Chapter 22

22

Jeanne

"He said what?" Penny, my friend and co-performer in the musical, spits out the water she was about to swallow.

"Y-e-p." I pat my forehead with the lower half of my sleeveless T-shirt. "Not exactly the most romantic gesture in the world," I scoff.

"Are you kidding me?" Penny scoffs. "That's a level of X-ratedness which should, surely, have melted your panties clean off your body."

I glance at her from under half-closed eyelids. "Next, you'll be saying I should tell him my 'no' actually means ‘yes'."

"Doesn't it?"

"No." I stare at her in shock. "Of course not."

"That's good." Olivia, another friend, who's also my understudy, stretches her leg out on the barre. She bends over with a flexibility that I envy. Not because I can't do the kind of stretches that she's contorting her body into. It's just that I have the tightest hamstrings in the world, which means I have to warm up for twice the time that everyone else does to reach that level of stretchability.

She straightens, then pulls off the scarf she's wrapped around her thick curls, and mops up the sweat from her collarbone.

"Because I wouldn't trust a Mafia man. With their larger-than-life personalities, they can convince you to do what they want, and all along, you think it's your idea." Her lips firm.

I narrow my gaze. "You sound like you have experience with the Mafia."

She flushes. "Only what I've seen in movies and read in books."

Penny and I exchange a glance.

"You hiding something from us, Olivia?" Penny scowls.

"Moi? Why would I do that?" She flutters her eyelashes.

"She is hiding something from us," I say with conviction.

"Of course not." Olivia glances between us. "Seriously, guys, there's nothing to it."

"It's a man," Penny declares.

"A Mafia man, by the looks of it." I nod.

"Oh, please. I told you, I want nothing to do with them." She stabs a finger in my direction. "And neither should you, if you know what's good for you."

I prop my hands on my hips. "Are you saying I don't know what I'm doing?"

She pales. "That's not what I meant. I'm only looking out for you, Jeanne." She twists her scarf around her fingers. "I don't want him to hurt you."

"What if he already has?"

"Has he?" She peers into my features.

"No." I pull myself up to my full height. "Of course not."

"You don't sound convincing," Olivia says slowly.

"I believe you." Penny shoots Olivia a glance, then turns to me. "This man was locked up with you, and by all counts, he tried to protect you. He brought you back in time for the final rehearsal for the premiere, and in one piece, so?—"

"He kissed me in front of his family. He, ah… may have also made me come… hard."

"So, you got a few orgasms out of it." Penny raises a shoulder. "It's good for your skin. No wonder you're glowing. In fact—" She looks me up and down. "For someone who was kidnapped and then had to go on the run with a scary mobster, you're remarkably chipper."

I purse my lips. She has a point. But the alternative was…? Have a nervous breakdown and miss the one thing I've been working toward for so long? No way am I going to lose the opportunity of taking centerstage as the lead of the musical. "Maybe it will hit me later?" I confess, "I was so focused on making it in time for the premiere, that everything else felt secondary."

"Even the thought of impaling yourself on that thick, fat, Mafioso cock?" Penny smirks. "Even the thought of riding that Italian Stallion until you can barely walk?"

"Penny, seriously." I ignore the fact that I'm blushing so hard, it feels like my face is about to go up in flames.

"Do you like him? Is that why you're putting up with him?" Olivia walks toward me. "Or if he's bothering you and you want us to face off with him?—"

"With what? That canon in his pants is not the only weapon he has access to, you know?"

Penny chortles.

Olivia ignores her and peers into my eyes. "He's not pushing you to do something you don't want, right? Because these Mafioso types can be very persuasive."

"Hmm." I narrow my gaze. "Since when do you know so much about Mafia men?"

She blinks, then raises her arms and stretches again. "Movies. Books. Information I've gathered along the way." She tucks her elbows into her sides. "I just want to be sure you're okay. If you need to rest up?—"

"So you can take on my role on opening night?"

She pales. "You know that's not what I meant."

I press the heels of my hands into my eyes. "I know you didn't. I'm sorry; I didn't mean for it to come out that way. Maybe I'm not taking this entire experience as well as you think."

Penny draws abreast. "Take it easy, babe. Olivia is only worried about you." She pats my shoulder. "As am I."

I open my eyes and meet her worried gaze.

"Is everything okay? Did anything else happen that you're not telling us about?" Penny asks.

About that... I haven't told them about the arrangement he proposed. I mean, it's not a big deal, right? It's just a fake marriage that'll last for a very short period of time, and then we'll go our separate ways. There's no need to tell them about it, is there?

