Rebel Roused (Untamed #5)

one

H
igh.

I was high as a fucking kite, drunk on life, and feeling truly alive for the first time in months. My world was filled with color—every hue and shade imaginable—brushing over the darkness, brightening the grays and blacks that had shrouded my life.

My father was out. So was Ree’s.

We’d fucking won.

I’d given my statement to the police, my fingers drumming on my leg the whole time, my body itching to hop back on my bike and cross the river back to Ree. Even as I told them what I knew about my dad, I was picturing Ree packing up her stuff, imagining how she would fill the void in my apartment. In my heart. In my life.

We’d fucking WON.

I crowed as I swerved through traffic, speeding over the 59th Street bridge into Queens, the engine roaring beneath me. Ree and I were free to start a life together. Our own life, where happiness had no boundaries and rain was followed by a fucking rainbow—not shitstorm after shitstorm.

It had been years since I’d felt this grounded. I was ready for this life with Ree. Ready for commitment. Ready to make her mine forever.

I patted the front of my black leather jacket, feeling the little square lump in the inside pocket—a little extra stop I’d made after the precinct. The small velvet box held the first step toward our future, and I was going to give it to her tonight. No waiting for the perfect moment. No planning some staged grand gesture. No hesitating.

She was mine and I was hers. Nearly losing her to that bomb had changed everything.

Had it only been days since then? It felt like a whole fucking lifetime had passed. An avalanche of game-changing things had occurred: so many struggles coming to an end, problems being solved, loose ends getting tied up.

We were done. Finally and forever done. With blackmail. With games. With everybody and their fucking uncles getting in our way.

The bomb had been rock bottom. Now, there was nowhere to go but up.

In fact, we were already on our way—we had the mayor’s vow that my father was going back to prison. The police had assured me my testimony would help keep him there. Two counts of murder. The bastard would rot like he should have the first time around.

No more sick, twisted surprises.

Real, uncomplicated happiness was finally ours.

The sun shone warm against my skin, brightening what was already a perfect fall day. Perhaps after we got Ree’s stuff settled into my place, we’d head out to the south shore, spend the weekend out on Long Island. The two of us, away from everything and everyone. No distractions. And definitely no clothes.

The thought had me grinning.

I parked my bike outside of Rex’s house, then walked around to the outside entrance that led up to Ree’s apartment. Taking the steps two at a time, her name was on my lips before I even opened the front door. I was desperate to see her, touch her, hear her voice, fill myself up with her presence.

But she was nowhere to be found. Her bags were mostly packed, the bed was stripped, but the place was empty. Knowing my girl and her love for art, she was probably in Rex’s studio, quietly watching him paint with a cup of tea in hand, waiting for me.

Aside from his models and me, Ree was the only person Rex had ever allowed in the room while he painted, and I was pretty damn sure he preferred her presence to mine. They could spend hours lost in their own world, debating artists, styles, and paintings.

With everything that had happened the past few months, I was more than grateful that Rex had been Ree’s knight in paint-speckled armor. He’d been my savior and hers. And while I loved my family with every fiber of my being, Ree and Rex were the two most important people in my life. The fact that they had formed such a close bond meant a lot to me.

The door down to Rex’s studio was wide open, which was more than a little odd for the old recluse, and as soon as I started down the stairs I could feel it.

Something was wrong.

Terribly fucking wrong.

Sheets and towels lay strewn all over the bottom of the stairs and Rex’s studio was trashed. His lights were smashed, easel tipped over and broken, and a crushed cell phone lay on the floor. A bright red trail of paint led into the house.

Oh, Jesus. Not paint.

Blood.

Fear shot through me as I chased the crimson path, ripping through the house, terrified I was about to come face-to-face with my worst nightmare. Heart pounding, panic had me by the balls and was squeezing the fucking life out of me. This had to be just a bad dream and I would wake up any minute now.

It had to be.

Because…this couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when everything was finally working out in our favor. If that was Ree’s—

“
Dare
…” Rex coughed out my name, his voice weak, and for a brief instant I was frozen in anguish.

