Tea Leafing: A Novel by Weezie Macdonald Read Free Book Online Page A

visible in the mix. Birdie grabbed a towel from her open locker, draped
it across the seats of three empty chairs and lay down, panting.
    Sam and Mary Jane
started picking bills off Birdie straightening the origami crap some guys
twisted their bills into. Sam watched the muscles in Birdie’s torso rise and
fall as her lungs worked to re-oxygenate her blood. Her hair draped over the
seat of the chair above her and fell in disheveled ringlets that almost touched
the floor. Small half moons of mascara filled the creases below her eyes.
Mopping her face with the black, lycra dress she’d
worn on stage, she tossed it unceremoniously into her locker.
    “What’s this?” Mary
Jane asked holding up a particularly strange looking fold.
    “Beaver.”
    Mary Jane pulled the
bill flat. “Classy.”
    Lucille’s walkie-talkie
squawked to life and Gio’s voice hummed through it with remnants of some
distorted bass line.
    “Right boss.” Lucille
shouted back into the box. “Okay ladies, nap time is over. Mr. F. wants to see
you three and Grace upstairs in the Skybox. Pronto.”

 
 
 
    CHAPTER 7
    “I hear about Lena,”
Fedya wasted no time getting right to the point, “She has this tragic thing. I want
you know that we all can’t believe this. Is so sad.”
    Nikki sniggered from
her seat next to Fedya.
    Fedya turned and gave
her a look that was so cold, it made Sam shiver a
little.
    Everything was still.
    No one blinked.
    Nikki stayed put, mouth
shut, head down. Fedya turned his attention back to the girls.
    “I want you know that
is anything you need, come to me. I help with whatever. I know you miss work to
take some time so here something helps.”
    Gio appeared from
nowhere with four neatly banded piles of bills. He handed each girl a stack and
melted quietly back into the darkness.
    There was a fine film
of sweat beading Gio’s neck and forehead and he seemed to be doing his best to maintain
his cool. It was rare that he was nervous in Fedya’s company, but there was an
odd charge in the air tonight.
    Fedya was not happy and
Gio wasn’t entirely sure why. He needed to get his mother out the door and then
get Fedya drunk. He wished this business with Sam, Grace, Birdie and Mary Jane
could just be done.
    “Something like this
happen and its best to put behind. When it come into the club and we talk all the time about this, it will
hurt the way the girls feel . . . morale . . . yah? Is best we move on and no
talking about this again. This just gift from me to
you so no more talking.” There was a long pause in which Fedya seemed to be
turning something over in his mind, “Okay, now, we square?”
    The girls nodded
dumbly, not understanding what had just happened.
    Gio smiled, stepping in
front of the girls with his hands outstretched like a cruise director trying to
herd the masses onto the Lido deck. The girls rose from their positions on the
couch, smiled and thanked Fedya. Grace started to say something about not being
able to accept the money but Gio hissed at her under his breath. “Take it and
go.”
    “Mary Jane,” Fedya
called after them “Mary Jane will pour here tonight.” Referring to the SkyBox's
dedicated facilities.
    The bartender standing
behind the bar looked furious, but naturally, couldn’t argue, so she packed her
few belongings into her apron and followed Gio out to take Mary Jane’s post
behind the main bar. Mary Jane glanced back at Sam, Grace and Birdie as she
ducked under the hinged bar counter and began checking bottles to familiarize
herself with the set-up.
    The pocket door slammed
shut behind the girls the minute they emerged back onto the loud balcony. Two
neckless, crew-cut mountains of flesh stepped shoulder
to shoulder in front of the doorway as if one of the girls might pull out an
Uzi.
    Sam and Grace were both
staring at the money they’d just been handed. Birdie worked to secure her cash
to a garter she wore around her ankle.
    “I’m not paying fucking
tip-out on this