Page 6 of Draco

“What, Avy, are you feeling sick that you're not serving us tonight?” I said with a small grin.

“Piss off, Draco,” Avy replied, smiling. “I'm taking a break and letting one of you guys serve me for a change.”

“Good for you, love,” I answered. Turning to Reaper, “I need either Cairo or Blaze to go with Molly tomorrow,” I inform him.

“Okay,” Reaper agreed instantly. “No problem. Is something up?”

“I don't know. Her orders seemed a little light today and my gut is telling me something is up. I'd rather be safe than sorry.”

They all nodded in understanding.

“No worries,” Reaper replied. “We all know she's yours and even if she wasn't, we'd still make sure she was okay because she’s Molly and we all like her.”

Feeling better now that I knew Molly wouldn't be by herself during deliveries tomorrow, I settled in for a night of spending time chatting with my brothers.

I absentmindedly sat listening to the soft voices of the women in the background. They were discussing Abby and Rea’s pregnancies and while I was happy for my brothers and their women, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

The thing was, the only woman I could see having my babies was the one who most wanted to kill me.

CHAPTER 3

MOLLY

Frowning, I look at the list of orders in my hand. We were about to head to the fourth customer on my order sheet. The previous three hadn't given me repeat orders, and I wasn't sure why. None were forthcoming with a reason when I questioned them. Advising I speak to the managers when they came in. However, the fourth customer was someone I had known since I first started selling the beer I made in my brewery. He’d been a friend of my grandfather’s and one of my first customers, and I always gave his pub a good deal. I knew that he would tell me what was going on.

I lifted my head up and looked at Cairo when he asked, “Are you okay, Molly?”

“I'm not sure, Cairo,” I replied with a slight frown. “I don't know what's going on with my customers, but the next one should be able to give me some clue.”

Cairo nodded but didn't say anything. I knew he'd been in constant contact with the pain in the arse man that couldn't seem to keep out of my business. I had a feeling it was him behind Cairo being the one to drive me around today. In truth, I knew while we irritated each other he would be one of the first to help me if anything was wrong.

It was a nice feeling to have knowing I had backup if I ever needed it.

We pulled into the back of the pub called The Fox and Hound. I could see the large figure of David Farmer, the landlord of the pub, waiting at the back doors to offload.

Getting out of the van, I greeted him as I walked up to him, “Hi Dave. Hope you're doing well.”

“Can't complain, Molls, how are you doing?”

“I've been better,” I replied, looking at him. I knew from the expression on his face that he was aware of what I was getting at.

“Aye,” he said. “I've been waiting for you so that we can have a little chat about what seems to be happening around here. I didn't think you were aware, or you would have been in touch.”

He nodded at Cairo, who had started unpacking the van while we were chatting. Sticking his hand out, he greeted him, “Cairo lad, how are you doing?”

“Hi Dave,” Cairo said, shaking his hand. “I'll be better once we know what's happening with Molly’s business.”

“Right,” Dave said, clapping his hands together. “Let's get this truck offloaded. Then you can come in and take a load off and have a bite to eat and we can discuss the information that I have.”

It didn't take long to offload Dave’s order before we were sitting at a table in the pub. We'd all ordered fish and chips. They were delicious, crisp outer batter and flaky inner with big chunky chips. Just what I needed if I was going to hear bad news. I made no secret of the fact that I tended to eat my feelings. You only had to look at the size of my arse to see that.

We made small talk while we ate. Once we were finished, I placed my cutlery on my plate, pushed it away, folded my hands atop the table, looked at Dave and said, “Hit me with it Dave, what the hell is going on?”

He let out a little chuckle before answering me, “I knew you'd be in today, so I waited to tell you face to face that a smarmy little shit has been going round telling everyone that you didn't pass your last hygiene check. And that the beer you were producing may not be safe to drink.” He pushed a brochure across the table to me.

Picking it up, I looked at the front, and the name blazoned across it stated Badger Brewery and the address listed showed that it was in the next county.

I didn’t recognise the name of the brewery and I thought that I knew all the small local breweries.

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