He was lying on the living room floor, his head and shoulders propped up crookedly against the bottom of the couch. A cordless phone in one hand, he clutched his abdomen with the other. His bone-white face was a chilling contrast to his blood-soaked shirt.

No, no…FUCK NO.

In an instant, I was across the room, kneeling next to him, and pressing my hand over his to keep the pressure on his wound.

“Dare…” His voice was whisper thin, pain vibrating through it, hitting me hard, shattering my heart.

“Don’t talk.” I pulled out my cell phone. “I’m calling an ambulance right now. It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be fine, Rex. You’re going to be okay, you hear me?”

He
had
to be. He couldn’t die. Save for Ree, no one in my life had ever believed in me as much as Rex. He was the reason I had a life that was worth living. He was my father in every sense of the word. And he had to be okay, goddammit.

Rex lifted the phone in his hand. “Already…called.” I could hear the dispatch repeat that help was coming as Rex’s eyes closed, then fluttered open. “He…has…Ree.”

I didn’t ask who he was talking about.

My father’s revenge.

The phone dropped out of his hand and his head lolled to the side.

“Rex, no! Stay with me.
Please
!” My vision blurred as I shifted him into my arms and reached for his hand. His grip was too weak—no,
please god, no
—and his eyes weren’t focusing on anything. “You hear me, Rex? Don’t you fucking die on me!”

There wasn’t enough air in this room, my chest heaved, pain crushing me as I held him.

“What’s going on?” He shook his head slightly, confusion crossing his face. “Where am I? Who’s here?”

“It’s me, Rex, and you’re home. You’ve been hurt.” I squeezed his hand. “Help is coming. You have to hold on just a little longer. Okay? Just a little longer. Please!”

My face was drenched with tears, my hands and clothes soaked in blood. Too much blood, and it wasn’t stopping. Our palms pressed against his stomach, but it kept flowing. Why wouldn’t it stop?

Just a few minutes more, I kept telling myself. Just until the paramedics got here. They could save him if he’d just hang on for a little longer.

I leaned in close to him. “Please, Rex. Please just…don’t die.”

His deep green gaze found my face and recognition bloomed within his eyes. “Dare…” A slight smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “I love you, my son. Always have.” A tear slid down his cheek.

“Shit, Rex. You know I love you.” I held him tighter as my throat started to close. “Just hang on, old man.
Please
.
For me.
”

He started to nod, but then the light in his eyes dimmed. Fuck…it was going out.

“No…Rex…”

His smile slipped, all expression erased from his face as his body went limp. A small stream of blood trickled down his chin.

“NO.
REX!
” I shook my head over and over again. “Don’t go! Please!
NO!
”

There was a banging on the front door, but I couldn’t respond. Sobs wracked my body as I held his lifeless form in my arms

My teacher, my friend, my true father.

Gone.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was over. It was fucking OVER. We’d taken care of everything. My dad couldn’t blow all our hard work to pieces now that we’d won. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.

By the time the paramedics pried me away from Rex, I wasn’t in control of my body or mind. Hurt and rage flowed through my veins, engulfing me, scorching my heart, filling me with deadly determination.

I watched as they checked for a pulse, looked for any signs of life, unable to answer their questions as my mind churned, my eyes never straying from Rex’s still form.

This would be the last thing my father ever did. His legacy ended now.

I would hunt him down, and make him pay for what he did to Rex.

And if he hurt Ree in the meantime?

All the gods in the world wouldn’t be able to save him from my wrath.

two

M
y head ached.

That was the first thing I noticed.

The second was that I didn’t even care.

A very familiar floaty feeling enveloped me. I could feel every molecule of air going into my lungs as I listened to the music of cars going by on my right. Though I could sense every inch of my body, it didn’t feel like my limbs really belonged to me. And I tried my damnedest to figure out why that felt
wrong
. Once upon a time, I remembered it feeling so, so
right
.