“Is something wrong?”
“Why do you always assume that, dad?” Vin asked with a snort of amusement.
“Because you never call me on Saturday nights,” his dad pointed out.
“Well, no, nothing is wrong, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to Vegas for a few days, so I’ll need to have all my appointments canceled.”
“Vegas, huh? But wait, didn’t you have a presentation scheduled for Tuesday?” His dad asked.
“Yeah, but Cory can handle it,” Vin assured him. “Also, I just wanted to let you know not to worry. I plan to keep a low profile and not get into any trouble.”
It was his dad’s turn to snort in amusement. “You never PLAN to get into trouble! Trouble is simply our family business.”
“True, but I’m going for fun and not business, so I will do my best to avoid catching any attention,” Vin promised.
“Alright. How many guys do you want me to send with you?”
“None! Dad, this is why I stressed that I’m NOT going for business. I don’t want bodyguards or minions tailing me!”
“None at all?” His dad asked in confusion. “Not even Diego?”
Vin rolled his eyes. “Yeah because having the biggest burliest man you ever saw tailing me is SO conductive to keeping a low profile!”
They couldn’t see it, but Vin was certain his dad also rolled his eyes. “Alright alright! I’ll promise not to send anyone after you if you promise to keep your phone on you and ON at all times so that I can track you. Also, promise me that if you should happen to run into trouble, you’ll call Bernie and remind him that he owes me a big favor and he’d better help you out.”
“I can promise that,” Vin replied, relieved that his dad wasn’t fighting him over having bodyguards.
“Oh! One last thing. YOU have to tell your mother that you won’t be home tomorrow.”
Vin groaned, seriously not looking forward to it. “Yeah, alright.”
“Talk to you later, Vince! Have fun in Vegas.”
“Later dad!”
“That was a surprisingly normal conversation,” Caelen remarked, his light blue eyes sparkling in amusement.
Vin held up his phone for him to see. “I found tickets for a 6AM flight. According to this, it’s a three hour flight – more or less – but since there’s a two hour time difference, we’d be arriving at 7AM local time. That’s plenty of time to look around a bit before check in.”
It took a few simple taps for him to book the flight. Caelen couldn’t help but be excited. He suddenly started rummaging through his drawers, wondering what he should pack.
“Oh! I have to call in!” He blurted out when he remembered. Grabbing his phone, he called to talk to the woman on duty at the moment. “Hey Lana, will you print up a time off request form? I’m going to come in and fill it out in a couple of minutes.”
“Sure, so long as you do it before I get off in an hour,” Lana replied. “What do you need time off for? Are you sick?”
“Nope! Just have something I want to do,” Caelen replied. “See you in a few!” He exclaimed before hanging up.
“Sweet! I managed to find a really nice suite available tomorrow. How many days do you want to stay?” Vin asked as he was scrolling through photos of the hotel suite, which was a spendy suite in the Bellagio that came with it’s own concierge.
“What the hell, let’s stay until Friday!” Caelen decided since he hadn’t taken any of his vacation time yet and so had quite a few weeks accumulated.
“Alright. … Can you do your best to be quiet a minute?” Vin asked, but didn’t wait for a response before tapping on an icon, and then turning the speaker on again. Even so, Caelen softly hummed mmhm.
“Is something wrong?”
Vin laughed. “No mom, nothing’s wrong.”
“Then why are you calling me on a Saturday, Vincenzo?”
“Um… so… Well, I’m going to Vegas for a few days and won’t be home for dinner tomorrow,” he told her, and then held the phone away from his ear as far as he could.
“GODDAMNIT! I HAVE ONE FUCKING RULE! ***ONE***! AND THAT’S ALWAYS BE HOME ON SUNDAY FOR FUCKING DINNER!!!”
“I know, but -” Vin tried to explain himself but was cut short.
“WAIT! Did you say Vegas?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed with a nod.
“My good for nothing brother married into a Family in Vegas. I’ll forgive you for skipping out on dinner tomorrow if you promise to go stab him a couple of times for me and remind him that it’s been seven fucking years since he last visited me, even though I have dropped everything to go help him out with his sick kids like every other year!”
“Mom! I’m going on vacation. I’m NOT going to stab anyone!”
“Oh fine! Then just break his arm or something, but make sure he understands that I am not happy with him and if he doesn’t come see me soon, I’ll send over a couple of our dad’s men to abduct and DRAG him here!”
Vin chuckled. “I’ll let him know.”
“Good, then I suppose you can skip dinner tomorrow, but you had better bring me back a souvenir – and not some shitty I heart Vegas mug! I want a designer dress or some jewelry or something!”
“Yeah, alright mom. I’ll also see if I can find some local delicacies for your homeless soup kitchen,” Vin added, knowing that this all on its own might have persuaded her.
“Aww, you’re such a good son! I’m so glad I had you.”
“Love you too,” Vin said just before he hung up.
“So…” Caelen murmured with a raised brow. “It would be okay to stab someone if you weren’t on vacation?”
“Well, not okay but meh. It happens,” Vin said with a careless shrug.
“Uh huh,” Caelen murmured dryly. Then he shook that off and held up his medium-sized duffle bag. “I’m all packed now.”
***
Caelen stared at the ring he now wore on his left ring finger. It was a thick gold band with a third Karat center diamond accompanied on each side by diamonds about half the size. It was manly and probably more expensive than anything Caelen would have bought for himself, but still, there were two of them, so Vin wore an exact match.
“I love it!” He blurted out for at least the dozenth time.
Vin laughed and held up the certificate they’d gotten when they got married. “You weren’t kidding when you said you’d be happy with just having matching rings. Makes me wonder why we went to all this trouble to get this thin piece of paper.”
Caelen knew he was teasing but pouted anyway. “I’ll keep that if you don’t want it.”
Rather than answer, Vin held the certificate out of Caelen’s reach and kissed him. Smiling, Caelen laced their fingers together and rested his head on Vin’s shoulder. “I’m so happy right now, I could die!”
“Well don’t!” Vin advised, stealing another kiss. Then he looked down at his chest. He was wearing a shiny white casual suit with a shiny black satin shirt. He looked a bit shady but oh so sexy. “It would be a shame to go straight to our suite after we got all dressed up.”
Caelen was wearing a crisp black tux with a bright white shirt. Still smiling, he gave Vin a kiss. “It really would be a shame. We should walk around hand in hand and show off our newlywed bliss.”
With that vague goal in mind, they walked around, shopped a bit, and eventually had dinner while watching a burlesque show. By the time they returned to their suite, they were both horny enough to jump right in bed, but Vin insisted that they take their time. He started by having them carefully remove all their clothes.