I rolled my eyes again and turned away. Yep, I should've figured it was Sketchy. Mom had told me enough about him as well as Cindy. And, he of all people, was not the person I needed to meet up when Mom was in heat.

"So, Cindy," he said. "Are you going to introduce me to your sweet friend or just leave me hangin' here?"

"Back off or Original Cindy hafta-" she began, raising her hand in the air as if she meant to smack him.

"I can handle this," I told her.

I sauntered up to him, knowing full well that his eyes were following every curve of my body. Mom had told that he had a one-track mind. Unfortunately, his mind thought of the one thing that I was trying to stop that day.

Being the mind-reader that I was, I figured out that I could get rid of him efficiently enough. He wanted me, but I definitely did not want him. And, I'd try to be nice and not hurt him too badly-just cool him down a bit.

"Hey baby," I cooed as I ambled up to him, swaying my hips more than necessary.

"Hey yourself."

I giggled like a ditz. "Why'd you say your name was? I didn't catch it," I said as I ran a hand over his shoulder. Ugh, he smelled like beer and smoke. It was far too obvious from his eyes that he had spent one too many nights at the bar.

"It-it's Sketchy."

"Sketchy," I hissed, purposefully drawing the "S" out longer than necessary as I ran my tongue over my top teeth.

"What's yours?"

"Alanza." I glanced back at Original Cindy, who was crossing her arms and staring at us, extremely confused as to what I was up to. If I could've, I would've told her that everything was aiight.

"Y'know, Alanza, you wanna go somewhere besides this place and…uh…grab somethin' to eat?" Uh-huh, I thought doubtfully. You want to grab more than something to eat.

"I don't know, baby."

He smiled broadly, revealing teeth with horrendous stains. I suppressed my gagging and continued to smile. "Aw, c'mon, it's no big deal."

I gently ran my index finger along the backside of his collar, pressing in closer to him. "You sure, baby?"

Sketchy was starting to look rather panicked as I drew closer with my eyes glittering fiercely. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"You definitely sure?"

"Yeah…" I saw his eyes dart back over to Original Cindy for questioning. Not being able to see her, I assumed she had to look as perplexed as he did.

That's when I grabbed his collar in both hands, making tight little fists as I pulled him close. "Listen, buddy," I hissed, rather irritated by this time. Why I was even bothering with this creep was beyond me. "Do you know who I am? Huh?"

"Alanza?" he asked, his voice a pitch higher, for he obviously wasn't sure if that was the answer I wanted.

Angry, I shook him by the shirt. "Wrong answer. Max's daughter." When I saw his eyes widen in surprise, I grinned wryly. "Yeah, the Max you used to work with back at Jam Pony. So, listen here, I'm not any little sex toy that you can mess with. Max is back here and, if you're not careful, Original Cindy will give you the smack-down as well."

"But I-" he protested, trying to pull away from my tight grasp.

I yanked him back, closer to me, nearly snapping his head right off of his. "But you nothin'! I'm on a very tight schedule, thank you very much. I have to go save the city of Seattle from a genetically engineered freak with far too much estrogen, then I should go check up on a man who is walking after eighteen years of paralysis due to revved up blood, and after that, I hope to see my boyfriend, who, thank god, isn't sprouting horns yet. Got it?"

He nodded blankly, and I let go of his shirt, pushing him backwards harder than I intended. Sprawling, he fell into a rack of clothes, sending 50% off bras and panties tumbling onto his forehead.

Cindy scurried over to clean up the mess more than help him, but shook her head and gave me a friendly smile as I left. "He got it, boo," she said, and I headed out the door.