25. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kenzie
“ H ave a good day, baby bear.” Daddy stole one last kiss before letting her go and closing the door to the car that she’d just exited. Well, technically, it had been several minutes since he’d opened the door and helped her out of the car, but he’d been a little too preoccupied with kissing her senseless to close it before now.
Shaking the delicious memory of her Daddy’s lips on hers from her brain, she opened the door to the candy store and tried to get her brain into work mode. As soon as she’d entered the store, she’d felt a chill. The atmosphere was different today. Heavier. Not happy and joyful like it normally was.
Kenzie looked around trying to figure out why she had such a foreboding feeling all of a sudden and was surprised to find Annie, the store’s owner, at the register with a grim expression on her face.
“Kenzie, I was hoping to speak with you before you begin your shift.”
Uh oh. What had she done wrong? Kenzie tried to wrack her brain for any policy she’d broken or task she’d forgotten to do but she couldn’t think of anything.
“Sure.” She wanted to refuse. She had a bad feeling, and it was making her anxious, but it wasn’t like she could really do that.
Annie led her to the back and offered Kenzie the seat across the desk from her. She wasted no time in beginning.
“You’ve been a model employee for a long time, Kenzie, and I am saddened to have to have this talk with you.”
Annie’s face conveyed the truth of her words and Kenzie felt her stomach drop, but she remained silent waiting for what else Annie needed to say.
“I’m not sure what’s been going on the last month or so, but your till has been short almost every shift and I just can’t afford to let it keep happening. I really am sorry, but I’m going to have to put you on leave without pay until we figure out what’s causing it.”
Kenzie’s mouth dropped. She was extremely careful to make sure her counts were correct. She counted change to customers twice and always double checked what she put in the register before finishing a transaction. She’d had very few short tills since starting her job. She couldn’t understand why that would suddenly change.
Kenzie would be the first to admit she’d been preoccupied lately but not that much so. Surely it couldn’t be right. There had to be a mistake. When she tried to tell Annie that, Annie had simply stated that an investigation would take place, and everything would be figured out then. In the meantime, Kenzie was on suspension. Effective immediately.
Barely holding back her tears, Kenzie exited Annie’s office first, then the store. Once in the parking lot, Kenzie let go and bawled as she dialed her Daddy’s number.
Sebastian
W hen his phone rang, he glanced at the screen, expecting to find an unknown number for a telemarketer. Everyone else knew his work times and didn’t usually call. When he saw it was Beau calling, he immediately answered. Beau never called in the middle of a workday without an excellent reason.
“What’s wrong, love?” He didn’t see a point in wasting words. If there was an emergency, the sooner he knew what it was, the better.
“It’s Kenzie. She called crying asking me to pick her up at work. She was crying too hard for me to understand her explanation of what happened, and I couldn’t get her to calm down.”
Sebastian was already gathering his things as he told his boy, “I’m closer so I’ll probably beat you, but I’ll meet you there.”
Sebastian drove faster than was probably wise, but something was wrong with his girl and he wasn’t about to slow down until he knew what it was. He swung into the parking lot to see Kenzie sitting on the ground outside the shop with her head resting on her knees and her shoulders shaking with her tears.
Screeching to a halt, Sebastian rushed from the vehicle and ran to his girl. Something was seriously wrong.
Beau
B eau had never been so freaked out. What was going on? Kenzie had been fine when he dropped her off. She’d been happy and excited for her day. How had that changed so drastically between dropping her off and him pulling into the driveway at home? Why hadn’t he waited just a few more minutes before pulling out? He could have been so much closer if he had.
He was doing his best to obey traffic laws; he didn’t want to break one of Daddy’s rules right then, but it was so hard. He may have ignored one or two, like speed limits, but what Daddy didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Besides, this had to be an exception, right?
Beau was smart enough to slow down some and not pull in driving like a crazy person. That would get his hide tanned for sure, but once parked, he was by Kenzie’s side faster than lightning could flash.
Daddy was already holding their girl, so Beau snuggled in behind her as they surrounded her with their comfort and protection. They didn’t know what was happening but until her sobs slowed down, she wouldn’t be able to explain. As difficult as it was, they’d have to be patient about finding out who they had to maim or kill. Whoever had done this to their girl was going to pay. But first, they had to take care of her and make sure she was okay.
As Kenzie cried it all out, Beau began rubbing her back, her arms, anywhere that he could reach, trying to provide comfort while also checking for injuries. He saw red at the thought of anyone physically hurting their girl. Emotionally was bad enough, but physical harm to their Little girl meant the culprit wouldn’t just pay. They’d be dead.