Living Dead in Dallas

their thoughts. Pick their brains. And if I get them thinking about a certain thing, and pick their brains, then we can get out of there.” I’d just had a great idea about how to get them to think about Lafayette. Telling Eric was going to be the problem.
    “So you want me to go to a human orgy, where I will not be welcome, and you want us to leave before I get to enjoy myself?”
    “Yes,” I said, almost squeaking in my anxiety. In for a penny, in for a pound. “And. . . do you think you could pretend to be gay?”
    There was a long silence. “What time do I need to be there?” Eric asked softly.
    “Um. Nine-thirty? So I can brief you?”
    “Nine-thirty at your house.”
    “I am carrying the phone back,” Pam informed me. “What did you say to Eric? He is shaking his head back and forth with his eyes shut.”
    “Is he laughing, even a little bit?”
    “Not that I can tell,” Pam said.

Chapter 10
    B ILL DIDN ’ T CALL  back that night, and I left for work before sunset the next day. He’d left a message on the answering machine when I came home to dress for the “party.”
    “Sookie, I had a hard time making out what the situation was, from your very guarded message,” he said. His usually calm voice was definitely on the unhappy side. Miffed. “If you are going to this party, don’t go alone, whatever you do. It isn’t worth it. Get your brother or Sam to go with you.”
    Well, I’d gotten someone even stronger to go with me, so I should be feeling pretty virtuous. Somehow, I didn’t think that my having Eric with me would reassure Bill.
    “Stan Davis and Joseph Velasquez send their regards, and Barry the bellhop.”
    I smiled. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed wearing only an old chenille bathrobe, giving my hair a brushing while I listened to my messages.
    “I haven’t forgotten Friday night,” Bill said, in the voice that always made me shiver. “I will never forget.”
    “So what happened Friday night?” Eric asked.
    I shrieked. Once I could feel my heart was going to stay in my chest cavity, I scrambled off the bed and strode over to him with my fists balled.
    “You are old enough to know you don’t come in someone’s house without knocking on the door and having it answered. Besides, when did I ever invite you inside?” I had to have extended the invitation, or else Eric couldn’t have crossed the threshold.
    “When I stopped by last month to see Bill. I did knock,” Eric said, trying his best to look wounded. “You didn’t answer, and I thought I heard voices, so I came in. I even called your name.”
    “You may have whispered my name.” I was still furious. “But you acted bad, and you know it!”
    “What are you wearing to the party?” Eric asked, effectively changing the subject. “If this is to be an orgy, what does a good girl like you wear?”
    “I just don’t know,” I said, deflated by the reminder. “I’m sure I’m supposed to look like the kind of girl who goes to orgies, but I’ve never been to one and I have no idea how to start out, though I have a pretty clear idea of how I’m supposed to end up.”
    “I have been to orgies,” he offered.
    “Why does that not surprise me? What do you wear?”
    “The last time I wore an animal hide; but this time I settled for this.” Eric had been wearing a long trench coat. Now he threw it off dramatically, and I could only stand and stare. Normally, Eric was a blue-jeans-and-T-shirt kind of guy. Tonight, he wore a pink tank top and Lycra leggings. I don’t know where he got them; I didn’t know any company made Lycra leggings in Men’s X-tra Large Tall. They were pink and aqua, like the swirls down the sides of Jason’s truck.
    “Wow,” I said, since it was all I could think of to say. “Wow. That’s some outfit.” When you’ve got a big guywearing Lycra it doesn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. I resisted the temptation to ask Eric to turn around.
    “I don’t believe I could be convincing as a queen,” Eric said, “but I decided this sent such a mixed signal, almost anything was possible.” He fluttered his eyelashes at me. Eric was definitely enjoying this.
    “Oh, yes,” I said, trying to find somewhere else to look.
    “Shall I go through your drawers and find something for you to wear?” Eric suggested. He had actually opened the top drawer of my bureau before I said, “No, no! I’ll find something!” But I couldn’t find anything more informally sexy than