by M J Rutter
“It won’t happen again,” he assured, “I think we were hustled, I certainly won’t be falling for it again. Maybe it’s because you weren’t there with me,” he smiled squeezing my hand.
“I told you, I am not lucky, never have been.” I grumbled. “You’d be better off not gambling at all around me, I have probably jinxed you all.”
“As long as I have you, then I am a lucky man,” Alec muttered and kissed my exposed shoulder.
The Hoover Dam was bigger than it looked on any of the movies I had seen. Bright white in the lunch time sun, I pulled on my sunglasses and gazed at the cloudless, turquoise sky above us.
“This is my fourth trip to Vegas and the first time I have ever come here,” Alec said taking my hand in his.
“It’s extremely impressive,” I remarked looking around.
“We are booked on the twelve-thirty tour,” Elisa called over to us. “I think it’s this way.”
We joined her and Warren and followed a tour guide around as he showed the history of the dam in the small museum, then he led us to the engineer’s room where he talked about the mechanical side of the dam and final we got to walk across the top. Elisa took loads of pictures of Alec and I, as we posed in front of the dam. We then repaid the gesture by taking pictures of them and then we headed back to the car.
We stopped in Boulder City for lunch and had a look around a few of the shops in town. Alec didn’t seem impressed by our shopping spree so we decided to head back to Vegas ready for the Mob Museum. I discovered Alec’s passion for Al Capone together with twenties and thirties mobsters and gangs. He had been to Alcatraz and visited the museum in Chicago, he loved the stories surrounding the Prohibition era. One of his favourite movies turned out to be Casino, and the museum told us all about how the money funded their lives. I was actually surprised by how interesting it all was.
For dinner we went to the famous steak house, Oscars. The owner Mayor Oscar Goodman was the reason Vegas had a mob museum in the first place. It had only been open a year and Mayor Goodman had inaugurated the museum, apparently, he was the mobsters lawyer, so had known them better than anyone. The tour guide recommended the steak house and we were not disappointed. The food was amazing as was the drink, a truly remarkable day and we all enjoyed ourselves.
As we arrived back at the hotel, we were greeted by the men who had hustled Warren and Alec the night before.
“Wanna try and win your money back, boys?” the large Texan wearing a huge hat and a white suit, asked.
“No thank you,” Alec frowned.
“What’s the matter, ain’t you got the balls or somethin’?” the other man with him asked. He had a smaller build and no hair. I frowned at them both.
“We may be British, but we were not born yesterday,” I snapped. “I doubt you even have a room in this hotel, do you?”
“That’s not your concern, little lady.” The Texan grinned.
“It’s my concern when we came here for our wedding and can’t get married now because my wally of a fiancé lost all of our money to you. So, now we have had to call off the wedding and we’re going home penniless, so thank you very much. You have ruined my big day.” I allowed my chin to wobble like I was going to cry.
“I am sorry, ma’am,” he frowned looking at Alec, “But we won fair and square.”
“Fine, just remember the next poor bloke you hustle, you might be ruining his life too.”
“Come on, sweetheart,” Alec said trying to take my hand.
“I told you last night, don’t touch me again.” I snapped pulling my hand away. “I am going to our room, it is not as if there is anything else to do, is there?” I shrugged and walked away. I stood at the lift waiting for it to arrive,
“Oh, you are good,” Elisa smiled.
“How so?”
“They have agreed to play roulette which is Warren’s game, rather than poker, to give them more of a chance to win their money back.”
I frowned and turned around, Alec was following them into the hotel’s casino, he winked as he walked in closely followed by Warren. “What if they lose again?” I asked.
“Well, it would serve them right.” She linked her arm with me, “Let’s hit the bar and get trashed. They have an amazing cocktail menu.” I looked over at the door to the casino, “They’ll find us when they are either richer or poorer and then you might get your dream wedding.” She grinned.
“That was just a hustling trick,” I explained.
“I know, Alec almost passed out when you did that, I think he even began to believe you too.”
We sat at the bar and I tried almost every cocktail on the list. None of them tasted like alcohol and by the time Alec and Warren found us, I was completely and utterly smashed off my face. I slipped off the stool and stumbled into Alec, he chuckled and said he would get me to bed.
“Did you win?” I asked as he helped me to the lift.
“Yes, well more than half of what I lost,” he replied.
“Good, so now we can have our wedding,” I chuckled.
“Very funny, Grace,” he murmured and pressed the button for the lift. I know I was ridiculously drunk, but I was aware of everything that happened, I just didn’t have my filter that would normally stop me from saying or doing anything too stupid. While in the lift I decided I wanted sex again, so pounced on Alec and tried to un-button his shirt. “Grace, can you wait till we get into our room?” he asked trying to stop me from unzipping his fly.
“But I want you now,” I pouted. “Don’t you want me?” I asked unbuttoning my dress.
“I do, God, I do, Grace, but in our room, okay?” he asked clasping my wrists to stop me stripping off. The doors opened with a ping and I almost fell out of the lift. Alec helped me to our room and closed the door. In the dark, I stumbled to the bedroom, pulled off my dress and fell onto the bed.
