Page 24 of Cosmo

After Liam changed, he looked in the mirror and saw his hair was like it always was. The top was a little longer than the sides and back, and he’d swept it all back with his brush to keep it away from his face.

When Abs reentered the room, he was carrying a plastic tote with curling irons, blow dryers, makeup, jars, and bottles of stuff he’d never heard of. “What’s all that?”

“I go nowhere for longer than ten hours without this,” he said, which didn’t explain a thing. Once he grabbed Liam’s hand and led him over to the desk, he pushed Liam into the chair and patted both shoulders at once. “Now, this is about trust. If I’m scaring or hurting you, let me know.”

“Do I need a safeword?” Liam asked, joking.

Abs didn’t find it funny. “Sure, I use Roanoke when I am feeling kinky with my many guys. What do you use?”

After swallowing the big lump in his throat, another formed as he croaked, “I don’t really have one…”

“Oh, you’re one of those.”

Liam laughed a little, but then he felt a brush running through his hair and something being sprayed on it. “What’s that?”

“Conditioner. Your hair is like straw. We are blonds, Cosmo. That comes with a lot of responsibility.”

Totally confused by what that could be, Liam felt it best to keep quiet and let the man work.

It didn’t take long, and Abs was in his face with a makeup brush, to which he pushed. “No makeup!”

“Cosmo, don’t make me hurt you. We all use a little on weekends, just a touch to bring out the good parts and hide the not-so-good ones. Hands down and mouth quiet.”

How he ever became afraid of a tiny man like Abs, he’d never know, but his hand dropped, and Abs was brushing some kind of powder over his face, clucking his tongue the whole time.

“I literally can’t believe I didn’t think of doing this hours ago. I could have done so much better.”

After the powder, a cream was put on him, then more powder, and then his eyes were outlined with a wet, tiny brush. “Don’t you dare move and make me start all over.”

Like a statue, he was stony-still, and once the eyeliner was on him and a little eyeshadow, Abs sat back and took him in, gloating, “Much better! Now you might get a few tips, anddefinitely some IG followers, if not some phone numbers too. Remember, you’re Cosmo.”

“I don’t have an IG account.”

“Make one! What’s wrong with you?” After gathering his things in the tote again, he started for the door, but called back, “Well, let’s go!”

Liam followed him to his room, where he left the tote, then they walked down the stairs together to the bar. All the while, Abs was telling him the extra things he should do. “I am great at this stuff, and Mims is too. I take videos for Goldie and Hippy, while they’re working out, and they post their reels, and then I get candid shots on weekends that aren’t really that candid. You all always know, and you have editing rights.”

“Editing rights?”

“Yeah, if I take a picture that makes you look like some troll with a wart the size of a watermelon on your face, we delete that one and move on.”

“Oh, right. Got it.”

“You’re all muscley too, so if you want me to take videos for you, I’ll be happy to, and don’t worry, I don’t fall for the other guys. Mims won’t either. None of you are old enough.”

Liam turned his head and asked in a hushed voice, “Old enough? Oh, right, he likes older guys.”

“He’s way into daddies, but it’s a psychological thing, all his shrinks have said it. He got tossed out on his ass by his dad, so he has been searching for one since. It’s all very tedious, but he’s the sweetest guy in the world, so we all keep quiet about it.”

They were at the entrance to the bar, but before they went through the door, Abs warned, “They don’t know you yet, but you’re hot, so you’ll likely get hit on a bunch even on the way to the bar. Head down and barrel through.”

“Barrel through?”

“The crowd! Oh, you are so, so new. Wait until you see them.”

Abs opened the door, and though it was only nine in the evening, all he saw was a sea of faces.

The bar was big, but all he’d seen of customers had stayed in the front area. The two big rooms on either side of the veranda behind that main part were filled to the brim with people. And he saw as they barreled through that the veranda was full, too. Full on a cool October evening. It was insane.

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