Chapter 83

Frankie

Alex POV

I catch a cab to the Excalibur and change clothes as fast as possible. Before I head back I grab a bag and toss some clean clothes in it along with my toiletries so I'm prepared for anything. As I'm riding in another taxi back to the girls I'm lost in my thoughts.

I wonder how much the girls drank while I was asleep? Hell, it could be any amount because Ana and Kate don't seem to drink near as much as Rhi. I have an inkling that Rhi challenged them and they were having such a good time with 'the old Rhi' that they accepted.

Everyone knows by now that Rhi can hold her liquor. Even the guys have made a few comments about it. It bothers me, I admit, but then again it doesn't because now I understand why she drinks the way she does. Though I definitely do not like the 'self-medicating' comments she makes but we'll work on that. I'm not going to change her but I would like her to be more cognizant of the feelings of those of us that love and care about her. Like I told Jack, we have a lifetime to work through things and learn about each other. I'm no saint either.

It's only been about 30 minutes and I think I made good time. Knocking on the door I wait for someone to answer. I hear rustling around and Ana lets me in. "Come on in Alex. We're just finishing up. Make yourself comfortable." She indicates to the main room. Instead of sitting down, I elect to stand and wait for them to come out. It shouldn't be that long because I'm assuming they were getting ready while I was gone.

I'm standing in front of the window, looking down on the city of Las Vegas, lost in thought. She's so much better than what she was the first night. After the appointment with Dr. W she seems stronger, more sure of herself, more assertive and I can see the stubbornness and her spunky personality emerging. It's surprising and refreshing and fun. Something tells me life will never be dull with her. I can see us together years down the road and I'll do whatever it takes to make it work. She's worth it.

A few minutes later I hear Rhi's voice, "Are you ready to go? Where's Kate and Ana?"

I turn back around to her and my breath catches. I'm speechless. There, in front of me, stands the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. She's flawless. Absolutely perfect. She's beautiful no matter what but there are no words that describe how beautiful she looks right now.

When I saw her at the show the first time, wearing that black dress, she was beautiful then and I couldn't take my eyes off her. I didn't think she could ever be more beautiful; boy I was wrong. She's absolutely stunning.

I let out the breath I was holding and walk over to her. Stopping in front of her, I reach for her hand and twirl her around to see her from all sides. "Baby, you're absolutely stunning. There are no other words to describe your beauty." Grasping her chin, I pull up her face so I can look into her eyes. "You are perfect. Beautiful, gorgeous, stunning and so many other things I can't even think of all of them. You've short-circuited my brain." I lean down and gently kiss her and slowly deepen the kiss until we're both breathless when I pull away.

"So I look OK?" She asks quietly. I can see that she's shy and a little insecure. She has no reason to be though.

"My god baby. Wow." I'm speechless.

She giggles, "I'll take that as a yes."

"Yes times infinity." I reply and chuckle. "I feel like I need to go change into a suit."

Kate and Ana come out dressed in nice shorts and tank tops. I'm in jeans and a nice shirt but I'm glad I packed a bag with clothes that will cover all occasions. I certainly don't want to look like a slob or wear day old clothes, especially if Rhi's going to dress like that.

Kate and Ana are smiling at Rhi. "You look beautiful Rhi. Are you guys ready?" Rhi blushes and nods.

"I'm ready whenever you guys are." I reply.

"Let me grab my phone." Rhi says.

I watch her walk over to pick up her phone off the breakfast bar. She starts to slip her phone into her shirt. "Rhi, do you not have any pockets?" She looks at me and shakes her head. "Give me your phone, I'll carry it for you. You're not carrying your phone in your bra, that's not safe and you're too pretty to do that." I know Kate and Ana have their phones in their pockets. Rhi is the only one without pockets.

She hands me her phone and says, "Well, you don't have to worry about that. I'm not wearing a bra. But you'll be happy to know, I AM wearing panties." She winks and gives me a salacious smile.

My eyes widen, "Um, ladies? Can you give me 30 minutes alone with Rhi? I've got something I need to, um, do." I say, laughing. "Just kidding," I wink at them. Not really but we need to eat right now. Though I could think of other things I'd like to eat. "Rhi, how is your arm? Is it still numb?" I ask her.

She looks at her arm and says, "It's still numb. I should be ok."

I think about it for a minute, and suggest, "Why don't you take a pain pill with you just in case. You don't want to wait too long." I wonder how much she's going to fight this.

