Chosen (The Rap Superstar Series #1)

Chosen (The Rap Superstar Series #1)

Published by
Val Love at Smashwords

Copyright 2013
Val Love

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Cora needed a
break. A desperate break.

Too bad she was
in the wrong place for it. Flannery’s had been nothing but trouble
for her since the beginning. Witnessing one of the waitresses
guzzle down the last of their vodka for the night, she stood at the
edge. If she didn’t take a break and get some air, she would never
last the night.

The sad part,
she really needed the job. If she didn’t get paid soon, her life
would fall apart. She would be evicted. Already behind on two
months rent, not because of lack of working, but because she had
never been paid, she couldn’t afford to leave. Passing by the
kitchen, filled with smoke, she hacked, trying to wave the smoke
away to no avail. She managed to push open the back door for some
fresh air.

“
How
do they work in there?”

Didn’t they
care that the smoke would start to billow out into the dining area?
Probably not. No one cared much about anything at Flannery’s. Ever
since moving, and needing to pick up a job, she had never thought
she would be working at such a dump. Cora had waitressed at some
fine establishments in Atlanta. If those owners could see what she
saw on a daily basis, they would be horrified.

Just
think about that check.

Make
that those three checks headed your way. That’ll get you through
this.

Tony, the
portly chef, flung open the back door. He didn’t say anything to
her. He only rushed by, grabbed a container near the dumpster, and
headed back in.

“
What’s that?”

Cora caught a
flash of it. Something hit her unconsciously, enough for her to
realize that something wasn’t right.

Stopping, he
uncovered it, showing her a glimpse of what was inside.
Chicken.

“
Where are you taking that?”

“
Back inside,” he said with a shrug. Then he headed in,
shutting the door on Cora’s face.

They
are not going to cook that. Please tell me they’re not thinking
about cooking that…

Cora
knew well enough...

They
were
going to
try to cook that, and if she didn’t do something about it, people
could get seriously sick.

Throwing open
the door, she brushed past the rest of the cooks to stand behind
Tony. He placed the container next to the grill. It looked like he
was going to cook it.

“
You’re going to cook that chicken that’s been out there all
day next to the garbage?”

“
Yeah,” he said. “We need to. We ran out. We threw it away
earlier because it wasn’t the right temperature, but desperate
times call for desperate measures.”

“
You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

Tony turned
around now. His face morphed into a pink blob, one that didn’t tell
her whether he was more angry or embarrassed.

“
You
can go out there and deal with the damn customers if you’re so high
and mighty. Tell them we don’t have meat to serve.”

Cora sneered
back at him, putting them at a stand still. The front door to the
kitchen opened. The owner, Bruce, had arrived. Just in time. Past
the point of caring for her job, since she hadn’t been paid in
weeks, she stood her ground. She still had morals.

“
Hey, Bruce, did you know Tony was going to cook this chicken?
It was left outside the whole day.”

Bruce strolled
up to it. He looked inside.

“
Looks OK to me,” he said, and then he turned to
leave.

Oh
hell no.

“
You’re going to let him serve that?”

“
Looks fine,” he said.

“
You
can’t serve that, it could make someone sick!”

Bruce shrugged
and headed towards the doors to escape Cora’s wrath. Not so fast,
you slime ball.

“
Where’s my check, Bruce? Do you have it today? You said you
would give it to me this week, and today is Saturday.”

“
I
don’t have it.” He didn’t even bother to turn around.

“
I
need it. Please, I need the money. You need to pay me.”

This time he
turned around. Annoyed at her constant questions, he swiped his
slick hair back and raised his ugly lips.

“
You’re not getting your check. I don’t know when you’ll get
it. Maybe never.”

Cora’s fists
trembled at her side. She thought of violence at first, but that
was only a brief second. Then there was calm, focused rage that
presided over her. Fuck this. Fuck him. And fuck this job. It’s
over.

“
Fuck you, Bruce, you scum bag. You don’t want to pay me? I
quit.”

“
Whatever,” he said, and he headed towards the door, but she
shoved past him first and ran straight for the exit.

***

Cora should’ve
done it long ago.

It was too bad
she didn’t. She always held out hope he would eventually pay
her.

The other
workers said that sometimes he forgot to pay them, but still, she
couldn’t live like this, especially with her landlord at her back.
It wasn’t even eight yet by the time she got back to her one room
apartment. Cora, her heart still racing, and her anger still
boiling, called Jake.

Rent was past
due. This phone call was past due.

“
Hey, it’s Cora.”

“
Cora,” Jake said on the other line, as if he dreaded speaking
to her. “Got the rent?”

“
No,
I don’t have it, but I need more time. Give me another month to get
it. I swear, I’ll get it. My boss hasn’t been paying
me.”

“
Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you stay there. I already
gave you the notice you needed to be out, and well, I was willing
to let you stay, but only if you paid me back this month. Time’s
over. I need to get paid as well. I hope you
understand.”

