The Heart's Content

Chapter 46

Poor Vaggie, for the next hour or two, she couldn't bring herself to touch, speak to, or even look at Angel. She just sat six feet away from him on the beach with a seemingly permanent expression of horror on her face. She had soaked her foot in the ocean and scrubbed it til it was raw but she still felt so filthy. This was by far the most humiliating experience of her life. She still couldn't believe that she actually allowed Angel to urinate on her foot in order to ease the pain of a jellyfish string.

"You know it's actually not so bad." Angel called. "There are worse things  that could have pissed on your foot."

She gave him a death glare.

"Okay poor choice of words." He replied awkwardly.

"Stop talking about it!" She snapped. "As far as we're both concerned, it never happened! Understand?!"

"Understood." He nodded nervously.

Angel then looked down at Vaggie's foot, to see if the swelling was going down and it was however that foot was extremely blistered. Blistered and bleeding a little.

"Geez how bad was that sting?" He asked. "I know jellyfish stings can be nasty but I never thought that they could cut through skin. Or did you step on a broken shell or something?"

"What are you talking about?"

She looked down at her foot and noticed the blood.

"Oh, that." She sighed. "I didn't cut myself. The shock of the string just reopened an old wound."

Angel then noticed that Vaggie's other foot, while not bleeding, was just as equally blistered.

"What the hell did you do to your feet?"

"I'm a professional dancer." She said. "Of course I'm going to get blisters on my feet."

"Well I know blisters is normal for dancers but this, they look like they should be amputated."

"I believe me, If I had the know how, I would amputate my left foot right now."

"I'm sorry about that but you did ask me to do it. Still, I'll make it up to ya."

"No amount of fish tacos will help me recover from this."

"No, it's a dinner theatre thing they have around here."

"You mean a stripper bar?"

"No. It's where you sit down to a nice dinner and while you eat, they put on a live dinner show about famous legends of the sea or something like that."

"Sounds like something you can't afford."

"You're right I can't but my friend can."

"And what makes you think he'll pay?"

"He's been asking me to see a theatrical show with him for years, says I need some real entertainment in my life. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to pay for our entry."

"I don't think so."

"But he's a celebrity. Sort of. Just ask anyone at the Claire De Lune."

That's when Vaggie remembered the agreement that she had made with Valentino. Use Angel to get to his friend who was the source of Rosie's sudden popularity. The idea of doing something so despicable made her sick to her stomach but it was for her freedom and Husk's. She'd have to put aside her morals and discomfort for the greater good.

"You're sure he'll be there?" She asked him.

"Yeah he'll be there and he'll pay for everything. We'll maybe not everything but whatever he doesn't pay for, I'll be able to cover for it."