Page 71 of Cosmo

“I’ll take care of him,” Liam swore to them, and meant it. “I swear, if anything looks off, we’re gone. Bentley can stay where it is.”

“Goldie, look,” Mims said as he looked back at the screen. “Watching him, following him, you can find the keys, and maybe you can even get any codes we’ll need.”

“Surveillance is a huge part of boosting cars,” Liam agreed. “I’ll take your night shift this week in the pub, if Murphy’s okay with it.”

“Whatever needs done. Damn shame, though.”

“What’s a shame?”

Mims groaned, “We can’t sell the car whole. It’s got to be taken apart. It’ll be sent overseas and reassembled, but with varying parts.”

That hurt his chest. “That is a beautiful car! There’s no one that could take it whole?”

“With that security? Even if we had someone that could get the fingerprint changed and other things, it would be too big a risk.”

Liam nodded to Murphy and whispered, “I understand, but it sucks.”

“Yes, it does, but the payout is the same. The parts on this bitch. Fuck, I could send both of my kids to college with the parts alone.”

“Okay,” Goldie conceded. “I’ll get started first thing in the morning watching this guy. Then…the painting.”

“This could be a big week for us, gentlemen. Not only will the cops be freaking out, but our enemies too.” He looked at Liam and said, “Might want to talk to your boyfriend about all this.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

Goldie laughed. “No, sure, he’s not. He better be and you best make him fall so hard for you he can’t turn on you.”

“Yeah. Yeah…I guess so.”

Mims reached over and grabbed his hand. “That’s not the only reason. You like him. I can see that.”

Liam didn’t know how it had happened, but he was falling in love with all the men in the pub. Not like…not like he was with Taran. They were making him a member of their weird family, and as much as he thought he’d hate it, he didn’t.

He confessed it to the only one that he knew for sure wouldn’t tell a soul. “I like them, Daiq. I don’t even know why. I was set against it, I swear, but…they’re not hiding things. They’re making me a part of them without even knowing me all that well. I’ve never had people trust me like this before in my whole life. Am I being stupid?”

The cat rubbed his head on Liam’s chin and then lay in a ball by his chest. “You’re a lot of help.”

Taran called him, wanting to meet for coffee the following morning, so they met up and took a long walk as they sipped their coffees. “The Bentley? I know the car. The guy who owns it is on our radar.”

“I thought you said the guy that owned the painting was.”

“They both are. Human trafficking is a big business, Cosmo. Denver, unfortunately, is a major hub between North and South America. Smack in the middle of the country between Canada and Mexico.”

“I just never think Canadians could go in for that stuff, but there are bad people everywhere, I guess.”

“There are. Listen, get the car. No law enforcement agency is going to go to bat for this guy, but he’ll hire private security just to find the thing. I’m thinking, maybe keep it somewhere, under wraps for a few months first.”

“I’ll let Murphy know. These private security guys, will you know about them?”

“He hires the same ones that he uses for personal protection, so yeah. They’re licensed, good at their jobs and most are ex-military-special forces. Liam, they’reverygood at their jobs. It scares me to think they’ll be after you.”

“Then we’ll have to make sure they don’t find out about us.”

Taran stopped on a bench at the park their walk had led them to, and Liam joined him.

“You were the means to an end, Liam. I learned all I could about you, and already my heart was changing. Now, knowing you…I am terrified. I want to take you away with me so far that no one would ever find us. And I’d keep you safe.”

“What life would that be?”

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