Las Vegas is America's adult amusement park. I try to spend two or three weeks a year there to gamble and enjoy the other festivities. I am never a big winner or loser unless you consider $20,000 a trip big. At thirty-seven, I was in my fifteenth year of Vegas trips, and over the years, I was actually ahead by more than a hundred thousand.

I always stay at the same place and gamble there much of the time. As a regular, I get the freebies they offer to generate repeat business, such as lunches, drinks or tickets to the shows. Each trip I find a nice girl to share my bed a few times, which is part of the Vegas appeal. No street walkers. Call girls. Pretty and clean.

On the first night of a two-week stay, I gambled until five in the morning. When I called it a night, I was seventy thousand ahead, which made for sweet dreams someone rudely interrupted by knocking at my door. As I stumbled to answer, the clock read ten thirty. It was Walt Simpson, the assistant security chief, who I had gotten to know over the years. A hard-nosed SOB with some old Mafia ties, he did a fine job for the casino, handling all the tough problems while his pretty boy boss looked good for the Gaming Commission.

"Having a good trip, Dan?" he asked as I let him in.

"So far, Walt. What the hell do you want at this hour?"

"Planning on utilizing any of the females this time?"

"Like always. Got anybody special in mind?"

"Yeah. I do. You know this is top secret, Dan." That was Walt's code for telling me if I mouthed this off, my legs got broken.

"Well, let me hear."

Walt told me an appealing story, a story I had heard other times but always believed to be an urban myth. A young couple on their honeymoon got caught up in the gambling and were down a total of $26,000 to three different casinos. Both husband and wife had gambled, but the wife dropped ten grand at the crap tables in another casino. That particular casino still had mob ties and was not a good place to leave a bad marker. Walt agreed to handle the collection for all three places. Whether the couple knew it or not, they were better off with Walt than with his counterparts.

"The woman has agreed to work it off, so to speak."

I studied his face but found nothing there. The term poker face was invented for Walt and guys like him.

Suddenly, my cock came to attention. Walt, who never missed anything, relaxed enough to let a twinkle come in his eye when he saw. The idea really intrigued me. But, why? Was it the rape since she was being leveraged into doing it? Her age and innocence? Was it fucking someone else's bride on their honeymoon, or, just fucking another man's wife while he watched?

I guess Walt knew I was thinking hard because he waited patiently as thoughts, I must admit, sexy, even obscene, thoughts, bounced around in my head. Whatever the reason, I agreed to meet them. Walt waited as I quickly dressed. As we walked down the hall toward his office, I made up my mind. "Walt, I will do it, if she is attractive." He did not change expressions when he said, "She is a little small and lean for my taste, but she is attractive."

Subject to meeting her, I agreed to the deal. I would get the woman for the thirteen days remaining in my vacation on a twenty-four hour, no questions asked, all orders followed happily basis. They got the bad guys off their back. Walt and his friends got their money, $26,000 to be taken from the bank I had on deposit with the casino's cashier.

Her name was Helena, which she explained was because she was born there, the love child of hippie parents. She was twenty-one. His name was Toby. Scared to death since Walt and his boys had more than a few long talks with them, they knew they were in very deep trouble with very bad people. She had been crying, but now was deathly still and quiet except for a few involuntary, intermittent shakes. Toby was catatonic. As Walt sat back studying the unhappily married couple, I addressed her.

"Talk to me. Tell me whether you understand what is going on here."

Since I had arrived, she had not yet looked directly at me. Still looking at me only obliquely, her eyes flitted between her husband and me, lighting but a second on either of us, continually moving in her embarrassment.

"He asked you a question," Toby said. I caught a glimpse of sexual desire reflected in his voice which surprised me. I wondered if anyone else caught it. When I glanced at Walt, I knew he had heard Toby the way I had.

"I will be a whore. I..."

Her voice cracked and she began to sob, tiny, little gasps released under great pressure as she fought to maintain her composure. She was so pathetic, at first I wanted to comfort her, but I did not. It was neither the time nor place for comfort. Had it been, it was Toby's responsibility and he made no move toward her.

But, that is not the reason I abstained from comforting her. I was enjoying her turmoil, her slide into the depths of despair. I realized my own deep desire which drove me to participate in this game was her unwilling sexual submission... her rape. My cock was hard as a rock and my heart was pounding at the thought.

Eventually, she took a long, deep breath, and slowly it let it out. Still, she had not looked at me. As if relating a tale of death in her family, she spoke in a dark monotone.

"I know what I have to do and I will do it. I will be a bride on her honeymoon, being happy about having wild sex, doing anything the man tells me to do, except the man will not be my husband." Her voice would break the heart of a statue, but it was so erotic, I thought I would be spilt open.

"Anything else?"

"No pain. They promised me no pain if I cooperated."

