Read vnNeSsa1 for Free Online

dancer’s job is to support a major entertainer. In this case, it’s a well-known singer. All the dancers have costumes from Paris. Tons of make-up. In other words, you would be well disguised.”
    “My God. I was thinking something more like a restaurant worker with a costume theme,” I say, reaching for his napkin to shred it.
    “Pay is much better,” he says, to the point. “And it’s a lot more exciting and fun, until the routine sets in. Anyway, my advice is to get yourself to the studio I’m writing down and see if you can keep up with the other students in the class.” He writes on a business card in meticulous printing and hands it to me. “I’ve included the class time and the name of a dance shop in town. Try the audition. Sometimes if you move really well, you’re chosen on your ‘look’ and you can work really hard to keep up. Nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll move on to a more mundane job. In the meantime, I’ll be working on your ID. You’ll also need a Social Security number for work. By the way, my services don’t come cheap.”
    “No problem about the services,” I say, blowing out my held breath. I stop shredding napkins. “But forget about the showgirl, uh dancer, audition. You’re right; I don’t even know if I can dance. Probably not. Try a restaurant job.”
    “First, don’t say ‘no problem.’ Too trusting. I could charge you any amount. Instead say ‘how much?’ Second, try the class. We’ll talk after.”
    “OK. How much? And I’ll think about the class.”
    “I don’t know for sure, but be prepared for something around three thousand dollars.”
    I make a sarcastic remark about whoever could afford to pay three thousand dollars doesn’t need a job. Liam laughs with a sound completely devoid of humor and says he knows a job for me has nothing to do with money. He seems to see through me and that knowledge leaves me cold.
    He reminds me about the difficulty of getting fake ID and Social Security cards, and says he can help with a car and apartment. I try to argue a little more with him so I don’t seem too trusting, but in the end, agree with him. He says he’ll call me about the IDs very soon. I beg him to hurry.
    All is numbness as the marble statue makes his exit. My mind replays the meeting: his listening to my request, his snapping, his evaluation of me, his absurd suggestion. It’s all way too much for me to take in. I just sit in my chair, stunned. Hot desert wind blasted in when he walked out the door. Such a contrast because everything about him seems like arctic ice. The final image of Liam frozen in my mind is of him stepping into the blazing sunlight. He turned and looked at me for a long time with his white-blue eyes. I felt helpless under his gaze. Then he shook his hair off his face to slip his sunglasses on and was gone in the light.
     

 
    Chapter 6
     
     
    My nerves are frayed well before the audition has begun and I wonder what in the hell I’m doing here. It seems my cocoon’s been blown apart by a smooth- talking, frosty-eyed mystery man. Anger at Liam flares hot in my stomach. Anxiety douses it immediately with a cold chill down my spine. And so it goes back and forth until it feels like my body will explode.
    Everyone is warming up, stretching out, in their own worlds. Even so, eyes stray to check out the competition. There are some amazing bodies here. Push-up bras abound. My eyes look down at my own lack of cleavage and coltish legs. It makes me want to become invisible and fly away in the wind.
    S weat rolls down my back and is captured by the fabric of my leotard at my tailbone. It’s way too hot in here for the thirty or so nervous bodies waiting for the audition to begin. According to the information posted on the studio board, there are four female dancer spots open in the production Liam spoke about. He had mentioned a famous singer, but he didn’t say she was Brynne, a fact that’s making my stomach