"Hey, you can't take that," Liam told Heath when he caught him lifting money from the till. "It took us most of the night to balance those books." Not to mention that Angelo's wasn't doing so well.
"So rebalance them," Heath said as he tucked the notes into his pocket.
"What'd you need it for anyway?"
"I'm getting a new tatt." Heath declared.
"At a time like this? Don't you know Brax has been hauled off by the cops?" Liam said, knowing that of course Heath did but struggling to understand how unaffected he was.
"Yeah, but they don't have any evidence, Brax didn't do it. He'll be outta there pretty quick." Heath shrugged and then walked off, leaving Liam to dip into his own funds to replenish the till.
xxx
As it turned out Heath had been right not to worry. Brax had been out of the cop shop in less than an hour, and he seemed pretty unfazed by it, so Liam rolled with that, not bothering to mention it because Brax hadn't.
"I was thinking about your situation," Liam said to Brax, he'd come up with an idea to attract some more people to the restaurant.
"Oh yeah, what situation is that?" Brax asked, clearly amused.
"The restaurant situation," Liam clarified, regretting his poor choice of words. Brax's dealings with the cops was none of Liam's business and as if he'd get involved in the whole Charlie affair. "What about some live music? I've got a mate that could play a show, mate's rates of course..." Brax considered, and apparently found no reason for them not to give it a go.
"Yeah alright, it's worth a crack. But it's up to you to set it all up."
"Ok, cool. I won't let ya down Brax," Liam said, realising that the prospect of being around music again was exciting. Not that he wanted to play a show, he was completely out of practice, but being on the scene again would be good.
"You better not," Brax said before walking off. Right, Liam had some phone calls to make, he wanted this gig to run smoothly. He was doing this for Brax, but in part he was doing it for himself too. He needed to know that he was still capable of this kind of thing.
xxx
Between pouring drinks Liam had spent the day on the phone getting ready for the gig on Saturday night. He'd organised the band and the promo stuff, it hadn't been too hard, he still had a lot of contacts that were willing to work with him despite his prior...issues. Heath hadn't been in to Angelo's all day, which was unusual for him, and Liam was happy to see him after his shift.
"What a day," Liam said to Heath, "life's never dull with the Braxton's around is it?"
"Not for you with this one around I hope," Heath said suggestively, sliding his hand behind Liam's head and pulling him in for a kiss. Heath's enthusiastic greeting proved Liam's point; being kissed like this was anything but dull. Liam returned the kiss eagerly, Heath's sudden intensity was unexpected and thrilling; a total turn-on. Liam slid his hand down onto Heath's arse, and was just beginning to think they should take this somewhere more private when Heath flinched and pulled away.
"Careful," he said, "I told you I was getting a new tatt." So Heath had gone ahead and done it. Nope, never a dull moment at all.
"On your arse...what is it?"
"Well," Heath said coyly, "it's you."
"What do ya mean it's me?" Liam asked faintly, he had a bad feeling about this.
"It's your face." No. Fucking. Way. Liam would die if Heath had ruined his gorgeous arse with such a ridiculous tattoo.
"You did fucking not..." Liam said, willing his words to be true.
"Yeah I did," Heath said enthusiastically, "romantic isn't it?" And then Heath pulled the waist band of his shorts down just enough so Liam could see the medical tape that held the dressing in place. Holy fuck, he'd really done it, Liam thought he might be sick.
"What's wrong?" Heath asked, he'd never seen Murphy quite so pale before.
"I think I need to sit down," Liam said, and he did. "Why?" Liam asked hopelessly, but there was nothing Heath could say that would make this better.
"Don't ya like it? I thought you would. I tried to ask you about it but you wouldn't listen, so I just went ahead and did it." Liam could see it now, the badly drawn face, not that any of Heath's other tatts were bad, but faces were tricky. He pictured the squinty eyes and the big teeth and wondered if he'd ever be able to look at Heath the same way again. "You'll like it when you see it," Heath insisted, but Liam doubted that very much.
"How long until the dressing comes off?" Liam asked, but never would be too soon.
"It should be fine by tomorrow," Heath said, looking quite pleased with himself.