Julie whispered into my ear, "It's almost four. Get up and get a shower to get your motor running." When I slid from bed and checked the clock, it was only three thirty. Wonder why so early. I can do everything necessary in five minutes flat.
As I slipped from bed, peed, and started the shower, a sexy older, or more mature, lady stepped under the spray with me. Julie whispered some more as she held on to my growing interest. "I need you, Lover; you make me feel so good, so alive. I keep wondering how long these feelings will continue and how long my lust for you and your ladies will last. They just make me crazy. I've had more sex in the last couple weeks than I've had in the last twenty years." She paused as she made me squat a little and she lifted her leg to put me into her. "And you, my young stud, you make me feel like I'm about twenty all over again."
As we slid together in the awkward position, Julie moaned, "I wish I hadn't had my change yet, I'd like to join some of the women having your baby. The way my body is craving what we are doing this very second makes it even worse. I used to never feel this hot before. My husband and I had sex, but not as much as we've been having."
As we groaned through our mutual orgasms, Lisa slid the shower door open and stepped in. She kissed both of us and went to her knees in front of Julie. Julie held Lisa's face to her center and groaned out another orgasm. For her age, she was a hot one.
Lisa came up and kissed me with her fragrant face, turned and kissed Julie, saying, "Don't you just love an early morning snack." When I tried to turn Lisa, she said, "Not right now, I have a plug. I'll be glad to help you out if you need me to, but save it for the other ladies."
As we washed, Lisa said, "I'm a little late, only a day or two, but I was wondering if my birth control didn't work. I was beginning to think in terms of what kind of mommy I would be. But I'm not, not even a real false alarm. But my starting makes me think of something we need to talk about."
The three of us finished showering, then dried, and dressed. We went up to the salon bridge and found Steve and Sue manning the helm. I think they were doing more kissing and groping than acting as captain. Sue smiled at us and said, "Just in time, another couple of minutes and we would have been copulating on a couch."
The way she said it made Julie and Lisa laugh. Steve and Sue straightened their clothes and Steve said, "Go do a visual of the lines and sails. I'll hold it up here until you get back."
I did the once over on the big boat, noticing the wind had picked up and the air felt moist. It felt like it was going to rain. I did the walk around, and back inside Lisa was looking at the weather monitor and said, "Looks like we're going to be in the soup very soon. The seas are going to be around four to six feet, so if any of our newcomers get motion sickness, they need to take some Dramamine or slap on a Scopolamine patch."
Steve and Sue said goodnight and went below with their arms around each other. I checked the long range weather and turned up the contrast. We were certainly in for some rain. It was only about fifteen miles out. I checked the anemometer and saw that we were being pushed by a strong wind, but as soon as we pass the front, we are going to have to tack as the wind will be almost a hundred eighty out of where we need it.
I pulled the sail configuration book to check what sail I needed to take down and what other sail I needed to put up. I went back outside to see if I could estimate the seas, but it didn't look like anything higher than three to four feet.
I turned the radar back to normal and checked our traffic. The ten mile radar showed only one boat and it appeared to remain idle off our port, probably a fishing boat. The GPS said we were doing a very respectable sixteen plus knots, and we were about two to two and a half hours or less out of Nice. That would be true if this front doesn't slow us down a lot. I was of a mind to just start the engines, but thought that wouldn't make me a very good sailor, would it?
The long range radar at twenty-five miles said there were several boats out there, but none were on an intercept. I knew if any of them started in our direction, the collision avoidance system would kick in and alert us. With the radar up on fifty miles, we were already getting ground clutter from our target landmass.
While I was doing all of this, I was explaining it to both ladies. Julie and Lisa were taking it in while they were both paging through the sail configuration manual.
Steve and Sue had made a fresh pot of coffee at the bar, so I poured three cups. Lisa said, "I know it's early, but I might try something a little stronger. I know, I'll make an Irish coffee. There is Irish whisky, Baileys, and I know I saw a can of whipped cream in the little fridge up here."
Julie was watching Lisa, and asked, "Do you think it's too early to have something like that?" I'm getting so strange, craving lovemaking all the time, drinking in morning, and all. As much as I've been eating, I should be putting on weight, but I don't seem to have done that at all."
Lisa handed Julie the Irish coffee she had made for herself and made another. She asked me if I wanted one, but I declined. I knew I was going to have to be alert for the wind shift and to dock in a little while.
While we were sitting at the helm, Lisa said, "Julie and I have talked to the rest of the girls and we've come to the conclusion that it is really your decision to make about Gina. That said, we all would like you to bring her into our family." Lisa paused and continued, "Here's why. For one, Gina and Gio have both had babies and will be a help with the ones coming. I know we live next door to a whole bunch of women who've had babies and will help us, but it is one consideration."
Julie said, "Have you watched how starved for companionship those four little kids are. They've been like an appendage to Steve's and Dewey's kids since they met us. Their English is improving by the second and Beth even said she would begin tutoring them to make sure they are up to their appropriate grade with the other kids. I've talked to Gio, and she's said that the kids couldn't go to public school because of her father, too much danger of kidnapping. They were going to a small private school that both Gina and Gio didn't think was very good. You know how smart the kids from the trailer park are. That's not all natural ability, it's the moms teaching them. They are going to be some of smartest homeschooled kids you'll ever meet."
Lisa began again, "And, Gina has really got it bad for you. She loves the rest of us and enjoys us a lot, but she really has a thing for you. Is it an infatuation that will burn out, who knows? But right now, I think she would do anything for you and anything to stay with us."
Julie said, "We need to keep her. I know it's going to be difficult to get all of the visas and stuff to keep them in the states, but I'm sure we can do it. If I'm right, you're not hurting for money and you and I both know that if you grease enough palms, you get what you want. The kids' situation might be the same way, but if you can get a permanent visa for Gina, it will be easy to get them for the kids."
Lisa said, "Of course, she may want to become an American citizen. That would make it even easier."
I had listened attentively while still watching the approaching wind shift. "Look, I really like Gina and think she would probably fit in with us, but you have to remember, she has family in Italy, a big family that is probably very protective and could become jealous of us for keeping her. We don't need that kind of hassle."
Julie said, "I talked to their father, Giovanni Martinelli, at the concert. He was very curious about what position I had with the family. I jokingly said, 'on my back' and it took him a couple of seconds to mentally translate what I said and get the meaning. You probably saw him laughing. That was the reason. I told him that I was sort of a hanger on, as I had met you while we were doing business and have just stayed. He asked me about you and I told him what I thought. I won't go into what I said, but it was glowing. He said that since I was more mature, he meant 'old lady, ' he felt what I said had great value. He asked me to hold our conversation confidential, but I could talk to you and our family about it. Giovanni told me that he had kept his two daughters away from his family and family business to the extent that most of the family didn't really know much about the girls. He said he had arranged marriages for both girls, and obviously didn't do a good job. Gio's husband supposedly died of natural causes. Gina's husband just vanished. He said that he was negotiating a divorce with the church."
