“I believe you. Luckily, I’m on the pill because I cramp so bad when I’m on my period.” Colton didn’t look happy at her news. “I thought you would be relieved there wouldn’t be a chance of me getting pregnant.” Colton shrugged, pulling on his jeans.
“I wouldn’t have been upset. I like kids.”
“I do, too.” Vida carried her clothes into the bathroom across the hall from Colton’s room. Cleaning herself, she then dressed before coming back into his room. She found him sitting on his stool, ready to start.
Vida sat down in the chair. “Give me your hand,” Colton demanded, holding out his own.
Vida placed her hand in his. He turned it over, wiping down the back of her wrist before he began outlining the tattoo. This time, Vida had a clear view of how he worked.
“Don’t you get tired of giving tattoos?” Vida asked curiously.
“No, it relaxes me. I enjoy doing it. Trying to come up with designs for people that I’ve just met is challenging.”
“What’s the worst tattoo you’ve ever given?”
Colton worked steadily. “Max. He kept bugging me to give him a big tattoo on his back. Wanted it to cover his whole back. I kept putting him off, but one night he finally wore me down and I tatted him.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, we both were drunk. I thought I had done quite a bit of work, but we both must have passed out. We woke up the next day and he came to my room to show me what I had tatted on him.”
“What was it?”
“A tramp stamp.”
“You didn’t.” Vida giggled.
“I did.” The man went fucking crazy on me. I barely managed to escape with my life. He wouldn’t even let me touch him to do the cover up. He got another artist to do it for him.”
“He seemed so easy going. I can’t imagine him that angry.”
“Baby, they call him Max. That’s his nickname,” Colton explained.
“It isn’t much of one. The nickname Max is kind of boring.”
“Think about it. Max, as in, “Mad Max”.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. He gave me a black eye that lasted a good month, not to mention he destroyed my room.”
“Wow.”
“Don’t piss him off,” Colton warned.
“I won’t.”
Colton worked steadily for an hour before he finished, wiping down her wrist with a clean cloth. He scooted his stool back to watch her reaction.
“What do you think?”
Vida looked down at the back of her wrist. Tears clogged her throat. Blue forget-me-nots. There were vines twined down, buried in the flowers. You could see three names; Sawyer, Callie and Colton.
He had given her his name twice now. Vida knew he was telling her how much she meant to him.
“I couldn’t think of one single thing more perfect than this night, Colton. Every time I look at this, I’ll remember everyone I love.”
Callie’s name and the flowers together had a trace of a memory stirring.
“What’s wrong?” Colton took her wrist, wrapping it carefully.
“I don’t know.” Vida frowned. “Last night, Briggs told me Sawyer had been taken because of our connection to King. Colton, other than my mother working for him, there is no connection. I don’t understand.”
She could tell it wasn’t the first time he had heard the same comment. “When I starting asking around, I found out the same thing, Vida. King had a protection order out on both you and Sawyer. After his sister, only someone determined to provoke King would have touched either of you.”
“I don’t understand.” Vida watched Colton clean his room.
“There has to be something we’re missing. Let’s go. It’s late, and you need some food and sleep.”
She nodded, automatically following him as they left.
On the ride home, Vida did nothing other than try to think about King, searching her mind and coming up blank.
Colton fixed their dinner while Vida showered.
She worried that something she had forgotten might hurt Sawyer’s safety. Vida washed her hair, wanting desperately for this whole mess to be over, but a deep, dark fear was growing inside of her, warning her it was just beginning.
Chapter 18
Vida woke the next morning to find Colton sound asleep. They had gone to bed after dinner. Vida had tried to make up the couch, however Colton had convinced her with several smoldering kisses that sharing his bed was the more pleasurable option.
Her sore body told her that she needed a hot shower. Quietly, not wanting to wake Colton, she went into the shower where the hot water soothed her aching muscles. Running the soapy sponge over her body, Vida jumped when the shower door opened unexpectedly.
“Colton, get out.” Vida tried to turn away.
Colton ignored her protests, coming into the shower to stand behind her.
“Son-of-a-bitch. That water is hot,” Colton grumbled.
“Then get out,” Vida ordered.
“Baby, I’ve seen and touched everything you have last night. Why so shy about taking a shower with me?”
“A shower is private.”
“There’s nothing private anymore. I am going to learn everything about you and you’re going to learn everything about me.”
“I don’t know if I want you to learn all my secrets.” Vida turned so the water could wash away the soap.
“Don’t get your tat wet,” Colton warned. His hand on her ass enforced his message.
Vida jumped, throwing him a dirty look. He grinned back, reaching out to take away the soapy sponge and running it over her body.
“I’ve already washed,” she protested.
“I think you missed a spot.” Colton’s hand went between her legs where the soft sponge brushed against her tender pussy. Vida was unable to prevent herself from spreading her legs wider when he rubbed harder against her clit. Reaching out, she braced a hand against his shoulder as she felt herself getting more excited from the friction he created. Looking downward, she saw his cock hard and slick.
