Free Such a Dance by Kate McMurray

week. I was rooming with Sam at a place over on Fifty-seventh, but the landlord kicked us out when he found out how we was paying the rent.”
    “Go talk to Mrs. Bloom. She owns a building downtown. She’ll take care of you, darling.” Julian rattled off the address of a friendly brothel madam he knew. He’d stayed at Mrs. Bloom’s in the past, though lately he’d been bouncing around the apartments of men he knew around Times Square. Business had been slow lately and he didn’t have quite enough to rent a place regularly, so he was relying on the kindness of friends until he could put enough money together to get his own place. Maybe then he wouldn’t have to suck strangers’ cocks to survive.
    “Thanks,” said Horatio. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    There was some activity over near the restroom building, a quick shout and then nothing. “This cop,” Julian said. “You’ve seen him?”
    “Sure did. Serviced him myself three nights ago. Small cock, but—”
    “What does he look like?”
    Horatio shrugged, which Julian found unnerving. “He’s a big fella. Tall with big shoulders, I mean. He ain’t fat, though. And black hair, but he’s a mick for sure. Bet his real name is O’Neil or something.”
    Julian agreed this was probably true, but he didn’t want to dwell. He promised to keep an eye out and then told Horatio to beat it so he didn’t scare off any potential customers.
    When Horatio was gone, Julian adjusted the scarf at his neck. He put out his cigarette and lit a new one. He slid the matchbook pack into his pocket and glanced around the park.
    Then everything went to hell.
    The noise from the restroom building became a cacophony of shouting, and then a half dozen men paraded out, followed by a man in a suit—he was also shouting, but Julian couldn’t make out the words from across the park—and a pair of uniformed police officers. It took Julian longer than he should have to work out that the park was being raided.
    He ducked out of the light from the streetlamp and hightailed it over to Sixth Avenue, where he could hide in the shadows cast by the elevated trains and survey what was happening from a distance. Everyone in the park was getting rounded up, all right, including a rowdy Horatio, who was twisting in the arms of one of the uniforms now, clearly resisting arrest.
    “We’re shutting this place down!” the man in the suit cried.
    Julian ran to the stairs and ran up to the train platform. He hadn’t been spotted, at least, but another minute spent trying to pick up a client would have gotten him arrested for certain. As a train rumbled into the station, Julian wasn’t sure where he’d go—or if he was on the uptown or downtown track—but he got on it and got away from the park.

Chapter 7
    “It Had to Be You”
    W alter Rhodes came through with a flourish of a song called “My Heart Is Full,” which he handed to Jimmy Blanchard triumphantly one afternoon.
    Eddie was in a practice room back stage, alternately plunking out random melodies on the old not-quite-in-tune piano while also dreaming up some new dance steps. Rhodes, Blanchard, and Marian stormed into the room with quite a bit of fanfare. Eddie had a hunch about what was going on based on something Marian had told him, but he waited while Blanchard blustered and Rhodes took a seat at the piano.
    Marian watched Rhodes, looking nervous. Jimmy and Eddie had both been telling her for a week that this song was a good thing, that it was the next logical step in her career, but she hardly ever sang in her real voice, and Eddie knew she worried that it wasn’t strong enough. They’d been thinking about ways to integrate Eddie into a love ballad, but as it wasn’t a duet, it meant that for about two and a half minutes, all eyes would be on Marian, and Marian kept saying she didn’t want that kind of undiluted attention.
    But Jimmy was excited. Now Marian looked over the sheet music while Rhodes and Jimmy talked it up.