AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I frowned at the screen. Angela hadn’t been working three months ago. She’d taken the entire month off, to go on vacation with her family.
So how did she sell Terrance a lawnmower?
I didn’t want to believe this was true. The evidence was staring me in the face, though.
So far it was all circumstantial, though it would be a pretty big coincidence if what was happening was anything different than what it looked like. I needed to be sure though. I needed hard, physical proof.
And in the meantime, I needed to keep my rage in check, rather than tracking him down on the street, and shouting about why he was fired in front of every single person in town within yelling distance.
Because when I called the police, I didn’t want there to be any mistakes one way or the other.
I spent the rest of the workday ordering more cameras. Installing them in new places, and trying to do so without my employees knowing what I was up to. Thinking that way made me ill. What if more of them were in on this? The transactions were associated with Terrance’s name, but what if he had help?
And how fucking arrogant was he, to not do a better job of hiding—
It didn’t matter. After the store closed, I finished installing the last of the cameras near the register and the front of the store. I tucked them away, hiding them from view and pointing them at traditionally blind spots.
By the time I walked out of the store, I was exhausted both physically and emotionally. One of my people was ripping me off, and somehow I still felt guilty about the fact that I was about to ruin his life. What was wrong with me?
No. What was wrong with him?
How dare he?
I needed to get home. Or to the liquor store. Or to gorge myself on pizza. Or something.
My phone blinked with an unread notification when I picked it up, and I clicked on Gage’s unread text message.
It just said yes.
My question was right above that, so easy to see.
Me: So you did like it.
Gage: Yes.
I couldn’t deal with that tonight, on top of everything else. I just couldn’t.
18
Sawyer
Was I an asshole for what I did to Gage?
Without question.
I knew it. I felt bad about it, but I was trying so hard to shut the part of me up that cared. A therapist might call it self-sabotage… Pissing off Evie… Pissing off Gage… All of it pushed me further from accomplishing, well, anything.
It was a good thing I wasn’t listening to that part of my brain.
Because on top of feeling guilty, I’d also be dwelling on the fact that I liked that kiss. I enjoyed kissing Gage as much as I did Evie, and I wanted to try both again. Maybe next time without pissing them off first.
Nope. I wasn’t thinking about that, because that kind of infatuation was for teenagers, and idiots in romance novels.
I was also ignoring any feelings that the conversation with Hudson had stirred up. The reminder of Tony, and the nagging that said that Hudson had never actually been against us, it was just easier to tell myself he was.
Fortunately, I kept myself busy the entire day with work. Seeking out new opportunities, making dozens of calls, and setting up a string of appointments for after I bought Evie out and left this place.
I grabbed the stack of advertising materials I’d put together for mailing out, locked my motel room, and headed to the main office to drop them off. Last week, it had been impossible to get a solid answer about where I could mail or ship things from. I’d ended up driving to a nearby, larger city.
