5 Bad Moon Read Online Free Page B

hard anymore.
    Stacy’s pout got a little juicier. Her eyes darted over his face. She looked upset.
    Gibbons nudged him with an elbow. “Hey, Toz, whatsa matter? We’re trying to cheer you up here. You look like you’re going to a funeral.”
    Stacy looked to Roy and frowned. “I don’t think he got the joke.”
    Tozzi glared at Gibbons. His face was burning. “This is not funny.”
    “Lighten up, Toz. You been down in the mouth all winter. We figured you needed a boost.” Gibbons eyed Stacy’s tits whenever he saw she wasn’t looking.
    Roy flipped the towel over his shoulder and leaned over the bar to mediate. “I’m sorry if this embarrassed you, Toz, really. It was mostly my idea. I apologize. See, one night Gibbons was in here and the commercial came on and he mentioned that you thought Stacy was real hot. I told him that I knew her—see, I work out at the place in the Village where she teaches aerobics—and so we figured it would be a real hoot if we could set it up so you could meet her in the flesh. So I asked Stacy and she said it was cool with her, and she even found out when the commercial would be running tonight so we could set it up the way we did. But, jeez, we didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything like that. We were just kidding around.”
    “Yeah,” Stacy said, “it was just supposed to be fun.”
    Tozzi zoomed in on those baby-doll lips and got very depressed. He was supposed to be getting a kick out of this, and now it was upsetting him that he wasn’t. A scolding voice not unlike his cousin Lorraine’s was echoing through his head. Act your age, act your age.
    He looked at Roy, then at Gibbons, trying not to stare at Stacy. He took one last swig of his beer, then got off the stool. “Look, I’ll see you later, Gib. I gotta go.” He headed for the door.
    “Hey, Toz, where ya goin’?”
    “I’m sorry, man,” Roy called out. “Lemme fix you a drink. On the house.”
    “You told me he was a good sport, Roy.”
    Stacy’s words followed him out the door, like a rain cloud.
    Outside, Tozzi shrugged into his trench coat as he walked down the sidewalk. A good sport, huh? His life was half over, for chrissake. He wasn’t supposed to be chasing babes like Stacy Viera anymore. He was beyond being a good sport.
    The night was cold and wet and miserable. You could see the drizzle coming down in the streetlights. Tozzi flipped up his collar and shoved his hands into his pockets, fingering his car keys, mulling over that stunt they’d pulled in the bar, upset with himself that it was upsetting him so much. Gibbons and Roy meant well, and Stacy was probably a good kid. It was just bad timing, that’s all. He wasn’t in the mood for kidding around. Sure, Stacy Viera was a walking wet dream, but that wasn’t what he needed anymore. Gibbons and Roy didn’t understand that. They didn’t know that it was time for him to grow up.
    He turned down the side street where his car was parked. The street was empty and quiet except for the sound of his own footsteps muffled by the drizzle. It was the perfect setting for how he felt right now. He went toward his car and pulled out his keys, thinking that maybe he wouldn’t go home right away. He’d just end up watching something stupid on TV if he went home. Maybe he’d drive around for a while in the rain. He stuck the key in the lock and considered crossing the George Washington Bridge and heading up the Palisades Parkway. Kill some time riding along the river, listening to the radio in the dark.
    But as he turned the key in the lock, he suddenly felt something in his back, something small and hard. Something like a gun barrel.
    “Don’t move and don’t turn around.”
    The guy sounded nervous. He kept prodding Tozzi with the gun even though Tozzi was doing what he was told. He waited for the guy to say something else. If he was a mugger, why wasn’t he demanding money? If he was a killer, then he was an amateur. Professional