“I’ll hold you to that,” she mock threatened.
“Go on back to my room, I’ll be there in a minute,” Colton told Max, staring intently at Vida.
Colton waited until Max had left the room before questioning Vida.
“You sure you’re okay?” His eyes searched hers.
“I’m fine. It was only a matter of time before Seth found out. The semester is almost over and when Sawyer comes home, I’ll be leaving. So it’s really not a big deal.”
“Leaving? Where will you be going?” His sharp voice surprised Vida. Just minutes ago he had been trying to get rid of her.
“I want to travel. Just get in a car and drive until I come to a place I want to stay,” Vida answered.
“It’s not safe for a woman to travel by herself.” Vida stared at the big, bad, tatted man staring down at her. Wherever she went was safer than Queen City, Texas.
“I won’t be by myself, Sawyer will be with me,” Vida countered his argument.
“I hope everything works out, Vida, I really do,” Colton said doubtfully.
Vida replied with resolve in her voice. “It will.”
Colton turned, but Vida saw the pity in his expression. She knew he thought that King wouldn’t get Sawyer back, however Vida had put all her faith in him. He had promised Vida when her mother died that if she ever needed anything, she only had to ask. She never expected to need King, but with Sawyer’s disappearance, she had no choice. He had agreed to help her, and Vida knew it was because of her mother, yet a look had momentarily crossed his ruthless face when she had told him of Sawyer’s disappearance.
It had been fear.
They grabbed a bite to eat on the way home, neither saying much. Vida wanted to maintain a distance between her and Colton; a distance she felt slipping away. Colton seemed to feel the same way, with his familiar cold expression in place; he didn’t attempt any conversation to fill the uneasy silence between them.
When they arrived back at the apartment, Vida went into the bathroom to get ready for that night’s performance. She shaved her legs, made sure her bikini area was cleanly shaven and then rubbed an erotic smelling cream onto her skin, giving her skin a golden sheen.
She curled and fluffed her hair, making sure she used extra hairspray so that the bike helmet didn’t do too much damage. Dressing in sweatpants and her college jersey, she put her make-up and brushes into her backpack. Finally finished, she went back out into the apartment to find that Colton was still in his room.
A knock on the door had her going toward it, looking through the peephole she saw Henry. She opened the door and stepped back to let him inside the apartment.
“You ready?” he asked.
“You’re taking me tonight?” Vida asked, surprised. Colton hadn’t mentioned that he wasn’t taking her as he usually did after they ate dinner.
“Colton called King and asked if I could give you a ride tonight,” Henry replied.
“Oh.” Vida tried not to feel hurt, but did, not knowing why. “I’m ready. Let me grab my bag.”
Henry waited patiently by the door as Vida picked up her backpack from the table. Unable to stop herself, her eyes slid to the closed bedroom door. Turning back to Henry, she closed and locked the door behind them. The ride in the back of King’s car seemed confining after becoming used to traveling on the back of Colton’s bike.
Henry opened the door for her when they arrived. “You’re quiet tonight, Vida. Anything wrong?”
Vida shook her head. “Nothing, just wish this was all over.” Henry looked back at her in sympathy, although he didn’t say anything as he escorted her inside. His loyalty to King was without question. In the dressing room, Vida changed into her black, sheer outfit, her tiny black bra exposed under the sheer material. She liked this three piece set better than the red. The three piece set gave her less time to spend naked.
When she was ready, she went to the curtain to wait her queue. As the music began, Vida swallowed hard and stepped forward.
Chapter Seven
Vida unlocked the apartment door, turning to wave back at Henry that everything was okay before going inside. Flipping on the light switch, she turned and locked the door. Dropping her backpack onto the chair, she went into the small kitchen to get a cold bottle of water before she took a quick shower to wash away the filth from the club she still felt clinging to her.
She refilled the bottle with water from the sink and was putting it back into the refrigerator to get cold when she heard the bedroom door open and footsteps coming down the hallway. Vida kept her face expressionless as the waitress from the Waffle House came into the room looking disheveled and stinking from sex. Colton walking behind her paused as they both became aware that they were no longer alone. The waitress, now in jeans and a pink top, was obviously on her way out. Colton, wearing only jeans that he had zipped but hadn’t buttoned, was shirtless, exposing his chest covered in a variety of tattoos.
“I didn’t know you lived with her.” The waitress looked accusingly at Colton.
“He doesn’t, I’m just a temporary roommate,” Vida explained quickly. The woman looked like she was about to throw a hissy fit. She was all about letting Colton handle it, but Vida was tired and didn’t want to listen to yet another woman take another sarcastic remark from Colton, which she could tell from the steely look on his face he was about to give her.
“Oh, then I guess that’s all right.” Suspiciously she glared at Vida, who decided the best thing to do was to ignore them both. Getting her nightclothes, she went into the bathroom, unable to hear the words exchanged between the two of them.
Vida wished just one time she could have an uneventful night without any of Colton’s fuck buddies coming and going. She was beginning to think the room at King’s wasn’t all that bad.
Coming out of the bathroom after she was dressed in her flannel pajamas and her hair brushed backed into a tight braid, she saw Colton leaning against the counter in the kitchen.
Ignoring him, she plucked her sheets and blankets from the closet and started making up the couch.
“I didn’t need you to butt in and explain anything to Tammy. It was none of her business.”
Vida shrugged. “Sorry, next time I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Finished, she laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over her. “Could you turn off the light?”
Colton stood tautly for several seconds before walking to the light switch and turning it off.
Vida heard his footsteps leave the room and then turned on her side to make herself more comfortable. Trampling down the unexpected jealousy, it took several minutes to calm her nerves before she relaxed enough to fall asleep.
>
Vida woke the next morning, determined to finish the last of her course assignments. She set her computer up at the table and began her work only to stop long enough to fix herself a cup of coffee. She was so engrossed in her work, she wasn’t aware of Colton coming into the room. It was only when he sat down at the table across from her that she was drawn away from studying her book.
“When do your classes end?”
“This week,” Vida answered his question, watching as he took a drink of his coffee.
“After your class is over, I want you to leave town, find someplace to hole up. I’ll help King find Sawyer and bring her to you when I can.”
“Why would you become involved?”
“I’m already involved. It’s only a matter of time before Digger finds out you’re staying here. It will actually be easier for both of us if you leave town. It will draw Digger’s attention away from you.”
Disappointment filled Vida; she hadn’t thought that Colton would be worried about Digger coming after him. He was right, Digger knew everything going on in town, and he probably already knew that she was no longer staying at the club.
“You’re right, I didn’t think about your safety. We don’t have to wait until my class is over, I can—”
Colton set his cup down hard, spilling the remaining coffee over the side. “I’m not worried about Digger coming after me, but if he’s as smart as I know he is, the son of a bitch will know your classes are almost over. If you went missing, it would make all the papers, the headlines alone of a young college girl’s disappearance is the only thing holding him back. Once your classes are over, he can make you disappear and everyone will just think that you moved on. Exactly what you said you were going to do last night.”
Vida’s mouth snapped closed. What he was saying was the truth. She had even told a couple of her friends at school her plans.
“I can’t leave without Sawyer. We made a promise when we were kids that we would both leave town together. I can’t break my promise.”