Mimi
2000, Fort Lauderdale (After the Execution)
“Why do I think I missed you more than you missed me?” Elliott asked Mimi, smiling over at her as they made their way toward Ft. Lauderdale beach.
“Are you serious?” Mimi squeezed his arm. “The cruise was really nice and we stayed busy, but sometimes it just dragged. Seven days felt like seven years! I couldn’t wait to get home and see you, and it felt so good to have you come to my house to pick me up. My dad freaked over this truck.” She smoothed her hand over the old but pristine seat, then scooted closer to Elliott. He pulled her close, planting a kiss on her temple.
“Well, I wanted to take you someplace nice for dinner, and I didn’t want to do it on my bike. You sure you don’t mind if we pop in to check on Edith first?”
“Of course not. I love your grandmother. But aren’t we heading in the wrong direction?” Mimi glanced out the window as they made their way east on Commercial Boulevard.
“Edith has a timeshare she uses every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s her little getaway with her friends. They sit on the beach all day and play shuffleboard or cards or whatever it is grandmothers do.” He laughed. “I promise we won’t stay long. She forgot some of her medicine. We’ll just do a quick drop-off and leave, okay?”
“Sure! So you’re staying at your house all by yourself?”
Elliott eyed her knowingly and gulped. “Yeah, I’m there all by myself.”
“Are we going there after dinner?” She forced herself to keep her tone light, to look straight ahead at the road.
He shot her a glance. “Only if you want to, Mimi. You know I want to be with you, but I wouldn’t ever want to force you into doing something you don’t want to do. I’ll never do something you’re not ready for.”
“I talked to my mom about it,” she said shyly.
“You what?”
“I talked to my mom. I asked her how old she was her first time, and I asked her what it was like.”
“Was it with your real dad? The one who died?”
“Believe it or not, no. It was with Dad. The dad you met. The one she’s married to now. But I don’t want to go into it. It’s messed up.”
He exhaled sharply. “Ugh, why did you have to ask her about sex? Every time I take you out she’s going to be thinking we’re doing it. Shit, she may even be thinking that tonight!” His tone was laced with worry.
“She’s not thinking that. I promise you. I told her I wasn’t ready and promised I would go to her before anything happens.”
“And that was it? She believed you?”
“Of course she believed me. Besides, it’s true. We’ve only kissed, Elliott. I’m not sure I’m ready to go any further. I told you before that it was important to me to wait until I’m married.”
Elliott had to tamp down his anger. Why the hell was she asking if they’d be going back to Edith’s vacant house later if she wasn’t willing? Little cock tease. She’d be changing her mind. Of that he was certain.
**********
Across town, Christian Bear sat on the end of his friend’s bed and watched him do pushups on the bedroom floor. When Dustin was finished, he got up and walked over to his dresser, picked up a beer, and took a swig. He swiped his arm across his mouth and turned to Christian.
“Heard you’ve been hanging out with those losers from Sandpiper High.”
“Yeah,” was all Christian said before taking a sip of his own beer.
“Why? They’re a bunch of punks. You’ve downgraded, bro.”
“They entertain me,” Christian said. “I’m bored and they amuse me.”
“And Rosman isn’t freaking out? He likes being their fearless leader even if he has graduated. Seems like he’d feel threatened by having a badass like you around, Chris.”
“I ain’t seen Nick yet, and when I do, I could care less what he thinks.”
Christian couldn’t tell Dustin the real reason he’d insinuated himself into their group. He’d been trying to find out for the last week what their connection was to Mimi. When the big mouth of the pathetic trio told him Nick, whose full name was Elliott Nicholas Rosman, was doing something big to get the notice of some local gangs, Christian knew it must’ve had something to do with Mimi. It was just too much of a coincidence that Nick and Mimi were dating—and that Mimi’s real father had died in prison this past summer.
Christian knew about Grizz. His father, Anthony, was always forthcoming about his past. A past that included Mimi’s real father.
Of course, both of Anthony’s sons knew to keep whatever tales their father shared to themselves.
Christian had displayed just enough disinterest with Rosman’s three friends that it made them want to tell him more. Christian had a reputation for being a bad boy, and asshats like these three were always trying to get his attention to make themselves look more important than they actually were. Christian had casually told them he wanted in if they could deliver. Their immature egos fell for the little bit of interest he’d shown, and they’d been practically doing backflips to impress him since.
Christian’s phone vibrated, and he reached into his back pocket.
Tonight at 8. Blue Moon condos on beach. #907
After reading the text message, Christian snapped his phone shut and told Dustin, “Later, man.”
He ran out the front door and jumped on his motorcycle. Less than a minute later, he was back in his friend’s room.
“My bike won’t start so I need your car keys.” He held out his hand. “C’mon, give ’em to me.”
“Can’t you fix your bike?”
“Yeah, but I don’t have time. Give me your fuckin’ keys, Dustin.”
