as he mumbled, “I get it.”
“Do you? Crime, good guys and bad guys have never changed, not really. We just have more media to convince you that the rich guys are the ones that will save the world.”
Rymes brought his head right as he fought back some. “Okay! I said I get it. I make enough for me to save for a decent retirement and, depending on the administration and my bosses, that job is always on the chopping block. I never know if I’m going to retire or keep working until I die. Plus, criminals are getting better and better, like you all. How soon before I am killed in the line of duty and my family grows up without me?”
Murphy nodded and commiserated with him. “The world’s never been as hard as it is now. If us working together can change that a little, well, then let’s work together.”
Taran’s fingers curled around Liam’s hand and Liam turned his head to catch the relieved smile that spread on his pretty lips.
Back at the pub, with Daiq on his lap in the living room of Murphy’s place, Liam recounted the entire thing for the others. They were all proud of Murphy, even though Murphy kept telling Liam to hush his face.
“It was great. He made sure that they write it up that we’re all CIs and to be protected at all costs.”
“Confidential informants. Snitches,” Hippy said. “Never thought I’d be one of them.”
Goldie argued, “Anyone touches kids, or makes people do things against their will, deserves it. I met a few in juvie. Their own parents making them do that shit. Nah, man, they deserve to go down.”
Hippy wasn’t happy. That was obvious. Haze was quiet too. Eazy prodded all of them by asking, “Would you like us to turn this down?”
“How? Then they come after us,” Abs said.
“No,” Murphy said. “I asked, and for all they have on us, it’s all circumstantial. They don’t have pictures of us boosting diamonds or art.”
Haze shook his head as he picked up a rag doll that was near his armchair. “We have little ones to consider. Think of running. If we had to, and I’m not saying they were lying about not going after us, but if so. Those kids wouldn’t handle it well, being without their friends, their beds,” he said, then held up the doll and finished, “Their toys.”
Mims added, “What about Mick? He’d never make it.”
Liam saw all of it dawning on them. Hippy whispered, “And think of the daughters and sons we’d save.”
Goldie nodded and said, “That, right there.”
“Then, we’re agreed?” Eazy asked.
“I’ll agree, as long as we don’t make this our entire mission,” Hippy said. “I’m not making my life as a snitch, even to help get terrible people.”
“Fair enough,” Murphy said with a smile. “Hippy, if we’re…doing this, you’ll come in handier than ever. Keep us on track with what we need. I’ll speak to our dealer if we need anything else.”
“I’ll make a list.”
“More wires. I never want us going into a talk with the feds without them,” Murphy said, looking pointedly at Liam. “Not once.”
Goldie teased, “Even when you fuck him again.”
“Who said I’m fucking him again?”
Eazy broke in with, “You’re going to fuck him, Liam. Not only can I tell you like him, but you need him on our side, or…”
“To have more on him, in case…”
“Yeah. In case.”
Abs grabbed Daiq from Liam as they dispersed. “Let’s take him and give him treats.”
“You’re spoiling him.”
“So?”
They walked together up to Liam’s room and as Liam watched Abs giving Daiq his treats, he asked, “Hippy hates me, doesn’t he?”
“Like you, Hippy doesn’t trust easily. It took him a while to get to know us and let us in. Like all of us, he’s been through shit, and, well, it takes a toll. You should know that.”
“I get it. I’m not upset or anything, but…”
Abs’ eyes rose to meet his, and Liam saw his determination. “He won’t betray you. He’s not easily won over, but that also means that once he is, he’s loyal to a fault.”
“Good. I’ll just have to win him over, I guess.”
“That won’t be hard. I see you, Cosmo. We’re growing on you already. You like us.”
Ignoring that as much as he could, Liam said, “I gotta go steal more cars. Want to watch that little cat right there?”
“I’ll fall asleep on your bed, so you’ll be on the couch again.”
“I don’t mind. See you in the morning.”
After he left the pub, Liam scouted out and found a nice cargo van that was about twenty years old. Easy to jack, and in a great location. No one would see it was gone until they woke in the morning to find the space empty.
It would take him all of forty minutes, so he took a drive to the apartment house where Taran was living while undercover. After climbing the two flights of stairs, he stood in front of apartment 3F and rapped quietly.
Taran opened the door and grabbed his shirt, yanking him nearly off his feet. “What the hell took you so long?”
They were kissing against the closed door in a matter of seconds, and Taran’s hands were all over him. “This is crazy. I’m giving up all I’ve ever believed for your dick. I’m an idiot,” he said between kisses. “I’m insane.”
“I’m a fucking snitch and you think you feel bad?”
