Dante's Angel (6 page)

Dante wanted
to pound his fist into the kid’s face, wanted to snap the finger right off the
stupid fucker’s hand. He let all the anger and frustration he’d been feeling boil
to the surface as he pressed the young man’s face tighter against the hard bar
top. He whimpered in fear now that his drunk bravado had worn off, and the weak
sound pleased Dante.

“See her?”
Dante moved the man’s head so he was staring at Zoe. GT stood next to her,
watching the scene with a look of satisfaction on her face. When the young man
just whimpered again, Dante leaned down and barked out, “Answer me!”

“Yes, I see
her!”

“No one
disrespects her in my place. You understand?”

“Okay!
Whatever, man!”

“Whatever? You
little fuck.” Dante squeezed harder, wanting to teach the young man a lesson,
but Zoe’s soft voice cut through the haze of his fury.

“Hey, caveman.
Just let Reggie show them out. You’re starting to scare the natives.”

He didn’t give
a shit about the other people in the bar, but he finally tore his gaze away
from the stupid kid he held because he’d heard the slight tremor in Zoe’s
voice. His quick scan assured him that she was fine, and that helped settle him
a little. Then he really looked at the expression on her face, and it made him
want to sigh. Damn it, she wouldn’t be happy with him if he beat the shit out
of the kid now. Part of him wanted to risk the lecture she would give him if he
did, but the worry in her eyes made him hold back.

Unsatisfied
with the turn of events, Dante yanked the young man up, pulling him off the bar
stool. He would have fallen, but the brutal hold Dante had on his neck kept him
upright. Dante noticed that another bouncer had come over, ready to assist.
Jimbo had worked at the bar for years. He looked like a scary biker, but the
truth was he was a man with a soft heart who doted on his wife and new baby
like a mother hen.

Jimbo grinned
at them. “Well, well. Looks like you’re having a party and didn’t invite me.”

Reggie pushed
the two scared, docile young men at him. “Here hold onto these.”

“Damn, do I
have to?” Jimbo complained, but he held onto the shoulders of the two men who
had been passed to him. They looked up at him with fear in their eyes, and he
grinned down evilly at them. “Behave or I’ll have to hurt you.”

Both men
nodded vigorously, wisely keeping their mouths shut.

That brief
moment of levity helped get rid of a little more of Dante’s anger. He wouldn’t
hurt the kid he still held, but he wasn’t done with him yet. “Apologize. Now.”

“Fuck! Dude,
I’m sorry!”

“Not to me,
asshole,” Dante growled, letting his exasperation show.

The young
man’s frantic eyes flew back toward Zoe and GT. “I apologize!”

Disgusted, Dante
pushed the kid into Reggie’s waiting arms. “Show these little shits out. Make
sure our guys working the door know that they’re banned.”

“Hey, wait a minute.
We’re here for the whole week! You can’t—”

Dante cut off the
boy’s complaint, piercing him with an icy glare. “This is my place, and I
decide who comes here. I should beat some manners into you, but I wouldn’t want
to upset the ladies. You obviously don’t know how lucky you are to get away
with just a warning.”

“I wouldn’t be
upset,” GT called out, then muttered when Zoe slapped her arm, “What? I
wouldn’t be.”

Zoe braced her
hands on her hip. “I’m not going to be happy if I have to clean blood off my bar
top tonight.”

Dante liked
seeing the fire flash in Zoe’s eyes as she glared at him. He felt far better
dealing with her snarky attitude rather than seeing her worried. She was
annoyed—that was clear—but there was also feminine appreciation in her gaze.

Christ, he
always felt ten feet tall when she stared at him like that. He had to stop
himself from flexing his muscles just to see her reaction. Looking at her and
remembering their hot kiss had his cock jerking to attention. Damn it, she was
potent. Pushing his lust aside, he asked, “Your bar top?”

Zoe’s cheeks
flushed to a pretty pink, but she jerked her chin up. “You know what I meant.”

Always the
instigator, Jimbo drawled out, “I don’t know, boss. They don’t sound sorry to
me. I still think these three still need to be taught a lesson.”

