Simon Says (25 page)

Barber thundered back over to her and grabbed her shoulders. “
No.
Damn it, Dakota, don't be a nitwit.”

Never before had she seen Barber act so strange. He was always a goof, always irreverent, but now he seemed totally out of sorts.

“What is your problem?” she demanded.

“I want you to ignore the bastard. Pretend he doesn't exist. I want you to have zero contact with him.”

She knocked his hands away. “You want a lot.”

Raising his arms, Barber shouted, “You have no goddamned idea!”

Dakota buried her hurt behind indignation. “I don't know if I did something to piss you off or if you're just having your monthly, but I've had enough.” Confused and fed up, Dakota started to shove past him.

Barber drew her back around, then quickly held up both hands when she squared off. “You want to know what's wrong with me? Fine. I'm horny.”

Dakota did a double take.
“What?”

He laughed at her. “Well, you wanted to know, doll. That's it.”

“You've lost it, Barber.”

He laughed again. “Lust does strange things to a man, and as you've already figured out, things went south with sweet Bonnie.”

“Sweet? Now I know you're nuts.”

“Sweet on the eyes, at least.” He chucked her under the chin. “And now I'm finding that no other woman appeals to me. Not enough anyway.”

“Please don't tell me you got hung up on Bonnie.”

“Nope. Not even close. I just don't feel like wasting the time with any other woman when I know it won't satisfy the itch.”

Barber had always been open with her, and she knew he leaned toward the uninhibited side. But this was outrageous, even for him. “Itch, huh? Poor baby. Want me to spring for some Calamine lotion?”

“I have a better idea. You're a natural night owl. I'll be up late performing. And Simon's out of town. Let's grab a bite to eat tonight. There's this little Greek place where a lot of the fighters hang out. They do a mean chicken plank. I know, you weren't expecting me to say fried chicken, but it's to die for. What do you say?”

He'd rattled all that off so fast, Dakota felt her head spinning. But since the idea of sitting alone in her motel room didn't appeal to her, she shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

With Simon gone, she didn't have much else to do to occupy her time except stew on Marvin and Barnaby, and neither of those topics appealed.

She glanced at her watch. “I need to go talk to Roger. Then I was going to do a little shopping to get a few more clothes. I hadn't planned to stay here this long and I'm running out of stuff.”

Barber rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh. And lover-boy likes you spiffed up some, right?”

She did want to clean up her act a little for Simon, maybe show him that her one display of feminine dress wasn't a complete aberration. “He doesn't like my boots.”

“I think it's more a case of him liking you without your boots, but sure, shopping sounds like an easy way to occupy yourself. Who's going with you?”

“I'm a big girl, Barber. I know my wardrobe lacks inspiration, but I'm not hopeless. I can pick out clothes all on my own,
and
make them match.”

“Sure you can. I happen to like your boots, and you clean up with the best of them.” He tugged at one earring. “I just thought women liked to do that sort of thing in gaggles.”

Dakota grinned. “I'm not like most women.”

“Ain't that the truth?” He put his arm around her. “Come on, babe. We don't want to keep good old Rog waiting.”

He walked her as far as the office, then turned her over to a smiling Roger. Dakota didn't know what had happened, but Barber was as different as he could be.

She briefly wondered if he'd actually been smitten with Bonnie, and was suffering disappointment. But she didn't think so. Bonnie wasn't his type. He tended to lean more toward earthy, easy women, not uptight ladies with ulterior motives.

Tonight, over dinner, she'd grill him. She'd get to the bottom of his odd behavior. But for now, she wanted to work out terms with Roger. She wasn't an idle type of person and she needed something to occupy her time in Harmony.

She looked back just once to see Barber making a call on his cell, and once again, he didn't look happy.

B
ARBER
waited impatiently for Simon to pick up. When he finally did, Barber didn't bother to identify himself. “She wants to call Marvin.”

Apparently, Simon didn't need any further explanation. “Like hell.”

“Yeah, that's sort of what I told her.” Barber rubbed the back of his neck beneath his ponytail. Simon didn't know it—or maybe he did—but he'd put Barber in something of an awkward predicament by asking him to stick close to Dakota. “But Dakota's an independent sort. She's used to doing everything on her own. Maybe I should give the chump a call before she does.”

“I'd rather you let it go for now, at least until I'm back in town.”

“And that'll be…?”

“I only landed a few hours ago, but the driver had an itinerary for me.”

Barber heard the rustling of paper as Simon checked his schedule.

“I do the show tomorrow morning. Meet with some folks for lunch after that. I don't know. With any luck, I can be back on a plane by the late afternoon. But I'm not sure yet. Sometimes things come up. It depends on what Drew might have planned. I'm having dinner with him, so I'll ask and get back with you tonight.”

As Simon spoke, Barber kept walking. He needed to be onstage in ten minutes. “I'm hooking up with Dakota for dinner tonight.”

Silence.

Barber smiled. “No need to worry about her, then. I'm not about to let anything happen to her. But before that, she plans to do some shopping. It's weird, because Dakota isn't one who likes that sort of thing. I think she's only going shopping now because some asshole made her feel bad about her boots, so—”

“I'll give Dean a call,” Simon interrupted; he sounded more irate by the second. “He and Eve can shanghai her so she won't be alone.”

Misery loves company, Barber thought, and added, “With us being at the same motel, we'll hook up in the morning for breakfast, then hit the gym. I'll work on some new moves with her.”

