Page 9 of Retribution
CHAPTER FIVE
Dakota
Dakota stared athim for a minute then shook her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She swung her legs out onto the side of the bed and shot daggers at him.
“No, not like that—”
“Yeah, sure,” she grumbled, beyond sick of being a chew toy for men to salivate over like a piece of used-up property. “Save me to get in good, and then throw out the real payment for your help. So noble of you.”
“I didn’t fuckin’ mean it—”
“Oh, stop lying to yourself and own up to it. You’re a grown-ass man who wants to get laid after doing a good deed,” Dakota mouthed off, not letting him get a word in edgewise because she knew the name of the game, and she also knew none of his sex could be trusted in the slightest. She was an idiot for staying this long with him.
Another on a long list of mistakes that she would be paying for until she was dead and buried. A shiver coursed down her spine and she tried to blink back the heavy veil of tears that were clouding her vision.
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
She leapt to her feet and marched toward the door. No sooner had she moved less than a foot when his huge barrel chest blocked her vision.
“Get the hell out of my way!” Tears tracked down her cheeks and she swiped them away.
“Fuck, I’m an ass.”
“No argument here.” Dakota tried to sidestep as he put himself in her way again. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Go where?”
The words sank home for the first time since she’d left Idaho Falls. There hadn’t really been a plan in place, at least nothing concrete or executable. It had been a matter of moving—and moving fast. She had to get away fromhim.That was the only plan. It was a knee-jerk reaction built on fear, panic, and desperation. But now that she was here and so much had already happened in less than twenty-four hours, her lack of a plan suddenly seemed juvenile and naïve—a dumb course of action as she tried to get her life back on track.
“You got a game plan?” His question, asked without judgement, seared into her brain.
“What does that matter? You think your idea is the way to go? I shack up here with you and you take care of me in some kind ofsugar daddysituation?” Unable to stand still while he remained blocking the only exit in the room, she started pacing back and forth. “I won’t sell myself for a bed or give myself away like some stupid trophy. I don’t know what you’re used to in your MC with all those biker bitches throwing themselves at you, but that’s not how I operate, okay?”
“Fine with me, but if you’d shut the fuck up and listen to me for a second, you’d find out that wasn’t what I meant at all.”
Dakota stopped in the middle of the room, mad at the way his low, gruff timbre made a fine layer of goosebumps slip over her skin. She chewed the inside of her cheek, unable to meet his eyes.
“Okay, then talk.”
There was nothing but silence between them for what seemed like an eternity, and she wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
“First off, you shouldn’t be going anywhere when neither of us has a clue of the possible long-term side effects of the drug in your system. Second, you got nowhere to go—no home base, and I don’t relish the idea of thinking about you on the streets getting harassed again or going hungry or some shit—”
“I’m not your responsibility—”
“Listen up, short stuff.”
Dakota clamped her mouth shut even as a retort bubbled up to the surface of her mind.
“You’re feisty and I can appreciate that, but you asked me to make my case, and now you’re shitting all over it before I can finish, does that seem fair?”
“No,” she replied weakly with a sigh.
“Okay, so knock it the fuck off. I wouldn’t be going to all this damn trouble if I just wanted easy tail. I can get that anytime, anywhere.”
Yeah … I believe that.She glanced at his tight gray T-shirt and rock-hard biceps then looked away. There wasn’t any woman on this earth who would say no to a man who looked as fine as he did—except for me, right now. Ugh … my life’s such a damn mess.
“I’m sorry.”