Julie stopped to drink some of her Irish coffee. "Anyway, Giovanni said he had a dream of his girls finding some good men and moving far away from his world. He said he thought you and Steve may be the answer. The man even asked if I thought the two of you could be bribed. I didn't laugh at him, but I assured him you had more than enough money."
Lisa said, "We're telling you all of this to let you know that Gina's dad wants us to take her and Gio, and he'll do almost anything for their happiness to happen."
I said, "Tell you what, while we're here in Nice, see if you can get hold of an immigration attorney. Sue and Steve probably know several. See what would have to be done, and when I talk to Giovanni, we'll see how he feels. I think I need to have a conversation with Gina about this, and it should be with all of you girls present. I'm not giving you a definite yes, what I'm telling you is that I think Gina might fit with the family. I really don't want another woman. Right now I think I have to make room for Julie."
Before I could say 'before I take on another woman, ' Julie almost knocked me over in her enthusiasm over my statement. Lisa was hugging us both, and said, "Good job, Chuck, I was wondering when you would recognize how much we all want Julie to be as much a part of our family as possible."
Julie said, "I'll have to travel back and forth to England quite a bit, but I will be spending most of my time with my new family. Thank you, Chuck, and I mean that sincerely."
Lisa said, "There is something that has come up that we need to talk about. When my period started, I was reminded of when the girls, our Asian sisters, first began becoming an intimate part of our family. They said their birth control kept them from having periods. What has changed?"
Remembering that conversation I said, "You're right, what has changed? When did this revelation hit you?"
"Actually, this morning when we were in the shower," Lisa said. "Don't go postal over this, but we need to find out how this occurred. It would almost be impossible for them to have periods so quickly after having the implants were removed, if they did get them removed, and did both of them had it done at the same time?"
I said, "Didn't they say there was almost a year after removing the implants that they were safe from pregnancy."
After Lisa agreed with me, Julie said, "Let me talk to them. I'll be Scotland Yard for this one. I think I know what may have happened, but let me find out."
Lisa said, "Just what we need, two more pregnant women. At least Tina doesn't want to do that right away. She has so much on her plate with school and internship; I'm surprised she was able to come to Italy."
The boat began to slowly rock and I began the sail configuration change to tack toward Nice. Almost as soon as I had the sails changed, the rain and wind hit us hard, really hard. I think those three to four foot seas were now closer to ten feet. The wind was nearing thirty knots, and I was about to start the engines and take down the sail. The ten mile radar showed we were going to be in this squall for a while, so I did start both engines and began lowering sail before lines tore loose.
All of the sail came down properly, at least as much as I could see from the indoor helm, and we began to head straight at Nice, directly into the storm. The boat actually smoothed out a little since we were no longer being hit broadside by the waves.
About this time, Steve came up to the salon. He looked out and said, "This is a pretty good storm. What's the wind?"
"It's hitting thirty-five pretty steady, with a couple of gusts over fifty." I kept checking the wind gauge and the radar, not believing how fast the wind was blowing and how fast the storm had come up.
Steve said, "Keep the bow into the wind, you're doing fine, and you did right to lower the sail right away. Good job, you're going to be an old salt pretty soon."
Steve looked over at the bar and saw the Irish whiskey and Baileys on the bar, and said, "Ah ha, some Irish coffee this morning. Good choice, Ladies, I think I will join you."
Julie quickly went behind the bar and had a mug made for Steve in just a minute. While she was there, she made another pot of coffee. Lisa did a once around in the salon, making sure everything was stored properly for heavy seas, then said, "I'm going below to make sure everything in the galley and in our head is secure. I know I wasn't planning on having any bad seas when I went to bed last night."
Mercy came up and joined Steve with a cup of Irish coffee. She said, "This is a nice change of pace. I like this, but it seems like it takes more to make than a Bloody Mary."
Julie told her, "It does take a little more as you have to use two separate bottles and the whipped cream. Some people just like to use milk or cream, but I like the whipped cream."
Steve nodded and said, "The Bailey's cuts the Irish whiskey and the whipped cream makes this almost like a dessert."
The storm began easing and we noticed the wind was dying rapidly, but still coming right at our bow. When the wind was down to about fifteen knots, I asked Steve, "What do you think, should I put the sails back up? We're not very far out of Nice."
Steve didn't hesitate and said, "You have enough fuel to motor us all the way home, so that isn't a problem. Go ahead and motor in. We'll need to hoist the sails in port to make sure they dry out properly. We'll spray them down with fresh water, using the high pressure hose, when we do. We can do that and scrub the deck at the same time."
Carlos and Ramona came from below and sat in the high bar chairs. Carlos said, "What's with all the noise outside. We could hear the waves up against the boat and feel us moving around kind of weird. It only went on for a little while then we sort of felt like a motor was running, but the boat was going like up and down, on a mini-roller coaster."
Steve was at the bar and explained what had happened. Ramona said, "For some reason, I wasn't scared or worried. I knew we would be alright, but Carlos is a worry wart. He made me get up at this God forsaken time in the morning. Believe me; I only know five thirty in the morning by not going to bed yet."
"If you didn't lie in bed reading those romance novels all night," Carlos needled, "You would know how to get up in the morning. You've been better on this trip, but it's probably from having to work so hard with the band."
Ramona was nodding in agreement when Kenny and Barbara came up. We had almost the exact conversation as we had with Carlos, and when Fred and Caroline arrived, I had to repeat everything again. Dan and Jack came up, rubbing their eyes. Jack spied the bottles on the bar and said, "Oh boy, Irish coffee. Let me run down and get some mugs. I'll make some for all of us."
Jack came back up the stairs with Glenda, who was carrying a fresh pot of coffee and a small container of cream. Glenda said, "When Jack said what he was making, I thought I would indulge. Sounds like a great idea this morning. Can you believe it? This storm isn't bothering me at all, and I wouldn't even ride on an airplane before Mercy helped me that time."
Jack said, "Let me show you how my folks taught me to make Irish coffee. You start with Irish whiskey in a wine glass – tempered is best, but these thicker ones will do – and hold it over a flame, like this," as he demonstrated. "After a minute or so, you bring the flame near the lip of the glass, and, whoops, the vapor from the whiskey ignites, like this," he showed as a blue flame rose from the glass, "and then you snuff the flame by pouring coffee in the glass and topping it with Bailys and whipped cream, just so. It makes a show out of mixing a drink."
