CRACK!

Back at the Bellagio pool…

Kate POV

Hanging up the phone I exclaim, "There! Problem solved! We have a plan in place, or at least a starting point." When Ana and Rhi just look at me without moving I clap my hands, "Come on girls! We need to get our asses moving so we can get this plan into motion! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

Ana and Rhi both say in unison, "So what's the plan?"

We all laugh. It's actually quite funny how we're all in tune with each other more often than not.

Clapping my hands again to get them moving I encourage them to hurry the hell up. "Let's go girls! We need to get to the room and get dressed quickly! Nothing fancy, yoga pants and t-shirt are fine. Rhi, you're going to surprise Alex in his room and wait for him to come in to take his nap. You need to keep texting him so he doesn't suspect anything. Jack is going to have him do a couple of things for the show to give us a little more time to get there. He's got something else planned too but I don't know what it is. He said he'd tell me when we got to the hotel."

As Ana and I jump up and start running around to grab our things and clean up the cabana, I tell Rhi, "Rhi, grab your phone and key and head up to the room to start getting cleaned up, we'll be right behind you."

Rhi throws her hoodie on and grabs her shoes, not even putting them on. "Ok, I'll see you in the room! I'm so excited to see him! He'll be so surprised! Thank you guys! I love you to pieces!" She hollers at us as she's running to the door to go back into the hotel.

As she disappears inside, Ana and I are rushing to clean things up. Luckily we were just lying in the sun, so we don't have to dry off. I'm glad we tipped the waiter before this so he shouldn't be too upset if we forget something.

"Hey Ana, it's funny, I'm feeling pretty buzzed right now. How are you feeling?" I ask her laughing.

Ana looks at me and says, "I'm feeling pretty buzzed myself. Those two shots of Patron really got me. I can only imagine how Rhi is feeling. She's drank a hell of a lot more than we have. Not to mention we've been in the sun so I'm sure the alcohol will be amplified." She laughs. "She had what, two Bloody Mary's, one rum and coke and six shots of Patron? She hasn't eaten anything that I'm aware of and calling a Bloody Mary 'breakfast' isn't what I consider food." She rolls her eyes.

Nodding in agreement, I know the comment isn't going to help but I can't resist. "I know I shouldn't say this because she would find some way of taking it as encouragement. However, she's hilarious and makes me laugh with some of the things she says but that's not exactly the safest thing to do. You would think she would know better. I mean, she's always lecturing us on what we should and shouldn't do when drinking."

Ana responds almost immediately, "She doesn't eat enough as it is but I'm not about to get into that with her. She's gone through a lot of shit and being told how to eat again is the last thing she needs. If Christian saw that he'd flip. You know how he is about food. Fuck, I thought he got on my case. He'd never let up on her. However, she won't take his shit, so I'd love to sit and observe that battle." I watch as her face clouds over in anger. "Speaking of Christian, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when we get home."

I grimace and say, "I understand your anger and I'm sorry about what he's done. But let's deal with that at a later time, preferably when we get home. We're on vacation. I don't want Grey to ruin it."

Ana nods in agreement, "You're right. We're here for fun and relaxation and…." She pauses for a moment then gives me a devilish smile, "Now we're hooking Rhi up with a hookup!" She rubs her hands together, hunches her shoulders and laughs a conspiratorial laugh. She reminds me of the Grinch.

Soon we're both a giggling mess, tears in our eyes, red faces and struggling to breathe. After a few minutes we finally catch our breath and pull ourselves together.

I look at my phone to check the time. "Come on, let's get upstairs and get cleaned up and ready to go. We're under time constraints. That sounds so lame being on vacation and all. Time shouldn't be included in any plans." I pause for a minute, thinking. "Hopefully the guys aren't anywhere near here, considering we did send her inside alone. Let's hurry!"

We run into the hotel, following Rhi's path, and head toward the elevator. Ana breathes out in relief, "So far so good, I don't see them right now. I hope they heeded our warning. Let's ask the attendant if he's seen anyone suspicious."

We get to the elevators and ask the attendant if he saw Rhi. He confirms he did and says that she got on the elevator alone. Nothing seemed amiss. We thank him and head up ourselves. It doesn't take long for us to make it to our floor and when the elevator pings and the doors open our ears are assaulted by loud voices and shouting, one of which is Rhi's.

