“You’re a nice guy,” she said, pulling them up.
“I am?”
“Sweet,” added Darke, fastening her belt. It had the white beast-head buckle, but Owen found that it didn’t interest him nearly so much as Darke’s breasts. They were so small and pale and had such large, dark nipples. He remembered their springy feel, their heat, their taste. He started getting hard again.
Darke glanced at his rising penis, smiled and met his eyes.
“Nice guys shouldn’t always have to finish last,” she said. Digging a hand into a front pocket of her pants, she walked over to him. She pulled out a few bandages, then crouched beside him and tore one open.
Chapter Fifty-one
FINAL WARNING
With only half an hour left before showtime at the movie theater, there wasn’t much activity on the front lawn of Beast House. All the tourists seemed to be done with their main courses. Some sat at a table, chatting as they nibbled cake or sipped drinks. Others stood around in a small cluster, each holding a cocktail or a glass of wine. Several had drifted away.
Monica sat at one of the picnic tables, sipping red wine, talking and laughing with Dr. Clive Bixby and the two late arrivals, a young, married couple named Phil and Connie.
Phil and Connie seemed like nice folks. Real Beast House fans. While Warren had prepared their burgers, they’d told Dana about ordering their Midnight Tour tickets six months in advance, then driving all the way up from San Diego (with a stopover in Boleta Bay) for tonight’s festivities. They’d almost made it without incident, but a radiator hose had popped on Pacific Coast Highway only five miles south of town. So they’d walked the rest of the way and arrived an hour late.
Though Phil and Connie hadn’t missed out on any of the food or drinks, they’d gotten ambushed by Monica and the professor.
Must be loads of laughs, Dana thought.
She put a hand on Warren’s back. “I think I’ll join our friends over there.”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“You could come, too. Doesn’t look like we’re being overrun by customers.”
Rhonda and Windy had already abandoned their grills. They were sitting across from each other at a picnic table, eating steaks and talking.
“I think I’m about ready for some food,” Warren said. “How about you?”
“I’m starving.”
“You could’ve gone ahead and eaten.”
“Without you?”
“What’ll you have?”
“How about a cheeseburger with the works?”
“My specialty.” He glanced at the three dark, dried-up patties already on the grill. “Guess I’ll throw on some fresh ones. You can go ahead and sit down. I’ll be along when the burgers are done.”
“I’ll get the drinks,” Dana said. “What would you like?”
“Maybe a beer.”
“Coming up.” She patted his back, then walked over to the bar.
Biff was there, getting more refills for himself and his wife, Eleanor. Though Dana hadn’t been trying to keep track, she’d seen Biff over here a number of times.
They’re really gonna be juiced, she thought as she watched the bartender pour Scotch into two glasses half- full of ice.
“After that,” Biff told him, “it was hit the ball, drag Bob, hit the ball, drag Bob.”
Dana recognized the old joke. She wondered how many times the bartender had heard it.
He laughed, though.
Biff paid him, tucked a bill into the tip glass, then picked up his drinks and turned around. Dana sidestepped out of his way. He didn’t seem to notice her. He walked carefully toward the place where his wife was standing with Tuck and the Lawrences. In spite of the chill, Eleanor hadn’t put on her sweater. It was still tied around her neck and hanging down her back.
“
“The way his wife is dressed,” Dana said, “she needs all the antifreeze she can get.”
“And what’ll
“A couple of beers.”
“Bud, Bud Lite, Corona...?”
“A couple of Buds would be great.”
He turned away from the counter and bent over an ice chest.
“My name’s Dana, by the way.”
“I’m Hank.”
“Nice to meet you, Hank,” Dana said as he came back to the counter with a can of beer in each hand.
“Haven’t seen you around before,” he said, snapping open the cans.
“This’ll be my first Midnight Tour.” She opened her purse, took out her wallet, and found a ten-dollar bill.
“You’re going
“Yep.”
“Couldn’t pay me enough to do that. Not at night. Hell, no.” He counted change into her hand. “Not that I’m chicken. Just got more sense than that. Not that I’m saying you haven’t got sense.”
Laughing, Dana slipped a bill into his tip glass.
“Thanks.”
“Have things
“Folks go in, they don’t come out.”
“Really?”
“That’s what I hear.”
“Do you
“I’ve heard plenty. I was in your shoes, I wouldn’t go in there.”
“Sounds like traitor talk.”
Hank laughed.
“Do you say this stuff to the guests?”
“Sure. Why not? They already paid, right? Who’s gonna get scared off after they’ve already forked out a hundred bucks? Anyhow, Lynn and Janice, they say I oughta keep it up. Folks come here to get scared, ain’t that so? I give ‘em what they’re here for.”
“Ah, I see. It’s just an act.”
“Nope, it ain’t no act. I wouldn’t step foot in that place for a million bucks. Not after dark. Not in broad daylight, either, for that matter, if you wanta know the truth. You couldn’t
“The last of the beasts were killed in seventy-nine,” Dana told him.
“So they say. But I ain’t gonna stake my life on it. You shouldn’t either. You’re a mighty damn attractive lady, and it’d be a rotten shame if one of those critters laid its claws on you.”
Smiling, Dana said, “I wouldn’t care for that, myself.”
“Well, you may find it amusing now, but it ain’t funny at all—what one of them monsters’d do to a honey like you. It’d rip the clothes off your back and have it’s
Nodding, she said, “I’d better get going. Nice meeting you, Hank.”
“It’s got a tool on it the size of a billy club—with
“See you later, Hank.” She hurried away from him. Instead of heading for the table to rescue Phil and Connie,
