Wild at Heart (19 page)

We would have discovered that we were two parts of one whole.

It felt wrong to be happy in the shadow of Arianna’s death, but I knew in my heart that she would have been happy for me. Knowing that made me feel like it was okay for me to both mourn the end of her life and celebrate the start of mine.

There were no more strings attached. No families tearing me away from Dare.

A new beginning. A new life. A brighter future.

I stuffed my clothes into my bags, and packed up my laptop and books. As I was stripping the sheets off the bed, I thought I heard Rex shout.

I paused, my head tilted toward the door, catching some mumblings. I knew it had to be Dare. It had only been an hour since he’d left—he must have finished quickly, probably just as anxious as I was about being apart.

God, I was so glad he was back already. I planned to spend the next day, week—hell—year glued to his side. I’d work on my career. He’d paint. And then there was that thing he’d said about…other things. Maybe I could finally have it all. I’d fought hard enough, hadn’t I?

I gathered the sheets and towels to throw them in the washer in the basement, and started down the stairs, but halted when I heard the voices.

“I don’t know where he is,” Rex said, his voice strained as if he was in pain. “And I have no idea what girl you’re talking about. As far as I know Dare doesn’t have a girlfriend. You know him, Daren. He’s just like you—one is never enough.” Rex tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a cough.

Holy fucking shit. I froze on the stairs, my arms full of bedding, completely unsure what to do. Maybe I could get back upstairs and call the police. I lifted my left foot and placed in on the step behind me, praying it wouldn’t make a sound. Then I slowly lifted myself up one stair. As I was about to do it again, Rex cried out in pain.

“See, the problem here, Rex, is that he’s become a little too much like
you
.” The man’s voice was hard and gravelly, like he’d spent a couple of lifetimes smoking ten packs a day. “He’s MY son, not YOURS, you hippie fuck. I made him a man, and you’ve undone all my hard work. I should fucking kill you for that right now.”

Scuffling sounds and a muffled cry sent my heart thundering against my chest. I had no idea what the fuck to do. I knew Dare’s dad was dangerous—deathly so—but I couldn’t just stay here and listen to him hurting Rex.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

I shifted the bedding under one arm, pulled out my phone, and dialed 911 as quickly as I could.

“Let’s try this one more time, you fucking art fag. Tell me where I can find my fucking son and his fucking girlfriend, or I’ll cut off your fucking hand.”

“Daren, please,” Rex said, his voice filled with fear. “You and I go way back, you know I’d tell you if I knew anything at all. I respect you, Daren. I always have.”

“You’re fucking afraid of me, old man. As well you should be. Eddie, hold him down.”

My feet were flying down the stairs before my mind had time to even contemplate what I was about to do.

“NO!” I yelled. “Leave him alone.” I threw the linens onto the floor and waved my phone in the air. “The cops are already on their way,” I said, trying hard to keep my voice steady. “If you leave now we’ll just tell them it was a false alarm.” I glanced at Rex, who they’d pinned to the floor, one guy kneeling on his injured arm. He was looking at me with such fear I had a hard time staying in place. “Won’t we Rex?”

Someone hit my hand from behind, sending my phone flying across the room. It slid on the floor and came to a stop at the feet of one of the men. He lifted up a black-booted foot and crushed it. My eyes grew wide as I realized who he was.

An older, rougher, well-worn version of Dare.

“Who the fuck are you?” He was a couple of inches taller than Dare, had the same dark hair and dark eyes. There was no mistaking him—I could have picked Daren Wilde out of a line-up, sight unseen.

“I’m—” Shit. Rex was shaking his head at me.

A guy nudged Daren and pointed, and I could feel the blood draining out of my head as recognition washed over me like the ice cold touch of Death. He’d been the one on the street outside of the gallery. He’d seen me, heard me talking about Dare.

He knew who I was.

NO, NO, NO!

“That’s her,” the guy said. “That’s his girl. The one I saw on the street at that gallery.”

Daren’s mouth lifted into a cruel smile as his eyes slowly took me in from the top of my head all the way to the floor, and then back up again.

“RUN, REE!” Rex yelled.

Arms closed around me from behind as Daren whipped around and stomped on Rex’s hand. Leaning over him, he drew his gun and pointed it at Rex’s stomach.

“You lied to me, you fucking son of a bitch. You know what happens to liars?” He tilted his head to one side as if he was waiting for Rex to respond. He wasn’t. “They die. A slow and painful death.”

Then he pulled the trigger.

I was screaming and clawing at the arms around me as the guy was pulling me toward the door.

“NOOOO! REX! NOOOO!”

The other men had released Rex. His hands immediately went to his abdomen where blood quickly soaked his white shirt, a horrifying scarlet circle spreading out around him. He looked up at me, shock so clear on his face, and mouthed the word
No
over and over again.

Thrashing my head, I kicked and screamed, struggling to get out of the guy’s arms, but he held fast. I had to get to Rex. I had to call for help. They were all walking away from him, leaving him lying there in an ever-growing pool of his own blood.

“NOO—” A heavy hand slapped my face, cutting off my scream, sending stars into my vision.

“That’s enough out of you,” Daren said, then nodded at the guy holding me. “Go put her in the car. If she gives you any trouble, just fucking hit her again.” Then he looked me in the eye and smirked. “Welcome to hell, Princess.”

Are you ready for The End?

The final episode in Reagan and Dare’s story is coming...

But we’re not going to tell you anything about it, lol! (You weren't seriously expecting a blurb again, were you?)

Stay tuned. It’s coming. Soon.

REBEL ROUSED (Untamed #5)

COMING AUGUST 12, 2014

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Acknowledgements

W
e’ve got major love for our editor, Stevan Knapp. He has the sharpest eyes around, and is a big reason this book is so shiny inside.

We’ve also been blessed to have some serious cheerleaders on our side, spreading the word, supporting us, grumping at our evil cliffhanger endings (but being ever so forgiving about them, too). So we’d like to give extra special thanks to TeriLyn, Amanda, Jolene, Jena, Nicole, Beth, Helen, Justin, Catherine, Kristyn, Diana, Pam, Meli, and Taryn. You all rock! (We probably missed someone because we’ve been overwhelmed with our readers’ generosity and enthusiasm…so if we missed you it was completely unintentional. We love you, too.)

And lastly, we thank
you
for reading our books. You’re the reason we write.

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