Page 87 of Cosmo

“No. Not…now. Not with all this mess. The good thing is, it’s not like they didn’t already know about you. They may have a few moles of their own.”

“So now what?”

“I’m getting you out of here and prosecuting the shooter. He’s claiming to be acting on his own. We won’t break him.”

“How can you know that? Will he seriously go to prison for these guys?”

Taran moved in and whispered, “Yeah. Think about it, Liam. A cop in prison doesn’t have a snowball's chance in hell, but with other cops also pissed at you for snitching?”

“A snitch, a cop killer, and a cop. Yeah, he’d have everyone after him. So now what for us?”

Taran’s sweet smile warmed the cold places inside him from his revisiting of his old self. “You went after that guy for hurting me. All that…anger, it was for me. Sorry, but I think it was romantic as hell.”

“You’re very…weird.”

“Yeah. I am.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Once he was out,Taran drove him back to the pub, and on the way, Liam watched him wincing with each turn of the steering wheel. “Why aren’t you in the fucking hospital?”

“It’s a nasty bruise, I’m telling you, right under my shoulder blade. Hurts like a motherfucker. They gave me pills and when I get home, I’ll take one.”

“I guess it’s not a good idea for you to stay here or for me to go there.”

“Not…not right now. But that doesn’t mean I want this to be over. Liam, my feelings for you, I know you hate talking about this stuff, but…”

“We’re together. I can’t say more than that yet, but…yeah, Taran.”

Taran smiled over at him. “I’ll take that and be patient. But for me, I can say it. Especially now. Liam…I fell for you a while back. Hard.”

“The second you saw me with the cat. You don’t have to tell me.”

“I think that was it, yeah,” he laughed.

“You sure it wasn’t the cat? He’s won over everyone here at the pub.”

Taran reached a hand over and laid it over Liam’s, squeezing tenderly. “There’s something special here. Maybe in this place, you have a family, whether or not you knew you needed one.”

“I came to that conclusion right before you…got shot.”

“Good. I didn’t want to have our first fight be over that.”

“No? What should it be over?”

“Something easily solved so we can get to the makeup sex.”

Liam felt like his world had spun around so much that he wasn’t steady on it any longer, but he didn’t need to be steady. Steady for him was being alone and pushing the rest of humanity away from him. “I…have a family. And I’m gonna go inside and let them know I’m okay, because I actually think they’re worried about me.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure they are, being they haven’t stopped blowing up my phone since you were taken away in the police cruiser.”

Liam laughed and said, “I’d better go in then. See you soon. That’s not a question. I will see you soon.”

“You will.”

As soon as he walked into the doors of the pub, everyone rushed him, surrounding him as questions were hollered out and hugs were given, pats on the back, and a tender hand was cupping his cheek that belonged to Tally. “Oh honey, you look terrible. Sit at the table. Let me get you some food.” To Murphy, she ordered, “Get him that top shelf stuff you reserve for yourself.”

“Tally!”

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