Charles and Diana Richards finally fell asleep sometime after four o'clock from sheer physical exhaustion. They woke up the next morning around ten o'clock only because their stomachs were starting to growl. They smiled sleepily at each other and kissed tenderly for a moment.
They groaned softly as they lifted their tired, messy bodies off the bed and headed for the bathroom. They showered and dressed in silence. Their eyes watched each other nearly every moment...the unspoken words still clearly visible in every look they shared.
When they opened their bedroom door to the main room of the suite, they were surprised to see all their friends sitting around and looking at them expectantly. None of them were saying anything, either.
Finally, Lynda Seldon spoke up. "Well...we're glad to see that you two didn't kill each other! We were worried last night that we were going to have to break up a fight, and then we were worried that you were going to fuck each other to death! What time did you guys finally fall asleep?"
Charles looked stunned. "You and Tom could hear us through the bathroom into your room?"
"No!" Lynda laughed. "We were all out here in the main area winding down when we first came back from the nightclub. We heard you yell at Diana asking her where she thought she was going. And when we heard what she screamed back at you, we figured we'd better pay attention for a bit and make sure things didn't get out of hand!
"We almost busted in when we heard the sound of someone getting hit, but when we heard Diana snarl at you, we figured she was the one doing the hitting! So we waited to make sure we didn't hear you hit her back! After that all we could hear was the muffled sounds of your heated argument. And then we could tell that it ended up turning into sex! We sort of figured you guys were OK after that...especially when heard more moaning and groaning a little while later! We all went to bed after that...wondering how much longer you two would be at it!"
Charles and Diana looked at each other as they chuckled. Diana said, "We didn't get to sleep until after four. We're only up now because we're hungry! Have you guys eaten yet?"
The others all chorused, "No!"
Then Rick Estevez spoke up. "Well...I haven't eaten any food, yet!" Dawn slapped the back of her husband's head.
Everybody busted out laughing as they headed out the doors of the suite.
They all chatted about the previous evening while they had brunch in one of the lobby restaurants. Diana asked them what happened after Charles had taken her back to the suite.
Lynda said, "There were a lot of disappointed fans who had wanted to congratulate you after the show. But when they saw Charles having to carry you out, they were concerned. We weren't sure what to tell them, so we said that you were just exhausted and your husband was taking you back to the suite to put you to bed."
Then Jonathan North said, "But the nightclub manager and the concierge didn't buy the exhaustion story. So I explained to them about the attack and that you were still trying to recover emotionally. They were very understanding and sympathetic, as well as impressed that you were still able to give such a great performance."
His wife Barbara added, "After everything settled down, we all stayed about an hour and danced and finished our drinks. Then we went back up to the suite and that's when we heard you two arguing. So we took turns standing outside your door listening until we were sure you weren't going to kill each other...unless you'd ended up killing each other with sex!"
Everyone busted out laughing when Charles said, "Hey...that's exactly how I'd like to die! I'd love to 'come and go' at the same time!"
After brunch, the couples went back to the suite to pack their suitcases for the return trip later that afternoon. They had asked Gordon to be at the Las Vegas airport around five o'clock. They still had about four hours to kill and they didn't have to check out of the room until two o'clock. Everyone ended up back in bed for about an hour once most of their things were packed. By 1:45, the couples emerged from their rooms again ready to check out.
They decided to spend the afternoon in the casino...maybe someone would get lucky again!
Charles and Diana walked over to the same Roulette table he'd gotten lucky at on their honeymoon, but he didn't get any gut feelings this time so he didn't waste his chips. Instead, they went to a Blackjack table and sat to play for a while. They didn't win big, but they didn't lose their money, either. Tom and Lynda came and joined them after about thirty minutes and did about as well as they did.
At about four o'clock, Charles and Tom heard the sounds of a disturbance over near one of the Craps tables. They turned to look at the same time and saw Rick and Jon standing toe to toe with a couple of big men.
Charles and Tom looked at each other and immediately stood up to go help their friends. Diana and Lynda stayed just long enough to collect the remainder of their chips from the table, and then followed their husbands.
