What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 04

"Mike is going to keep Werner's arrest quiet," Zack told Tom. "I have called a meeting tomorrow to officially announce that I am taking the company public and who the officers of the new company will be. Ransom will be at that meeting thinking he has won until I announce the new company president. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM. I want you and Lisa in my office at ten o'clock. Ms. Wilson will also be there."

Zack Morgan outlined the rest of the plan for Tom before he left Tom alone in his room.

*****

10:20 PM

Tom was sitting on the sofa trying to decide what to do. He was too wired to go to bed. He knew he would not be able to get to sleep for quite a while. He thought about having another Scotch but wasn't sure that would be a very good idea. He thought about calling Lisa but decided against that. He didn't know when she was getting to town and figured it would be better to wait and see if she would call him. If she didn't call him, he would call her in the morning to make sure that she would be in Zack's office at ten o'clock.

In spite of his better judgment, Tom reached for the Scotch bottle but before he could pour himself a drink someone knocked on his door. Somehow Tom knew it was Lisa and he became angry. Not at Lisa but at his inability to move as fast as he wanted to. He was worried that she might leave before he could get to the door.

After what seemed like an eternity to Tom, he reached the door and opened it. Lisa didn't even look at him. She just pushed passed him into the room.

Tom followed Lisa back into the room but neither of them spoke until Tom lowered himself onto the sofa.

"Tom, we need to talk." Lisa started and then she laid into Tom venting some anger and frustration. "Why didn't you call me and let me know you were getting out of the hospital Monday?"

Tom suddenly found himself on the defensive. This is not how he expected their reunion to go.

"Because I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of helping me pack," Tom said.

"I only said that because I was hurt and angry," Lisa said. "I never wanted you to leave."

Now it was Tom's turn to show some anger. "I have been trying to get a hold of you since Tuesday morning," Tom said. "Why haven't you returned any of my calls?"

"I was in such a hurry to get over to Las Vegas to find Brandi that I forgot to charge my cell phone before I left," Lisa said. "My battery was dead so I had no idea that you had been trying to reach me."

Lisa stopped and took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. "Shit," she said mostly to herself and then repeated it. "Shit."

Finally Lisa looked at Tom. "This is not how I meant this to be. I didn't come here to fight with you. I came to tell you that I was wrong and I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I wouldn't believe you when you told me that you didn't have an affair in Las Vegas. Most of all I am sorry for everything I did to you."

The tears were streaming down Lisa's cheeks and it hurt Tom to see her that way.

"What you did to me?"

"Yes. If I hadn't gone out that night with the stupid idea of trying to teach you a lesson, you would not have come looking for me and then you would not have been in the accident and I would not have... I am so sorry. Every time I look at you and see you with your cast and your bandages, I know I did that to you."

"You didn't do that. A drunk driver in an SUV did it. How did you finally figure out that I was telling you the truth?"

"Carl Koonce stopped at the office to see you on Monday and Maggie called me because she didn't know what to tell him. Carl and I had a long talk and he not only told me the little secret you two shared he also showed me that the pictures that were sent to me were fakes but I guess you already knew that."

"Of course they were fakes. They had to be but I was shocked that anyone would have made those pictures and I couldn't believe that you didn't realize that they had to be bogus," Tom said.

Tom's comment hurt a little but Lisa was pleased to hear that there was no anger in Tom's voice as he spoke.

"Once I knew the pictures were fake I figured out that Bill Werner had taken them."

"How did you do that?"

"You told me that he was on the show team," Lisa said. "Monday I went down to the development lab to talk to Brad."

Before she could continue Tom cut in. "You went down to see Brad? Why?"

"It's not what you're thinking," Lisa said.

"Then why did you go to see him?"

"I had just found out that he lied to me," Lisa said. Brad told me that he saw you with Brandi twice the week you were in Vegas. After talking to Carl, I knew that was a lie and I went to confront him. I wanted to know why he lied to me."

"What did he say?"

"He wasn't there," Lisa said, "but while I was looking for him I met Jim Brasso. While I was asking him if he had seen Brad I noticed that there was a photo editor on the desk where he was sitting and when I asked him about it he explained how you could add or delete things from a picture and no one would ever know. Then he told me that editor belonged to Bill Werner. That's when I knew that Werner had to be involved."

