Read Alpha Male for Free Online

free beer in Sally’s direction. “Thanks for the beer, Sally. I wonder if I can ask you something?”
    Sally batted her lashes at me. Her blue eyes were a bit glazed under a mop of sandy brown hair. I wondered how long she had been here and guessed since noon. “Sure, Silas. Anything you want.”
    “It’s about the dam.”
    “The dam?” Sally’s expression changed to confusion.
    “Ice Harbor…just down the road?”
    “Oh yeah. What do you need to know?”
    “Well, I just thought if there were anything strange going on there, you would probably know about it.”  
    Ted was looking at me, as were a couple of the other locals within earshot. Sally looked at Ted and then around the bar. Her gaze stopped on a large man sitting in a booth by himself.  
    “Well, there’s Danny.”
    “Danny?”
    Sally pointed at the large man. He looked like he was two-fifty and 6’ 4”, easy, but his face looked childlike. He was drawing with crayons on the paper covering the table.
    “He went up there fishing one time. About a year ago. He weren’t the same since. Took all the fight right out of him.”
    “Is anyone going to mind if I talk to him for a bit? I don’t mean any harm. It’s just. It’s Mel. She’s missing.”
    “Mel?”
    “She’s my. She’s a girl. Melanie.”
    “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” Sally rested a hand on my shoulder. “No, I think you can talk to Danny. That should be okay.” Sally looked up at Ted, who nodded. “Just don’t upset him.”
    I nodded. “I’ll do my best. I just want to ask him a few questions. Thanks, Sally.” I reached over and gave her a hug. She responded with a lopsided grin, then lifted her bottle and drank some more.
    I grabbed my beer and stood, then walked over and sat down across the table from Danny. “Do you mind if I sit here and talk to you for a minute?”
    “That’s okay, mister. Just don’t hit me.” Danny pulled his arms and hands close to his chest and looked at me with alarm.
    “I’m not going to hit you.”
    “Okay, mister.”
    “I’m Silas.” I extended my hand and then withdrew it when he made no motion to shake. “And you’re Danny.”
    “I’m Danny.” He smiled. In front of him on the table he had sketched pictures of houses, trees, and animals.
    “I think a friend of mine is up at the dam.” I searched Danny’s face. His eyes widened.
    “The dam. You don’t want to go there.”
    “Why not?”
    “Bad men. Made me afraid.”
    “You? But you’re a big, strong man, Danny.”
    “Something happened. I don’t remember much.”
    “Something happened to you?”
    “Yes.”
    “The bad men did something to you?”
    “No men. Girls. Shiny. Black. Needle.” Danny grabbed his shoulder and winced in pain.
    “Shiny black girls?”  
    “You don’t want to go there.” Danny’s crayon dropped to the table and started to roll toward the edge. He ignored it. His face turned pale. He was crying.
    “That’s enough.” Ted was standing near the booth, glaring at me.
    “I’m—I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would upset him.”
    “Just leave him. He ain’t right. Hasn’t been right since that night.”
    I stood and headed back to the bar. Tears streamed down Danny’s face, and he was trembling. The brunette waitress mopped his cheek and comforted him. “It’s okay, Danny. No one is going to hurt you.”
    “Okay, Sheila. Okay.” Danny wiped his eyes and watched me as I sat back down on the barstool.  

Sirens

    The girl stood on the edge of the rocky cliff, thirty feet above the Pacific. She was dressed in a skintight black bodysuit, which sculpted her thin yet muscular physique nicely. Her brown eyes shone under the light of the rising moon as she tucked her long blonde hair into a skull cap and pulled it down over her face. The bodysuit zipped up the middle and had a blue design on the left shoulder that resembled the letter S drawn over an octagon. Around her waist was a silver belt with multiple items hanging from it.