"Listen," Walt said, seizing our attention. Mesmerized by him, we listened in quiet horror as Walt related a story of a woman who tried to negotiate her way out of having sex with the man who paid for her losses. At the instruction of the casino bosses, she was brutally gang raped by seven men. Walt was making it perfectly clear to Helena cooperation with me was much better than the alternative, and making me understand I was to complete my part in this drama.

I was watching Toby and Helena as Walt spoke. Toby acted sexually aroused and I wondered what the hell was going on. At the end of Walt's tale, Helena, for a second, looked at me directly for the first time. It was the expression a prisoner gives the hangman, or, was it something more?

"Well?" Walt asked. There was a long silence.

"I can do this," Helena said very softly as if trying to convince herself rather than communicate to us. I hoped she could do it because the fantasy of her being with me under these circumstances was quickly growing in me. When she reached the point where she looked at me openly, I knew she was ready for the next step.

"Helena? Do we have a deal?"

"Yes. We have a deal," she whispered.

Toby was a study in conflict. His eyes were wide, scared, but not angry. I saw lust in them, and apprehension. Was Toby getting off at seeing his wife in this predicament?

"Toby, I suggest you leave Vegas. Go back home. We will send your wife to you when we are finished with her." Walt's voice left little room for discussion, but Toby jumped to answer.

"No. I want to see... " He froze, sweat breaking out on his face. She saw in his face what we all saw. We all were beginning to understand why he let her gamble, why he did not protect her as he should have... as he promised to do as he stood by her on the altar just a few days ago. Consciously or subconsciously, it really makes no difference, he had set her up for a fall.

She knew now what had happened. She started to weave as if she might faint, but fell into a straight chair. We all waited as her ravaged mind pieced together the puzzle of her life as it existed at this moment. "Go away, Toby. Go home. I will call you when they are through with me. We can talk then."

"Helena, I want... " Walt stood, waving his arm to cut off Toby. "You heard her. The lady has decided."

She accompanied me to my room, then put away her few clothes the bellman brought in her luggage. She looked exhausted. When I suggested she take a nap, she mumbled a thanks and fell on the bed, asleep before I left the room.

The ball game was in progress on the television. I was sitting in my boxers and T-shirt, reading the newspaper, sipping a chardonnay, as I kept abreast of the televised action. Some ironic broadcasting god caused a public service announcement for Gamblers Anonymous to be playing on the TV as the door to the bedroom opened.

She looked dreadful in a beautiful, helpless, sensual way, which, while seeming to be a contradiction, accurately describes her appearance. I could not understand but only empathize with the feelings of betrayal and abandonment she must have felt when she realized her husband maneuvered her into this situation. I could sympathize with her feelings of helplessness and humiliation at what lay ahead. But, that empathy did not deter me from my part in this play. It made me want the play to continue. I deeply desired what was going to happen, without regard for the consequences to her.

She watched me now, her down-turned eyes slipping up to mine from under long lashes, then darting away again. Slowly, she walked to the middle of the room, about four paces from me.

"Where is Toby?"

"Gone. On a plane to the coast."

"May I sit down?"

I patted the couch by me. She moved as if every muscle and bone in her body ached before sitting primly, legs together, hands folded in her lap, eyes always averted from me.

"What is going to happen?"

"You know that. Don't pretend you do not understand."

"Please, don't do it to me," she begged, unable even to look at me, turning to give me a three-quarter view of her face which was angled down. But, her eyes flashed up at me once.

"You heard Walt. You will cooperate! Do I need to call him? Do you want seven men to fuck you instead of just one?"

She never responded. She never moved. She was a lump, devoid of emotion, dead inside. It was I who spoke next.

"Go take a shower, change clothes. Wear something casual. I am ordering in room service. Would you like to eat?" She nodded imperceptibly as she fought to stand. She struggled to walk to the bedroom. Soon, I heard the shower. A suicide attempt by her crossed my mind, but somehow I knew she was too tough for that. Still, I wondered if I was correctly reading all the signals she was sending me.

By the time the food arrived, she had showered and was sitting on the couch in a pretty blouse and a skirt which came to about three inches above her knee. Dinner was a strange affair. Conversation attempts fell flat. We both ate a reasonable meal, however, with a bottle of wine to wash it down. The tension, so thick you could not cut it with the steak knives room service delivered, never eased.

After dinner, she excused herself for a few minutes. When she returned, she sat on the opposite side of the room in a straight chair by the desk. I sipped my wine, ostensibly watching the last of the ball game, but really watching her from the corner of my eye.

Helena again sat on the edge of the seat, back straight, hands folded primly, knees together, a picture of demure womanhood. She never looked my way unless she thought I was not watching her. Then, I would catch her staring at me with an expression I had trouble reading because of the way I was watching her. When the game was over, I clicked off the tube, sat down my drink, and sat on the edge of the couch, facing her.

"Stand up and let me see you, Helena."

Helena's head popped up to stare at me, her eyes big and frightened. She turned a scarlet red and shook her head 'no'. My immutable stare told her to proceed. She stood, a tear coming to her eye as she began unbuttoning her blouse.