Page 3 of Retribution
CHAPTER TWO
Dakota
Less than fifteenminutes later, Dakota regretted using her gut to define any of her life choices. Everything had started out fine, but it had quickly devolved into a frat party on wheels, and the two guys wouldn’t listen to a damn thing she said. Her only hope was that she’d make it in one piece to town, and then she’d be rid of the misogynistic assholes.
“Hey, babe, we’re taking you to our favorite bar to mix it up a little. You like shots?” “Golden retriever boy” looked at her from the passenger seat with another trademark wide grin. “What am I saying? I’m sure that a pretty girl like you loves to party. You would be kickass arm candy.”
By now, Dakota had deduced that the jerk’s smile wasn’t brought on by any warm personality traits. It seemed to be the result of whatever drugs were free flowing through his system, because his pupils were as big as dinner plates, and he was talking a mile a minute.
“You’re supermodel gorgeous. I’m sure you hear that all the time, don’t you, babe?” the driver chimed in as he hung a right at full speed. The squealing tires echoed through the car and he laughed. “Tucker’s going to shit a brick when he sees her at Duffy’s with us.”
There was little hope that the driver was in a more sober headspace. Neither of them had even given Dakota their names. Now it was only a matter of clinging to her sanity for the rest of the ride and hoping she had enough time to make a clean break for it before they tried to do anything stupid. Her internal alarms were already on blast, and she was ready to jet from the car as soon as the timing was right.
“You’re going to love Duffy’s,” golden retriever boy said.
“Mmm …” Dakota made a non-committal noise.
In the meantime, she perched on the edge of the seat and tried to be as polite as possible without making herself overly friendly. Since becoming a tattoo artist, she’d become a pro at innocent flirting and light conversation. A majority of her male customers at her old shop liked to think that she was free game just because she was a woman and she touched their bodies in a softer and more intimate way than her male counterparts.
Dakota swallowed past the knot in her throat, and her attention flew from watching Dumb and Dumber to staring out the window. The wheels in her mind whirred as she tried to figure out how to get out of the predicament she’d found herself in. More than once she’d cursed her bad decision of grabbing a ride with the clean-cut guys rather than the tough-looking biker. Licks of panic ran up her spine but she pushed them down, refusing to think about the past or what may happen with these two men. The last thing she needed was anxiety to cloud her mind.
“We’re here, everyone out!” the grinning golden retriever shouted, as if there were a pack of people in the car. “Man, today is our lucky fucking day,” he said, clasping his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
As Dakota reached for the handle, the door popped open by itself and both guys waited outside in front of the car.Just great! What a fabulous bunch of escorts.She gritted her teeth, slid out of the car, and plastered on a fake-ass smile.
“Is this in the center of town?” she asked while trying to get her bearings.
“It’s over that way.” The driver of the Daytona pointed in the opposite direction from Duffy’s. “You coming, gorgeous?”
He made the question irrelevant when his hand shifted to rest on her lower back, guiding her toward the metal front door of the bar. His crony took up a spot on the other side.
“So long as there’s free beer in the deal, I’m in.” She played along all the while measuring the seconds until she could stop playing stupid games and get the hell away from them. “Do they have anything low calorie?”
The men snickered and the driver’s hand pressed firmer against her. Dakota figured she might as well act like how they were treating her and then they wouldn’t be expecting her to bail. She had to be able to lose them sooner rather than later. One quick look around the dive bar they were currently strolling into made her think that she might actually be able to ditch these assholes. There were a lot of dark corners to hide in and then skitter out of when they weren’t looking. With a nervous twist to her stomach, she let them guide her toward the bar.
“Don’t worry, babe. We’ll hook you up. Wouldn’t want a delicate little thing like you to go thirsty.”
Dakota leaned against the scratched up wooden counter and cased the place for all the nearest exits while the boys ordered their drinks at the bar. Being midafternoon on a Wednesday, the place wasn’t too crowded, but there were more than a few stools filled at the bar by customers she supposed were the regulars. There was only one woman among them: she had wild gray hair, bright red lips with an unlit cigarette dangling between them, and sunken cheeks with deeply etched lines crisscrossing her pallid skin. The woman fixed her rheumy gaze on Dakota, occasionally dabbing at the corners of her eyes. Dakota resisted the urge to cringe and take a few steps backward.
“Here you go.” The driver shoved a plastic cup into her hand, spilling sticky liquid all up her wrist.
“Shit,” she muttered as she looked down into the red concoction. It had a cherry. No ice. She sniffed it and noted it was nothing a lightweight could stomach and certainly not before six at night.
Whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn’t a beer. And Dakota had no intention on touching anything she hadn’t watched the bartender pour. Her insides churned with fear, while on the outside she tried her best to play the cool hitchhiker, bubbly and moronic just like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum expected from her.
“Good, huh?” Golden retriever boy nudged her as he and the other asshole crowded and herded her away from the bar and toward a table off in one of the corners.
Dammit, they aren’t letting up.
“Yeah, it’s fruity.” Dakota faked a giggle before she put down the cup. “I need something with bubbles in it.” The truth was her stomach was sour as hell and she needed a ginger ale to try and calm it down a bit.
“I’ll get it for you,” the driver said.
Dakota shook her head and started walking to the bar, knowing full well they’d follow her. “I’m good.”
Sure enough, the two jerks were her shadow as she sidled up to the counter. The bartender gave her a quick once over.
“What would you like?”
