Davis, Liz - Under His Spell (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 10

  “My boyfriend is on the way, so I don’t need a ride,” she curtly said.

  “Okay, well, if you don’t mind I’ll just keep you company until he gets here.”

  “I do mind, actually. I really don’t feel much like talking.”

  “I can buy you a drink.”

  “I already have one.”

  “I mean a real drink. Looks like you’re drinking soda.”

  “I don’t like alcohol.”

  “Okay.” There was a moment of silence before he began to talk again. “So, don’t I know you from somewhere? You look real familiar.”

  “I don’t know who you are.”

  “But I know you.” His tone was insistent.

  Her feeling of uneasiness had now grown into full-fledged anxiety. She was giving out strong signals of disinterest, but it only seemed to make him want to talk to her more. Glancing at her watch, Lynn saw that only ten minutes had passed since she’d spoken to Takoda. That meant she still had twenty minutes to wait until he would arrive. Releasing a nervous breath, she concentrated her thoughts upon Takoda and began sending SOS signals out to him. She wasn’t sure just how the mark he’d given her would aid her in contacting him from a remote location, but she figured that sending signals of alarm to him had to somehow help her out of this situation.

  What she really felt like doing was just getting up and leaving, but where would she go? She didn’t have a car and Takoda was already on his way to pick her up.

  Lynn noticed out of the corner of her eye as the stranger took his cowboy hat off and sat it on the bar in front of him. She felt a strong urge to turn her eyes upon, purely out of curiosity to see his eyes. They’d been partially obscured by the brim of the cowboy hat, and for some reason she was drawn to take a look at them. Slowly, she turned her gaze toward him, and glancing quickly at his eyes, she saw that they were a steely blue. As he noticed her looking at him, he gave her a wink and a lascivious smile passed across his lips. She felt a little chill run up her spine as he fixed his eyes upon her, and she noticed that they seemed void of any emotion at all.

  She’d always heard the saying that eyes were windows to the soul, and judging from the desolation in his orbs, there was something very dangerous inside of him.

  His wore his hair in a slicked-back style, and his face was handsomely chiseled, but his good looks were overpowered by his strange, unsettling presence. Lowering her eyes toward his neck, Lynn was taken by surprise by what she saw.

  A four-inch long scar graced his throat, and as she curiously gazed at it, she found herself morbidly fascinated by the gruesomeness of it. As she tore her eyes away from it, she met his gaze once again and saw that he was giving her a look of amusement. Suddenly feeling a terrible case of the willies, she stood up from the stool and moved a few seats further away from him.

  It didn’t take long for Dex to make his way down the bar and once again take a seat next to her, and as he peeled his eyes intently upon her, she found that she found herself growing very scared.

  “Please stop following me.” She looked straight ahead as she said it, not wanting to look into his eyes again.

  “Can’t help it if I see something I want.”

  “I’m taken.”

  “Not for long,” he said, in a self-assured tone of voice.

  Choosing to ignore him, she focused her eyes upon the bubbles in her drink.

  “You have a real knack for getting into car crashes, don’t you? After that crash in Seattle, I thought you’d be too scared to ride in a car again.”

  As the words left his mouth, she felt her blood run cold and she could feel his eyes eagerly watching her, waiting to see how she’d respond.

  Lynn tried to appear calm but as she responded to him she found that her voice was filled with a waver. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I’d really just prefer if you’d stop talking to me. I’m not interested, okay?”

  “Playing hard to get, I like that. You have very pretty hair, by the way. I like it.” He reached out to touch her curly locks, but before he could do it his hand was suddenly halted.

  As another man’s fist wrapped around Dex’s wrist, Lynn turned her head and saw David standing behind them. His eyes were fixed keenly upon Dex, and his body was positioned in a stance which suggested he was gearing up for a fight.

  “Leave the lady alone. She’s said she’s not interested.”

