by Scott, D. D.
“I’d like to interrupt this fine evening’s celebration with a very special announcement,” he said, his attempt at ringmaster formality both cute and sexy as hell.
“Our Mom-to-Be has let me know she’s finally decided on our nursery colors,” he said, ushering for Audrey to take the lead from there.
She cleared her throat and did her best to straighten her worn-out body against the comfy wood of her chair back, not sure she could pull-off the aura of dignity, pomp and circumstance Damian had set the tone for, but she was determined to give it a whirl.
“Look around you, Folks, at life beneath the big top,” she said, unable to hide the joy she herself felt for having finally settled on a color scheme, and a choice that she hoped made her children feel as happy, carefree and loved as she did tonight.
“Bravo,” Jules spoke up first, fingering the yellow table cloth, the brilliant blue of their water glasses and pointing to the brilliantly drama-heavy curtains and fine red rugs. “And I know Roxy is tickled pink…well red, I guess, right Rox?”
“Mock all you want, JuJu, but I don’t think it ever hurts to protect your brood from the Nien beast,” Roxy said then rolled her eyes and did her trademark tsked tsked, with her perfectly manicured hands, as if to once again brush off Jules’ good-natured dig.
“The what beast?” Zayne cut-in. “Are you sure it’s just water in that glass? I love ya, woman, but damn you pop off with the craziest shit sometimes.”
Roxy flicked Zayne’s head with her napkin then covered his mouth with a huge smooch, before telling the table of beyond enraptured guests the significance of red to ward off the Nien beast of Chinese New Year lore.
“Is that why you’re wearing red tonight, Babycakes?” Zayne whispered into Audrey’s ear.
Audrey nodded her head.
“And, if Ms. Chinese New Year gets her way, that’s all I’ll be wearing ‘til we’re done with this whole saga,” Audrey said then kissed Damian’s ear, ‘cause well, she just couldn’t resist, and he’d kissed hers first.
As much as she wanted to see the show, she’d really like to be in their villa, just the two of them, in their bed, doing whatever it is they could do with twins between them.
Done with their scrumptious meal and ready to be served the best looking tiramisu Audrey had ever seen, other than Jules’ version, she finally felt as if she were starting to relax. At least relax, as best she could, given her circumstances.
This night — heck this entire day — was something she’d sooo needed to shore up what was left of her sanity.
She was even glad they’d invited Zoey, and Roman too, to join them. Well, actually, they didn’t have much choice. Per Roman’s orders, Audrey was only allowed to go out of the villa with at least two handlers present. And she certainly wasn’t spending the evening with the other marshal monkeys who they didn’t know at all.
For only just arriving in Vegas, while she and the girls were putting a hurting on The Forum, Roman was turning out to be a real killjoy.
But Zoey seemed to enjoy his company, and at least the guy was laughing along with Roxy’s wild antics — tight, thin lipped laughs but naturally amused or somewhat believably amused all the same.
How one could not be cracked up by Roxy’s shenanigans was something Audrey never thought she’d witness.
They hadn’t even had the chance to dip their dessert spoons into the cocoa topping of their tiramisu when Roxy started in again.
“I mean you should have seen those paps. These guys damn near had drool frothing and foaming at their mouths while snapping pictures of Celine. Except for this one dude…”
“You mean you were the one frothing and foaming,” Jules said, between giggles and you-know-it looks aimed Audrey’s way, “because you were sharing the spotlight with Celine.”
“Wait a minute,” Killjoy Roman cut-in and ever so quietly, but with a rather disturbing and deliberate manner, replaced his spoon next to his dessert then cleared the yellow glass dish from his place setting. “What do you mean by…except for this one dude?”
An awkward silence fell over the table, all eyes immediately focused and ears abruptly turned to hear Roxy’s response.
Audrey could feel her hands suddenly grow clammy. Soon, her heart rate rapidly shot up several notches.
Damian scooted his chair closer to hers and slipped his gorgeous, sport-coated arm around the top and back of her chair. Evidently determining he still wasn’t close enough, he moved the chair in further so that his leg touched hers.