The light flicked on and Alec appeared at my head, “Let me take your shoes off.” He said and pulled them from my feet.
“I need to pee,” I moaned and tried to sit up. He helped me to the bathroom and switched on the light.
As I tried to wash my hands I gazed at my refection, it kept moving, but I thought I looked sexy. I pulled the clip out of my hair and scooped cold water into my mouth. When I got into the bedroom, Alec was making a drink.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Making you a cup of hot tea,” he replied.
“I don’t want tea,” I shook my head, “show me the vodka.”
“If you drink this, then you won’t be so hungover in the morning, alright?” he handed me the cup. “Drink this, be a good girl.”
I sipped the tea, “Now, can we have sex?” I asked.
“Get into bed first,” he told me. I gave him the tea back and removed my bra, throwing it in his face. He placed the tea beside me and pulled the sheet over my body.
“I will be back in two secs, okay?”
“Hurry,” I smiled, “I am so horny.”
“I promise,” he smiled and left the room. I frowned at the circle of light on the ceiling. Yawned and closed my eyes.
Fourteen
I felt so sick as soon as I became aware that I was in bed. I didn’t remember falling asleep, I remembered Alec promising to hurry and then that was it. I sat up and frowned at the sunlight shining through the window. I pushed off the covers and dressed in nothing but my knickers, I hurried to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before I threw up.
Why did I drink again? I knew I couldn’t handle it, but the cocktails tasted so good and none of them tasted like there was a ridiculous amount of alcohol in them, so it wasn’t really my fault. It was the bar tender’s for making them taste so lovely, or Elisa, she made me go in there, but really, it was Alec’s fault, he left me to go gambling again and I had nothing better to do than drink. As I threw up though, more and more, I realized that is was all my fault and my fault alone, no one forced me to drink, that was all me.
As I brushed my teeth,
I began to remember trying to strip off in the lift and have sex with Alec. I remembered being quite loud and I also remembered that I said we could have our wedding now. Two weeks I had known him and I thought it was okay to joke about something so serious, there was no excuse for that and I wondered if he saw it as a joke or if I had scared him off.
I gingerly stepped into the room, Alec was sat up in bed looking at his hands clasped across his lap.
“Morning,” he muttered without looking up.
“Morning,” I replied and hurried to grab a robe from the back of the chair. I pulled it over my body and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m um, I’m sorry, okay?”
“Sorry for what?” he asked and looked at me.
“I don’t know why I drank so much last night, I don’t know why I said what I said, I just know that I am sorry that I did on both counts.”
“Are you also sorry for trying to rape me in the lift?”
“I did not,” I frowned.
“You can be quite forceful when you want to be.”
“Yes, but I know I did not try and rape you in the lift.” Then I remembered trying to undress him, unzipping his fly. “Okay, maybe I did, but in my defence, I was so drunk and not responsible for my actions.”
“You were more than drunk,” he accused, “you were totally trashed.”
“So, I am now in your bad books too, I feel bad enough as it is.” I grumbled and tried to lie on the bed by his feet.
“Why did you drink so much?”
“I wanted to try some cocktails.” I replied, vomit raced up to my throat. “Oh God,” I said and sat up. Holding my hand over my mouth, I ran to the bathroom and only just made it again.
By the time I came out, Alec was dressed in shorts and a vest, sitting on the balcony sipping hot coffee. The smell alone turned my stomach.
“I made you some tea,” he said nodding his head towards the cup, there was not an ounce of compassion in his voice and I had no patience for his sulking.
“I think I will just stick to water,” I sighed and sat opposite him. “Are you going to punish me all day? I feel bad enough as it is.”
“I don’t know,” he frowned and sipped his drink.
“If you hadn’t have been so reckless and got yourself hustled in the first place, then we would have come back to our room and gone to bed early.” I stated sourly.
“You lied to those Texans and said we had to cancel our wedding, then you publicly scorn me for something that never happened and wasn’t true. After they took pity on me, a man who supposedly lost our life savings gambling away without any consideration for his fiancé, I tried to win back my money. Instead of going to our room, you behave like a teenager and try every sodding cocktail on the list.”
“Well excuse me for wanting to have a bit of fun. I didn’t realise that you wanted me to go to bed like a good little girl. I thought I was your equal, not your child.” I scorned and stood from the chair. “I take it I am grounded, so like a good little girl, I’ll go back to bed and I will flipping well stay there all sodding day.” I snapped and hurried back inside.
I fell into bed, I was too sick to try and make an effort and too angry at Alec. I was not his play thing, I was a human being and I had as much right to enjoy myself as he had. As stupid and immature as my actions were, I was already suffering enough without him adding to my pain with snarky comments and fighting with me.
Try as I might, I could not fall back to sleep. My swirling stomach and thumping head hurt too much to allow me to relax. Alec walked in slowly and placed a cup on the bed side cabinet, he stared at me for a few moments.
“I have to go and tell Warren to cancel our day out, you are not in any fit state to go anywhere.”
“I’m not, but there is nothing stopping you from going,” I retorted.
“I am not leaving you like this, you might need me.” He grumbled.