I look at Ana, my eyes wide; Hers seem to be mirroring mine. "Holy fuck! What the fuck is going on?"

Rhi POV

I'm running through the casino to the elevator to go upstairs to get dressed. I greet the attendant with a wave and rush into the vacant elevator. As I'm waiting for the elevator to stop and let me off it feels like an elastic band is tightening around my chest, restricting my breathing, making me feel light-headed. While that feeling is strong, it is canceled out by the billions of butterflies in my gut. The feeling intensifies with each floor the elevator passes. I'm nervous but excited. I'm so excited to see Alex. I really do like him, and miss him when he's not around, but I'm worried about what will happen.

Am I really going to go through with this?

The elevator pings and I make my decision to just go with the flow and not talk myself out of it. He's here and I'm in Seattle so it will be easier to cut ties and move on.

As the doors slide open, I head down the hallway to our door. I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I don't hear the door open until it's too late. The big guy who freaked me out at the pool this morning is standing there in the open doorway, staring at me again like a creep. He looks down the hall over my shoulder. I don't know why, maybe to see if Ana and Kate are following, who knows. I'm on a mission and I don't have time for his bullshit.

There's a tension in the air, and I get a strange feeling the closer I come to him. I walk closer to the wall to avoid coming close to him and quicken my pace. I just want to get past him and leave him behind me. As I'm almost past him, he starts to reach out toward me. I don't know if he is going to touch me or grab me but it doesn't matter, no one touches me unless I want them to, and I definitely don't want him to.

That's it. I'm done. This ends NOW.

I growl at him, "Don't you DARE touch me! Who in the FUCK do you think you are? I'm tired of seeing you everywhere I go." He starts to say something, but he's pushed me past my limit. I've tried to do things as nicely as possible, with no violence, but enough is enough. He continues to reach out to me, and I step back out of his reach. I dig deep into myself and tap into the anger that's bubbling to the surface. I can only take so much, and I think I've been pretty good at not losing control like the last time.

To the left of me I hear, "Get the fuck away from her! NOW!"

He turns to his right at the sound and I take a swing at his face, connecting with his nose. I hear and feel a crack and blood explodes everywhere. He grunts and I watch him crumple to the floor holding his face, blood dripping through his fingers. There are two other guys standing behind him further in the room, their mouths are hanging open with eyes wide. They look shocked at the chaos in the doorway.

I smirk and shoot a glare at them. Yeah, you better watch it, motherfuckers.

I hear the sound of footsteps pounding on the floor and I look and see Ana and Kate running toward me. I roll my eyes. Mother hens. I chuckle to myself and shake my head.

Turning back to him, I snarl, pointing my finger at him. "I fucking warned you! Stay away from me. I'm NOT going to put up with this shit from some fucking guy again. EVER." I glance and the two in the doorway, "You two! Do you enjoy watching this? Get him the fuck away from me! Next time, and there better not be one, it will be worse!" They finally stop staring in shock and jump into action, reaching out to grab the big guy.

I turn and walk away, holding my head up high and add a little swagger. It feels so good to finally be able to physically let loose. I walk down the hallway toward our door, open it and walk into the room, leaving the door open for Kate and Ana to follow.

I need a fucking drink.

Ana POV

Stepping out into the hallway, we watch as the scene unfolds. There in front of us are Luke and Rhi in the hallway, Rhi glaring up at him and he's just standing there looking at her. They are in front of the guys' door, face to face, in a stand-off. From the look of it, his physical presence isn't even remotely intimidating her. The door is open and from this angle we can't tell if Ryan and Reynolds are there too. Probably.

"Get the fuck away from her! Now!" Kate and I yell in unison and start to rush down the hallway to them.

Luke turns his head to look at us and Rhi takes the opportunity to slug him in the face with her fist. There is a loud 'CRACK' which can only mean one thing; She broke something, though I'm not sure what it is at this point. Blood is everywhere and he goes down holding his face. She must've broken his nose. How the hell she was able to reach him to effectively cause any damage is beyond me, considering he towers over her by at least a foot.