“Colton...”
He shook his head. “You’re too sore.” Denying her made her want him more.
“Please, Colton. I need you.” She took his cock in her hand, stroking him slowly at first then building her speed until he had to brace a hand on the shower wall. Her hand fell away.
“Come here.” Colton’s restraint broke,
Pushing her up against the shower wall, he raised one of her legs to his hips. His cock pierced her with one hard thrust. The exquisite pain had Vida biting down on his shoulder.
“Motherfucker,” Colton hissed, shoving more of himself deep within her.
Vida went wild, fighting him for control, driving her hips against him as he thrust inside of her, searching for and finding the motion that brought her the most pleasure. She moaned as she finally managed to convince Colton to give her what she needed. He pounded inside her with a series of hard thrusts while her arms circled his shoulders and her head fell back against the shower wall.
“Harder, Colton. Fuck me harder.” Colton thrust higher, bringing her over the edge. Her rippling pussy gripped his cock, catching him unprepared for the climax he couldn’t hold back, forcing a hard groan from his own throat.
Afterwards, he washed her again and then carefully helped her trembling body out of the shower. Vida couldn’t quit shaking. Colton dried her off then lifted her into his arms, carrying her back to the bed. Lying down next to her, he pulled her into his arms.
“I understand now,” Vida whispered out loud.
“What?” Colton turned his head to look at her.
“My mother. I’ve been judging her like a kid.” Vida had been judgmental where her mother had been concerned, always looking at it from her own point-of-view and not her mothers. “She was searching for this, wasn’t she?”
“Yes, your mom was the most giving woman I had ever met until you. In that respect, you take after her. She was a wonderfu
l person. She wanted a man that she could love in her life. She just wasn’t lucky enough to find him.”
Vida stared up at the ceiling. Her life had been planned out, and she had been so sure of what she wanted. Since she had met Colton, though, she felt as if everything was changing. Pulling away, she got out of bed and got dressed. Ignoring Colton’s frown, she brushed her hair before braiding it back.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to wash some clothes, and I’m hungry. We need groceries.” Vida named several things they needed to get done on their day off.
“Okay. Food first then we will get busy with everything else.” Vida watched as he dressed, regretting that she had put an end to their fuckfest, yet she needed some time to figure out what she was doing.
They decided to have breakfast out, sharing a huge stack of pancakes and laughing at who had the bigger appetite. Afterwards, they went grocery shopping. Vida picked out several items that would be easy to prepare after working in the shop all day while Colton picked out items that could be microwaved and were tasteless. Those, Vida put back.
“Hey, I wanted those burritos,” Colton complained.
“No, you didn’t.” Vida pushed the grocery cart on, leaving him behind.
“I did.”
“Stuff like that won’t fill you up, it’ll make you fat.” Vida pushed the cart to the fresh fruit. Picking out a variety of apples and oranges, she put those in the cart.
Colton put several more items in the cart, most were rejected and put back by Vida.
“I’m getting my cereal,” Colton protested when she placed it back on the shelf.
“We don’t need it. We have oatmeal and the frozen pancakes that you wanted.”
“Vida, I’m not giving my cereal up.”
“Colton, you’ll...”
“And I won’t get fat because I plan to work off the calories fucking you.”
Vida closed her mouth and put the cereal back in the buggy.
They had walked to the nearby grocery store. Carrying the groceries back to the apartment, Vida smiled.
“What’s so funny?” Colton asked.
“I swore I wouldn’t end up like my mother, yet here I am, packing groceries back to an apartment three blocks away from where I grew up.”
“Fate’s a bitch.”
“Yes, she is.” Coming to an intersection, they stopped, waiting for the light to turn red so they could cross. The traffic halted as the light turned red. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a little boy on his bike on the sidewalk riding towards the road. His was trying to stop, however he was going too fast. He was going to run out in front of the traffic that had begun moving from the other direction now that their light was green.
Vida instinctively dropped her grocery bags and started running. Screaming when she realized she wasn’t going to reach the child in time. Colton ran past her, barely managing to reach the child before a car slammed on its brakes.
The child’s mother ran out of one the shops, crying frantically at the same time that she thanked Colton. He lifted the bike back on the sidewalk and handed the child to his mother, assuring her he was fine.
“Thank God,” Vida said when Colton came back to her side.
“Let’s get the groceries,” Colton said grimly.
Luckily, they hadn’t purchased anything that could have been broken.
Shakily, Vida walked the rest of the way home where Colton took the bags from her and then Vida sat down at the kitchen table while Colton grabbed her a bottled water from the fridge.
“You saved that child’s life,” she said shakily.
Colton shook his head. “I didn’t even see what was happening until you took off running. You saved him, I didn’t. That mother owes his life to you.” Vida, about to raise the bottled water to her lips, stopped. A memory that she had forgotten came to life, playing back in her mind.
“Vida?” Colton quit putting up the groceries, watching her as realization dawned on her face.