Roxy was clearly unsettled by Roman’s inquiry. She didn’t even continue eating, which she had a habit of doing while she kept talking, using her utensils for accent points.
“Okay,” she said, taking a huge, unsteady breath, her eyes pleading with Audrey how sorry she was for getting Killjoy’s BVDs in a wad, “so there were like a thousand paparazzi snapping shots…”
“Fifteen to twenty,” Jules corrected.
“Whatever,” Roxy said, glaring at Jules. “The maniacs’ cameras were going ballistic. All except for this one dude who didn’t have a camera.”
“What do you mean he didn’t have a camera?” Roman asked, tilting his head at a strange slant as if cracking pressure building up in his muscles.
“Well…he…did…not…have…a camera. You know, one of those things with a lens that photographers use to take pictures,” Roxy said, daring Roman to try her on that definition.
“Yes, Ms. Vaughn, I’m well aware of what a camera looks like, and in fact, after the show, I’m going to have a few snapshots I’m going to need you to look at,” Roman said, then leaned in close to Roxy’s face. “Snapshots would be another word for the pictures photographers take.”
“Touché, Killjoy,” Roxy said. “Jesus, what has your panties in a bunch?”
“My shorts are torqued because you never mentioned this to me earlier when I asked you if there was anything weird about what you saw today in the mall,” Roman scooted his chair back and tossed his napkin onto the table.
“I didn’t mention it, Special Agent Bellesconi, because I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Roxy said then lowered her head and played with the edges of the Tuscan yellow table linens.
“Let me repeat so that all of you, including Ms. Vaughn, get this. Anything, in any way, not fitting with, or different from, everything else you see or hear is very important to Audrey’s protection,” Roman said, a dead serious darkness settling into his low and deep voice.
Audrey couldn’t take the cat and mouse games anymore.
“What does this mean? Zoey? Roman?” She asked.
“I’m not sure,” Zoey said shaking her head and looking to Roman for answers she looked as if she hoped he had.
“I’m not either at this point. But if you all will excuse Special Agent Witherspoon and I, I’m afraid we won’t be able to make it to the show. We’ve got work to do. I’ll send down at least two agents, probably a few more. In the mean time, you all go, enjoy your evening, then I’d appreciate it if you’d return directly to the villa as I’ll need to debrief all of you on what Witherspoon and I find.”
“Are you sure it’s safe for us to attend the show?” Damian asked, feeling horrible seeing the disappointment in Audrey’s face.
But he felt worse, much worse, seeing the fear wash back through her eyes and body. A fear that today, for the first time, he’d seen begin to be controlled, or at least overshadowed, by the presence of having their friends here in Vegas.
Her eyes, once almost the gorgeous clear blue of their drinking glasses, had returned to the clouded hints of their recent past.
No matter how long they continued to live this nightmare, Damian would never forget nor quit trying everything he knew how to do to get that fantastic, free-spirited blue back into her eyes. The same blue in pictures he’d seen of Audrey, Roxy and Jules when they still lived in Manhattan. A crystal sweet and unassuming blue he’d yet to see on the woman he loved more than anything.
“Yes, I
do believe you’ll be safe in the theatre setting tonight. These kinds of people don’t make public scenes. So you’ve got nothing to worry about there,” Zoey attempted to reassure Damian.
No offense, but he wanted to hear it from the guy heading up their own private circus.
Why pay two hundred dollars a ticket, he harrumphed to himself, when you’ve got your own group of clowns every day?
“Roman?” He asked, seeing the stab of hurt in Zoey’s eyes but not really giving a shit.
This was Audrey, his woman, and their children, plus the safety of their friends he was after here. He didn’t give a shit who he pissed off with his questions.
“Yes. I agree with Zoey. You’ll be fine tonight. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve really got work to do. Zoey?” Roman stood up from the table and pushed out Zoey’s chair, swiftly getting her moving with him out of the restaurant.
