"So, what's up, man?" Rick sauntered into Peter's office and sat on the leather armchair.
"Looking good and sharp, as always, man," Peter smirked. "Want something to drink? Got this pretty damn good bottle of bourbon." With pride, he raised the bottle of
Very, Very Old Fitzgerald
.
"Fuck your bourbon, man!" Rick heartily laughed. "Got any good
scotch
?"
"Of course," Peter unlocked the small liquor cabin under his office. "The most beautiful 26-year old you've
ever
laid your eyes on, man!"
"Scotch's the only thing getting better with age!" Rick guffawed.
"Cost a pretty penny, I'll give you that. But, here, have a taste." He poured a glass of Macallan Platinum and offered it to Rick reverently. Then, he poured himself a tall glass of Kentucky bourbon, neat.
"Damn, that's good," Rick cleared his throat, a wondrous heat spreading through his body like wildfire. "Why do you keep drinking fucking rotgut, man?"
"I like to keep in touch with my humble beginnings, that's all; besides, if I swilled down the good stuff all the time, I'd run myself out of business."
"You never had a problem with
tasting
the product, back in the old days, though."
"Learning from my mistakes," Peter shrugged.
"So, why
did
you call?" Rick lit a cigar. "I mean, it wasn't just to give me a taste of this, admittedly magnificent, scotch, right?"
"No, I..." Peter leaned heavily back in his desk chair, keeping his gaze fixed on the cigarette he rolled deliberately slow.
"Is it money, man? I don't..."
"No," Peter quickly said, shaking his head. "It ain't money, man. Business's actually flourishing, I'm doing...far better than I ever dared expect. I can actually repay you for..."
"Don't want it," Rick said coldly. "I've told you a thousand times, that money was a gift,
not
a loan. I'm just glad you're doing okay. So, what is it?" He added, impatiently. "Some clueless motherfucker trying to break into
our
territory?"
"No, it's..." He sighed. "Sure, there've been a few trying to sell shit in the bar, but...they're quickly weeded out and
disposed
. Your boys are quite efficient in...keeping the place clean of unwanted products."
"Then..." Rick rolled his finger, eyeing Peter intensely.
Peter lit the cigarette and blew a dense cloud of blue smoke out, keeping his gaze fixed on the distant blank abyss and as far away as possible from Rick.
"It's Constance, man," Peter finally muttered, choking his bourbon down and instantly refilling the glass.
"Anything happened to her? I mean...I saw her this very morning, so..."
"She was here last night," Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose and finally met his best friend's cold eyes. "And...I better show you."
Rick curiously got up and stood behind the desk, leaning on the back of Peter's chair; Peter clicked on the surveillance video file from the previous night.
"All right," Rick shrugged. "So, she's dancing with two buffoons; I know she likes flirting around."
"That's not..." Peter dragged a long puff and fast forwarded the video till the real point of interest. "See?" He pointed at the top end of the screen.
"What's..." Rick squinted and leaned closer to the screen. "Motherfucker!" He chuckled dryly.
He watched in secret fascination at his wife getting spit-roasted by the two tall, robust men she danced with earlier in the video, on one of the corner booths of the bar. A tingling sensation rose in his crotch and he quickly fixed his suit pants.
"I didn't see it, until..." Peter tried to explain, but, Rick was quick to interrupt him:
"Don't apologize, man; it isn't your fault. Though," Rick chuckled, "you do run quite the raucous business, huh?"
"Sex sells," Peter shrugged, with a twitch of his lips. "Besides, with the amount of alcohol and drugs consumed on any given night, I'm surprised to see onlyâ" he dramatically counted the number of people engaging in sexual activities in the video "âthree booths being used for sex."
"Yeah," Rick rubbed his nose. "I knew she was a slut, but...to be fair, man, I never thought she'd cheat on me."
"Maybe, she had too much to drink, man," Peter said matter-of-factly. "I mean, she
knows
this is my place. She comes here, because she knows she can flirt around, without the fear of messing with some crazy bastard that'll try to rape her.
"Hell," he chuckled, "Brad, that gorilla of yours, broke a guy's arm in three different places, just for fondling Constance's ass rougher than she had wanted him to. I didn't even know there were three places in a human arm that could be broken!"
"Brad's a...specimen," Rick chuckled, quite dryly. "So, are these guys still alive and well?"
"According to the video, yeah," Peter nodded. "They are seen to walk out of the bar with all their parts intact. Want me to...rectify that?" He turned around, glaring into Rick's still-cold eyes.
"No, I just..." He sighed. "I suppose, that means Constance told my boys not to harm these guys, right? If they had raped her, or, in any way forced themselves on her, they'd..."
"Be in a ditch right now," Peter completed the sentence coldly. "Probably toothless and with half their bones shattered to pieces."
"Which means," Rick concluded, "Constance
wanted
to fuck them."
"Would it have been better, if they had..." Peter arched his eyebrow.
"No, I..." Rick sighed heavily, then sank back in the armchair and had a long swig of the scotch. He smacked his lips and relit his cigar. "No, I don't think it would have made me feel better, if it had been against her will.
"It's just...lookâ" he leaned forth, resting his elbows on his knees, "âI know she predominantly married me for my money, all right? I'm not a fucking idiot. But, I'm still relatively young and good looking, right? I'm not like my dad,
yet
; sure, it makes sense that the 20-year olds
he
's dating will fuck around. The man's eighty-two and shriveled like a California raisin.
"
But
..." He spread his arms, with a look of despair on his face. "I still got it, right? Maybe I'm not the stud I used to be, maybe my abs have gone into hiding, but...damn it, no pot-belly, no bald spot. Why would she fuck around?"
"As you said, man," Peter said calmly, while holding on to his glass firmly, "you
knew
she was a slut, before you married her. Remember
where