  The stranger’s lips curled into a sneer at the sight of Lynn’s coworker. Snatching his wrist from out of David’s grip, he disappointingly said, “So you must be the boyfriend.”

  Before David could even open his mouth Lynn replied, “Yes, he is.”

  Then she got up off the stool and grabbed David’s arm, leading him toward the door.

  “Come on, let’s go,” she said to him.

  “Aww, leaving so soon, beautiful?” The stranger got up off the stool and tried to grab hold of Lynn’s arm, but David stopped him from advancing any further.

  “Step off.” Pressing his palms against the other man’s chest, David sent him stumbling backward.

  In a split second the grin on the man’s face vanished, replaced by one of murderous intent. His hands moved with lightning speed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. As the blade popped out, he slashed it across David’s palm, causing him to cry out in pain.

  “You cut my wrist, you bastard!”

  “I’ll cut more than that if you don’t keep your fucking hands off of me.” His teeth were gritted in anger and the tip of his blade was aimed toward David’s stomach.

  “Fuck you, man!” David blurted out, holding onto his bleeding hand.

  “David, let’s go,” Lynn called out in fear, tugging on his arm to signal she was ready to leave.

  With his eyes still upon Dex, David uttered a grumble beneath his breath. Then he turned his back to him and followed Lynn out of the bar.

  As soon as they were outside, David led her to his car, and once they were inside, he started up the engine and quickly drove off, kicking up gravel as they made their way back onto the road.

  “How’s your hand? Did he cut you very deep?” Lynn’s voice was filled with concern as she studied the condition of his wrist.

  “It’s only a surface wound. It’s not too bad. I’ll be fine.” He wasn’t bleeding profusely, but his wrist was covered in enough blood to cause Lynn to worry.

  Grabbing some tissues from the dashboard, she gingerly dabbed at the line of blood which was coming from his wrist.

  “Are you sure? If you need me to drive, I can take over. I won’t mind at all.”

  “No it’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

  Giving a tense sigh, she said, “That guy was a complete nutcase. I’m sorry about your hand, David. I really do feel bad about it.”

  “No need to apologize, Lynn. It wasn’t your fault. What were you doing at that bar, anyway?”

  David’s question suddenly reminded her of why all of this was happening. In her rush to get them out of the seedy establishment, she’d completely forgotten about Takoda. He was on his way to pick her up right now, and he had no idea of what was now going on.

  “Hey, David, wait a minute. We have to turn around and go back to the bar. I told my boyfriend I’d wait for him there until he showed up.”

  “What? No way, we can’t go back. That creep back there, he had a knife. Maybe you didn’t notice, but I’m bleeding.”

  “I know, David, and I really am sorry you got caught up in the middle of it. Look, I’m really glad you came when you did, but my car is stuck in a ditch back there, and I was waiting on a tow truck to come pull it out. So can you please turn around and drive me back to where my car is located? We can wait there until the tow truck arrives. Then I’ll just call my boyfriend and let him know to meet me over there.”

  “Who cares about your boyfriend? I’m bleeding here, Lynn, and I’m not going back. Just call the towing company and tell them where the car is. They can pick it up for you and driv
e it to your house and you’ll meet them there once we arrive.”

  “No David, I need to go back. I don’t like the idea of leaving my car behind, okay? Takoda’s on his way and I need to meet up with him. I don’t want him showing up at that bar and wondering where I am. He’ll freak if he sees I’m not there.”

  “So call him,” he harshly uttered.

  “My phone doesn’t work, so can I use yours?”

  David scanned the space around the drink holders, and as he saw that his phone wasn’t there, he emitted a sound of exasperation, “I must have left it back at the bar. Damn it!”

  Overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions, Lynn felt as if she were a chicken who’d just had its head cut off. She didn’t know what to do next and wasn’t even aware of where they were going. She felt terrible about David being injured, but she was also worried about Takoda. She knew he’d be very worried once he showed up at the bar and saw that she wasn’t there. She had no way of getting in contact with him, and she couldn’t even call a tow truck to have her car taken out of the ditch.

