“I meant the tattoo.”
Colton closed his mouth. “Let me rub some more lotion on it before we go. It looks good on you. I do good work.”
“Yes, you do,” Vida complimented.
Colton rubbed the lotion on the still tender skin. His knuckles brushed the tops of her breasts before stepping back.
“We better go, or we’re going to be really late.” His tight jaw left no doubt what activity would delay them.
They stopped for breakfast at a waffle house on the way to the shop. Colton chose a different one than the one Tammy worked at, which was close to the apartment. Vida didn’t question his choice, merely giving him an amused grin.
Enjoying herself, Vida found herself relaxing even more in his company as he told her stories about when he first joined the Predators and their exploits to embarrass the new recruit.
She laughed until she was almost crying when he described standing watch over a dumpster that the brothers told him had a money drop in it until someone came to retrieve it. When the brothers came back to pick him up and he told them no one had showed, he had to jump in the dumpster to retrieve the drop bag. It hadn’t been easy to find and was outside in an alley that had several restaurants. He had described how he had almost vomited several times, only the humiliation he would suffer if he had, had him choking it down. When he had finally found the bag, they had told him to open it. Inside the bag, he told her, they had placed his cut. They had made him a member, and he had passed his final test. Of course they had made him walk back to the clubhouse, as no one wanted to ride double with him.
“I can see why you miss that life,” Vida teased. “Gives you an excuse to go dumpster diving.”
“When we have time, I’ll tell you some stories of what I used to pull on the recruits,” he bragged.
“Worse than dumpster diving?”
“Much worse,” he confirmed.
Vida climbed on the back of his bike, laughing at his dire voice.
The ride to the shop didn’t take long, both of them walking into the shop with smiles on their faces. Tessa stood behind the counter with the appointment book in her hands, eyes narrowed on them in suspicion.
Vida ignored her, letting Colton deal with the temper she could see brewing. She was not able to prevent herself from feeling guilty when she remembered she was his wife, however close to a divorce they were.
“I was wondering when you were going to show,” Tessa said snidely.
Colton gave her a sharp look; Vida could tell he wasn’t happy with her sharp tone of voice.
“I’m not late. In fact, my first client isn’t scheduled for another thirty minutes.”
Forestalled in her effort to find something to rip into him for, her eyes fell onto Vida’s tattoo. “When did you get that tattoo?” Her eyes bore into it.
“Colton did it last night after the shop closed.” Vida tensed, seeing from Tessa’s face going pale that something was wrong. Her eyes turned to Colton, shocked to see apprehension instead of the anger she expected.
“You gave her your symbol, but never tatted one on me, even though you gave me three fucking tattoos.”
Colton didn’t reply.
“I don’t understand. What symbol?” Vida stared back and forth between the two.
Tessa swung back to Vida. “Are you fucking blind?” Tessa pointed to the butterfly. “He’s fucking telling everyone that you’re his.” Vida looked down at her tattoo, not seeing anything other than the butterfly.
“She can’t see it. Even if she looked in a mirror the lines would be reversed,” Colton explained.
Vida began to get angry. “What did you do?” Her voice had sunk to a whisper.
Tessa’s hand pointed to the pictures that hung around the lobby. “Look how he signs his pictures.”
Vida got up from the desk and took a closer look at the pictures hanging on the wall. Each one was signed with a symbol, which blended the initials of his first and last name together.
“Why would you do that?” Vida questioned him angrily.
“Wanted to make sure that everyone knew you were mine. Anyone that knows tattoos will easily see that those are my initials.”
“You might as well have his name tatted on your shoulder.” Tessa swung back to Colton. “How many times did I ask to put your name on me? You told me no.” Tessa’s hand reached out and snatched up the stapler, throwing it at Colton who didn’t move out of the way, but caught it in his hand.
“Do you really want to go into this in front of Vida?” Colton never lost his cool, even when Tessa threw the stapler at him. Vida was surprised; she had thought that Colton would be the type of man who would react physically when challenged like Tessa had by being the first one to try to get physical.
