Teased (The VIP Room, #1) (3 page)

“
I have to go out for a couple of
hours. Lock the door behind me and don’t answer it for anyone. Have
you got a cell phone?”

Vida picked up her cell phone lying beside
the computer.

“
Let me have it.” She was becoming
aware Colton had issues with politeness.

Vida handed him her cell phone, watching as
he looked it over, then with a series of movements he handed it
back to her.

“
I programmed my number into it. Call
me immediately if there’s a problem.” His face was expressionless
as Vida nodded her head, not knowing what else to say. She was a
nervous wreck being in the same room with him.

She had, until lately, been with young men
her own age and had never considered herself shy, yet the last two
weeks working at the strip club where men thought she was readily
available for their amusement, had changed her. She had quickly
learned to become cautious around men.

Colton was different; she’d seen it in his
eyes. He had seen her naked and wasn’t interested. Feelings of
shame almost overwhelmed her, but she quickly squashed them and
reached for her pencil, making notes on her assignment page.

She felt him hesitate before leaving and
then the door closed softly behind him. Vida got up; making sure
the door was locked then went back to her homework while refusing
to allow her thoughts to wander to where Colton was going at this
time of night.

* * *

A knock sounded on the door just as Colton
was about to reach for Rae again.

“
You expecting someone?” Colton asked,
reaching for his pants instead.

“
No. Don’t get dressed. I’ll see who
it is and get rid of them,” Rae protested as she watched him cover
his taut ass with his jeans before zipping them closed.

“
Answer the door.” Colton didn’t stop
getting dressed, pulling his t-shirt over his head as Rae shrugged
on a bathrobe. He had just finished putting on his boots when she
returned.

“
He says he has a message from King.”
Rae had fear in her eyes. Colton got to his feet and went into
Rae’s living room where one of King’s men stood by the door
waiting. His impassive face watched as Rae leaned against him as if
seeking protection.

“
King wants a talk. He’s outside.”
Giving the message, he remained still, waiting for Colton’s
reply.

“
I’m on my way.” A sharp nod and the
man left, leaving the door open. Colton took the hint that King
meant now.

“
I have to go, Rae. It was good seeing
you again.” Colton pulled the woman he had known for several years
close, giving her a quick kiss before turning towards the
door.

“
You’re not coming back?” Colton could
hear the disappointment in her voice.

“
Not tonight. I’ll give you a
call.”

Without giving her a chance to reply, he
left, closing the door behind him. He would call, just not too
soon. He had no intention of giving her a reason to believe he
wanted anything except a fuck. He had finally got out of prison and
he was going to make damn sure that this time he remained
emotionally free from a woman. He wasn’t about to let another one
get a hold over him, ever again.

Taking his time, he spotted King’s ride in
the parking lot and walked toward the car. The back door opened as
he approached. Sliding in, he was met by an angry King glaring at
him through the hazy smoke of his lit cigarette.

“
Tell me why, when I gave you the job
of watching Vida, you’re here fucking? Leaving her alone is not
protecting her,” King said sarcastically.

“
Because I have been locked up for
three years and I needed to fuck before I lost my mind holed up
with her,” Colton replied just as sarcastically.

“
I offered one of the women before you
left,” King snapped.

“
I didn’t want paid-for pussy. I
wanted a woman who wanted a fuck, not someone who was only in it
because she works for you.”

King stiffened. “All the women who work for
me want to work. I don’t force any of them to do what they don’t
want.”

“
Did Vida want to take off her
clothes?” Colton returned his sarcasm.

King threw his cigarette out the window. “I
gave her the choice. She was smart enough to know it was actually
safer for her to blend in with the rest of the women.”

“
Doesn’t matter. I’m finished
here.”

“
Colton.” King’s voice stopped him
before he could get out of the car. “Anything happens to that girl
on your watch, I won’t be happy.” He left little doubt how unhappy
he would be, so Colton simply nodded, getting out of the
car.

* * *

Vida heard the keys in the door and
pretended to be asleep on the couch. He fumbled with the latch on
the door after closing it, his footsteps quiet as he crossed the
room. The sound of the door to his room opening and closing allowed
the tension to ease from her stiff body. Rolling to her side, Vida
closed her eyes, feeling safe for the first time in a long
time.

Chapter 3

The smell of frying bacon woke Colton. He
hadn’t smelled the delicious aroma for the last three years.
Stretching out in the comfortable bed, Colton felt a moment’s guilt
for taking the bed and making Vida sleep on the couch. The memory
of the short length of the couch squashed his remorse quickly,
though.