Steve took the coffee and cream from Glenda, put them on the bar, then turned and hugged her. He told everyone, "This is my morning girlfriend. We've been having coffee in the morning for years and years."
As Sue came up to the salon, she said, "Glenda was my only competition when I went after Steve."
Glenda scoffed, "That ain't true. First, there was Kathy, then that busty little barmaid Shawna brought home. Denise, wasn't it? She married that county deputy."
Sue was smiling, "Steve was hardly without a special friend from the time he moved in. I had to wait my turn to get him. But I didn't let him go."
Steve was grinning, "When she came to meet me that first morning, our good friend and neighbor, Ruth, was wearing a sexy gown. This luscious creature, Sue, came to our little patio in a bikini, I mean a tiny bikini. Can you imagine all that lovely flesh she has bulging out from a tiny piece of cloth? Let me tell you, I was impressed."
Sue said, "The best part was that Steve didn't talk to my tits. He actually talked to me, looked me in the eye. He was checking me out, but doing it while I wasn't supposed to know he was doing it."
Glenda said, "The little tart had him hooked and reeled in before he knew it. That was when both of them were just starting their businesses. Their getting together seemed to make both of their businesses explode. It's been nothing but growth and babies since."
Listening to the banter was fun and kept me alert as we approached our GPS numbers to find the yacht club. When I radioed to alert the club that I was nearing, they responded that a customs and immigration boat would come alongside before we tied up. They told me to watch for it and assist the agents coming aboard.
Sue said, "Guess I better round up passports. Everybody, go get yours. If we have them all up here, they are usually easy on us."
Julie hurried down to wake up the girls so they could get their passports out. I sent Lisa to the office where I had put Gina's, Gio's, and their kids' passports. I asked her to stop by the cabin and get mine too.
The salon and bridge, or helm area, was soon crowded. Everyone on the boat was up here now, including the kids who were having juice, excited about docking on the Riviera. Stevie and Mike were trying to tell the other kids what they remembered about coming here before. The whole bunch of them was snickering about going to a nude beach. Liz told the other kids, "I was little then and I remember that we had fun. Maybe we can go back to that beach."
I had to chuckle a little as Lizzy was still little. The kids were still kids, with Stevie still chasing her around calling her name, "Lizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." He was good at making a buzzing sound that seemed to infuriate her, but I think she liked the attention.
The radar picked up a small boat coming right at us when we were less than a mile from shore. The collision avoidance system alerted me of the oncoming boat. I pushed the reset button to clear the alarm, and asked Kathy, who was standing there, how about watching the helm while I go and put some fenders out? You might as well shut down the props now, as it's going to take a bit for us to stop.
I was going to put on a poncho, but noticed that the rain appeared to have stopped. When I went out, the air still smelled like rain, but no drops were hitting me. Steve came out with me and both of us put fenders out. I climbed down and dropped the boarding platform, and we waited for the little boat to arrive.
When the boat came alongside, we directed them to the boarding platform and ladder. They were able to tie up to the small cleats on the platform and came up. We led them to the salon where everyone was doing something. The kids had started to get their instruments out, while most of the adults were near the bar with either Irish coffees or juice.
After a quick greeting, Sue offered them coffee. The officials spoke decent English and welcomed a mug of fresh coffee. They didn't want any goodies for added flavor, but were smiling when they were asked. We had all of our passports out on the bar and they began going through each one, stamping them as they went. When they came upon the Asian sisters' passports, they wanted to see them, which was easy, followed by them checking Julie out, and finally Gio, Gina, and the kids. All in all, they were very cordial and finished quickly.
The official asked, "Are you planning on a lengthy stay?"
Steve told them, "We will be here through the weekend. We will probably leave early next week."
The official suggested, "Please keep your passports with you while you travel around the area. All foreign nationals are subject to inspection at any time. You must produce the passport if asked, the same as a citizen must produce their identification."
Sue made the offhand remark, "That must be difficult at some of the beaches."
The same official said, "Oh that isn't a problem. You can't have it in your pocket when you don't have a pocket. Just have them with you. Put them all in a big bag or something. The government is trying to make sure unsavory people are not hiding in our country."
The officials finished their coffee, climbed back down to their boat and left us. I went down the ladder and pulled the boarding platform up and latched it.
Back inside, the yacht club was calling to direct us to our reserved space. As we neared, we saw that it was again across the dock walkway from the Irish Bell. It was now six in the morning and everyone on the boat was up and awake. Mercy came up to be with me while I was being directed to head into the dock area bow first. I like the way we usually backed into moorings, but I would do as requested.
I eased toward the dock ever so gently. As I was getting closer, I eased the bow toward the dock in order to make it easy for Steve to toss the line and snug it to the bollard on the dock.
Kathy was aft tossing her line to an attendant as I reversed the props to swing the stern into the dock. As soon as we had the two main lines secured, the big center lines were tied down, followed by a couple of springer lines between the stern and center as well as center and bow.
I had shut down the engines and was preparing to match power. Steve hurriedly came in and said, "Shut everything down. Use the switches on the console. They don't have anything but 220, 50 Hz. We'll have to use the converter/transformer. That will be better than running our generator the whole time."
I flipped all the switches off, and that left only the battery powered instruments, some dim lights in the salon, and emergency lights lit throughout the boat. As soon as Steve had the power connected, he came back in and showed me what switches to throw.
He had me flip each of the switches, one at a time, and wait until a green lamp showed below the switch. He said, "You turn them on slowly so there aren't as many voltage spikes. When you cut power like that, you never know what is on, so you don't really know what requirements there are going to be for the circuit."
I had shut the engines down and now all of the electronics. The anemometer still showed the wind speed and direction, and the sensors still gave us accurate temperature in Fahrenheit or centigrade and dew point readings, along with the conversion to relative humidity. I hollered at everyone, "What do you think? Do you want to go back to bed for a little while or maybe take a nap later?"
The consensus was to take a short nap now, get up about eight, and another nap later. That sounded good to me. We all went below where we all snuggled into sleeping positions in seconds.
It was Julie again telling me, "Come on, Sleepyhead, it's eight thirty already and breakfast is ready. I think everyone is up except you."
With a soft kiss, I got up, put on some shorts and T-shirt with my peg, and went out to breakfast. Everyone was sitting down to eat, so I joined them, listening to what their plans were for the day. Mercy asked Kenny, "Do you guys need to practice today?"
