Captured (Vice, Virtue & Video Book 2)

by Bianca Giovanni

  Chapter 25

  Lola

  JAMES AND I ARE MAKING OUT on the couch in the living room when my cell phone rings. It’s on the floor in the pocket of my discarded jeans, and I fish around for it, barely managing to answer before it goes to voice mail. It’s Stacey, and she sounds…elated?

  “Lola! It’s so exciting!”

  “What’s going on, girl?” I say, curious to see what brought about her joyful mood. I’ve never seen Stacey happy. Most of the time a smile is a strain, but now she’s all bubbly and excited. This has to be something major.

  “They arrested her,” she gleefully reports. “They arrested Mistress today.”

  I gasp, and James stares at me trying to figure out who I’m talking to. “Get out! They seriously arrested her?”

  James catches on, and his jaw drops in surprise.

  “They came and got her today when we were in the playroom. She had me handcuffed to the big table and she was whipping me, but then the police came in and put her in handcuffs.” She laughs.

  Laughing. Stacey is laughing, and it’s a rare and precious sound.

  “That had to be a pretty funny twist of fate,” I say, chuckling.

  “She got to see how it feels to be locked up and forced to obey,” she says with a cute smugness that warms my heart.

  “Are they going to let her get out on bail or does it sound like this is pretty serious?”

  “No, they were very serious. I guess some other people came forward. I’m pretty sure they got a few of her enforcers, too, so it sounds like they’re taking down the whole operation. I think they know about everything. There were other girls like me before, and some of them aren’t around anymore,” she says cryptically, “so they have lots of information to put her away for a long time.”

  “Oh, Stacey! I’m so happy for you! You’re free, babe. The Wicked Witch is dead!”

  She laughs again, and I love this cheery new tone in her voice. Not only is she happy, but this also means Eva is out of the picture. Talk about two birds with one stone!

  “Well, I just wanted to tell you about it,” she bashfully concludes. She’s still a little ashamed by happiness, but she’ll get over it soon now that Eva won’t be looming over her.

  “I’m so glad you did, Stace. That’s great news. We’ll have to celebrate when I get back.”

  “You are coming back, then? Good!”

  “Yeah, I’m leaving with James tomorrow morning.”

  “So you two made up then?” she says and giggles. I catch her drift, and I think it’s adorable.

  “Hell yeah, baby! We made up all night long.”

  James laughs loudly, winking at me before he bites his bottom lip seductively.

  Stacey cracks up, and I wish I could record it and play it back for her so she can hear how much better she sounds when she’s happy.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to ‘make up’ some more,” she says. “I’ll see you soon then, Lola?”

  “Very soon, Stace.”

  “Lola, um, thanks…you know, for everything.”

  “No, thank you. You saved all of us from that horrible bitch, Stacey, and you should be really proud of yourself.”

  “I think…maybe…I think I am.” Pride seems to be a foreign emotion to her, and I get the sense that she’s trying to wrap her head around not feeling worthless for the first time in her life.

  “You deserve every bit of goodness that comes to you. We’ll do something fun to celebrate the Liberation of Stacey Harris as soon as I get back.”

  “That sounds nice,” she says and I can tell she’s smiling. “Well, I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Bye, Stacey,” I say warmly before hanging up the phone.

  James stares at me, his mouth hanging open with surprise.

  “Well, so much for Eva Satana,” I say, beaming.

  “She got arrested?” He’s staring in amazement.

  “Yep. Child pornography and apparently some other major shit. Stacey said something about girls like her that ‘aren’t around anymore’ so I’m assuming some horrific, gruesome murders or human trafficking or something.”

  “I wouldn’t put either of those things past Eva.”

  “And that means no more contract.” I smile, crawling over him as he reclines back on the couch. “You’re free from Eva.”

  “You masterminded this whole thing.” He grins in admiration. “You pulled some CIA shit and brought her down from the inside.”

  “Because I think with this—” I tap my head “—and not this.” I seductively grab his crotch.

  He chuckles, but there’s lust in his eyes. It looks like we’re going to celebrate this victory his way.

