"Sir, she just gestured to the cart. I think she's telling him to take it out with him."
Dani watched the man. "What's your name?" she repeated.
"None of your fucking business!" he spat, "Why do you keep asking me?"
"Just wondering."
His mask was heating up now and he yelled to Beamer, "What's going on?"
The man came up to the cage window. "Swat and regular police all over the place, man. We gotta take her with us, or we'll never get out of here."
Logan nodded.
"Did you grow up in foster homes?" she asked Logan while Beamer turned around and aimed his gun at the guards.
He watched her warily. "Why?"
"I did. It wasn't fun. It was really, really hard."
"So, what does that mean to me?"
"If you kill us," she told him, as she waved towards the unconscious Marie, "it will all be for nothing."
"What?"
But then the woman started to cry and tears ran down her face. "I was going to get my GED, you understand? So I could really be something. And Marie was registered for college. Didn't you ever want to be something? Or wasn't there someone you really loved so much, then they left you?"
Al stood listening, as he edged closer. That explained it all. What an idiot he'd been to be so angry. He should have known it was something important to her, the reason she'd wanted to stay in her suite. He should have talked to her about it. If only he was in the cage right now to help her, he thought.
Logan's gun wavered. "Yeah," he said quietly, "I had a coach one time..." his voice drifted off as the memories took over.
"Would he be proud of you now?" she asked softly.
Beamer interrupted, "What are you doing in there? Hurry up and bring the girl."
Logan increased his grip on the gun, and waived it now towards the outside door. "Let's go."
"Give yourself up," she whispered. "It's the only way. They won't be as hard on you. And you can see the coach."
He groaned, held his head, and walked back and forth waving his gun, as he threw off his ski mask. "Logan...my name is Logan."
"Sir," Robert said into the phone, "he's gesturing with the gun. They need to do something pretty quick here. He looks stressed."
Candy moved next to Al. "I can take the outside one. And Matt can get the one inside the cage if we can somehow tell Dani to duck."
He nodded. "Let me try something first. That's a last resort. I don't want Dani shot."
The phone in the cage rang. Logan looked at it, and stopped his pacing. "What?" he said into the receiver.
A smooth voice said, "My name is Al Scaletti. I am the owner of this casino. I will give you anything you want, but please do not harm your hostage. She is one of our dancers, and very valuable to us. What can I get for you?" Al wasn't about to tell this man that Dani was his girlfriend, it would just fuel the fire and make things worse.
Logan felt the sweat rolling down his back as he replied, "Money. From the count room. I know there's a lot more back there, and we can't get to it. That, plus a car."
Beamer gave him a quick glance and thumbs up sign. Scaletti agreed to his demands, and a few minutes later, he heard the squeak of cart wheels and buzzing of the doors opening. Someone rolled a cart full of money into the room then closed the door.
"Just put the bag and the safe money on the one cart," he told Dani.
"Okay, Logan." And she did as he requested.
"Now, we just wait for the car," he said.
The phone rang five minutes later. "Your car is in back," Scaletti told him. "The keys are in the ignition and the police have been told not to shoot or follow you."
After he hung up, Logan yelled at Beamer, "Car's out back."
He replied, without looking around, "Get the girl and we're out of here."
But Logan hesitated as the woman looked at him with the green eyes. He knew he could never kill her, but could Beamer?
"I have to take you out now," he said, grabbing her around the neck. He rolled the cart up to the door, and waved his gun. The buzzer sounded, and he wrestled Dani and the cart to the outer door, where the same thing happened, he was buzzed out.
Soon, he was faced with thirty guards in various positions around him, all with hands on their holsters, ready to pull their guns. Except for the squeaking of the cart wheels, which Beamer now took from him, there wasn't a sound in the casino.
"Let's go," Beamer said urgently as he rolled the cart, "they're all over the fucking place."
They spotted the car, a newer mid-sized car, with its engine running, by the back door of the casino. Heat blasted them as the doors to the outside opened, and Logan saw flashes of red and blue police lights, and heard the click of rifles and handguns. Swat team was everywhere, even the top of a neighboring casino. And all the guns were trained on the three of them now.
Quickly, Beamer loaded the money into the back seat, swearing. Yet he looked happy at the same time.
"Bring the girl," he told Logan loudly.
But Logan hesitated, as his arm tightened around her neck. "What for?"
Beamer looked at him incredulously, as he ran to the driver's seat. "We'll never make it to the end of the driveway without her."
He heard her whisper then. "You'll never make it anyway. Give up now. While you still have a chance, Logan."
Frozen now, he stared at Beamer, then at the money. The man would gamble it away again, he was sure. And shortly, kill the girl. Watching Beamer's face, he was sure of it.
"Take it!" he said to Beamer.
Logan grabbed the girl by her upper arm, running with her back into the casino.
And she sprinted off to one side, as he dropped his gun onto the carpet and raised his hands.
"Marie!" Dani screamed, as she ran towards the cage window.
Al stopped her, stood in front of her, and said "It's okay, Dani. She's fine, just look."
Marie sat in a chair, inside the cage, as someone held ice on her head.
"Dani." He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "It's okay now. You're going to be fine." His hands came around her back, and he held her close as she sobbed.
Cheers sounded from the dimly lit surveillance room as well as security room, guards Candy and Matt high-fived, and the pull team went to have their lunch.
