Chapter 14
Vida dressed in loose jeans and a pretty red top that had capped sleeves, her tattoo looking pretty against the bright color of her top. Brushing her hair, she pulled it back from her face with two combs, but left the long length down her back.
“You look fucking gorgeous,” Colton complimented when he saw her. A blush rose in her cheeks. He had a way of making her feel feminine and sexy with simply a look from his eyes, however he didn’t try to hide the dirty thoughts going through his mind.
Vida shook her hair back. “How does it look?”
Colton’s gaze didn’t go to her tattoo as she had intended, but to the cleavage her top exposed. He opened his mouth to reply.
“I meant the tattoo.”
Colton closed his mouth. “Let me rub some more lotion on it before we go. It looks good on you. I do good work.”
“Yes, you do,” Vida complimented.
Colton rubbed the lotion on the still tender skin. His knuckles brushed the tops of her breasts before stepping back.
“We better go, or we’re going to be really late.” His tight jaw left no doubt what activity would delay them.
They stopped for breakfast at a waffle house on the way to the shop. Colton chose a different one than the one Tammy worked at, which was close to the apartment. Vida didn’t question his choice, merely giving him an amused grin.
Enjoying herself, Vida found herself relaxing even more in his company as he told her stories about when he first joined the Predators and their exploits to embarrass the new recruit.
She laughed until she was almost crying when he described standing watch over a dumpster that the brothers told him had a money drop in it until someone came to retrieve it. When the brothers came back to pick him up and he told them no one had showed, he had to jump in the dumpster to retrieve the drop bag. It hadn’t been easy to find and was outside in an alley that had several restaurants. He had described how he had almost vomited several times, only the humiliation he would suffer if he had, had him choking it down. When he had finally found the bag, they had told him to open it. Inside the bag, he told her, they had placed his cut. They had made him a member, and he had passed his final test. Of course they had made him walk back to the clubhouse, as no one wanted to ride double with him.
“I can see why you miss that life,” Vida teased. “Gives you an excuse to go dumpster diving.”
“When we have time, I’ll tell you some stories of what I used to pull on the recruits,” he bragged.
“Worse than dumpster diving?”
“Much worse,” he confirmed.
Vida climbed on the back of his bike, laughing at his dire voice.
The ride to the shop didn’t take long, both of them walking into the shop with smiles on their faces. Tessa stood behind the counter with the appointment book in her hands, eyes narrowed on them in suspicion.
Vida ignored her, letting Colton deal with the temper she could see brewing. She was not able to prevent herself from feeling guilty when she remembered she was his wife, however close to a divorce they were.
“I was wondering when you were going to show,” Tessa said snidely.
Colton gave her a sharp look; Vida could tell he wasn’t happy with her sharp tone of voice.
“I’m not late. In fact, my first client isn’t scheduled for another thirty minutes.”
Forestalled in her effort to find something to rip into him for, her eyes fell onto Vida’s tattoo. “When did you get that tattoo?” Her eyes bore into it.
“Colton did it last night after the shop closed.” Vida tensed, seeing from Tessa’s face going pale that something was wrong. Her eyes turned to Colton, shocked to see apprehension instead of the anger she expected.
“You gave her your symbol, but never tatted one on me, even though you gave me three fucking tattoos.”
Colton didn’t reply.
“I don’t understand. What symbol?” Vida stared back and forth between the two.
Tessa swung back to Vida. “Are you fucking blind?” Tessa pointed to the butterfly. “He’s fucking telling everyone that you’re his.” Vida looked down at her tattoo, not seeing anything other than the butterfly.
“She can’t see it. Even if she looked in a mirror the lines would be reversed,” Colton explained.
Vida began to get angry. “What did you do?” Her voice had sunk to a whisper.
Tessa’s hand pointed to the pictures that hung around the lobby. “Look how he signs his pictures.”
Vida got up from the desk and took a closer look at the pictures hanging on the wall. Each one was signed with a symbol, which blended the initials of his first and last name together.
“Why would you do that?” Vida questioned him angrily.
“Wanted to make sure that everyone knew you were mine. Anyone that knows tattoos will easily see that those are my initials.”
“You might as well have his name tatted on your shoulder.” Tessa swung back to Colton. “How many times did I ask to put your name on me? You told me no.” Tessa’s hand reached out and snatched up the stapler, throwing it at Colton who didn’t move out of the way, but caught it in his hand.
“Do you really want to go into this in front of Vida?” Colton never lost his cool, even when Tessa threw the stapler at him. Vida was surprised; she had thought that Colton would be the type of man who would react physically when challenged like Tessa had by being the first one to try to get physical.
“I don’t give a fuck what she hears,” Tessa screamed at him.
