Page 19 of Retribution
CHAPTER NINE
Dakota
“What’re you goingto do while you’re in town?” Dakota tried another angle, unwilling to give up that easily. “Do you have a schedule I should know about in case you’re not in the room, so I don’t worry too much?”
Cobra scoffed and pushed away his plate, half his food still on it. “It’s been a long time since anyone tried to keep tabs on me. You’re not being very subtle about it.”
“Who says I’m trying to be subtle at all. Can we cut the back and forth and actually have a conversation?”
“Fine, why the move to Philipsburg, sweetheart?”
He turned the tables and she blinked, mouth opened in a wideO. That was a valid question—she couldn’t deny it. Dakota took a long sip from her water glass and dabbed her lips with a napkin as she eyed him over the table. Obviously, she didn’t know him well enough to trust him too much but there had to be some kind of give somewhere while navigating each other and living in close quarters together. She didn’t have to give Cobra her entire back story, but maybe just a little of it.
Dakota swallowed past the tightness in her throat and pulled her hair back draping it over her other shoulder with a small sigh. Where to even begin?
“I didn’t have a great experience at my old job, and I needed a new start. Not much was happening in the city, and … uh … people thought they could do things that were less than appropriate.” She took another gulp of water.
“Because you were a female,” Cobra spoke slowly, almost a question without it being a question.
“Yeah, something like that. I had to get out of there. I needed a fresh start.”
Cobra grunted and stirred a spoon through his oatmeal.
“Anyone ever tell you, you eat like an old man?”
Cobra cocked his head to the side. “Healthy isn’t old, sweetheart. And the way you keep sneaking glances at me like you want to eat me whole? I can’t be too old, right?”
Dakota nearly choked on her bite of food and lurched in her seat. Sonofabitch, he’d noticed, though she guessed she hadn’t been as subtle as she should have been or tried to be—and she wanted to smack her forehead against the countertop. She’d been behaving like a fifteen-year-old with a crush. Dakota’s attention went everywhere but on him as her mind churned with possible reactions and smartass comments. Instead, Dakota shoved piles of food in her mouth so she could keep herself occupied before she said something else stupid as hell.
“What? Cat got your tongue? Not so rough and sarcastic now, huh?” Cobra leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, although his face didn’t twitch an expression. He was so damn hard to read. “Don’t get so bent outta shape—I’ve done my share of looking too.” He winked at her.
Dakota wasn’t one to blush but, all of a sudden, a rush of heat flashed through her, and she grabbed her water glass and ran it all over her face. Cobra’s smile was infuriating and she had to hold herself back from throwing the water at him. She hated that he knew what he said bothered her, and she hated it even more that itdidcause a reaction inside her.
“Okay, I’ll tell you something. It’s only fair. There was a time I never played fair, but not so much now.”
“Interesting.” Perspiration beaded under her hairline.
Silence and the slow chatter of the rest of the customers in the diner stretched between them while she watched Cobra linger over his breakfast, waiting for him to talk.
He looked up. “I was an enforcer in the MC way back when. The reputation I had still follows me. Anyway, after a stint in prison, I didn’t want to go back to doing that, and I didn’t wanna land back in the fuckin’ pen. I needed some time to myself to get my head screwed on right, so I became a nomad.”
“Very. Interesting.”
“Is it?” Cobra’s eyes didn’t waver from hers.
“Of course. So what did you do as an … enforcer?” Goosebumps swept up her arms and legs just uttering the word. It seemed dangerous, vicious, and ruthless.
“I can protect you, no problem. Leave it at that.”
“I don’t need your protection, Cobra.”
He scoffed and sat back in the booth with a knowing look that Dakota wanted to wipe right off his smug face.
“I’ve survived this long. It’s really not that funny.”
“You’re way too stubborn for someone I just saved less than forty-eight hours ago, sweetheart. You may notneedme to save you, but it works a lot better when I do.”
A matter of fact statement. She balled her fingers into fists as she digested his words and tried her best not to explode at him in public, especially when what he said was actually true.
