Free ShamrockDelight by Maxwell Avoi Page B

think?”
    Rhonda turned her gaze on
Michael again. Michael was glad that looks really couldn’t kill; his heart
would have exploded in his new chest if Rhonda had had her way. “I left it at
home,” she said, her voice flat.
    “Whatever. Go clean
something,” said the bartender.
    She stalked back through the
doors and he turned back to Michael. “Yeah, sorry about that. My name’s Victor,
by the way. Call me Vic.”
    “Yeah, hey. Why is she so
pissed at me?”
    Vic snorted. “You really
don’t remember, huh? You flirted with her boyfriend, and maybe more. It was
hard to be sure from where I was. I was busy. But you and your shamrock thing
pissed her riiiight off.”
    “My shamrock thing? What
shamrock thing?”
    He shrugged. “You had some
kind of bet or something. I didn’t get the details, but you sure seemed to be
collecting shamrocks. It was like watching Mardi Gras girls collect beads.”
    Michael paled. “You mean…you
mean I…”
    Vic waved his hand. “No, no,
nothing like that, just…well, you know, I don’t know. You left with a couple of
guys who gave ‘em to you. But you came back pretty quick, so I didn’t think
anything of it. You stuck with that loud guy outside of that.”
    “Tell me about the loud
guy.” Michael pocketed the phone again, disappointed and scared. How on earth
had this happened? Any information might give him a hint.
    “Yeah, uh, he called himself
something weird, something Irish. Busy night, you know how it is. I don’t
remember many details. Anyway, he was dressed like a leprechaun. All green and
with one of those hats and all. Tall for a leprechaun, though.” He chuckled,
but it trailed off when he saw that Michael wasn’t amused. Vic cleared his
throat and said, “You came in with him and you left with him. I mean, you left
with him when you finally left for real.”
    “And what…that’s it?”
    Vic shook his head. “You two
were already pretty lit when you walked in. If you’re really looking to find
out what you were up to, I’d look for a place that sold you a lot of booze.”
    Michael sighed impressively
and nodded. “Well, okay. Thanks for the help, anyway.”
    “Yeah, no problem. Oh, hey,
we had a few of these left over, thought you might want a souvenir.” Vic
rummaged under the counter and held out a laminated four-leaf clover. “For
luck.”
    Michael gave a rueful grin
and took it. Once again, he felt the weird shock run up his arm. This time,
though, it was a hundred times stronger, enough to make him close his eyes for
a moment and sway on his feet. “Th…thanks,” she said, when she could speak
again.
    “Are you okay?” said Vic.
    Michael shook her head as if
flicking away a fly. “Yeah, I’m…just a hangover, you know?”
    Vic grinned. Michael was
struck by how confident and even attractive the grin was. “Yeah, I bet. Well,
good luck out there.”
    Michael smiled back. It was
really nice of Vic to give her such a great present. Michael found herself
standing straighter and even pulling her shoulders back, giving Vic a much
better view of her magnificent breasts and cleavage.
    Michael pulled the
matchbooks out of his pocket with her other hand and spread them on the bar in
front of Vic. Then she leaned on her elbows, framing that bottomless cleavage
so that Vic had an even better view. Michael felt strange, but it was a good
kind of strange. She felt daring and wild, and for the first time since waking
up her body didn’t feel strange. It felt wonderful, and she knew that the
shamrock had something to do with that. Vic’s gift had helped Michael in some
way that was connected with whatever had changed her, and she was grateful for
it.
    She nodded to the matchbooks
and said, “Can you maybe tell me which one of these is closest?”
    Vic tore his gaze away from
Michael and concentrated on the matchbooks. Finally he tapped one and said,
“This one.” His voice made Michael shiver when it sent ripples through her
altered body. It