“Hey! I said I
was sorry!”

“Stay quiet
and let the grownups talk,” Reggie barked as he slapped the back of the kid’s
head while he held him in place. “And if you keep squirming around, I may just
knock you out myself and be done with it.”

Dante took
perverse pleasure in goading Zoe’s temper. “See honey? Jimbo and Reggie agree
with me.”

Zoe’s eyes
narrowed. “I mean it, caveman. I don’t like blood. You know that.”

“I know, honey.”
Dante sighed, then jerked his head toward Reggie. “Get them out of here.”

“Got it,
boss,” Reggie said before turning to lead the young man out of the bar.

Jimbo dragged
the other two guys toward the front door after them. When another bouncer
passed by, Dante called out to him. “Hey, Cole. Help pour drinks for a bit,
would you?”

“Sure thing,
boss.”

Cole opened up
the pass to go behind the bar where he got busy tending drinks to waiting
customers. Dante turned back to the women just as GT spoke.

“Aww, they
left their money. What a shame.”

Dante glanced
down at the hundred-dollar bill still on the bar top. Suspicion made him look
over at Zoe. “What did he say to you, angel?”

Zoe wasn’t
fooled by the soft tone of his voice, nor was she willing to tell him anything while
the stupid young men were still in the vicinity. Despite letting them go, Dante
would follow them outside and make good on his threat to beat the boys to
bloody pulp if he knew exactly what the guy had said to her. She shook her
head, denying him.

“Damn it,
Zoe.”

“Damn it,
Dante,” she parroted back, then she sighed. “I’m not going to tell you so you
can follow them outside. I really don’t want to have to bail you out of jail
tonight.”

One of his
eyebrows rose. “Jail? So, it was something bad enough to piss me off that much?”

“Probably,” GT
said, earning a glare from Zoe.

“Tell me what
he fucking said.”

Zoe’s lips
tightened, as if by that act alone she could hold back the words.
Unfortunately, GT had no problem telling Dante what had happened…the traitorous
wench. After she finished, Dante’s jaw clenched and his eyes all but burned
with rage. His hands fisted, and Zoe knew that he was seconds away from
following the men outside.

“No,” Zoe said
forcefully, denying him once again. “It’s almost last call, and we have too
much stuff to do here for you to go running off looking for trouble.”

Dante’s eyes
narrowed, then his head turned as shouts sounded from where a fight had broken
out near one of the pool tables in the back. Flicking a glance back at Zoe, he
said, “Looks like you might have to put up that bail money after all.”

Zoe started to
call out as she watched him stalk to the back of the bar where he forged his
way into the center of the brawl without hesitation. She sighed again. It
seemed like he didn’t have to go looking for trouble. Turning, she glared.
“What the fuck, GT? Why did you tell him?”

“Seriously?
Dante has been in a shit mood all day. Actually, both of you have been on the
warpath today. You know you would have ended up telling him when he wouldn’t let
it go. I just saved you from spending the next ten minutes bitching back and
forth until he broke you down.”

GT paused to
look over at a man who started to interrupt them to ask for a drink. He shrank
under her icy glare and quickly disappeared back into the crowd. She picked up
the hundred-dollar bill on the bar top, then shoved it into the front pocket of
Zoe’s jeans.

“Keep that.
You deserve it after putting up with those jerks. Now, what was I saying? Oh,
yeah. You really need to give the boss man some loving. Celibacy is making him
a total bastard.”

Zoe’s mouth
fell opened. “What?”

GT rolled her
eyes. “Everyone here knows you’ve been holding out and he hasn’t been getting
any. We’ve even got a bet going to see when you’ll give into him.”

“I…sweet Jesus,
I can’t believe you guys!” Zoe hissed. “You’re betting on us?”

“Hey, ladies,”
Cole called out. “We’re getting mobbed here. Move your fine asses and serve
some damn drinks.”