She look at me for a moment before answering. "You're right. Let me grab the bottle and we can just take one pill with us. There's no reason to take the whole bottle." She walks away to get the bottle.

I say to Kate and Ana quietly, "Wow. That was easier than I expected."

They both nod in agreement and Ana responds, "I wonder if talking to Dr. W had more of an impact on her than we originally thought."

Rhi comes back and hands me the pill bottle. Opening it, I take one pill out and slip it into my pocket. "Before we go, Kate? Ana? Will one of you take a picture of Rhi and myself? I'd like one of us actually posing together." I smile sheepishly, "I know it sounds corny but my god she's beautiful and I need to capture this."

Kate takes my phone and directs us to stand in front of the window with the curtains closed. Rhi is standing slightly in front of me and I wrap one of my arms around her waist.

"OK guys, smile!" She takes a couple of pictures and Ana has taken a couple with her phone too. "You guys look amazing together. Here, check it out." Handing me back my phone, I look at the pictures.

"We do make a good-looking couple, don't we?" I laugh and show Rhi the pictures.

She blushes, "We do look good together. I like that." She smiles.

I smile, "Thank you Kate. Shall we go?"

Kate and Ana nod in agreement and we all head to the door, which I hold open and make sure to close it securely behind me.

As we walk down the hallway to the elevator, I see Rhi visibly tense up as we pass the door to the other penthouse. Looking down at her I say, "Baby, it will be OK. Nothing is going to happen. I'm here." Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pull her closer to me, lean down and kiss the top of her head.

The elevator ping's and we all step inside. "Princess Rhi, are you ready to make your grand entrance to the world?" Kate says, smiling.

Rhi laughs, "That's funny. I've been called a lot of things but 'princess' was never one of them."

The elevator slows and stops on the casino level and as the doors open, Rhi says, "In the words of Duckie, 'Let's plow.'" She slips her hand in the crook of my elbow instead of holding my hand.

Stepping off the elevator, the same attendant that's been on shift the past couple of nights sees her and says, "Wow! You look absolutely stunning. Enjoy your evening ladies." He nods at me, "Sir."

I'm glad he acknowledged me. That's respectful. I nod back at him and smile. I see Rhi smile back at him and she replies, "Thank you. I'm sure we will."

The four of us start walking through the casino and Kate and Ana were 100% right. Rhi is turning heads left and right. There is chatter of appreciation floating across the casino and people are looking up from their games. People stop walking and even the game dealers are stopping what they're doing.

I feel so honored to have her on my arm that I can't help smiling. Leaning down, I ask her, "Baby, you OK?"

She looks up at me and gives me a bright smile. "I'm absolutely perfect. How are you doing?" She asks.

I smile back, "Yes, you are perfect and I'm absolutely perfectly happy to be with you." I lean in and give her a quick kiss on the cheek. I just can't seem to get enough of her.

Rhi POV

Oh my god I'm so nervous about going out dressed like this. The way Kate and Ana are carrying on makes me a little self-conscious. As we're walking through the casino I notice that it's a lot livelier than it has been the past couple of days. There are a lot of people playing the tables, the roulette wheel, craps and all the slot machines are almost full. It reminds me of a movie where people are standing around watching people play and cheering them when they win. It makes me smile.

There's also a lot more people walking around as well as standing in groups. I see them stop and watch us walk by, following us with their heads and talking amongst themselves. I can't help but feel like more people are looking for us in that treasure hunt. I'm going to embrace this and not freak. Well, I'll at least try not to show it.

We make our way through the doors and onto the Strip and head to the stoplight so we can cross the street. As we're walking I look up and see Alex looking down at me. "Good memories." I smile and give him a wink. "Kate? Ana? Will you take another picture of Alex and me in front of the fountain? It's so serene even without the music and lights. Except this time I want to have my left side showing so it hides my sling. As much as possible anyway. Please?"

Smiling back at her, "Of course! Let's find the center of the fountain so we can have the hotel in the background." Kate and Ana lead the way and find the perfect place. There are a few people in the center but when Kate asks us to get closer to the water, they politely move out of the way.

I'm standing on the left side of Alex turned slightly so there's a shadow that blends in with the sling. He turns towards me, grasps my chin with his fingers and gently lifts my face up to his. The look in his eyes is hypnotizing. Holy fuck he's intense.

"Baby, you are so beautiful. I could look at you forever." He runs his thumb down my cheek and leans in to kiss me.

We're interrupted when we hear, "Do the romantic movie leg lift Rhi!" Kate says, laughing, which causes Alex and I to start laughing. "Kate stop! You've ruined the moment!" I admonish.

