To Trust a Stranger Read Free Page A

pound-plus loves truck fruit was not on tonight's agenda. Well, it was, maybe, but in any case not this particular lovestruck fruit. Edwards weighed somewhere north of two-fifty, according to his bio, but he was sixty years old and all lard. Yum-yum, Mac thought with an inward sigh. Just his type. The things he did to earn a living. Hinkle paid, and they walked inside. It was dark and smoky and smelled of beer and BO. Plastic palm trees adorned the corners, and the DJ was playing “ Margaritaville .” Couples, some male-male, some female-female, some who-knew-what, swayed on the tiny dance floor in the middle of the room. Up on the stage, a blonde with boobs the size of basketballs stripped in time to the music. She was peeling off her gold lame panties before Mac realized to his horror that she wasn't a woman. Averting his gaze, he forced his mind back to business and scanned the room for their quarry. Somebody grabbed his ass. “Yow!” Mac was so surprised he jumped a foot straight up in the air. Landing on his spike heels, he wobbled, tottered, and nearly went down. Catching himself on a table, he got his ankles straightened out and turned around. It was all he could do to stop himself from reaching for his Glock, which was conveniently holstered in his eighteen hour bra.
    “Hey, now, don't you be grabbin ' my bitch.” Hinkle's grin as he warned the bespectacled accountant type who was looking Mac up and down with clearly lascivious intent made Mac long to pop him one. “Sorry, man, I didn't realize she was with somebody.” The accountant held up both hands in a gesture of peace, leaned back in his chair, and picked up his beer. Over the mug's rim, his eyes met Mac's with an unmistakable message. Seeing that Hinkle's attention was briefly elsewhere, his lips pursed in a silent kiss. Mac's eyes widened. Then he gritted his teeth and managed a saccharine smile. “See you around,” the accountant said. “Yeah, see ya .” It was his best falsetto. Careful to keep his assets out of reach, Mac turned and minced toward the bar. Christ, now both ankles were giving him trouble. He had to remind himself again just how much Mrs. Edwards was paying them. If he hadn't, he would have turned tail there and then and gotten the hell out of Dodge. “From now on, you watch my back,” he growled over his shoulder at Hinkle. But Hinkle wasn't looking at him. He was staring across the room, an arrested expression on his face. “Shit, there he is.”
    “Where?” Alert now too, Mac followed his gaze. Sure enough, Edwards was seated with a gorgeous-looking blonde-Mac had to remind himself that the babe was a guy-at a little round table in the corner. As he watched, the blonde stood up, smiled flirtatiously at Edwards, then headed across the room. She disappeared inside a door adorned with a neon sign that read LADIES. Jesus. “Looks like you're on, boss,” Hinkle said under his breath. Mac looked at that door, looked back at Hinkle, and resigned himself to the inevitable. Sometimes a man had to do what a man had to do.
    “You know,” he said in his creaky falsetto, “I think I have to go tinkle.” With Hinkle laughing like a juiced-up hyena behind him, Mac teetered off to make a girlfriend of the blonde. If she could be persuaded to invite him and Hinkle to join her and Edwards at their table, his life was suddenly made a whole lot easier. If not, he was going to have to go to Plan B. He didn't even want to think about Plan B. It involved getting friendlier with Edwards than he ever wanted to be with someone who didn't have two X chromosomes. Either way, he thought as he pushed through the door into the soft pink lighting of the little girls' room, it was going to be a long night. He should have listened to his grandma and become a lawyer.
     
    Julie turned another corner, took a quick look around, and, for the third time in five minutes, pressed the button that secured all four car doors just to make sure they really were