3 Sin City Hunter (17 page)

The view from the Top of the World restaurant was spectacular. To look down and see the lights of The Strip unfold before us was awesome. Mom, Darby, and I sat on one side of the table, while Dad tried to monopolize Dell on the other. The food was superb, and the conversation was light and fun. Dell and Darby really hit it off, and with Darby
’s
prompting, Dell gave his version of our meeting on the airplane and our subsequent romantic interludes. His embellishments of my throwing myself into his arms at the Bellagio, and my proposing to him, were actually very entertaining.

When after dinner drinks were ordered, I declined and moved from the table to stand by the window and look out onto the lo
vely view. I suddenly felt
melancholy and had a deep longing for Mick. It had seemed like an eternity since I had seen him or felt his arms around me or melted under his passionate kisses. I closed my eyes and allowed a warm feeling to wash over me as I thought about how
his
touch reduced me to jelly.

An arm slipped around my waist, and I jumped. It was almost as though I had willed Mick beside me.

“I’m sorry,” Dell laughed. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m going to go and join the celebration downtown.
I just wanted to tell you
it’s been a lot of fun to meet you, your family, and Darby. I’ve been sending links to all of the videos and newspaper articles to Lisa and keeping her in the loop, so she knows what’s really been happening here. If she says yes to my proposal, I want you, your husband, and your family to come to our wedding.

“Dell, she will say yes,” I said as I gave him a goodbye hug. “We would be honored to be included in your special day. It’s been really great t
o meet you, too, and I’m
glad we got to watch you play. Thank you again for the tickets.” I gave him a big smile and said, “Who knew so mu
ch would happen between us
because you plopped down beside me on the airplane?”

We both laughed, and he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I watched as he walked away to say his good-byes to my family. I truly hoped I would be able to see him again one day and introduce him to Mick as well as to meet his Lisa.

Darby and I were up
at the same time
. Thank goodness for such a large bathroom. After we each showered and put on a modicum of clothing, we shared the space together. When we were both brushing our teeth at the same time, I almost laughed out loud. Mom was right; Darby and I were like an old married couple.

But I couldn’t wait to become a new married couple. If Mick and I were sharing th
e bathroom
, we would have conserved water for shower time, and we would have needed a lot more time to get ready after brushing our teeth. I smiled at myself in the mirror. I was almost giddy with the thought.

“What are you so happy about this morning?” Darby asked
after catching
me smiling at myself.

“Mick will be here Friday, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that
man!” I practically squealed
.
I
couldn’t contain my excitement in the least. “You should be excited, too. Won’t Nate be here Thursday?”

Darby smiled and said, “He will. But even though I’m excited for him to get here, I’m not quite as girlie as you are, Susan. I can show some restraint.”

“Oh stop it!” I said lightly punching him on the arm. “Have you talked with him since you’ve been here?”

“Several times
,” he said
.
“
I don’t know if I told you, but he’s been promoted at the hotel
,
and
he’s
overseeing all of the desk personnel now. The position started last week, so we’ve had a lot to talk about. Have you talked with Mick?”

“That’s so exciting for Nate,” I told him with genuine happiness. “He’s the perfect person for the job since everyo
ne likes him so well. I talked with
Mick when I first got here and then again on Monday night. I think he’ll call again tomorrow,” I said as I went to the closet to make a decision on what to wear for the day.

Darby didn’t know it, but I was planning on going
to Gilbert Torres’ funeral
, and I wished I hadn’t worn the black wool dress
yesterday. I pulled out a
long-sleeve, belted dress with wide stripes.
At the top, the waist, and the hemline was a wide, navy blue horizontal stripe. In between each navy blue stripe was one of emerald green, and one of cobalt blue. The colors were deep, and if I wore my black sweater again, the effect would be more sober. I had only brought a couple of pairs of shoes for work, and I slipped on the same shoes from yesterday, a pair of simple black pumps with a closed toe and 4-inch heels.

Darby looked comfortable in blue jeans, a black sweater with red stripes, and a pair of loafers. “Ready?” he asked me.

“As ready as I’m
ever
going to be,” I replied.

“Susan, are we clear about today?” he asked. “You stay indoors, and you don’t go anywhere near Carl unless someone is with you.
Got it?” I nodded my head
. “Good. Let’s go get your dad. He wants to have breakfast with us.”

Twenty minutes later, the three of us were sitting at our favorite spot in front of Starbucks
. We were
drinking coffee, having breakfast sandwiches, and sharing a newspaper. I went right for the local section to see if there was any more information about Gilbert Torres. Dad grabbed sports, and Darby wanted the style section. We were quiet as we ate our food and perused the newspaper.

Dad turned a page and let out somethin
g like a snort. I looked
and saw his crow’s eyes were prominent, and he had a big smile on his face. The next thing I knew, he was roaring with laughter. I grabbed the paper,
read the headline
, and growled followed by an agitated “ooh!” Darby leaned over to look at the paper with me and tried to hold back a laugh, but Dad’s laughter was contagious and they were both quickly out of control.

Today’s headline blared
,
GRADY MEETS THE PARENTS. The article had pictures of us arriving at the arena with a close-up of a beaming Dad who was noted as Dell’s future father-in-law. There were two pictures from inside the restaurant. The first was of Dell and me standing at the window looking out onto the night view. Dell had his arm around my waist
,
and I was looking into
his face with a loving smile
.