  Her head was spinning from everything that was going on, and it didn’t help matters that David was driving like a madman. She knew he was caught up in the craziness of the situation, but the last thing she wanted was to get into another accident.

  Reaching out to lightly touch his arm, she said, “I think you should slow down, David. We don’t want to get into a crash, do we?”

  “Yeah, okay,” he responded as he reluctantly eased up on the gas.

  Glancing at her watch, Lynn realized that Takoda would be arriving at the bar within the span of five minutes. Giving a nervous swallow, she lay her head back against the headrest and focused upon Takoda. She wasn’t sure of much at all right now, but one thing she was certain of was that she had long night ahead of her.

  * * * *

  Takoda’s pickup truck came to an abrupt stop in front of Joe’s Place. He’d passed by the bar numerous times as he drove along the highway, yet never dared to venture inside. It seemed to be a seedy place where undesirable people hung out, and it certainly wasn’t any place for Lynn to be hanging out in. As he made his way toward the door of the bar, his work boots crunched against the gravel in the parking lot.

  Grabbing the handle of the door, he swung it open, and as he entered the smoky room his eyes rapidly scanned the place. It wasn’t a very big establishment, so it didn’t take him very long to realize that Lynn wasn’t there. A pang of worry shot through him as he wondered where she was, and he made his way over to the bar so that he could talk to the waitress. As she noticed him coming her way, her eyes lit up and she gave him a smile.

  “Hey handsome, what can I get you?”

  Ignoring her greeting, he said, “I’m looking for a woman. She’s 5’6, has dark brown curly hair, almond eyes…”

  “She already left.” The waitress interjected before he could even finish.

  “When?” A knot began to form in the pit of his stomach.

  “Just a few minutes ago. She was sitting here talking to some dude, and then another guy came and picked her up. She ended up leaving with him.”

  “Did he have a uniform on?” His voice was full of hope as he thought about the possibility of it being the tow truck driver.

  “Nope, he’s a regular. I see him around here every weekend. She just got into his car, and they took off together. I remember her saying something about him being her boyfriend.”

  “What? No, that can’t be.” He shook his head as if to confirm the impossibility of it.

  “Well that’s what I heard.” Grabbing a towel from behind the bar, she began to busy herself with drying the shot glasses.

  Takoda’s eyebrows furrowed together in puzzlement as he thought about the waitress’ words. He knew Lynn wasn’t cheating on him, but why would she leave a sleazy little dive like this with a strange man? The answer was she wouldn’t. She wasn’t that type of a woman, and he knew it. She would only have left with someone she knew. As worried thoughts ran through his head, he began to wonder if someone had forced her to leave with him

  As he’d been driving to the bar, he’d gotten the very strong feeling that something wasn’t right with her. She’d been distressed and the signals that she’d sent to him had clearly communicated that she badly needed him with her. He’d driven as quickly as he could to get here, but unfortunately he hadn’t been fast enough, because not she was gone.

  Pushing the door to the bar open, Takoda exited and walked toward his car. As he was making his way across the gravel-lined parking lot, the toe of his shoe hit something on the ground. Lowering his eyes toward it, he saw that it was a cell phone, so he bent down to retrieve it. As he studied it in his hands, he began to wonder if the cell phone was somehow connected to her. He had the strong feeling that it was, so he pressed a few buttons and began searching through the menu until he reached the phone’s address book. He searched through numerous names and numbers, but there were so many contacts saved that it would take him forever to get through all of them. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he slipped the phone into his pocket and got into his car. He was desperate to find out if the phone was somehow connected to her, but right now he needed to get back on the road.

  Putting the car into drive, Takoda took off out of the parking lot and drove out onto the highway. Thoughts flashed through his mind as he drove, and he began to feel sick as he thought about someone taking advantage of or trying to hurt her.

