She gave him an innocent grin and said, “Sure.” And when they got up to the suite, she made the proper nods of exclamations of delight and then flopped down on the sofa in an exaggerated sprawled show of tiredness. “Wow,” she said. “Vegas is sure different from Salt Lake City.”
“You ever think of living here?” Cully said. “A girl as beautiful as you could have a great time. I’d introduce you to all the best people.”
“Would you?” Carole said.
“Sure,” Cully said. “Everybody would love to know a beautiful girl like you.”
“Uh-uh,” she said. “I'm not beautiful.”
“Sure you are,” Cully said. “You know you are.”
By this time he was sitting beside her on the sofa. He placed one hand on her stomach, bent over and kissed her on the mouth. She tasted very sweet, and as he kissed her, he made his hand go into her skirt. There was no resistance. She kissed him back, and Cully, thinking of his expensive sofa covering, said, “Let’s go into the bedroom.”
“OK,” she said. And holding hands, they went into the bedroom. Cully undressed her. She had one of the most beautiful bodies he had ever seen. Milk white. A golden blond bush to match her hair, and her breasts sprang out as soon as she took her clothes off. And she wasn’t shy. When Cully undressed, she ran her hands over his belly and his crotch and leaned her face against his stomach. He touched her head downward and with that encouragement she did what she wanted to do. He let her for a moment and then took her into the bed.
They made love, and when it was over, she buried her face in his neck with her arms around him and sighed contentedly. They rested and Cully thought about it and evaluated her charms. Well, she was great-looking and not a bad cock-sucker, but she wasn’t that great. He had a lot to teach her and now his mind was working. She really was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, and the innocence of her face was an extra charm set off by the lushness of her slim body. In clothes she looked slender. Without clothes she was a delightful surprise. She was classically voluptuous, Cully thought. The best body he had ever seen and, though no virgin, still inexperienced, still uncynical, still very sweet And Cully had a flash of inspiration. He would use this girl as a weapon. As one of his tools for power. There were hundreds of good-looking girls in Vegas. But they were either too dumb or too hard or they didn’t have the right mentors. He would make her into something special. Not a hooker. He would never be a pimp. He would never take a penny from her. He would make her the dream woman of every gambler that came to Vegas. But first, of course, he would have to fall in love with her and make her fall in love with him. And after that was out of the way, they could get down to business.
– -
Carole never went back to Salt Lake City. She became Cully’s mistress and hung out in his suite although she lived in an apartment house next to the hotel. Cully made her take tennis lessons, dancing lessons. He got one of Xanadu’s classiest showgirls to teach her how to use makeup and dress properly. He arranged modeling jobs in Los Angeles and pretended to be jealous of her. He’d question her about how she spent nights in Los Angeles when she stayed over night and question her relationship with the photographers at the agency.
Carole would smother him with kisses and say, “Honey, I couldn’t make love with anybody but you now.”
And as far as he could tell, she was sincere. He could have checked on her, but it wasn’t important. He let the love affair go for three months, and then one night, when she was in his suite, he said to her, “Gronevelt is really feeling low tonight. He’s had some bad news. I tried to get him to come out for a drink with us, but he’s up in his suite all by himself.” Carole had met Gronevelt in her comings and goings in the hotel and one night had had dinner with him and Cully. Gronevelt had been charming with her in his courtly way. Carole liked him.
“Oh, how sad,” Carole said.
Cully smiled. “I know whenever he sees you, it cheers him up. You’re so beautiful,” he said. “With that great face of yours. Men love an innocent face.” And it was true. Her eyes were spaced wide in a face sprinkled with tiny freckles. She looked like a piece of candy. Her blond hair, tawny yellow, was tousled like a child’s.
“You look just like that kid in the comic strip,” Cully said. “Charlie Brown.” And that became her name in Vegas. She was delighted.
Charlie Brown said, “Older men always liked me. Some of my father’s friends would make passes at me.”
Cully said, “Sure they did. How do you feel about that?”
“Oh, I never got mad,” she said. “I was sort of flattered and I never told my father. They were really nice. They always brought me presents and they never really did anything bad.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Cully said. “Why don’t I call Gronevelt and you go up there and keep him company? I have some things to do down in the casino. Do your best to cheer him up.” He smiled at her, and she looked at him gravely.
“Okay,” she said.
Cully gave her a fatherly kiss. “You know what I mean, don’t you?” he said.
“I know what you mean.” And for a moment Cully, looking at that angelic face, felt a tiny arrow of guilt.
But she gave him a brilliant smile. “I don’t mind,” she said. “I really don’t, and I like him. But are you sure he wants me to?”
And then Cully was reassured. “Honey,” he said, “don’t worry. You just go up and I’ll give him a call. He’ll be expecting you, and you just be your natural self. He’ll absolutely love you. Believe me.” And as he said that, he reached for the phone.
He called Gronevelt’s suite and heard Gronevelt’s amused voice say, “If you’re sure she wants to come up, by all means. She’s a lovely girl.”
And Cully hung up the phone and said, “Come on, honey. I’ll take you up there.”
They went to Gronevelt’s suite. Cully introduced her as Charlie Brown and could see Gronevelt was delighted with the name. Cully made them all drinks and they sat around and talked. Then Cully excused himself, and said that he had to go down to the casino and left them together.
He didn’t see Charlie Brown that night at all and knew she had spent it with Gronevelt. The next day, when he saw Gronevelt, he said, “Was she OK?”
And Gronevelt said, “She was fine. Lovely, lovely girl. Sweet girl. I tried to give her some money, but se wouldn’t take it.”
“Well,” Cully said, “you know she’s a young girl. She’s a little new at this. But was she OK with you?”
Gronevelt said, “Fine.”
“Should I make sure that you could see her whenever you want to?”
“Oh, no,” Gronevelt said. “She’s a little too young for me, I’m a little uncomfortable with girls that young, especially when they don’t take money. In fact, why don’t you buy her a present for me in the jewelry shop?”
When Cully got back to his office, he called Charlie Brown’s apartment. “Did you have a good time?” Cully said.
“Oh, he was just great,” Charlie Brown said. “He was such a gentleman.”
Cully began to be a little worried. “What do you mean he was such a gentleman? Didn’t you do anything?”
“Oh, sure we did,” Charlie Brown said. “He was great. You wouldn’t think someone that old could be so great. I’ll cheer him up anytime he wants.”
Cully made a date with her to have dinner that night, and when he hung up the phone, he leaned back his chair and tried to think it out. He had hoped Gronevelt would fall in love and he could use her as a weapon against Gronevelt. But somehow Gronevelt had sensed all this. There was no way to get to Gronevelt through women. He had had too many of them. He had seen too many of them corrupted. He did not know the meaning of virtue and so could not fall in love. He could not fall in love with lust because it was too easy. “You don’t have a percentage going with you against women,” Gronevelt said. “You should never give away your edge.”