Chapter 1

May 9, 1970

Ruby Ann Kingston stared at the two faces looking back at her through the rear window of the old station wagon. Her blood shot eyes were full of unshed tears and her fingers shook as she brought her cigarette up to her mouth and took a deep draw of the nicotine she craved. She watched the dust from the road settle before she went back into her trailer. Ruby sat down and pulled the whisky bottle from under the sofa. She'd tried for the last three days to reach her best friend Carrie. Carrie would have helped her, at least Ruby Ann thought she would have.

She tipped back the bottle and drank the burning liquid, its heat no longer affected her. She was immune to it. An hour passed, her nursing the bottle, smoking one cigarette after another, before she finally reached for the bottles of various pills. She had pulled all of them from the medicine cabinet, every thing from her children's chewable Tylenol's to the antidepressant she took. It was three days before anyone checked on Ruby, by then Tiara Kingston and her brother Philips were in Foster Care.

Three months later the trailer was vandalized and three months after that it was burnt to the ground after several teens decided it was a good place to smoke pot and drink booze. They all survived, but no one else ever lived on the little plot of dirt in Nashville, Tennessee. Tiara, age six was placed with a couple in Fresno, California and Ethan, age four went on to live with a middle-aged couple in Nashville, who had two teenagers and wanted one more child, but the mother did not wish to give birth again. His adoptive parents changed his name to Philip.

The state tried to keep them together, or so that was what Carrie had been told, when she came back to see Ruby Ann a year later, only then learning of her death and the placement of the two children. But in fact, they placed the kids as fast as they could, with whomever they could that had been willing to house them. When the opportunity to adopt came forth, the state jumped on it.

Jan. 7, 2006 - Las Vegas, Nevada

Philip Traverse sipped his gin and tonic, winked at the pretty brunette and her companion, an equally admirable redhead. He walked over, casually ran a long and lazy stare over their full figures and million dollar smiles. "Ladies," he waved over the bartender and ordered the two women another round of drinks.

"Where are your dates?" he asked.

"We came together," the brunette told him.

The redhead smirked. "We always come together." She licked her lips and trailed one finger down the brunette's arm.

Philip's cock jerked. "Do you? Well, it's my birthday, so why don't we get to know each other better." The drinks came and the group moved over to a darker corner of the club. They spent three minutes talking, three minutes that were the most arousing Philip could have ever imagined being packed into such a short time span. He finished his drink and walked the two ladies to the hotel elevator. They finished their drinks on the way and handed their empty glasses to the bellman that would accompany them onto the flight up to the penthouse.

"So ladies, what do I call you?" Philip asked. He had one arm wrapped around each giggling females' waist and nuzzled first one's neck and then the others.

The redhead ran her palm down his chest and pushed him to the wall. "Kat," she whispered and stroked his cock. He groaned and his eyes moved over to the brunette.

"Ginger," she purred and slid her tongue over his ear.

The bellman said nothing. The display was a common occurrence for Philip Traverse, a gambler that was currently on a winning streak. He was always circulating Vegas and from what the bellman knew, it was Philip's birthday and he was celebrating.

They reached the penthouse floor and Philip winked at the man operating the elevator. "Care to join us?" he asked.

The man chuckled. "No Sir, I've a wife. I'm heading home in an hour and I think she'd be pissed if I took you up on the offer."

Philip laughed. "Hell man, bring her along." He chuckled when he saw the man's expression. "You have a good night, Rick. I'll see you tomorrow." He spun around and disappeared into the room with a lovely companion on each side.

When they closed the door, Philip pulled Ginger to him and cupped her ample bosom. He pushed and kneaded the tender morsels, while his tongue moved down her bronzed throat. There was a tug on his pants and he watched Kat pull his slacks down and then encircle his rod with her perfectly shaped lips. "Fuck," he groaned.

Ginger whispered. "Eventually."

The following morning Philip woke up, his arms and legs bound to the bed, his head sporting a hangover. It took him a moment to realize a woman was walking into the room. A small squeak of shock told him that it wasn't the ladies he'd allowed to fuck him senseless and then tie him down with promises to fuck him some more, but it was housekeeping coming to freshen his room.

"Mister Traverse," the voice muttered, the sound of disappointment reached him.

"Mary," he sighed.

"Did you have a lot on you last night?" she asked and then walked over, pulling a pair of scissors from her apron.

As she proceeded to cut him lose, he chuckled. "Yeah, $20,000."

"Ouch " she exclaimed and freed his right arm. "Why do you do this? You party and get loopy then lose your money to a two-bit hooker." She freed his leg.

"It was two, two-bit women. Seeing as they took my money, which you and I both know they did, I guess that does make them hookers, but as you can probably guess they earned it. Though... I admit... I wasn't originally aware they were hookers. When they told me... believe me Mary, $20 K wasn't the agreed upon price."

When she released the final restraint, he sat up and rubbed the circulation back into his arms.

"You need to settle down, marry, find a good woman to make you a happy man," Mary said. She'd been rescuing this gambling bum for several years now, and though he was a great man, sweet, and kind, he never stayed still for very long, always moving about.

"I'm too young to marry, Mary." He grabbed his robe and covered himself. "Unless that pretty daughter of yours is single."