Chapter 39

I looked down at Lu’s beautiful body lying face-down before me, and I wondered what had just happened. Had I really made love to this beautiful, worldly woman? I followed the long curve of her back to the rise of her buttocks, and down past her thighs and calves to her tiny ankles. There wasn’t a mark or blemish anywhere. She didn’t have the hidden look of strength like Kristen or Erin did. Her body was like one solid piece of a substance that I couldn’t describe. It was absolutely beautiful.

I thought of Molly’s body and Lu’s was different. Molly’s was the body of a perfect woman. Lu’s is longer and leaner, like something you might see in a painting or statue. Looking at her fantastic butt again, I noticed some redness around her anus. It couldn’t have been from me. I couldn’t have had sex in there; that unbelievable butt was too perfect to defile with a penis.

I don’t know how long I stared at her, but she finally turned her head to me and said, “You must go now.” I wanted to say something clever, or thank her somehow, but it didn’t seem appropriate, so I just gathered up my things and left. I kept thinking about her all the way to our room. Making love to her had been a fantasy, but the intensity had been disturbing, and it left me with an uneasy feeling.

Who was Jun? Was it her pet name for Tomaso? Was it even a man’s name? I was tired and I needed to be alone for a while so that I could think.

I took a quick shower and looked at myself when I got to my room. My dick was still swollen and I had scratches up and down my back and sides. Besides that, my mind was still in a whirl. I lay down on the bed, but I couldn’t nap. How could I have done what I did? I may be only seventeen, but I know better. I don’t care how beautiful she is; there is no excuse for what I did. I kept thinking about Kristen. What I did was unforgivable, and I had never felt this bad about anything in my entire life.

I don’t know how long I lay there, but the phone was ringing the next thing that I knew and Mom was asking if I wanted to eat with them. I threw some water on my face and started for next door. I wondered if I should call Lu and ask her if she wanted to come, but I didn’t know what to say, so I just figured that I’d see her later.

They were all talking about the trip to Hoover Dam and how interesting the scenery was when I got next door. I tried to join the conversation, but I couldn’t clear my head of what I had done and how it was going to affect Kristen. It must have been obvious at dinner, because Mom asked, “Is something bothering you, Pete?” after we finished. I just shook my head and said that everything was fine.

We went directly to the showroom after dinner. Tomaso had arranged for a table close to the stage. We got there quite early and were watching the showroom fill up when Kate asked me, “Did you and Lu get all your shopping done, Pete?” I was deep in thought when she asked the question, so it was a minute before I said, “Uhh, sure. It was fine.”

I guess that I must have looked strange or something, because there was kind of an awkward silence before Dad said, “Come with me, Pete,” and we walked out of the showroom to a quiet hallway. He said, “Okay. What’s going on?” I said, “I feel terrible, Dad. I betrayed Kristen this afternoon!”

I told him everything, including what I thought about Lu’s need for excess roughness. But I may have made a mistake at the end, when I said, “She was like Clair Gilroy, Dad; she couldn’t seem to get enough!” I don’t think I ever saw my dad blush before. He raised his eyebrows and said, “You’ve, uhh, been with Clair Gilroy?”

“Uh huh.” He seemed to ponder that for a minute, then he said, “Well, what can I help you with? Do you want to do something about Lu?” It took me less than a second to say, “I don’t want to do anything about her. I feel terrible about it. I wish that it never happened and I hope that she doesn’t try to pursue me. What I did to Kristen is awful. What shall I do, Dad? Shall I go to her and try to apologize?”

Dad looked at me for a while before he answered, then he said, “I don’t think that you have to worry about Lu chasing you. I think that she was just looking for a good time. I’d leave it alone if I were you as far as Kristen goes, and just see what happens.” “What if Tomaso finds out?” He didn’t answer for a minute again, then he said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if he already knew.”

“But, how could he, Dad?” “I don’t know what, but something odd is going on with them. I noticed it when she was staring at me at the beginning, and he didn’t seem to mind.” “Is it something bad? Should I worry about Kristen’s association with him?” “I don’t know. I’m leaving tomorrow, but you keep your eye on things. Kristen is a big girl, but try to make sure that she isn’t in over her head.”

We heard the orchestra start, so we went back in and sat down. A comedian, whom we later learned worked for the hotel, opened the show. He told jokes, did some juggling, and loosened up the audience, then the lights dimmed and Kristen stepped from behind the stage curtain and into a spotlight. She was breathtaking. The wardrobe and makeup department had made her look more beautiful than ever, and the stage lights seemed to radiate from her.