A low growl sounded through the phone. “I thought you were going to wait a few days on that.”

“No time like the present, right?”

There was a long pause, and then very softly, Simon asked, “Are you going to make me regret asking for your help?”

“Yeah.” Barber laughed. “But Dakota's a one-man woman, so all you have to suffer is a few ribbings from me.”

“Then if that's all—”

“Don't rush off till you've heard the real punch line.” Barber had no doubts that Dakota was head over heels in love. Now he wanted to know for sure how Simon felt.

“Punch line?”

“Yeah.” Anticipating Simon's reaction, Barber said, “See, I asked Dakota if she was in love with you.”

More silence.

Barber grinned to himself. “Hey, you still there, Sublime?”

With dry impatience, Simon asked, “What did she say?”

“It was more how she reacted than what she said.” Barber embellished things enough to try a saint. “I swear, man, she looked like someone goosed her with a cattle prod. Her eyes went huge and she gagged a little. Or maybe she was choking. Hard to tell.”

“You don't value your teeth much, do you?”

Barber laughed. “It was an interesting reaction, if you want the truth. So now I'm wondering how you'd react if asked the same.”

“It's none of your damned business.”

“Is that a yes or no? Because if it's a no, then Dakota is fair game again and—”

“Don't even think it.”

Well. That reaction spoke volumes. Barber worked up a convincing chuckle. “All right, dude. Calm down before you hurt yourself. I was just making sure.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“Yeah, right now, no one else is appealing much to me.” Before Simon could out-and-out challenge him, Barber added, “Give her a call. Convince her that she shouldn't talk to Marvin. The guy's a nut-job. Any acknowledgment from her will just encourage him because he'll know he's getting to her.”

“I'll call her as soon as we hang up. But I have another question for you first.”

Barber reached the floor where he'd perform. The band was set up and ready to go, waiting on him. Already the bar began to fill, so he hung near the perimeter, out of the chaos. Soon, the noise level would make conversation impossible. “I'm all ears.”

“Since you know Dakota so well, have you ever met Barnaby Jailer?”

Barber forgot about the band. “Why?” What could Dakota's stepfather have to do with anything?

“He's my father.”

Falling back against the wall, Barber said, “No fucking way.”

“So you do know him?” When Barber didn't immediately answer, Simon said, “He bailed on my mother when I was just a little kid. We haven't heard anything from him since. But now he's hired Dakota to find me and bring me to him for a meeting.”

“Why?”

“I don't know and I don't care. I want nothing to do with him. But somehow, he's twisting Dakota to get her to cooperate and, more than any other reason, that makes me not trust him.”

That rotten son of a bitch. Yeah, he knew Barnaby. Or knew of him. All of it straight from Dakota. All of it bad.

Barber had no idea what Dakota might have told Simon about her stepfather, and until he knew, he wouldn't say too much.

But one question clamored in his brain. “If that's true, then someone needs to visit him to find out what hold he has over her. And it's not going to be Dakota.”

“After what's happened,” Simon said, taking the edge off Barber's temper, “I agree. I don't want Dakota anywhere near him. I thought about seeing him myself, but she told me to forget about it. She went from wanting me to see him, to insisting that I not.”

“That might just be because she cares about you now.”

“Maybe. But the more I've thought on it, the more I wonder if Barnaby could be involved with her tumble down the stairs, or your incident in the parking lot.”

“You're ruling out Marvin now?”

“No, but I don't want to dismiss Barnaby, either. Out of nowhere, after nearly thirty years, he's suddenly so insistent on seeing me that he pressured Dakota into helping him. I can't help wondering why. If Marvin and Barnaby know each other, they could both be involved somehow.”

“I suppose it's possible.” Barber worked his jaw. Marvin would be the obvious choice, but knowing now that Barnaby wanted to meet Simon…yeah, he could guilt Dakota into helping him. “Let me talk to Dakota, see what she has to say.” He'd find out what she'd told Simon, and how Barnaby had finagled her into this mess.

“So you do know Barnaby?”

“I didn't say that. Look, I gotta run. The band's ready to start and you need to get hold of Dean if you don't want Dakota in and out of mall parking lots on her own.”

“Right.” Simon paused, then said, “Listen up, Barber. I don't think I need to tell you—”

“Yeah, yeah. She's off-limits. Touch her, and you'll kick out my kneecaps. Got it.” He grinned again. No matter how hollow he felt about losing his opportunity with Dakota, he couldn't pass up the chance to prick Simon's jealousy. “Just remember, if she ever tells me otherwise, it's every man for himself.”

He hung up on Simon's heated curse.

Simon hadn't said if he loved Dakota, but he hadn't denied it either. It was going to be fun watching the two of them muddle through.

Fun, and torturous.

But what the hell. Sooner or later, another lady would appeal to him. Dakota was unique, but she couldn't be the only woman around with her distinctive qualities. While he waited for the right woman to show up, he'd work on his character flaws a little.

Or not.

Right now, he only had to concentrate on putting on a good show. Given how he loved his music, it'd be easy to shake off his melancholy. And tonight, he'd have Dakota all to himself.

He'd find out everything he needed to know—and then some.

D
AKOTA
picked up another pair of jeans, and at the same time, she looked at Dean out of the corner of her eye. He wore a frown, the same frown he'd had when he picked her up. Hands shoved in his jeans pockets, his attention constantly moved between his sister Jacki, his wife, Eve, and Dakota.

He looked watchful, miserable, and resigned.