AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I really didn’t.
Gage: That feels like a trick question.
I wouldn’t—couldn’t do that to him. Make him walk into some sort of mind game trap.
Me: No. Because we’re friends. We don’t do that to each other, right?
Gage: No, we don’t. So yes, I see what you found appealing about it, despite who he is.
Me: So you did like it.
It kind of sucked that teasing didn’t convert well to text, but I put a winky face at the end. So many emotions tickled my senses, wondering just how much Gage liked that kiss. Jealousy was back. So was desire. Happiness? That was a weird one.
Confusion.
“Evie, I need your authorization.” Angela, one of my employees, called over the intercom in my office.
I set my cell aside and strode to the front of the store.
It turned out to be a return by Terrance. A manager’s override was required to authorize this kind of employee transaction, and I was my own on-call manager today. I typed in my code, and let Angela get back to finishing the transaction with Terrance.
As I stepped away from the computer, a string of transactions under Terrance’s name caught my attention. What the…?
All of my people got a discount, and some of them occasionally used it, but the list of sales under his name seemed oddly high.
How many hammers did one man need?
It was probably for a series of little things, but I couldn’t leave the thought alone. I returned to my desk, and pulled up the employee customer accounts. Across everyone, there were a bunch of little sales—the occasional bottle of soda or drain cleaner. A plunger here, a snake there.
And there were a handful of bigger transactions as well. Someone needed a reciprocating saw or batch of Sheetrock.
Terrance’s account looked different though. The biggest thing that stood out was the amount he’d cashed out in store credit. I did some quick math as I looked down hundreds of rows of numbers.
I was looking at tens of thousands in store credit. That he’d used to buy power tools, fixtures, lights, and so much more. Irritation and disbelief whispered through me.
This couldn’t be right.
But if it was, it would explain why I couldn’t balance my books, and why my store seemed to be hemorrhaging cash, even now. Something that tasted like anger tinged my tongue.
I called up to the front counter, and Angela picked up.
“Is Terrance still here?” I asked.
“No. Do you want me to see if I can catch him?”
“No, that’s okay. But will you bring me the table router he just returned?”
“Sure.” A moment later, Angela set the tool in my office. “Did you need anything else?” She asked.
Some fucking answers. “No, thank you.”
I couldn’t believe this. Terrance had worked for me for years. I hired him on Travis’s recommendation, and even when I booted Travis out of my life, Terrance hadn’t seemed upset. He’d always been a great employee.
What did one man do with seven industrial-sized air compressors, and why hadn’t anyone noticed?
Because he mixed up the transactions. Bought from different employees…
Disbelief warred with my growing fury. He couldn’t have. He didn’t steal all of this from me, did he?
