Page 77 of Hold Him Like Gravity

“No one is new, right?” he asked, closing the notebooks and passing them back to me.

“No.”

“Makes no sense. Why would someone be here for months, or longer, never stealing a dime, only to turn around and start taking thousands?”

“That’s what I want to know,” I agreed.

“Timing-wise, this started not long after the robbery, right?”

“Right.”

“Maybe someone found out and thought it was a sign of weakness?” Bastian suggested. “Decided to take advantage of the situation?”

“If that’s the case, I need to find the fuck and make him see that I’m not someone who can be taken advantage of.”

To that, Bass nodded. “How well do you know everyone who works here?”

“I dunno, man. Know Ricky better than anyone. Know some basic facts about everyone else. But they’re just… employees. Not part of the family. I didn’t do background checks on any of ‘em.”

“Who has access to the register?”

“Everyone,” I admitted, suddenly seeing what a flaw that was now. “There’s only one. And when shit is busy, they all share it.”

“Do they all cash out the drawer?”

“Usually Ricky. But the cash-out is just taking out the excess, putting it in a sealed bag with the receipts, and putting them inthe drop box right outside of the office. Then I deal with it from there.”

“But that’s a great time to skim some cash,” Bass said.

“I hope it’s not Ricky,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I trust him.”

“Could he be pissed off about getting his face bashed in?”

“Anything is possible. I paid him to stay home. Gave him a stack of cash as an apology. He seems… normal, though,” I added. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Could just be a good liar.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, even if I was still hoping it wasn’t him. The man practically ran the shop. Having to find someone else to step into his shoes would be a nightmare. Worse than that, he had a loving wife and kids. I couldn’t imagine putting an end to him the way I would if it was anyone else fucking me over.

“Alright, look. How about I look into this? Finished my job with Cinna and Dav. Got nothing on my plate right now. I can review security footage, see if I can catch who is doing it in the act.”

“Gonna be a lot of footage,” I warned. “Got cameras everywhere.”

“Eh, I don’t mind. Better me than you. Sure you’d rather be spending your free time with Kick.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The more I spent time with her, the more I wanted to spend time with her. It was strange and new. But I don’t know… unexpectedly comforting.

I held myself back on occasion, not letting myself go over to her place every single night. But, fuck, the nights when I didn’t, it took everything I had not to show up.

The crazy thing was, it wasn’t just the sex. It was the moments after, just holding her, just feeling the way her fingerstraced absentmindedly over my skin, how her body went lax as she drifted off to sleep.

It was the moments before things made their way to the bedroom. Sharing food, watching shows, talking about our pasts. We had crummy childhoods in common. While my parents were, you know, present—abusive, but present—her father was in and out of their lives, leaving their mom to work, pay bills, and raise her kids herself. Which, it seemed, turned her mean and bitter.

It sounded like Kick got out of there as soon as she could and cut all ties with her mom.

Having needed to cut my own parents off, I understood what it was like to be without a family.

---