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.