Page 21 of Grounding the Baker
Gerard chuckled. “It’s a Saturday. We’re fully booked.”
They pulled apart. “I’m sure it won’t take long at your age,” said Austin.
Gerard glared at him, but there was nothing behind it. His eyes were still twinkling with amusement.
“Are we okay?” asked Gerard.
“Of course. We’ll always be okay.”
Gerard smiled. “I’d better get back to the pub and leave you to drag Maisie away from Liam.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gerard gestured towards the window of the bakery. Austin looked through and there was Liam and Maisie in the booth. He had his phone out, and they were watching something and both laughing. Austin didn’t think he’d ever seen Liam laugh before. It was beautiful, and made him want to make Liam laugh every day for the rest of his life.
“Just want to be friends, do you?” asked Gerard.
“What?”
“Mate, if you could see your face now, you’d know what I mean.”
“Why? What’s my face saying?”
“That you’re fucked!”
SIX
LIAM
“Milo!” shouted Liam from behind the counter. “Sit down. I’ll be over in a minute.”
He wasn’t sure why Milo was here, but knew he was going through some shit. Liam missed seeing his best friend every day. They’d lived together for the best part of a decade in some form, ever since they’d had a room next door to each other in the uni halls for their first year.
Liam grabbed one of the breakfast rolls and put it in the heater while he made coffee. The place wasn’t excessively busy. Normally, he’d have left by now for work, but Chloe was ill.
“Here you go,” said Liam, putting a coffee and breakfast roll in front of him. “I assume you didn’t have breakfast?”
“That’s very presumptuous of you.”
“When Milo is stressed, he doesn’t eat. Probably why you’re a skinny bitch. You’re always stressed.”
“Piss off. I’m not skinny.”
“Compared to me you are,” said Liam, flexing his biceps and squeezing his muscular chest.
He had started going back to the gym. There was a private one nearby, owned by a Brazilian guy called Rodrigo. He had a large clientele of old ladies who mostly went just to watch him work out rather than do their own exercise. The guy was huge and hot, but not for Liam. Rodrigo was a bit too well groomed for Liam. He liked his men more rugged and country.
“Good morning, Liam,” said Austin, as if his imagination had just conjured him.
He was looking hot as fuck in one of his plaid shirts. It was the red and black one, which was Liam’s favourite. Not that he should know Austin’s different shirts, but he did.
“Oh . . . hello . . . good morning . . . hello . . . um . . . hi, Austin.” Why was he so tongue-tied today?
He caught Milo out of the corner of his eye, looking like he was holding back a smirk.
“Do you have Maisie’s cupcakes?”
“Of course. Let me get them for you. I’ll just be a minute. Will you be okay, Milo?”
