Bing met them in the taxi lane. “Gina! Eliot! I didn’t know you were coming. I thought it was just Darcy.” Bing gave enthusiastic hugs to both of them as Darcy pulled a nearly unconscious Liam from the car, leaning his face as far away as possible from the stench of stale alcohol.

“How’s Jane? Is she dating, ah, doing anything new these days?”

“She’s been in California too,” Eliot said. “Making final plans for the wedding.”

“You were supposed to keep your eyes on Kitty,” Darcy fussed, pushing Liam to his feet. After a few stumbling steps, Liam righted himself.

“Coffee,” he croaked.

“Listen here,” Eliot started, but Gina stepped in.

“We have more important things to do, party animal,” Gina said, pushing Liam in front of her. “You want to party? Let’s go party.”

“They’ve been at the same roulette for the last thirty minutes, and he’s on a roll. He won’t be leaving any time soon,” Bing assured him. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

Darcy waited until Eliot was just inside the doors, and then held Bing back. “Listen, I’ve been meaning to tell you something. I was wrong about Jane.”

“What do you mean?” The confusion and heartbreak on Bing’s face was all Darcy’s doing.

“I think I was hasty in my judgement of her, and I apologize for that. I know it may be too late to right my wrong, but you should at least know.”

Darcy watched as a series of emotions crossed Bing’s characteristically expressive face.

Eliot leaned his head out the door. “Um… we kinda don’t know where we’re going without Bing.”

Hope brightened Bing’s eyes as he turned to face Eliot. “Well, then, let us deal with George then. I have a sudden need to get back to California as quickly as possible.”

They found George leaning over a roulette table, cheering. Kitty, standing beside him, looking bored and near tears.

“George Wickham,” Darcy thundered, letting years of anger fuel his voice.

George’s head snapped up. “What?”

His eyes went wide at the sight of Darcy, along with a glaring Gina, Liam, Bing, and giant pregnant Eliot coming their way. George started scooping up his chips.

“Hey, KitKat, time for us to move on.”

“Thank goodness. This has been so boring,” Kitty whined.

“Why don’t you go greet your brother while I settle up,” George suggested, pocketing chips.

Kitty turned in surprise and squealed. “Liam!” she shouted, running up and hugging her brother.

“Quiet, please,” Liam whispered. “My head!”

“Oh my gosh you guys! I didn’t know you were coming to Vegas, too! Did George tell you to surprise me for the wedding?”

“We didn’t come ‘too,’ Kitty. We came to find you,” Eliot said sternly.

“He’s making a run for it,” BIng shouted, but Darcy had already seen George’s intention in his eyes. George slid a pile of chips into his bucket and took off in a dead sprint. Darcy and Bing raced after him. He’d always been a faster runner than George. It was an advantage of having longer legs.

“Thief!” The croupier yelled, pointing after the three fleeing men.

“George! Where are you going? We’re supposed to be getting married. I even brought a spider for the cake,” Kitty called after them. Darcy glanced behind just long enough to see Gina grab ahold of her arm to keep her from going after George.

Several voices shouted behind them, ordering them to stop.

“Crap, they think we’re with him.” Bing looked behind them again.

“Then we’d better get to him first.” Darcy’s sole focus was on the man ahead of him.

“I’ll divert them, Darce. You get George. Give him a few good ones for me.”

“I intend to.”

Bing fell to the floor suddenly. Darcy hoped he was only pretending to fall because he couldn’t stop or he’d lose George. Vaulting over a table and then using another to boost him up, Darcy plowed into George, knocking him face first into the ground.

Chips flew everywhere, flying from the bucket as it spun across the floor. George kicked at Darcy. Darcy rolled away, coming to his feet. A couple bent aces peeked out of the corner of George’s shirt sleeve. “Cheating a casino? Not a wise move, George.”

George threw a wild punch. Darcy dodged. “I wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for you. You stole my rightful place. You got me kicked out of university.”

People at the tables near them scrambled to pick chips off the floor. Beyond them, guards approached at a jog.

“I have done nothing to you.” Darcy landed a punch to George’s left side. “Everything that has happened to you, you’ve done to yourself.”

“You have done everything. If you hadn’t been so jealous of me—” George slammed a fist into Darcy’s stomach.

Darcy bent double and George pounded a fist into his back, nearly causing Darcy to fall. But Darcy opted to ram George with his shoulder, saving his breath for the fighting, not the arguing. There was no point. George lived in a conceited world of his own making. They fell to the ground and Darcy took a fist to the face, his lip splitting at the impact.

Rolling over, he sat on George’s middle, landing punch after punch until the guards pulled him off.

“You’re under arrest.” Handcuffs were snapped around his wrists.

“See? You’re no better than me,” George sneered, blood flowing freely down his face.

Darcy lashed out with a foot to send George sprawling on the ground once more. A puffing, red faced man in a casino uniform stumbled to a stop, bracing his hands on his knees and wheezing. “Not him,” he said, waving a weak finger at Darcy. “He… tried to stop… that one.” His finger redirected to George.

“So you want me to let this one go?” A guard asked.

The casino employee nodded his head frantically.

“You saw the man,” Darcy insisted, seeing Eliot and crew weaving through the tables toward them. “Unlock me.”

The guard seemed reluctant to do so, but in a minute, the cuffs were off. They had George lying face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back.

“What will happen to him?” Darcy asked.

“Eh, he’ll go to county to start. Probably sit there until his hearing, unless someone comes to bail him out.”

“How long does that take?” Darcy asked, his attention on the approaching Bennett’s.

The guard shrugged. “Depends on the schedule. Two weeks. Maybe a month.”

“Good,” Darcy spat.

“George!” Kitty wailed, throwing herself on top of his prone body. “George are you okay? Did they hurt you darling?”

Darcy’s eyes were on Eliot. The omega stepped close and laid a gentle finger on Darcy’s lip. Even with the care he took, Darcy flinched away.

“Thank you,” Eliot said quietly, tears welling in his eyes. “It could have been so much worse if you hadn’t—”

“You’re welcome,” Darcy said. He wasn’t a virtuous man. He wouldn’t lie and say he would have done this for anyone.

He’d done it for Eliot.