Chapter 8

By the time Danny returned to the hospital to bring Lindsey back to their hotel room, she had passed the test he had given her. She hadn't said anything to try to get him into trouble. When he walked into her hospital room, the look on her face told him, right away, just how relieved she was to see him again.

Less than an hour later, the two of them were on their hotel bed, taking care of what Danny thought of as urgent business. Right after that, Lindsey was on the phone with her people, trying to set something up so she could go back to Dublin to finish up her movie commitment.

The producers of the movie were only too happy to welcome her back. The free publicity for their movie, after her last collapse, had generated a breathtaking boost to the public's interest in their film. Interest in Lindsey, and in the movie she was filming, was still at an all time high. Arrangements were quickly made for transporting her back to Dublin again.

It took less than a week to wrap up filming in Dublin. After a brief return to London, mostly to pick up Chico and the rest of their things, the three of them flew back, first to Los Angeles, and then, after Lindsey had time to check in with her people, back over to Las Vegas again.

Danny had enlarged the white energy storage vessel he'd placed inside her. Full, she now had sufficient energy to keep her functioning for about ninety six hours. Danny had also enlarged on and expanded his own energy storage vessels. He also continued experimenting with ways to duplicate some of Caleb's earlier achievements with him. He could make basic repairs and improvements on himself now, although it was still easier for him to work on someone other than himself.

In addition to trying to make physical improvements, Danny was working hard trying to perfect a shield that would successfully resist any of Caleb's future efforts in trying to reinvest himself in Danny. He knew he had now gotten past the point where Caleb would be forced to consider him as someone potentially dangerous to the interests of the KAL. He didn't believe he was strong enough on his own yet to resist Caleb's best efforts. He hoped to be strong enough by the time Caleb returned.

Back in Las Vegas, Danny had somehow been elevated to a higher celebrity status because of his well publicized relationship with Lindsey. He and Chico had no difficulty with lining up high profile televised boxing matches for themselves.

As for Lindsey, she was behaving herself, causing no one any problems. It began to appear that she might have finally learned her lesson. Danny had kept her for himself since he'd brought her out of the hospital. After the trio had returned to Las Vegas, Chico had sought out his own preferred type of female companionship, mostly overweight hookers he was able to find in some of the late night bars around town. These were the ones he liked to frequent after his first morning training run.

Danny began spending two or three nights a week frequenting the two biggest poker rooms in town. Often, Lindsey would go with him, having a drink or two while watching as Danny managed to achieve great results with his play.

During the day though, while Lindsey slept in after their late nights out, Danny kept up his own training routine in the gym. It was an ingrained habit for him, and it felt right to be training hard every day. The lack of rest he was getting seemed to affect him not at all. He felt sharp, all the time, seeming to function just fine on little or no sleep. He did spend time in bed though, mostly with Lindsey. At times, he even took naps by her side.

Sex had long been the main reward he got out of his relationship with Lindsey. It still was, but now, they also talked with each other about other things. He found out about her earlier history, about some of the reasons why she had been acting like she had been. In her own way, her life and career had been as disappointing to her as Danny's later boxing career, before Caleb had resurrected it, had been to him.

She had felt used by the people she had relied on to help her achieve her dreams. She felt like her only importance to them was as a meal ticket. Events in her life had proved her mostly correct. Her parents, the two people she had loved and relied on the most, had shown, many times, that they would both put their own selfish interests ahead of her welfare. They didn't care what she did with her life, not as long as the money kept coming in, and the celebrity status, both for her and for them, continued.

"I find myself feeling better about things since I've been with you, Danny. I know you just started out wanting to fuck me, but now it feels like you also want something better for me, that you care a little about what happens to me."

Danny didn't know how to respond to that. They were both sitting up in bed, watching one of those entertainment programs that Lindsey seemed addicted to viewing. They had coupled furiously for about fifteen minutes, just before the show had begun. Lindsey had thanked him for finishing before her first show had come on. She thought he was being thoughtful for her sake. After a minute had passed, Lindsey, realizing that Danny wasn't going to comment on what she'd said, reached out and took Danny's hand in hers.

