RODDY POV
"Thanks for helping today" I said to Xylo as we were finishing up in the grocery store. She's been working here and doing what she gotta do for Filthy as well, all without him knowing.
I know she wants a normal life but right now it's difficult with Filthy around.
"No problem. I used to work at a grocery mart when I was 10." She said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Mhm. My mother had a friend that owned a store and to keep me out of trouble, my mom had me working there after school." Xylo said and I rose my eyebrows.
"Wow.." I said.
"Yeah. It's a hard knock life" She said chuckling.
"But it'll be alright.." I said.
"Of course." Xylo said.
"Mr.Moore?" Some lady said walking up to me.
"Oh- Yes?" I said.
"May I have a word with you?" She asked me. Xylo scrunched her eyebrows.
"Oh, sorry we're about to close. But we open at 7 am sharp tomorrow." I said.
"No, no. I'm not here for that. I'm with the IRS." The lady said.
I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Okay well uh, come to the office then." I said walking to the back and Xylo was walking with me.
"You may wanna do this in private" The lady said, seeing Xylo walking with me.
"Oh no, it's coo, you can say what you gotta say in front of my friend." I said. Xylo smiled a little.
We got to the back office and I looked at her and said "What can I do for you?"
"I'm here to inform you that this store is being audited." She said.
"What?" Me and Xylo said at the same time.
"Are you serious?" I said in disbelief.
"We're gonna need you to come down to the office in two weeks with these items" She said handing me paper work, and I started looking through it.
"May I ask why you're giving my friend such personal attention?" Xylo asked her.
"Excuse me?" The lady said to Xylo.
"Hand delivering an audit to such a small business. That's not IRS protocol. Normally a business is allowed up to six weeks to prepare for an audit." Xylo said.
I looked over at her, poking my bottom lip out, impressed that she's so informed on that.
"How would you know that? You look pretty young." The lady said.
"You're not answering my question. Normally a business is allowed up to six weeks to prepare for an audit." Xylo said.
"Not in this case" The lady said.
"Why not?" Xylo asked, and the lady looked at her like she was crazy.
"Like I said, not in this case." The lady said again.
"You know what? We can clear this up right now because I keep a record of all the store's returns in this box" I said grabbing the box.
"We're gonna need more than just returns, it's all listed in the letter. If you have any questions, give me a call, my card's in there." The lady said before she walked off.
"What the- I don't know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna have to tell my mama and my uncle about this because this is their store" I said.
