Free An Aria in Venice: A Musical Interlude Novel by Kasonndra Leigh

her shoulders. By day, she’s the most passionately raw
dancer in our company. Or, at least, that’s the way Ines describes Jojo’s undisciplined
approach to dance. At night, she works in one of Milan’s wildest nightclubs,
the Alcatraz, a place where you might hear about any type of band or
controversial rock group you can imagine. Lately, she’s been missing several
practices and I’m afraid Ines’s patience with our friend’s erratic behavior is
running out.
    “She
knows the deal, Jojo,” Lis begins as she moves over to the dresser and helps me
fasten the small Celtic cross necklace given to me by my father. It’s the only
reminder I have of a man whose face slips out of my memory a little more each
day I don’t see him. He used to send me letters, details about whatever country
he was hiding inside. I never showed them to Mother or Alek, only Nikolai. I
haven’t received one in almost a year and I miss getting them, in spite of
everything I know he has done. “She has to make well on what she started with
that fine specimen of a designer, Luca Martuccio. Or, it’s cleaning dirty
leotard time for the rest of her life,” Lis sings in a mocking voice, grinning.
    “Ohhh,
that’s right. The cherry bomb bet. I forgot all about that,” Jojo replies,
glancing at her phone for about the hundredth time.
    “I
can do this. Have some confidence in me, would you?” I say to Lis, who doesn’t
believe I can get Luca to agree to have sex with me because he’s terrified of
Nikolai and my brother, but mostly because she thinks I’m going to get scared
and back out. If they’d had a chance to see him in action then they’d see how
uncomplicated doing something like that might be. Plus, we now have this kind
of mutual agreement thing going on, the one where I play the role of his
love-stricken girlfriend. It’s the least I can do to make up for the ingenious
way he managed to make Nikolai insanely jealous a few nights ago. I don’t enjoy
feeling like I owe guys like Luca Martuccio anything, so this little fiasco
this evening will set us on even ground.
    “You
look hot, babes. I’d most definitely have sex with you,” Jojo says as she
stands while texting at the same time. “Alrighty! I’m outta here, ladies. Got a
hot date of my own tonight. Barbed Wire’s playing at the Alcatraz. And guess
what?”
    “Girlfriend,
don’t even try telling me you managed to get a backstage pass,” Lis mutters,
looking jealous.
    “That’s
exactly what I’m going to tell you,” Jojo answers, grinning wide enough to
split her cheeks.
    “Good
luck tonight, AD,” Jojo says, kissing my cheek. She takes my hand, moves back,
and makes a sizzling noise. “You’re hot, my babes. That designer dude will not
be able to resist this tonight, Lis. Get ready to lose.”
    “Now
see, that’s confidence. Exactly what I need.” As I hug Jojo, a small packet
slips out of the jacket she’s wearing and falls to the floor. I bend down to
pick it up, but Jojo moves faster than I’ve ever seen her do. Grabbing the
pouch that contains what looks a lot like some kind of white substance, she
pockets it and gives me a nervous smile. Lis hasn’t noticed our exchange; she’s
too busy talking about how good Byron will look in the tuxedo he’s wearing to
the annual charity ball the ballerinas of Aterballetto attend each year. I lock
gazes with Jojo for a long moment before I finally focus my attention back on
Lis’s voice.
    “Hell
yeah, we’re going to have some two finger action going on after that boring
ball is done.” Lis pauses. I can tell she’s now focused on Jojo and me. “Are
you two listening to me? Make me feel stupid, okay?”
    Jojo
breaks into a beautiful smile. She has the type of personality that on a good
day will make you feel like the most important person in the world. However, if
you catch her during a bad moment, then you’ll find yourself running to the
bathroom to soothe your battered feelings when she’s done