When she opened the tattoo shop door to find the front lobby empty, she waited hesitantly by the door for several minutes before a tall, leggy blond came out. Vida felt like a brown mouse next to the extremely attractive woman. She had a natural sexiness that Vida had to work to bring into her act and was only able to maintain for minutes at a time.
“Can I help you?” The woman pasted a polite, plastic smile on her face, waiting for Vida to answer her question.
“I’m supposed to meet Colton here.” Vida made her voice firm, not wanting the woman to know she was nervous.
Her eyes narrowed and the plastic smile vanished. “I’m sorry, but Colton isn’t taking any appointments today. Call back later in the week and I’ll schedule you with someone—”
“That’s enough, Tessa. Vida isn’t here for a tattoo. I hired her to watch the front desk.”
Tessa rounded on Colton as he came into the lobby. “We don’t need one of your whores sitting on her ass behind the desk. I did fine without having someone sitting here all the time while you were gone.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want, Tessa, it’s what I want that matters. You don’t like it, go work for another shop.”
“Fine, she can stay, but her paycheck comes from your share of the profits,” Tessa snapped back her response.
Vida watched the exchange between the two, turning red as Tessa cast her a venomous look before turning and leaving the room. Colton pulled out the chair from behind the desk.
“Make yourself useful.” Vida came to stand behind the counter. “If someone calls, make an appointment for them. Here are the names of the artists available, rotate them out so that the customers are evenly spaced. If someone requests a certain artist, fulfill their request if possible, but try not to overload any particular artist.
Vida nodded her head.
“Any questions?” Colton asked.
“I don’t think so, it seems pretty simple,” Vida answered, looking over the appointment book.
“It is. If you need anything, just yell. I need to get back to my room.”Colton walked away.
Vida sat down in the chair, studying the appointment book as she familiarized herself with the artist’s names. The phone began ringing and for the next several minutes, Vida made appointments. When the phone finally quieted, she opened her backpack and took out her laptop. Vida quickly became engrossed with her homework, only lifting her head when she heard the bell over the door ring.
A tall, gangly young man approached the counter with a hesitant smile.
“I was wondering if it would be possible to get a tattoo. I don’t have an appointment.”
Vida searched through the appointment book. “I have an opening in twenty minutes if you want to wait?”
“Sounds good.”
“What’s your name?”
“Seth Redman.” Vida wrote his name down in the appointment book.
Giving her a friendly grin, he leaned on the counter. “You into computers?” he asked, motioning toward her laptop.
“Yes, I’m almost finished with my degree in computer science,” Vida replied.
“I do I.T. for the local hospital.”
“That sounds interesting.” Vida thought any job out in the workforce sounded interesting. She was tired of schoolwork and was eager to put what she had learned in school to use.
He made a face. “Nope, boring as hell. Wanted to design computer games, but those jobs are hard to come by, and I like to eat and get tattoos. Both cost money.”
Vida laughed.
“I’m working on a game app. I don’t suppose you have any free time to help me out with a few glitches?” Vida studied his face, seeing his hesitance in asking. He seemed like an awkwardly sweet guy. It was a nice change from her morose roommate.
“I think it sounds like fun, but I’m afraid I don’t have much free time.” Vida tore a piece of paper from her notebook and wrote down her phone number. Before she could change her mind, she handed it to him. As she handed Seth her number, Colton walked into the room with his eyes going straight to the slip of paper.
“He’s waiting for either you or Reverend to give him a tattoo,” Vida told him.
Colton nodded. “Have you decided what tattoo you want?”
Seth reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Colton. They left the room, talking about the design. Vida returned to studying, relieved to have the lobby to herself once again.
Several more clients came in and Vida wrote down their names to work them into a rotation with the tattoo artists. Tessa came out once, taking a client that wanted a tattoo of a rose. She ignored Vida, merely checking off her name next to the client.
It didn’t bother Vida that Tessa was being rude to her. It was obvious Tessa and Colton had a history as well as that her presence obviously had been sprung on Tessa without any warning or explanation.
Vida had no intention of becoming friendly with Colton. Maybe when Tessa realized she had no intentions towards him, her frosty demeanor would thaw.
Her mother had shown her the futility of trying to have a relationship with a man like Colton. The relationship would be intense at first then gradually his attention would wander to other available women. Vida wondered if that was what had happened between the two of them.
Vida stared blindly out the window, missing Sawyer, wishing she could call her and complain about everyone being assholes to her for no reason. It wasn’t the first time in her life she had to adjust to losing a friend. She only hoped that she would be able to help Sawyer, unlike Callie.
She swallowed down the lump in her throat at the thought of Callie, relieved when a man covered in tattoos appeared from the back of the shop to divert her thoughts. When he leaned against the counter with a flirtatious smile on his good-looking face, Vida couldn’t help but to return the smile he was throwing her way.
“Who are you, sweet thing?” He crooned.
Vida blushed at his accomplished flirting. “I’m Vida.”
“I’m Reverend, but you can call me Rev,” he said with soulful, chocolate eyes. “Where did you come from?”
“Colton hired me temporarily.” Vida wasn’t quite sure how to explain her presence behind the counter, so she stuck with the same explanation that Colton had given Tessa.
Rev’s smile widened. “I was looking forward to having Colton back. Now I have him to thank for the prettiest woman to walk through that door in a while.”
Tessa slammed a folder down in front of Vida, causing her to jump unexpectedly. She hadn’t even been aware the woman had entered the room.
“Don’t you have a client waiting?” she asked Reverend snidely, motioning to the man sitting quietly in the waiting room.
“Nope, he’s all yours. I’m waiting on an appointment, and Colton is finishing up with his client.”
Vida watched Tessa’s lips tighten before she motioned to the waiting man to follow her into the back.
“It gets better and better. Anyone that pisses off that bitch is a friend of mine.”
Vida hid her smile. Truthfully, Tessa’s attitude didn’t bother her. She had dealt with women with far worse attitudes than hers.
Rev’s client came in and with a wave, he escorted him to his room. After that, the rest of the day passed quickly. Colton barely paid any attention to her as he came out for his clients, which meant that, other than Tessa’s unfriendly attitude, it hadn’t been a bad experience.
Vida yawned, closing her book and turning off her computer. Her eyes were burning with tiredness. The late nights at the club and the hours of studying were beginning to wear her down. Tonight was her off night from the club and she simply wanted to sink into the soft couch at Colton’s apartment and catch up on her sleep.
Colton came into the room, carrying an extra helmet. “You ready?”
Vida nodded, putting her books and laptop into her backpack before rising to follow him out the door. Outside, he handed her the helmet before climbing on. Vida p
ut on the helmet then shrugged into her backpack. Scrambling onto the bike, she gripped Colton’s waist as he started the motor and pulled out of the parking lot.