"I had been racking my brain trying to think of who took those pictures," Tom said. "Zack and I figured it out Monday evening. Then Brad called me last night and told me he found the picture files and more on Werner's computer. "

Tom went on to tell Lisa about the call he received from Brad the night before.

"Then where does Brad fit into the conspiracy?" Lisa asked.

"He doesn't," Tom said. "Brad thought, like you did, that the pictures were real. He just saw an opportunity to go after you and he took it. I am grateful to Brad for digging up the evidence that can put Ransom and Werner in jail for what they did," Tom said, "but I don't think I can ever forgive him for what he tried to do with you."

Lisa winced at that comment knowing that Tom was thinking about the night of the accident and what she had done with Brad that night.

"How did you figure out that the girl from the pictures was in Las Vegas and how did you know where to look for her?" Tom asked.

"Carl recognized her," Lisa said. "He said that she worked in one of the strip clubs that you and he went to. Carl remembered her name and where she worked."

"So you just ran over to Vegas by yourself to find her?"

"No. Carl went with me," Lisa said. "Apparently he took quite a liking to you and wanted to do anything he could to help us."

"So, once you found her how did the two of you persuade Brandi to cooperate?" Tom asked.

"I just explained to her how much trouble she would be in if she didn't cooperate with us. That's when she told me that she was coming to Denver today and that she was supposed to get a room in this hotel and then call Bill Werner. I knew you were staying here so I called Zack and told him what I found out. Zack just happened to be talking to the DA at the time so we had Brandi talk to the DA and he talked her into helping us trap Bill Werner."

Tom was impressed. He always knew that Lisa was intelligent but the fact that she had not seen through the phony pictures right away had bothered him a great deal. At times he had wondered if it was because she wanted to believe that he could cheat on her but now he was sure that she had just been fooled, as he might have been if the role had been reversed.

Lisa had been pacing back and forth in front of Tom as she spoke and he was beginning to feel the warmth that he had always felt when he was with her. Now that Lisa had discovered the truth about Las Vegas it was up to him to forgive her for what she had done.

When he pictured her with Brad, it hurt. But was that all Lisa's fault. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to tear them apart. Couldn't he forgive her for falling into the trap? After all she didn't finish what she had started. There was nothing to prove that what she told him happened that night was true but he believed her. If she were going to lie about that why wouldn't she just lie and say nothing happened.

Tom was suddenly aware that Lisa was staring at him.

Tom said, "What?"

"You seemed to have left the room for a while there. You body was here but you mind wasn't. Did you just take a painkiller?" Lisa said.

"No, I am very alert. I was just thinking about how much I still love you."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lisa started crying. She dropped down on the sofa next to Tom wrapped her arms around him and Tom put his arm around her. They sat quietly for a long time.

"Well, what do we do now?" Lisa asked. "Are we going home now?"

"No. Not tonight," Tom said.

"Why? Are you still mad at me?" Lisa asked as she began to worry that things weren't going as well as she thought.

"No."

"Then why aren't you coming home with me?" Lisa asked.

"Because we are staying here tonight," Tom said and then he kissed Lisa on the forehead. "I am too tired to go home tonight and I haven't had anything to eat other than a handful of nuts since breakfast."

Lisa quickly wiped away the tears that had started to form in her eyes. "Do you have any food here?"

"I have some ham and cheese in the refrigerator," Tom said. "Would you get us a sandwich and a beer?"

Lisa didn't say anything, she just kissed Tom on the cheek and went to the kitchen and made two sandwiches.

*****

11:15 PM

Tom called Zack's office and left a message on his voice mail. "Lisa and I are together and we will be in your office at ten o'clock.

"Now can we go to bed and make up?" Lisa asked.

"I'm not sure that I would be any good to you in my current condition," Tom said. "I'm exhausted from the physical activity, and my head is still spinning. I don't know what to concentrate on right now. The fact that we are back together or what's going to happen tomorrow."

"You don't have to perform for me. I just need to be close to you for a while. Things between us have been strained for so long now I just need to love you and to convince myself that this is over," Lisa said.

