The Mafia's Mistress

This one I feel is a lot of telling and a bit boring but it has quite a bit of brackground information on Cassandra and I tried to keep the descriptions interesting enough to keep you reading. Let me know if it drags on too long, if it flows well, and also is the ending a little rushed or weak? Be brutal with any other nitpicks you may find, I LOVE good critiques were you just shred my work apart. I want to get this published but I dare not even show it to a publisher until it is perfectly polished. So yeah, enjoy!!

Cassandra Montgomery juggled bags of groceries and her purse as she searched for the keys to her new apartment. Jiggling the key into the lock, she turned the knob and bumped the door open with her hip. Fumbling, she found the light switch and flicked it on. Yellow lighting flooded her studio apartment revealing the chaotic mess. The majority of her possessions were contained in a cardboard fort of boxes. A few boxes had been broken open and their contents scattered like autumn leaves.

Cassandra dropped her load of groceries onto the kitchen floor, since the only counter space had been consumed by a black microwave and coffee maker. Her feet were aching from all the walking she had done that day. Limping over to her only piece of furniture, Cassandra sat on the edge of her foldout cot and pried off her well-worn pink and black Sketchers. Disgusted by her own body, she peeled off her sweat-soaked socks and threw the offensive laundry into a blue mesh hamper.

Her stomach growled loudly and she hobbled back to the kitchen to scrounge up some food. It felt good to do something so mundane as putting away her groceries, but it was something she had never done on her own. Independence seemed to make everything exciting and new. Cass put away the perishables, keeping out a tub of butter and a small block of Parmesan cheese. She had felt like celebrating so even though her budget was tight she had splurged on ingredients for Fettuccine Alfredo and a bottle of white wine.

Instead of bothering to look for the wine glasses she knew she had packed away somewhere she found a plastic red cup you usually found college kids drinking beer out of. Cassandra was thankful she had unpacked the corkscrew and poured herself a generous glass. Humming, she prepared her meal loving the way the steam from the boiling pasta made her face red. Cooking was a passion of Cassandra’s and thankfully she had the metabolism to handle it. The only thing she hated about cooking was cleaning up afterwards.

Cassandra found herself digging through half-emptied boxes searching for a cheese grater and her salt and peppershakers. A meal that typically took her twenty-five minutes to prepare took her forty-five. Cassandra piled her plate high with the steaming pasta and poured herself another glass of wine.

She giggled as she settled herself on the floor. Pulling a box over she used a rather dull steak knife to slice open the packaging tape. Inside she discovered old birthday cards, her high school yearbooks, envelopes of photographs, and a shoebox of love letters from yesterday’s sweethearts. Cass caressed a family photo smiling at the memories it evoked. It had been time for her to break away from her family. But no one had understood her need for independence.

“Come on Cass,” her brother had pleaded even as she was loading boxes into her beat-up Ford Focus. “Why you moving to LA? It is so far away.”

Cassandra had sighed. How many times had her Father said the same thing? How many times had her Mother dissolved into tears as if her daughter had committed some unspeakable crime? “I need to be free.”

“You could just move to Denver and still have your freedom.”

“You’ll understand when you’re older.” She had replied ruffling his strawberry-blonde hair.

If Cassandra had stayed in Colorado it wouldn’t have been such a big adventure. Out here in California everything was a risk. She had had to find her own apartment. And she had spent the whole day looking for a job. Getting hired at The Red Carpet Club had been exhilarating, if not a bit unexpected. But that was what Cassandra had wanted. Excitement, surprises, a new life full of the unknown.

Okay, so her bedroom was her dining room and her living room. Yeah, she was living off a hefty check her parents had insisted on writing. But she had every intention of paying them back. It had been quite a relief when Jimmy had hired her right off the street. She still couldn’t believe he hadn’t even wanted to check her references, but she wasn’t going to refuse a job.

Cassandra sighed as she took her empty plate over to the sink and rinsed it off. Her red Dixie cup got a refill and she crossed back over to her unpacked boxes. She had never really been on her own and it was a bit overwhelming. Things her Mom had done that she had taken for granted now became her responsibility. Cassandra had struggled with her first few loads of laundry and was thankful that she at least knew how to cook.

When she first left Colorado Cassandra thought that she had formulated a pretty good plan. Her list of to do’s had been short and sweet.

1. Find an apartment

2. Find a job

But soon she found herself adding more and more things to this list that she had never truly considered. Things like getting her electricity turned on, changing her address on her driver’s license, getting a cell phone, and buying furniture for her new home. She even had a list of things she needed for her apartment that had never crossed her mind. Cassandra had been astounded when she first moved in and found no toilet paper in her new bathroom.

Cassandra stretched out her long legs and stifled a yawn. When had she gotten so incredibly tired? Carefully, Cassandra picked out an outfit from her clothes hamper and laid it out on a mountain of boxes. She scrubbed her face with her apricot face wash and brushed her teeth. Tossed the remains of her wine glass down the sink and flicked out the lights. Her cot creaked under her weight and although the neighbors next door were having a heated discussion Cassandra quickly fell asleep.