Wild at Heart (3 page)

“Me, too.” Glancing around the room again, I realized Rex was gone. “Where’s Rex?”

“He went home for a few hours. He’ll be back.” Celia reached out and squeezed Dare’s arm. “He’s spent almost every minute here since they found Dare…” Her eyes watered as she pressed a hand to her mouth.

I felt wildly uncomfortable, so I padded out into the hall to give them a little time to themselves. I walked past the nurses’ station, not having any actual clue where to go, feeling lost and overwhelmed. And when Dash quietly called my name a few moments later, relief washed over me.

He took one look at my face, opened his arms, wrapped them around me, and I hugged him tight, letting myself lose it.

“I know,” he said. “It’s unbearable to see him like that.”

I nodded into his chest, unable to speak.

“He’ll come back to us, Ree. I have to believe he will. I can’t lose my brother—not having only just found him.” He choked on those last words and tightened his arms around me. “We all have to hang in there, give him time to heal.”

“Dash, what happened?”

“We don’t really know. He went after our dad and was found the next day nearly beaten to death.” He shook his head, his whole body tensing as he slowly released me and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “He was unconscious, had multiple broken ribs, and his right hand…” He closed his eyes as if he were in pain.

“What?” I said. “What’s wrong with his hand?”

“It was crushed. Broken bones, severed tendons.” His jaw tightened. “Like Dad wanted to make sure Dare wouldn’t ever be able to use it again.”

My breath flew out of me like I’d been kicked in the gut. Dare was right-handed. If that hand was severely damaged…

Jesus.

I just…there was nothing to say to that.

Dash showed me around the ICU, so I knew where everything was, and then we went back to Dare’s room to hope. And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Now, a week later, I still sat by Dare’s side.
Always by his side
.

I could barely eat, but at least once a day I forced down a few bites of soggy salad from the cafeteria just so I could function on some basic level. I even drank the nasty coffee from the vending machine. If only to stay awake. In case…

“Wake up,” I whispered over his soft, ragged breathing. “Please, Dare.”

The alternative was too painful to bear.

“Please, please,
please
. Open your eyes, baby. Come back to me.” I brought my lips to his ear, but didn’t risk touching him. There were too many cuts and bruises, too many bandages on his head. And his right hand—the one with the bandages and splint—constricted my heart and knotted my stomach every time I looked at it.

The doctor said surgery had repaired the damage, but they didn’t know how much use he would regain until it healed. Whether he’d be able to paint. Or draw. Or tattoo. All of the things he loved most in this world.

Not that it mattered right now. Nothing mattered except him waking up.

I looked around the room at the people stuck in this godforsaken limbo with me. Dalia had finally drifted off to sleep, her tall, lean frame contorted in the chair. Dax sat across from me, bouncing his knees and typing away on his cell, all the while cursing their father under his breath.

Rex was motionless by the widow, staring out onto the busy street, lost in his own thoughts. He hadn’t said much over the past seven days, but the turbulent expression in his eyes revealed a war waging beneath the surface of his stony silence.

Dash had taken Celia to get something to eat. The woman was all skin and bones and dark under-eye circles, looking like she wanted nothing more than to be hooked up to Dare’s morphine drip. And I couldn’t blame her. I, too, was itching for a way out of the anguish suffocating me. Every second of waiting, hoping, fearing the worst was bringing me closer to the point of breaking, but I knew I couldn’t turn to pills. No matter what, I had to stay sober and strong for Dare.

Now and always.

Regardless of what the future might have in store for us.

“Ree…” Dare is calling my name, his voice thin and raw. I keep reaching for him, but he slips away, dissolving and disappearing from my grasp.

Over and over again.

I reach and he’s gone. I reach and he’s gone.

“Dare wait!” I cry.

I can’t move fast enough. My arms are too heavy to lift, my feet won’t budge.

He calls my name again. “Ree…”

I awoke to an empty, dim room, my chair pulled up next to Dare’s bed, my head nestled on the mattress beside him. My braid was a matted blonde mess and my eyes stung.

But something was different. Something
felt
different.

My pulse began to race faster than the steady beeping of the monitor. I could
feel
someone watching me.

And there was only one other person in the room.

four

“R
ee…” he said softly, breathing my name like it gave him life. The sound was weak and groggy, but it was Dare’s voice.

Dare!

I turned my head to find him looking down at me with familiar chocolate brown eyes—eyes I hadn’t seen for weeks. A tsunami of relief washed over me, and I sat up so fast the room swayed.