Both women
scanned the waiting crowd and realized that the amount of people waiting for
drinks had doubled while they’d been taking their break. Before they could get
back to work, GT slung an arm around Zoe’s shoulder, giving her a companionable
squeeze.

“We just want
to see you both happy. Face it, Zoe. You know you two are involved in some
fucked up, convoluted relationship that no one understands. You’re the only one
Dante listens to, and you practically run this place with him. But do me a
favor, won’t ya?” she asked, lowering her voice. “If you two end up hooking up
before the month is over, I win the pot. So, get on that…or I should say, get
on him soon.”

Torn between utter
dismay and reluctant amusement, the only response Zoe could think of was, “I
fucking hate you sometimes.”

GT laughed.
“I’m totally okay with that.”

Chapter Four

After the bar
closed, Zoe was tired but too revved to sleep.

The rest of
the night she’d been busy, serving drinks nonstop until they had announced it
was last call. Then she and the other bartenders had dealt with the mad dash as
the crowd of people had hurried to order one more drink before the night
officially ended.

The bouncers
had wasted no time forcing people out of the doors the second closing time had
come. Zoe found that she went through cleaning up by routine, her mind busy
thinking over everything that had happened over the last few days.

At first,
she’d been embarrassed that the people who worked in the bar had been talking
about her and Dante, not that it really surprised her. Still, she knew that it
was important to keep her private life just that—private. She didn’t want
people gossiping about her, and she certainly didn’t want people speculating
about her past.

But all of
that was part of living in a small town, she supposed.

Dante usually
helped with the cleaning after a packed night, but he had taken off again right
after he’d settled the fight in the back of the bar. It was something he seemed
to be doing a lot lately, and she knew she was the reason. Guilt plagued her.
She wasn’t someone who liked lying. In fact, she hated it. And keeping secrets from
Dante about the real reasons she couldn’t be with him were weighing on her like
a ton of stones.

She’d had a
difficult time sleeping after he’d walked her home last night. Left hot and
aching for him, she’d known it was her own damn fault that she’d ended up in
bed alone. Her body urged her to give in to Dante, but her mind knew all too
well the dangers of letting go. After hours of staring at the ceiling, she gave
into the inevitable. She’d taken out her favorite vibrator and given herself
the best orgasm she’d ever experienced, her pleasure heightened by the memories
of the passionate kiss she’d shared with Dante.

How sad was it
that she turned to a toy when she had a man willing and waiting?

Her body
heated at the thought of Dante and all the pleasure he could give her. She
could feel her cheeks flush with her arousal. Feeling like a fool, Zoe quickly
glanced around the bar to make sure no one was watching her. It was pretty damn
sad that just the memory of what they’d shared together was enough to get her
hot and bothered, but she couldn’t help it.

Zoe hurried
through the rest of the clean up, waving away staff members that offered to
walk back with her to their apartment building. She wasn’t ready to go home
just yet. Feeling restless, she found herself walking down the quiet street,
breathing in the cool night air. Aware that she was being trailed by two of the
bouncers from the bar like two silent bodyguards, she sighed.

What she
really wanted to do was walk over to Fight Hard since Dante was inside working
out his frustration on the bags, but with her two sentries watching, she wasn’t
going anywhere near there. Instead, she made her way past Sinfully Sweet, the
bakery her friend Kalista owned, then stopped outside the front door of another
shop.

 
She looked up at the sign for Ink This, which was
in a bright red font on a black background, with a silver tribal scrolling
design behind the script. Despite the late hour, the tattoo parlor was lit up
inside, and the neon red open sign shone like a beacon through the darkness. It
wasn’t unusual for the shop to be busy after hours when all the other stores on
the street were closed down for the night, and by the unfamiliar motorcycles
out front, Zoe assumed there were people inside since she couldn’t see through
the frosted glass of the front window.

Because they were
busy, Zoe should have just gone home, but something pushed at her to remain
where she stood. It wasn’t that she wanted to get inked. No, she’d done that
shortly after she’d gotten to town to celebrate her newfound freedom.

That thought
gave her pause.

