“Narc,” Teresa hisses at me as she begrudgingly hands Claudio her bills on the way out.
But Danny lingers to whisper in my ear. “He’s not going to be around to protect you forever.”
She turns on her heel and stalks away. I don’t miss how her fingers linger on Claudio’s as she hands over her stack of bills.
Perhaps my blood would boil if I could muster up enough energy to feel anything at all. I slump back down in my chair and close my eyes, taking a breath to anchor myself.
This isn’t how I thought moving to Brooklyn would go. Claudio said the girls at the club were lovely, that they’d treat me like a sister. But the bartender was the only person who’d shown me even a shred of kindness.
But did that even count if Mia and I had known each other since we were kids?
“Cas.”
My eyes shoot open to see Claudio standing behind me in the mirror. The door to the dressing room closed tightly behind him.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as he places his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t know why they hate me.”
I try to place a hand over his, but he shakes it off.
“I need you to try harder than this, Cas. They are my moneymakers. If they ask me to let you go, I won’t have a choice.”
My shoulders sag. He’s right, of course. He’s not just my boyfriend now, he’s my boss, and I’ve done nothing but let him down since the moment I arrived.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper again.
Something cold and long extinguished rages against my pitiful apology. None of this is my fault. I didn’t steal from Danny and Teresa. I didn’t ask for him to come to my rescue. I just wanted to sing on an actual stage—theCandelabrastage—one of the most notorious clubs in Brooklyn.
I watch him in silence as he gently strokes my cheek. Against my olive skin, his hand looks frighteningly pale, as if I’m being comforted by some kind of ghost.
“I’ll get better.”
His hand halts its caress, and he leans over my shoulder, holding onto the tops of my arms instead. Eyes meeting mine in the mirror.
“You keep saying that, but I haven’t seen any improvements, Cas,” he murmurs. “Are you trying to make me look bad?”
All I can do is shake my head as his fingers press firmly into my skin. That extinguished flame inside me rallies to ensure I don’t wince.
“It’s just girl stuff,” I whisper back, more defiant than I’d usually dare. “I’ll settle in with them once I’ve gotten used to this place.”
Claudio’s expression in the mirror crumbles and the mask he wears in front of everyone else slips away to reveal the boy beneath it. “I thought you loved me.”
I swallow down my cry of pain as his fingers press harder. I whisper as soothingly as I can. “Of course I do, darling.”
The pressure eases on my arms, but I don’t check to see if he’s left a bruise. Breaking eye contact with him would be like somehow admitting I was lying.
“It’s just you and me, right?” he breathes in my ear as he stokes my arms up and down, as if reassuring himself that I’m still here.
“I’m with you, Claudio,” I reassure him as he moves on to touch my hair. His fingers run through the dark, thick strands, and for a moment, I think he might pull at it like Danny did.
But he sucks in a long breath and finally steps away.
I can’t help the way my shoulders sag in relief.
“I just want you to be a star. I knew you were one the moment I set eyes on you.” His usual cold mask slowly slips back onto his face. “That’s why I brought you here. I saw your potential and knew I had to be the one to guide you to your destiny.”
“I know, baby, and you will,” I say as earnestly as possible.
“You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t found you in Ohio, drowning alongside mediocre talent.”