“Alec, please go, it’s bad enough that I have upset and disappointed you, but to see you look at me that way, I’d rather be alone.”
“You haven’t disappointed me,” he sighed and sat on the bed, “I was actually enjoying you with your hair let down. I suppose I am upset that we can’t go out today because I was taking you for a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.”
“Really?” I smiled slightly, two things I had always wanted to do, then I frowned remembering that I was terribly hung over and had ruined the day for everyone. “Maybe after some ibuprofen and a bit of toast, I’ll feel better.” A glimmer of hope flickered through his eyes. “At least you get to have your day out that way, even if I am not one hundred percent.”
“I wouldn’t want to force you out of bed though,” he sighed.
“You’re not, I can’t sleep anyway. Just get me some water and I’ll take some pills. I used to use them all the time when I was younger. I am sure they’ll work.” I sat up slowly.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To find my pills,” I replied.
“I’ll do that, just stay there.” He stood from the bed, “Which bag are they in?”
“My toiletry bag in the bathroom.” I replied. He left the room and determined to feel better, I took a mouthful of tea, forcing it down my throat. Alec returned with two pills in his hand and a glass of water. He held them out to me and I took them from him. Washing the pills down with water.
“You look awful, Grace, you are not going to cope in a helicopter today.”
“Watch me,” I half smiled and stood from the bed. “How long do we have?”
“An hour.” He replied.
“I’ll take a shower and get dressed.” I said and left him in the bedroom.
By the time I got out of the shower, I did feel a bit better. My headache had gone and my stomach didn’t seem to swirl so much. I dressed in shorts and a thin top, put my hair up into a curly ponytail and dabbed on a little makeup to at least look alive. When I emerged from the bathroom Alec was on the phone,
“No, of course not.” He muttered frowning at me and then he turned his back on me. “Well, that’s up to you, I can’t make you stay with me, but I’m warming you, Charles, if you leave, I will not give you a reference.” Whoever Charles was, he began yelling down the phone. “The man attacked my girlfriend in her room and tried to force himself upon her, how am I not justified in sacking him? He deserves a lot more than that, I can tell you.” He turned around to face me with anger all over his face. “Okay, I’ll leave you to consider it all then, just think about how you would feel if he tried it on with your wife. I won’t beg you to stay with us, but if you leave, I will miss you.” He ended the call.
“Am I causing this?” I asked.
“Charles and Gerald are friends, he wanted to know some facts and he threatened to leave.” He replied.
“I am so sorry,” I frowned.
“Let’s agree that Gerald got what he deserved and if I lost all of my staff, that is their choice. I have a hundred more waiting in the wings to replace them. No one indispensable.”
“No one?” I panicked slightly.
“Well, except you,” he winked his eye and I felt slightly better. “You look a lot better, how is the hangover?”
“Almost gone,” I lied. “Alec, I don’t want to be the reason your company folds…”
“My company will not fold, Gerald and Charles were good at what they did, but I can’t have my staff behaving that way and I certainly will not tolerate any insults or attacks on you. Grace, I came on a business trip and met a wonderful girl, how serious things are between us is nothing to do with anyone. I have never allowed my personal life to affect my work, so what I do and who I sleep with or go out with is no concern of theirs.” He affirmed adamantly. “Besides, I told you before, I have known gold diggers, I have even been out with a couple. You are nothing of the sort.” He added.
“You keep taking me on helicopter rides and jet planes, I could learn to be,” I grinned.
“Speaking of which, we had better get a move on.�
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It seemed Elisa was feeling just as rough as I did. She looked so pale and wouldn’t remove her sunglasses, not even when we got in the limo. She and Warren were also fighting, our behaviour had upset our men, whoopee do!
We headed out of the city to a small private air field just north of the strip. Smaller than the airport we left in LA with just a building with a waiting room, a strip of tarmac and a hanger. The hot sun burned down from a cloudless sky as we clambered out of the car and hurried towards the building. I prayed they had two things, a bathroom and air conditioning. I could hardly breathe.
Alec and Warren left us in the waiting room while they sorted out the paperwork, Elisa sighed for about the twentieth time in a matter of minutes.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“I got into a lot of trouble over last night,” she grumbled, “to top it all off, Warren dragged me out of my bed to do a ruddy helicopter ride I have already done a thousand times before, for you. I got us pickled to show you a good time and I get in trouble, then as punishment, I get dragged here because you have never been here before.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know this is what they had planned, maybe if you all treated me like a human being and an equal, instead of a child or someone who has been locked away from excitement my whole life, then I would prepare for these surprises. Perhaps if I was in the loop then none of this would have happed.” I retorted angrily. “Alec seems hell bent on surprising me and I don’t know why he thinks he has to show me a good time, when I have already had the best time of my life.”
She removed her sunglasses and looked at me, “You have bought him to life, Grace, he is showing you everything because he feels like he is seeing it for the first time too. In a way he is, with new eyes, the eyes of someone in love and excited by life. If you knew him before, then you would see why he is so passionate about everything, especially when it comes to you. He treats you like a princess, not a child and to him that’s who you are.”