Oh fuck.

I haven't seen Rhi this pissed in years and most of those times her mother was the cause of it. It takes a lot to make her snap but when she does, it can get really ugly really quick. Kate and I have heard many stories about her when she goes out, and what happens when she's pushed too far, but we've never actually witnessed any of it. We only thought of them as rumors being exaggerated for entertainment. Well, let me clarify that. We've never seen her resort to physical violence against someone, especially after what she's been through. So when I saw Rhi take a swing at Luke I was completely shocked.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I hear Rhi speak again, the anger evident in her shaky voice. "I warned you. I told you to leave me the fuck alone and stop following me." Her voice drops to an ominous tone as she continues, "I'm NOT going to put up with this shit from some fucking guy again. EVER."

Upon hearing that, Kate and I approach the scene quickly, hoping to stop her from saying too much. "We've got to diffuse the situation. Whatever that is." Kate whispers, her eyes focused on Rhi and Luke.

The closer we get, Rhi looks up and into the doorway, at Ryan and Reynolds I assume. She continues with a growl, pointing for emphasis, "You two! Do you enjoy watching this? Get him the fuck away from me! Next time, and there better not be one, it will be worse." She turns and walks away with her head held high, toward our room, unlocks the door and walks in like nothing happened.

I look at Kate, shock on my face. "What in the fuck just happened?" I ask.

Kate looks at me, eyes wide, mouth open and shrugs. "I don't know but I think she just broke Luke's nose! I've never seen her get that angry to get physical with anyone. Come on, let's get inside and get ready to leave." After a pause, she adds, "Not to mention we need some answers because that was fucking awesome!"

Turning to look at her, I see a wicked smile stretch across her face. I roll my eyes. "Kate, leave it to you to be excited about something like that." She just laughs.

We hurry down the hallway toward the room and pass the now closed door of the guys. I notice there's quite a bit of blood on the wall and the floor.

"I should call the front desk and have them make Luke clean up the mess. After all, it's his fault." Kate chuckles.

I roll my eyes and chuckle along with her. I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that either and personally, I agree wholeheartedly.

Rhi has left the door open for us and we go in and lock the chain behind us. I don't see Rhi so I yell excitedly, "Whoa Rhi, what the fuck was that?"

"Yeah Rhi, you're a total bad ass! Who would've thought you could kick some guys ass? You need to teach us that move!" Kate shouts. "Move over Tyson there's a new queen in town!"

Rhi comes out of the bar area with a bottle of Patron in her left hand and a tumbler in her right one. Chuckling, she answers with a shrug, saying nothing.

"Rhi, seriously, are you ok? What the hell happened?" I ask, my voice full of concern.

Rhi looks at us and breaks into a huge grin. "I feel amazing! I've wanted to do that since earlier this morning. Maybe now he'll get the hint and leave me alone."

"So, what happened?" Kate asks, which is good because curiosity is killing this cat right here.

Sighing, we watch as she sets the tumbler on the counter and pours a generous amount of the clear liquid into it. I see Kate roll her eyes but she says nothing.

I start tapping my foot impatiently when Rhi looks at it and rolls her eyes.

"I swear, with all the eye rolling between the three of us, you'd think we had googly eyes glued to our foreheads!" The three of us break out into a fit of laughter.

Rhi POV

Entering the room my nerves are on edge and the adrenalin is flowing at maximum speed. I drop everything I'm carrying and head to the bar and grab the Patron and a tumbler.

"What in the fuck is wrong with people these days? I mean seriously, why would someone think it's OK to harass someone?" I say out loud to no one.

I hear noises coming from the hallway and as I'm walking out of the bar area they come in and the look on their faces are priceless. Their eyes are wide, and their lower jaws dropped open in shock.

"Rhi, what in the fuck just happened?" Ana asks.

Kate replies before I get a chance to, "I don't know but she just fucking broke that guys nose! I've never seen you get that angry to get physical with anyone. Come on, let's get inside and get ready to leave." She says. "Not to mention we need some answers because that was fucking awesome!" Kate says laughing.

"Rhi, you're a total bad ass!" Ana yells excitedly.

