Page 117 of Robbin’ the Rich

“This isn’t really his thing. I mean, can you see that man eating cheese fries and drinking whatever swill this is that Sonia brought?”

“No, but I would like to,” I said with a chuckle.

“You and me both. He comes to our bouts and every now and then Trixie’s, but that's about it. Plus, I need time with my team,” she said, nudging my shoulder.

“How are you doing?” she asks me quietly.

After a long lamenting sigh I said, “I’m here.”

“No place better to be.”

Then, thank god, Mel stood on a chair next to the rink and announced it was time for the Reaper gift exchange. Good, because when this is over, I can get out of here.

Yet, as I move over, I see Ariel’s bright red curly hair behind the snack counter. I make a note to go check on her when we’re done. I’ve checked on the transfer lately and it seems fine, but part of me has been worried since everything blew up with Micah if he told his family.

So as soon as the gift exchange was over, I thanked Zella for my Zombie stickers that would look bad ass on my helmet and a whole box of cosmic brownies from her uncle’s bakery. I headed over to Ariel.

“Hey Squirt, How’s it going?”

“Robin! Good! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever! I’ve seen Micah a couple times, but you haven’t been with him.” Then her mouth fell open like it just occurred to her why that might be. “Oh my god, did you guys break up?”

“Yeah, we did. But it’s fi⁠—”

She came running from behind the counter and wrapped her arms around me. I stilled, unsure of why do to. I wasn’t exactly the hugging type, but it didn’t seem much to matter to her. I caught Mel’s eye and she just gave me an amused smirk.

“What happened?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.

“It’s nothing,” I said, shrugging her off. “Where have you seen him?”

“He’s been helping out around lantern house. He gave me a ride home one night when our van had a flat. Then came back the next day and fixed the flat and has been around fixing things. It’s been super helpful. He even brought a Christmas tree earlier this week. But I can totally hate him if we hate him now. Just let me know and I will⁠—”

“No.” I stopped her by putting a hand on her arm. “We don’t hate him. It just didn’t work out.”

“Good, because he’s been super nice. And things have got a little dramatic around Lantern House earlier today.”

“Was he there?”

“No, he hasn’t been around in a few days. But this morning there was a cop that came over to talk to Maggie.”

Panic spiked at the thought, but I tried to remain calm. “Oh really? Do you know what that was about?”

“I’m not entirely sure, I was only listening from the kitchen, but it was something about a mistaken money donation. I don’t know.”

Fuck!

“Do they think Maggie did something wrong?”

Ariel shrugged and I needed her to not be so fucking nonchalant about this. “I don’t think so. She said she thought it was a donation. The cops seemed to just be getting information and they left.”

“Has anything else weird been happening?”

Her brow creased as she tilted her head. “Not that I can think of. Why?”

“No reason, but I do have to go. I’ll see you later squirt.”

Before she would even comment I turned to leave. Fuck. This was not good. What was going on? Did they trace it back to me? Surely not, I mean no cop came to my door.

The cold barely registered as I got in my car and made my way home. My mind was reeling. I had covered my tracks. They shouldn’t be able to trace it back to me, but if they are investigating that’s not good. Plus, if Micah had told them then they would know it was me and they would have come to get me not to talk to Maggie.