Free Gin and Toxic (Swan Song) by Audrey Cole Page B

She’ll get pawed at less up on stage than she would working the floor as a waitress or cigarette girl. Or in the kitchen. God help us if a pretty girl like this was working in the kitchen or anywhere else in this building with dark corners and lockable doors. Backstage is always swarming with people. She’s safer there.
    I sigh heavily. “How long?”
    “Doc says he’ll be right as rain in a few weeks.”
    “Fine.” I mutter. I turn toward the stage. “Clara! Clear out. You’re on vacation for the next month.”
    “What?!” she screeches.
    “You heard her.” Tommy tells her quietly but firmly, standing directly behind me. I can see the smoke from his cigarette blowing over my head and cascading in front of me like I’m standing behind a waterfall. “Scram!”
    I step away from him when he shouts, the sound feeling like an ice pick in my temple.
    “Come on,” I tell Elishia warily. “Come over here and sit down.”
    “Don’t thank me or anything.” Tommy says sharply.
    I turn to him and give a theatrical curtsy, intentionally bowing forward to give him a good look down my sweater. Breasts. They can pacify the tiniest of babies and the biggest of men. “Thank you so much, Mr. Giordana. You’ve been a peach.”
    He grins at my sarcasm, scans the girls in the chorus line who are watching and waiting, and then heads off toward the back. The women watch him leave with a mixture of lust, longing and fear.
    I motion for Elishia to follow me toward the stage. “ You’ll watch this rehearsal and get a feel for how things work, get a chance to see the routine, then we’ll try and work you into it. You’ll be in the back or on the far side in the beginning since you won’t be very good but maybe we’ll work you in farther later.”
    “Yes, Miss Marcone.” she agrees hastily as she falls in step behind me.
    “Call me Adrian.”
    “Alright, Miss Adrian.”
    “No,” I tell her with a smile. “Just Adrian.”
    She looks up at me in surprise and shakes her head. “I coul—“
    “Yes you can. I’ve been trying to get your father to do it for years but he’s a stubborn one.” I stop beside the table and look her up and down appraisingly. “Are you stubborn, Elishia?”
    She grins. “Wouldn’t be my daddy’s daughter otherwise.”
    “Good.” I tell her, turning back toward the stage as she takes her seat. “Stubborn will keep you afloat.”
     
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    “You can’t do this, Tommy.” Hal protests.
    Tommy shoots him a hard look. “I what?”
    Hal pauses, rethinking his phrasing I imagine. “Look, it’s not right. It’s not fair to Clara. She earned her spot on that stage. You can’t just take it from her and replace her with some charity case.”
    “She only got a shot at that spot because you wanted to sleep with her.” Tommy reminds him.
    “Doesn’t change the fact that she’s got talent.” Hal turns to me, his eyes pleading for me to see his side. “She’s a good dancer, ain’t she, Aid?”
    “Yeah.” I agree heartily. “She’s a great dancer.”
    Hal turns to Tommy. “You see?”
    “But she’s a shit person.”
    Tommy chuckles as Hal glares at me.
    “That’s my girl you’re talkin’ about.” he snarls at me
    “Yeah, and she’s my chorus girl.”
    “Excuse me.” Tommy cuts in. “ Your chorus girl?”
    I sigh. “Fine, she’s Tommy’s chorus girl and she’s got a bad attitude. The last three days without her has been a dream.”
    “But she can dance, that’s what matters.” Hal insists.
    “It is, you’re right. And Elishia can dance too. And she does it without being a pain in my side. I’m keeping her and that’s that.”
    Hal turns to Tommy, changing his tactic. “What is she supposed to do for money, huh? Go get a job someplace else for a month? That’s crazy.”
    “You mean to tell me you can’t afford your girl’s expenses for one measly month?” he asks quietly. “That’s pathetic. If you can’t float her for that long,