9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Saturday night was more crowded than Friday, and Liam hadn’t thought that was possible. He was pouring drinks so quickly; he wasn’t sure if he was putting in the right booze or not. No one complained that he knew of, so he wasn’t really worried about it.
He was too busy to be worried about anything. He’d worked a lot of jobs in his life, both legal and not, and he’d never worked so hard.
The clothes Abs had chosen for him were a hit too, and he was right, he wasn’t any more overheated than the night before, and no less either. He was glad the deodorant Eazy had purchased for him worked. He was sweating like a pig less than ten minutes into the shift.
Between the clothes and the others doing their routines, the night paid off well. His pockets were bulging with cash tips and that was a fraction of what he knew he’d get with the tips via credit and debit cards. The previous night, Murphy had tallied them, and they each made nearly five hundred dollars from those tips.
Over three grand alone, total, just in tips. Liam pondered that for a long time that afternoon, feeling his old thieving hands getting itchy.
Then he saw the bruiser that came for the receipts and quickly thought better of it. Murphy paid a company to securely take his money to the bank. Armed bruisers, at that.
That night, it looked like he’d also double the phone numbers he received too. Over and over, men would hand him their money for the drinks and in the mix of bills would be a card or messily scribbled phone number on a scrap of paper. There was one guy, however, that was more persistent than the others, and that didn’t bother Liam a bit.
He was fine as fuck and had a crooked smile that sucked him right in.
Short, messy, brunette hair on the darker side, mid-thirties, bright blue eyes that shone through the crowd whenever he set them on Liam.
His order was also one of the easier ones of the night. “Crown and Coke,” he’d yell every hour until the third time, when Liam pushed it across the bar to save the man’s vocal cords.
Flirting with him saw the night flying by.
As they sat around when the crowd had gone home, counting their tips and their phone numbers, Liam came across one that surprised him. None of the others at the table, which were only Abs, Goldie, and Haze, were looking at him, so he stuck the card in his pocket.
The card belonged to an FBI agent.
Once he was in his room after winning the number contest that night, he took it from his pocket and looked at it again. On the back, there was writing.
Give me a call. It’s in your best interest.
Before it’s too late.
What the fuck could that possibly mean? In his best interest?
He must have read it ten times, but it made no sense. Thinking of when he could have possibly gotten it, he couldn’t imagine which one of the thousand faces he’d see that night had slipped it to him. How they’d slipped it to him wasn’t a mystery, however. He got cards all night.
He tossed the card on his dresser and got dressed after he showered. Putting it out of his mind was easy enough for the time being. He was heading to buy some clothes. The only bad part was that Abs had insisted on going with him to “help.”
Waiting down in the pub, Abs waved at him happily, causing Goldie, who was there with Murphy, to question, “Where are you guys headed?”
“Shopping,” Abs told him with a grin.
“Oh, god,” Goldie groaned. “Cosmo is officially crazy.”
Murphy turned a little green when Goldie said that, but he quickly covered. “Shopping with Abs. Good luck, Cos.”
Cosmo watched him for another few seconds, but realized he might be seeing things that weren’t happening. He was still more than a little uneasy about being there.
Abs grabbed his hand and tugged. “Come on, we have to get a rideshare. Murphy’s mean and he won’t let me drive his vehicle.”
“I’ve seen you drive, Abs. No flippin’ way.”
After Abs stuck out his tongue at Murphy, they were out the front door and hurrying down the sidewalk. “I have them pick me up down the street. If you call them for the pub, they always come to the opposite end. It’s annoying.”
“I knew a guy in prison that used to drive for a rideshare. He said people are crazy and disgusting and he’d never do it again.”
“He’s right, and I’ve never driven for one, but I can’t even imagine the smells,” he said, and his thin nose scrunched up cutely.
He really was adorable, even if he was trying so hard to be dark. A pretty face, rather feminine, and his gestures were even more so.
Liam liked his guys on the masc side of things, but he wasn’t like some gay men. He didn’t hate all other types like some of the guys he’d banged when he was young. In fact, he held great disdain for those that judged on looks. They were all part of the same community. There was no reason to push each other aside.
Abs pointed with his long finger to the white SUV pulling up to the curb a few feet from them. “There she is. Rhonda, in a white Tahoe.”
Liam found he was already having a good time, despite his normal aversion to being around just about anyone.
They sat in the backseat and Abs talked to the driver, prattling on about the stores he was taking Liam to, comparing notes with the college student.
She gave him some new stores to try, and he gave her the lowdown on the pub on the weekends. “It’s a gay club, but plenty of girls come. We love our gal pals.”
“I love gay clubs. My friends and me go to one in Aurora sometimes when we just want a night without guys all over us.”
“I can’t promise that, but I can promise that if they bug you, my best friend will wail on them. He’s huge, very handsome, and doesn’t put up with girls getting harassed.”
“You just sold about twenty cosmos!”
Abs clapped and looked over at him, grinning. “Cosmo’s are to die for !”
Liam rolled his eyes but laughed.
Abs kissed her cheek before they left the SUV, and then he retook Liam’s hand.
Liam noticed a woman glaring at their clasped hands, and his fur went up. He stopped them and stared back until her pace sped and she purposely looked the other way.