Lisa got up and waited for Tom to get himself up off the sofa and then they walked together to the bedroom. On the way Tom asked, "By the way, how did you know I was here?"

"Your friend Don left his business card on the bedside table next to the phone. He wrote, "Call me," on the back of the card."

"I should be pissed at him but I'll thank him in the morning."

Tom got onto the bed first and lay flat on his back. Lisa had to get on the bed on Tom's right side and tried not to put any weight on his chest when she kissed him. That kiss was almost magic to them in spite of Tom's physical discomfort and the awkward position Lisa had to maintain while she kissed him. To Lisa the kiss was a reconnection to the love she almost lost and to Tom it convinced him that he not only needed to forgive Lisa for her mistake but to also push the thought of her with Brad completely out of his thoughts. Their second kiss was even better.

Tom was frustrated because he could not make love to Lisa the way he wanted to. His injuries would not allow it. This was even more difficult for Lisa because she couldn't help but feel that she was responsible for Tom's injuries. She tried to rationalize that it was David Ransom and Bill Werner that were trying to destroy their marriage and were responsible and that the driver of the SUV was responsible but she knew that if she had not gone out with Brad that night Tom would not have been hit by that SUV.

Lisa began to cry, "Tom, I am so sorry. This is all my fault."

"What are you talking about now?"

"I want so much to make love to you but we can't because of what I did. If I hadn't behaved the way I did, you and I would be home in our bed making love," Lisa said.

Tom reached up and took Lisa's head in his hand and held her face in front of his while he spoke.

"Lisa, there is plenty of blame to go around. I told you I didn't have an affair in Vegas but I told you what was an obvious lie about what I did do in Vegas. Then I just expected that you should believe me. When you didn't, I got angry. I should have realized how those pictures affected you. I just assumed that because I was innocent, you had to believe me even though the pictures made me look guilty. I was more concerned about where the pictures came from than I was in explaining that they had to be fakes. I could have stopped this whole mess right then. If I had studied the pictures more carefully I would have seen how they had been edited and proved to you that I hadn't cheated. I let my pride and my anger get in the way.

"If I would have just sat down with you and discussed the pictures and what I had really done while I was in Vegas we would be home in our own bed tonight. So I too have a share of the blame for my condition. My punishment for my part is apparent, your punishment is that you have to deal with your feelings of guilt. There are others that bare more responsibility for this and we are going to extract our revenge on them."

"Do you have any idea how much I love you? If you had died on me I don't know what I would have done," Lisa said and then she started kissing Tom all over his face.

Lisa lay down with her head on Tom's shoulder being careful to not put any extra weight on his chest. Then she slipped her hand inside his pants and started stroking Tom's already inflating cock. This time, when Lisa slid down on the bed and took his cock into her mouth Tom didn't feel that Lisa was giving him a mercy blow job. He knew it was what she wanted to do but he stopped her anyway.

"Lisa, stop please."

"Why? What's wrong?" Lisa asked.

"I want you to get undressed and straddle me with your pussy over my face. I think that way we can pleasure each other without causing me any pain," Tom said.

Tom's suggestion alone was enough to get Lisa's juices flowing and by the time she lowered her mound onto Tom's mouth she was already dripping. Tom lashed her slit with his tongue a few times and then sucked her clit between his lips and flicked his tongue back and forth across it. Lisa enjoyed the electric sensations this was causing inside her body for a full minute before bending down and accepting Tom's engorged cock into her mouth.

Tom and Lisa pleasured each other for several minutes before Lisa was carried away by a wonderful orgasm. Once the last contractions from her orgasm passed, Lisa went back to work on Tom's hard organ and quickly brought him to a very happy ending.

*****

Friday June 13, 2003

8:05 AM

David Ransom was sitting at his desk checking his e-mail for the third time that morning.

"Where the hell are those pictures?" Ransom wondered out loud as he reached for his phone to call Bill Werner. "He was supposed to send them to me last night."

Before he could make the call there was a knock on his door and then Zack Morgan stuck his head into the office.

"Dave, I have had to change my thinking on some of the executive positions for after we go public. I think you will be surprised by my decision. See you at ten o'clock," Zack said.

