The Full Package - Thursday

Dave looked up to see a wide-screen view of one of the guest rooms nearby – he wasn't definite, but it could have been the one he had woken up in the day before. He heard a click from Armand's controller and saw a small room with two massage tables side by side. Another click and the scene changed to the spa's laundry room where a familiar young girl was putting robes into the washer.

He heard Armand laughing behind him again, but louder this time. "But I see it all, my friend."

This time the screen changed to a view of a bathroom where a beautiful nude brunette was drying off. Dave looked closer and suddenly realized that he was looking at Cody. She leaned over to put on some small white panties and they had a full view of her naked ass. When she pulled them up between her legs, she looked into the mirror to stare at herself a moment, then reached up to squeeze her breasts.

After all that had happened, Dave found it within himself to feel guilty as he voyeuristically watched Cody rub her long nipples until they poked out stiffly. He heard Armand murmur appreciatively behind him and a new wave of anger momentarily pushed aside the guilt.

He turned to face Armand, whose nose was still bleeding profusely. "I'm not like you. I don't force people to do things they don't want to. I don't drug them. I don't…" he was about to say 'spy on them' before he checked himself. "I don't manipulate them." He hoped he was safe on that one.

He pointed accusingly at his erstwhile host. From somewhere deep below his confused and traumatized consciousness came the words: "You use people for your own pleasure – you don't care at all how they feel or what might happen to them. You're a human leach, Armand - selfish, arrogant, cowardly…"

"Enough!" Armand yelled in the first flash of real anger Dave had seen from him yet.

Armand took a deep breath before speaking again, his voice quiet but containing a growing edge of frustration: "You know, amigo, that if it hadn't been for Pablo's little betrayal, I would not have even thought to drug you that night. I was certain you would have gone along with my plans. I still am."

His voice rose louder and the anger showed again in his eyes. "Only now…now you have created this false and disgusting sense of self-righteousness and you think that you can judge me and my life. Haven't you been paying attention, little bolillo? I know you – I know how you watch, how you cheat, how you take advantage… LOOK at her!" He pointed behind Dave.

Dave automatically turned to the screen to see in the mirror that Cody's hand was now between her slightly spread legs, pressing the panties into herself with one hand while the other rubbed in circles over one nipple. Her head was back and her mouth was open, her eyes closed.

"She is no doubt remembering what you did this morning, or last night, or the day before… even if you don't." His smile returned when he saw doubt and confusion appear on Dave's face. "Yes, I have my sources… Our little Selena - esa puta traicionera," he spat, "isn't the only one who plays our little game. Like I said…I know you, bolillo. I have seen it all."

He stepped towards Dave, pointing to the screen again. "Have you thought about what will happen to your little blond beauty, by the way? You, who are married to her sister?" His smile turned evil and he changed the screen to show a view of their empty bed - the sheets in disarray and a wet-spot still apparent where Cody had been lying. "What about this morning's little 'accident'? Or did you do that on purpose? What if she is pregnant with your child, eh?"

Dave shrunk back, the obvious and awful truth of the man's words biting deep - no matter how twisted and exaggerated the comparison to Armand's own actions might be.

Armand saw that he had scored and seemed unable to resist a final dig at his erstwhile protégé. "That is, if she is not already pregnant with mine, no?"

That was it for Dave.

He turned, swinging his right fist in a roundhouse that Armand easily ducked. But it was only a feint and Dave quickly leaped to the side of the large media center, desperately pressing at what he thought could be eject buttons on the DVD player. Fortunately, just as Armand recovered and lunged after him, the tray popped open and Dave was able to grab the disk before dodging Armand.

He ran through the maze of sofas and chairs to the theatre exit, Armand yelling obscenities after him. Bursting through the door, Dave aimed for the tunnel behind the waterfall, thankful that he remembered the layout well enough from the few times he had been there.

When he made it to the other side and risked a glance back, he was surprised not to see Armand, but kept running until he passed through the high arch into the receiving hall.

There he spotted two large men he recognized from the night of Armand's party. They were standing in front of the door to the elevator.

Dave walked slowly towards them, not knowing what his next move could be. One of the men spoke down into a black box attached to his lapel – obviously a walky-talky of some sort.

After a long moment of indecision, Dave saw one of the men nod towards someone behind him. He turned and saw that Armand was leaning against the doorway to the pool area, his arms folded nonchalantly in front of him. He had cleaned up his nose and appeared none the worse for wear.

"Come now, Dave, what did you think you were going to do with that, anyway?" In addition to cleaning up, Armand had managed to regain his composure and his tone of self-assured amusement annoyed Dave worse than ever.