“I remember, Colton. I remember something about King.” Colton sat down next to her at the table.
“What did you remember?”
“When we were little, Sawyer, Callie and I were outside playing one day on the playground.” It hadn’t been a normal playground; it had a couple of slides and a merry-go-round that didn’t work. They would usually sit on it instead of the dirt to play with their dolls. That was, Sawyer and her would play with their dolls, Callie didn’t have any. The girls would share with her, but she never had one of her own.
“One day, Callie showed up with a brand new doll. She was so proud of it. Both Sawyer and I wanted to play with it. She was so sweet, Colton. That was the first toy I had ever seen her with, yet she shared it with us.
“We were having such a good time. I can’t believe I forgot this, Colton. I still see her playing with that doll.”
“You probably blocked it out because your memories of her are so painful.” Colton took her hand.
Vida held it tightly, continuing her story, “There was a gang of boys who were bugging us, especially Sawyer. She had Callie’s doll and one of the boys jerked it from her hand and threw it into the street. Callie took off running into the street. Sawyer and I ran after her, both of us reached her just before a car drove over the doll, crushing it. If we hadn’t reached her in time, she would have been killed. That car was going so fast…” Vida’s voice broke off.
“What does this have to do with King?”
“He came running from our apartment building like the mother did today with the same look on his face. He was terrified. He yelled at all three of us, saying we could have been killed.”
“Did he pay attention to any one of you in particular?”
“No, he just took us back to the playground and gave those boys hell. Scared them all into running home.”
“Is that all you remember?” Colton asked.
“I think so. I think he said something to Sawyer, but I don’t remember. I couldn’t hear him very well because Callie was crying so hard about losing her doll and I was holding her, but Sawyer heard because I saw her say something back. He left after that. But Colton, after that day, no one bugged us again. When those boys saw us again, they would always go inside.”
“Vida, what do you know about your father?”
“Not much, my mom got pregnant when she was fourteen, had me when she was fifteen. My dad was seventeen. They lived together until I was born then he went back to his family. She said he was killed in a car accident, driving an expensive car his parents had given him for leaving us.”
“Goldie told me the same thing. What do you know about Sawyer’s father?”
“Sawyer’s mother and father were married, he was killed when Sawyer was a baby. That’s why her mother was so overprotective. She hardly ever let Sawyer out of her sight. Do you think King could be her father and that her mother lied? That could be another reason for her over-protectiveness.”
“I don’t know. Did Callie ever talk about her father?”
At that, Vida rolled her eyes. “She didn’t even know what a daddy was until we explained it to her when she was four-years-old. But I can’t imagine King touching Callie’s mom, could you?”
Colton shook his head. “No, even I hated the bitch, what little I knew of her.”
“He couldn’t be Callie’s father. He wouldn’t have watched how Callie was treated and not step up, would he?”
“I don’t know. His sister’s death hit him hard,” Colton answered, running his hands through his hair. “If what we’re thinking is true, Digger may have found out that one of the three of you is King’s daughter.”
“I’ve seen pictures of my dad, Colton. I really don’t think King’s my father. I kind of look like my father, from the pictures I’ve seen.”
“Then it has to be either Sawyer or Callie. Callie is in the ground where no one can touch her anymore. If it’s Sawyer and Digger finds out, or already figured it out, you won’t be getting h
er back.”
Vida tried not to cry, but was unsuccessful. Her fear for Sawyer overcoming her desire to stay strong. Colton pulled her onto his lap. “I’ll call King. We’ll have to get him to tell us the truth. It won’t be easy, Vida.”
Vida nodded her head, trying to get her emotions under control. “You finish putting up the groceries while I call King.”
Colton was still on the phone when she finished putting away the remaining groceries so she started doing the laundry. She gathered some of Colton’s and her own clothes and started a load in the washer.
She returned to the living room to find Colton still talking into the phone. Vida could tell from his face it wasn’t good news. Disconnecting the call, Colton picked up his bike keys.
“What’s wrong?”
“King isn’t answering his phone. I called the club; he’s not in his room and no one as seen him since last night. Ice called and said we need to get over to the clubhouse,ed the oporunity of her movements to slid downut from underneath Colton having no intention of having sex with him but Colton now.”
“Sawyer?” Vida asked, frightened.
“He didn’t give me any info, just told us to hurry.”
Vida rushed to the door with Colton behind her. Colton didn’t drive recklessly, but he didn’t stick to the speed limit, either. She prayed the whole way there that they didn’t get pulled over. A parole violation was the last thing they needed right now.
Colton pulled in front of a large building on the outskirts of town with a large number of motorcycles out front and parked his bike at the back of the building. Taking Vida’s hand, they walked to the backdoor. Knocking, it took only a minute before a large woman with grayish, black hair answered the door. Her frown turned into a smile as she opened the door wider and jerked Colton forward into a hug.
Vida laughed when the woman tossed him aside and punched him on his arm.
“You pussy, just now coming to see us, and you been out a few weeks.”
“Gert, you know it’s better I stay away…”