AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The next few hours go by in a blur, and before I know it, it’s time to head to the bar. As I pull into the backlot, Skye is just getting out of her car. I park my Harley and quickly follow her inside.
“Hey, Skye,” I say when I step up beside her.
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and shifts her eyes to look at me. “Hi.”
“Once you get clocked in, can you come to the office?” I ask. “I wanna talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, sure.”
When she turns toward the main bar, I make my way to the office. Waylon is sitting at the desk when I enter.
“Shouldn’t you be out on the floor?”
“Tony’s got it handled,” he tells me. “We’re not that busy yet.”
“Well, get out there. You wanted me to talk to Skye, and I don’t need an audience.”
He stands and moves toward the door, but before he leaves, he faces me and points to the desk. “The log from last night is right there. I added in what Skye had in tips, but it still didn’t cover everything missing.”
“You took her tips?”
“I did.”
I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’ve watched Skye for the last two and a half years, and she works her ass off. If there really is something going on or if she’s hiding something, that’s one thing. But if this all turns out to be an honest mistake, taking her hard-earned money is the last thing I want to do.
“Oh, sorry.”
Waylon whirls around as I shift my gaze to Skye, who just walked through the door.
“C’mon in,” I urge her. “Waylon, I’ve got this. Go cover the bar.”
Waylon nods, and as he walks past Skye, he glares at her. She averts her gaze and fidgets with her hands.
“You okay?” I ask, watching her carefully.
“I, uh… yeah.”
“Have a seat.”
She takes a deep breath and does as instructed. Skye glances around the room, and when her eyes finally settle on mine, I smile.
“You enjoy your job, Skye?”
For the first time since I saw her in the parking lot earlier, she grins. “I love it.” There’s a spark in her eyes when she says this, and it lights up her entire face.
Rather than waste more time with niceties, I dive right into the reason I’m here. “What happened last night?”
The light immediately goes out, and Skye wraps her arms around herself as if she needs the protection. In an effort to give her a second to compose herself, I lift the log that Waylon left and glance at the numbers.
“It was a bad night,” she says quietly, after a few minutes. “But I did the?—”
Best to just rip off the Band-Aid.
“Your drawer was short,” I spit out, and she levels her eyes on mine. “I know the computers were down, but you were the only one short on money at the end of the night.”
“I explained this to Waylon,” she says. “I just made a mistake.”
“He didn’t believe you.”