With a trace of bitter glee leaking into his voice, Armand added, "I almost forgot to tell you, by the way, what the police found on top of that pyramid…"

Suddenly an older gentleman walked through a doorway opposite from Armand, followed by an elegant-looking lady. He recognized them after only a moment as Armand's father and mother. The man looked inquiringly at Armand and his men, then in confusion at Dave.

"¿Qúe pasa aquí?" he asked.

Armand glanced at his parents in obvious consternation and stood up straight as if at attention. "Everything is fine, papá," he said. "Sergio and Tomás were just showing my guest out."

Armand's mother looked suspiciously at the two thuggy-looking men and seemed to sense the tension in the air. "I think your friend can make it out fine on his own, Armand. Don't you agree, Diego?" She looked over meaningfully at her husband.

Dave wasn't quite sure what the relationship was between the two men and the family, but he guessed from Armand's previous use of them that his mother was probably aware of the sinister implication of their presence.

Dave noticed that Armand's father was staring pointedly at the disk clutched in his hands. He cursed himself for not hiding it under his clothes somehow as he ran, but then he wondered why the Senator – for now his stern manner reminded Dave of his office - seemed so intent on it anyway.

Armand began, "Papá, I am sure you needn't be bothered with this. Why don't you and…"

His father cut him off with a stern glance. Slowly turning back to Dave, looking him in the eye this time, he said, "My son may overstep the boundaries of hospitality, at times." He paused as if to let Dave ponder his meaning.

"But he is a good boy…a good man I should say. He will do well in my shoes, so to speak, once he is married and settles down," Senator Diego continued.

"Papá, really…!" Armand tried to break in, stepping forward.

"Callate el sico!" His father was obviously angry now. He made a concerted effort to calm himself before speaking to Dave again. "I think that you can make it back to your room on your own."

Dave breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards the doorway.

"I'm sure you will have no further use for that music disc, though," he heard the Senator call to his back.

Dave crazily thought for a brief second that he would rush between the two goons and make it out the door before they grabbed him, but then rationality returned and he knew that he would never make it to the elevator - much less get the doors closed, grab Cody, and escape the hotel.

He had no idea how the old man knew what he was holding, and perhaps he was afraid to guess, but he turned slowly and held it out to him, trying to smile graciously. He could see Selena standing quietly in the doorway behind Armand's father. She noticed him looking at her and she quickly dropped her gaze to the floor.

The senator walked up to him and gently took it from his hand, nodding once with a knowing glint in his eye. Stepping back, he ignored the confused look from his wife and firmly broke the disc in two, saying, "I don't think anyone will have much use for this kind of music anymore." He turned to stare at his son. "I find that one's tastes change quite a bit as one matures…"

Dave decided he did not wish to witness whatever family discussion, if any, was about to follow. He risked a final glance at Armand before turning towards the door. The quiet smile on the young man's face sent a chill down his spine and he quickly turned towards the door, brushing past the large men who simply grunted and glared at him as he passed.

Just as he walked through the door to the elevator alcove, he heard Armand's father call to him, "I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay at the hotel, señor. Please give my regards to your wife."

-------

As the elevator descended, Dave shook his head in disbelief. He wasn't sure what had just happened, nor could he quite comprehend all that he had seen and heard in the last hour.

What had he planned to do with that disc anyway? He couldn't imagine showing it to Cody, and especially not his wife. There was no psychologist expensive enough to get them through the emotional devastation that would bring. He didn't know if he himself would ever completely recover from the damage it had done to his psyche – to his sense of self, even. He could only hope that they would never fully remember what had happened that night.

Then a voice from deep within answered his question. I have to find out what happened to Cody. He could never trust Armand to tell him the truth. That last remark about getting Cody pregnant – was he making it up to cause him grief or did Cody finally 'succeed' in that final scene, after all?

Belatedly, he wondered about his wife, too. He remembered Armand telling Selena to prepare Lisa for "something special". For what? What else had she done? And had she been drugged the whole night – including in the bathroom stall?

What else had Dave himself done, for that matter?

The disc was broken, though – destroyed right in front of his eyes – and he was sure Armand would never tell him the truth. Maybe it's best not to know.

But a part of him worried that it wasn't over yet.

At the moment, though, it was almost too much for him to absorb after all that had just happened and he tried to push it far away into a corner of his mind, to analyze at some future date, if then. He swallowed a strange lump in his throat and took a deep breath that sounded dangerously close to a sob as he got out on his floor and walked down the hall. He seriously wondered if he was going to lose it.

Dave slid his key card through the slot and opened the door to their room before thinking to knock.

