The Sunset Job (The Rainbow's Seven 1)

“To the Rainbow’s Seven,” Mimic said, raising a glass of rosé up into the sky. Wyatt grabbed his beer and joined the circle in the center of the room, clinking their glasses together. As much as Wyatt still doubted his decision to say yes to one of Roman’s crazy schemes, it was moments like these that made it seem worth it. He was risking a lot by being here, but the reward was already beginning to show.

The rest of the night played out like a scene in one of Wyatt’s favorite movies. They danced and played games, talked and laughed and joked. They played drinking games and teased each other like a group of old friends would, the invisible bonds between the seven growing stronger and stronger as the night wore on.

Sometime around midnight, Wyatt found himself having a deep heart-to-heart with Phantom on the balcony, overlooking the glittering city of Madrid. The air was refreshing, and the honesty between them even more so.

“Yeah,” Phantom said, leaning on the iron balcony, a row of potted plants hanging off the other end. “Me and my sister are really tight. She’s my best friend.”

“Same with me and mine,” Wyatt replied. He’d already drunk enough to make his limbs a little stringy and his lips a little looser. “Life kind of made sure we stuck together. Our parents died when we were both barely teens, and the rest of our family was either struggling with their own demons or too selfish to help with ours. Shit sucked, but me and Julie made it through okay.”

“Damn, man, your story sounds pretty similar to mine. My dad passed, but my mom married a man who completely changed her. It’s almost like we lost her with our dad.” Phantom turned, crossing an arm across his chest and drinking from his glass of white wine. He wore an orange tank top with a trio of Greek letters printed across the front, the fraternity’s pool party advertised underneath by a seemingly drunk seal, a bra hanging off its neck. “It definitely pushed me and my sister together. We became inseparable, which was exactly why my stepdad tried to separate us. We learned how to work together after that. She’s actually helping out on this job, just remotely.”

“Really? What’s she doing?”

“She’ll be important in getting the tome. She’s a curator at a museum in Los Angeles. She’s making sure the Writing Through the Ages exhibit lands on her doorstep so that we’ll have a way easier time of grabbing it. She’ll of course get a cut, and she needs it. Her daughter—she’s going through it medically. She’s got a rare bone cancer, and the treatment price is wild. And there’s an experimental drug that she wants to try on top of the treatments, she just doesn’t have the money to.”

Wyatt’s smile faded, his heart growing heavy while also feeling slightly more connected to Phantom.

“I’m glad you two are close, then. This job is for her, too.”

“Yeah, she’s a good one… Guess that’s why I came out to her a few days ago.”

It took a second for the words to register in Wyatt’s alcohol-dulled brain. His eyebrows shot up before he brought his expression back to neutral.

“She’s the first person I’ve told. Got me this watch as a coming-out gift. Use to be our dad’s, but she got it fixed up after she found it in the attic. And now you’re the second person I’ve told.” Phantom smiled, eyes crinkling as he lifted his glass. “Cheers.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Wyatt said, returning the smile as he drank the last of his beer. “I personally know how hard the first few times are.”

“First few times?”

Wyatt nodded, lips pursing. “Oh yeah, coming out never stops. You’ll be ‘coming out’ until the day you’re ‘heading out.’ It’s just the curse we have to carry for being so fucking fabulous. And so great at taking dick.”

Phantom almost spat out his mouthful of wine.

“Sorry,” Wyatt said, blushing. “It’s the drinks talking.”

Phantom gave him a look before cracking up, doubling over with the wave of laughter, the fit catching on to Wyatt.

“Seriously, though,” Wyatt said, working hard to control the bubbling laughs. “It means a lot to be one of those first few people. And it does get easier, that I can also promise you.”

“It actually hasn’t been that hard. When I told my sister, it was over a bunch of left-over Chinese food with Survivor playing in the background, and all she said was ‘Axle, I love you no matter who you love. Now, can we please watch to see who wins the immunity challenge?’”

“And that’s how it should be, honestly. As simple and basic as ‘this is who I am, thanks for listening, goodbye.’ Sucks that it isn’t that way for so many people. Kids especially.”