Try Again

by Vinnie Hansen

About the Author: A two-time Claymore Award finalist, Vinnie Hansen is the author of the Carol Sabala mystery series and LOSTART STREET, a stand-alone novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Santa Cruz Noir, Crime & Suspense, Web Mystery Magazine, Destination:Mystery!, Fish or Cut Bait, Fishy Business, Fault Lines, Transfer, Alchemy, Porter Gulch Review, Lake Region Review, Santa Cruz Spectacle, phren-Z on-line literary magazine, PseudoPod, and Mysterical-E.

Excerpt

All I wanted was another shot. But this, sadly, is not a story of redemption. Angela, the cocktail waitress, pointed for me to go down the backstage hall.

In the dim corridor, Ted clamped a hand on my bare shoulder and told me to report to his office. “Get dressed first.”

“Another Ted talk?” An old joke, but he could have smiled.

“Ten minutes.” He snapped his fingers.

I lifted a middle finger to his retreating shirt—form-fitting paisley like he was headed to a disco party rather than his dumpy office.

Maybe Ted had learned of my little indiscretion.

I didn’t get dressed; I only unclamped my tassels. They chafed if I kept them on too long. I rubbed Lubriderm on my nipples.

“Whoa, girl, look at those bullets.” Carolee spoke into her mirror. She was putting on false eyelashes, preparing to go on stage: hand standing to the pole, swinging into the Butterfly, sliding down with the Nose Breaker Drop.

Every skootch Carolee made toward the mirror caused her vermillion robe to slink farther apart, rendering it irrelevant. Myself, I slipped on a white terrycloth robe, like you’d find at a swanky hotel (which is where I got it during my aforementioned peccadillo). The hotel suite had been courtesy of one Charles Pitschke, a customer who thought my job included extra-curriculars. But Gals Galore was a strictly hands-off club, even though Ted was a hands-on boss. Fortunately, I either wasn’t his type or he sensed the seething in my veins.

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