the brink of falling off my chair. What the hell could happen next?
“There’s more,” Mandy confirmed. “He–– he paid me.”
Not what I thought was coming. “He paid you? What does that mean?”
“He came in last night, right before closing time. I was in the front sweeping. You and Allie were here in the office doing the closing reports.”
“Okay.” I remembered being in the office with Allie. I didn’t know Kevin had stopped by.
“He said that he would appreciate if I kept Saturday night on the down low. Then he handed me an envelope and just walked out.”
“And there was money in the envelope?”
“Two hundred dollars.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. That was a lot of money to me. And probably to Mandy, too. “Two hundred dollars? Wow.”
“Yeah.” Mandy just looked at me, the disgust clear on her face. My thoughts raced. Was it hush money? Bribe money? Prostitution money? What was Kevin’s deal?
“So,” I tried to pull myself together, act like I had a plan, “what do you want to happen next?”
“Well, I really considered quitting. That night in the cab freaked me out. And then the money…it made me feel like a hooker or something. Even though we didn’t do anything. I swear to you, Alex––what I told you was the truth. We did nothing.”
“I believe you, Mandy, I believe you.” I didn’t want to mention the stories Frank had warned me of. “I just need to figure out what I need to do next.” I stared down at my sheet of paper, the words swirling in front of my eyes. “So, you said you thought of quitting. But you aren’t going to?” I questioned.
Mandy dropped her eyes down to the floor once again. “I just found out I’m pregnant.”
I scrambled through my mental employee rolodex. Did Mandy have a boyfriend or husband? I couldn’t remember.
“I just started seeing a guy not too long ago. I haven’t even told him yet. I haven’t told anybody yet. I had pretty much made up my mind to quit, then I took the test and now….I need a job. And I need my benefits.” Mandy’s eyes started to fill with tears again as she tried to speak. “I need this job. I need to get past this. I’m hoping that Kevin understands that I don’t want anything…a relationship or anything like that from him. He’s my boss, he’s married and has children and I’m not attracted to him at all. Hopefully by sneaking out and leaving him at the club alone, he’ll back off me now.”
I nodded my head, absorbing Mandy’s story. What a hard place to be in. I didn’t know what step I, as her manager, was supposed to take next. “Are you going to tell the guy you’re seeing about the baby?”
“I am. He deserves to know. I’m going to keep it too. I’m twenty-four. I need to be responsible for my actions. And he’s a good guy. Well, I think he’s a good guy anyway. I really haven’t known him all that long.” Mandy paused, straightening her shoulders and sucking in a deep breath. “If he doesn’t want to be a part of it, then that’s fine. I’m not asking him for anything. Well–– probably child support down the road. Or maybe not. I don’t know.” Mandy looked at me with helplessness in her eyes. I was sure I mirrored her expression.
“Well, we can always work through that part in a bit. Let’s focus right now on Kevin, and Saturday night and the money. Since you told me this story, is there something you would like me to do? Speak to Kevin about it?” How the hell was I going to pull that one off? And then Kevin would know that despite paying her, Mandy still told someone what he did. What if he fired Mandy because of it? She needed her job.
Mandy was shaking her head. “No. I really don’t want to bring it up. I guess I was just hoping for…protection maybe? I just feel better knowing that someone else knows, so you can maybe keep an eye on it. Make sure he’s not doing it to the other girls.”
In addition to my regular work duties, school and social life, I now had to make sure Kevin didn’t hit on his employees. Slap that on the to-do list. “Mandy, have you heard of anything like this happening before? Have any other girls said similar things?”
“Sometimes I’ve heard people talk about the strange comments Kevin can make,