"Nothing else happened," I say the lie with a straight face, with my Oscar-winning, wide-eyed-gaze performance of a face. "In fact, I've never been better." I force my lips to curve up. Not too much; just enough to put them off track.

"Hmph." Penny purses her lips. "If you say so."

"I do, I?—"

The door of the practice room opens and the director walks in. William is tall and skinny, and looks more like a rumpled college professor. But the man is brilliant when it comes to directing, as his two Tony awards will certify.

The rest of the cast stops warming up and everyone comes to attention. He didn't even have to clap his hands to call for attention. That's the kind of respect and fear he commands. He's handpicked each one of us after a torturous casting call which involved no less than eight casting sessions. No joke. A ripple of nervous energy zips through the crowd. Penny, Olivia, and I turn to face him.

Penny nudges me. "Wonder what fresh hell Lily-Willy has in store for us?"

I can't stop a chuckle bubbling up at his nickname. Pen's a bit more relaxed about the whole becoming-an-actress thing than Olivia or me. It's probably why I'm drawn to her. She tends to defuse the entire competitive situation that Olivia and I often find ourselves caught in.

William's sharp gaze flicks in our direction and I instantly firm my lips. Not in time, apparently, because his features become rigid.

"Not sure what you're cackling about, Jeanne, considering your last rehearsal was less than inspiring. If you'd danced with any less energy, you would've been mistaken for a wilted duck drifting on the surface of stagnant water."

Next to me, Penny winces.

I school my features into an emotionless mask. I will not let him get me down. Will not let his words hurt me. Part of becoming a dancer is learning to shrug off criticism like water off a duck's back. No doubt, that's why he alluded to that animal in his insult.

"Also, you missed rehearsal the last three days," he murmurs.

"It wasn't compulsory to make it. You gave us a choice."

"A choice which I expected my lead dancer to have made wisely." His lips thin. "And you turn up today, having lost the edge I thought you added."

"Excuse me?" I draw myself up to my full height. "It takes me a little time to warm up. You know that."

"So you should have started stretching much earlier."

"I couldn't, I?—"

He tilts his head, and I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying something I might regret later. Asshole needs to vent and get it off his chest. Fine. I'm not going to rise to his bait. As long as I get on that stage tomorrow and?—

"It's why I've decided Olivia will be taking your place tomorrow for the premiere show."

"What?" The world seems to tilt. A buzzing sound fills my head and I push it aside. I grip my fingers together in front of me and meet his gaze. "I don't think I heard you correctly."

"Giving you the option of coming to the rehearsal was a test to see who was the most committed to the musical. A test which Olivia passed with flying colors, unlike you, Jeanne."

"Are you kidding me?" I burst out. "I couldn't have made it if I wanted. I?—"

"You—?" He lowers his chin to his chest, waiting.

I swallow the words that are coiled like a snake in my throat, ready to hiss out at the first possible opportunity. Will it seem too farfetched if I reveal what actually happened? I'm definitely not going to share it in front of everyone, though. I glance around and find the gaze of everyone is riveted on me. I jerk my head in William's direction again. Asshole probably brought it up in this open forum to put me at a disadvantage.

I shake my head. "I can't reveal the details." I wince as I hear my words. It sounds so weird, like I have something to hide. Which I do and don't, really. I mean, I don't want the rest of the team to know that not only was I kidnapped, but in addition, it was a Mafioso who rescued me. And I'm definitely not sharing those details with Lily-Willy. So, I square my shoulders and meet his gaze. "You could have mentioned it was important to attend the rehearsals."

"Would you have, if I had?" he shoots back.

I glance away.

"That's what I thought." The triumph in his voice is like a wrecking ball to my aspirations. "The lead has to be a person who is 1000% committed to this role. Someone for whom a personal life doesn't exist. Someone who'd sacrifice everything and everyone to get to where she wants to be, with laser focus. Someone like…" He turns his gaze on Olivia.

"No." I clench my fingers together. This can't be happening. He can't take my role away and give it to someone else. The role I've spent months… Years… My entire lifetime, to this date, working toward.

"Olivia." He stretches out his arm.

Olivia glances in my direction. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Don't take the role." I glance at her sideways. It's wrong of me to ask this of her. Wrong of me to put her on the spot. But I‘m desperate, and honestly, I don't care that I'm crossing a boundary here. That I might lose her as a friend… That I may have already lost her as a friend.

"Don't do this. Say you can't take the role," I hiss.

"Olivia?" William lowers his chin to his chest. "Step forward."

"Olivia don't," I whisper-scream. "Don't do this."

She glances at William, then at me again. "Sorry." She steps forward.