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It was early afternoon, and I felt like crap, and I would continue to feel like crap until the sun disappeared in a few hours We were at Hero&039;s again, where very few people knew our nalass of chardonnay and aus a warm smile He had cute dimples around his mouth Thick lips, too Thick, juicy lips

"You bet," Mary Lou said, bea He winked and moved down the bar to pour our drinks, and Mary Lou continued s at his back, or perhaps at his backside "Isn&039;t he just airl It&039;s his job to remember," I said "He does well to remember"

He returned with our drinks Mary Lou handed hih she probably would have preferred to slip it inside the waistband of his Jockey shorts She sipped carefully frolass and finally looked over at me "So what&039;s the latest neith your case?"

"Are you done undressing our bartender with your eyes?"

"Not yet Wait Okay, now I am"

"You&039;re a married woman, with kids," I said

"I know Your point?"

"Married wo bartenders with their eyes"

"Show me that in the rule book"

"There is no rule book"

She looked at ave her an update, and to her credit she forgot about the bartender and his buns and focused oncreep" She shuddered slightly

"Do you talk this way around your kids?"

"No, just you I let it all out around you"

"Lucky me," I said

"And you were next on his list?" she asked

"You know, to silence the pesky private eye"

"You are kind of pesky, aren&039;t you?"

"The peskier the better"

"So what&039;re you going to do?" she asked

I sipped so, literally, but at least I didn&039;t double over with stoaveto have a talk with Detective Sherbet this evening"

"But what can he do?" asked uy without probable cause"

"You&039;ve been watching too ht Not without a search warrant And one needs evidence to obtain a search warrant"

"So breaking into this guy&039;s house and finding evidence hidden under his bed won&039;t fly with a judge, right?"

"Right," I said

"So ill you do?" she asked

"The detective and I will figure so out"

"Will you tell this detective about your break-in?"

"Yeah, probably"

"Will he like it?"

"Probably not"

We were silent, and I decided noas the tiang banger�Dand about the sucking of blood So I did The story took a few h I noted she had quickly finished her drink

"That was very reckless of you," she said when I was done

"I know"

"And you really drank his blood?"

"Yes"

She was silent I was silent The noises of the bar ca washed in the sink, the sound of laughter behind ister drawer

"What if this somehow causes you to lose control, Samantha?"

"I love my kids too much to lose control"

"Then you took a foolish chance by drinking that otten quickly out of control Before I knew it, I was holding a corpse"

"You should not be jogging so late"

I drank my wine Sometimes Mary Lou was impossible to talk to

"When is there a better ti"

"In the early evening I have the kids and work"

"Then why do you need to jog at all?"

"Because it helps me stay sane"

We were alone at this end of the counter As we spoke,sure we had no eavesdroppers "I walk a fine line, Mary Lou Everything aroundlike exercise is within ht now"

"Maybe you need help"

We had gone through this before "There&039;s no one to help me"

"Maybe you need to speak to a therapist, someone, anyone"

"You think this is in my head?"

"No It&039;s real I know that"

"The moment I tell a therapist that I&039;m a vampire, they&039;ll lock me up and take away my kids Is that what you want?"

She didn&039;t answer immediately

"Is that what you want, Mary Lou?"