Mike looked over and shrugged at me in a way that told me it was my job to discipline the two of them. “OK you boys!” I said in my best Marge Simpson voice, “If your father has to stop this car, you two are in big trouble!” For once, someone got my imitation. For the rest of the ride, the two of them called me Marge and they called Mike Homer. Mike and I decided that we’d call Justin Lisa and Zack Bart. I guess we figured we still knew Justin better; so calling him Lisa was less risky. Bart definitely seemed to fit Zack too.

We had a Simpson’s trip through the desert. As we got to the California, Nevada boarder, Bart and Lisa were doing their “Ouch! Quit it!” routine. Zack would hit Justin in the arm and Justin would say “Ouch! Quit it!” Then Zack would do it again. I began to realize how frustrating it must be for parents. Zack and Justin were only joking and it was annoying. I could only guess how it felt to have real kids doing it.

We got into Nevada and at first, the traffic was flying by us. Then gradually, Mike got up to speed with the rest of the drivers. The car was a Volvo N70, so it wasn’t like there was any problem keeping up, but Mike couldn’t believe how fast traffic was going. The marked speed limit was 75 MPH, but Mike and everyone else was going almost 90! We all got quiet as we looked at the speedometer. Justin finally asked, “Mikey, should we be going this fast?”

Mike looked back briefly at Justin and smiled. “Dorkboy, we just got passed by a little old lady in ’92 Coupe Deville, I think we can at least keep up with her.” Mike was grinning ear to ear as he let the Volvo open up to speeds it had probably never seen. We raced along at 90 MPH and resumed our Simpson’s games. I noticed that Mike was staring at something in the rear view mirror, “Holy shit, guys! Take a look at this!” He yelled as a black Porsche 911 and a red Corvette zoomed by us. “Let’s see how fast their going!” He grinned.

Faster and faster he went. After what could only have been a few seconds, he was up to speed with the two sports cars. “Holy shit, will you look at that!” Zack exclaimed. “We’re going 110!” He didn’t need to tell any of us, because our eyes were glued to the speedometer – except for Mike, who thankfully was watching the road.

“Too rich for my blood!” Mike said as he slowed back to 90. “I don’t need a ticket for 40 over, 15 is more than enough.” Justin and I were in total agreement. He’s opened up the car, and our pulses were racing. We were more than happy with his effort. Zack, however, was another matter. “Homer, you are such a pussy!” He grinned.

Mike looked in the mirror at Zack. “You wanna drive, tough guy?” Mike said indicating that he wasn’t thrilled with Zack’s comment.

“Sure!” Zack’s eyes lit up. “I’ll be happy to!” I couldn’t help but smile at the whole exchange. Mike was by no means a wuss when it came to anything, but Zack was a total daredevil. It seemed like nothing scared him.

We finally got to Las Vegas and I opened up the directions that my Dad had given me. I remember He’d laughed at me as he wrote them out, but I hadn’t looked at them until now. “Take I-15 until you see the city.” It said. “Then look for the real tall buildings – you’ll figure it out, Eric!” Oh my god! I couldn’t believe it! My Dad didn’t write me any directions he just told me to figure it out from myself. We came over the hill and I realized what he was talking about. There on the desert floor sat a dozen or so huge hotels. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out where we were going. It was now about 4:00 in the afternoon, so we could see everything on the strip. Construction cranes indicated where new hotels were being built and we immediately noticed the shining monster of Mandelay Bay, the pyramid of the Luxor and the green expanse of the MGM grand. We continued down I-15 until we finally saw the exit for The Venetian.

Mike pulled in front of the hotel and immediately two valets greeted us. “Are you guests of the hotel, sir?” They asked him. He turned to me and I nodded. They handed him a ticket, and we climbed out of the car. Before we could grab any of our luggage, the car was gone. “I guess they’ll bring it up to the room.” I said, trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about. We walked into the hotel and were greeted by an incredible solid marble lobby. We got in line for registration and shortly were standing in front of a desk clerk.

“Your name… sir?” He said, looking me up one side and down the other.

