Read Online They Call Me Crazy by Kelly Stone Gamble - Free Book Online Page A

more makeup than some of the girls working the floor. I notice as she extends her hand that her pudgy fingers are covered with rings. She offers a firm shake, not the limp wrist some women do.
    I’ve known Tina since we were kids. In school, some called her Tiny, which she never was. Tina just laughed it off. I never made fun of her. Some girls just had more than others. Besides, I always thought Tina would one day have enough of the bullshit, and I didn’t want to be the one who sent her over the edge.
    After high school, she disappeared for a while then came back with an MBA and started this place, just outside the city limits. She’s a businesswoman, and with a twenty-dollar cover and the place wall-to-wall packed every night, a successful one at that.
    “How’s Harlan and the kids?” I asked.
    Tina had met Harlan Early at the truck stop out on the highway, shortly after she came back from school. Harlan couldn’t weigh more than one fifty soaking wet. He loves the hell out of her, though, all of her. They have a nice home on the river and two kids. Two fat kids.
    “They’re doing fine. Say, where’s that brother of yours? He was supposed to be here over two hours ago. Odd for him to not show up for work. He’s one of the best.”
    “No one’s heard from him all day. I thought you might know something.”
    Tina shrugs. Her entire body moves with the action. “Didn’t call, hasn’t shown. Not like him. Not like him at all.”
    I told Maryanne I would check on him, but he isn’t here, and I don’t know where else he’d be. Roland likes to tell me about his extracurricular activities, which usually include some trash-ass woman who thinks he’s a god, but I really don’t pay much attention. I learned a long time ago that half of Roland’s game is all talk. He wants to make me jealous, but I’m not the type. Well, maybe a little… I am a man, after all. But I’ve seen some of his prized catches—white ribbons—if you’re competing at the state fair. In my opinion, he already has the best catch sitting at home and waiting for his sorry ass.
    I want to think he’s sleeping off a drunk somewhere, or starting on a new one, but I’m starting to get worried about him. Tina’s right: Rolly would rather die than miss work.
    “Any ideas where he might go if he’s not here?” I figure Tina keeps a pretty stiff eye on her staff. The law is always watching her, and she’s smart enough to keep things on the up-and-up as much as possible.
    “No. I try to keep my nose out of his business.” She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back a bit. “Roland doesn’t give me any trouble, so I try not to give him any back. He works, I pay him. That’s our deal.”
    I know that isn’t entirely true. Rolly showed up at my house a few weeks ago in the middle of the night, drunk as I’d ever seen him and ready to pass out on my couch—as he does a bit too often. He told me Tina’s been giving him a time about his side racket, but he wasn’t about to start running the dealers out of the parking lot as long as they kept slipping him a bit of their profits.
    He doesn’t make much at the mop factory—that’s for sure. Still, there’s no telling what my brother spends his money on, probably something I don’t want to know.
    “While you’re here, how about a lap dance?” Tina asks. “On the house, for an old friend. What do you say?”
    I can’t help but laugh. “I don’t think these legs can support you, Tina.”
    She waves a hand in the air as if swatting a fly, causing the porch swings to start rocking. “I don’t do any of that stuff. You should know better. I meant one of the girls. You do like girls, don’t you?”
    One thing about Tina, she gets right to the point. I start to reply then feel a firm grip on my upper arm. I turn and face Benny Cloud. He has no jurisdiction out here, but he likes everyone to know he’s keeping an eye out. But Tina lets him in without a cover to keep the