“I hate some people,” Abs whispered. “Don’t let them get to you.”
“Can’t help it.”
“How was…how was prison for you?”
Liam didn’t take offense to the question. “Hard, of course, but I never got jumped. Did you ever…?”
“I was in juvie, then spent a couple months in jail, but they let me go. Time served. I met Murphy and Eazy right after. I was kind of…wandering.”
“And you’ve been there a long time?”
Abs nodded and suddenly, Liam watched the anger and hurt leave him as he smiled sweetly. “Sure. Almost four years since I just turned twenty-one. I was running with a rough crowd, and then Murphy and the guys saved me. Mama Tally too.”
“Mama?”
“We call her that sometimes, and, well, Mims always calls her that. She’s amazing to us.”
He didn’t have or want a mother in his life. “I’ll stick to calling her Tally.”
“Her real name is Tallulah. What a name, right?”
“It’s Irish. I knew two of them back in church when I was little. One was also Tally, the other was Lulu.”
“I like that! Lulu!”
They stopped at a shop that was next door to a place that served coffee, and Abs insisted they go inside for a cup. As far as Liam was concerned, Abs had had enough caffeine, but…
“One triple shot, fat-free latte with stevia, and throw in a splash of that sugar free white chocolate.”
“Are you watching your weight?” Liam teased.
“Ass,” he said as he laughed.
When Liam was up, he ordered a plain coffee with three real sugars and a scone. After he paid, he sat at a table near the front window, and Abs was already there, watching people walk by. “You know, Haze is a painter. We go eat, or get coffee, and he watches people go by. I never thought about it until I met him. He sees things in people I never saw.”
That was something Liam could relate to. But he was also sure he saw people much differently than anyone else. The woman rushing by with her purse clutched tightly to her stomach and her chestnut hair blowing away from a face that was stony with focused consternation. What others might see as her being in a hurry, or worried she’d have her purse stolen, to him, he thought she seemed to rush home to find some way to hurt her unsuspecting children.
“What does he paint?”
“Everything. He finds inspiration in so much. His room isn’t as much a room as a studio. It’s so full of canvases and he’s got three easels, all of them with a partially painted canvas on it.”
“It must be nice to have that kind of hobby.”
“Yeah. I like music, art, and stuff too, but nothing like Haze likes art and Hippy’s into music. He’s all about jazz and blues and stuff like that.”
Liam had nothing that interested him in that way. He read and worked out in prison, and he enjoyed reading, but that couldn’t be considered something like their interests.
Then again, he loved it. It hadn’t only been to wile away the hours. Genuinely liking the stories he’d read, Liam thought he could try more of it, now that he wasn’t inside the walls of the prison.
“Maybe I can try to up my hobby game a little.”
Abs’ smile was wide and genuine. “Me too. Maybe I’ll start doing makeovers, like I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Makeup and clothes? You’re great at it. I got a ton of compliments the other night.”
“Okay, that’s it then! Whatever you’re thinking about, and me with my makeovers. We’ll have rooms full of our hobbies too.”
“I’m thinking books for mine,” he confessed. “I liked reading when I was…”
“Yeah. I read in jail. Nothing else to do. Great! Maybe we’ll go to the library later this week.”
“I’d like that.”
If he didn’t want a family, he thought having a couple friends couldn’t hurt. And Abs was sweet. So was Goldie and the others, as far as he’d seen so far.
“Oh, you have to buy a case of condoms.”
Liam chuckled at that, but Abs was serious. “Okay, why?”
“You get laid a lot. None of us have a steady guy, except Mims, but he has a new one every month. We don’t have time for them, usually, so without a steady guy, you’ll get so much dick. Or ass, whichever you prefer.”
“I’m kind of in the middle.”
“Not me. I’m a total bottom.”
He kept to himself how easy it was to guess that. “So, condoms. And where do you guys fuck?”
“Are you asking if we bring guys home? I mean, duh. Murphy doesn’t have rules for that. Just, you know, keep your real name to yourself for as long as you can. Condoms and lube packets. Just in case. You tend to get hookups on the fly, so be prepared.”
“Got it.”
The shopping trip was a whirlwind, Abs dragging him around, making him buy this top or those pants, and he never thought in his life he’d own more than two pairs of shoes, but there he was, carrying bags with five pairs.
And when he bought condoms and lube, Abs’ eyes were enormous because Liam picked up the large size.
By the time they got back to the pub, he was exhausted, but thankfully, Abs helped him put his stuff away, organizing his closet to boot.
“Now, next weekend, that red silk crop and the black mesh top over it. I’ll do your hair and makeup again and show you how to do it for yourself.”
Liam did something he’d rarely done in his life, and went to Abs, giving him a stiff hug. “Thank you. I really appreciate the help.”
When he pulled back, embarrassed, he forgot his embarrassment quickly as he saw Abs crying. “That was…really sweet.”
“I didn’t mean to…I mean, don’t cry. If you walk out of here crying, your huge friend, Goldie, might come in here and beat my ass!”
“He’d never! He’s an artist too, only with his body. He takes working out seriously. It’s his thing.”
“So even he has a thing.”
“We do too, remember?”
And that’s when Liam felt like crying. “Yes. I do. Thanks, Abs.”
“You’re welcome.”