Page 118 of Rattle the Cage

“But—!”

“I’m being serious, Tess. One hand out was plenty. Send me another dime, and I’ll be waiting for you in the parking lot after work.”

I sucked my teeth, sinking back into my seat. I knew it was a long shot, but that didn’t make getting shot down any less annoying.

Lola knew better than to indulge my pouting, though. Instead, she stood up, giving my shoulders a shake as she nodded back to my phone. “Why are you listening to this shit, anyway? Don’t tell me you’re one of those weirdos now, too.”

“God no,” I cringed. “This is purely research. Keeping my enemies closer and all that.”

“Enemies?” Lola arched her brow at me through the mirror. “Sounds intense.”

It feels fucking intense, not knowing when one of Rubin’s Witnesses might come up to me on the street crying or begging me to come home.

But rather than dropping that bundle of worries on Lola, I shifted our focus toward a different truth.

“Yeah, I mean, Valemont’s been weird lately. It's like the town’s been overrun with the living dead. And they talk a bit about drugs in the episode— hallucinogens and whatever. So I’m just wondering if maybe there’s any word on where it’s coming from.”

I shrugged easily, though my heart thundered in my chest. I hoped I was keeping things vague enough to keep Lola out of trouble — her and Chrissy’s safety was my top priority.

But Lola was smart, and it didn’t take much for her to connect the dots back to where my suspicions laid.

Nodding, she winked at me through the mirror. “I’ll keep an ear out. Let you know if I hear anything from Travis.”

And my stomach lurched at that promise. It was exactly the type of thing I wanted to avoid. Yet I knew that telling Lola as much would only make her dig her heels in harder.

Truthfully, I couldn’t blame Lola for wanting to help. I was her friend, and Rubin’s weird cult was making both of our lives harder.

Still, as much as I wanted to believe she was doing this for herself, I knew deep down that Lola would do anything to help me. And that only made the pit in my stomach grow bigger.

I didn’t want that on my conscience: it was bad enough letting the Freaks help me, but if anything happened to Lola…

But there was no helping it, either. There was only so much I could do to protect Lola without totally shutting her out. And I’d already seen the way that shutting her out hurt her the first time.

So now, all I could do was trust Lola to make her own decisions, to keep herself safe. And hopefully, to tell me if she got in over her head.

It’s just a conversation with Travis. I’m being fucking paranoid.

And as Nico popped her head in to check on us, I tried to convince myself that was true.

Nico’s energy wasn’t helping, though. The first few dancers had gone on and the night was in full swing, which usually meant that she was at peak efficiency. Nico ran Velvet Paradise like it was the fucking navy. No one knew the place better than she did.

But tonight, something about her felt off. She was frazzled, nervous as she knocked on the dressing room door. “Alright, ladies. Diamond’s finishing up, so that means Tess is on deck. I just want to let you know that we’ve had some…front of house issues.”

One of the senior dancers called from the back of the greenroom. “No biggie, right? That’s been every night lately.”

Normally, Nico would have cracked a smile. But tonight, she flicked her eyes over me meaningfully before continuing. “Listen, it’s nothing you need to worry about, but the floor might look a bit more sparse than usual. Had to clear out a few weirdos. It should be smooth sailing now, but if you need anything from security, don’t hesitate to ask. Got it?”

Again, her gaze flicked to me as the room broke into a chorus of “got its.” I nodded at her, swallowing down the fresh well of nerves. I could feel Lola tensing behind me.

“Alright girls, you’re going to kill it out there tonight. Let’s knock ‘em dead. Tess, you’re walking with me. You’re up next.”

58

TESS

Taking a deep breath, I rose from my vanity and stepped out of the dressing room. “Wish me luck.” I called back to the other girls.

A cacophony and hoots and hollers sent me off.