Page 35 of Save Me

Chapter 17

“You were supposedto shut up and keep your head down, but you couldn’t even do that,” Juliet said, the gun held steady in her hand.

Andie gaped at her, belatedly realizing Juliet hadn’t been speaking to her. She had been talking to Todd.

She put her hands up in the air as if she was in an old-fashioned stick-up. “What the hell is going on?”

Todd whipped his head around and started when he saw the gun. “You’re supposed to be at work,” he said accusingly.

Juliet raised a single brow. “You won’t find my stash. Look around. This isn’t where I keep my money. That’s hidden someplace else.”

“A stash of what?” Andie was still in shock.

“The drugs.” Todd sneered. “The ones she talked me into pushing for her.”

Her drugs? The Drek in her locker belonged to Juliet?

The world started spinning crazily and she stumbled, but quickly righted herself when the gun swung back in her direction.

“I don’t want to know anything about this so I’m just going to leave now,” Andie said very quietly, holding her purse to her chest.

But she didn’t make it more than a few steps. Juliet blocked her path to the door, which she must have closed behind her when Andie was staring at Todd.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into the middle of all this,” Juliet said, sounding genuinely contrite. “But now that you’re aware of my real business I can’t let you leave.”

Oh God.

“I won’t tell anyone anything,” she promised. “I swear.”

Juliet shook her head. “I wish I could believe you. And I really did have the best of intentions when I let you stay here. I was grateful for the in at Lynx. Getting a job there is next to impossible. You’re the only reason they took me on. It was hard as balls to get around Mike and the other security guys. I eventually figured out a way when I caught this asshole hooking up with a girl in the bathroom. He was a real shit boyfriend by the way. But he cared enough about you to start working for me in exchange for my promise to keep my mouth shut about what I saw. I did want to tell you, but I figured you’d find out on your own. Once a cheater always a cheater, after all. I was right too. This idiot blew up his own spot weeks later and I had an employee of my own.”

“Fat lot of good working for you did,” Todd muttered. “You got me involved in too much heavy shit and Andie dumped me anyway.”

Juliet tsked. “Not my fault. You should have kept it in your pants.”

Andie was swamped with confusion. “How did he work for you? We all would have noticed those Drek capsules switching hands. The main bar is the most crowded one in the club.”

Juliet nodded. “The nice thing about those capsules is they dissolve. He just slipped one into a particularly colorful drink when I gave him the sign. It worked great so long as I was the server and the ass didn’t drop more than one in. My customers would pay me direct, and it just looked like they gave me a very generous tip afterward. It was the perfect system until this shit decided to bring in the whole stash to the locker room that day instead of keeping it in his car and refilling his pockets as needed.”

“So how did it get in my locker?” she asked.

“Ask him,” Juliet said, rolling her eyes at Todd. But he was quiet now, perhaps unnerved by the presence of the gun. “He stuffed it in there when he heard someone coming,” Juliet explained. “I told you he knew your combination.”

Todd grunted. “I don’t fucking remember her combination. Andie always forgets to spin the lock when she clocks in. It’s almost always open during her shift.”

Un-fucking-believable. She was in this mess because she forgot to turn a fucking dial?

Juliet shifted and the light reflected on the gun. No. She was in this mess because she had awful taste in friends and boyfriends.

Not all my choices were wrong.Eric had come back.

“I thought having Andie sic the cops on you might teach you a lesson about respect, but I guess you haven’t learned anything yet,” Juliet said.

“Okay,” Andie said, trying to sound calm. “What can I do to reassure you I don’t care about any of this? I—I just got married and I’m going to move to Boston any day now.”

There was silence for a beat.

“You’re married?” Todd exploded behind her. “You fucking bitch!”

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