“I don’t know if my parents’ insurance will cover you. I’m not letting you take my car. I’ll drive you home so you can get your truck.”
“It’s an emergency!” Christian yelled. “And I drive better than you do! Give me your keys!”
Dustin reluctantly turned over his keys, and Christian raced out.
“You better have it back here tonight, Chris,” he yelled after his friend. “I fucking mean it!”
**********
Less than ten minutes later, Christian Bear found himself in the back of a police cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back. He’d been pulled over for speeding. The cop probably would’ve let him call his parents or the friend whose car he borrowed, but Christian’s attitude sealed his fate. He was too much like his father.
“Shut the hell up about your phone call,” the cop yelled over his shoulder as he drove. “You can make your call from the station.”
Slade Bear had just washed his hands and was coming out of the men’s room at a sports bar when his cell phone rang. It was his younger brother, Christian.
“What’s up, Chri—”
“Slade! You need to listen to me. I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing, but you have to do something right now for me. It’s important, man. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t.”
Slade held the phone tight against his right ear and used his left hand to cover his other ear. The bar was loud. He walked back toward the restroom. Christian wasn’t one to ask for favors. Something was up.
“Yeah. Sure, Chris. I can help you out. What’s up?”
“You know that big-ass condo on Commercial and the beach, the Blue Moon?”
“No.”
“Yes, you do!” Christian yelled. “It’s the one where Mom dragged us to somebody’s kid’s Bar Mitzvah a couple of years ago. Remember the big ballroom with the glitter that was still in our hair a week later?”
“Oh yeah, I remem—”
“Shut up, Slade. Just listen. You have to go there, and you have to go there now. Go to condo nine-oh-seven. Some guys I’ve made friends with will be there. Something is going down with Mimi. I’m afraid something bad might happen, but I don’t know what. You have to go there and make sure she’s okay. You hear me?”
“Mimi who?”
“How many fucking Mimis do we know, Slade?”
“Mimi Dillon?” Slade walked out of the restroom, pulled a twenty from his wallet, and handed it to his waitress. He left the bar and headed out to the parking lot, listening as his brother filled him in. What the hell is Christian getting me into?
**********
Fifteen minutes later, Slade stood in front of door 907 and knocked. It swung open, and a kid with acne that he didn’t recognize said, “Didn’t know if you were going to come...”
He stopped and stared at Slade.
“Who are you?” He gave Slade the once-over.
“My brother Chris said I should meet him here. Said something was going down and I’d want in.” He tried to look past the boy and into the room, then narrowed his eyes. “You’re just a bunch of kids. There isn’t anything happening here tonight, is there? I can’t believe you tricked my little brother. He’ll beat the shit out of you when I tell him.”
The boy’s eyes got wide then, and he stepped back. “No! C’mon in and have a beer. We weren’t pulling nothing over on Chris. This is big, dude. C’mon in. We’ll tell you.”
Slade walked in and slowly perused the room. Two teenagers were lounging on a couch, their feet on an expensive coffee table. The smell of cheap weed filled the room. He looked over to the guy that let him in.
“Which one of you lives here?”
“None of us,” the boy answered, nodding toward a kid with bleached blond dreadlocks. “Isaac’s dad is the head maintenance guy for the whole building. The couple that owns this condo and the douchebag fag that owns nine-oh-eight are part-timers. Only use their condos in the summer. We have both places to ourselves.”
Slade walked to the two boys lounging on the couch.
“Where’s Rosman?” he asked no one in particular.
“He’s next door in nine-oh-eight, and he should have blood on his dick by now. She’s a virgin. Can you believe he’s with a fucking virgin?” This from the boy who answered the door.
“Yeah, and we get to see everything. He’s filming it. This is gonna be so righteous, dude.” Isaac took a deep pull on his joint. As he exhaled, he said, “He’s been planning this for so fucking long. Even got some freaky religious tattoo to impress her.”
The boy who’d let Slade in the door started to give him a high five when Slade grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. With the boy on the floor and Slade’s knee pressing into his shoulder blades, he looked at Isaac. “Give me the key to next door.”
Isaac and the other boy both jumped up from the couch and started to approach Slade but stopped. Their friend was screaming from the floor.
“He’s breaking my arm. He’s breaking my fucking arm!”
“I’ll break all of your arms if you don’t give me that key,” Slade said in a calm voice laced with menace.
He could tell they were weighing their options. It was three to one, and one of them was already down. He’d break this little shit’s arm and then crack the two numbskulls’ heads together. He knew it would be a piece of cake, and he saw by their expressions they knew it, too.
“I don’t have the key to nine-oh-eight. I gave it to Nick,” Isaac said, his voice suddenly whiny.
“Then you better pray your dad has a master on that ring.” Slade nodded at the small ring of keys laying on the coffee table. “If not, I’ll use your fucking head to bust that door down.”