She welcomed the audience, and thanked everyone for coming. Then she made a joke about how the magic they were about to see might not be what they expected, but she hoped that they would be pleased, then she introduced Tomaso. I hadn’t realized how popular he was. The enthusiastic applause went on for a long time.

He immediately sang a medley of his songs, and his voice was wonderful as before. The audience was eating it up, and they applauded for what seemed like five minutes when he finished. He then sang a few fast tunes, then he pulled a chair to center stage, told some jokes, and talked to the audience for a while when they were finished.

He stood up after that and said that he was going to introduce a friend of his who was performing in Las Vegas for the first time, and he brought out Kristen and introduced her as Kristen Baker. She seemed to glide onstage. Tomaso took her hand, intently looked at her, the houselights dimmed, and they were bathed in the spotlight. They waited until there was absolute silence, and so quietly that you could barely hear them, started to sing the opening verse of ‘Stardust’.

It was beautiful to watch them together. Their voices slowly increased in volume, but they sang to each other as though they were alone. The music that flowed from them was magical. I knew that it was just part of the show, but it’s a love song, and I was sure, along with everyone in the room, that those two people on stage were in love. I thought that my heart would break for a minute.

The audience wildly applauded when the song ended. Kristen bowed, and Tomaso stepped back and led more applause for her, then he stepped forward again and said, “Not bad for a first timer, huh?” The audience applauded again and some people began yelling “More!” Tomaso said to Kristen, “Do you think we can talk you into one more?”

Kristen was grinning so widely that I thought her face would break. She nodded, the room grew quiet, and she began to sing ‘Sunrise-Sunset’. She was incredible. There wasn’t a sound in the room but her voice. People seemed dumbstruck by its clarity and fullness. She finished to thunderous applause, and a big hug from Tomaso.

Tomaso finished with two more songs, and he motioned for Kristen to join him on stage when he took his final bows. The applause was deafening when she came out. I glanced at my watch, and was surprised to see that nearly two hours had gone by.

We were sitting in our seats, waiting for the room to clear, when a man came to us and asked us to follow him backstage. We went through a side entrance to a dressing room, and Mr. Mariani was there, hugging Kristen when we opened the door. Kristen ran to me when we walked in. We hugged, and she started talking a mile-a-minute, asking me if I thought that she did okay.

Everyone started congratulating her after I told her that I thought she did great several times. Dad, Ben, and Kate were gathered around her, telling her how much they enjoyed her performance, and I noticed Mom and Mr. Mariani standing slightly back from the group. I was close enough to hear Mom say to him, “I thought that you were gone?” He said, “I was; I just flew in to see her perform and I’m leaving again in a few minutes. Why, did you miss me?” Mom didn’t answer; she just smiled.

Amy came in carrying some papers just then. She went to Kristen and stood beside her, then said, “Please, everyone, we have to make some changes for the next show, and I need to talk to Kristen.” We were leaving when Amy said to me, “Tomaso wants to talk to you, Pete. His dressing room is across the hall.” A chill ran through me. Had he found out about Lu and I? What was he going to say... ?

His room was crowded with people congratulating him for coming to the hotel’s rescue, and telling him how great he was when I got there. He nodded to a guy who was standing in the background when he saw me. The guy thanked everyone and began ushering everyone out, then he closed the door behind him.

Tomaso didn’t say anything for a minute, and his face was sad when he did. He said, “I need to talk to you about some things, Pete. You probably noticed that Lu wasn’t with you when you watched the show. She’s in the hospital!” My blood ran cold! What had I done? I know that our sex had been rough, but had I really hurt her?

I was about to say something, when Tomaso held his hand up for silence, and went went on. “Lu and I have been friends for a while. We were even lovers at one point. She grew up in the US and made a considerable fortune in the stock market. She bought a villa in Spain and retired several years ago.” Stunned, I blurted out, “Retired! But she’s only a girl!”

“She’s older than you think, but don’t interrupt. I met her in Spain and we traveled together for a while. I also wondered why she retired so early, but she would give me a vague answer whenever I would ask her about it, then she got ill and was taken to the hospital one day. I talked with her doctor when I visited her there. He told me that she has an inoperable cancer, and had less than a year to live. She refused to travel with me anymore as soon as she found out that I knew. She said that she didn’t want to be a burden to me, but I knew that the real reason was because she saw that I was falling in love with her and she didn’t want me to be hurt so badly when she passed. I pleaded with her to stay with me, but nothing I said would change her mind.”

