Juliet came in as she was about to get changed with her cut of the night’s money in an envelope. “I tipped the bartender and Lou.”
“Thanks, Juliet.” Juliet gave her a grudging nod before going to her locker to grab her coat, not bothering to change.
At Vida’s questioning gaze, Juliet shrugged. “Connor offered to pay me for a private performance. I have to go; their waiting in the car for me.” Vida watched the woman leave the room, not wanting to think about how Juliet would be spending the rest of her night.
Dressing took Vida several minutes. Grabbing the envelope of cash, she put it in her pocket before going out into the hallway. Vida noticed the light in the hallway was burned out. The darkened hallway gave her the creeps. While King had spared no expense to regularly redecorate the front of the club, the back was old and still had only one source of light, the one that was burnt out.
Carefully making her way, she was almost at the end when she felt someone come up behind her, putting a rough hand over her mouth, jerking her struggling body backwards. She felt herself lifted and carried to the back exit and knew if they got her out the door, that whoever it was would probably have a car waiting. Terror had her struggling harder. The grip on her tightened, making it hard to breathe.
“What the hell!” Vida heard Colton’s voice, relief making her go limp.
Whoever was holding her turned to face Colton. The arm around her waist dropped away and Vida saw a flash of a knife in the dim hallway.
Colton moved forward quickly with King coming up behind him. His hand snapped out, striking the arm holding the knife. It dropped to the floor. Colton jerked Vida away as his fist slammed into the unidentified man behind her.
Freed Vida found herself behind Colton’s back as King moved forward with the knife in his hand. Her assailant turned to run, but King reached him before he could open the door and escape. The man tried to struggle away from King, but King brought the knife down, plunging it into the man’s chest. Throwing the now lifeless body down, King opened the back door, looking outside.
“I don’t see anyone else. Get her out of here.”
Colton took Vida’s hand, leading her away from the man lying in the hallway in a pool of blood. Henri came in the hallway then, his quick glance taking in the situation. Vida was sure it wasn’t the first time he had to clean up King’s mess.
“Find out who it is then get rid of it,” King ordered.
“Okay, boss.” Henri moved past them.
Colton didn’t give her time to ask questions. “Are you all right?” he questioned once they were outside.
“I think so, just a little shaken. Who do you think it was?”
“Probably one of Digger’s men,” King said, coming to stand beside Vida.
“What made you come back?” Vida asked Colton.
“Juliet warned me when she came outside the light was off back there. She thought she saw someone, but wasn’t sure.”
Vida reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope of money. “Will you give this to Jazz for me?”
“Yes. Vida, you can’t talk about what happened,” King said, taking the envelope.
“I know. I’ll keep my mouth shut,” she promised before climbing onto Colton’s bike.
Juliet might not like her, but she had saved Vida.
Vida grasped Colton around his waist, thankful that both King and him had been there to help. She felt a jolt of fear knowing that Digger wouldn’t stop. Colton owed her nothing, barely knew her, and yet, he hadn’t hesitated to protect her. She acknowledged to herself there was more to the sexy tattoo artist than she had thought possible. He just might be her saving grace.
Chapter Nine
Vida came out of the classroom looking for Henry, surprised when she didn’t see him. Colton had dropped her off before class and Henry should have been here to pick her up. Feeling nervous at the strange occurrence, Vida stayed close to the classroom building where there were several students milling around.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Henry sitting on a bench not too far away. Relieved, Vida walked towards him, but stopped at the look on his face, something was definitely wrong. His eyes, which were usually filled with warmth, were filled with fear for her. He was practically screaming at her to run silently. In a glance, she understood why. The pretty young girl sitting next to him with her purse in her hand had a gun pointed at him. She could see the girl’s hand buried in the purse and the outline of the gun through the material pointed at Henry.
Vida started to turn and run, but stopped. She couldn’t leave Henry to their mercy when it was her they wanted. If there was a chance for Henry to walk away, she had to give it to him and take a chance that King would save her.
She saw the anger in Henry’s face directed at her as she walked towards them, angry that she hadn’t taken the opportunity to run.
When she drew close enough to hear her, the woman spoke.
“That black car over there, get in the backseat.” The woman nodded to an inconspicuous dark car just a few feet away.
Vida nodded and started walking towards the car. As she came closer, the door opened from within and she hesitantly slid into the car. As soon as she shut the door, the car started and drove out into the busy street to be swallowed up in traffic.
“Is she going to let Henry go?” Vida asked, terrified for Henry.
The driver didn’t respond to her question. Vida was frightened and couldn’t stop her legs from trembling. She had no choice other than to lean back into the leather seats as she waited for the ride to end. When the car came to a stop, she became even more frightened when the driver got out and came around to her door. Opening it, he motioned for her to get out of the car.
The driver’s cold expression left no doubt that she was in trouble. When the word trouble hit her mind, she was able to get herself back under control and hide the emotional turmoil that she was going through her. Stripping had taught her to hide her emotions, she needed that skill desperately now or the driver would be packing her into the house kicking and screaming.
Vida stepped out of the car, finding herself looking at a large home in an isolated area. Surrounded by a stone and metal fence, it was clear the owner wanted his privacy. She followed the silent driver into the house as he led her to a large room. As she walked into the room that held an expensive desk, a tall man rose from his chair and walked forward.
“Close the door, send in Briggs and Morgan.” The driver closed the door, leaving Vida alone with the man staring back at her with malevolent eyes. He came closer, circling her as his eyes took in every aspect of her body. She felt as undressed as if she had been on stage at King’s nightclub.
Stopping in front of her, his hand rose, backhanding her with such force her head snapped back, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the floor. Vida held her frightened cry inside, terrified that he would hit her again. Her shaking hand went to her burning cheek, hearing the door opening and closing, she looked towards the door to see Briggs and another man she recognized as Morgan from the club. She had performed lap dances for both of them. Neither of them acted like they had ever seen her before. No help would be coming from their direction.
“Get up, you stupid cunt.”
Vida managed to get her feet under her and shakily rose up. The second time he hit her, she barely managed to stay on her feet, which was a mistake because his third hit was with his fist and sent her crashing back down to the floor. This time she was unable to keep her cries silent and she didn’t try to get back up.
“You have been a pain in my ass for the last month. You should have stayed out of my business. Sawyer is mine, therefore she’s my business.” Laughing at his own joke, Digger leaned back against his desk, satisfied she wouldn’t get up again.
“Briggs and Morgan tell me you can shake your tits and ass, so now you’re my business,” he informed her.
“King won’t let you get away with this, I’m under his protection.” Vida stared up at the ugly bastard who stood there as if he had the right to do anything he wanted.
“Fuck King, I’m not afraid of him. Has he managed to get Sawyer back?” Digger laughed sarcastically. “He couldn’t even keep me from taking you from that stupid bodyguard. Take her up to my bedroom, I’ll be up shortly.” He went back behind his desk, sitting down to pick up a ringing cell phone.
Vida felt Briggs take her by the arm, helping her to her feet.