How free was
she really when she was letting the chains of her past stop her from moving
forward with her life? Was she sabotaging her own happiness by keeping people
from knowing who she really was?

Considering
those questions, what Zoe really wanted was to talk to the woman who owned the
tattoo parlor. If anyone could understand her and give her some guidance, it
would be Nikita Nuria, a woman who had more than her own share of secrets she
hid from the world.

She had to
trust someone, Zoe told herself. Somehow, the idea of talking about her past
with her friend seemed easier than exposing herself to Dante. Zoe knew that it
was the fear of rejection that made her apprehensive. Hell, who was she kidding?
She was terrified that once Dante learned the truth, he would turn away from
her.

If that
happened, what the hell was she going to do then?

Zoe was
startled out of her self-musings when the front door to the tattoo parlor
pushed open. Squinting against the bright light spilling from inside, she was
immediately blasted with the sound of hard rock music mixed with the buzzing
sound of tattoo needles at work.

Nikita stood
in the doorway frowning at her.

It was hard
not to admire her friend. A gorgeous woman with her killer body and unusual
violet eyes that carried an air of danger around her like a cloak, Nikita Nuria
was someone that seemed ill-suited for life in a small town.

Since she was
wearing a black tank top with matching pants, Zoe could see the ink that
covered both of Nikita’s arms in full sleeves that went all the way up to her
collarbone. Her ink-black hair was pulled back into a tight bun on the top of
her head, showing off a scar from a knife wound on the side of her neck that
was usually hidden from view. Zoe had only seen the scar a few times before,
but every time she did, it made her wonder just what kind of life the other
woman had led before moving to Breakers.

Nikita propped
the door open, then walked over, bracing her hands on her hips as she came to a
stop. “Are you just going to stand out here all fucking night, or are you
coming in?”

Caught, Zoe
sent her a sheepish smile. She’d forgotten that Nikita had a kick-ass security
system that allowed her to see who was outside the door before buzzing them
inside. “I was just standing out here thinking about…stuff.”

“Well, come
inside. I need a drink after dealing with the fucktards I just worked on.”

Zoe laughed.
“Is that anyway to talk about your customers?”

“It’s
accurate. There’s a group of girls on spring break that came in. I spent a half
an hour talking all four of them out of getting their current boyfriends’ names
tramp-stamped on their lower backs, then had to deal with tatting them with
butterflies and other fluffy shit instead. Now, two of them are just hanging
around inside, flirting with the guys Hunter, Brody and Wes are working on. So
much for the boyfriends.”

With a wince,
Zoe nodded. “Good thing you talked them out of the name thing.”

“Yeah. I
should have just done it for them and let them deal with the aftermath of their
own stupidity. Anyways, if you’re done brooding over whatever you were brooding
about, let’s go in and give your bodyguards a break for the night.”

Casting a
quick glance behind her, Zoe waved goodbye to the bouncers who idled close by.
They didn’t even try to hide the fact they’d been following her, and Cole
lifted two fingers to his forehead in a silent salute before the men turned to
walk back the way they came.

Nikita
gestured Zoe inside ahead of her, then shut the door securely at their backs. It
took a moment for her eyes to acclimate to the bright lights inside the shop,
and after a quick glance around, Zoe could see that she’d been right about the
place being busy.

The walls of
the shop were a deep, crimson red, with large wooden panels set up against them
that held various black edged frames of tattoo designs on display. There were
four tattoo stations sectioned off into their own little areas, and three of
them had men in the black leather chairs getting tattooed on various places on
their bodies.

Zoe noticed
two giggling young women looking at the body jewelry laid out inside the glass
display case at the far end of the room. They turned, glancing over their
shoulders, but quickly lost interest when they saw Zoe instead of someone new
they could flirt with.

One of the
tattoo artists looked up at Zoe, and she smiled in greeting. Hunter Savante was
a large man, with angry-looking burn scars covering his left hand and arm that
also traveled up to cover the side of his neck. They’d healed over time, but
still looked painful. Instead of detracting from his appeal, the scars only
seemed to enhance his dark good looks. His intense, brooding hazel eyes warmed
when he saw her, and to Zoe’s surprise, the former Navy SEAL winked.

