Page 34 of Cosmo

“That’s me, yeah,” he said as he grinned shyly, closing the book in front of him.

It was too late. “Boning up on the drinks?”

“My first bartending job, yeah. I’m a newbie.”

“Well, if it helps, you made my drinks perfectly every time.”

He was tall, lean, hair combed back, unlike the night before when it had been much shaggier. Showing his handsome face, framing it perfectly in dark brown. Yeah, he was as handsome in the light of day as he was in the light from the bar.

“Thanks. That helps.”

Lashes fluttering over pinking cheeks, Liam could almost read the guy’s mind as he blushed sweetly. He was over thirty, for sure. It was more obvious in the daylight. “Listen, uh, I gave you my number last night, but I saw you were getting a lot of them. If I was presumptuous…”

“No! Not at all. I got a lot. Not that I asked for any.”

He was almost stumbling over his words, but he was very much out of practice. The guy didn’t seem to notice. “I get that. You’re…you’re nice looking. If you want, I could give you mine again.”

“I’d like that, yeah.”

On a piece of paper, he jotted down the number and handed it over to Liam, who looked at it and asked in a laugh, “Is there a name to go with it?”

“Oh! Oh, right! It’s Taran.”

“Taran. Nice name,” he flirted, and placed the paper in his pocket. “I’ll call you this week. I can’t, uh…I can’t go on dates on the weekends, you know, with work…”

“Weekdays are fine with me.” The laptop was closed and his dark pink lips curved again into that crooked, enchanting smile. “I gotta get to work myself, but…it was really good seeing you again, Cosmo.”

Yeah, Liam didn’t give two fucks if anyone saw him watching Taran walking away, because that was a sight he could watch anytime and be happy about it. Nice body, and his jeans filled out perfectly.

The books forgotten, he finished his coffee and headed back to the pub, going in the back entrance from the alley. As soon as the books were deposited in his room, he changed into his sweats so he could get to the basement and workout.

The one thing he couldn’t change, however, was the smile he wore. Taran had put it there, and it felt pretty good to have it.

*****

“It can’t wait any longer. I brought you all down here to tell you what we found out about Cosmo,” Murphy told them, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans to keep from fidgeting.

Tally sat behind them, but her face was tense.

“Are we going to hate him, because I really don’t want to hate him,” Abs groaned. “He’s a nice guy, no matter what he did in his past. We all pulled stupid shit, too.”

“You won’t hate him, Abs,” Mims said, then reached over to hold his hand across the table. “You’ll like him more.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s good for the place,” Murphy tried to remind them, but all the guys were halfway rolling their eyes.

Hippy was drumming his fingers on the table, in a jazzy beat, like usual. His voice was low, but no one else spoke, so it was clear as day. “I don’t like meetings about other people. Talking behind their backs like some assholes.”

“Me either,” Haze agreed, but Murphy knew he had to take the meeting back from them.

“Listen, I don’t like it either. But you all deserve to know who may or may not be working with us on jobs that aren’t…aren’t here, you know?”

“We get it, Murph,” Goldie said. “Just get out with it, please?”

“Fine,” he grunted as the rest of them just nodded and mumbled their agreement with Goldie. “Cosmo, he lost his family a long time ago. And it wasn’t just some car accident or fire or something. His mom killed his siblings, all of them, then herself. He’s…he’s the one who found them.”

Abs pulled his hand from Mims’s and both of his hands slapped over his own mouth as he gasped loudly. There wasn’t an eye there that wasn’t pointed right at him, most of them obviously hoping to see Murphy was lying.

All except Tally and Mims, of course. After Murphy didn’t say, “April fools,” or some such bullshit, they all looked to Mims, who slowly nodded. “It’s true. It wrecked me, especially since I couldn’t tell you guys about it.”

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