“I don’t give a fuck what she hears,” Tessa screamed at him.
“I tatted your name on me several time’s, I told you I would be faithful, be committed to our marriage. You were committed to one thing; the snow you shoveled up your nose. You know why I didn’t put my name on you? You thought I would forgive and forget. I can’t forgive you for what you did. You lied to me straight out about how much you were using, then I caught you stealing from the shop. And when I thought you were doing better controlling your habit, you were selling your pussy for Digger to keep you in your habit. Everyone in this town knew except me that you were fucking around on me. Then, the night I got busted by the cops, King told me everything, and every dirty little detail your life had become.” Colton’s words were painful for Vida to hear. She had been wrong to assume the failure of his marriage rested on his shoulders.
“Then why did you keep me out of prison?”
“Because you were carrying my kid, Tessa.”
Vida stiffened in her chair. Seeing the pain on Colton’s face, she knew that she didn’t want to hear anymore, but she was trapped, not wanting to draw attention to herself by getting up.
“King called me when he heard from his informant on the police force that the bust was going down. He told me everything that was going on behind my back. You had told Digger you were pregnant, but not me.” Colton paused before continuing in an emotionless voice.
“I wasn’t going to have my pregnant wife in prison delivering my baby. So I took the blame, and you got rehab.” Tessa had taken a step back as if struck when Colton had mentioned the baby.
“Colton, I was going to tell you,” Tessa tried to explain, but Vida could tell it was too little too late.
“When were you going to tell me, Tessa? You never mentioned in all this time that you were pregnant. If one of King’s women hadn’t overheard you telling Digger, I would have never known. When I went in prison, a couple of the brothers kept an eye on you for me, that’s how I found out you aborted my baby.”
“Colton, I was doing so much coke. I was messed up. I figured I had damaged the baby so bad that—”
“Shut up, Tessa, or so help me God, I’ll hurt you.”
Tessa shut up. Vida heard Colton take a deep breath, trying to regain control.
“So, no, I didn’t want my name inked on you to remind me every fucking day how stupid I was to marry you in the first place. I called you every month while I was in prison, serving your time, to get the divorce. When you didn’t, I handled it, but you wouldn’t even show me the respect to sign your fucking name to the papers.”
Colton nodded his head towards Vida. “She doesn’t think I can be a faithful because I fucked so many women when I got out of prison and was still married to you, when the truth of the matter is, our marriage ended the first time you spread your legs for a dime bag of coke.” Vida saw Tessa swipe away the tears on her face.
“Now, can we get to work before the clients start coming in and someone else hears my private shit?”
Reverend and Carlito came in the door, both coming to a stop when they saw everyone look their way.
“What’s up?” Reverend said into the tension-filled silence of the room.
Colton and Tessa remained silent.
Vida spoke up, trying to get the day back on track. Opening the schedule book, she read off everyone’s first appointment. “Carlito, you’re first up for walk-ins.”
“Cool, they end up being more fun.” Carlito was a good-looking man of Mexican descent who didn’t let anything faze him. Vida had talked to him several times when he was between customers. He would sit at the desk beside her, playing on her computer.
The clients began arriving, so the artists and clients moved off to their respective rooms. Thankfully, after the rocky start, the shop was busy keeping everyone occupied. Tessa remained quiet when she would venture into the lobby to greet her customers, not even looking at Vida who felt uncomfortable after hearing the details of Colton’s and her marriage.
Vida didn’t know how she felt. She was angry that Colton had tattooed his symbol into her butterfly, but at the same time, she felt a sense of belonging that she hadn’t experienced since her mother’s death. She refused to dwell on it until she was able to talk to Colton about it tonight. She had been scheduled to perform at the Strip club for the last time, but Colton had called and cancelled for Vida after Digger had promised to return Sawyer. King hadn’t protested, relieved that his part in retrieving Sawyer was no longer necessary.