Page 35 of Killer Body

“No way.” His voice was as quiet and full of whispered conspiracy as hers. “I can probably get you fifty for around twenty bucks.”

She hadn’t expected anything this reasonable. Jesse had scored the first Clen for her when her series was still going. Thatwas almost four years ago, and Blond’s price was better. She tried to remember the dosage.

“I can take, what? Six a day?”

He grabbed his hair as if pulling it out by the roots. “That is just so ballistic.”

“Calm down. I did it before.”

Something new, an emotion he hadn’t exhibited previously, set his face as if it were a photograph. “Who told you to take that much?”

And before she could reply, “Don’t do it again, Shel.”

She nodded. He was right. The last time she’d been so shaky, so jumpy, she’d had to take way too much Valium just to claim a decent night’s sleep.

Blond had this way of making you feel it was just the two of you. As she looked around, she realized that, for once, it was true. Few people remained on the floor.

“Guess we’d better get out of here,” she said. “I’ll pay attention to what you said.”

He gave her a hug. “You’re in great shape, Shel. You’re wonderful.”

“And Princess Gabby?”

He had to look away before he could face her.

“She’s hot, but that doesn’t mean jack shit. Stuff like this always comes down to who wants it, and you want it more than anyone.”

“You’d better believe it.”

“The Clen will do the rest.”

“And if the Clen doesn’t work?”

“It always works.”

The club felt more like a warehouse. For the first time, this young boy trainer looked like a neophyte with all of his directives and platitudes.

She squeezed his thick arm. “What if the Clen doesn’t do enough, Blond? What if I can’t lose what I need to?”

“Then,” he said, “I can get some toys that will.”

“Toys?”

“That’s what the bodybuilders call them.”

The word intrigued her, as did the thought. “Toys,” she repeated. “Why don’t you look into that for me? Just in case.”

Rikki

After I leave Pete, I call Dennis Hamilton and tell him I’m going to be spending the night in town and am going to drop by the office in the morning. He asks if I want to have a drink or dinner. Translated: Would I like to drink with him or eat while he drinks?

After my short visit with Pete, I don’t feel like talking to anyone, so I decline Dennis’s invitation. I need time to think and plan. Tania Marie actually lived up to her promise and gave me all of her Killer Body literature, but I learned little from it that I didn’t already know.

Bobby Warren, world-famous bodybuilder and inventor of revolutionary exercise equipment, started the program when he was trying to help his wife, Dolores, lose weight. It worked, Dolores lost, and Killer Body gained.

Crazed with success, Bobby Warren went national. Now Killer Body is the top weight-loss program in the country, in dollars, at least. Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss don’t even come close. The secret is the spokesperson.Wasthe spokesperson. Julie Larimore.

It’s her image that dominates the centers’ walls and windows, although constant videos feature “real people,” as Killer Body calls them, who’ve achieved major weight loss with the program.Members meet daily with counselors, taking responsibility for every morsel they put into their mouths.