  As he drove along the road, he kept an eye out for her car, hoping he would spot it somewhere along the way. A few minutes passed before Takoda spotted her blue Camry on the side of the highway. Just as Lynn had told him, it was leaning into a ditch. Saving the location to memory, he made a U-turn and headed straight for the bar, hoping to make it back there before the tow truck driver arrived. He didn’t know where she was or why she’d gone on without him, but he figured it must have been pretty important for her to have left her car behind. It just didn’t seem likely that she would be willing to do that.

  He made it back to the bar in record time and just as he was pulling in, the tow truck driver was climbing down from the can of his car. Takoda pressed his palm against the horn to alert him, then leaned his arm out of the window so that he could wave him down. As the tow truck driver spotted him, he came over to Takoda’s truck. After giving him the location of Lynn’s car and the address where he could drop it off, Takoda gave the driver his fee. Then he put his car into gear and tore off down the highway, heading straight for Lynn’s house.

  * * * *

  The highway seemed to stretch endlessly in front of Takoda’s car. Even with the distance between them, he could strongly sense her feelings and knew she was feeling discomfort and uncertainty.

  Where are you, Lynn, and who could have possibly talked you into leaving before I came to pick you up?

  His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a vibration in his pocket, followed by a melodic ringtone. Taking one hand off the wheel, Takoda used it to retrieve the cell phone he’d found in the parking lot of the bar. As he flipped it open, he spoke into the receiver.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, who is this?” a man’s voice curiously asked.

  “You tell me who you are first.”

  “I’m the owner of the cell phone. Now tell me who you are.” The caller’s voice was laced with irritation.

  As Takoda listened to the sound of the other man’s voice, he questioned in a hostile tone of voice, “Is this David?”

  “Who wants to know?”

  “Her boyfriend, that’s who.”

  “Oh, so you’re her boyfriend, huh? Well what the hell are you doing with my phone?”

  “I found it.”

  “Okay, well I’m going to need it back.”

  “You’ll get it back when I see that Lynn is safe.”

  “She’s fine. She needed a ride, so I’m taking her home.”

  “You’d better be heading straight there.” The tone in Takoda’s
voice expressed his seriousness about the situation.

  “I really don’t appreciate the way you’re speaking to me right now.”

  “Well I don’t appreciate you taking off with my girlfriend. And since we’re on the subject, I know what you’ve been up to.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” David angrily inquired.

  “Do you make it a habit to gain entry into women’s homes and try to steal their underwear, or is my girlfriend just a special exception?”

  Takoda impatiently waited for an answer, but the only sounds which came from the other end of the phone were the sounds of cars passing by and trucks blaring their horns.

  “Hello? Answer me,” Takoda sharply commanded.

  “Listen, asshole, if it wasn’t for me, your girlfriend would still be back at that bar, getting harassed by weird creeps. So you’d better show me some fucking respect.”

  “You certainly didn’t give her any respect that night you were snooping around in her bedroom. And you’re a creep yourself, so I really don’t trust you at all.”

  “Well Lynn seems to trust me just fine. She happily came along with me when I showed up.”

  “That’s because she doesn’t know the type of man she’s really dealing with. You might be fooling her right now, but not for very long.”

  “Whatever, man. I’m hanging up now.”

  “Put her on the phone. I want to speak to her.”

  “Tough shit,” David snappily replied.

  “You really don’t want to mess with me,” Takoda darkly warned.

  There was a pause on the other end of the line and then he heard the sound of David’s voice once again.

  “She’s busy right now. She can’t talk.”

  “Busy doing what?” Takoda’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the cell phone tightly in his hands.

  Listening closely to the other end of the line, he focused upon the sound of a car door opening, followed by it slamming shut. Then he heard a soft, female voice which was unmistakably Lynn’s. Takoda heard her ask David who he was talking to, and then he heard David mumble an unintelligible reply.