Her Beast

Chapter 3

Luke left her standing in the middle of the dance floor with a smirk of satisfaction.  Only just as he reached the edge of the floor he heard her soft laugh behind him and had to fight the urge not to march back over to her knock some sense into her.  Let her enjoy her night, she would pay for it later.  He continued on his way back to their table and then changed his mind and headed to the bar for a drink.  As he approached the barman prepared and handed him his prefered drink, whisky straight.  He threw it back and threw the glass back at the barman who immediately poured him another and set it down in front of him. Luke threw that back too and repeated the action.  The barman didn't blink, he simply poured him another and set it before him, only this time he set the bottle down next to the glass and moved off to serve another customer.

This was the second person to surprise him today. He liked it or rather he liked this barman. He poured himself another drink and turned back to face the dancefloor, this time taking his time to savour the whisky. His wife was, he wasn't sure what his wife was doing but she seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.  She seemed to be delighting in being swung around the dancefloor by the various men brave enough to accommodate her. She laughed and smiled with various different guests when she took small breaks from dancing.  She didn't seem to notice their snide looks or whispered insults when she left them and she didn't seem to care about the fake smiles they offered her when she approached them.  It stuck him that he hadn't seen her without a smile on her face the whole evening.

He turned back to pour himself another drink, only the bottle was gone and in its place was another glass with a double shot of whisky swirling around the base. He placed his empty glass next to the new one and turned to his right hand man who was just off to the side of the bar

"Fire the barman!" 

"Sir?"

Declan looked sideways at the man, who immediately back pedalled to do his bidding. He caught the barmens eye just after his message had been relayed and the man smirked at him with a lift of his chin.  Luke felt himself smile back at the man and made his way out of the reception room. His car was waiting for him as per his instructions and he tossed back the last of his whisky before handing the glass to a valet and stepping down through the open door.  As the door closed he turned to the man sitting next to him.

"You really are annoying!" He spoke as a greeting.

"And you, my friend, are a married man!"  Ash, his best man replied, stripping the bowtie from his throat. 

"On paper only! Nothing changes!"

"Sure!  She's a pretty little thing." Ash added.

Luke wasn't in the mood for this. "When is the shipment due in the dock?"

"About nine tonight."

"Good then we should just make it.  Jeff?" He addressed his driver

"Sir?"

"To the docks."

"Yes sir."  Luke raised the screen between them as Jeff drove off the hotel property.

Twenty minutes later, they parked alongside the berth their ship was due to moor in.  Three of his men stood leaning against one of the large cranes, ready to lift containers off the ship.  As he climbed from the car all of them jumped to attention and turned to greet him.

"Report!" He snapped ignoring they greetings and congratulations.

"All good to go Mr Rykor! Ship is on time and the police have better things to be dealing with tonight."

"Good."  He made his way up to on of the onsite offices that he used whenever he needed to get some work done.  He watched from the desk until the ship slipped into its mooring.  More of his men appeared out of the darkness to help with the offload, it was a smooth operation and within three hours they had off loaded all the containers and the lorries had been loaded for distribution to the different warehouses he owned across the east coast. None of the men working knew exactly what he was moving and he made sure that no two parts of the operation ever spoke to another.  He rotated shifts and crews, a haul this large didn't come through very often so there was little risk that he would ever have to use the same men for different operations. Not that any of his men weren't loyal to a fault, he sure paid them enough to be.

As the last lorry rolled off the berth, he made his way back to the car.  Ash had long since found a ride home with one of the drivers. he was intercepted on route by one of his longer serving men, Darrell.

"What is it?" He snapped in annoyance.

"I'm retiring Sir!"  That got his attention.

"Why?"

"The wife is ill, Sir." The man didn't mince his words and Luke could respect a man that got to the point but he wasn't happy to be losing one of his best.

"Damnit! How long does she have?"  No man 'retired' from his employment without a very good reason.

"Doc says about 4 months."  Luke took a notebook from his inside pocket and scribbled down an address before ripping out the page.

"Either way go to this address when you are ready." He said sharply passing the page to the man. "And Darrell?"

"I expect a replacement."

"At this the man broke out in a large grin.  "Already on it,  I believe you already met him."

"Hows that?"

"You already fired him."

"Ah, you told him about the whisky!"  It wasn't a question but Darrell replied anyway.

"Figured a blind introduction would give you the best sense of the man."

"In this instance you thought right!  The man was wasted as a barman."  Luke smiled a little at the cocky arrogance of the guy. "Your son?"

"No Sir, nephew!"

"Send him to the house in the morning!"

"Thank you. Goodnight!"  Darrell disappeared back into the shadows as Luke sank back into the car seat.

"Home?"

Luke thought for a moment about the chaos that would be awaiting him when he got home and decided another night of peace would serve better.

"No, I'll go to the townhouse tonight."

Jeff set off for the townhouse without hesitation but didn't lift the screen between them, an unvoiced signal that Jeff had more information to pass to him.

"What is it Jeff?"

"Just to let you know that your wife left the reception about twenty minutes ago."

"How?"

"Taxi, Sir!"

"Hmmm." He hadn't thought to arrange a car for her to take her to his house although that was to be the arrangement. "Did she go to the house?"

"No sir, she checked herself into a hotel a few miles from it though."

"Why?"

"According to the taxi Driver Declan spoke to, she didn't know the address other then the neighbourhood so the driver dropped her at a hotel.  She also gave him her bracelet as payment. Before you say anything Declan paid the man and has her bracelet with him."

"Shit! Jeff go fetch her in the morning and take her to the house."

"Yes Sir!"