“She left me and went back to Spain, and I haven’t seen her for almost six months. She heard that I was going to be in Las Vegas, and she asked to meet me here. She asked me to help her live out a fantasy when she got here. She wanted to meet a handsome man and have an interlude of nothing but sex. She had planned on it lasting for a day or two, but she’s very weak, and I guess that your lovemaking was too much for her. I suspect the end might be near.”

I was in shock! How could that beautiful creature be dying? She looked so perfect from the outside. How could it be true? Then something crossed my mind. I said, “So you knew that we were going to have sex when we came back from shopping?” “Yes.” “And it didn’t bother you?”

“Yes it did, but it was something that she wanted to do.” “Why didn’t she do it with you?” “Because she knew how I feel about her, and the finality of it would have broken my heart.”

“But why is she in the hospital? Did I do something to hurt her?” “Not really. There was some blood and some tearing, which is why she went to the hospital, but she is so full of drugs that she doesn’t feel much pain. She went there to get checked to see if there had been any real damage. There wasn’t, but they discovered how far along the cancer is, and they wanted to keep her there, but she refused. She called her family and they are driving in from LA to take her home.”

I said, “So I won’t have a chance to say goodbye?” “No. I talked to her on the phone just now and this is the way she wants it. She told me to thank you and tell you that you were wonderful.” He stopped talking for a while. His face took on a look of terrible sadness as I sat there thinking.

I said, “How about you. Did you have a chance to say goodbye?” “No, she wouldn’t let me. All she said was, ‘Remember me fondly’ and hung up.”

Neither of us could say anything for a while, then he went on. “We have another concern, Pete. It’s about Kristen. She’ll never hear about Lu before you ask, so put that out of your mind, but Kristen has a wonderful talent and we are very excited about her. My agent wants to sign her right now and take her on the road with us. It would mean that she would be leaving Monday and you wouldn’t see her for quite some time. I know how she feels about you, and she probably wouldn’t go if you insisted, but I’m asking you to make a sacrifice and encourage her to come with us. She doesn’t realize how good she is. She can be a superstar with the proper management that we can provide, and with my contacts, I think that we can turn her into something great.”

I said, “You keep saying ‘We’, who else is in on this?” “My agent and her father.” Shocked, I said, “Her father, but I thought that he liked me!” “He does like you, Pete, but this is bigger than the two of you. She has enormous potential.”

A lot of emotions went racing through my mind, and one of them surprised me by being a kind of relief. I thought that it was because of Kristen’s not finding out about Lu at first, but I soon began to realize that it was something else, and I needed to be alone to think about things. Tomaso could see that I was deep in thought and he said, “Think about it. We’ll hold off talking to her about it until Sunday.”

I was about to leave, when I remembered something. I said, “Who is Jun?” It was as though I had slapped him. His head jerked around and he asked, “Did she call you that?” “Yes.”

He looked out the window for a minute before he answered my question. Then he turned to me and said, “Jun is a mythical God from the village where her family is from. He was supposed to come to every woman once in her life and be her perfect lover. He would come for her if she died without being married, and they would be together forever. I wanted to be her ‘Jun’, but I never was. She apparently thought that you might be.”

I was staggered at what he said, but there was such pain in his eyes, I quickly lied, and said, “No, she said it before we made love. I think she was talking about you.” I don’t think that he believed me, but his eyes were moist, and he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “You’re a good man, Pete.”

Mom and Dad were gone when I went back outside. I was going to go somewhere and think, when I heard Kristen calling me. She came rushing to me and threw her arms around me.

She hugged me so tight that it hurt my neck, then she began raining kisses on me. I held her away from me and looked at her when she finally let up. She still had the stage makeup on and she looked fabulous. I actually felt unworthy for the first time in my life. She was beyond beautiful; she was spectacular, and I felt like scum because of what I had done to her. I vowed to myself as I stood there looking at her that I would never again let my penis do my thinking for me. She went on and on about how much fun she was having, and how exciting being on stage in Las Vegas was.

She was so happy that I pulled myself together and asked her what she wanted to do. It was just past midnight and Vegas was just coming to life. She said that she wasn’t a bit tired, and would like to visit some of the late shows, so we went back to our room and she took a quick shower. She gave me a horny look when she stepped out of the shower and was toweling off, but my penis was still a little sore and I didn’t want her to see any scratches that I might have, so I kidded her about waiting until later. She was obviously still pumped from her performance, so she didn’t argue, and just threw some clothes on.