Page 65 of Cosmo

“Guess not.”

“Would you want,” Haze began again, doing more circles around the table, “murky, algae ridden water to careen oh so delicately down your stony body, Cosmo? Or the purest, brightest water that would make you shine?”

“The…second one, I guess.”

“Exactly!”

Triumphant that he’d made his point, he sat back in his chair, grinning.

“This bunch is so weird,” Goldie said. “Get out now, Cosmo. We rub off on folks.”

“I’m finding out I’m as weird as or weirder.”

Chapter Nineteen

He took the Mondayshift, which was boring. Ten people for the entire shift and he made less than fifty bucks. The reason, however, that he’d taken Monday was simple. The others were busy preparing for their parts of the heist of the painting.

Liam felt left out, though he knew his part had been half finished already, and the other half was about to come. Still, he wanted to know, to see the gears clicking together.

In crews before, he knew the gist of things, but to see the men in action, that was the clincher. To see how well this misfit family worked together, outside of the pub and their tricks with the bottles and customers, that’s what would help him understand.

To finally decide that he was in fully instead of feeling trapped.

He took a shot of Irish whiskey, the kind that burned all the way to his gut. It was stupid, the random thoughts that took him as the last customer drank her martini. She was a lonely thing, off in thought, uninterested in talking, like the world was weighing on her, much like it weighed on Liam.

He didn’t feel trapped. Not in the least. The only thing trapping him were his own thoughts and misgivings. The familyhe’d never wanted, and yet, in such a short time, the men in the bar had become his brothers.

And…maybe that was the hell of it. The kinship he felt for them, the brotherhood so easily in his grasp, they all reminded him of the actual brothers he’d once had. And how short their lives had been cut.

“Thank you,” the woman said, and slid a twenty-dollar bill to the edge of the bar toward him. “I hope whatever is bothering you, it gets fixed.”

“Thanks. Likewise.”

Abs came down to help him lock up the pub, and he answered the questions Liam hadn’t had the time to voice. “We’ve got everything set. Tomorrow, Tally’s coming in to work for us, and we’re off to the races. Mims and me, we know exactly how to get past the alarm system.”

“That’s a good thing. Cutting it close.”

“Yeah, as usual. We never prepare everything too soon. We’ve done that before and the alarm changed, or they got a dog, something. That’s where Goldie comes in.”

“The attention to detail thing.”

“No one better to stake out the places. He grew up with a cop uncle. The uncle was notorious for having the patience to stake out the people they were watching. He took every detail and taught his nephew everything about it. Mostly, because as Goldie put it, the guy had little else going on for him. No family but his parents, sister, and his sister’s kid, you know. And Goldie’s mom, well, she didn’t hang around long.”

“I think he said he was raised by his grandparents, right?”

“Yeah. Mom got into drugs. It was hard for him. She’s clean now, but she moved to a small town in North Carolina. She said it’s better for her sobriety to be away from everyone and all her triggers. I kind of hate her.”

“She thinks Goldie is a trigger?”

“And her mom, and the parents’ house, being that Goldie’s grandpa died a couple of years ago, and her brother, the cop.”

“Wow. Well, I guess I see her point about family being a trigger, but it’s sad for Goldie.”

Abs set his hand on his hip. “I guess you’re right. Family is triggering. Maybe I shouldn’t hate her so much, but I still do. Fair or not.”

“Hate who you hate. That can’t always be helped, Abs.” He thought of something and asked, “Where is Goldie?”

“At the house we’re hitting. He’ll be there until a couple of hours before we hit the place.”

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