Kenny said, "We have a practice studio set up beginning Wednesday, tomorrow. What I would like to do is to have some fun today and perhaps go to a casino tonight. The suggestion of a nap later is a good idea. Another thing is to have all of the kids practice the set we're going to do. We can do that late this afternoon and every evening until the show. Friday, we'll go through the set in the early afternoon as a final run through."
I thought that would be a good plan, as I was a little nervous about having our amateur group in front of thousands of the band's fans. Sue said, "How about we go to the beach if this cloudy weather goes away? We can stay here and go to the yacht club and hotel beach, or go over to Monaco to that beach. As I remember, this one is as nice as any."
Kathy commented, "If we use this beach today, it will save the time going back and forth. We can go over to Monaco tomorrow and do some shopping before we come back."
Dewey's kids asked, "Can we go see if Mom and Dad are awake? We would like to see them."
Sue and Mercy said, "Yeah, we would want to see ours too."
When breakfast was finished, Sue, Mercy, Dewey's kids, and Chanda's and Michael's kids, all headed over to the Irish Bell. I was kind of surprised the folks from the Bell had not been over yet. They were probably already staying in the hotel, which we could easily see from the boat, so that wouldn't be an excuse unless they didn't expect us until later.
The group came back to say that the family was in the hotel. They all washed their faces to go see their folks. Steve and I went below to shower and dress real quick. When he came back, he said, "Why don't you guys get your stuff together to go to the hotel. Chuck, you can have the club attendants wash the sails and deck for us. Let's get going so we have time for the beach this morning, the sky is clearing and the sun is already out
All of my crew went below for showers and to pack for the hotel. I was ready to go, so I went out to get some attendants to help with the baggage. As soon as I was out on the dock, I met two security people from the State department. The one man asked, "Are you going to need the same type of security here as you had in Italy?"
I thought about it for a couple of seconds and said, "Probably not. We should be fine here. It would be good if you were to have someone watch the boats for us, but a couple of you guys chaperoning us around should be all we need."
The guy said, "Put this number into your phone. If you need anything, or something happens that you need support, call it. Someone will get to you faster than you will believe."
There was an attendant concierge hanging out on the dock to solicit services. I gave the man a list of things to do that he wrote down. I asked for at least two attendants to help get our luggage to the resort/hotel. He used his cell phone to call for luggage help, and I saw four guys with two large rolling flats come from the yacht club.
I took the concierge up on deck and showed him where the outdoor helm was in order to raise the sails to wash them. I cautioned him to make sure only one sail at a time was raised, or our big boat would want to go somewhere. He thought that was funny.
I helped haul luggage from our cabin up to the deck where the attendants took them. Everyone was soon ready to head to the hotel. I locked up the salon doors and checked the rear sundeck doors as we were leaving our precious instruments on board.
We walked the few hundred yards to the resort and found Dewey waiting for us. He said, "The hotel needs to see your passports so they can record you being here." Dewey looked at me, "Does that bag you're carrying have all of the passports?"
Nodding with understanding, I began to get them out so names could be recorded. I noticed that the clerks were more interested in the stamps as anything else. I hoped this didn't continue in many places, as there were just too many of us with too many passports to do this. I gave all of the band members their passports and distributed passports to Steve's group, Glenda and Martin, Don and Jan, and Kevin and Susan. I cautioned them to protect their passports and make sure of where they were. I passed out all of my people's passports then and Steve came over. I gave him Gio's and her two kids' documents, and only kept Gina's and her kids'. Julie said, "Give them to me. I'll be with her all the time, and if you're afraid she might misplace them, I can keep them with me." This was good, one less thing to carry around with me.
Dewey led us to some ground floor suites that were very plush. He said, "I ordered these so we would have direct access to the beach. Come on, get settled and we'll all go to the beach. Steve, you have this suite next to mine. Yours is bigger because you have your in-laws staying with you. You guys in the band are right next to Chuck's. There should be five bedrooms in your suite, so your agent can stay there."
Kenny said, "Oh no. He can stay in the room he booked originally. We don't need to have to listen to him all day, everyday. The man will drive you crazy. If you've canceled his room at the hotel, I'll run down and get him a separate room."
Dewey said, "The guy already has a room here; when he found out I had changed your reservations, he kept his room. And by the way, the other hotel he originally booked you before he changed to this one is not a flea bag, it's one of my better hotels, it's just not on the beach. This one is associated with the yacht club, so it is better for us."
About that time, Ed knocked on the open doorway. "Hello, everyone. I timed this just right. Do you know what you're going to do today?"
Sue told him, "We're going to the beach in just a few minutes. We'll probably do that most of the day, and tomorrow we want to go to the beach in Monaco and do some shopping over there. Tonight, we're probably all going to a casino." Sue looked at Dewey, "Either in Monaco or Cannes; wherever Dewey says we should go."
Dewey said, "Good idea, Sue. We'll save this resort for our last night. Let's go to Monaco tonight. It's only a few minutes' drive over here." Dewey looked at Ed, "Make sure your driver knows to stay there and wait for us. We'll hire him for all evening, and for all day and evening tomorrow. If he needs help, tell him we'll gladly pay for extra drivers so we don't have to worry about transportation."
Ed said, "I have two big buses. It will take both buses to get everyone over to Monaco for the beach, but only one bus for the adults to go over there tonight. What time do you want to go? Remember the fun over there doesn't usually start until after eight." He looked around at the way we were dressed, "And remember that the better casinos are formal."
I was set, as I had bought a tux at the Warehouse before we left in anticipation of this trip.
Ed left and Dewey said, "I think my troop is ready for the beach, get ready and meet us on the big patio outside."
I walked over to the doors leading to the patio and discovered a lot of people out sunning themselves this morning. They were all perfectly naked. Lisa nudged me and asked, "So are you going to be all right being nude with your leg?"
"Lisa, we went to a nude beach when we were in Hawaii, and I was apprehensive at first. A couple of kids pointed at my leg, but after a while, I was just one more swinging dick."
That got a laugh from Lisa, as well as Julie and Brandy.
Nancy and Tiani came up to me and Tiani said, "We have to be careful as we burn pretty easily. If we get too hot, we're coming back to the room. We just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't think we were being anti-social."
In minutes, naked kids were running toward the beach. A couple of
naked mothers were chasing them to keep them safe out there and to put
on sunscreen. My group joined Dewey's, as we went out to where there
were a bunch of lounge chairs and umbrellas in a group. Don and Jan,
and Marie and Dennis had beaten us out to join the group from the Irish
Bell,
along with Merlin, Missy, Ben, and Beth. Marie told us that Kevin and
Susan were with Marie's folks, taking a tour in the city of Nice.
