3.5. Black Magic Woman by John G. Hartness Read Free Book Online Page A

chuckled a little as I walked up to her, extending my arm. “Ms. Croft, how nice of you to make an appearance.” I lowered my voice and leaned in closer as she took my elbow. “Don’t shoot him, you don’t want to deal with the paperwork.” She gave me a long look, as if considering just how much paperwork would be involved in shooting a pervert at a comic convention, and then holstered her gun. 
    “Good idea,” I said. “And what in the world are you doing in that costume?” 
    “You think you’re the only one to ever lose a bet to your idiot partner?” 
    “Well, yeah. I kinda did. But now I think I need to thank him.” I gave her legs another approving look, and trust me; there was a lot to approve of. Sabrina punched me in the shoulder, but not hard enough to make me stop staring. Come to think of it, I don’t think humans can hit hard enough to make me stop staring at her legs. “So what’s your payoff? I have to carry all the comics he buys. What is he making you do?” 
    “…” 
    “Sorry, couldn’t hear that bit. And I have the ears of a bat.” Literally. 
    “I have to enter the costume contest.”
    “I do owe him a thank you. But why did you let him pick out your costume?”
    “I didn’t.”
    “You mean you own this stuff?” My eyebrows were living somewhere around my hairline by now, and we had stopped dead in front of another booth. Sabrina pulled me out of the lane of traffic so at least we weren’t keeping the poor vendor from making a living. But judging by how fast I heard his heart beating when she walked past, he didn’t mind if she stood there all night.
    “Yes, I own all this stuff. It’s mostly just workout gear, with a couple of holsters and motorcycle boots. Come on, it’s not a big deal. Besides, if I’ve got to enter the contest, I might as well try to win.”
    “Makes sense, but you don’t wear stuff like this when we work out.”
    “How much exercise would you get if I did?” 
    “You don’t really want me to answer that.” She punched me again, and we started looking for Greg. We found him still buried to the shoulders in old Superman and Batman back issues, with a sizable stack of purchases stacked on the floor beside him. 
    “You know I’m only carrying the one bag, right?” I said as we walked up. He turned around and looked up at us. Well, looked at Sabrina, to be precise. He looked up, and up, and up until finally he made it all the way up to her face. I was impressed. I thought he’d faint before he scaled the entirety of Mount Hottie, but he made it. He handed me his comics silently and kissed Sabrina’s hand. 
    “I swear that was the best game of poker I’ve ever cheated at.” He mumbled. I snorted, trying to hold it in, but failed and collapsed into gales of laughter at the look on Sabrina’s face. 
    “You…you cheated?” 
    “Yeah, I totally stacked the deck. Never play cards with a guy who can move faster than you can see. But God, it was worth it.” 
    “You know I’m going to kick your ass for this, right?” 
    “If you promise to wear those shorts I won’t even resist.” 
    I chimed in at that point. “If you wear those shorts, I’ll take his place!” 
    “No need for chivalry, partner. I did the crime, I’ll do the time.” Greg grinned.
    Sabrina just threw her hands up muttering something about boys as she walked off to withdraw from the costume contest. I could feel the judges’ hearts breaking from all the way across the convention. Greg paid for his comics, and I put them in the backpack I was carrying, as promised. Sabrina rejoined us a few minutes later in an oversized Captain America t-shirt, much to the disappointment of every male in a ten-block radius. 
    We wandered the con for an hour or so, picking through the dollar bins, getting a few of Greg’s prized issues autographed by the artists and picking up some of the cooler independent stuff on display. We stopped for a while to watch a local artist