Free The Throwaway Year by Pepper Pace

Fox.”
    The man’s attention turned to Brian. “I need to see you in my office,” and then he abruptly turned away.
    Brian didn’t immediately follow , but Hayden saw his body stiffen as if in resolve. He raised his brow at her and gave her a crooked smile.
    “The boss calls,” a nd then he disappeared into Mr. Fox’s office.
    At the end of her shift , Hayden knew that she shouldn’t linger but Brian was still in Mr. Fox’s office and it was pissing her off even though she didn’t hear any yelling. Still, the man was taking him from his calls—causing him to be unproductive. It was obvious that Brian didn’t enjoy working for his company. She decided that she would be nosey. In fact, she intended to be very nosey.
    She waited outside in front of the plate glass door pretending to dig through her purse but peeking inside for any sight of Brian or Mr. Fox.  Marcus came out and gave her a goodbye salute.
    “Hey Marcus!”
    “Yes young lady? How may I assist you?” he asked in a mock-baritone voice.
    “Can I ask you something?” She gestured for him to follow her a few steps from the entrance so they wouldn’t be overheard.
    “Sure. What’s up?” He had stopped clowning and was giving her a serious look now.
    The door swung open and Brian came out. When he saw Hayden and Marcus he did a double take and then nodded in their direction before walking quickly to his vehicle.
    A moment later , Mr. Fox came out. He waved at them.
    “Goodnight you two.”
    “Have a good evening,” Marcus called back and then gave Hayden a knowing look.
    Oh damn! Now Marcus probably thought she wanted to purchase drugs from him. Well she would just have to settle that situation as well.
    When the coast was clear , she looked at Marcus again. “I was curious about something. What’s the deal between Mr. Fox and Brian?”
    Marcus just looked at her in confusion as if the meaning of her words had escaped him.   “What do you mean?”
    “Well Mr. Fox is kind of an asshole. He yells at Brian-”
    “Fox is the asshole?” Marcus’ brow shot up. “No baby girl, Brian is the asshole.”
    Brian? What was he talking about? Brian didn’t cut up, he didn’t have an ego, and he was polite to everyone.  Marcus placed a hand on her shoulder and she glanced at it in displeasure but didn’t otherwise react.
    “Let me explain something. Brian is an addict. I mean, I know that I come in here high as shit but that’s weed or some pills. Hell, if I didn’t come in here high I would go the fuck off on one of these silly mother fuckers over the phone.” He chuckled and leaned in and spoke in a conspiratory tone. “And to be honest, I have told a few of these hillbillies to go to hell.”
    Hayden just stared at him.
    “Yeah, well I don’t mess with heroin…  I might sniff some coke, but I don’t shoot up. Anyway, Brian got himself hooked on heroin and shit started turning up missing. Phonebook covers weren’t been distributed but he acted like he was delivering that shit.  Then customers started complaining, threatening to sue because they were paying to advertise on vinyl that wasn’t going further than the ten copies being sent to the buyer!
    “So when Fox looked into it , he found out that Brian was doing hella shit like collecting money but saying the customer had ‘dead-beated.’ That’s mail fraud and when you get into mail and wire fraud that kind of thing brings mandatory prison sentences. Federal prison, which ain’t no joke.”
    “Wait a minute, Marcus,” Hayden said in disbelief. “Why would Mr. Fox keep a drug addict and thief around?”
    Marcus gave her a surprised look. “Brian Fox . Uh, you didn’t know that he’s the boss’ son?”
    After a stunned moment , Hayden simply shook her head.
    Marcus pulled out a cigarette and lit up. “Well, there was a big trial over it and it practically wiped out Fox Vinyl. The only reason that Brian didn’t go to jail is because of burden of proof. Fox didn’t have