Bootlegacy Read online

CHAPTER 2

  Annie grabbed my hand and squeezed. “See? What did I tell you?”

  “Say,” the man who’d opened the door spoke from beside me. “How old did you dames say you were?”

  He glanced at us in a way that probably should have made me uneasy, but in this place, nothing could bring me down. And even though a good number of the people there would be considered strange in my world, I still felt safe.

  “We’re twenty-two of course, sir,” Annie lied with a coy smile.

  “Well enjoy yourselves then ladies,” he said, tipping of his hat. “It’s jumpin’ in here tonight.”

  We nodded our thanks to the man and pressed further into the crowd. I, for one, did not want to risk anyone asking any more questions. While Annie seemed to come by it honestly—or dishonestly, I suppose—lying was not my strong suit. The usual paleness I carried turned an unflattering scarlet at the very thought of telling a lie. Thank goodness I had still been in shock, admiring the atmosphere, when Annie answered. If I had been paying closer attention, I’d have given us away for sure.

  We navigated the crowd, shuffling toward the back wall, which suited me just fine since even though I relished in the atmosphere, I definitely didn’t want to make any wrong moves or embarrass myself by doing something out of the ordinary. I did not want to jeopardize my chances of getting back into this place.

  But what happened when we reached the back corner shocked me to my very core. A young couple were kissing, right there by the dance floor where anybody could see. The nerve! Annie giggled and dragged me closer to the action. “C’mon, I want to see,” she said.

  “Annie, what do you think you’re doing? It’s sinful.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh for Pete’s sake Sadie, get into the decade already! People go out necking all the time.”

  “Not decent people,” I said, my eyes wide at the thought.

  “You realize you sound like your mother, don’t you?” she said. “Boy do you have a thing or two to learn about the way of the world.”

  We were so close to the couple now that they had stopped what they were doing and were looking at us. The gentleman, if he could be called that, actually winked at me. The woman let out a very unladylike snicker and then they started up again—knowing we were still there watching!

  Annie grabbed my arm and pulled me away. “C’mon Sadie,” she said. “Live a little. There’s nothing wrong with a little kissing. What could possibly be so bad about that?” she asked. “It looks like fun to me.” She raised an eyebrow, looking back at the couple.

  I had to admit, it did look like they were having a good time. But they couldn’t have been much older than we were. The woman especially looked much too young to be doing such a thing!

  “The whole point of sneaking out of the house is so we can do the things our parents don’t approve of. Well, your parents anyway,” she said.

  I took a deep breath. The words stung, but Annie was right. My parents were nothing if not stuck in last-century values, which was exactly why I wasn’t used to such things. I nodded, trying to push the judgment out of my mind. “Okay, okay. Let’s have some fun.”

  The room was pulsing with energy and it was painfully obvious that I was the most uptight person in the room. If I had a hope of fitting in, I was going to have to prepare for the drastic.

  “Yes, fun!” Annie said, doing a little jump. “Time for drinks!”

  “I am a little thirsty,” I said.

  Annie let out a little snort.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” she said, batting her eyelashes.

  I wondered if I would ever figure out Annie’s little inside jokes. I always seemed to be the only one who wasn’t in on them. We pushed our way up to the front of counter and Annie winked at the man working behind it.

  I gave her a little swat. “Annie! What are you doing?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a long line and I’m thirsty,” she said looking rather like she’d swallowed the canary.

  I was shocked to discover her little trick actually worked. Even though there was a huge crowd directly in front of the man, he came over to the far end of the counter just for us. “What’ll it be ladies?” he said leaning in close to Annie.

  Annie leaned in too. “This is my friend’s first time here,” she said gesturing toward me, which was quite maddening since it was her first time too. “Can you make her up a little something… special?”

  The man looked at Annie knowingly. “Two Pink Ladies, comin’ right up.”

  I hated that she could make feel so stupid sometimes. But the drinks that slid across the countertop looked so delicious—pink and foamy, like liquid candy—I forgot all about her teasing, and was relieved she hadn’t decided to trick me with liquor. It was just the sort of thing she’d do too. Luckily, most of the other patrons were drinking a dark brown liquid, which was surely the whiskey or some other foul and dangerous swill. I practically felt like a criminal just standing beside them, but I kept telling myself that besides sneaking out, I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

  So why did it feel so much like I was? I shook the idea out of my head and took a long sip of my frothy beverage. I was here to have fun damn it, and this drink was like pure heaven.

