Page 84 of Cosmo

“I’m in,” Ryan said, and his father threw a look at him that shut him up immediately.

Hippy was the one who asked, “How fucking deep in all this shit do you think we want to be?”

Murphy stopped them from murmured agreements with Hippy. “Listen, guys, we just got fucked out of a whole lot of money by these guys. If we want to continue with our side-jobs, then we are going to work to take those mother fuckers down. Not to mention, the reasons we had to want them gone to begin with.”

Eazy passed out the cash to all of them, but Abs pushed his into the center of the table. “I’m still donating my piece to the cat charity.”

Liam felt like crying as the rest of them did the same, even Hippy. The pile of cash, minus what had been spent on the heist, was all going to save cats, like Daiq.

Haze said, “Listen, I hate these fuckers. I’m not a big lover of cops anyway, but dirty cops? Come on!”

“Yeah, I’m in too,” Mims said. “Taking over the city like they’re some kind of mafia.”

“Worse than mafia,” Murphy said. “Mafia fellas at least had a code. These guys, they don’t. Trafficking people’s daughters and sons, taking food from the mouths of small-time crooks. You know, most of those people steal to feed their fucking families.”

Taran said, “I don’t condone it, lawlessness, but I also am an adult. I don’t have idealistic dreams of good and bad guys. There are too many in the middle for that fantasy. Of the bad guys there are, though, these are the worst. And they’re growing almost too strong to take down.”

That hit home with the entire room. Goldie sighed. “The bigger they are, as they say.”

“Yeah,” Abs agreed with his friend. “It might take a lot, but we’re going to take them down hard.”

Mims changed the subject quickly. “Hey, I have someone that needs some help. The last time I worked by myself, I overheard Joe talking about this guy who’s getting booted out of his apartment. More gentrification in the city.”

“Are we really surprised?” Easy asked, defeated. “What can we do about it?”

“Outbid the ones trying to buy it,” Murphy answered. “We buy a rundown apartment and spend a fortune to get it to code.”

Liam thought about it, and he whispered, “Mafia.”

Taran asked first, even though most were about to. “What about mafias?”

“Isn’t that how they started? They started because the people needed protections and help, and…favors were traded. We couldget a lot people on our side if we helped, while the BBC was fucking people over.”

“We’re not a fucking mafia, Cosmo,” Murphy scoffed.

“Not exactly, but if a cartel is moving in, one with connections we could never have, we could get something they’d never have. The people. The people.”

Taran laughed and said, “I should not be hearing this, but I have to admit I love it.”

Eazy asked his husband, “Can we afford this?”

“Mortgage, yeah. Take a couple hundred grand to fix the place to start, just getting the roof, electric, and plumbing up to code, but that sure spreads the wealth, too. We use local guys and we don’t raise the rent. Cosmo might just be onto something.”

Hippy smiled over at him, and for once, it was sincere. “Welcome to the family, Cosmo.”

“Thanks.”

The next day, Liam lay with Daiq while Daiq purred happily after his can of fancy food that Abs kept buying him. “You’re going to be the fattest, most spoiled cat in the world, and that’s perfectly okay by me.”

Daiq paid him no mind as long as Liam kept stroking his fur. The minute he stopped, Daiq would lift his little head and pitifully meow like he was being abused.

“I see through your scams, you know?”

Again, just purring and quiet snores.

The new collar Abs had bought him was shining in the lamplight. It was rhinestones, the expensive ones, and had a gold-plated tag announcing the phone number for the pub and his full name.

The beautiful cat was happy, and everyone was in love with him. If nothing else had convinced Liam of the goodness of the people at the pub, it was the way they’d taken to Daiq.

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