Biting Oz: Biting Love, Book 5 Read Online Free Page A

Rocky, and…and… “Rob brought chocolate?” Speaking of hungry, I’d worked my folks’ register right up until time to go and hadn’t had dinner. I couldn’t think. “Chocolate goes straight to my pads.”
    “Think that’ll stop Nixie?”
    “No. But with her tiny body, if she doesn’t eat every hour she’ll implode.”
    “Her metabolism,” Rocky agreed. “Worse now that she’s pregnant. Good thing Julian feeds her regularly.”
    Hey. Nixie and Julian were more people. I could ask them to come to Nieman’s.
    And Takashi, who stopped me outside the pit.
    But before I could harangue…I mean ask him if he wanted to go out, he said, “Dumas noticed a solo missing. I didn’t tell him specifically it was you but…” He fingered his baton. “Try to be on time tomorrow, hai ?”
    I winced. “Of course.”
    Could have been worse. At least Takashi had covered for me. But Dumas had noticed, a ding against my professional image. I sank into my seat. Then I straightened, determined to play my ass off.
    Next to me, Nixie was chowing down on Rob’s bag of chocolate bars. Seeing me, she offered the bag.
    “That’s cruel,” I said. “You know I can’t have any until we’re done. Not unless I want a two-hundred-dollar repad.”
    She snatched the bag back, chomped down another bar and heaved a contented sigh. “Shoulda brought a toothbrush.” She grinned, showed me her foldaway.
    “Buy me one for Christmas. Hey, I’ve got a new joke.”
    Her husband Julian groaned, but Nixie stopped chomping. “Feckin’ awesome. Lay it down.”
    “A conductor and a viola player are in the middle of the road. Which do you run over first, and why?”
    “The conductor,” Nixie said. “They’re all puffed with their authority. Except for Takashi.”
    “The violist.” Julian set his bow on his stand. “All your jokes are bad viola jokes.”
    “Nope,” I said. “The conductor. Business before pleasure.”
    Nixie laughed. Julian’s head jerked up.
    Steve, the Gollum-like assistant, darted from stage right across the proscenium. He had what looked like a pair of pink and green bikini underwear dangling from his hand. A dark jacket arrowed after, Mr. Chiseled ‘n Sexy. I frowned. Nixie half-rose.
    “Stay here.” Julian snapped to his feet, one hand on her shoulder. “Stay out of trouble.” He vaulted onto stage and dashed after Misters Gollum and Gorgeous on very long legs of his own. Nixie sat.
    “What was all that about?” I asked.
    She shrugged. “They’re trying to catch Steve to ask for a headset? It’s theater people. Who knows?”
    “Julian is theater?”
    “No. But if there’s any trouble, he’s the suit who’ll have to deal with it with his Lawyerly Loquaciousness. He’s probably just mitigating the risk factors or whatever has more syllables than is healthy.”
    “I see.” I didn’t, but had given up figuring out the weirdness that seemed to follow Nixie around. “Speaking of trouble, how much can you cause, weighed down by ten pounds of kid?”
    Nixie unwrapped chocolate. “If I put my mind to it, or just on instinct?”
    “Sorry, forgot who I’m talking to.” I snorted. “By the way, Rocky and I are meeting Dorothy at Nieman’s after rehearsal. Want to come?”
    She stopped mid-unwrap. “You guys and Mishela? Going out at night…with Mishela…uh-uh. Not a good idea.”
    “What? Why not?”
    “Well, because…um.” She hesitated, not at all like herself.
    “Why not?” I repeated.
    At that moment, Mishela emerged stage left and stalked across the stage, something pink clenched in her fist. As she disappeared into the wings, Takashi gave a short, hissed “Entr’acte” and raised his baton to start the second half. “Why not” would have to wait.
     
     
    We ran the second half of the show minus Munchkins, sent home at nine. They’d have to stay for the full run tomorrow, if only to get them used to being up past their bedtimes. That, and we still had to choreograph the