Page 21 of Gold Rush
“Why? He’s got a guy, a guy he loves like crazy, and me? I’m just his friend.”
“Did you ever think that maybe he could love you too?”
Hippy laughed and asked, “A throuple? Goldie, get real.”
“I’m being real with you, man. Sometimes, we want something we think is out of reach until it isn’t. Cosmo is a sweetheart. Had his chip on his shoulder, sure, but now, he’s one of us. We’ve all seen the bad side of things, and we work here to see the good. We live here, live with each other, to get the good.”
“To be a throuple, I’d have to be… to like Taran, too. I’m nowhere near that.”
“There’s time. We got time. We’ve got a lot of time.”
“Unless we don’t. The BBC could be back once the heat is off. Then, how much time do we truly have?”
“You don’t think they’re gonna beat us,” Goldie said. “You, with the cache of weapons like you have?”
“I guarantee they have more.”
“Well, then, it’s a matter of living like every day is our last. Maybe it is. Once they get back, regrouped, probably stronger, then we might not have a lot of time left. It’s why Eazy andMurph go to see their kids every day, it’s why Mims jumped in love with Sonny practically from the second he saw the guy.”
Hippy hopped off the sink and said, “I don’t muscle in on a relationship that’s already established. Maybe they’ll break up, and if so, I’ll think about it then.”
“Whatever you gotta do, Hip.”
They met in the meeting room to get the report from Mims, who watched the video recordings from the street they were on and those around them.
“I can barely see straight right now, but I watched them all while you guys slept. They were circling all night. He only came onto the street we all were on there at the last, when we saw him.”
“So, he’s definitely worried,” Murphy said. “Good. Tonight, we get back there. Eazy is taking the shift here tonight, so it’s Taran and Ryan doing the watching.”
The next two nights, they did their act, and that was enough to get the pimp, Dane, very nervous. He circled them most of the night, watching as they jumped into cars, glaring when they got back out of them.
On Friday, however, one of them was approached, and when it happened, Goldie saw, and he nearly broke his cover.
Dane got out of his Hummer and walked up to Abs, smiling, smoking a long cigar.
Later, after Dane left again, Goldie walked casually to Abs and asked him, “What the fuck was that?”
“He’s trying to get me away from Murph.”
“Mother fucker. This is the last you’re out here.”
“No, it’s not. This is what we wanted. To rattle him.”
Goldie’s jaw clenched hard. “Abs, if anything happens to you…”
“I’m a big boy. I can handle myself.”
Goldie thought to himself that he wasn’t. He wasn’t big, not at all, and he maybe could handle himself against someone close to his size, unarmed, but Dane had security, he had at least ten men they’d seen. He was no match for that.
The weekend was rough. They hadn’t had much sleep and no practice, but the crowd of patrons didn’t seem to notice. Their tips were great, and they all fell into bed that night weary, but grateful they’d done what they were used to.
Monday came quickly, but at lunchtime, Goldie took Dean on their first official date. He drove to the mountains west of the city and found a nice park with picnic benches and shady elm and evergreen trees.
There were no other cars around being a Monday, most people were at work and not finding a spot to have a picnic. He spread out a blanket and set out sandwiches Eazy had made for them, along with Dean’s favorite chips, the hickory barbeque kind.
Dean was thrilled and took a chip between his lips, bringing it slowly into his mouth. That one act was sexy as hell.
“This is the sweetest date I’ve ever been on.”
