Take Me Tonight by Roxanne St. Claire Read Free Book Online Page A

took a deep breath, fighting for control.
    Swallowing hard, Ashley lifted her chin, her bravado rapidly disappearing. “It was a routine referral. If she didn’t get it from me, she’d have gotten it from someone else.”
    Glenda’s silvery eyes narrowed and her mouth constricted into a thin line, feathered from years of sneak smoking in parking lots behind auditorium doors. “Ashley, is it possible you don’t understand the recriminations of your sloppiness?” The only thing Glenda hated more than whining and wimping out was sloppiness.
    “What difference does it make?” Ashley asked, leaning against the doorjamb because her lower back was killing her after the military kicks they’d added into the “Funkytown” routine. They were just a tad out of her talent range. Like everything else the Snow Bunnies did.
    “Using that particular password ensures a special experience,” Glenda said. “She’s not…one of us.”
    “I didn’t see the harm in it.” And she sure as hell didn’t get why Glenda and company had to storm her apartment in the middle of the night. “So, what? Did something happen?”
    “Yes, something happened,” Glenda hissed. “You screwed up. How well do you know this girl?”
    Ashley shrugged and crossed her arms over the thin T-shirt she’d slept in. “I knew her from Keisha. We went out a few times. I haven’t seen her since Keisha’s memorial service.”
    “Then you better get friendlier with her. I need you to talk to her about the kidnapping.”
    Ashley frowned. “Why?”
    “I want to know if she got the special treatment because she used our password. Can you find that out? We have a deal with that site and I want to know if it’s going south.”
    Ashley had to shake her head to be sure she was following this. “You showed up here at this hour just to ask me to talk to her about her fantasy kidnapping? Is there some reason you couldn’t have told me tomorrow?”
    “It’s important to my program,” Glenda said, her features drawn sharply, her skin sallow in the shadows. “And I won’t see you tomorrow.”
    Oh, shit. “Why not?”
    “Because I’m holding you responsible for the mistake.”
    Ashley closed her eyes. “Does that mean I don’t get paid?”
    “At the very least.”
    Oh, God. Misery shot through her lower back. She needed this job. If she wasn’t an NBA dancer, she was nothing, nobody, a wannabe, the loser she’d always been told she was. And damn if Glenda didn’t know that and use it against her. Her boss had pegged her as a pushover from the first tryout, and she’d taken advantage of it, using Ashley as her eyes and ears with the other girls.
    “Hey, I’m sorry I gave her the password. I really had no idea that there was some special treatment involved, Ms. Hewitt. I thought it was okay. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
    Glenda glanced over her shoulder as though she needed a second opinion. “You just talk to that woman and find out exactly what happened to her. I don’t care how you do it, but find out.”
    As Ashley nodded, Glenda leaned closer, her gaze as sharp as a knife blade. They called it “the look.” And no one knew how to say no to whatever demand followed. “Victoria is ready. Get her this week.”
    “Victoria already refused. She’s really not interested—”
    One threatening eyebrow shot up. “Get her. Or else you’re done for the season, and don’t even bother to come to tryouts next year.”
    “Victoria is a hard-ass bitch who wants no part of a fantasy kidnapping. It’s a waste of time to try.”
    “Then I’ll be using an alternate until you succeed.”
    A burly man stepped out of the shadows and stood behind Glenda. With a smile that Satan could have painted, he rubbed his hands together while he studied Ashley’s face. One well-placed punch, and she would be out for the season, and they all knew it.
    “All right,” she agreed. “I’ll do what I can.”
    “You left out the part about a dead