Zack was gone before Ransom could respond. "Maybe I don't need those pictures after all," he thought as he smiled to himself. His plan was starting to come together. He figured it would take him less than a year to force Zack out and get himself named CEO of NewTech Design.

*****

10:00 AM

In the morning Tom and Lisa decided that Tom should use the wheel chair he had brought home from the hospital when he was released after his surgery. Lisa convinced him that it would be easier for him to get around in the wheel chair than it would using crutches. Tom went about shaving and bathing himself while Lisa drove back to the house to pick up the wheel chair. On the trip back to the hotel Lisa also picked up breakfast at MacDonald's. When they were ready to go, Don DeLucia picked them up in Zack's mini van.

Tom and Lisa arrived at Zack's office at ten o'clock to find that Mike Stanton, Brandi and Carl Koonce were already there. Zack introduced Mike to Tom and Lisa and then excused him self to go start the announcement meeting in the large conference room on the first floor. Mike Stanton went with Zack leaving Tom, Lisa, Carl and Brandi standing there.

On his way out the door Zack said, "Give me five minutes to get the meeting started and them come wait outside the meeting room door."

"What are you doing here, Carl?" Tom asked as he shook Carl's hand.

"I came back last night with Lisa. Zack asked me to stay for the party tonight. He thought I might like to help you celebrate," Carl said.

"I am glad you're here," Tom said. "I want to thank you for being such a big help."

"I was glad to help and besides I wanted to make sure our little secret doesn't get out."

"Don't worry, Carl, your secret is safe with us," Lisa said, "as long as you promise not to take Tom back to any of those places again."

"Carl, how is it you recognized Brandi's picture. I didn't."

"You don't remember Brandi?" Carl asked.

Tom started to shake his head. "Only from the pictures," he said

"Sure you remember me, Mr. Hard-on," Brandi said.

Tom put his hand over his mouth. "Oh, my God. You're one of the girl's from Glitter Gulch, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe I didn't recognize you," Tom said.

"I don't think you got a good look at my face," Brandi said and laughed. "I am not sure you saw anything above my breasts."

Tom felt his face flushing as he sheepishly looked at Lisa. "I never touched her," he said.

"I know," Lisa said. "You are Mr. Hard-on."

Everyone laughed except Tom. He was too embarrassed.

Brandi stepped closer to Tom. She looked at Lisa and then back at Tom. "I already talked to your wife about this. I want to say that I am sorry about the problems I caused the two of you. Mr. Tipton approached me several months ago and asked me if I would be willing to spend a weekend with a friend of his. He told me all I had to do was have sex with him and let him take some pictures of me," Brandi said. "He never told me what the pictures were for and I never asked. I guess I should have. I needed the money so I agreed to do it. Shortly after the weekend I spent with Bill at Treasure Island, Mr. Tipton called me again and asked me to come over to Denver to spend some more time with Bill. Mr. Tipton was paying me pretty good so I figured, 'why not?'"

"I never could figure out what Bill was up to. He picked me up at the airport and then he turned on some kind of tracking thingy and drove to Applebee's. Then we sat in the car until you came out of the restaurant. Bill made me wait in the car while he talked to you and when you left he took some pictures of me in front of the restaurant. He was using a tiny camera that he had hidden in a book he was carrying. The next day we drove to someone's house. Bill knocked on the door but no one was home so he took some pictures of me standing on the porch. He had me stand like I was opening the door. He never told me whose house it was but your wife told me it was your house.

"I found out later that Mr. Tipton's real name is David Ransom. I just wanted you to know that I am not proud of what I was doing but I had no idea that I was being used to destroy someone's marriage. I would not have done it if I had known what they were really up to."

Tom looked at Brandi and smiled at her. "All you have to do for my forgiveness is testify against those two assholes in court," Tom said.

*****

10:05 AM

Zack walked into the meeting room with Mike Stanton and looked around the room. He spotted Dave Ransom sitting close to the front of the room. Zack couldn't help but smile at him.

Ransom saw the smile and was sure it meant that he was going to be named president of the company. Ransom looked around the room and didn't see Tom anywhere and that just made him even more confident.