Beast

MY, WHAT A GUY, THAT GASTON

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

--The Great Gatsby

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"Here you go Joe. How's the wife and kids?"

The large man took a deep swig from his glass before he spoke.

"Driving me up the fucking wall Lennox. God, whoever invented toddlers needs to be shot on sight."

His words were harsh but his tone and the light in his eyes said otherwise.

"Nah, just pulling your leg. The kids are visiting their grandmother and the wife is on some relaxation retreat in the mountains."

I laughed.

"Sounds good Joe."

"Lennox, I heard the Charbonneau's are back in town. Thought they scrammed years ago."

"Really? My dad told me they were thinking about buying one of his designs today."

With the way his eyes widened, you would've thought I told him I passed the Grimm reaper on my way here.

"Girl, you stay away from that family, they're nothing but trouble, and tell your father to back out on that deal, I don't care how much you need the money."

"He's right Lennox, that family ain't no good. I heard of people going out to their house on the outskirts of town, you know past the forest and never coming back."

I was getting a little scared now. We hadn't lived in town long enough to know about this family and I'd never heard anything about them either until dad mentioned the company earlier.

Joe gripped my hand fiercely.

"Lennox, people go to that house to die, tell your father to stay away and you too, I'm not kidding around honey."

"I understand Joe, I'll talk to him about it when I get home."

I moved down the counter to help a customer that had just sat himself at the bar as the two older men whispered amongst themselves. He was typing furiously on a cell phone. He was big, I could see that even though he was sitting, broad shoulders and big arms stretched the fabric of his clearly expensive suit and long light-colored hair fell over his shoulders and covered his face from view.

"Can I get you something to drink sir?"

He didn't even look up from his furious typing as he responded in a French accent that definitely stood out around here.

"Rum and coke."

His voice was much deeper than I expected, but I thought it suited him all the same.

"Sure thing."

I went through the motions of making his drink and once I set it in front of him, I moved on to bus tables since there was no one at the bar that needed me at the moment.

I greeted the regulars as I passed them and agreed to pass along their well wishes to my dad.

"Lennox? Who's the big guy over there?"

"Not sure Monty, he's probably just passing through town for the night."

I checked my watch.

"And speaking of night, you have twenty minutes to get home before Marie starts to worry."