Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Footsteps sound behind me and I turn to find Rosie following me. “I need to make sure you leave the club,” she says. “We’ll mail you your final paycheck.”
“This is insane.”
“No it’s not,” she scoffs. “I’ve seen girls like you a hundred times. People who think that they’re better than they are. Who think they can just have everything they want while screwing everyone else. Well, good riddance to you.” She puts her hand on my shoulder, pushing me towards the exit. “And sleeping with the boss? How pathetic can you be? You think he was actually interested? You think you can just show up and claim him while those of us who have been here way longer never even had a chance? Think again. You were just someone to fuck.”
Shit. She’s into Cole. That’s why she’s saying all these things. She thinks that with me gone that she’s going to have him. I don’t have anything to stop her from doing that. “Fuck off, Rosie.”
“I knew something was up when I saw you together. I should have known, and then the money went missing last night. I wasn’t even surprised when it was your code.”
Last night. Last night?
I shove around Rosie, and sprint back to Cole’s office. I shove open the door, and he spins around, his face is a portrait in misery. It’s there only for a second before it’s gone and replaced by anger. “You should have left,” he says. “I didn’t want to have security throw you out.”
“When was the safe robbed?” He picks up the phone to call security and I push his hand back down. “When?”
“Last night.”
I laugh, though it’s not remotely funny. “I would have thought that last night was memorable enough that you would know I couldn’t possibly have stolen money from the safe last night.”
“What?” Rosie’s voice comes from the door. “Where were you.”
I turn and glare at her. “I was in his bed. I know that image doesn’t play well for you because of your obsessive little crush, but it’s still true.” I look back to Cole, “I didn’t do this.”
His eyes are now fixed on Rosie. “Who else knew Andrea’s code?”
“It’s in the employee files. Any supervisor could have looked it up.”
Cole pulls a binder off a shelf, flipping through some papers. “And you were the only supervisor on duty last night when the money disappeared.”
Rosie’s mouth falls open. “No, it wasn’t—not me.”
“Did you frame Andrea to get her fired? Steal from me?”
She looks trapped, and there’s a split second where I feel bad for her. But after what she’s done, a second is all she gets. I fling her own words back at her. “I don’t even know what to think of a person who would do this.”
“I didn’t.” She keeps shaking her head like she doesn’t understand.
“Where’s the money?”
She wilts, like every last speck of energy pours out of her. “In my locker.”
“Get out.” Cole says, voice made of steal. “Your things will be sent to you. If you ever set foot in this club again I will press charges.”
She swallows, looking back and forth between us. It looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn’t. She just goes. Cole calls security to make sure she leaves. And then we’re alone, and the tension is still in the air.
Cole grabs me and pushes me against the wall. His lips are hard on mine, desperate. I push him back.
“What the hell was that?” I ask him, “You really think I could steal from you?”
“No.” He says, voice full of emotion. “Never. But there was proof. I couldn’t. There can’t be any exceptions.”
“We really need to work on you knowing when you’re allowed to break rules.”
He presses his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry. I was caught up in my own shit. After everything that happened last year, stealing is…it’s a thing for me. I promise that I’ll tell you why. It makes me lose any common sense. I should have remembered.”
I move away from him, across the office. I need distance from him right now. I can’t think when he’s so close to me, crowding my senses, dragging me into perfect oblivion with his kisses. “Do you have any idea how that feels? That you say that you love me and then to throw me out without a second thought? You weren’t even going to try to listen to my side of the story.”
“I know,” he says.
I take a deep breath, flexing my hands in and out of fists, trying to deal with the wealth of anger that’s building up inside of me. In the moment I was panicked, and now I’m pissed. “This is not a small thing.”
Cole takes a slow, even breath. “I know.”
“Are you going to say anything other than you’re sorry?”
“That I’m a raging moron, and I never should have let something like this get in my head. I should not have jumped to conclusions so quickly. I should never have asked you to leave.”