Page 16 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

“You like cars, I take it?”

Mars glanced in the rearview. The way his eyebrow lifted was wicked as hell. “Yeah, I like a bit of versatility in everything I do.”

I swallowed my tongue. He couldn’t possibly mean what I was thinking, so I just cleared my throat and tore my gaze away from him. I couldn’t imagine being in bed with a guy as hot as Mars, but since he’d said it now, I couldn’t think of anything else.

I watched the traffic, the signs for bargain basement casinos in tired strip malls, and a multitude of stores and eateries. I was convinced that every establishment in Vegas had at least one slot machine. From gas stations to nail salons, everyone was in business to cash in on tourists’ insatiable need to part with their money. In daylight, Vegas looked tacky and overdone, very different from the bright lights of the Strip that lit up the night. I leaned forward when we approached Flamingo and pointed to a sign.

“That’s the place. Turn in here.”

Mars nodded and made the turn into the busy parking lot. I liked this place, not only because it was one of the larger pawn brokers on the Strip, but because it came with a slightly greater than average amount of anonymity. Of course, every time I pawned something, I was forced to turn over my driver’s license as well as my current phone number and home address.

Mars parked and we got out, walking into the air-conditioned store moments later. It was like being hit by a breath of fresh air after the heat of the morning. Late August in Vegas promised to be hotter than hell by noon if it was already ninety in the shade. The store was already busy with customers, everyone buying or selling. I’d never stopped to wonder how many people frequented these places to feed a gambling addiction, but I assumed—considering how many of these there were in town—it had to be a hell of a lot.

I could feel the two FBI agents behind me as I found an empty spot at the counter. I pulled a velvet pad over and Mars emptied the things out onto the pad, quickly tucking the bag away before anyone spotted it. He sent me a wink, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. He’d obviously been thinking something similar to me…that it would have been strange to bring an evidence bag to the pawn broker. A guy came over as I arranged things on the pad.

After several minutes of negotiations, we settled on a little more than four hundred dollars for the whole lot, more than enough to meet my financial obligations and still have a little money to put away for myself. I’m sure it didn’t hurt to have a couple of big guys who looked like they could have been linebackers flanking me on either side as I negotiated. I was getting ready to leave when I spotted an orange and black Baltimore Orioles’ baseball cap on a shelf behind the guy I’d been talking to.

“Hey, can I see that?”

The guy got it down from the shelf and handed it to me. I examined it, noticing it still had a price tag from the store where someone had originally purchased it. “I’ll take this too.”

He nodded and shoved the cap into a plastic bag for me after I paid for it.

“Thanks so much, guys,” I said, tucking the money away as we left the shop.

“Yeah, no problem,” Mickey said as we headed toward Mars’ vehicle.

We slid back into the car and I gave the address for Shady Grove to Mars so he could plug it into his navigation system. “I really can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you did for me back there. You’ve both been really great about all this.”

Mars glanced back at me, wearing a little smile. It lit up his eyes and not for the first time, I wished I’d met a guy like him under different circumstances. I’d never dated a whole lot, preferring to pick up guys in bars for one-night-stands when I felt the urge, but if I had, I would’ve felt lucky to meet a guy like Mars. Just imagining him lying over me, pumping into my body in long, strong strokes, made me shiver all over.

He pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later. We got out and walked down the flagstone path, sheltered by towering oaks. I’d loved the clean look of the Spanish hacienda style structure the second I’d seen it. When the double doors swished open, we were hit by sweet smelling air-conditioning. It was a relief after the heat of outdoors and I wiped sweat off the back of my neck as I strolled up to the check-in desk. A receptionist looked up as I picked up a pen and signed in.

“I’m here to pay for Mary Demarco.”

She smiled and began typing with a little nod. “Okay, Mr. Ranger is in his office.” She glanced up. “Would you like to see your mom, Mr. Demarco?”

I grinned. “Yes.”

“They’re out in the back. Today is wheelchair calisthenics. Mrs. Moss is teaching today.” She pointed. “You know where Mr. Ranger’s office is?”

“Yeah. Thanks so much.” I turned to Mars. “Are you coming with me or do you wanna wait?”

“If ya don’t mind, we’ll come with ya.”

I shrugged. “Sure. This way.” I headed down the hall, stopping at Mr. Ranger’s office and knocking on the closed door.

“Come in.”

I stepped into the office with the two FBI agents at my back. The smallish Mr. Ranger was seated behind a desk piled high with patient files. He looked up with a big smile which fell away the second he saw who’d come into the room. I reached into my jacket, pulling out the wad of bills I’d gotten from the pawn broker.

“Hi, Mr. Ranger. I’m here to pay the rest of what I owe for this month.”

“Yes…Mr. Demarco.” He sniffed, reaching for a file. “I’m glad you made it. I had your mom’s file on my desk to do paperwork just in case you decided to default this month…again.”

I felt my knees go weak. I’d missed several deadlines over the last three years but always came through in the end. One time, I’d come running in with the balance of my payment after Ranger had already processed her file only to find that she’d already been scheduled for a pickup by the State-run facility van. I’d begged and pleaded. Finally Ranger had relented and let me keep her there, but only after I’d practically begged on bended knee. After that, I’d always tried to be on time with my payments, never going beyond the three-day grace period.

“You know I always make my payments,” I said, counting out three hundred bucks and shoving it at him.