Free Go Kill Crazy! by Bryan Smith

woman’s total physical perfection.
    The goddess looked at her and smiled. “I told her to put my drinks on your tab. I’m sure you don’t mind.”
    Some kind of snide comeback would be her usual response to something like that, but this time it wasn’t possible. So instead she simply said, “I don’t mind.”
    “I know you don’t, honey.” The goddess uncrossed her legs and moved her chair closer to the table, the blatant display of her attributes no longer being necessary. “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with that bald elephant.”
    Echo frowned. “I didn’t see you when I came in.”
    And there’s no way I could have missed you.
    The goddess shrugged. “I was in the bathroom.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, indicating a closed door to her left. “I heard you plain as day. You were pretty loud.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Don’t be.” Her expression turned serious. “You were upset before you even got here, weren’t you?”
    Echo grunted. “Yeah. You could say that.”
    The goddess regarded her silently for a moment before saying, “You have the look of a woman who has been wronged by her fella.”
    “Wow. That’s…unusually perceptive.”
    “I’m just good at reading the moods of other people.” She winked. “Especially women.”
    The server returned and set a tall glass of beer in front of the goddess. Before she departed, the goddess touched her wrist again. It was a light, very brief touch that accompanied a deceptively innocuous positive comment about the service she was giving, but Echo was certain the waitress almost fainted in that moment.
    The goddess took a long drink from her beer before setting the glass back on the table. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”
    Echo giggled and felt her cheeks redden.
    The goddess smirked. “What’s so funny?”
    Echo giggled another time or two before heaving a big breath and finally composing herself. “I’m sorry. You’ve got me all flustered. But I’m guessing you’re used to that reaction.”
    The goddess laughed. “You could say that. Now out with the name, sweetheart.”
    “My name is Echo Vaughn.”
    The goddess didn’t laugh or smirk upon hearing the name, nor did she look as if she might be trying to conceal an incredulous reaction. Echo’s already sky-high opinion of her shot into outer space. “That’s a lovely name.”
    Echo smiled. “Thank you. It’s my real name.”
    “Of course it is. Why would I think otherwise?”
    Echo shifted in her seat, becoming suddenly nervous. “Well…it’s just that in my line of work most of the girls don’t use their real names. I’m an exotic dancer.”
    “Ah. A stripper, you mean.”
    “Well…”
    The goddess leaned across the table and touched the back of Echo’s right hand. “It’s okay, nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m in the clothing removal business myself.”
    “Where do you dance? It can’t be around here or I would’ve heard about you for sure.”
    The goddess lightly stroked the back of Echo’s hand. “You’re right, doll. You would have heard about me. But it wasn’t around here.”
    A long, silent moment elapsed.
    Echo’s brow creased. “Um…so where was it?”
    Though she was still smiling, something in the goddess’s expression became more guarded. “I’ve done some naughty things, Echo Vaughn. I won’t spill the details to just anyone. But maybe I’ll tell you all about it once we get to know each other a little better.”
    “Could you at least tell me your name?”
    The goddess let go of Echo’s hand and picked up her beer glass. “Dez is what I’m called. Short for Desiree.”
    “Last name?”
    Dez shook her head. “That gets back into the territory of privileged information.” She licked her lips and a naughty smile spread across her face. “But maybe I’ll tell you later while I’m sitting on your face.”
    Echo’s mouth dropped open at the remark.
    Dez laughed and drank some of her beer.
    Echo said, “You say