  That night, we don’t do anything too hot and heavy, but we kiss a lot. He settles on top of me and places tender, sweet kisses all over my face and neck. It feels so intimate, and I love sharing this kind of connection with him.

  “I’ve loved you my whole life, and I can’t believe it took me this long to realize it.”

  I snicker and kiss him. “Well, I pride myself on being in touch with my emotions and everything, but I didn’t know it either. In hindsight, I should have known. I used to love the way you’d always touch me or tickle me. I remember sleeping at your house when we were really little and how you wanted to sleep on the air mattress on the floor but I made you sleep in your bed with me because I secretly wanted to cuddle with you. I think I always had a little crush on you, but I didn’t know how to process it.”

  “Same here.”

  He looks in my eyes and then gives me a beautiful, tender, sweet kiss. I don’t think there’s anything more enjoyable than kissing this man—well, almost anything.

  That night, I learn that James has exceptional skills for pleasing a woman without any penetration. He also learns that I’m not too bad either when it comes to sex alternatives. Just like last night, we’re both exhausted by the time we turn off the lights, and I drift peacefully to sleep in the arms of my boyfriend—my official boyfriend.

  I have three bags of clothes and my Prius is parked out front, since I didn’t think I’d be returning to California. James loads my stuff up in his old, beat-up Honda Civic, and I promise myself I’ll make another trip to retrieve my car in the near future. I want to drive back with him because I know that we’ve lived in a sex bubble for the past few days and we still have a lot we need to talk about.

  James gives me a little kiss, and we set out toward the interstate. As I watch the houses in the neighborhood slowly turn into strip malls and big box stores, I feel a pang of apprehension. James is quitting his job and I’ve already quit mine. We don’t have Eva on our backs, but we’re both still going to have to work somewhere. I know he has savings, but how will we live if he doesn’t keep doing movies? He asked me to move in with him and I accepted, but will I resent him every time I go in that bedroom where he so thoughtlessly recorded me? And what about Stacey and the way he was so brutal with her? Can I let that slide, pretend it never happened and not feel a little weird that the man who’s been so loving and gentle with me has the capability to be so callous and cruel to a weak, fragile person like her?

  We have to face reality now, and I’m scared that all this is an impractical fantasy that will never actually work in the real world. I don’t know that James can function in some sort of regular, boring, vanilla relationship, and I don’t know that I can function as a nervous, self-conscious, suspicious girlfriend. It’s going to be difficult to reconcile my foreboding predictions and an optimistic outlook.

  “James, I think we should talk about what’s going to happen when we get back,” I say with concern.

  “I’m gonna be with you,” he replies plainly, like the answer’s simple.

  “But what about your job? Eventually you’re going to have to be in movies again and that’s going to kill me. We’ll both need to work, otherwise how are we going to live? We have to take a real look at this.”

  “Lola, it’s going to be me and you, and th
at’s all I care about.”

  He reaches out to take my hand and I sigh, but give him a smile. He brings my hand up to his lips and kisses my knuckles. I’m determined to snuff out my nagging fears and enjoy things. Right now, I need to let go and just live in the moment. I’m in love with a really great guy, and that’s all I need to think about. I may have no fucking clue what the future has in store for us, but he’s right: the two of us will be together. That’s the only thing that counts.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone at Omnific for helping me make this crazy dream a reality. Thank you to my friends and family for patiently letting me spiral into Vice, Virtue & Video madness, and for providing me with a few much-needed distractions. Thank you to all the people who inspired me—including my sexy muse, Jason Momoa. Most of all, thank you to Lindsey, Melissa, Holly, Thessa, Verona, Vikki, McKayla, Nikki, everyone in The Vice Squad, all the bloggers who have spread the word about the series, and to all my readers for your support.

  About the Author

  Bianca Giovanni was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. She grew up with a single mother and Italian grandmother, who was an avid reader. She is a graduate of The George Washington University where she focused on film theory. She has had a love of writing since childhood, but self-published her first short stories in 2012. Bianca’s strong female characters and witty dialogue have struck a chord with readers and lead to her popularity on self-publishing platforms. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where she can often be found jotting down story ideas in a notebook.

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