Chapter 16

Piper

Something I’d said was bothering Austin, but I wasn’t sure why. Instead of delving into that, I decided to focus on lunch. “How about soft tacos? There’s this place with a fantastic taco platter. There are twenty on the platter, so we can share with the employees who are here now.”

“That sounds good to me,” he replied. “Just don’t get anything with fish.”

“You still don’t like fish?” I asked. “I figured you would have grown out of your picky phase by now.”

“Not even close,” he replied. “If I didn’t like it in high school, I don’t like it now.”

“I’ll get the fish tacos packaged separately,” I said as I placed the order.

“I can pay for lunch,” he offered.

“You can chip in, if you want,” I agreed. “I don’t want you to start thinking of this as a date.”

Before Austin could say more, there was a knock at my office door. With any luck, the police had finally arrived.

“Seth is here to pick up his final paycheck,” Callie called out through the door.

“I’ll bring it out to him,” I told her before moving to the corner to open the safe.

“You’ve already lost an employee?” Austin asked.

“Seth had issues every night he worked,” I explained. “The last straw was when I found him in the storage closet, banging a customer while on the clock.”

“So, you fired him?” Austin asked.

“Yes,” I replied as I pulled out the envelope with his check. “Technically, he got his final paycheck the night I fired him, but he argued he should be paid for the entire shift, even though he was let go two hours in. Mercy decided to pay him. I’m just glad he’s gone.”

“Huh,” Austin mumbled as he followed me out to give Seth his check.

Seth was leaning against the bar with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was one of those guys who thought all women wanted him. With perfectly styled golden hair, thick lashes framing deep blue eyes, and almost feminine features, he was definitely attractive. Mercy had hired him because he was friendly and personable, when he wanted to be. I’d never cared for him, but I still could have worked with him had he followed the rules.

“Here’s your check.” I held it out to Seth.

He swiped it from my hand with an angry scowl. “Are you going to badmouth me so I can’t get another job?”

“We only provide the dates of employment and job title,” I replied. “No one will badmouth you to potential employers.”

“Whatever,” Seth muttered before storming out.

“I’ll bet he slashed your tires,” Callie said from the bar. Three other employees were intentionally sticking close to the bar.

“Seth?” I asked.

Austin looked thoughtful. “He was angry enough.”

“Seth did not slash my tires,” I assured them. “I ordered a taco platter. Let me know when it gets here. There’s enough for all of you.”

“You are the best boss,” Callie said with a grin.

We were back in my office before Austin spoke again. “You shouldn’t rule out this Seth guy as a suspect. You barely know him.”

“Seth is too lazy to slash my tires,” I insisted.

“How long has he worked for you?” Austin asked.

“A month,” I replied. “We had training before the club opened. Seth always did the minimum required of him.”

“It doesn’t take much effort to slash someone’s tires,” he argued. “He’s obviously angry about losing his job.”

“Angry and lazy,” I stated. “Looking back, I should have argued with Mercy about hiring him. I was never crazy about Seth. He’s the type who might file a wrongful termination lawsuit. Those are a nightmare.”

“You’ve been sued for wrongful termination before?” Austin asked.

“Technically, the club was sued,” I clarified.

“You know what I mean,” he told me.

“When I worked at The Project, I had to fire three employees while Andy was on vacation, and they sued,” I explained.

“Did they win?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “They’re lucky the owner didn’t press charges. It’s crazy that they were even able to find an attorney to take their case.”

“Why were they fired?” he asked.

“They threw a party at the club after-hours,” I explained. “They gave their friends free drinks and tried to break into Andy’s office.”

“An attorney was willing to represent them in a case like that?” Austin asked with a laugh. “How could any attorney possibly argue it was wrongful termination?”

“I’m sure they lied to their lawyer,” I replied. Those employees had been complete idiots who’d thought it was their word against mine.

“Let me guess,” Austin began. “All you had to do was show the security footage from the club to prove your side of the story.”

“You got it,” I replied. “Apparently, they didn’t realize that we recorded the security footage from the cameras. The morons thought we could only watch it real-time. They were still convinced they could win. I think their lawyer dropped them as clients. Those idiots tried arguing that the security cameras were an invasion of privacy.”

“Wow,” he said with a shake of his head.

“The judge also seemed surprised by their stupidity,” I added. “It was still a pain in the ass. The club had to hire a lawyer, and I had to meet with them about the case. I even had to go to court the day the case was dismissed. That’s something I’d rather avoid dealing with again.”

“I still think Seth may have slashed your tires,” he insisted.

We were interrupted by another knock at the door. This time, it was the police. Naturally, they showed up shortly before my taco platter.