Page 92 of Structure of Love

A very accurate assessment, actually. For all that Cooper didn’t seem to be paying attention, he clearly was. “What do you want, Cooper? Aside from getting clean, what are your goals?”

He snorted. “I ain’t got any. Could be why I turned out like this.”

Ah, yes, that would be part of the problem. I’d had motivation, my goal, to spur me forward. If he didn’t have anything driving him, he’d never be able to truly set himself straight.

“So you’re saying you don’t want your own Gage?”

Cooper paused and seemed to think about my question. I turned onto Gage’s street, only a minute away from his house now.

When Cooper spoke again, he sounded wistful. “You think I can do that? Become someone worthy of a person so amazing?”

“Cooper. Do remember I was just as screwed up at your age.”

“Oh. Right.” He gave me a shy grin.

I winked. “Food for thought. You need help getting into the house or you good?”

Gage had called in a favor from one of his crew, and they’d swung by and changed out the locks for something that took a code, which made life easier. No unnecessary hot-potato-keys.

“I, uh…” Cooper gave himself a visible shake. “Yeah, I’m good. I know where everything is. I think I’m just going to go in and sleep, honestly. It’s hard to sleep in hospitals.”

“Okay. You call if you need something. I’m just doing paperwork today, so I’m not really working.”

“Oh, sure. Thanks, Logan.”

I let him out, made sure he got in through the front door, then reversed and went to the bar. I did have some paperwork to do, which should take an hour or two. Hopefully I could have lunch with Gage afterward.

The bar didn’t open until 11:30, so I had a couple of hours yet until people started appearing. I chose to check some stock first, make sure I had what I thought I had before I started putting in orders. We were a bit low on some of the craft beers, so I made notes to put in another order for delivery. Then I sat down and did payroll—the usual business stuff.

My phone lit up with a text, and funnily enough it was from Zar. Picking up my phone off the desk, I read the message through properly.

Zar:Hey, you at the bar?

I typed back:I am, why?

Zar:Let me in

Let him in? Wait, was he here? Only my cooks were here so far, prepping ingredients in the kitchen. Curious, I got up and went to the front door, and sure enough, there he was. I’d never seen Zar in a cop’s uniform before, and I had to admit, it suited. No wonder Asher had fallen for him. I unlocked one of the doors and waved him in.

“Hi there. Didn’t expect to see you today.”

“I bet. I was driving past and saw your Jeep in the parking lot, figured I could talk properly about a few things.”

I eyed him warily. “This isn’t a shovel talk, is it?”

Zar settled back on his heels in a classic cop pose and regarded me as if intrigued my mind had gone there. “Honestly? I don’t think I need to. You look at Gage like he’s the epitome of everything you’ve ever wanted. A man who looks at his lover like that, he won’t betray him.”

“Heisthe epitome of everything I’ve ever wanted.” I was glad people could clearly see my feelings. “I fully plan to propose, when the timing’s right.”

“Yeah?” Zar lit up with a smile. “I’m delighted to hear it. I realize we don’t know each other well, but whenever I’m around you, I see the potential of being really good friends. We just need more time for our friendship to gel, I think.”

“I’d love to be friends. DnD the other week showed me Gage has amazing friends.”

“They really are. Here, sit with me for a second. I want to run a few things by you.”

“Sure.” I pulled up a chair at the nearest table and dropped into it.

Zar did the same, then leaned an elbow on the table, getting comfortable. “So. First, Gage read us in on how you handled Cooper and his mother. Thank you. Those two are an unending source of frustration for Gage, as I’m sure you’ve realized. If you can straighten out Cooper, it’ll take a huge burden off Gage.”