Although there were a lot of really good looking women on the beach, Gina, Gio, Brandy, Lisa, Sue, and Mercy attracted a lot of attention. I think people must have thought I was a pedophile the way the sisters were acting today, hugging and kissing me, almost making me stiff. The visual treats of all the women, young and old, was doing a job on me anyway.
We all laid around, mostly having soft drinks brought out to us. The service out on the beach was great. The waitresses and waiters were dressed in tiny bikinis and surfer trunks for the men. The wait staff was extremely brown, which attested to what they did every day.
Around noon, the kids began coming up to tell us they were hungry. It was decided to have lunch brought to the patio in front of the rooms. The mothers began herding kids toward the patio. It was funny that the kids were not in the least self-conscious about being naked on the beach, but were giggling with each other about being nude to eat lunch.
Dewey said he had a meeting this afternoon, so he would be gone until supper. I think the rest of us were thinking nap time, but some would have to stay awake to watch the kids. Brandy and the fickle five told Sue, Mercy, and Kathy, "We'll watch the kids for you. I don't think any of us are going out to the casinos tonight. We'll probably go tomorrow, but not tonight."
When the kids went out, most of the rest of us piled into a couple of king sized beds in our room. I was lying with the sisters, along with Gina. I was ready for a nap, but the three women with me thought of another restful activity. Taiying directed having me do Sing, who was extremely active. She was doing more moving around than normal. Her activity with the assistance of Taiying fondling and kissing me had me squirting in short order. Sing was pretty vocal about how she felt about our coupling.
Taiying had been warming Gina up for me and we three made love to the Italian beauty. We continued until I had to stop, or I would be shooting a lot of baby makers into her. That was okay because Taiying immediately took her place to bounce and squeeze me into another big squirt. As we lay back, Maria came over and said, "You have three very excited ladies on the other bed. Come visit."
I wanted a nap, but there was no way that I was going to disappoint Maria, Julie, and especially, Lisa. The activity in that bed took another half hour or so, but I do have to say, they had each other wound up so much that it didn't take much to make them very happy. The funny thing was that Lisa wanted to make Julie last, and would only let me touch her into a good orgasm. Lisa was really kissing me though, telling me how she felt. Julie did her patented hip movements and squeezes that had me filling her with what seemed to a big load. As soon as I rolled off Julie, Lisa, followed by Maria, were busy cleaning up the mess I had left.
While they were occupied doing that, I did what every male should do; I fell asleep.
Taiying woke me with a soft kiss while a mouth was waking another part of my body. Sing was soon perched on me, coaxing another load from me. No sooner than she finished, Taiying made sure I didn't go soft and I was soon depositing more good stuff into her. This made me think of the conversation with Lisa and Julie earlier this morning. If what they suspected was true, the sisters were sure working toward their goal.
When we got up, the kids were all up on the patio with the fab five, having something to drink. As soon as they saw we were awake, they began asking about going to the boat for practice. Barb and Kenny came out. Barb was nude, but Kenny had on shorts which were totally out of the dress code for everyone else. Steve and his women were all nude, as was Dewey and his group. I was proud to have eleven really decent looking women with me. In a short time, the other band members came out with only Dan wearing shorts. Everyone else was nude.
The three wives of the band members were definitely easy on the eyes. Ramona was about the same coloring as Maria, but with a more mature body. She was probably at least ten years Maria's senior. Juanita was a prize though, as she was very nice looking for an older Latin woman. Her breasts hardly sagged and she must be near sixty, or at least middle to late fifties. Kathy's breasts sagged more than Juanita's but Kathy had some really long ones, not fat or balloon shaped like Sue, but long. Glenda was a love though, enjoying being nude, teasing Martin with her aging body. She didn't have a ton of wrinkles, but her heavier breasts did some major sagging.
Yep, it was a treat to check out all of the women. I think Jack thought that too, as his pride was leading the way when he got up to go to the bathroom. I heard Carolyn quietly say to Fred, "Us girls are going to have to take care of that for him, probably Dan, too. Dan's been a regular lately, but Jack usually has some fluff on the side." She paused a second and said, "You need to talk Chuck into joining us sometime; I'd really get a kick out of that luscious little Lisa. I think I'd like to help you enjoy Gina too. That woman gets my motor running." Oh my, my band friends were into some swinging.
Kenny suggested, "How about we eat supper then go to the boat and practice for a couple of hours. After that, you kids can watch a movie or something while the rest of us go out to the casinos. Is that all right?"
The kids were in agreement, so the moms began having the kids go shower and dress to go to the hotel restaurant. Steve asked me to call the folks from the Bell so we could all eat together. That was also a way to have the Irish kids take part in the practice planned for after supper.
Supper was fun with all of the people we had as a group. The practice afterward was even more fun as the kids were sounding pretty good. They were patient as Kenny worked up a couple of new pieces he said we would work on tomorrow and Thursday. He told me on the side, "We're really playing well together. We're not going to have to really strain to get ready for Friday night. We'll go through the program and practice the new stuff. I've replaced a few pieces for the new stuff and Jack is still trying to knock a set out of the regular show for the kids set. Do you have any suggestions?"
I had to tell him, "Kenny, you know what your fans like more than anyone. I'd bet they would be disappointed if you didn't do your oldies, your signature stuff. Why not change the sets around and have a signature piece lead us into two or three of your new. If there isn't enough new stuff, bookend the new with a couple of your fan favorites."
He was nodding and agreeing. He got Jack's attention, "Did you hear what Chuck and I were talking about? I know you have good, big ears."
Jack just grinned at Kenny, "I'm working on it, Boss. I'll have it by tomorrow."
We did the kids set one more time and called it an evening.
The kids were tired from the activity today and were more than willing to go back to the rooms to relax. The only music diehards were Bonita, Liz, and Corine. They took their guitars back to the rooms so they could play.
The mom's had agreed to have all the kids stay in one of the suites and have a slumber party together. One lady, the medical nanny from the Irish Bell, and my funny five, were going to be the chaperones. The rest of the adults began getting into their dress clothes in anticipation of going to the casinos.
When the men were dressed, and Steve and I were sitting with Merlin and Ben, Ben said, "We did okay last night and didn't lose a lot. Sure hope you guys will bring us better luck. Dewey assured them, "With these two guys, you guys will be floating in money. Just follow along, but I'll want you to lose sometimes just to make it believable. I'll say something about the boats and you guys try to separate your bets. I'll make sure you walk out with your pockets full. They usually give you an American Express debit card for large amounts when you trade in your chips, but you can convert that to gold or whatever you want the next day."