Alex looks at Kate and winks. He looks back down at me and says, "Well, I think we need to try that one again, don't you?" I nod and this time he turns to me and places both of his hands on the side of my face and pulls me to him, kissing me once again. I melt but remember Kate's request so I raise my leg to appease Kate. She's not interrupting us this time.

She claps her hands with glee. "Thanks Rhi! That was perfect!"

I pull away from Alex, look at Kate, and laugh. Alex smiles and says, "OK ladies let's go get something to eat. Rhi will need to have her pain meds once she eats, just to play it safe. It's been quite some time and I anticipate the nerve block to wear off soon." He steps in front of me and takes my hand, leading me toward the street. I feel eyes on me and look around. "What's wrong baby?" He asks, concerned.

"Nothing really. I just feel like I'm being watched again." I reply.

He laughs, "Baby, have you seen yourself lately? You are stunning and everyone is looking at you, admiring your natural beauty."

As we're getting ready to walk toward the street, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Frankie Valli and the fountain starts up. The next thing I know, I'm being swung to my left and into Alex's arms. Kind of, considering my arm in the sling. Alex pulls my face up to look at him and looks into my eyes, winks and starts singing along with the song.

He never breaks eye contact as we start to sway to the music slowly. When the beat picks up he spins and twirls me into a swing and belts out the lyrics. Well, just the chorus: "I love you, baby; And if it's quite all right; I need you, baby; To warm a lonely night; I love you, baby; Trust in me when I say; Oh pretty baby; Don't bring me down, I pray; Oh pretty baby; Now that I found you, stay; And let me love you, baby; Let me love you."

I can't help but laugh. When the chorus starts again I join in and we are all laughs and smiles. We're enjoying ourselves and even a few people watching join in. Soon, we're giving our own little concert. It was awesome.

The dancing is a little difficult because of the sling but we manage and I think it turned out rather well. The music stops and we start laughing again. Alex gives me a wide grin, "God that felt great. That was so much fun. I think we need to go to a club sometime. I want to see your moves because I absolutely guarantee you can dance." He winks and his grin hints at something a little salacious.

I give him a secretive smile and raise an eyebrow. "Oh, I don't know about all that. Maybe."

Turning to head to the street again and there are dozens of cell phones being pointed our way. There are so many more than there were the two nights. Kate and Ana, of course, front and center and they are laughing with huge smiles on their faces.

Running up to us, Kate says excitedly, "Guys, that was awesome! You looked like you were having so much fun." She looks at me, "You were even able to dance with your arm in a sling. Now that takes skill. We knew you could dance. Now we need to go to a club so you can show us your moves."

"Kate, let's go eat and we can discuss it over food and drink." I pause, "besides, I want to get out of the crowd. It's making me nervous." I place my hand in the crook of Alex's arm and we start walking toward the street and wait for the light to change.

Luckily, Planet Hollywood is across the street, just south of the Bellagio, so we don't have far to walk. We are finally able to cross the street and people are honking their car horns as the group of people cross the street.

You know what? I chose to wear this and I feel pretty. I'm going to own it and not try to hide. Not that I can in public. However, I did NOT expect to meet Alex and 'trend' so I've got to roll with this whole thing. So, I hold my head high and walk with confidence.

Alex POV

My god that was fun! It felt good to let loose like that. Rhi really is a good dancer, even with a sling, though she won't admit it. I wasn't joking when I said we should go to a club. I really would like to see what she can do. I wonder what kind of music she likes? I listen to a little bit of everything.

I haven't heard that song in years. To be honest, it actually describes how I'm starting to feel about Rhi. I need her with me and I want her to stay. I wish she could stay here with me but I know she has to go back home. We need to take some time, just the two of us, to talk things through to see if we can truly make this work. I know I want to and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

I'd really like to take some time off while she's here. It will make things so much easier and less stressful. I'll talk to them tomorrow. Besides, I'm pretty sure Jack is going to want to hear the whole crazy story. It seems like so much has happened and it's only been a few days.

As we're walking across the street, I notice Rhi's posture change slightly. She's holding her head high, exuding more confidence and her smile is brighter. God she's beautiful. How did I get so lucky?

"How's your arm, baby?" I'm concerned that after the dance that I hurt her. Thank god her hand is in a cast and it's protected from further injury. I'd feel terrible if I hurt her.

Glancing down at it, then up at me she smiles, "It's OK. No major changes yet." She winks, "Nothing that will stop me from enjoying myself."