“
There’s got to be some other way. By the time you get another
person in the apartment, I’ll already have paid you.”

“
And
if you can’t? I’ll be down how many months rent? I already risked
enough. Sorry, but I need you out of there tomorrow. I’ll give you
the weekend to move out, but that’s me being nice. Sorry
again.”

She held the
phone, trying to think of any way to get out of it. Jake’s words
sounded final.

He hung
up.

“
No,
no,” Cora said. Bursting into tears, she collapsed to the floor. It
had been a long time since she cried. Unfortunately, it didn’t last
long. It was a brief sob, and then she couldn’t cry any
longer.

She pulled the
boxes out from her closet, and looked around her room. Starting to
toss her things inside, she couldn’t help but feel overwhelming
dread for the future. She had no place to go. No one to help her.
The ground had been pulled out from under her.

I’m homeless,
she realized.

Cora couldn’t
deal with that.

There had to be
something she could do.

Seeing a dress
in her closet, she thought twice about cleaning up. She could do
that tomorrow. It might serve her well to get a better handle on
her self esteem, otherwise, she might not have the strength to move
out. If she went out, searched for a job at the local restaurants,
she might be able to get an interview. With an interview, she could
have some hope that things would get better.

She needed a
little hope to continue.

Cora dropped
the dress onto her curvy, sexy frame. She turned, seeing her plump
ass wagging back at her. Smiling, it was the first smile of the
day. The dress made her feel sexy again, it made her feel alive.
How long had it been since she went out?

Ever
since I moved here, so
… she decided not to count.

Taking time
with her make up, it felt like a proper girl’s night out. Of
course, all her girl friends were far away in the city, but she
could dream. Closing up her make up bag, and then doing a turn
around in the mirror, she had to admit she looked stunning. If they
didn’t hire her, they were idiots.

And she knew
exactly where to head first. Mccoy’s Ale House.

Parking on the
side street, she could tell the place was already packed. It looked
especially packed, for whatever reason, Cora had no idea. She
hurried to the line, hoping to get in quickly. The bouncers were
doing a great job, hustling customers in.

Cora brushed
her hair, making sure that she still looked good before her
approach. When she got inside, she was taken aback by how many
people were there. It was loud inside as well. She didn’t think she
would be able to speak, yelling would be necessary.

As she
approached the bar, she grew jealous of their job. It looked much
cleaner, and much more organized than what she was used
to.

Managing to get
the bartender’s attention, he leaned in, asking, “What do you
want?”

“
Sorry, I don’t want a drink.” His eyes raised. “I was
wondering if you had a job opening for a bar tender. If not a bar
tender, a waitress. I’d really love to work here.”

He smirked. As
he did, he grabbed a beer for another customer and placed it down,
never letting his eyes leave hers. “Really? Right now? We’re
slammed.”

“
I
know, sorry. I really need this job. Sorry to do it to you
now.”

He nodded,
leaning in closer. His eyes met with hers, and he probably could
see how badly she needed it. Could he tell that she had been
crying? She hoped not.

“
All
right, I’ll speak to the man tomorrow. Owner isn’t in right
now.”

Sliding a paper
over to her, he went back to work. “Write your name and number on
that.”

Cora fetched a
pen from her purse.

After writing
her name and number down, she hoped it wouldn’t be used for the
bartender to try to pick her up later. That was silly though. Cora
hadn’t been hit on in years. She couldn’t remember the last time
she had sex, and frankly, it was probably terrible, so maybe that
was for the best.

“
You
want a drink? Thinking about staying?”

“
Sure,” she said, looking for a seat, but the bar was too
crowded. “I wasn’t thinking of staying long, but I’ll have one
beer.”

“
What’ll it be? It’s on me.”

“
If
it’s on you, you go ahead and choose. I’m not picky.”

He slid the
beer to her with a nod. She took a sip, not sure what to expect. It
was a sweet beer, thankfully, she wasn’t too much into hoppy. She
liked the girlie beers, although it pained her to say
it.

She stood
there, sipping her beer, stewing over her future. The instant
gratification of the alcohol felt too good, and she desired more,
until one beer turned into two. Then three. At three, she could
feel herself getting tipsy. It helped that she could hide in the
crowd. She would need to drive back that night, so she took it
easy, heading towards the back.

This
place has never been this packed.

Even after most
of them filed out in the beginning, she could barely find room to
stand. They huddled close together, talking too loud for her to
even hear herself think. Cora liked hiding in the crowd. It was
peaceful there, in a strange sort of way. She could hide from her
problems. Even though there were so many people around her, they
were all strangers, and they were all too concerned with who they
came with to care about her.

For once, she
could be alone.

It was an odd
sort of peace that came over her. The couple beers didn’t hurt
either.

Pushing back to
see what else waited for her, Cora discovered the jukebox, which
she had been searching for the whole night. They upgraded to one of
the new systems which she didn’t like as much, it was a
computerized screen, rather than the old style jukebox, but it did
have more songs.