Page 113 of Last Chance Love

“Well, some of it’s weird now.”

“Like what?”

“Like how narcotics could be going missing without anyone noticing. And if they were noticing, why would people like Alice and Mona be vague about it?”

“Vague, how?”

“Alice told me to keep a closer eye on the numbers, and Mona showed a weird interest in the inventory. One time, she came in and looked over our inventory. The same day, I told her I was done doing that stupid pushing you behind your back thing. Which was weird because she’d already requested our records, and I’d sent them over.”

“So, you saw the records?”

“Not all of them. I had limited information. Only the on-staff doctors can use their login and see everything.”

“Like, a card?”

“No, username and password.”

I clenched my teeth as I asked the question that popped into my head, dreading the answer. “Reed, how many of those do you know?”

“Uh, two.”

“Which ones?”

“Alice’s and Dr. Gideon’s. She trusts me, and that idiot doesn’t like to use computers and insists on me always doing it. That or he just doesn’t know how and doesn’t want to learn.”

“Jesus, even in the middle of all this crap, you’re still bitching about that man,” I said with a smile, pressing my fingers tighter against the mesh. “You really know how to hold a grudge.”

“You try working for that useless sack of wrinkled flesh,” he grumbled. “Or maybe I’m just using him as a convenient excuse to bitch to make up for the fact that I’m scared shitless.”

“I get it,” I said, feeling my chest squeeze. “What I wouldn’t give to be in there with you right now.”

“God, I hope not.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, well, hanging around outside my cell is probably a really good way of getting yourself locked up here with me.”

I didn’t want to care, but he had been right all along. Part of medidwant to do better with my life. I did want to graduate from this program and do something that wasn’t the same stupid shit I’d been doing before. I wanted the chance to prove there was more to me than just some messed up kid who managed to keep two younger kids alive and then let his life fall apart.

“Stop,” Reed said, and though it was hard to make out, I could tell he was frowning from the tone of his voice. “You’re damn well allowed not to want to be locked up in here with me. Even if you’re saying the opposite.”

“I’m just…I wish there was something I could do, but Mona gave me nothing. Even the guys you supposedly sold to didn’t know who it was. They never saw ‘your’ face. She’s just basing it on all the other evidence.”

“Didn’t see ‘my’ face?”

“I just meant?—”

“No, I know what you meant, not me, but the supposed me. I just…I know it wasn’t me, but that doesn’t leave many people who could do it.”

“I was thinking. It would have to be out of the clinic.”

“Yes,” he agreed, his voice softer as he thought. “Only people who wouldn’t stand out could get away with it. It’s usually me or the staff they have for internships, summer jobs, and whatever other programs that deal with the shipments. The doctors get involved too because we don’t have a lot of staff, but anyone else would stand out like a sore thumb.”

“And not showing their face, that’s pretty cautious.”

“It’s also smart because it keeps any customers from being able to identify them. With such a small selection of people with access, you wouldn’t want your description passed around. Even if you were just a worker no one paid attention to.”

“Or you were someone who was well known.”

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