"Yeah Rhi, who would've thought you could kick some guys ass not to mention the fact that he was almost twice your size! You need to teach us that move!" Kate shouts.

"Move over Tyson there's a new queen in town!" Ana yells again, before her voice drops to a more concerned tone. "Are you ok? Seriously? What happened?"

I look from Ana to Kate and break into a huge grin. "I feel amazing! After all the bullshit he's tried since yesterday? I snapped. I'm not going to lie, it felt so good to punch him in the face. I've wanted to do that since yesterday. He saw me coming out of the elevator, the other two guy were in the room still I guess. He had to have been watching and waiting for us to come back. He opened the door as I was approaching it, looked at me, then down the hall and started to say something while trying to reach out and touch me. I lost it. You guys showed up just as I was reacting to his actions. I seriously think I shocked him when I hit him. I know the other two guys faces were stunned. You should've seen the look on your faces! Priceless!"

I laugh, letting loose an evil, revengeful, satisfying laugh and have a huge smile to go with it that I haven't ever heard come out of me. Ana and Kate look mortified and I can tell it freaked them out a bit.

Kate shakes her head and says to me, "Well, we can get into more detail later. Let's go get dressed and get you to Alex. We gotta hurry. Like I said, yoga pants are fine, anything quick. You need to brush your hair too; It looks like a lion's mane."

Ana laughs, "I am Rhi, hear me roar!" We break into a fit of giggles.

We go our separate ways to get dressed and plan to reconvene in the bathroom to finish getting ready. I'm the first one in and I'm brushing my hair when I suddenly get a sharp pain in my hand causing me to wince.

Ana just happens to walk in that the same time, "What's wrong Rhi?" She asks, concern clouding her face.

I look at her and shrug. "My hand hurts a little. No biggie." I try to flex and stretch it out but it hurts and I wince again.

"Here, let me see it." Ana says. She reaches for my hand and gasps. "Rhi! What is all over your hand? Is that blood?" She asks me, shocked.

"Hm?" I mutter looking at my hand, "It looks like it."

I turn to the sink, turn on the water and start to wash my hand. It's really no big deal. I've had worse, but I forget that they've never seen that kind of thing from me. I try to keep that stuff away from them. They already think I have issues and this would just solidify them. I finish brushing my hair, with slight difficulty, and proceed to fluff my hair up a little to give it body. After brushing my teeth I wash my face and check myself in the mirror.

I make eye contact with Ana in the mirror and she asks me, "Rhi, does it feel like it's broken? Maybe we should get someone to look at it?"

By this time Kate has joined us in the bathroom and is watching Ana and I silently. I'm not exactly sure what she's thinking but I have a hunch she's not pleased with my lack of concern.

I look at my hand then back at Ana and reply, "Nah, it'll be fine. If it doesn't get better, we can deal with it later. Come on, let's get going." Walking out of the bathroom, I head to the bar and pour another drink. I've never backed down from a dare but this is a whole new level of dare. Come on liquid courage, don't fail me now!

I don't miss the look between Kate and Ana but I choose to ignore it. There's no reason to bring anything up and I just want to move on with our plans. Besides, I'm starting to get excited to see Alex.

Kate breaks the tension, "Ok, ok, ok. Rhi's right. Let's get a move on. Rhi? Are you still texting Alex? What's happening on his side? Has he said anything?"

Checking my phone I reply, "Yes, we're still texting. It's been a while since I last heard from him. He said he had to go do something extra to set up for the show tonight. He thought they were done, but I guess there was a last-minute thing that needed to be done."

Kate POV

I watch as she gulps her drink down and sets the glass on the counter. I glance at Ana quickly, which I'm sure she sees but she says nothing. She's been through a lot and the last thing she needs is us harping on her drinking habits. It's easier to deal with her drinking issues than her food issues. We've learned to pick our battles with her and while we don't completely agree with her drinking habits, we're not about to open that can of worms. Especially after what we've just witnessed.

I watch as she licks her lips and proceeds to give us the cliff-notes version of what happened.

I'm not going to lie, the laugh she makes is one of the most evil possessed sounding laugh that I haven't heard in a long time. The last time was when she confronted her mother at the hospital. I don't think I want to hear it again either. Not combined with the smile she had with it.

