Vampire Dancing by J. K. Gray Read Free Book Online

ticket?”
    “Oh, okay,” Len says.
    “No, not okay.” Wiley grabs one of Len's titties and twists it.
    “Ow,” Len wails.
    “Hey,” Kobie says, nodding in the direction of their intended target. “She's with some guy.”
    The guy Kobie is referring to seems to be about the same age as the woman. He has blonde floppy hair and is wearing jeans and a loose-fitting oatmeal colored sweater. Wiley thinks he looks fairly capable, but reckons it's nothing a knife and a few threatening words can't easily handle.
    “He won't be a problem,” he tells them. “ They never are .”
    “Looks like Justin Bieber,” Screwball says.
    Kobie disagrees: “Nah, Bieber ain't blonde, and this guy's built like a motherfuckin' linebacker.”
    Screwball chuckles. “Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.”
    “She don't look nuthin like Miley Cyrus,” Kobie says.
    “I'd still fuck 'er,” Screwball replies. “I'd fuck 'em both.”
    Kobie looks at Screwball in disgust. “You'd fuck Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. You're sick, dawg.”
    “Jesus Christ,” Screwball says, and whips his hat around. “I'd fuck Hannah Montana and this here girl. I wouldn't go screwin' no Justin goddamn Bieber. I ain't no pedophile.”
    “Bieber's eighteen now,” Wiley says. “It’d be perfectly okay if you wanted to.”
    “ But ,” Kobie says, “Miley was a kid when she was Hannah Montana, which would then mean you have pedophile tendencies after all.”
    “Now hear me out,” Screwball says, raising the level of his voice to compete with the sound of the arriving train, “I don't give a damn whether he's eighteen years old or eighty years old. I have no desire whatsoever to fuck Justin Bieber. And Hannah Montana is god damn Miley Cyrus and she's all grown up now. I ain't no kiddie fiddler, got that!”
    Slowing to a halt, the number six train floods the platform with the usual cacophony of clattering wheels, spitting brakes and general high-pitched squealing. A gush of wind accompanying its arrival encircles the group.
    Wiley watches an empty potato chip bag go tumbling past his feet.
    "You sure those cams ain't working?" Kobie asks.
    They all look up at one such camera.
    Wiley leans against one of the columns. “Fuck knows. But at least the subway cars ain't rigged - not yet anyway.”
    Kobie shakes his head. “I dunno, man.”
    The moving platforms extend, bridging the gap to the train. Exterior doors open and the intended target and her capable boyfriend stroll into one of the cars.
    “Okay, fellas,” Wiley says, “time to go.”
    Each of the men step into the nearest car. Wiley's the last to enter. He steps inside, then does a double take back at the platform.
    Kobie sits on one of the light-blue molded plastic seats. He notices Wiley look back outside the car. “Wassup?”
    Wiley shrugs. “It's probably nuthin.”
    “Don't look like nuthin.”
    “Thought I saw a woman,” Wiley elaborates, “from the corner of my eye, hurrying across the platform. Thought she was comin' our way for a moment. Wasn't there when I looked again.”
    “That all?” Kobie says.
    “I kinda got a weird vibe from her. Dunno why.”
    “She's gotta be on the train somewhere,” Screwball says, leaning against a full length handrail. “Maybe we could, y'know, do her, too.”
    “Who the hell you think I am,” Wiley says, “John Holmes?”
    The PA speakers burst to life with a pre-recorded male voice: Stand clear of the closing doors, please . This is followed by a ding-dong chime.
    The doors close behind Wiley.
    Kobie stares at his feet, and says again: “I dunno, man.”
    The train pulls away from the platform.
     
    *
     
    Amber claps her hands. “You just made it there.”
    “Thought I was going to get caught in the doors,” Michael says.
    “Highly unlikely,” Amber replies.
    “Still.”
    Amber drops her purse onto the nearest seat. “Oh, stop being a big baby.”
    Stand clear of the closing doors, please .
    Ding-dong .
    “A big baby, huh?”
    “A