Chapter 18
The next morning, Al woke early, and looked at Dani, as she slept soundly in his penthouse bed. He pushed her hair back over her face, as his eyes roved over her bare shoulders, then back to her flushed cheeks and pouting lips.
Her eyes opened, startled at first, then came back to rest on his face.
"You okay?" he whispered, while he edged his body closer to hers.
She nodded and her lips found his.
Already aroused from just the sight of her, his hardness increased and he groaned.
"Mmmm, how can you be so beautiful so early in the morning?" he whispered against her lips, as his hand came up to stroke her breast. Her sharp intake of breath just made him harder, as her nipple reacted to his touch.
"You like that?" he asked her, now nuzzling her neck, while his lips roved up and down her silky skin, then came to rest on the same nipple.
Trying to guide him into her, she said urgently, "I need you. Right now."
He laughed softly. "You don't want me to do this?" His finger found her wetness, moved inside her and he could feel her tightening around it. "You are so very responsive, Dani, I can feel you." His finger moved in and out then roved over her bud and massaged it as she gasped, and moved closer towards him. Soon, her body tensed and she found release.
Unable to wait any longer, he rolled her onto her back and entered her swiftly, so fast she looked at him with amazement, while he gave her all of him, increasing his thrusts as she moaned.
He had to stop then. She looked up at him.
"No, Dani, it's not over yet," he said softly, pulling out of her. "Turn over," he whispered.
On her stomach
now, he entered her from behind, relishing the feel of her hair falling around them, and her silken skin, as he drove into her.
Dani felt like she was exploding inside and out, as his thrusts increased, faster and faster, filling her with what she'd needed for so long. Her hips rose up to meet him, and she balanced on her arms now.
His lips moved against the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine, while his hands roved on her breasts and stomach, then to her bud, smoothing it, moving it, while she cried out.
She heard him whispering, "Bellissimo...bella..."
As she rose up, her hands came over his, moving her breasts, then down to her wetness. He came deep within her then, deep, deep within her, as she cried out to him.
An hour later, Robert watched Lefty and a redhead get into the penthouse elevator. "Boy, he likes them young."
Lefty walked in to see Al, and threw several newspapers on his desk. He noticed Al's hair was wet from the shower, and he smiled. "New headlines, take a look boss."
One paper was better than the rest, they thought after they discussed the pictures for a minute. It showed a picture of Kim and Dani, almost done dancing, their arms high in the air, with their hair flying around them. The headline read, 'Double Trouble.'"Exceptional," Al said.
Dani came in then, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans with bare feet. "Hi, Lefty. What's up?"
"Have a surprise for you." He gave a low whistle, before he said, "Danielle Louise Troubix I'd like you to meet your sister, Olivia Ann Troubix."
Dani gasped as a redhead came in the room. Her hair was to her shoulders, but other than that, she was almost identical to Dani. "I've been looking for you, Dani." She said, before she began sobbing. She walked up, and hugged Dani tight.
"Oh, Olivia, I can't believe this," Dani cried, as tears ran down her face.
Al and Lefty went downstairs, leaving the two alone for a while, and Dani found out Olivia was twenty-two and she'd also been in foster care. But, her sister remembered about Dani and had searched for her fruitlessly until Lefty contacted her. They liked the same foods, clothes, music and Olivia also loved to dance.
Robert saw the two redheads come down in the elevator an hour later. "Holy shit! Look at this, Les."
Les zoomed his camera in. "Well," he said slowly, "check out the rock on Dani's ring finger. That's something new. It must be ten carats. But..." he zoomed in again, "I don't see any ring on Red number two. So, guy, she's fair game."
Robert laughed. "Think she'd go for an old thirty year old like me?"
"Never know until you try."
When Dani and Olivia reached the coffee shop, Dani pulled her back. "Look at Lefty!" she exclaimed.
The man sat talking and laughing with Stutgart, who wore a simple, flattering black dress and heels.
"She nailed it," Dani laughed.
As they stood talking, Charlene walked up to Dani.
"So," Dani said, "did you give Teeny his massage? When I spoke with him, he told me he'd never had one."
"Oh," Charlene laughed, "he got one all right. I yelled at him about his weight, and he turned over and hugged me, the beast. We've got a date tonight."
"Well where are we going?" Kim insisted, as Tony led her to the back door of the casino.
"I told you, it's a surprise."
But, as he spotted the limo, he picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" she squealed. "Put me down. Right now."
"You said I was a caveman. So, you were right."
The limo driver grinned and opened the door for them.
Tony dumped her in the backmost seat. "You're my new lead dancer in Atlantic City. And you're going to marry me."
She gasped, as she stared at him, disbelieving.
"Now," he said, as the limo took off, and he shucked off his jacket, "strip."
She peered at him, and her eyes were slits now. "Make me."
*****
THE END
Dear reader,
I felt I must add here that having worked in more than one casino in my lifetime, if I told you how to really rob a casino I would be disrespecting them and myself. So a few liberties were taken here and there in my book to signify non-existent weaknesses in their systems, and so as not to betray the trust they put in me.
Also, I have the greatest respect for Vegas showgirls. They are absolutely sensational, intelligent and a very hard-working bunch of women. That's why I felt the need to write about them and also Scaletti, may he forever exist in all our imaginations!
Love you all, hard at work on another book, and reviews are always appreciated!
Nancy
Romance in Vegas - Showgirl! Page 15