“Eric Houston” I replied. Pronouncing my name as it should be – like ‘House Ton’ He looked back at me. “Did you say your name was Houston?” He pronounced it like the city in Texas. “No, my name is Houston!” I said, pronouncing it correctly. He nervously looked up at me. “I’m sorry… Mr. Eric House Ton?” he corrected himself, “you should have registered in the invited guests area!” With that, he quickly ushered us over to a preferred customer area, usually reserved for high rollers. “Just a minute, Mr. House Ton,” the clerk said, “Geno will be with you directly.”

Less than a minute later, a huge man walked out. He was wearing a sport jacket that was a size too small and tie that was way too short to fit around his huge neck. “Which one of you is Mr. Houston?” he asked in a scratchy voice. I indicated that I was.

“Mr. Houston! On behalf of The Venetian, let me tell you what an honor it is to have you and your friends staying with us! Let me get you the keys to your room!” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be totally scared, because the guy sounded like something right out of The God Father! He had the scratchy Marlin Brando voice and everything – yet I clearly got the impression that we shouldn’t fuck around with Geno. A minute later he came back with our keys.

“Here you boys go. The magnetic strip card will let you into your room. The key is for the elevator. The amenities of the hotel are at your disposal, enjoy, enoy!” He smiled. But then his face got deadly serious and he pointed at us with his little finger. “Oh and boys, please. Stay out of the casino. You must be 21 or older to play in the casino and I don’t want to see you boys get in trouble! If you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING, please… call on me. Night or day.” With that, he walked way.

Zack, Mike and Justin stared at me. Finally Zack spoke, “Eric, how does your Dad know him? That guy actually scares me!”

I looked at my three friends. My Dad was by no means a gangster or anything like that, but he definitely knew people who, um, didn’t play by the rules. “”I don’t think my Dad really knows Geno there. My Dad works in the entertainment industry - you guys know that. He has a lot of connections.” The three of them looked at me with straight faces. They weren’t sure what to say. Justin broke the silence. “Ok, Mr. House Ton, let’s check out our room!”

We went over to the elevators and got in one. The numbers went up to 22, but our keys said 23. Justin took his key and shoved it into the obvious slot just above the last numbered button. Suddenly a number 23 lit up on the display. Three other people were with us in the elevator. One of them laughed; “High rollers, huh? You all look pretty young for having a room in the high rollers area.”

Without missing a beat, Zack looked at the guy who was talking. “We’re not as young as we look!” He said, flexing his arm.

“Whatever, kid.” The guy said, “You still don’t look 21.”

The elevator finally got to our floor and we got out. There were only six rooms on our wing. We went up to the door to our room and stuck in the key card. The door opened and in we walked. As we took in the sight, the four of us stood there slack-jawed. The room had to be at least 1500 sq. ft. There were two conversation areas with sofas, two big screen TVs, and a bar. On either end of the room, there was a door. We checked out the doors and found that behind each was master bedroom suite. There was king sized bed and an amazing bathroom in each suite! My Dad had gotten us one of the presidential suites at the Venetian!

One side of the main room was solid windows. They looked out onto the Las Vegas strip. We had a million dollar view and it totally amazed us. As the four of us stood taking in the splendor of our settings, Zack finally regained enough of his senses to ask his question again. “Eric… WHO the fuck is your Dad?” There really wasn’t any other answer that I could give. I didn’t know he had connections in Las Vegas, particularly connections like this. “I told you Zack, entertainment…” A knock at the door cut my explanation short. Justin answered the door, finding two bellhops with all our stuff. “This is Mr. Houston’s suite?” They asked nervously. Justin nodded.

They entered our room. “Who will be staying in which room?” They asked. Without really thinking about it, I told them which bags went in which room. Mike, Justin and Zack were all looking at me with amazement. The bellhops came back after hanging up all our clothes. “Will there be anything else, Mr. Houston?” I shook my head and handed them a $20. “That’ll be all, thanks.” I said, almost reflexively. I’d seen my Dad do it dozens of times.

The three of them stared at me. “Do you always get treated like this, Eric?” Mike asked wide-eyed. I thought about it for a minute. I did get treated like that wherever I went. My Mom and Dad used to take me on trips and I always got my own room. Everyone in the hotel doted on me, but I’d never thought a thing about it, I figured that was the way kids got treated at hotels. I was thinking about it now, however. How did my Dad pull all this off? I didn’t have an answer, and certainly wasn’t complaining.

