Page 21 of Rolling with My Bosses

Beatrix cusses at the tight fabric, contorting to pull it into place while smashing her boobs. “Now that I’m making more money with my cam girl thing, I’m throwing all of these out and buying some with front closures.”

My stepsister, Angel AKA Rolly Ghost, hobbles in with a brace on her ankle. It’s a bummer that she’s stepping back from the team as soon as I’m trying out. I wink since she’s not injured. She hasn’t revealed her pregnancy to our parents, so she’s buying time. The problem is bigger than her pregnancy, though. She hooked up with my brothers, who are her stepbrothers. Our parents are going to freak. They wanted us to be a tight-knit family, not lovers.

Beatrix starts braiding her hair and meets my reflection in the mirror. “Do you want the bad news or the worst news?

Fear ripples through me. I take a deep breath. “Let’s start with the bad.”

“They haven’t turned in all of their paperwork.”

“They’re already working. Monica was adamant all of my paperwork be completed.”

“Yeah…and they don’t appear to exist outside of their current positions.”

Why is that a surprise? “You said they’re new.”

“They are, but the names on their employee contract don’t exist anywhere.” She weaves brown and blue strands of hair while I lace my skates. “I don’t think the data in our system is real, Lexi.”

“They have secret identities? That’s crazy. They’re just private. They live kind of remote.” Serial killer vibes, anyone? I might have dodged a bullet not going home with them.

“People are private, sure. But Monica doesn’t let paperwork slide.”

I don’t know what to do with that. “Wait, that was the bad news. How can it get worse?”

“I pulled the photos from their ID badges.” She puts the rubber band in place around the second braid then reaches for her phone. “I did a reverse image search. These guys are practically ghosts.”

“They mentioned a military past. Having shit to deal with.” Making excuses for them feels right, although I’m sure it sounds weak.

“I’m all for privacy, but there’s one picture.” A wry smile hints on her lips. Appropriate for someone who just illegally snooped in personnel files. She turns her phone toward me. Bear is standing next to my dad who has his arm around him. That’s enough to still my blood.

The brief caption below the picture identifies my father and Garrett Caylor—Bear’s real name, at an elegant charity dinner.

When I questioned Bear’s badge, he lied. Yeah, well…I’m going to give some grace with lying.

Garrett Caylor… Why does knowing his real name make my insides tingle? A desire to uncover more thunders through me. My brain, my heart, my sex. All of it is buzzing with the intrigue.

Garrett Caylor. Lexi Caylor. No, I shouldn’t be doing that.

Garrett Caylor. Why does his badge list his name as Bear?

“You okay?” Beatrix has her skates on. Geez, how long did I get lost in thought? A whistle blows, letting us know it’s time to get on the track.

“Thanks, Beatrix.”

“What are you going to do? Remember, you can’t say where you found out.”

I push up from the bench. “I know. I should have known that fucking a coworker with the name of Bear was dangerous territory. Do you think my dad staged the whole thing so he could fire me?”

Twelve

John

The workday ended thirty minutes ago. Lexi still hasn’t surfaced from this morning’s break. And she’s adhering to the P.I.S.S. policy,Phone In Storage or Silenced.

Does she know that we know that she’s the CEO’s daughter? Does she know that we’ve worked with her father a lot longer than our duty in the mail room? Too many unknowns.

I pull up her roller derby schedule.

Everything seemed fine until Bear freaked her out. His insistence that we give her space was overdone, but not completely out of line.

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