We were soon on our way to Monaco. I think Julie was the most excited. The girls from the band said they had been in a lot of casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, and Mobile when the guys were playing there. They thought the Riviera was neat because they could dress up and the guys all looked so good in their tuxes.
As soon as we arrived at the first place in Monaco, Dewey had the concierge make some special arrangements for us. Dewey wanted a few tables to be reserved for us so we wouldn't have to fight a crowd. I didn't care and usually preferred finding tables with friendly people. When I told that to Dewey, he said, "I don't mean for you to not do that. That's for all the rest of the people so you aren't smothered while you're trying to clean these guys out."
We went to the cashier for chips. Steve and I traded for a hundred thousand Euros of chips each and bought our women each another twenty thousand. We knew they would probably blow it all on the slots.
Lisa and I started out playing some blackjack with Steve and Mercy. I began focusing on the cards, trying to anticipate. My head was filled with Missy's voice, "Just relax, the cards will begin forming in your head. Just play them the way you feel."
I did begin to think I even knew what card was coming next. Lisa and Mercy were grinning at me as I won more and more. Steve did all right, but was not winning as consistently as I was. I was up a couple of thousand Euros before we left the table.
Steve wanted for me to try the crap tables. Mercy whispered to me, "You'll do fine. You're anticipating what's happening really well. I was watching you and you weren't even looking when you were flipping up blackjacks or splitting a pair. You knew what they were when they were dealt. I think you always knew what the dealer had too, and didn't bet against him often."
The first craps table was full of gripers and loud braggarts, so we moved to another that had a bunch of drunks. That wasn't fun either, so we moved to some tables that required wagers of at least a thousand Euro chips at a time.
I watched and placed minimum bets a couple of times, then had the feeling to bet heavier. The shooter rolled craps. I won and could have won more if I had laid down money on the correct dice configuration. The next roll felt like eleven, so I placed ten thousand Euros on eleven and another ten on craps. I won again. Now I was smiling as Lisa was getting it and was banging my mind, trying to see what I saw. Mercy told both of us to relax and enjoy playing. The crap tables were fun, but I wanted to try some other games.
Steve said, "You proved you can play roulette, let's go to one of the smaller tables and try them out."
The first table, a low wager table, was a happy group. I was feeling red and bet. Steve followed me, along with Mercy and Sue. Sure enough, red it was. We did two more red then I felt it was going to be black, and it was. The next spin, I was all over red seventeen, and sure enough it was red seventeen. Steve elbowed me, "You're doing exactly like Missy did before. Isn't this fun?"
We stayed at that table until a pit boss came to watch, and in a little while, he asked, "Wouldn't you like to try some higher stakes tables? With your luck, you two will probably clean us out. Let me show you some tables that will fit the wagers you would probably like to make."
Dewey saw us head for the really high stakes tables, and had Ben and Merlin follow us. I heard him tell them, "Don't bet on the numbers with Chuck. Bet on the color. If he bets a number only, play the color and take a chance, but don't follow him with his number. Stay consistent. If I talk to you about boats, play off from him. You'll lose most of the time when you do, but I promise you'll walk away fine."
Ben said, "These are twenty-five grand minimum bet tables. I think I'll just watch."
Merlin said, "I might try a couple, but I'll lose my stake real quick at a table like this."
Before we even had our chips all changed, I knew what our first bet would be. I put the minimum bet of a single twenty-five thousand Euro chip on the black thirty square. The pit boss was standing just behind me, watching me. Sure enough, the little ball landed in black thirty. Dewey said to Steve, who had both won on black, "I think we should follow Chuck. He's hot tonight." He turned to me and told me, "Let your winnings ride. I know you're hot, so go for it, it's what you've won so far anyway."
If I put chips on a number I really didn't need the color, but I knew it was going to be black 10. I was letting the 875000 euros ride. The pit boss was really crowding up behind me. I didn't have my hands in my pockets or do anything unusual, as the guy was about six six and probably weighed close to three hundred pounds.
It happened, the little ball rolled into black ten. The croupier, gave me thirty million dollar chips, six hundred thousand, and two ten thousand. I looked up at the croupier and asked, "Ah, I'm not a math genius, but thirty-five to one winnings of eight hundred and seventy-five thousand is..."
A woman next to me at the table said, "You're right, he's shorting you five thousand Euros. You know every time I win a bunch and it comes out to five thousand, he gives me only the ten thousand Euro chips, and I never the five. He's shorting everyone."
The lady was loud enough to have attracted a crowd to the big buck table. The croupier looked terrified as the big pit boss bumped me hard into the table before he went to where the croupier stand was. He had a private word with him and sent him away. The big man assumed the croupier's place and called for bets. I asked, "Ah does that mean I don't get my five grand?"
The lady next to me said, "Yeah, you probably owe me over a hundred grand since I've been playing at this table all night."
Another couple of players began complaining in French, and still another in German, until the man shut down the table telling everyone to go to another table or leave. That's when Dewey stepped in, "You know who I am, I'm sure. You are required to recognize owner partners whenever we are in the casino."
The big man sneered at Dewey, "I don't know you and furthermore, I don't want to know you. If you are still in the casino in five minutes I will have you all arrested." The big man spoke good English, but with a French accent. You could see the smoke rolling from Dewey's ears. He announced to the crowd, "I have Mr. Labear's name and employee number, be sure to register your complaint with the cashier. I assure you this matter will be taken care of."
Dewey said to us, his group, "Come on, we need to go to the cashier and get cashed out. This guy is making another mistake by not changing out the roulette chips for regular casino chips. The cashier will take these, but it will go against him. I will be calling the other partners while we are doing that."
We cued up at the cashier windows, and when I put all my chips there, the cashier was in some kind of shock. She was going to be in more shock as the others had done almost as well. The whole time we were in line at the cashier's window, the big pit boss was lurking around watching us to make sure we were leaving.
Dewey finished his third call and said, "We will probably not have to leave. Three of the partners are in the resort and are all heading this way. They will be here in minutes."
It took us more than ten minutes to cash out. We took some in cash, but most of what we won we took in an American Express debit card. Just think, a debit card with thirty million on it.
We were being hurried on by the big pit boss when three distinguished looking men in expensive tuxes came up to Dewey. Dewey talked to them a minute and they motioned for the pit boss to come to them. One of the men was nearly yelling, but was calmed by the others. They asked us to come upstairs to offices with them so we could discuss the problem.
Dewey acted surprised that they wanted to do that. When we all were about to go, the man who seemed to be the leader said, "No, just Dewey and you, Sir. I didn't get your name."