“I tatted your name on me several time’s, I told you I would be faithful, be committed to our marriage. You were committed to one thing; the snow you shoveled up your nose. You know why I didn’t put my name on you? You thought I would forgive and forget. I can’t forgive you for what you did. You lied to me straight out about how much you were using, then I caught you stealing from the shop. And when I thought you were doing better controlling your habit, you were selling your pussy for Digger to keep you in your habit. Everyone in this town knew except me that you were fucking around on me. Then, the night I got busted by the cops, King told me everything, and every dirty little detail your life had become.” Colton’s words were painful for Vida to hear. She had been wrong to assume the failure of his marriage rested on his shoulders.
“Then why did you keep me out of prison?”
“Because you were carrying my kid, Tessa.”
Vida stiffened in her chair. Seeing the pain on Colton’s face, she knew that she didn’t want to hear anymore, but she was trapped, not wanting to draw attention to herself by getting up.
“King called me when he heard from his informant on the police force that the bust was going down. He told me everything that was going on behind my back. You had told Digger you were pregnant, but not me.” Colton paused before continuing in an emotionless voice.
“I wasn’t going to have my pregnant wife in prison delivering my baby. So I took the blame, and you got rehab.” Tessa had taken a step back as if struck when Colton had mentioned the baby.
“Colton, I was going to tell you,” Tessa tried to explain, but Vida could tell it was too little too late.
“When were you going to tell me, Tessa? You never mentioned in all this time that you were pregnant. If one of King’s women hadn’t overheard you telling Digger, I would have never known. When I went in prison, a couple of the brothers kept an eye on you for me, that’s how I found out you aborted my baby.”
“Colton, I was doing so much coke. I was messed up. I figured I had damaged the baby so bad that—”
“Shut up, Tessa, or so help me God, I’ll hurt you.”
Tessa shut up. Vida heard Colton take a deep breath, trying to regain control.
“So, no, I didn’t want my name inked on you to remind me every fucking day how stupid I was to marry you in the first place. I called you every month while I was in prison, serving your time, to get the divorce. When you didn’t, I handled it, but you wouldn’t even show me the respect to sign your fucking name to the papers.”
Colton nodded his head towards Vida. “She doesn’t think I can be a faithful because I fucked so many women when I got out of prison and was still married to you, when the truth of the matter is, our marriage ended the first time you spread your legs for a dime bag of coke.” Vida saw Tessa swipe away the tears on her face.
“Now, can we get to work before the clients start coming in and someone else hears my private shit?”
Reverend and Carlito came in the door, both coming to a stop when they saw everyone look their way.
“What’s up?” Reverend said into the tension-filled silence of the room.
Colton and Tessa remained silent.
Vida spoke up, trying to get the day back on track. Opening the schedule book, she read off everyone’s first appointment. “Carlito, you’re first up for walk-ins.”
“Cool, they end up being more fun.” Carlito was a good-looking man of Mexican descent who didn’t let anything faze him. Vida had talked to him several times when he was between customers. He would sit at the desk beside her, playing on her computer.
The clients began arriving, so the artists and clients moved off to their respective rooms. Thankfully, after the rocky start, the shop was busy keeping everyone occupied. Tessa remained quiet when she would venture into the lobby to greet her customers, not even looking at Vida who felt uncomfortable after hearing the details of Colton’s and her marriage.
Vida didn’t know how she felt. She was angry that Colton had tattooed his symbol into her butterfly, but at the same time, she felt a sense of belonging that she hadn’t experienced since her mother’s death. She refused to dwell on it until she was able to talk to Colton about it tonight. She had been scheduled to perform at the Strip club for the last time, but Colton had called and cancelled for Vida after Digger had promised to return Sawyer. King hadn’t protested, relieved that his part in retrieving Sawyer was no longer necessary.
Vida glanced up when the door opened and Seth entered, wearing a sheepish expression on his face.
“Hi, Vida.”
“Seth.” Vida’s voice was cool. The hurt she had experienced when he had left after learning she was a stripper was evident.
Vida watched as he blushed at her cool reception.
“I know you’re angry, Vida, but I’m hoping we can go out to lunch and talk, please. We don’t have to go far, just across the street. I’d like to explain.” Seth’s apologetic gaze had her hesitating in giving her refusal. She had liked Seth and thought they had become friends. She hadn’t thought that he would have been the type to turn his back on someone because they might not live up to his standards.
“I don’t know,” Vida tried to prevaricate.
“Please, Vida. If not lunch, then how about a cup of coffee? My treat. I really would like to explain why I was a jackass.”
“Let me tell Colton I’m leaving for lunch,” Vida gave in.
Carlito, escorting his customer out of his room, said he heard her. “I can watch the desk. I’ll tell Colton when he comes out.”
Vida hesitated, thinking she should tell Colton, but knew he didn’t like to be interrupted during a session. “Okay. Thanks, Carlito.”