He momentarily thought about finding another
apartment that would give them more room, but King had promised the
girl wouldn’t be with him long. Rising from the bed, he walked
naked to the shower, anxious to get to the tattoo shop. He had
missed the shop more than he had any one person and he wanted to
get there early enough to check everything out before everyone
started arriving for the day.

Vida fixed herself a plate of food then sat
at the table, almost choking on the toast when Colton came out of
his room. The man seriously made her nervous.

“
Did you save any for me?” Colton
stared at the massive plate of food before her.

“
There’s plenty on the stove,” Vida
answered when her mouth was empty.

Colton fixed himself a plate and then sat at
the table across from her. Vida watched him eat from underneath her
lashes.

“
You don’t talk much, do
you?”

“
It’s hard to talk to someone you
don’t know very well,” Vida answered him as she fiddled with her
food. She felt herself turning red at his direct question. She
couldn’t understand how she’d managed to get on a stage and strip
naked when a simple question from him embarrassed her.

“
I’m going into the shop this morning
and, since I’m supposed to keep an eye on you, that means you’re
going, too,” Colton informed her.

“
I can’t,” Vida answered, looking up
from her plate. “I have class in an hour then a lab. I can come to
the shop afterward.”

“
That won’t work. I’m not babysitting
you while I have work to do.” Colton stared at Vida as her whole
countenance changed. She went from a shy, young woman to boldly
direct.

“
I don’t care. I only have two weeks
of classes left. If I miss any more classes, I’ll flunk. I graduate
this semester and I’m not going to flunk out.” Vida’s determined
voice left Colton no doubt he would have to make other
arrangements.

“
What did King do about your
classes?”

“
He sent Henry with me. He would wait
outside during my classes,” Vida answered his question.

“
I’m not blowing half my day sitting
on my ass.” Taking out his cell phone, he called King. Vida hoped
King had another option because she wasn’t missing
class.

Vida cleaned the dishes as she listened to
him argue with King until Colton ended the phone call abruptly.
“King is going to send Henry for you. He’ll stay with you until
you’re done then bring you to my shop.”

Vida smiled, relieved that she wouldn’t have
to miss class.

Colton’s eyes narrowed on the
attractive woman, reminding himself that she was much younger than
him and was also Goldie’s daughter.
This
situation isn’t going to last long,
Colton kept
reminding himself.

Vida turned back to the sink, finishing the
dishes as Colton continued to eat his breakfast. She had just
finished when she heard a knock at the door. Quickly, she dried her
hands and grabbed her backpack as Colton answered the door to
Henry.

“
Hi, Henry, how’s it shaking?” Vida
joked with the burly man.

Henry smiled and Vida returned it with a
smile of her own, both ignoring Colton as they turned to leave.

“
What time do you get finished? I have
some errands that need to be taken care of today and I don’t want
another visit from King for not keeping track of you.”

Henry answered for her. “I’ll feed her lunch
then drop her off at your shop around one.”

Colton nodded, watching as they disappeared
down the apartment staircase before getting his bike keys and
leaving the apartment. They had already left the parking lot by the
time he got there. As he climbed on his bike, he took a deep breath
of air. He didn’t think he would ever again take his freedom for
granted.

Throttling his bike, Colton put Vida and
King out of his mind as he headed to his shop.

* * *

As Vida came out of class, she saw Henry
leaning on the door of the expensive car.

“
Ready?” Henry asked.

“
Yes, I’m finished for the day.” He
held the car door open for her as she climbed inside the luxurious
car.

Vida sat quietly in the backseat as Henry
drove through the city. It wasn’t long before he pulled up in front
of a brightly painted tattoo shop with the name Green Dragon Tats.
The dragon claws looked like needles.

She sat, hesitating to get out of the car
until Henry opened the door. “Come on, Vida; it’ll be fine.”

Vida liked Henry. As King’s main bouncer, a
lot of the women threw themselves at him to get closer to King.
Henry found it amusing that Vida went the completely opposite route
of using him to avoid contact with King. Both Henry and Sherri had
become unexpected friends since she had begun stripping.

“
Can’t I just go back to the apartment
and wait there? I promise not to go anywhere.” Vida really didn’t
want to spend the rest of the day in Colton’s grumpy
presence.

“
You know King won’t be happy with
that, Vida.” Henry was her friend, but King’s orders would always
come first.

Vida sighed, getting out of the car. Henry
watched her go into the shop before pulling out.

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.”