I just said, "Johnson" and the guy nodded, turned, and motioned for us to follow.
Dewey was trying to get my attention while we were heading to the elevators. I leaned over to him and he said, "Problems are handled in the casino floor business office. Ones like this are in the executive office down here, never upstairs. I don't like this, I don't like this at all. I've been a thorn in their side for a long time, wanting documentation of what the casino has been doing. There are four other partners that feel the same way I do, so be alert, Chuck, this is unusual."
We crowded into the elevator and I was pressed back into the pit boss. When I was first pushed against him, I felt it; the man had a gun in a shoulder holster. Well, we were even, I had one in a shoulder holster as well, but under my arm, not protruding as his was. I also had a backup that I put on for some strange reason.
When we got off the elevator, the big man sort of pushed us toward the door the three partners were leading us toward. As soon as we were in the office, the big man locked the door and as I was turning, began reaching for his gun. That's when I chopped him so hard in the Adam's apple, he forgot all about his gun and was holding his throat as he began sinking to his knees. I pulled his gun from his holster, handed it to Dewey, and rolled the man to be face down, as I massaged the side of his neck. He began to breathe better, but he tried to get to his knees and again reached for his gun that wasn't there.
From across the room a voice said, "Put the gun down, Dewey, or I will use this."
I was helping the big man to his feet as Dewey dropped what looked like a heavy frame .357. I was standing the big guy up from behind, when I saw the voice was holding one of those neat Berettas, probably a nine, but could have been an old thirty eight.
It made no difference, as the big guy was still in front of me, so I pulled my Glock and stuck it under big man's arm, squeezing off a round that hit the guy's arm. Man, I needed practice, or was that trying to be nice and not kill him.
When the voice's gun went flying, the other two guys made motions they were going to reach for something, so I said, "Don't do it. I usually go for a kill shot and I'm getting aggravated. Very slowly, pull whatever it is you were going for. Use two fingers and do it very carefully."
The big man was recovering, his muscles were tensing up, and I could tell he was getting ready to do something stupid, so I pushed him forward from me hard enough to make him stumble.
One of the men trying to remove his piece decided to use the distraction, thinking it was good time to be brave. As his hand came out of his coat with another Beretta, I carefully aimed and put a round through the guy's head, splattering his two partners with his brains.
Poor Dewey, the sight made him puke before the dead guy fell over on his wounded partner.
I said to Dewey, do you have hotel security or should we just call the police. Dewey said between heaves, "We have to call the police. I'll do that, but I need to call the other partners right now. They are all here and will want to know what's happened. They have been in the dark for a while, the same as me. For all I know, security may be part of this."
I picked up all of the weapons with a tissue that was on the desk. With the guns all on the other side of the room from these guys, I felt better. I could tell from Dewey's conversations, that the other partners couldn't believe what had happened. While I was standing there, I pulled my badge wallet and flipped it open to stick the side into my breast pocket that allowed the badge to show. Whoever came wasn't going to appreciate me being a U.S. Deputy Marshal, but it was all I had to show why I was carrying.
That's when I thought of it; I used my cell phone to call the number the security man had given me. When someone answered, I gave them my name and location before the person asked, "Do you need assistance?"
"Yes, some men just tried to kill me. One is dead, one is shot. One has some throat damage, and one is about ready to have a coronary."
I gave them where we were and asked Dewey, "What floor are we on"?"
Dewey said, "The twenty-sixth. Tell them to turn right when they get out of the elevator and they will see double doors right in front of them."
The person on the phone said, "Got it, 26th floor, turn right off the elevator, through the double doors. A man should be reaching you in two minutes. He was on the casino floor watching your group. I'm surprised he's not in your back pocket."
Dewey went to the door and was unlocking it, when a security guy came in with his gun drawn. I pointed to the four weapons in the corner, and the big guy sitting on his butt against the desk, "This guy was the first to try to pull a gun. He'll probably have a problem talking for a while. The guy in the chair over there pulled his gun when I was standing this guy up, and I mistakenly shot him in the arm. The guy on the floor took advantage of the situation when I pushed the big lummox away from me, and he died because of it. This last guy looks pretty bad. He's probably going to have a stroke any second."
The security man used his cell phone and made a couple of calls. He turned to Dewey and I, "Ah, is there anyone else that knows you guys are up here?"
Dewey tried to explain what had happened and who the others were. The man asked, "Do you care what happens to these people?"
I said, "Not really, they were not very nice were they?"
Dewey asked, "What are you going to do with them."
The guy said, "Just relocate them. If they are not around, who will miss them? No one has come up here because of the gunshots, so probably no one else heard."
Another three state department security guys came through the door, with one of them saying, "We have the other guests together on their bus. We have an emergency group on their way for cleanup. We need to do this fast, as we're keeping a couple of the partners downstairs until this is settled."
Dewey asked me quietly, "What are these guys talking about, aren't they going to call the police?"
I told Dewey, "Let them do what they think they should. They know the area and the people involved around here better than anyone. Let them do their thing and do what they tell you."
The lead guy took Dewey off to the side and talked with him. Dewey didn't argue, but I could tell he was having trouble figuring out how the situation was going to be handled. He obviously thought that people who were going to harm him didn't deserve to disappear. Dewey was finally nodding in agreement to something about the time a team of guys came in and began putting the dead guy into a body bag, then unceremoniously dumped him into a big hamper.
Another guy split the expensive tux jacket of the guy that was hurt and doctored up the wound. When it was wrapped, he put him in a wheelchair and strapped him down. The third guy was asked to sit in another wheelchair and was strapped down as well.
Meanwhile, three guys were cleaning the carpet with some kind of magic cleaner. Blood was coming up easily with whatever it was they were using. Another guy was cleaning the walls where blood and brains had splattered. After cleaning the walls, he took a spray can from his bag, shook it up and sprayed the wall, matching the paint perfectly already there. Four guys were checking over every inch of the desk, floor, and wall area to see if they had missed anything.
As it looked like they were going to leave, I asked, "What about this troublemaker," I asked pointing at the big guy sitting on the floor against the desk.
The team leader said, "I suppose you don't want to do anything with him, so we'll just haul him out too." Two guys picked him up and walked him out into the hallway. Another guy sapped the big guy and they all directed his fall into the laundry cart on top of the dead guy. I guess they ran out of wheelchairs. I also noticed the two partners, one injured and the other terrified, were now gagged. With one last look around, the guy spied the weapons, and still wearing rubber gloves, picked them up and put them into a bag.