Danny was relieved that she didn't seem to require any answer from him. Lindsey was impressed that Danny hadn't felt any need to try to capitalize on the opening she had left him with her earlier statement. She would have been suspicious of any response he had made anyway. Experience had taught her that the people who hung around her would tell her whatever they thought she wanted to hear, in order to be able to stay around her longer. By not saying anything to her, Danny had gained more of her trust than she had lately given to anyone. She didn't feel so alone with him. He didn't seem impressed with her fame, only with her face and body. It was good to be appreciated for just herself.

After both her main Hollywood gossip shows were finished, Lindsey wanted to know what they were going to do that night.

"You tell me, Lin. I don't feel like playing cards tonight, so we can go out and do whatever you want."

Danny was feeling lazy. He didn't want to try to be the entertainment director for them that evening. His allowing her to decide what they'd be doing was more a result of his own laziness than it was from any desire he might have to cater to any of her needs or wishes.

"Can we go out clubbing? We haven't ever done that together. We can go out dancing and partying. Just a little partying. Nothing but a few drinks, I promise."

Danny hadn't ever seen her like this. She was as earnest as a little kid, promising to be good if he let her stay up for a few extra minutes or something. Her eyes were sparkling in anticipation. He could see it would mean a lot to her to be allowed to go out on the town like this.

"We'll go out and get a nice meal first. Then, if you want to, we'll go visit a few of the clubs after. You have to be good though. You can have a drink or two at each place, but you need to stay away from any kind of drugs. You have to pace yourself too, Lin. If you don't, then I'm going to call it a night the first time I have to warn you, especially if you don't quit doing whatever it is I'm warning you about. You got that?"

"Not even a little smoking, Danny? You know weed hasn't ever been any problem for me. Some of that other, yeah, but not just a little bit of weed."

"A few drinks and some dancing. We'll see some people, and we'll have a few laughs. None of that other though, and I mean it."

Danny was trying to set tough ground rules, not for Lindsey's sake so much, as for his own. He didn't want people to see him as someone who couldn't keep Lindsey from going off the deep end again. If she got herself in trouble, it would reflect badly on him. He didn't want that. He was getting some favorable notice now, both for his fighting, and for settling Lindsey down. People were remarking about how well she was behaving since becoming his girl. For Danny, this would be a little test. He didn't yet know how much self control Lindsey could muster up for herself.

"I have other friends besides you, Danny." There was the beginnings of a little whine in Lindsey's voice as she said this. "They will be expecting me to do a little partying with them. Not as much as I used to, I promise. It wouldn't hurt things for you to be a little more relaxed about things. You'd be surprised how much better I can be for you with a little chemical encouragement."

"I'm only going to tell you this once more, Lindsey, so you better listen to me. You asked me if we could go out clubbing tonight, and I said we could. I told you what was acceptable for you to do. If what I said isn't enough for you, then we'll just stay in instead. I don't need to go out to those clubs, but I was ready to go because I know how much you like doing that. I'm not going to take any chances that you're going to do something that will land you back in the hospital bed, or over at the morgue. None of that shit is worth you dying over."

To Danny, this was just him telling her the limits of what he'd tolerate. To Lindsey, this was a declaration of honest caring, possibly even of love, from Danny. To her, he was willing to put their whole future relationship at risk because of his need to protect her. She wasn't used to that kind of caring, not from anyone. She was wrong to think that was why he was telling her to stay away from drugs, but she didn't know that. Some pretty strong unions have been built from flimsier misunderstandings.

As she was getting herself fixed up to go out later, Lindsey was starting to build up, in her own mind, reasons why she might want to let Danny have his way with things. She was trying to talk herself into turning over control of her life to him. This was made much easier by the fact that, under her own stewardship, her recent life had been one long series of embarrassing missteps and wrong decisions. She was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when she managed to finally talk herself into doing that.

They ended up going to a nice steak house and loading up on some red meat and carbs. At the first club they went to, Lindsey disappeared for a few minutes with a few of her female acquaintances. Danny got worried when she didn't come back for fifteen minutes.