**********
In the condominium next door, Mimi sat on the couch and sipped the iced tea Elliott had offered her. He’d gone into the bedroom to put Edith’s medication on the dresser. When they’d first arrived, they’d found a handwritten note that said, “Sorry I’m missing you. Went to an eight o’clock movie with my friends.”
“Guess it’s good you had a spare key,” Mimi called out to the other room.
She’d been worried when Edith didn’t answer the door. She’d seen the television commercial where the elderly lady had fallen and couldn’t get up. She shuddered to think that Elliott’s sweet grandma was inside the condo and unable to get up or call for help.
Elliott came out of the bedroom with a big smile on his face.
“True. I’d have been kind of pissed if I drove all the way out here and couldn’t leave her pills.” He took the seat next to her and said, “Drink up. You love Edith’s homemade iced tea.”
Mimi took another small sip. “I was thinking more along the lines that she could’ve been hurt or something.”
She put her glass back on the coffee table.
Elliott put his arm around her and pulled her close.
“Edith won’t be home for hours. We could order takeout and eat it on the balcony. Have you seen the view?”
“If that’s what you want to do, that’s okay with me, I guess,” Mimi said, suddenly feeling a bit shy.
He stood up then and reached for her hand.
“C’mon, let me show you the view.”
Mimi stood and started to walk in the direction of the sliding doors, but Elliott pulled her toward the bedroom.
“I’ll have to show you from the bedroom balcony. The living room sliders have been sticking, and Edith told me maintenance hasn’t been up yet to fix them. I don’t want to get them open and then not be able to close them. You know what I mean?”
Before Mimi could respond, he added, “You better drink more tea. Edith will be hurt if she thinks you passed up her famous iced tea.”
An odd feeling caused Mimi to look up at Elliott. Something was off. This wasn’t the Elliott she knew. There was something different about him. He seemed somewhat anxious.
For what, she didn’t know. She’d noticed his jaw tightened when they were in the truck talking about sex, when she’d reminded him she wanted to wait until she was married. She thought she imagined it, but now her senses were suddenly on alert.
She was reminded of a conversation she’d once had with her mother. Her mother had told her the story of when she used to babysit for a little boy who’d been abused. The signs were there and her intuition had been right, but she’d ignored them because those kinds of things didn’t happen in those kinds of families.
Her mother had been wrong.
“You know what, Elliott? I think maybe I would rather go out to dinner. I don’t feel right hanging in Edith’s vacation condo without her being here.” She tried to lighten the mood by reminding him of a funny moment they’d shared months earlier. “You know, ‘unchaperoned.’”
The last word came out in a squeak. Her lungs suddenly felt heavy and she thought she might have to fight for breath.
She noticed the same tightening of his jaw, but it was quickly gone as he plastered on a smile. A smile she realized wasn’t sincere.
She felt a trickle of sweat as it made its way down her neck. The room was suddenly very hot.
“Okay,” he said with exaggerated enthusiasm. “But not until you finish your iced tea.”
There it was again. The iced tea. She’d already taken a few sips. Did she feel any different? Yes, she thought maybe she did. Her body felt relaxed, which was in sharp contrast to what her mind was feeling.
“I’m not really thirsty,” was all she could muster.
She started to feel lightheaded and sat back down.
“What’s wrong, Mimi? Are you okay?”
His fake sincerity was so obvious it was making her nauseated.
“Just a little lightheaded. Probably because I haven’t eaten all day. I’ll be fine as soon as we get to the restaurant.”
He pulled her roughly to her feet and caught her around the waist as she swayed. “C’mon. Why don’t you lie down on Edith’s bed for a few minutes?”
“Take me home, Elliott,”
“Not until you rest,” he said sternly as he half walked, half dragged her toward the bedroom.
“No, Elliott! I don’t want to lie down. I want to go home.” It sounded slightly slurred even to her own ears.
“You are not going to ruin this for me, Mimi. I’ve waited for almost a fucking year for this. I even insisted on meeting your parents." He glared at her. "And you’re nothing but a prick-tease. Always looking at me like you want me to do you and then saying the opposite.” His voice turned hard. “You’re going to come in the bedroom and I’m going to make love to you, and you’re going to like it. Got it? You understand?”
He smirked to himself. Make love to her? Shit. He was going to ball her brains out.
“Ruin what?” she cried. “I think you put something in the iced tea. You want me to pass out.”
“I only gave you something to help you relax. I don’t want you to pass out. I want you to be awake. I want you to like it, and I promise you will, baby. I promise.” His voice was calmer now. “I’ll go down on you first. If you just let yourself relax, you’ll like it, I swear. I’ll make sure you come, and you’ll be begging me to fuck you, okay? It’ll be good. Now come on!”
Just then the front door of the condo flew open and a guy walked in, slamming the door behind him.
“Take your hands off her, Nick.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Elliott asked, his arms still clutched tightly around Mimi’s waist.
“I’m the guy who’s here to break your fucking face.”