Charles and Tom were surprised when they found out what they were getting into...
As they approached, Charles asked, "Jon, Rick...what seems to be the trouble here?"
One of the big men, with a very loud mouth, turned to Charles and grumbled, "Just stay outta this, city boy. It ain't none o' yer goddamn business!"
His reply was low and slow. "Excuse me...but when you're trying to start trouble with my friends, it becomes my business. Now, would you care to explain what the problem is?"
The man turned and stared at Charles. His face and neck were red and his eyes were blazing with anger and hatred. He growled right in Charles' face.
"The problem, city boy, is that this here Spic has put his low-life hands all over my woman! He even had the gall to tell me that she's not my woman...that she's his wife! I know damn well my little darlin' wouldn't let this greasy Spic touch her! She needs a real man, like me...doncha, Dawnie?"
The loud-mouthed redneck turned and looked behind Rick to where Dawn was cowering in Barbara's arms.
Rick put his hand on the redneck's throat and muttered savagely through his glistening, bared teeth, "¡Tú dices una palabra más a mi esposa y yo matar...gringo rojo!" threatening to kill the bastard if he said anything else to his wife.
The redneck knocked Rick's hand away and yelled angrily, "Speak English, ya goddamn wetback! Yer in America now! An' if you lay yer hand on me one more time I'll kick yer ass! Yer no match fer me, you puny Spic! Now hand over my woman!"
Jon held Rick back.
Charles and Tom stepped behind the rednecks and tapped them on their shoulders. They turned around and looked at them.
Tom said quietly, "Look, buddy...I don't know who you think you are, but we can certainly vouch that our friend is most definitely married to Dawn...we were at the wedding Friday night. And yes...you are bigger than Rick and you may be able to put a hurtin' on him. But if you do that, then we'll be obliged to step in and I don't think you'd want to take on the two of us!"
"You mean the THREE of us, don't you, Tom?" Jon added from behind the man.
The redneck lost his temper as he realized he was outnumbered. He did something extremely foolish. He drew back his right arm, aiming to smash his fist into Charles' face. But Charles sidestepped the punch, grabbed the redneck's arm and twisted it up behind his back as he swung the man around and slammed his head down against the edge of the Craps table. The redneck bellowed in anger and pain. The redneck's buddy attempted to do the same thing to Tom and ended up in the same predicament.
Charles bent over the redneck and growled, "That was a stupid move, asshole. We're both agents with the FBI. We could have you both charged with attempted assault on a federal officer. Only you didn't know we were agents when you attempted to take a swing at us, so we'll have to let this one go...but I wouldn't try it again if I were you."
Charles looked at Dawn and asked, "Dawn, do you have anything you'd like to say to this asshole before I turn him loose?"
Dawn had completely calmed down when she saw that Charles and Tom were perfectly capable of handling Bobby Joe Hutchins and his pal Billy Green. Bobby Joe had been her last boyfriend in Kansas—the one who had nearly beaten her for breaking up with him. He was the reason she had fled to relative anonymity in the big city of Los Angeles.
She had nearly fainted when she heard his mean, nasty voice behind her at the Craps table. She had been terrified that he would try to rip Rick limb from limb when Rick had ordered the big oaf to take his hands off of his wife. Thank God Jon had been there to step in with Rick so Bobby Joe and Billy had hesitated before just jumping on him. Dawn had started to breathe a little easier when she saw Charles and Tom headed their way.
Now she was mad as hell! She moved next to Rick, grabbed his arm and hung onto him as she ranted at her bastard ex-boyfriend. "I should've had you arrested for assault back home, Bobby Joe! How many more girls have you ended up beating because they finally realized what an asshole you are and broke up with you? You're lucky you aren't dead! Denny was going to come after you with his gun that night, but I stopped him because I didn't want him ending up in prison because of you!"
Rick looked at Dawn with his eyes blazing. "This gringo beat you? Why didn't you ever tell me about this? If I'd known who he was and what he'd done, I'd have killed him!"
"That's why I didn't tell you, Rick! I couldn't stand the thought of you ending up in prison, either!" Dawn answered quietly.
