Seemingly relieved, he lay next to Goldie and said, “I’m…I want someone just to…like me.”
“You got him. I’m not into the throuple thing, but maybe, for guys like Cosmo, Taran, and Hippy, it might be the best solution.”
“Kinda hot,” Dean said, then laughed. “They’re all…really sexy.”
“Oh? You noticed?”
“I’m not blind. All you guys are, even Murphy, in that daddy way.”
“Well, he chose us for our skills, but he also chose us for our looks. I have always hated that, but I get it. We make nearly as much bartending as we do in our other jobs, and that is because men and women are mostly shallow creatures, into hot bodies and faces. Me? I like a guy’s heart, but that’s not to say you’re not gorgeous.”
“Thanks. I always thought I was too skinny, too short, but then…I found that a lot of guys liked that about me,” Dean said in a whisper.
“That’s not what I like about you. I like your heart. I like you.”
“Good. I like that you like me.”
Taran came by the next day, ignorant of Hippy leaving or why, and gave them all the newest information about the pimp and his men.
They sat around the table downstairs and listened to him, but Goldie noticed that Cosmo barely turned his head to look Taran’s way.
“He got bail, of course, and we knew he would, but the thing is, he hasn’t raised a fuss about his money being gone. That’s a big indication of guilt, of course, but that also doesn’t mean he’s written it off. Now, we think he may be paying a lot of that money up to someone else. We just don’t know who.”
“The BBC?” Murphy asked.
“Possibly, or some other criminal organization. We need to remember not to have tunnel vision about the BBC. They are not an island. There are thousands of them out there, and it’s all the FBI can do to catch a few of them. That’s why, well, one of the reasons, I’ve thrown in with all of you. You are a way to get to some of the others.”
Murphy laughed and said, “Glad to be of service.”
“Well, I hate to say it, Murphy, but I think it was wise to send your family away for now. I don’t like the quiet. It always means trouble.”
“I’m hiring security for the pub for the time being too. I was just gonna tell the guys about it.”
Goldie and the others listened to Murphy’s plans of hiring a team of security personnel to walk the pub on busy nights and have one on duty during the less hectic weeknights. “Now, this is pricey, but we can afford it. We may have to do few jobs to make up for it, but I think it’s worth it.”
“And that’s when I take my leave. I can’t know about your other jobs,” Taran said.
Cosmo and he went off together, and the rest stayed behind to brazenly talk about them. “He doing okay?” Murphy asked the group.
Goldie said, “He’s hurting. Hip being gone, just like that, it hurt. He’s in the unenviable spot of being in love with two men.”
Abs laid his head on Goldie’s arm. “Yeah.”
“Damn. That’s tough. Does he have any idea of what to do about it?”
“Not one,” Goldie informed him. “I suggested, you know, that he might want to see if they could make it happen, the three of them, but…”
“I wonder if Hippy would even do that,” Mims said. “I mean…does he even like Taran?”
No one knew.
“Well, gentlemen, keep an eye on this for me. Not that we need extra drama, but the hearts and minds of you all are my top priority alongside your safety. The thing I worry about with Cosmo, anything could set him off to leave and go punish himself alone. We don’t want to lose him, in any way. So, I’m counting on all of you, be aware of him and his urge to bolt.”
Goldie knew that was true, and he, for one, knew how to keep an eye on Cosmo.
With so much turmoil, the next day’s rehearsal, the first for Dean, was nearly bereft. Goldie didn’t know how they’d do that weekend, if they’d have the heart for it. But they had patrons who came every weekend for the show and the good times the group brought. They wouldn’t let them down.
Dean picked up the routines quickly, and he was twirling around as he tossed the practice bottles into the air within an hour. Everyone was impressed, but what was better, Dean felt like a prince.