When Ana asks her if she should have her hand checked out, Rhi's lack of concern doesn't really surprise me. It's her indifference that really bothers me. We can't force her to get treated but that looks really painful.

Trying to move things into a different direction, I look at Rhi, "Well, that was certainly a show that I hope we never have to repeat. Come on, let's go get a taxi and get you to Alex. We gotta hurry." I urge, trying to get this show on the road. We're running out of time to get down to the Excalibur to surprise Alex. I have no idea what Jack has planned so we've got to get there ASAP.

We're getting ready to head out and I'm baffled. Rhi looks like she just stepped out of an Adidas marketing ad. Rhi has her trademark Adidas gear on, I swear she lives in those clothes. It's a good thing she has tons of different colors and styles, she never looks the same way twice. At least it seems like it.

"Rhi, are you sure you don't want your hand checked out? I'm sure it won't take too long." Ana asks again and I look at her and shake my head slightly.

Rhi looks at her hand then Ana and says, "Nah, it'll be fine. If it doesn't get better, we can deal with it later. Come on, let's get going." She grabs her phone, door key and sunglasses and heads toward the door.

Ok, that's a little concerning but whatever. We'll deal with that later.

I look from her to Ana and shrug my shoulders. "Ok then. Let's hope those guys aren't there anymore. And hopefully they learned their lesson. Don't fuck with Rhi!"

We laugh and head out the door, making sure it's locked behind us. We're not taking any chances.

Luke POV

Making my way to the room as I exit the elevator, I feel like a child that's been sent to his room. I can't believe this! All I was trying to do was talk to her since she was finally alone and that guy wasn't around. This was my chance to convince her I'm a good guy and it's ok to talk to me. Somehow it's gone south and I'm not sure how she can see my attempts as a negative thing.

A few minutes later Ryan and Reynolds walk in the door. Ryan looks at me, a disappointed look on his face, "Luke, what in the fuck is wrong with you? Don't you see what you're doing? You're so obsessed with Rhiann that you don't see you're actually traumatizing her. Do you seriously think she's going to want to talk to you after the shit you've been doing? Fuck dude, you need to go back home and stay away from her."

Sighing I look him in the eye. "Ryan, I can't. I don't know why but I can't. I want to talk to her. I want to apologize for grabbing her yesterday and scaring her at the pool and for anything else I've done. I just want to talk to her. This is the first time she's not been with that guy and I thought it would work out. I guess I was wrong." I confess, my shoulders sagging.

Just then, I hear the ping of the elevator, so I get up and head to the door and open it. I see Ryan and Reynolds look at each other and step closer to the door. I look back at them and say, "Relax guys, I just want to see who it is. If it's her I just want to talk. That's all."

I hear footsteps and look out the door and see Rhiann running down the hallway heading toward their room, her long blonde hair flowing out behind her like a horses' mane.

Now is my chance to talk to her and apologize for earlier.

I step out into the hallway and reach out to stop her from passing when she stops suddenly. She looks at me and starts yelling at me saying to stop following her and to leave her alone. At first she looks terrified.

God I don't want to scare her, why can't she see that?

I watch as her fear slowly manifests into something I can only identify as rage. I reach out to her again and start to apologize. I hear a noise and look to my right and see Kate and Ana exiting the elevator. When I start to turn back to Rhiann, I see her pull back her arm and swing it at me. The next thing I know is her fist hits my face and I hear a crack and hot liquid pouring down my face.

What in the FUCK?!

She just fucking hit me and I think she broke my nose! She's definitely got some balls on her bigger than a lot of guys I've seen. And my God she's got some power behind that punch, especially for a little thing. HOLY FUCK!

I squat down holding my face in my hands and blood is dripping through my fingers. Behind me I hear shuffling and Ryan telling Reynolds to come help him. I lift my head to look at Rhiann, who is still yelling at me, then she turns her rage onto Ryan and Reynolds telling them to do something with me. I see her turn and walk away down the hall to her room doing some sort of strut. She's actually PROUD of what she's done! Un-fucking believable!

Ryan POV

"Luke stop!" I yell and try to grab Luke.

He's been standing in the doorway watching Rhiann come down the hallway. He's obsessed with her and is totally oblivious of what's going to happen. He won't stop or move out of the doorway.