Taran detached from his mouth long enough to grab his hand and pull him along toward the little hallway. “I don’t care. I don’t care about any of it. Fuck it. Fuck it all!”
Ripping at each others’ clothes in the bedroom, their mouths clashing, Liam, indeed, shared the sentiment. Fuck it. Fuck it all.
Liam was over him, pushing inside his ass as he watched Taran’s fists pulling the pillow over his face. It was a shame to cover that pretty face, but the scream that the pillow muffled would have had the cops down on their heads.
Liam started in hard, longing for more of those sounds. He got them, and Taran’s back arched deep as he writhed on his bed. The bed with the conservative beige duvet and two perfectly placed pillows.
Well, no longer perfectly placed.
The light coming in from the streetlights was minimal but enough to show his lovely body moving, muscles tensing, releasing, neck corded…
There were the sounds of his enjoyment, plentiful, exuberant, all the while he clutched at Liam’s arms and chest until Liam stopped moving and took the pillow from Taran’s face. “Don’t cover.”
In a huff, he laughed and then said, “Nosy neighbors and thin walls.”
“What? You bring all your CIs back here?”
Taran shook his head, losing his smile. “No. Only you, Liam. Only…only you.”
Assuming that meant more, Liam nodded a little, then kissed him tenderly, taking his time in the kiss. “Only me, then. I’m…I’m not into sharing.”
“Good. I’m not into being shared.”
Pushing in deeply, in one slow thrust, Liam languished in the kiss while Taran wrapped around him. They’d made more than one pact that day, making one another integral into each other’s lives, for better or worse.
Moving inside of Taran felt better than just the sexual part of it. It was physical, yes, but more. Like he was inside of all the man, his body, sure, but into his soul. Liam had gotten good at reading people. Shit, that was a survival technique in prison. He saw that Taran only wanted good, to see good, and do the same.
When he came, he watched a tear trail down into Taran’s hairline, those blue eyes glowing in the dark room just by the sheer emotion Taran felt. “Liam, I never want to hurt you.”
Liam believed him. Maybe it was stupid, but for Liam, it was also rare. He believed in no one since he was a kid. Maybe it was time he tried it.
He lay with Taran while Taran held him tightly, the sound of the city outside the window dulling until it seemed to be almost quiet. Taran’s lips touched Liam’s neck, and his breath there was calming Liam to sleep.
When he woke, it was just two in the morning. Taran was snoring softly beside him, and Liam kissed his forehead before he got up and grabbed his clothes, quickly dressing in the dark.
By the time he got back to the pub, it was morning, and he dragged himself into the backdoor and up the stairs, only to be greeted by Abs on the stairs. “Hey! Where have you been?”
He wasn’t used to explaining himself. “I, uh…”
“You’re doing stuff that’s none of my business. I’m not made of glass. I can take being told to fuck off.”
Liam looked at him and said sincerely, “Abs, I couldn’t ever say that to you.”
“Why not? Everyone else has my whole life. Well, except for the people here.”
A change of subject was in order. “How’s the cat?”
“I think he misses you. Maybe spend some time with him today. And we have rehearsal at four, so get some sleep before that.”
“Thanks. I will.”
Abs kissed him on the cheek but pulled back with his little nose all scrunched. “You need a shower.”
“Yes, I do.”
Daiq was in the bathroom with him while he showered and tried three times to paw the door open to get to Liam. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“ Meow! ”
“You’re getting as bossy as Abs. I think he’s a bad influence.”
More loud meowing and when Liam finished, he got out to Daiq patting his wet leg with his paw. “Damn bossy, you’re getting to be.”
Daiq followed him to the room and they curled up on the bed, Daiq purring loudly as he licked the last of the moisture from Liam’s forearm. “Abs sure likes you.”
Looking at Liam, blinking once, his little face confident in the fact he’d soon have a houseful of men at his beck and call.
“Who’d ever guess you were hiding behind a dumpster not that long ago?”
At rehearsal, he watched the others tossing around empty bottles like they all had wings attached, and when it was his turn to learn some moves, he knew he was about to break all that they handed him.
Hippy told him, “The new guys never get this right away. That’s fine, we all learn, but for this weekend, you’ll toss them, and we’ll spike.”
“Spike them? Like Volleyball?”
“Exactly,” Goldie said. “You set, we spike, only we’re not slapping them out into the crowd. You toss it up, as straight in the air as you can, and one of us will catch it on the way back down and do what we do.”
That sounded easy enough, but Liam could also think of a thousand ways it could go wrong. “If one of you doesn’t catch it, it will land on my head!”
Hippy laughed. “That would be funny.”
“Hippy,” Abs chided. “Stop.”
“It would!”
