Page 14 of Muted

“Susu.”

I want to close my eyes when the sound washes over me. He stands up slowly, shoves his hands in his pockets, and saunters toward me. Stopping only a foot away, my head arches backwards to keep an eye on his face. His eyes roam over me before he clears his throat.

“I’d like to exchange phone numbers.”

I cock my head to the side, frowning slightly.Why?

The corner of his mouth twitches like he wants to smile, but that’s the only hint of emotion I get from him. Thankfully, he explains.

“If you’re going to come into the bar early, I’d like you to send me a text. I know the boss gave you a key and permission, but when you cleared the alarm, I got a notification. The owners weren’t supposed to be here, so I came down early because I didn’t know it was you.”

My shoulders curl in a bit, embarrassed. I feel guilty for dragging him here early because I was being selfish. I should have thought about informing someone.

Quickly kneeling down, I set my heavy bag in front of me to dig through it for my phone. Of course it’s buried, even though I just stuck the damn thing inside. Fighting off a blush that I’m making Theo wait on me, I ignore the pain when something stabs my finger until I finally feel the smooth screen and yank it out.

Without looking up at him, I unlock my phone and open the contacts for him to enter his number.

He pulls the phone from my hand slowly, and I justknowhe’s watching me unravel before him. This time when he speaks, his voice is a bit gentler. “It didn’t bother me that I needed to come in, Susu. I enjoy listening when you… you know, play and stuff. The heads up will just lessen the worry on the drive over, that’s all.”

I peer up at him through my lashes, surprised by his hesitancy. He’s no longer staring at me. Instead, he’s quickly typing into my phone. When I hear his phone buzz in his back pocket, I know he’s sent himself a text so he’d have my number.

“Here you go,” he says, holding my phone back. It looks ridiculously small in his hand, and I bite my lip to hold back a smile at the sight.

“You about done?” Chester’s voice startles me so badly that my spine stiffens when I turn to face him. I ignore the start of Theo’s glare over my head when I bend over to grab my bag once more and then hightail it into the office.

Ignoring Cliff, I drop into the chair on the other side of Chester’s desk and wait. I can hear him and Theo talking low before his footsteps grow louder as he reenters the room. Rounding his desk, he rubs the spot between his eyes and sighs. He seems stressed and my fingers itch to touch that spot until the wrinkles ease away.

Pulling the ledger toward him, he pages through it as Cliff wheels his chair to sit on Chester’s side. “I’ve been going through your numbers over the past year, and it’s so off from what we had. I can’t make sense of where we went wrong. Will you compare them and point out where the differences are? I need to figure out where we’re losing money.”

“Why are you so sure it’s our mistake and not hers?” Chester’s answering glare has Cliff quickly adding, “Not that you’re not doing a good job. I’m just saying that mistakes could be on any side.”

There’s no need for me to defend myself to him because Chester is so quick to shut him up, I have to look down to hide my smile. “BecauseI spot checked her calculations and every single one was perfect. It’s our mistake, Cliff. Now we need to knowwhywe’re losing money, notifwe’re losing money.”

Dismissing him, he settles his gaze on me. “Will you have time today?”

Scooting myself forward on the edge of my seat, I give him a slight smile and hold out my hand for his ledger. Instead of handing it to me, he lays it on his desk and turns it so I can read it, then sets the new one I’ve been working in next to it.

“Would you mind working in here today?” He glances toward Cliff so briefly I almost missed it. “I’d like to look into the invoices as you find the errors to track it. None of this makes sense to me.”

I fight the urge to follow his eyes over to his partner, a niggling whisper that something is off. With a slow nod, I wince at the noise as I pull my chair closer to his desk, opening both ledgers to the beginning of the fiscal year.

“I’m going to go start inventory,” Cliff says, rolling his chair back to his desk. He tosses his pen on the pile of papers, ignoring it as it rolls off and hits the floor.

The hair on the back of my neck lifts when Chester whispers, “Thank you,” the moment Cliff leaves the space. I lift my eyes to meet his.

He seems tired. It’s more obvious being this close to him. There are hints of circles under his eyes and an overwhelming urge to please him, to alleviate some of the stress he feels, motivates me to get started.

Grabbing a sheet of paper, I scribble,‘You’re welcome, Chester’.

I spend the next four hours scouring Sonority’s old ledger, pointing out each error as I find them. With every mistake I find, I deflate that much more. I’m positive I’ve only made things worse for him, and I hate every fucking thing about that.

Chapter 4

Old Fashioned

Chester

Dropping the bar back onto the rack, I grunt out, “Thanks,” to Theo, who was spotting me. After the shit show that was yesterday, I needed some sort of outlet to expel this unexpected rage coursing through me.

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