Painless Read Online Free PDF Page B

offering encouragement or providing a warning.
    “I know women like her. They use all their powers to get a man in a position she wants him at: on his knees and worshipping her.”
    “I think you just had a bad experience. Maybe it’s time to let the old memories go and start some new ones, preferably good ones.”
    Kaylee plopped the beers on the table, and this time brought one for herself. “It’s totally dead in here tonight. So if you don’t mind, I’m gonna hang out with you studs.”
    “Why so dead tonight?” Chuck asked. He then informed Billy that they usually have to turn people away on Saturdays, and the patio was normally standing room only.
    She eased into the seat and lit a cigarette. “I think it’s because the married men spend time with their wives and families over Labor Day weekend. Then this weekend they go off on supposed business trips with their girlfriends.”
    Billy again recognized Kelly in Kaylee’s comment. The cynical layer of ice beneath the perfect smile.
    Then a voice echoed, “Hey good lookin’.”
    Billy turned to see a diminutive, pudgy man with three days worth of growth on his face, wearing a Yankees cap. He was worried it was Sal Durazzo, ready to fight for his woman’s honor.
    Kaylee turned with excitement, but her face quickly changed to disappointment. “Oh, it’s only you, Hawk.”
    “I was talking to Whitcomb,” the portly man said in a gravelly voice, mixed with obnoxious laughter.
    Chuck stood, greeting the man with a handshake. “How ya doing, Hawk?”
    “I was doing great until I found out that wife of yours scheduled your daughter’s party for tomorrow. Does she not know tomorrow is the opening weekend of the NFL?”
    Chuck shrugged. “Beth’s the boss. I just live there.”
    “So what’s it going to be, Whitcomb, one of those pretentious let’s top the rich bastard next door parties?”
    “Carolyn wanted a princess party, but I think we settled on some nature theme. Monday I go on a hunting trip, and today I helped Billy move in, so I haven’t had much time to think about it.”
    It was perfect segue for Billy to introduce himself.
    Hawk looked at him like he knew him but couldn’t place him. “Have we met before?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    Hawk nodded suspiciously, and then introduced himself as New York’s number one radio sports talk show host . He went on to say he was “Whitcomb’s neighbor” and bragged that he owned one of the “big-ass mansions” in the cul-de-sac. Then asked, “So what do you do, Harper?”
    Billy didn’t want to go into the novel writing thing, so he mentioned his newspaper column for the Shoreline Times.
    Hawk snorted, “I usually clean up after my dog with that rag. Do you actually get paid for that?”
    Billy bit his tongue and forced a grin. He held the pose until Hawk mercifully left a few minutes later, taking his mindless conversation with him. But before he did, he wagged his meaty finger in Billy’s direction and said, “I know you from somewhere, Harper, and I’ll figure it out.”
    Billy shrugged. He sure hoped not.
    Beer flowed into the wee morning hours. Then Kaylee must’ve decided that her victim had been softened enough to make her kill-move. “C’mon, George Clooney, this might be my only opportunity to be on Dancing with the Stars ,” she said as she dragged Billy to the empty dance floor on the patio. The bar had emptied to only a few.
    “I don’t think my legs work,” Billy protested.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll hold you up,” she said.
    He looked back for Chuck, only to see him retreating into the sultry night.
    “I don’t hear any music,” Billy said, noticing the mariachi players packing up their equipment.
    “We’ll make our own.”
    She pulled him close. Her smell was intoxicating. Billy noticed her necklace, which spelled out her name in gold. Often people wear a tribute to their god around their neck, and he got the feeling Kaylee Scroggins believed she was to be