“Hey, Lang.
How’s it going?”

It was
difficult to hear his deep voice over the noise, and she had to shout to be
heard in return. “Good. We had a packed house tonight.”

“Same here,” Hunter
said, then he went back to work on what looked like an image of the grim reaper
on the man’s arm that was sitting in his chair, trying to ignore the two young
women trying to get his attention as they moved to lean over the short wall
between stations.

Brody looked
up from where he was tattooing a man’s back, flicking his gaze at the two
obvious women before grinning at Zoe. “Vonnie brought some pizza over after The
Pie Place closed. There’s still some left if you want.”

Zoe eyed the
pizza boxes on one of the counters and realized she hadn’t eaten all night.
Still, the thought of cold pizza that had been sitting around a tattoo parlor
just didn’t appeal to her at the moment. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

Wes finished
with the client in his chair and the guy got up to study the tattoo on arm and
shoulder exclaiming over how much he loved it. After accepting the thanks from
the grateful client, Wes left the man to show off to his friends and walked
over to join Zoe and Nikita.

“That was my
last booking for the night, boss. Do you mind if I take off now? Amelia’s
working the night shift at the center, and I thought I’d go hang with her for a
few hours,” he said, mentioning his girlfriend that worked at the Beaumont
Rescue Center outside of town.

“That’s fine.”

With a grin, Wes
hurried back to his station to clean up so he could leave. The man with the new
tattoo sauntered over, flexing his muscles…or at least trying to with what
little muscle he had. Nikita rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh, making
Zoe bite her lip to hold back a laugh. Her amusement faded as the guy gave her
a slightly insulting once over, his gaze pausing briefly on her breasts before
lifting to meet her eyes.

“Hey, babe.
You work at The Fox Hole?” he asked, making a point to look back down at the
tank top she wore with the bar logo on the front. “I guess I’m gonna have to
stop in soon for a drink if they have pretty little gals like you serving.”

“Ease off,
Keith. Trust me when I say you don’t want to tangle with Dante Fox if you mess
with this one,” Nikita informed him, making the man pale. He retreated quickly,
heading over to the two women who were leaning on the wall, giving Hunter,
Brody and the two men in the chairs a generous display of cleavage.

Zoe glanced
over to frown at her friend, but Nikita ignored her as she called out, “Hunter,
I’m taking off for the night, too. You got shit here?”

“Sure, I’ll
lock up when we’re done,” he said, not even bothering to look up.

“Let’s head
back,” Nikita said to Zoe, turning toward the back door of the shop that opened
into a private lounge area. Once they left the main storefront and closed the door,
the sound of the music was muffled until it could barely be heard.

The lounge was
painted a warm gold color, and the large, brown leather furniture had been
chosen for both comfort and functionality. There were two long, comfortable
couches that Zoe knew the guys used for naps when needed, and a matching
overstuffed chair with an ottoman set it front of it for someone to put their
feet up on.

On the wall
was a huge TV that could also be used as a security monitor to see what was
going on in the front of the building or inside the shop. Off to the side was a
small kitchen area with a round table and four chairs that looked more suited
for a small, lavish apartment rather than a workspace. In the back was a door
that exited the shop and next to it was a staircase the led upstairs so Nikita
didn’t have to leave the shop to go up to her apartment.

Before Nikita could
head upstairs, Zoe briefly considered suggesting they stay down in the lounge
area. She would appreciate privacy, but Zoe always found it difficult to relax
whenever she was in Nikita’s apartment. Unlike the comfortable lounge, Nikita’s
apartment was a stark, barren space, with white walls and almost no personal
touches. It seemed sort of odd that her living quarters were so basic when her
work space reflected so much warmth and vitality.

Zoe stumbled
to a stop as Nikita whirled around to glare at her. “I just want to make one
thing clear. If you’re here to try to talk me into going dress shopping with
you guys tomorrow, I might have to hurt you.”