Page 7 of The Beauty and the Boxer
“Enough time for those who think they canshake us down that we’re too respectable. Besides, the longerCrockett is in charge of that company, the longer his employeessuffer under his charge.”
“Then we’ll send Benjamin and make it clearto Crockett that he won’t get a cent more from us. Not to mentionwe’re overpaying for his business.”
“He’ll refuse then.”
“Then let him,” Simon countered. “And we’llbe able to halve our offer in two months when he comes crawlingback.”
“And how many of his employees will beinjured or killed between then and now?” Jack said, annoyed.
Didn’t Simon understand? Crockett’s miningcompany, while once profitable, was a damn death trap. It wasdangerous, dirty work and Crockett thought nothing of using hisemployees as damn near slaves. It made Jack’s stomach turn.
“I understand,” his brother said. “But youcan’t save every damn soul that works in the pits.” Jack wasshaking his head, unwilling to hear his brother. “Let Benjaminhandle it. He can be persuasive as well.”
“Diplomatically.”
“Yes, which is why we pay him. It’s what weshould be about now. You can’t fight the world forever, youknow.”
Jack stood, eager to be done with theconversation. Pulling out his pocket watch, he saw that it wasstill an hour until noon. Feeling particularly on edge today, hedecided to take his daily drink early.
Pouring a glass of scotch for himself as hisbrother never seemed to drink this early these days, he took along, slow sip of the amber liquid. The burning sensation groundedhim and he took a deep breath. It was how he had calmed theirrational anger he had felt for years.
He supposed there were better ways to dealwith his gripe that life was unfair. It seemed the majority ofpeople were only born into the world to suffer and while those inpower could help, they chose not to, all out of greed.
Jack had been furious in his youth about itand he had physically fought to alleviate the anger he had oncefelt in his youth. As he grew older, however, his anger seemed todim and once he stopped fighting, he turned to more pleasantdiversions. Gambling for one, was a great distraction.
Jack had also found distractions in women.While Meredith may have thought it was beneath her to earn a coinfor a kiss, Jack had come from the other side of the world. He heldlittle judgment for those women who used their bodies to make aliving. In fact, he believed it a capital idea and gladly paidhandsomely for their services. Jack had a bit of a reputation withthe courtesans in Bristol, in particular the ladies who worked forMadame LaMont. They were people like him, people who had tradedtheir bodies for money and meals and Jack had felt comfortable withthem. He was known to be generous in bed and they all wished to behis sole paramour, but Jack didn’t believe in limiting himself.
Although, if he were being honest withhimself, Jack wasn’t sure how to be with one person, in a dedicatedsort of fashion. He had only ever done for himself and couldn’tunderstand how to fit a second person into his life. Would theirwants and wishes come before his own? Wouldn’t he resent the personeventually? It just didn’t make any sense to him. He knew peoplemarried and that the world needed those who would, but it wasn’tfor him. In fact, marriage seemed rather a useless idea when hecould simply pay someone to take care of his needs, and now that heconsidered it, it had been a while since he had used such services.It had been several months, in fact, since he had visited MadameLoMont’s brothel. Perhaps that’s why he had been so taken withMeredith.
He took a long sip of his scotch andexhaled. His daily drink was another way he dealt with his anger.All he needed was a drink and a deep breath to let go of whateveraggravation he was feeling. At the moment it was his attraction forMeredith and his anger towards Crockett.
Jack finally sighed after a moment.
“Very well,” he said. “Let Benjamin doit.”
“Thank you,” Simon said, moving to sit downin one of the leather club chairs in front of Jack’s desk. “Now,I’ve other business to discuss with you.”
“What business?”
“We are hosting a dinner party at the end ofthe month. Sarah insists that you come.”
Jack peered over the rim of his glass as hepaused midair. Had Simon lost his bloody mind? Or more, had hissister-in-law forgotten that he didn’t attend society parties?
“No,” he said as his arm lowered.
“Yes.”
“Whatever for?”
“It is a family dinner and Sarah wants youto attend.”
“Oh, well, then absolutely not.”
“Jack, don’t be difficult. You are a part ofa family, as much as it displeases you.”
“We never needed a family before. I don’tsee why I have to suffer now that you’ve gotten yourself a wife.With a brood of relatives, I’ll remind you, each more bothersomethan the last.”
It had been a strange transition for Jacksince Simon’s marriage. He had only ever had a brother and the onlyperson he had ever honestly cared for was Simon. It had shamed himto discover that he had recently begun to feel jealous of hisbrother as well as his new sister-in-law since she commanded somuch of Simon’s attention. Jack had much preferred their lives asbachelors as opposed to how it was now. Jack was often by himselfnow and while he begrudgingly knew that Sarah was good for hisbrother, he hadn’t quite learned how to live a life so alone.
