Chosen (The Rap Superstar Series #1) by Val Love

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