As soon as they were out of earshot - although Damian hoped the goons had ways of hearing everything that went on with them…okay, not everything, Roxy spoke.
“Damn, I’m sorry. Me and my big mouth,” she said.
“No, Honey. I think you did good this time. No great,” Zayne said, kissing her forehead and patting her upper arm for reassurance.
“Yes, Rox. Zayne is right. Roman and Zoey needed that information,” Jules offered, hugging Cody closer to her and shivering, if Damian wasn’t mistaken, as if she were suddenly chilled, or rather afraid like the rest of them probably were too.
“Okay, people. Enough of this horseshit. I’ve had a terrific day today, and I’m not about to let anyone or anything ruin that. We’ve got a fabulous show under a big-top waiting for us. Let’s do this,” Audrey said, pushing back her chair with a sudden burst of energy.
Surprising Damian with her sudden move, he quickly cleared her space and helped her to her feet, placing one hand on her belly and his other at the base of her back to help support her awkward rise from the table.
“Oh,” she whispered, with a quick grab of her baby belly. “Did you feel that, Honey?”
Damian couldn’t believe it. But he had. He had felt something. Like a little flutter kick, like you’d see a toddler doing at his first swim lesson.
“I did, Baby. I certainly did feel it,” he said, a sense of pride and sheer joy warming his restless spirit.
“Folks, I’m a thinkin’ our children agree with their mom. They want to go to the circus. Well a Cirque du Suleil spin on a circus that is,” Damian said, enjoying the amused looks on their friends’ faces.
“Well then, who are we to disappoint the newest members of our group,” Jules said, leaning in to kiss Audrey’s cheek while at the same time tucking her big red shawl carefully around her mid-section.
Entering the theatre a few moments later, Damian couldn’t believe the atmosphere. He’d never seen anything like this. Wow! What a thing to be at.
The second the huge dramatic drapes to the theatre entrance opened, a clown carrying an umbrella, in a costume and perfect make-up that looked like one of Roxy’s fancy schmancy Halloween get-ups, began escorting them to their seats.
And if Damian wasn’t there, he’d have never believed it, but he could not only hear raindrops falling from the roof of the place, he could see them bouncing off the clown’s umbrella which the little dude stopped every few feet to shake off. But somehow, none of them got wet. Cool.
It was so nice to hear Audrey giggling with the girls while all this was happening.
He missed hearing her laugh like the little girl he thought very soon might look an awful lot like her mom, well he hoped she sure did anyway. And she’d be anxious too to see the show with her Mommy and Daddy when they brought her and her sibling back to this magical hotel.
He bought a program from the next ridiculously cute clown that passed by, a clown with eyelashes that looked bigger than she was.
Sharing the program with Audrey, he studied the descriptions, really not sure what they were about to see. He’d just bought all the tickets ‘cause Audrey said it was something she’d always wanted to see. And that was a good enough reason for him.
Apparently, this was to be a show with world-class acrobats, synchronized swimmers, divers and characters, all put together in a surreal aquatic tapestry. Whatever the hell that meant.
But so far it was pretty cool. So he was good with that. And even if he didn’t care for the show, he’d love the evening because he knew Audrey was getting a treat that she so desperately deserved.
But as soon as the huge, dark blue velvet curtains opened across the stage, and the stage floor became a series of gigantic pools with swimmers going in and popping out, Damian was hooked.
Divers fell out of the ceiling, which was so high up, Damian couldn’t even see the platforms from which they dove. At the same time, performers rose out of the pools, and leapt into the pools, while big ass boats, swung on ropes before sinking into the water.
And when the piano being played, along with its player and cast, disappeared beneath the water, on who only knew what kind of hydraulic something or other, Damian was beyond amazed.
He’d sure as hell never seen anything like this in Tennessee.
He and Audrey would so bring their kids back to see this super cool show. No doubts about it.
An hour and forty-five minutes later, after a show that really was the best, most amazing thing he’d ever seen, and a show he’d never again complain about regarding what appeared to be at first an ungodly price, but a price he now knew was worth every penny, the theatre’s lights went up.
