Page 48 of Castle's Cards

“This is seriously important, Addy.”

“Well, hello there, beautiful.” One of the men at the closest table leans in and leers at Izzy. I shove him back in his seat and scowl.

“She’s underage, you perv.”

“Jeez, I didn’t know,” the man quips as I drag Izzy into the back hallway past the ‘employees only’ sign.

“Am I supposed to be back here?” Izzy asks as I whirl around.

“No, you’re not. You’re not supposed to be in this building at all!” I stare daggers into her and she sighs before meeting my gaze with just as much intensity.

“I know that! But this is important! The landlord knocked on the door earlier.”

I frown and stand up straight.

“The landlord? Why? We already paid our rent this month.” I raise my finger to my mouth and begin to nibble anxiously on the nail. Izzy sighs and looks away.

“I know. It wasn’t about the rent. It was about something else. Something about the building being sold.”

Confusion washes over me.

“Wait, the building was sold? What do you mean?”

Izzy shrugs her shoulders.

“I don’t know. I don’t really understand what he meant by it.”

“Tell me exactly what he said, word for word.”

Izzy licks her lips and crosses her arm as she digs deep into her memory.

“He said… that the building was being sold and that he was sorry…? I don’t remember. There was a lot that he said.”

I sigh. She’s not going to remember exactly what he said. Clearly, I need to speak to him myself.

“Come on,” I gesture for her to follow me. We go back out the employee door and I approach the door to Court’s office before knocking on it. “Court?”

“It’s open,” he calls out from inside. I push open the door and walk in. When Izzy walks in behind me Court’s gaze flits to her. “Who’s this?”

“My little sister. I need to go home. I know this is unexpected, but there’s something wrong and I need to talk to my landlord immediately.”

Court regards me and nods.

“Okay, no worries.”

“Really?” I ask, surprise filling me. Court chuckles and nods his head.

“Of course. You’re a great worker and haven’t flaked on us yet. I find it highly unlikely that you’d be starting now.” Court points the pen he’s holding at Izzy. “As for you, I don’t want to see you in here again. Not until you’re 21, anyway.”

Izzy’s eyes widen with surprise. She nods before scrambling out of the office. I chuckle and thank Court again before following her out.

“Wait, how did you get here?” I ask Izzy as we walk out of the club.

“Nate dropped me off.”

“He was at the house again?” I blink in surprise as we get into my car. Izzy blushes.

“He just came over to help me study. We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

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