  I smiled. “This is unbelievable,” I said.

  “I thought you’d like it,” Annie said, looking a little too pleased with herself.

  “There’s nothing illegal in here is there?”

  “Of course not,” she said, batting her eyelashes in a way I decidedly did not like.

  “Annie. What is in this drink?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Some kind of fruit flavoring, cream… some other stuff I’m not sure of,” she said with a dismissive wave.

  I supposed it didn’t sound too bad. Besides, if there really was something restricted in it, I was sure I’d be able to taste it. I remember one of my mother’s friends talking about how strong alcohol tasted. It certainly couldn’t be anything like this magical concoction that seemed as though it was designed specifically for my taste buds.

  I was so thankful when Annie had another waiting for me after I practically inhaled the first. We strode away from the counter with our second set of Pink Ladies and tried to find a quiet place to survey the scene a little further. Miraculously, a table was opening up right before us as a couple hurried to put on their jackets.

  “I wonder where they’re off to so fast,” Annie said, elbowing me – twice for good measure.

  I crinkled my brow.

  “Oh for goodness sake, Sadie. Get with it. They’re off to do a little backseat wrestling, if you know what I mean.” She raised her eyebrows a couple times.

  My mouth gaped at the thought. “But, I don’t think they were even married!”

  “Not to each other, anyway,” Annie said, winking.

  It took me a minute to catch on to what she was implying. Then I really gasped. “Annie! You are wicked! How could you even think such a thing?”

  “Oh Sadie, I can not believe how sheltered you are. You really think that old guy isn’t married to some other poor dame?”

  I was absolutely speechless.

  “And that little chippie looked like she was wanting for a Sugar Daddy in the worst way.”

  “Sugar Daddy?”

  “You know, a girl who wants to be taken care of financially, and in return she’ll… ahem, take care of him in other ways.”

  “Annie!” I couldn’t help but give her a little swat. Honestly, sometimes… the things that came out of her mouth. I glanced around to make sure no one had overheard her. Although I suppose it wasn’t the same as getting caught talking like that at school or something. Now that would be positively scandalous. Here though, no one probably even cared. There were people necking in the corner, for goodness sake.

  We settled back and sipped our drinks. I know I should have been more offended than I was at some of the behavior that was going on, but honestly, everybody just looked like they were trying to have fun. The kind of fun that I was sure my parents had never even dreamed of. Still, I felt so out of place that I was sure everyone could see right into the ridiculously conservative ideas, mostly in the voice of my mother, that kept running through my head.

  People were dancing, more lewdly than I’d ever dare, but there was so much laughing and smiling going on. And the music was certainly different than I was used to from church and the old radio my parents kept on top of the refrigerator, but it was so much more interesting. Who made up all the rules in the first place, and why? Even the blatant gossip at the next table wasn’t putting me off too badly, although it was getting rather audible to everybody around. Annie and I couldn’t ignore it any longer. In fact, Annie was even leaning toward me to get a better listen.

  “I heard they came all the way up from Chicago to open this place,” one lady said with a whirl of her hand.

  The other lady gasped with delight. “Chicago! The most notorious gangsters in the world are from Chicago.”

  The other nodded knowingly. “Oh yes, apparently Dr. Smith was led through some sort of secret maze or something, you know, so he wouldn’t be able to find his way back after he left, and the man he was to examine was none other than you-know-who himself!”

  The second lady actually put her hand over her heart as if to clutch it. “No!”

  “Oh yes,” the storyteller said, nodding vigorously. “My son James knows Dr. Smith’s son personally.”

  I looked at Annie, since she always knew everything, and was surprised to see her shrug. Unbelievable! Even Annie was in the dark this time. But whomever they were talking about, it must have been someone really famous. Judging from how wide Annie’s eyes were at the moment, she thought the same thing.

  “
It’s got to be the mob,” she whispered. “I don’t know who the exact person is that they’re talking about, but Gabby was saying something to Sonja on the phone about the mob one day…”

  As intrigued as I was with her story, a moment later Annie completely lost my attention as I glanced around, noticing how everyone’s attention had suddenly turned toward the entrance. What in the world could possibly be that interesting?

  Then I saw him.

  He’d walked in with what must have been half a dozen other men, but my eyes could only focus on him. It was as if the rest of them were only there as part of some painted on backdrop. And then, the most amazing of things happened. The most indescribably intoxicating being I’d ever seen locked his pale blue eyes on mine.