He stood up stretching his legs then helped Audrey, who had to be one cramped up mess after sitting that long.
Seeing the huge smile on her face made him so glad he’d surprised all of them with the tickets. He’d done good on this one. Real good, he decided.
Just like when they came in to the theatre, a quirky clown was there to escort them from their seats.
Although this one was much taller than all the others, and Damian, honestly, didn’t like the way the guy was looking at Audrey.
And he didn’t think it was the effect of the make-up. In fact, this dude’s make-up was half as well done as the rest of the clowns. Half as good at best. Yeah. That didn’t fit with everything else around them in this first class show.
He immediately pulled Cody by the back of his sport jacket in a direction to block the clown’s access to Audrey.
“Audrey, just don’t look up, Baby, and do exactly what I tell you. Play this with me,” Damian said as quietly and calmly as he could without scaring her. “Code Red Dragon.”
He said it loud enough so Cody could hear too, and that set forth a sequence of events they’d all rehearsed with Roman for just this type of moment.
Audrey immediately doubled over as if she were sick, followed by Cody and Zayne moving into place with lightning fast action to shield her body, and Jules and Roxy started making a commotion telling everyone around them they’re friend was sick to please step aside.
Okay…so Roxy didn’t quite say it that tactfully. But damn, people moved when that woman went-off.
They hadn’t even gotten Audrey past the clown from Hell when Roxy stopped and shouted, loud enough for anyone still in the theatre to hear her, “Oh my God. It’s him. It’s fuckin’ him. The dude without the camera.”
The theatre once again went black, lit only by the emergency exit lights…all the help they needed to carry out the next part of Roman’s plan.
Chapter Fifteen
Once they’d stepped off the private elevator leading into the foyer of their Bellagio villa, Damian felt as if he were in the eye of one huge ass tornado. Except this tornado wasn’t ripping through his property, it was roaring through his heart.
He’d kept his cool in the O theatre — hell, they all had — and done just what Roman had practiced with them in the event something of this magnitude should occur.
But the aftermath of this dizzying vacuum of life as they now knew it was taking a toll.
A damn big toll on Damian’s nerves.
“What the hell happened down there?” He demanded of Roman, who along with a large contingency, greeted them as soon as the elevator door opened then ushered them into the villa’s living room.
“I thought you said these assholes wouldn’t attack in public?” He asked, unable to hold back his fear and frustration any longer.
“They didn’t attack you. I was right about that,” Roman said, his voice never lifting from the strong, determined depth Damian knew meant that he had much more to tell them, and many questions and answers to fill-in. “But I never said they wouldn’t continue to put pressure on you and continue to hunt you down.”
“Why don’t you all have a seat?” Zoey spoke-up, fluffing the huge pillows on the couches, then settling all three girls, Audrey first, into the false coziness the fancy furniture offered. “There are a few things Roman and I need to discuss with you.”
Damian wanted to stay with Audrey and hold her close, but Roxy and Jules were already well within her personal space, so Damian took to the bar stools with Zayne and Cody having his back.
“Start talking,” Damian demanded. “We’re all ears.”
“Very good,” Roman said, picking-up the remote to the home theatre system and aiming it at the wall-mounted flat screen.
With the click of a few buttons on the remote, followed by some maneuvering on his laptop, Roman had some sort of high-tech, FBI profiling presentation on their TV.
For a moment it seemed, they were about to leave real life and become actors in some bizarre action movie. Any minute, Damian thought, tough guys like Stallone, Rourke, Willis, Schwarznegger, Statham and Li would storm their villa and become their own personal Expendables.
‘Course, the rate they were going, that might not be far off in their future. They might need that kind of kick ass, take no prisoners force to see them through this.
“I need you all to take a look at these photos,” Roman said, putting a series of six headshots on the flat screen.
Seeing the photos lined-up in front of them, an eerie green, electronic grid zipping and zapping between them, only added to Damian’s certainty that they were no longer in real life but in some high-tech action flick.