I felt volcanic-like anger bubbling up inside me, and I wanted to find that blasted photographer and drag him into the desert and tie him to the railroad tracks myself! It didn’t help that Dad and Darby thought it was so funny. I was probably most angry at myself
for not telling
Mick about any of this. Dell was smart to be upfront with Lisa right when things were happening. This was going to be a lot to tell him at one time. The second picture in the restaurant was of me and Dell hugging. We certainly did look like we were engaged and in love. I wanted to cry.

“Susan, I promise, this is something you’ll laugh about later,” Darby said. “This is a fabulously fun
ny story
you’ll tell to your grandchildren one day. We need to take some of these newspapers home with us.”

I looked below the fold
,
and there were two more pictures with a separate article. The headline was smaller but still screamed
,
DO THEY CHEAT? One picture was of Dell with a dark-haired beauty. She had one arm around his shoulder, her other hand was on his arm, and she was leaning her head slightly aga
inst his chest. It
appeared
intimate. The other picture sent my heart into a pounding frenzy. My mouth fell open, and I couldn’t speak. Darby leaned over, and all I could do was point. The second picture was of Darby holding me in an embrace
and kissing me full on the mouth
.
It
was irritating enough
I would
have to explain the
kiss
to Mick,
but right behind me was a clear picture of the man with the tattoos. The other man’s face was blocked by me and Darby.

“What?” Darby asked slightly confused. “
There isn’t anything there
we didn’t already know.”

I pointed between the two m
en.
Slightly out of focus
was another face. There hadn’t been two people close behind me, there had been three. And the third man was Dudley!

Darby frowned
, and I could see his wheels were spinning, too. We hadn’t f
igured out at
what part Dudley might have in all of this, and th
is was our first real clue
he was involved with Carl and the men who were attempting to, at the very least, abduct me.

Dad was aware
something had changed and asked, “What’s wrong, you two?”

Darby covered for us. “This is something you didn’t see,” he said while shoving the paper back over to Dad. “Susan and I were being silly at the arena, and a photographer snapped a picture of me giving her a kiss that wasn’t on her nose.
It’s just going to be even
harder to explain all of this to Mick.” He grabbed my hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.

Dad didn’t seem to be concerned at all and said
, “If Mick’s the great guy
you
say he is, Susan, he’ll be
fine. We’ll all help to explain this mess to him.”

I nodded and gave up on my breakfast for the second day in a row. I started to gather up my things for work.

“I’ll walk you out to the car, Susan,” Darby said.

The driver was waiting, but Darby held me back for a moment and said, “I’ll look around for Dudley today. If I spot him, I’l
l try turning the tables
and follow him for a while. Call me on your lunch break, and I’ll let you know if I find out anything.”

He would have normally given me a hug and a kiss, but as we were outside in public, we didn’t want to risk any more pictures. I gave him a little wave and slipped into the car.

Safely at Slimmers, I
returned
to my office and sat down behind the desk. Someone had placed a new box of business cards
at the corner, and I saw
they had been print
ed with my new title of Division
Manager. There was also a sticky note informing me of a meeting at 11:00 with Paul Diamond to go over my new job duties. Paul was the company’s National Training Director, and he would be helping me to establish training classes in my
division
.

There was still
an hour before the meeting. I pulled a pen and pad of paper from my briefcase and started to map out another idea I had been thinking about. Sometimes, all it took to keep a member motivated and coming in regularly was an encouraging telephone call, but counselors rarely had the time to go through all of the files to see who had
come in
and who hadn’t. I was working on a new system to show this information quickly without creating any extra work for the employees. I almost had my finger on exactly how it would work, but there were a few more details to be worked out.

I was lost in thought when a male voice said, “So, you and Carlton Waltham, huh?”

What?! I looked up and saw a grinning Gregory standing in the doorway
. His hair was still white and blue, and he was wearing the black and red Ektelons, but today he had on black slacks and a black dress shirt. I
assumed he would be
attending the funeral.

“Gregory!” I said with alarm in my voice. “Why would you say such a thing?”

“I was in the office next door when you and B.A. were talking yesterday
,” he said
.
“
I couldn’t help but overhear. Did he really make a pass at you?”
He was obviously hoping to hear the gossipy details.

I had to weigh the benefits of confiding some information to Gregory against creating some trouble for myself if he wasn’t able t
o keep a secret. I decided
I needed him on my side. “Yes, he did,” I told him.

“What did you do? Did you slap him?” He laughed as though the thought of me slapping Carl would have been a great thing to see.

“No, of course not” I
said
. I
glanced toward the doorway,
lowered my voice, and
asked
, “Can you keep a secret?”

His eyes lit up like I’d just promised to give him all my winnings since coming to Vegas. He knew something juicy was coming. “Yes!” he said excitedly
as he
looked down the hallway to be sure no one was around.

In a lowered, but dramatic voice, I said,
“I told him
h
e was abhorrent to me, and
I would never ever want him in a million years. Isn’t th
at terrible? I had no idea
he worked here and would be, to some extent, my boss.”