Vida and Seth walked across the street to the coffee shop where Vida sat at the table while Seth braved the long lunch line to get them a couple of coffees. Vida wasn’t hungry and didn’t want to be away from the shop too long. Something told her Colton wasn’t going to be too happy to learn that she had left the safety of the shop to be alone with Seth. She actually wasn’t too certain it was a smart idea herself.
Seth sat down across from her, giving her the cup of coffee she had asked for with packets of sugar.
Vida took a drink of the sweet coffee, looking over the brim of the cup at Seth who was staring at the customers sitting at tables surrounding them. He looked back, catching her eyes on him. He seemed different since leaving the shop. More assured and confident, his shyness was gone and he was meeting her gaze directly.
The cautious feeling Vida had was becoming a definite twinge of fear as she could see the dramatic change in Seth.
“Don’t be afraid of me, Vida. I’m here to help you.” The self-assured voice trying to calm her was a far cry from the diffident tone she usually heard from him.
“How can you help me, Seth?” Vida tried to loosen her tight grip on her cup, afraid she was going to burn herself if she wasn’t careful.
“I’m an undercover agent, working to get back Sawyer and several other women like her that have been taken against their will.” Seth reached into his pocket and as best he could, without drawing attention to what he was doing, showed her his badge.
“You’re with the FBI?” Vida stared at him in disbelief.
Vida couldn’t believe that Seth was a FBI agent. He looked like he was still in high school.
“The FBI has been trying to shut down Digger for years. Every time we get close, he manages to wiggle his way out of it or get information he’s about to be arrested, and moves the women to another location. He’s responsible for a pipeline, not only of illegal drugs, but he also uses that same route to sell women.”
Vida was sick to her stomach that she was ever in the vicinity of the man that Seth was discussing, becoming even more thankful to Colton and the Predators for saving her.
Seth leaned closer, lowering his voice. “We’re getting closer. We managed to shut down his informant on the force so, if we could find the location where he’s keeping the woman, we can get a conviction this time.”
“Thank God.”
“That’s why they wanted me to make friends with you. To find out what you and King know. The day in your shop, I recognized the friend of Colton’s that came in. I think I got out of there before he recognized me, but I don’t know. Max is a hard ass and not much gets by him. After I talked to the task force, we decided it was worth letting you know about the operation so that we could ask for your help in finding the women.”
“Me? How can I find out where the women are? I really, really don’t want to play bait and have you following me. I don’t think those scenarios turn out too well.”
Seth laughed while still retaining his serious expression. That convinced Vida more than his badge that he was telling her the truth.
“You’ve been watching too much television. I wouldn’t place your safety in danger to that extent. What we need from you is to do what you have been doing until recently, go to King’s and try to get what we need out of Briggs.”
“How do you know what I’ve been doing with Brigg’s?” Vida’s asked.
Seth remained quiet, taking a drink from his coffee.
Realization dawned on Vida.
“You have King’s place bugged?”
“I can’t reveal how we know what you’ve been up to, only that we know. It’s because of your prying that we’ve learned as much as we have.”
“I was scheduled to dance tonight, but Colton cancelled with King.”
“We know. That’s why we want you to call King and tell him that you want to work tonight. Briggs is expecting you there, and after they kidnapped you, he’s going to try to convince you to trust him. We’re hoping he tries to convince you by letting a little too much slip with your probing,” Seth said tactfully. Vida understood that his tact with using “probing” actually meant “while you’re grinding your ass on his lap”.
“I’ll tell Colton…”
Seth shook his head. “No, he has several connections that aren’t trustworthy. If he isn’t careful, he could let information out that leaks back to Digger. Digger has a few friends left in the Predators, not many, but a few that would warn him. You’ve managed, hopefully, to get Sawyer back, but you don’t know for sure. This gets us closer and will help those women that aren’t ever going to get found without your help.”
Vida only had one recourse, and that was to do as he asked. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Sawyer wasn’t returned, and she had an opportunity to help other women in the same horrific situation.
“I’ll help, but I don’t know what I’ll tell King or Colton,” Vida agreed.
“Think of something, anything, but keep the focus off Briggs,” Seth told her.
“All right, I’ll do my best. I better get back,” Vida said, standing up.
“Thanks, Vida. You have my number if anything happens, and if you need my help, just call. Be careful. Don’t underestimate, Briggs. He’s as dangerous as Digger.” His warning had her pausing at the concerned look on his face.
“I know.” Vida still remembered Briggs’s reaction when Digger had told him to take her to his bedroom. He had planned to use her also.
Vida shuddered at the lucky escape she’d had. Sawyer hadn’t been so fortunate. Vida prayed against all odds that whoever had her wasn’t treating her badly.
Vida crossed the street, leaving Seth at the coffee shop while she tried to decide what to do because she was afraid that, if she chose wrong, Sawyer’s life would be the price of her failure.