“You know, I liked you. Everyone did. You were really starting to feel like part of the Club Deep family. But I don’t even know what to think of a person who would do this.”
“I didn’t do anyth—”
“Yes, you did!”
“ENOUGH.” Coles voice cuts across ours and leaves the office in complete silence. I’ve never seen him yell. I’ve never seen him raise his voice or even be the slightest bit angry. “The code used to empty the safe was yours, Andrea. I need you to leave the club property immediately.”
“What?”
“You need to leave.”
No. He can’t be firing me. I can’t get fired from a second job, especially for something that I didn’t do. “Cole, I had nothing to do with this. You have to believe me.”
“I want to. But no one,” he says, meeting my eyes. He looks broken. “No matter who they are, steals from me without paying a price.”
“I didn’t steal from you.”
He looks away, “Goodbye, Andrea.”
There’s a ringing in my ears, and pain in my chest, and I barely realize I’m walking out of the office. What just happened? Everything was so perfect a few minutes ago and now I don’t even know what to do or say or think. After everything, how could he believe that? How he could he believe that I would take money from him?
Footsteps sound behind me and I turn to find Rosie following me. “I need to make sure you leave the club,” she says. “We’ll mail you your final paycheck.”
“This is insane.”
“No it’s not,” she scoffs. “I’ve seen girls like you a hundred times. People who think that they’re better than they are. Who think they can just have everything they want while screwing everyone else. Well, good riddance to you.” She puts her hand on my shoulder, pushing me towards the exit. “And sleeping with the boss? How pathetic can you be? You think he was actually interested? You think you can just show up and claim him while those of us who have been here way longer never even had a chance? Think again. You were just someone to fuck.”
Shit. She’s into Cole. That’s why she’s saying all these things. She thinks that with me gone that she’s going to have him. I don’t have anything to stop her from doing that. “Fuck off, Rosie.”
“I knew something was up when I saw you together. I should have known, and then the money went missing last night. I wasn’t even surprised when it was your code.”
Last night. Last night?
I shove around Rosie, and sprint back to Cole’s office. I shove open the door, and he spins around, his face is a portrait in misery. It’s there only for a second before it’s gone and replaced by anger. “You should have left,” he says. “I didn’t want to have security throw you out.”
“When was the safe robbed?” He picks up the phone to call security and I push his hand back down. “When?”
“Last night.”
I laugh, though it’s not remotely funny. “I would have thought that last night was memorable enough that you would know I couldn’t possibly have stolen money from the safe last night.”
“What?” Rosie’s voice comes from the door. “Where were you.”
I turn and glare at her. “I was in his bed. I know that image doesn’t play well for you because of your obsessive little crush, but it’s still true.” I look back to Cole, “I didn’t do this.”
His eyes are now fixed on Rosie. “Who else knew Andrea’s code?”
“It’s in the employee files. Any supervisor could have looked it up.”
Cole pulls a binder off a shelf, flipping through some papers. “And you were the only supervisor on duty last night when the money disappeared.”
Rosie’s mouth falls open. “No, it wasn’t—not me.”
“Did you frame Andrea to get her fired? Steal from me?”
She looks trapped, and there’s a split second where I feel bad for her. But after what she’s done, a second is all she gets. I fling her own words back at her. “I don’t even know what to think of a person who would do this.”