“Let’s check out our rooms!” I said. Within seconds, we’d all left the main area and were in our bedrooms. Mike and I looked at each other and the view of downtown Vegas. Huge grins eventually crossed our faces. Mike beat me to the bunch line:

“Eric… excuse me… Mr. Houston!… this is amazing! And um, one of us has to get fucked here!” he paused briefly, “and I think I want it to be me!” My mind spun as imagined fucking my now huge boyfriend. His muscles just pulsed with energy and his face was so beautiful! It sounds like a GREAT idea to me. We walked back into the main room and found Zack and Justin rummaging around behind the bar.

“You think it’s ok if we drink the stuff that’s back here?” Justin asked. Zack had already opened a bottle of orange juice as was about to drink it. He quickly put it back down as he waited for the answer.

“Relax, Zack!” I laughed, “It’s OK as long as there isn’t any alcohol.” Justin said there wasn’t as he opened a bottle of cranberry juice. “So, Mike and I were thinking… It was a pretty long drive, so we thought we’d take a quick nap before dinner.” I didn’t think I was fooling anyone, but Mike did his best to play along. He yawned and stretched. “You guys can do whatever you want, but lets go eat around 6:30.”

I was surprised to see Zack yawn too. He looked at Justin, “Ya know, Justin… I’m kinda tired too, you wanna take a nap?” Justin looked puzzled. He knew what Mike and I were up to, it seemed pretty obvious to him. Did Zack want to go mess around too? Justin certainly wanted to find out.

“Ummm, sure Zack, I guess a nap would be good. Let’s go!” The two of them turned and they trotted into their room. Zack actually patted Justin the butt as they went through the door. Mike and I were shocked. Did our eyes deceive us? Zack certainly didn’t strike either of us as the napping type.

“Eric, do you think they’re really going to nap?” Mike asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“So what do you think they’re doing?”

“I have no idea…”

“Since we’re supposed to watching them, I think we should listen at the door – just to make sure they’re ok.”

“Don’t you think we should let them have some privacy?”

“Just for a second, come on!” Mike said as he walked softly over to the door to their room. He put his ear to the door and suddenly a huge grin crossed his face. He motioned for me to come over. I stood next to him and listened.

“Oh yeah Justin! You’ve got such a hot body, I’m glad you’re letting me do this.”

“It feels great Zack! Don’t stop man, I love it.”

“Yeah Justin! You’re muscles are huge bro. I love that!”

Then we heard what sounded like kissing. Mike and I were glued to the door. We stared each other with wide-eyed grins as we listened to them.

“OK Justin, are you ready for the next part?”

“I don’t know, Zack… I’ve never done it before… and you’re pretty big too.”

“Come on bro, don’t be a pussy! It feels good, trust me!”

Mike and I were going crazy. Where they really doing what it sounded like they were doing? We couldn’t believe our ears!

“OK, just lay on your stomach here and I’ll do the rest, trust me, it feels good!”

“You ready, Justin?”

“Ummm, yeah, I guess.”

“Ohhhh fuck yeah! God Justin, you’ve got such a tight ass!”

“Zack!!! Please stop PLEEEEAAAASE! You’re killing me, god it hurts… STOP!”

“No way you big pussy. If you’re going to be with me, you’ve got to learn to take it like a man!”

“Zack!!! Stop STOP STOP! It’s hurts soooo bad!”

Mike’s expression quickly went from amusement to rage. He couldn’t take it another second. There was no way he was going to stand by while Zack raped his brother. He burst through the door and started to yell at Zack. His voice stopped before he even finished yelling Zack’s name. We saw the two of them on the bed fully clothed. Justin was sitting cross legged while Zack was on his knees bouncing up and down on the bed.

“You guys need something?” Zack grinned at us, and then he turned to Justin. “See? Told ya they’d be listening!” With that, Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to Zack.

“I thought you two were going to take a nap?” Justin complained.

“Uhhhm, we are.” Mike said, still a bit dazed.

“Like taking candy from a baby.” Zack said as he stuffed the bill into his pocket. “We’re through with ours. We’re going to go look around the hotel.” •