“What the fuck did I tell you about touching her, asshole? That’s not what she’s here for right now, goddammit! Get the fuck upstairs.” A heavy set, older man in a basketball jersey and sweats ambled into her line of sight and rubbed a hand over his thinning hair. “Shit! You hit her? What the fuck’s wrong with you? I told you I need her intact to lure that fuckin’ biker. Cobra’s gonna see right away she’s been smacked. Asshole!” The man punched Sean in the side of his head and he toppled over.
“She was mouthing off and trying to escape, Big Pat,” the punk whined.
Big Pat looked over at Dakota’s kidnapper. “Is that true, Chewy?”
The tall guy shook his headnothen glanced back down at the phone in his hands.
Another punch to Sean’s head, and Dakota couldn’t help but smile inwardly.
Before the clean-cut asshole could say anything, Big Pat yanked him back by the collar and shoved him forward so that the punk lay sprawling on the concrete floor.
“I oughta shoot your ass. It’s because of you and you fuckin’ friend’s bullshit that I have the Steel Devils on my ass in the first place. You’re fuckin’ dispensable, so you better do as I say or I’ll make sure you just disappear. Now get the fuck upstairs!” Spittle flew out from the older man’s mouth.
“What the fuck, Big Pat? Without me and my friends, you wouldn’t even have a damn operation, and now you’re acting all fuckingGodfatheron me? Give me a damn break. I was just playing around with the goods, wasn’t nothing going to come of it.”
“Bull fucking shit,” Big Pat gritted and took a step toward Sean. The younger man scooted away and put up an arm as if to ward off a blow. “You’ve been a pain in my ass from the start, and you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
Dakota watched, her eyes glued to the scene playing out before her eyes. Big Pat cracked his knuckles, tilted his head to one side, and reached in the back of his sweatpants and pulled out a big ass hand gun.Oh shit, he isn’t—
The shot rang out before Sean had any time to beg or say much of anything. Dakota saw the bullet hit him in the forehead and a spray of blood and brains burst from the back of his skull as his body landed with a thud on the floor.
A wave of nausea assaulted Dakota as thoughts kept stopping and starting. Her pulse pounded against her temples and she trembled over every inch of her body. Everything kept fading in and out as shock permeated her brain, but one realization broke through the clearing: she was a witness. There was no way Big Pat would allow her to ever testify against him. He’s an idiot and she was a dead—
“You alive over there? You sound like you’re hyperventilating.” Big Pat gently kicked her leg and crouched down to eye level. “I need you to get your boyfriend on the phone and arrange a meeting.”
Dakota swallowed and made a primal noise that was half-whimper, half-snarl.
Big Pat ran one ragged fingernail down the side of her face, scratching her. “Yep, that’s just what you’re gonna do if you want me to treat you good. And you do want that because I can be a mean SOB.” He looked over at her attacker, who was still fussing with his phone. “Right, Chewy? This bitch better stay on my good side.”
Chewy glanced up and his gaze skimmed over Dakota and he nodded. “Yeah, boss.” He hung his head back down and stared at the phone.
Big Pat chuckled, but it wasn’t jovial or lighthearted, it was downright sinister. “You’re gonna get Cobra to come for you because he’s the reason I’m in this fuckin’ mess. I should addyou’rethe reason all this shit started. You told him about the date rape drug, and he went snooping around, and now everything’s a fuckin’ mess. But it’s not gonna be for long.” The drug lord stood up, his hand still clutching the gun as he mock pointed it at the far side of the room and then checked the chamber. “You’ll get him to meet you, and then we’ll have everything nice and taken care of after our little chat.”
“And if I don’t?” Dakota asked through her teeth, her voice trembling as she fought to get out the defiant words. “You’re going to kill me anyway, aren’t you?”
Big Pat chuckled so his midsection jiggled, and he knelt back down, jamming the cold muzzle against her temple. Her whole body froze with a rush of dread. “Maybe … maybe not.” His gaze brushed over her, lingering on her hips then her breasts. “There might be some hope for you … if I’m feeling generous. But the fastest way you can end up either dead or on the sex slave auction block is by fighting me. Choice is yours.”
“I hear you,” Dakota said in a soft voice. “How’s Jake involved in all this?”
“He’s my bitch. Jake’s been on my payroll since he started working at the motel. He feeds me information and I give him what he needs to feel real good. He also does well enough that he can afford more trips to the strip bar and to his whores. Until recently, I’d been using the motel as a drop location, did some sweet deals there. But shit has been a little shadier since the Steel Devils got wind—thanks to your boyfriend, so I’ve had to keep my work on the down low. Which, let’s be fuckin’ honest, is a hassle and a half, don’t you agree?” Big Pat pressed the gun even further into her temple with an appreciative noise, as if he was getting off on the mental picture. “Now, I’m going to give you until the count of three to make your choice on whether or not you’re helping me out. I’m actually doing you a favor, baby girl. Cobra is one of the most vicious members of the MC, and if he tells you anything different, he’s a lying sonofabitch who’s trying to paint his truth to look a little more pussy friendly. He’s a fuckin’ hypocrite, and you can do so much better. Don’t play the martyr for a cold bastard like him.”
Dakota knew that Cobra wasn’t the best man in the world. Sure he’d made mistakes like anyone else, but he wasn’t who Big Pat said he was anymore. Maybe he had been a long time ago, but now, she knew his heart and knewhim.
All of a sudden the card she’d found from Jenny didn’t mean the same thing to her as it had earlier that morning before this nightmare had started. It was crazy that she was even thinking about all that now, especially with a gun to her head. But if it came down to her being dead in the next minute and a half, Dakota would go to her grave knowing that she trusted Cobra implicitly. In one moment of crystal clear clarity, she realized shelovedhim.
The very idea that Dakota had fallen in love with him over the course of their time together hit her over the head like a ton of bricks. But it was so absolutely obvious. He was kind, generous, understanding, and sure, complicated as hell, which was the only way to describe his current lifestyle—but where it counted, he had been nothing but good. That trumped anything else this pig had to say about him.
“I’ll make the call for you,” Dakota said. Her muscles relaxed when Big Pat moved the gun away then rose to his feet.
“Smart decision.”
The dirtbag didn’t need to know her reason for agreeing to play into his hands. When she’d call Cobra he’d know something was up, and as soon as he realized who was holding her captive, all hell would break loose. There was one certainty that Dakota held close to her heart: Cobra would walk through fire to keep her safe, and he had a fuck ton of backup to help out.
Dakota may be inviting him into the lion’s den, but Cobra could hold his own, and she had no doubt that his tactics would be as fatal as the fangs of the most venomous snake—the King Cobra.