He turned to me and said, "I picked up your brass. Only two rounds, right? Remember you're two short in that magazine. You know the drill: Need us, call us." He turned to Dewey and said, "I'm going to let the other partners up here now. Just act as if you are up here waiting for these other guys. We'll interrogate these three for you and let you know what we find out, but we are going to relocate them to somewhere they won't be a problem. If you have to know, we'll let you know when we get them to that place."
Dewey was still jittery, so I went to the bar in the corner of the room and poured him a big glass of single malt. I also asked the security man to either have our people come back inside the casino, or accompany them back to the hotel. He said he would clear it with his chief and left.
Four very distinguished looking men came through the door. Dewey introduced me to his four other partners. One asked where the other three were and how bad they were hurt. Dewey answered, "They have been taken away by some national security people. I think they have been screwing more than us. Let's tear this place apart and see what we've been missing."
The five men were opening everything, including two wall safes behind pictures. The one guy was obviously experienced at opening safes. When the one didn't open with the combination he had on a slip of paper, he put his ear against the door and fooled with the knob until he smiled and used the handle to open the heavy door.
There they found what they had suspected. Another set of books that showed the first three had been shorting the other five about fifty percent of the real profits from the casino. Dewey looked up at me and said, "If you were to steal a half billion dollars, where or how would you hide it?"
"Easy, Dewey," I said, having the attention of all the men. "Put it into gold and stash it. I might keep a little out, but these guys were all multi-millionaires, maybe multi-billionaires. They really didn't need the money, but just wanted to keep it for themselves. It was greed, so where would a greedy guy hide a billion or so in gold?"
Dewey immediately answered, "In the big safe downstairs. They would just keep that gold separate, but could show it if they were audited for reserves. Let's go see."
The six of us went down the elevator, but had a seventh guy, a security team member with us. The partners went straight to a door near the cashier cages. A guard let the partners in, recognizing them but wanted to keep me out. Dewey told the man, "Let both of these men in. They are with me and are important."
The partners went to the big walk in safe, where they found another big stand-up safe in the corner. They immediately went to it and the safecracker partner had it open in seconds. Before he did anything else, he used a pen to reset the lock numbers and turned to the partners. "I made the combination the same as my phone number. That way all of the partners can get in. I did the same with the one upstairs."
The safe was crammed with hundred ounce bars of gold bullion. Pointing at some heavy shelves next to the safe, Dewey told me, "This gold on the shelves is the reserves we're required to have in case the casino takes some big losses. This stuff in here is probably what they siphoned off. I'm thinking we can split this four ways and come up with how much they have embezzled from us at this location."
One of the partners came over to us and said, "Damn, we have been a bunch of chumps. We've let these guys steal millions from us. What do you think, do you think we can vote them out as partners and buy them out for a buck?"
Dewey said, "You're the French lawyer, you tell me. I thought our partnership agreement was set up that way to keep something like this from happening. Can we use that clause?"
The guy said, "In a cyclist's heartbeat, Dewey. I'll work on it tomorrow and we'll meet here tomorrow night. I'll help you all transport what's yours, or we can get it converted so you can take paper back home. You should probably convert it back into gold at home, though."
Dewey was nodding in agreement. He then surprised me when he talked to the other partners, "What about the other four resorts and casinos. Do you think the three were siphoning off profits the same way, could they have the same stashed there?"
The safecracker partner said, "We'll go through the other casino's executive offices and safes tomorrow. I'll have a team of accountants at each of our places by nine in the morning. We'll figure it all out in less than a week. It will be expensive, but we have some extra money now for the expense. We can probably have the properties pay for the audit and it will just be early this year. Let's get out of here, we're creating a distraction."
After shutting the safe, we left the vault area and cashier room. Outside the door was our entire group. The guys wanted to go gamble some more, and the women wanted to play the machines some more. I looked at Dewey and said, "I really don't feel like cleaning the place out now, so how about we go to that neat bar I saw over by the high dollar area. It's free, isn't it?"
Dewey laughed, "As if either of us cares. It just keeps us from the hassle of having to pay for drinks."
Steve was right there with us and said, "Okay, you guys, what happened and what were all those security people doing. I saw a dozen go up, but only two came down. Did you lose them?"
I smiled, "I'll tell you later, let's have a drink and see if they have any food."
Lisa and Mercy spied us and quickly came over. When I told them both we were heading to the bar, Lisa hugged me with her face near my armpit. She sniffed, pulled back, and stared at me with a funny look. She mouthed 'Gunpowder.' I rolled my eyes and mouthed back, "Later."
In the bar, we were able to get some great oysters and clams. I even had a few of the giant snails cooked in garlic and butter. Dewey wanted me to try the caviar, so I had a cracker full. It was okay, but I'd rather have a sardine. I have a peasant's taste buds. While we were seeing if we could put a dent into the casino's liquor inventory, Julie came up to tell us, "Missy and I have been having a ball. The two of us have won so much money, the casino will probably bar us from coming back."
Missy said, "We only won a little over two hundred thousand. Tell us, Chuck, how much did you win before you had to leave with Dewey."
Dewey answered for me, "I think, in addition to a fat pocket of Euros, he has a debit card worth about thirty million."
I thought Julie's and Ben's eyes would pop out. Ben had come up to us at the last part of the conversation. Merlin was right behind him, and asked, "Was Mercy or Missy with you?"
I told him that Mercy was with me, but had me betting on my own. Missy wasn't with me; she was tormenting the dealers on the low dollar card tables."
Missy said, "It's a ball to play with a bunch of guys and never make a bad bet. They think I'm a card genius. It was fun though, wasn't it, Julie?"
Gio and Gina had been fascinated all night. They played the slots a little but mostly followed Missy and Julie around.
I said, "It's time, I want to get out of here. I'm liquored out and could use a good night's sleep."
Dewey said, "I have some heavy meetings in the morning, and probably all day. I could use Chuck with me, but I suppose he's going to be busy with music."
The big group of people went back to Nice on the bus. Some of the band members had lost money and Mackenzie proudly boasted, "I controlled my gambling tonight. I said I was only going to spend a thousand, and was just about going to quit when I played a couple of turns at the low wager wheel with Chuck. That turned my luck around, and I was able to play the rest of the night. I'm not a big money winner, but I'm a big winner in my ability to control my gambling."
At the hotel, we split up to our various suites. Our suite was piled high with kids out in the parlor area. Those of us awake went into our rooms, stripped and were in bed almost instantly. Hmm, I didn't ask the sisters how they did. They spent all their time with Beth on the slot machines.
With thoughts of how I could really have a thirty million dollar debit card, I went to sleep.