“Why? So you can steal my tips again? You nasty little thief!”
Despite her words, she throws me to the ground. But by the time I recover, it’s already too late. Danny snatches up my tip jar from the vanity and rifles through my generous savings.
“Those are mine!” I protest, internally cringing at how juvenile I sound. The tears prickling the corners of my eyes add insult to injury.
Danny merely laughs as she leafs through the bills. “Give me a break. This is twice I’d make in a month.” She pauses to shoutover her shoulder. “Teresa! I found where our money wandered off to!”
My heart sinks as Teresa appears at the door a moment later. The singer only sneers at me as she waltzes over to Danny.
“Here I was thinking the new girl wouldn’t be stupid enough to pull anything in her first week,” Teresa says as she takes her half of my money from Danny’s outstretched hand. She secures it in her midnight blue bra strap, flicking her jet-black hair over her shoulder.
The two of them together look like night and day—fitting for theCandelabra’s two most popular performers. But their charm hadn’t lasted long for me. Sharing a dressing room tends to reveal the worst in people quickly.
“I didn’t touch your money.” I rise, drawing energy from that small kernel of fire inside of me that urged me to defend myself in the first place. “Those are all my tips. You can ask Claudio. There was a stag on table twelve, and they…”
“Here’s my problem,” Danny cuts me off. “About a week ago, things started to disappear around here. Has that ever happened before, Teresa?”
“You know, I don’t think it has, Danny.”
“A ring here, a necklace there. I figured I’d let it slide. Let the demure little girl from the sticks borrow a few things. God knows she needs to add a bit of sparkle to her performances.”
Teresa giggles at this, and I ignore her.
“I don’t need any of your tacky jewelry.”
Danny’s eyes flash dangerously. “But what I can’t turn a blind eye to, is the fact you stole twelve thousand dollars from us. Did you think you could just sleep with the manager and not get caught?”
My gut hollows out at the mention of Claudio. That tiny flame of defiance splutters out into nothingness. He’s already warned me about getting along with the other performers. If he finds out about this…
“Danny, please, it wasn’t me.” I glance at the door nervously. “But if you need the money, take what you need. I just need a few dollars to get a cab home.”
But Danny merely scoffs at me. “You should have thought of that before you tried to cross me.”
“You don’t understand,” I try again. “I have nothing else.”
“Oh, save us a sob story, will you?” Teresa rolls her eyes.
I step forward, ready to get on my knees to plead with them both. “Please. Just twenty bucks. The rest is yours.”
For the briefest moment, something flickers across Danny’s face. But before it can manifest into anything more, a shadow falls across the doorway.
“What’s going on in here?”
We all turn to see the devastatingly handsome man standing in the doorway. His toned body is clearly visible through his tight black T-shirt as he towers over us, his mouth a grim line beneath his short beard.
I school my face into something more neutral. “Nothing.”
But my boyfriend does not acknowledge me. He crosses his arms and stares at Danny, waiting for an explanation.
“We were just doing a little hazing,” she chirps innocently. “If Cassandra wants to play with the big girls, she needs to show us she has what it takes.”
His eyes glance down at the wad of bills in her hand, then at the empty jar on my vanity. “Are those Cas’ tips?”
Finally, he looks at me. Those piercing blue eyes search mine for the answer to his question.
“I…”
Claudio leans against the doorframe. “Daniella, Theresa, kindly return whatever money you took from Cas and go home. Mia just called last orders.”
