Chains was finished with his charade. He clicked the door lock button, ensuring no one left his car until he said so.
“Do you remember Lori Dean?”
“What? Who? What the fuck is this?”
“Lori Dean, twenty-five-year-old waitress. You beat the shit out of her this week. Still haven’t jogged your memory?”
Carlton tried the door handle, panicking when he couldn’t open it. “Open the fucking door? Who the hell are you?”
“I’m not opening the door until you tell me why you hit her.”
“Fuck you.” Carlton nodded to the big guy in the backseat, and a handgun cocked near Chains’s temple. The sound made his dick hard. These fuckers had no idea of the world of hurt coming their way. “Now. Open the damn door.”
Chains twisted in his seat, grabbing Jimmy’s wrist with one hand and dropping the other elbow down hard into the man’s forearm. His moves were so fast, within two seconds the man’s own gun was pointing in his face. Chains pulled the trigger.
He dropped back down in his seat, s
hifted into reverse and then slammed on the gas. The car whirled and skidded around in the lot before he was back on the main road. Carlton was in shock, his hands in a death grip with the dashboard and door handle. Chains headed to the edge of town where it was heavily wooded and then stopped the car in a dark grove.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t get to ask questions, Carlton Riggs. You only answer mine. Do you understand?”
“Okay. Sure. Whatever.”
“Why did you put your hands on Lori Dean?”
He chuckled nervously, tweaking in his seat. “I barely even remember that chick. She was getting groceries for her sisters and brothers. I only offered her money.”
“In return for what?”
“Look, I run a business here. Some guys are into fat chicks. She could make me some money and help her family. Win-win.”
“But she refused you, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, the stupid bitch.”
Chains punched him in the mouth, his body slamming back against the passenger door from the impact. Carlton touched the blood on his lip.
“Why’d you hit her?”
He was breathing heavily now, probably realizing the shit situation he was in. “To teach her a lesson.”
“It’s your word or the highway, right?”
“I own this town. If she didn’t like it, she shouldn’t have come back. She hire you or something?”
Chains shook his head. “She doesn’t know I’m here.” He wondered what trophy he could bring for her. Something to prove the bastard who’d hurt her was dead. Maybe a finger? A pic on his cellphone?
“I don’t understand.”
He shifted in his seat, facing Carlton. “There are some men out there that don’t believe you should hit an innocent woman. Ever. You’re obviously not one of them.”
“I have no beef with you. What do you want? Money? Drugs?”
He scoffed. “Revenge.”
Carlton tried to forcibly open the door, finally reaching into his boot for a blade, holding it up in front of him. “Open the door and let me out.”