She was lying on the bed, her feet pulled in and her knees spread wide just as they had initially done together in their masturbation session of the night before. She hadn't changed since he had seen her on the camera and one hand was moving slowly over the damp crotch of her lacy panties while the other was up at her breast.

When her eyes opened and met his, they suddenly popped wide as she quickly pulled the covers up to her chin and looked away. She seemed genuinely surprised and embarrassed, flushing a deep red even as he struggled to think of something to say.

"I…I thought you had gone to work out," her voice squeaked.

He looked down belatedly, not really sure what her reaction meant. He felt distinctly awkward and embarrassed himself after what he had just seen upstairs, but hadn't they just had sex this morning?

"I'm sorry, I should have knocked." He turned and stepped into the bathroom, idly picking up a toothbrush while he waited for her to get dressed.

A minute later there was a tap on the on the trim of the open doorway and he turned to se her standing there wrapped in a towel.

"It's not your fault," she started, her voice calm now. "I should have known you'd be back soon. And…" she hesitated and looked down at the floor. "And I shouldn't have been doing that."

There was a long, uncomfortable pause during which Dave realized that things might always be awkward now, that this would always be between them. They could never just be friends again. If she had really meant what she said in those final moments of their 'encounter', it should all be easy now, right? But it wasn't.

So…he had his answer. She didn't love him. He had taken advantage of her vulnerability and innocence and pushed her into going all the way; and now things would never be right.

But then, why had she been masturbating?

"Dave."

He looked up and realized that she had been speaking to him, maybe for some time as his mind rambled on. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, 'we need to talk'. I think we need to clarify some things," she continued, ominously. "And, maybe even talk about what happened on that pyramid..."

The pyramid! Dave's eyes opened wide as a connection was made and an image flashed in his mind of two bodies sprawled on steep stone steps, an ancient temple looking down on them – and a small pair of light blue panties lying alone and forgotten.

Cody had quit talking and was looking at him with a mix of confusion and fear. "Dave…are you ok? I'm sure that…"

"Cody – we have to go…now!"

He didn't know how much time they had – hopefully Armand would be speaking with his father for awhile – but he definitely had a bad feeling about that last look Armand gave him. He brushed past Cody in the doorway and ran to his suitcase. He wasn't the type to unpack, so all he had to do was zip it up.

When he started lugging the bag towards the door, he noticed that Cody hadn't moved at all and just stood there holding the towel closed around her. "Dave, we can't avoid talking about this. We've really got to…"

"Cody!" He set down the bag and stepped purposely to where she stood, grabbing her arms. "Your panties!" Dave whispered urgently, glancing at the wall suspiciously as he remembered the view of this bedroom from Armand's movie room.

Cody looked down towards her waist in confusion.

"No!" He shook his head in frustration. "The ones you were wearing at Chichen Itzá…" he corrected.

She glanced up at him and something seemed to click in her eyes. Her face transformed into a look of alarm as it dawned on her what he meant.

"Oh no…" she breathed weakly. "Did someone…?"

Dave was already pulling her clothes out of the drawers to toss them into her suitcase. When he had dragged both their bags to the door, Cody was already coming out of the bathroom with a smaller bag stuffed full of the rest of their belongings. She had thrown on a thin summer dress and with the bathroom light behind her. Dave was momentarily distracted by the distinct outlines of her thighs and panties through the nearly sheer material.

There was fear on Cody's face, though, and she ignored his stare. "How did you know…?" she began.

He waived her off, saying "It's a long story," as he opened the door and stepped through, rolling their luggage behind him.

As he walked quickly down the hall, glancing back only to assure himself that she was following, he wondered to himself what version of the truth he could possibly tell her, if anything.

-------

They checked out at the front desk and caught a taxi to the airport without any problems. Once there, Dave saw police and hard-faced goons everywhere it seemed, but no one appeared interested in them. It took some extra money and a story about a death in the family from a quick-witted Cody to get them on an earlier flight, but within an hour they were on board a plane back to New York.

When they reached altitude, Dave finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly extricated himself from Cody's trembling hand - which had been clenching his almost since they left the hotel. A quiet buzzing made him automatically reach for his bag to grab the cell phone he had managed to forget about during most of their vacation.

The screen indicated that he had a voicemail from Lisa.

Cody turned to him with a questioning look, her troubled eyes searching his own.

He felt like taking her mouth in his and kissing away her unasked questions, but then he realized that he didn't even know if she would let him. So instead he just smiled in what he hoped was a look of vague encouragement, clicked the phone off, and turned to see when the flight attendant might be coming by with drinks.