Of all the people to have not like him in the pub, Hippy was the worst. No, he wasn’t the biggest, but he had a shitload of weapons at his disposal. “I promise I won’t be laughing.”
“Ignore him,” Goldie said in a soothing manner that could make anyone calmer. “I’m the tallest, so you can work with me this time, until you get the hang of it. Try it. I promise you won’t need a ride to the ER.”
Liam took one bottle around the neck and tossed it into the air above his head, his head falling back so he could watch it, and just as it was about to hit his face, and his entire body moved away from it, it was in Goldie’s big hand.
“See? Easy.”
Liam let out the pent-up scream in a whisper, “Yeah. Easy.”
With that practice over, it was his turn to learn to pour into the mouths of those at the bar. They called this “doing the hundred-dollar shots” because that’s how much was charged for them. He figured they’d go upstairs, but Murphy warned him to try it on the floor first. “Get your balance here, where it won’t hurt as much to fall.”
“I probably should ask about our healthcare now.”
Abs giggled and Mims said, “I’ve only used mine once, and it’s great healthcare.”
“He used it for the clap,” Hippy said in a mumble, and Mims smacked him playfully.
“Like I’m the only one who’s ever gotten it!”
“Enough,” Murphy called out, laughing. “Mark the width, Abs, and Goldie grab the pads.”
Abs got the ruler and made a long, thin rectangle on the floor, and Goldie set the yoga mats over it. “Okay,” Goldie instructed, “put the balls of your feet on the mats and balance there for a minute.”
“Why only the balls of my feet?”
“You’ll see in a minute. Try it.”
He got his feet partially on the mat and raised up on balls of his feet, teetering there until he got his balance. “Like this?”
“Yeah. Practice that a bit before tomorrow night. Now, move a minute and I’ll show you what comes after that.”
Liam got off the mats and watched as Goldie got on them, lifting to the balls of his feet for a few seconds, perfectly balancing on the mat. “Okay, this is the advanced course. But I’ve seen you move, and I think you can get this one pretty fast.”
Goldie slid his feet a little wider apart before he bent his knees inward, letting them knocked easily together and Liam watched as they both hit the pads at the same time.
Where his knees had landed was right on the opposite edge of the pad from his toes, Abs got in front of him to hand him two bottles and then lay down on the floor, his head near Goldie’s knees.
Flipping both bottles at once in the air and catching them so the pour spouts were pointing to the floor, Goldie held them over Abs’ face, pretending to pour a shot into his mouth.
After he rose back to his feet and moved off the mat, he waved over the thing and told Liam, “Your turn.”
“Wait, you want me to do that? You cannot be serious!”
Murphy soothed, “They all felt the same, Cosmo. I swear, it’s not as hard as it looks.”
Liam shook his head, sure he’d make a fool of him at best, and at worst, pull or break something important.
Setting the balls of his feet on the mat, he spaced them as he’d seen Goldie do and he glanced over at the group.
Abs had his fist in front of his mouth, eyes narrowing, like they were about to close so he wouldn’t have to watch. Hippy smirked, Haze smiled, and Goldie gave him a nod.
The others simply watched.
He bent his knees inward as far as they would go and dropped them to the mat, feeling a little thudding pain as he did so, but it wasn’t bad. Abs handed him the bottles quickly and lay down like he’d done with Goldie.
“Flip ‘em,” Murphy instructed.
Flipping both at once, he’d done it, but only a couple times had he actually caught them.
“You don’t want them smacking me in the face, if that’s a motivator.”
Abs was perfectly still, unflinching as he lay smiling up at him. “I don’t want to, but if I do, know beforehand that I’m sorry.”
“I trust you.”
Trust. That was something that had been scarce in his own life. To trust anyone meant to let down a guard he’d carefully built with walls so thick, it would take a year of tunneling to get through them.
A man was placing his trust in Liam. It was becoming almost commonplace for him. These men, the feds, all placing trust in him he’d yet to earn.
Abs’ pretty face he tried too hard to add edge to with his black lined eyes and pale cheeks. He gripped the necks of the bottles tightly, then decided then and there he was in this, good or bad, trust earned or not.
Lifting his arms, releasing the grip on the bottles, he watched them both spinning in a circle and he willed both hands to catch them.
He did. Perfectly caught with the spouts down and he held those spouts over Abs’ mouth, pretending to pour him a double shot.
After that, Abs got up enough to hug him around the neck and the others descended on him with more hugging and pats on his back.
Standing at last, he gloated a bit. “I always knew I could do it.”
Hippy got in close to whisper, “Don’t be too confident. You have to do that on a bar.”
Remembering that, Liam lost some of his gloat and worried a little more. “Damn.”