It had been a long week of nothing. Derek hadn’t expected to hear from Kieran, but he’d still secretly been hoping he’d get in touch. He wasn’t a man who sat by and did nothing. Even as a kid, he’d been someone who took action, and if he wanted something, he went for it. But he knew he had to wait for Kieran to come to him. Right now, he had an assistant manager he had to deal with.
“This is your final warning, Neil.”
“I’m sorry, Derek, but something came up.”
“What?”
“It’s a personal matter.”
Derek could understand people wanting to keep things private, but given it happened all the time, it was feeling like bullshit.
“We all have lives outside of here, Neil, and family always comes first.” He almost winced at saying that, feeling like a hypocrite. “But if you can’t make it, you need to tell me. This warning isn’t about you taking emergency time off to deal with personal matters. It’s about your lack of communication.”
“Would it be best if I just resigned?”
Neil usually held himself with a confident swagger, but he had a defeated look about him today. The last thing Derek needed right now was to lose his assistant manager. He’d be really in the shit if that happened.
“I don’t want you to resign, Neil, but we’ve had this conversation before. I need you to be more reliable.”
Neil nodded, looking down at the floor. He looked really upset.
“Are you okay, Neil?”
“Yeah. Just some personal stuff.”
“And I’ll be respectful of your privacy, but you know you can talk to me anytime?”
Neil nodded again. He looked like was going to cry, which is the last thing Derek wanted.
“Are you going to be okay working tonight?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Derek wanted to let out a sigh of relief but restrained himself. Neil went back to work, leaving Derek in his office. He had a mountain of paperwork to get through, but that could wait until Monday when the club was closed. Neil might handle staffing and stock, but the accounts were all on Derek. Not that he couldn’t do it, it was just really boring, and there were always other things he could do with his time.
By ten o’clock the place was at capacity, and his securityhad to operate on a one-in, one-out stance. The labyrinth was getting plenty of action, but the bar was equally packed, and Omar was proving what a great barman he was as he served drinks at such a speed that he was almost a blur. He’d take money from one customer, make the drink of the next, and take the order of a third, all at the same time. Derek was happiest on the bar, but there was no time to chat to people tonight. He was serving a customer when he heard glass smash behind him. Not an unusual thing to happen, and the obligatory cheers from the crowd made him smile. He turned around to see what had happened, and Omar was gone.
What the fuck?
There was broken glass on the floor. It had only been the two of them on the bar, so he’d probably gone to get a brush and pan. He noticed one of his regulars.
“Tim, did you see what happened?”
“This cunt couldn’t keep his hands to himself,” he said, gesturing to the guy next to him.
Derek didn’t recognise him, so he wasn’t a regular. But he was the type of guy Derek immediately knew was trouble. He grabbed the radio from his belt and asked security to head down, and for Neil to cover for him. He needed to find Omar.
“Get this fucker out. He’s barred,” said Derek to one of his security guards,
Before the guy could argue, he was being dragged out. He thanked Tim, giving him a drink on the house, and served customers until Neil came down to take over. It was only a few minutes, but it felt like ages. Once Neil was behind the bar, he headed for the staff room. Omar wasn’t there. He checked the toilets, and still nothing, so he called him, but it rang out. Omar might have been freaked out by what that guy did, but he would never just take off saying nothing.
Derek headed outside through the back entrance. There was no way he’d be at street level. He hoped not, as that’swhere that guy had just been thrown out. He felt relief when he saw Omar puffing on a cigarette in his courtyard.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” said Derek, startling him.
“It calms me down.”
His voice was calmer than expected, so it must have worked.
