Colton held the door open for Wanda to leave, motioning for her to be quiet. With a quick kiss, she went through the door. He shut and locked it behind her, turning to go into the kitchen. Seeing the pillow on top of Vida’s face, he was determined not to remove it this time, however he found his legs moving towards her anyway.
Lifting the pillow, he saw tears glistening on her face and touching the pillow he found it damp. He had given her a key, not even noticing when she had returned. Turning the pillow over until the dry side was up, he laid her head back down on it. Brushing her tears away with the pad of his thumb, he stroked her soft cheek. Her face turned away, moving away from the soft touch.
Colton studied the dark circles of weariness underneath her eyes. Vida, he had caught on early, actually slept very little, always staying busy with her computer or studying the books she carried around in her backpack.
She was unusual for a girl her age, so quiet and studious. Even when the customers tried to talk to her at the tattoo shop, she rarely engaged them back. Seth, the boy she had given her number to, had returned to the shop to work on coding with her. She was friendly to him, but he could see she kept a distance with them all. She had been staying with him for two weeks now and he had yet to see a genuine smile.
What was so surprising to him was that her mother, Goldie, had been full of life and laughter. She had worshipped her daughter and had been proud of her every achievement. It was hard to see her daughter completely full of restraint and wariness.
Colton was sure the death of Goldie two years ago had been extremely hard on her. Now her closest friend since childhood was in trouble. He knew it was probably weighing her down that she couldn’t help Sawyer, just as she hadn’t been able to help the friend who’d died. Goldie had often worried how losing such a close friend at a young age would affect her. Callie, Sawyer and Vida were the little troublemakers of the neighborhood. Now, only one was left.
Baring her body and doing the lap dances went against the repressed personality he saw in Vida. Emotionally, he wondered how she had remained so strong.
Turning away, he went to the kitchen to get a bottled water and looked at the clock on the microwave, seeing that it was almost four a.m. Finishing the water, he returned to the bedroom, lying back down on the rumpled sheets.
He had no problem filling his bed each night with a different woman, the tattoo shop and past pick-ups provided a steady flow to satisfy the hunger that had gone unfed the three years in prison. The only problem was he felt emptier and emptier with each additional encounter. Something was wrong and Colton was deathly afraid he knew what it was.
Placing an arm over his eyes, he tried to shut out the image of Vida from that first day he had been released from prison. He needed to get rid of her. Tomorrow night, instead of dropping her off at the club, he planned to go inside and have a talk with King. Vida had to go and King had to do something about it, regardless of the situation with Digger.
Chapter Five
Vida stood nervously behind the curtain in her red camisole and underwear. She only had the two outfits; one red and one black. The other women raised scornful eyes when they saw her dressed in the same outfit night after night, however she refused to invest in new outfits with only two more nights to go.
Hearing her queue, she went out on the stage and began her standard set.
Colton stood in the shadows in the back of the room as he watched Vida come onto the stage. Her perfectly proportioned body was highlighted by the high cut of her underwear and showed her legs to their best advantage. The tiny piece of red material barely covered her pussy, while leaving her creamy ass bare, the string disappearing between the luscious globes.
Colton battled his cock, trying to keep himself from getting hard, but it was an impossible feat as Vida’s next set began and she started removing her top. Her seductive twisting was arousing; not only to him, but every man in the room. She slowly unbuttoned the flimsy camisole that hid her breasts, drawing out the tension in the men, denying them while at the same time providing tantalizing glimpses. When she could delay it no longer, the top was dropped, showing her full breasts in all their glory. The pink tipped nipples were hard from the air conditioning vent that was directed at her body, making her appear to want the men’s lustful leers.
His hands clenched into fists as he heard some of the men’s shouts, studying their faces so he could have a word with them later. Then Vida’s music changed and she moved towards the men in the front row
She allowed their greedy hands to shove money into the thin string that barely held her thong on while she squatted in front of their faces. He was sure several of the men tugged on it harder than necessary, trying to break the tiny piece of material. Rising, she danced away from the front of the stage while the men begged her to come back. The music drew to an end, reaching the point where she bent down towards the floor to pick up her top, giving the men their money’s worth by showing them her ass as she waved goodbye between her legs. Colton wanted to storm the stage and smack her ass hard.
