Page 8 of My Filthy Stepbrother

"What? That's impossible. There's five thousand square feet of merchandise out there." My eyes glance over to the security monitors where I see a familiar face.

Fuck.

There's no way Cody can get a job if Wesley's firing people. She's walking slowly around different aisles, but there isn't an employee on the floor to help her find anything. Hell, I'm sure she's not shopping, but this doesn't bode well for her job options.

"I know," Wesley growls. "You think I don't know that? I'm trying to convince my father-in-law to condense the square footage. Get rid of the sections that don't sell, like toys, books, and exercise equipment."

"Slow down, Wesley."

He grunts and talks over me. "We can get rid of purses and a lot of the accessories that don't move. I've already cut employee hours, fired two managers, and I'm hoping we can shrink the square footage by half. Maybe we can rent out the other half to a pharmacy or something."

"So the likelihood of you hiring someone right now is pretty?—"

Wesley snaps his head up, glaring at me with a slight twitch that honestly makes me want to laugh. I choke it back as he frantically says, "Not gonna happen. Unless they can turn this place around in the next six months, I'm only interested in consultants. The last thing I need is another minimum wage employee costing me more money than the winter coats we still have in stock from last season."

"I should probably get out on the floor. Are you going to be back here to watch the monitors?"

"No," Wesley grunts and pushes himself away from the desk. "You stay back here, and if anyone steals, get a screen grab because we delete the videos off the server every night at midnight. Call the cops and let them handle it. Shit, I'd probably make more money off the insurance claim. We can't even afford our digital security cloud service anymore. Oh and since Amber has to leave early, we're closing an hour early. Are you okay closing up?"

"Yeah, what about the bank drop?"

Wesley scoffs. "Ha! What bank drop? I'm not coming back here to take 150 bucks to the bank. Leave it in the safe."

"So it's just going to be me and one cashier here?"

"It's just for today until I get a concrete plan to move forward. Please just work with me, Dean."

I shrug. "Alright."

Wesley bolts out of the back office, and I return my gaze to the monitors. Cody's meandering around the store, and Amber looks anxious, standing behind the register. The nagging sensation in my gut tells me to talk to Amber and then let Cody know what's going on.

By the time I reach the register, Amber looks around with pain in her eyes. I walk over to her and relief washes over her face.

"Perfect, someone else is here. I need to go, Dean."

"Wait, Wesley just said you had to leave early, not right now."

"Look. I don't know what his problem is, but I've been on since six this morning. I worked the floor, stocking shelves, opened, and I still haven't had a break. There's only been two customers, three if you count that girl wandering around the office supply section right now. I'm exhausted and my head is throbbing. I'll get a nosebleed and pass out if you don't let me leave right now."

"Take off, Amber. I'll deal with Wesley," I tell her. I get on the store's loudspeaker to make an announcement. "Good afternoon, shoppers. It's unfortunate that I have to request that all shoppers please come to the front of the store and checkout. Flannigan's will be closing in the next half hour. Thank you."

This is what Wesley gets for walking out. I'm not a cashier, and I have no intention of learning how to do the job. I work beside Amber as she walks me through her close-out process, drops the money in the safe, and follows her to the front doors, where I lock me and Cody inside.

"Dakota," I call out. She doesn't answer.

It takes me a while to find her in the women's accessories section where she's trying on sunglasses. By the time I reach her, I can see why she didn't reply. Her earbuds block everything out, including my footsteps. She yelps and clutches her chest when I tap her on the shoulder.

"Fuck, Dean. You scared the crap out of me," she says, pulling a pod out and dropping it in her pocket. It only takes me a minute to drag my eyes up and down her body. A form-fitting dress with a cardigan gives an appearance of professionalism, but my eyes only seem to focus on the bottom hem. It stops in the middle of her thigh, milky white, soft, and tempting me to taste her.

"The store's closing early," I tell her.

Cody takes a minute to look around. "What about talking to the owner? It took me forever to figure this outfit out. Just professional enough to be taken seriously."

"Yeah, about that." I take a breath and level with her. "Wesley just stormed out of here. He's not looking for anyone right now. Unless you have a way to make this store some money over the next six months."

She laughs. "I have plenty of ideas, but I'm going to need some more information. I guess I should head home."

Cody unintentionally puts the sunglasses in her purse and turns to leave the store. I stop her with a smile spreading across my face. "Where do you think you're going?"

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