Sin City *On Hold*

4

November 11, 1929

"Fired?!" Josephine stood up quickly, her eyebrows curled up strong enough to form multiple indents in her forehead. "But— But that's not fair!"

"I don't tolerate violence in my club! Besides, I don't need this place getting a bad name because of you. You're lucky that fired is all you're getting. Now get out of my office. And while you're at it, tell that negro boy he's out too."

"What?! He didn't do anything! This was all me sir, let me take the fall, not him." She pleaded. Not only was she losing her job over something so silly, but now someone she considered a friend was too.

"Well that's not what Delilah claims, and she has a broken nose. I want both of you out, immediately." Mr. Milton shrugged, shooing her away.

Josie's shoulders sunk down and she could feel her heart breaking inside of her chest. She swallowed a large thump in her throat and balled her fists before releasing them. She threw her fur piece over her arms and exited the room slowly. As she walked out of the room with her head low, she heard somebody calling her name.

"Jojo! Are we still on for drinks tonight? I won't let you get too drunk this time, or 'tipsy' as drunken Josephine would say." Kenneth asked with a giant smile on his face as he approached her. His smile dropped when he realized she didn't look too happy. "W-What's wrong?"

She looked up at him slowly. "I'm sorry, Ken. Milton fired me. I tried to tell him you didn't have anything to do with it, but Delilah told him a tale. Now..." Ken caught on and a frown formed on his face.

"So he fired me too, huh?" His tone lowered as he stared down at the ground.

"I'm terribly sorry, Kenny. I feel awful that I messed this up. I shoulda' controlled my temper." She played with the tassels on her dress nervously, not wanting to look him in the eye.

"Don't be. You were just standin' up for yourself... At least now we can take that road trip you were talkin' about." He nudged her arm. She picked her head up and stared at him in confusion. "Remember? You said if we got fired, we could skip town. I mean it's not the ideal situation, but I can make it worth while if you give me the chance to."

Josephine continued to stare in bewilderment. It wasn't that she wasn't familiar with what he was talking about, it was just that she didn't expect this sort of reaction from him. He was so optimistic, full of life, and didn't give up on her, although she had just caused him to lose his job. He understood and wanted to keep pushing, and something about that warmed her heart.

"Jo'!" Josie heard somebody call after her. She turned her head to see Dorothy rushing her way. "Are the two of ya' okay? I heard what happened. I feel awful." She frowned.

"I think we'll be alright. We're gonna skip town and look for a new club to call home. 'Preciate the concern." She pulled her lips into her mouth and nodded.

Dorothy looked around to make sure nobody was watching and she dug into her clutch and pulled out five twenty dollar bills. "Take this. That should be enough to hold you two over for a few weeks, use it wisely."

"Dot, I--" She lowered her tone. "I can't take this. People are going broke easily these days, I would hate to contribute to that."

"Oh, no," She chuckled. "It's not mine. I stole it from Delilah."

She had a quick change of heart. "Well, in that case, give it here." Josie took the bills and stuffed them into Kenny's pocket, causing him to look down at it with wide eyes. "Thank you so much. I'll miss you." She pulled Dorothy into a hug.

"I'm gonna miss ya' too. You two stay safe. Always use protection." She winked.

Josie gasped and Kenny turned as red as a beetroot. "I-It's not like that!" He defended.