Masters & Lovers Box Set Three

Chapter 16

After Finchby and Yakovlevski leave, Bech still wears that ‘just sucked a lemon’ expression.

“Something to say, Bech?”

He scowls and looks down. “No, sir.”

“Good. Remember who's in charge here. And who's already made you a rich man.”

“Yes, sir.”

I turn to the girl where she cowers at my feet. “Tell her she can write a letter. Make sure her family know it’s her.” Luuk translates.

“Thank you, sir.” She launches herself at me, wrapping her arms around my ankles, weeping incessantly. “Thank you.”

Bech lashes out with a foot. “Get back, you little bitch!”

Disentangling myself from her grasp, I stoop, looking her in the face. “Remember, they have to pay for you. And they have to outbid the others. I’m a businessman, not a charity.”

“They will, sir. They will,” says Luuk.

*****

 

James

Sleep escapes me. My green-eyed Love lying next to me, my friend beyond her, I toss and turn in the dark, my mind churning.

Georgie…

Family matters…

Michael was right to pull me away that day. He enjoys a drink as much as anyone but doesn’t normally overdo it.

When did I last see him drunk?

?

When he believed he was losing Charlotte…

… to me…

He’s right, partially at least. It helps blot out the worst for a few hours. And he went there with me. Stayed with me.

sticking-plaster over the

a chasm inside

panes, I give up on sleep and moving as quietly as I can, pull on some clothes and head for the kitchen. Then, coffee in hand, I go outside to

if, full of care, We have no time to stand

spot, this view, normally calms me. The long slide of grassy slopes down

Soul food…

am unquiet. I

sun has not risen, the world bathed in the grey light of the predawn, but Venus, hanging low, heralds the dawn and is already fading against the rising glare on the

I wait and I watch

Pull yourself together man…

rises, casting blood-red across the

seen

you’d never see

clouds, a gash in the

You have everything…

Everything else…

“Master?”

my

slippers and a robe. “Are

So I’m

“Would you like company?”

me. But put some proper clothes on. It’s

*****

catches my eye. And of course, I know what she wants to

Anyone else around?

few moments of what passes for privacy in

“Yes, Kirstie?”

“James, about….”

back office with

all. I was

me. “Here’s the visitor list for today, Kirstie. There’s a couple

put them in the

Then she waddles off back to her

her then, “She’s um… she’s got

God save me…

Tell me that’s

twitches around her mouth and eyes. “Not a joke. She’s awfully sweet

my voice. “I hate to break this

chuckles, then turns serious again. “James, did

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