“DARE!” He flinched, so I dropped my voice to a whisper. “How…when…?” My thoughts were a mere jumble of words I couldn’t string together into a coherent sentence. “Oh, god…” I leaned over and gently pressed my hand to his cheek, careful to avoid his shattered cheekbone, unable to stop my tears from bursting forth like a storm.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying, Ree?”

I couldn’t help it. I had never been more thankful for anything in my entire life. “You’re awake. I feel like my world is right again,” I said. Far from perfect, of course, but at least it was back to rotating on its axis. “I have to get your mom. And Dash, Dalia, and Dax. Rex has been spending all his time here, too. And that doctor…
oh, god
…everyone will be—”

“Doctor?” Confusion clouded his eyes. “Where am I?” He tried to sit up, but his head immediately fell back against the pillow as he groaned in pain. “Jesus. What’s going on?” He sounded so lost and disoriented, so unlike himself, which only made me cry harder.

“You’re…you’ve been…oh, god, Dare…you…”

“Ree,” he cut me off, wincing as he turned his head to kiss my palm. “Stop.
Breathe
.”

I nodded, my tears slowing, the anguish in my heart giving way to a small light of hope. He was alive. In the end, that was all that truly mattered.

And…he knew who I was.

He tried to raise his hand, but his face contorted in pain. “I’ve been dying to reach out and touch you, but it fucking kills to move.”

“Don’t,” I said, bringing my face to his. “I’ll come to you.” I gave him a light peck, the roughness of his cracked lips scraping against my skin. Yet I couldn’t help but smile. Even broken, Dare Wilde was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. And he belonged to me. “I was so afraid you might not remember me.”

“Not remember you?” A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. “Time and time again, you’ve proven impossible to forget.”

“I just meant…” Shit. They’d said he could have memory loss due to the severity of the concussion. Yet here he was…bruised, beaten, and bloodied, but still very much
mine
. “I’m so glad you’re awake.”

“How long have I been here?” He surveyed the room. “In the hospital.”

“A little over a week,” I said, slipping my hand into his and relishing the fact that his fingers held on tight. “Do you remember…”
Your attack? Your father’s attempt at your life? Your near-death experience?
“…what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Shutting his eyes, he gave a little headshake. “Rex got hurt. And I came back to deal with that. I…I don’t remember anything more.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or upset that there were things he didn’t remember. We’d been told to expect this, that it was common. I almost hoped Dare would have no recollection of the horror his father had put him through. And mine, too.

I kissed him again and stood up. “I have to get your family in here, they’ve been so worried—”

“No. Stay, Ree.” He didn’t release my hand. “I want a moment alone with you. Just to…
be
.”

“HOLY CRAP!” Dalia yelled from the doorway, startling us both. “DARE!”

I cringed at the volume of her voice, but smiled at Dare.

“Do you know who that loud shriek belongs to?” I whispered before turning my attention to his sister who was already flying across the room.

“Terror One,” he said as she beamed down at him from the other side of the bed.

“It’s about time you woke up. You ready to rumble or what?” Dax nudged his sister out of the way. “I know I can take you right now, because, honestly, you look like shit.”

Dalia elbowed him in the stomach, doubling him over in pain.

“Take it down a notch or two.” Dash walked around them, sending me a look of pure, raw relief. “You had us worried there for a while.”

Then Celia was rushing into the room, and they were all stepping aside so she could get to Dare. I tried to give them a moment, but Dare wouldn’t let go of my hand. As I began to gently ease my fingers out of his grasp, he tightened his grip and shot me a smile, telling me that I was a part of them all. That I was family.

And my heart nearly burst with love and relief.

This previously somber room was suddenly filled with celebration and laughter. Of course, we weren’t out of the woods yet. There was so much more healing he had to do, and we wouldn’t know the outcome of his injuries for a while, but we’d been so desperate for a single moment of reprieve, a tiny drop of happiness, that none of us cared.

Dare tired out pretty quickly, so when he fell asleep again, I took the opportunity to get out of the ICU and simply move around.

I was totally wired—high on Dare’s first step to recovery, and high on life again. I
knew
he’d get through this. And I
knew
he’d be okay. Deep down, I just knew everything was going to work out. I could feel it.

And that realization made me want to skip down the hallways and sing at the top of my lungs. But since I was in the ICU, surrounded by people still waiting for good news—or any news at all—I opted instead to make the next coffee run.

“I’ve got this,” I said, when Dash offered to come along. “That vending machine and I are now practically BFFs.”

I made it halfway to the lounge on the other side of the wing before my buzz was killed by the appearance of the one person I’d been dreading meeting since I’d left for Paris all those months ago.

My father.

five