"Reynolds! Get over here!" I shout, trying to get control of Luke.

Reynolds comes up behind me and asks, "What's going on?"

I look at him, "Here comes Rhiann and Luke's been sitting here watching and waiting for her to come down the hall. He's literally crossed the line from CPO observation to creepy stalker."

Luke is in the doorway and we hear the elevator 'ping' and hear Rhiann's footsteps getting closer. I watch as Luke steps out of the room, reaching his arm out to stop her and starts say something to Rhiann. She freaks out and takes a step back, a terrified look on her face. He reaches out again and slowly the terror on her face morphs into something dark. I can see the anger bubbling to the surface, and she swings her arm back and fucking slugs Luke right in the face. We hear a crack and blood goes everywhere. Luke grunts and drops to the floor, holding his face, blood dripping through his fingers.

She glares at him and yells for him to leave her alone, her breathing heavy. Then she turns her anger to us and snarls, "You two! Do you enjoy watching this? Get him the fuck away from me! Next time, and there better not be one, it will be worse!" Then she turns and walks down the hallway without so much as a glance back.

We turn our attention to Luke, who is squatting on the floor holding his face.

"What in the fuck is wrong with you Luke?!" Reynolds growls at him, clearly pissed. Luke doesn't respond or look at us, he just mumbles something incoherently. "Come on, stand up. Let's get you inside and get the bleeding to stop and check the damage."

We get him inside and sit him at the table. Reynolds leaves to find a towel and wet washcloth so Luke can wipe off the blood, so we can see where it's coming from. Fuck, there's a lot of blood.

I'm so pissed at him I could punch him myself. "Luke, what in the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you do that? You've already freaked her out once today, are you shooting for a record?"

He looks at me sadly and says, "It should be me."

I stare at him, "What? What should be you?"

He sighs and looks down. "I should be the one with her. Dancing with her, spending time with her, making love to her. It should be me, not that guy."

I look at Reynolds, who is standing off to the side watching and listening. Bringing my focus back to Luke, I'm at a loss for words, and after a minute I respond, "Whoa. Dude, you do know that you can't make someone do something they don't want to do, right?" I pause, trying refrain from beating some sense into him; Rhiann has already done a good job of that. "Why are you basically throwing away your career for some woman? A woman you know nothing about? T is going to lose his shit when he hears this. I don't even want to know what Grey will do. You've really fucked this whole thing up." I let out a harsh breath and shake my head. This is a fucking nightmare.

There is silence for a few moments then Reynolds speaks up. "Ok Luke, let's see what damage she's done."

I nod in agreement and watch as he pulls the washcloth off his face. Reynolds looks at me and he looks just as shocked as I imagine I do.

"Holy fuck! Dude, your nose is broken and the bone is coming through the skin. You've also got a black eye." It's pretty ugly to look at and it looks like he got into a brawl with another guy, not some tiny female. "Man, for such a small thing she's got a powerful punch. She knocked you on your ass."

Sighing, Reynolds leans down and grabs Luke's arm to help him up. "Come on, let's get you to the medic and get your face fixed. We will deal with the rest of this when that's done."

Reynolds and I get Luke to the clinic that's down the street. The doctor that looks at him has to set his nose, which is super painful but to be honest, I really don't have much sympathy because he deserves it. He never should have tried talking to her.

Once the bone is reset, Luke has to have stitches because the bone came through the skin, it's just a small opening so it's maybe two or three stitches.

As the doctor is finishing up, he tells Luke, "I believe you also have a concussion. I'm prescribing pain meds for you to take regularly for a couple of days so you can rest and your head can heal. You need to make sure you take these on time. These may make you sleepy so be careful when you take them. You need rest so your brain can heal from any trauma it's sustained. Also, keep all exerting activities to a minimum for a week and follow-up with your physician when you return home. Guys, I'm counting on you to make sure he does this. If you have any problems, please contact me. I'll make sure you have my card before you leave." As he's getting ready to leave the room, he turns to look at him and says, "Whoever hit you really had a lot of power behind their strike."

I look at Reynolds and we chuckle and shake our heads. You have no idea.