A moment later, Henry motioned Colton forward, letting him know that King was finally ready to talk to him. As he moved towards the dark booth, Colton was surprised the light over it was turned off. Usually, when King was occupying the booth, the light was on. Now it was shrouded in darkness, giving complete privacy.
Colton took a seat across from him, watching as King leaned back against the expensive leather of the booth.
“Henry said you wanted to talk to me?”
“How much longer is this going to go on, King? I have a life—” Colton began.
King cut him off. “Which watching over Vida hasn’t hindered in the least. You’ve had a different woman over every night, and other than a few hours of watching her at your shop and at night after she gets done here, you haven’t been inconvenienced at all.”
Colton refused to feel guilty. “She’s complaining to you that I have women over?”
King showed his dangerous smile. “You’ve lived with her for two weeks and you don’t know her better than that?” King shook his head. “You’re a dumb son of a bitch. Tessa leads you around by the fucking nose and you believed every fucking lie she told you. Vida wouldn’t open her mouth about you because she wouldn’t want to jeopardize Sawyer’s life. You need to learn the difference between an immoral bitch and a woman who’s like her mother and has a heart of gold.”
Colton stiffened in his seat. “I don’t care what kind of woman she is, I want her gone.”
King studied him. “Give me to the end of the weekend and I will make other arrangements.”
Relief flooded through Colton, but before he could stop himself, he asked, “What kind of arrangements?”
King shrugged. “One of Margie’s girls is leaving. One of her customers wants her full-time, so Vida can have her room and Margie can watch over her.
Anger flooded Colton. “Margie will fucking put her to work.”
“What do you care, Colton? At least Margie will keep her safe and give her back when I get all this shit cleaned up. If Digger gets her, she’ll either be dead or disappear.”
Colton bit back his anger, smart enough to know if he pissed King off, he wouldn’t leave the choice in his hands. “I’ll let her stay. Just hurry it up, King.”
“That was my intention all along.” Satisfied, King motioned for the waitress to bring Colton a drink.
The waitress put a beer down in front of Colton, lingering by the table until King motioned her away. She left after a last smoldering look at Colton.
“Seems you have an admirer.” Colton ignored him, watching Vida climb the steps to what Colton knew was the room that King had set aside for the private members.
“How many does she have scheduled for tonight?” Colton asked, nodding his head towards Vida.
“She’s a popular little thing. She has three scheduled and several more will purchase one when they see her at work.”
Colton gave King a hard look before taking his beer and getting up from the table, turning towards the stairway.
“There’s a fee to go upstairs, Colton,” King reminded him, trying to hide his amusement.
“Add it to my tab, asshole.”
Vida finished giving a dance to one of the men who had become a regular and went to the bar for a drink of water before going into the side room to give another dance. Each dance lasted no more than ten minutes, but every time she felt as if she needed to take a shower to clean herself.
Vida glanced at the door when she heard it open, trying to hide the surprise on her face when Colton walked into the room. He cast her a hard look before taking a seat on one of the expensive couches. Finishing her water with trembling fingers, she put down her bottle before placing a seductive look on her face for her waiting customer. It was unnerving her that she felt Colton’s dark eyes on her as she moved towards Briggs.
“Hey sexy, you ready?” Vida murmured.
His hot eyes ran over her body. Vida felt her skin crawl as his disgusting gaze slid over her. Carefully hiding her reaction, infusing fake warmness into her eyes, she held out her hand playfully for him to take. Briggs took her hand, rising to his feet and following her tamely into the private room where she would perform the lap dance.
Vida playfully pushed Briggs down onto the plush chair and backed away. The music started and Vida drew closer to Briggs, straddling his chair, grinding her corset-covered breasts against his chest. Twisting and turning her hips, she kept a distance of mere centimeters between her mound and his crotch.
Blushing in embarrassment, Vida fervently hoped that Colton hadn’t turned so that he would be able to see into the room. It was semi-private due to a window so the bouncer would be able to watch and call a halt if one of the clients got out of hand.