Rebel Roused (Untamed #5) (5 page)

I
was trapped in a murky, dark dream, lost in a fog. Shivering. So very cold. My ears were ringing, my limbs immobile, and the intense pressure in my head made me feel as if I was submerged under water.

Maybe I was drowning.

Images filtered through the haze of my mind—Dare fighting with his dad, a gun going off, and then…nothing. Oh, god. What if he’d been killed? I had to get out of here. I had to claw my way to the surface.

“No, no, noooo!” My throat was raw, my cries raspy. “NO!” Tangles of tubes imprisoned me, my right hand couldn’t move, and a fast, loud beeping sound was going off like a warning bell. “Dare! Oh, god…no.” I tried to break free.

My body screamed in protest.

“Ree.” The smooth, low sound of his voice went straight to my pounding heart, easing my panic into calm. “Hey, easy.
Easy
.” Blinking furiously, I forced the world—and Dare’s bruised face—into focus. He stood next to me, his hands stilling my arms. “It’s okay, baby.”

“You’re alive.” Tears flowed from my eyes as my heart welled with relief. My throat tightened and I had to swallow several times before I could speak again. His own eyes looked glassy as he gazed at me and nodded.

“You are, too.”

I glanced around the room. “I’m in the hospital?”

He nodded. “We really gotta stop meeting like this,” he said with a smile.

Oh, god. He was alive. We were
both
alive. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to kiss him.

I wanted to know that this was real.

“You’re okay?” I needed to hear him say it out loud. “This isn’t a dream? Please tell me this isn’t a dream.”

Dare leaned closer, pressing his warm lips to my cool forehead. “It’s not a dream.”

“What happened?”

He pulled back and gazed down at me. The circles around his eyes were even darker now. He seemed so…drained. Yet the smile still clung to his lips.

“I got you back,” he said softly. “That’s what happened.” He looked over to the machine next to my bed. “But you…” He trailed off and pressed his lips together as he swallowed hard. “You saved my life, Ree. You…” He shook his head, unable to speak for a moment. When he did, his voice was tight. “You saved me.”

I reached up and touched his face with my left hand. He leaned into my palm, stubble scratching my skin, his tender lips brushing against it. He was all sorts of hard and soft. And real. He was really, really REAL.

“I couldn’t let him hurt you anymore,” I said. “It was instinct.”

“It was crazy,” Dare said. But he would’ve done the same for me. Hell, he already had. Countless times. He’d saved my life over and over again. “You scared me to death.” Then he laughed at his choice of words. “Shit. No pun intended.” He kissed my forehead again, ever so softly making his way down my nose to my lips. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if you’d…”

“I know. Me, too.” I took a deep, shaky breath and tried to sit up, but my side felt like it was on fire. I gasped at the pain. Fuck, this hurt.

Dare raised my bed and gently shifted another pillow behind me, so I was half-sitting. “The bullet went straight through your phoenix’s heart.” He gently placed his hand on the upper part of my right thigh. “Thankfully it went clean through and out the other side.”

“What about your dad?” I said, shuddering at the mere thought of him, but I had to know. “Is he…?”

“He’s dead.”

Relief washed over me, though it didn’t feel real. It didn’t make me feel safe. It didn’t make me feel better.

“Oh, my god. What about Rex? He was trying to protect me, Dare…and he…Daren shot…”

Agony sliced across Dare’s beautiful face, his eyes grew watery, and my heart stopped.

No. Oh, please no. “Oh, my god, Dare. I’m so…he can’t be…” A sob escaped my lips as tears filled my eyes again.

“Rex is…gone.” He leaned forward, wrapped his arms around me, and we held onto each other as we cried.

In so many ways, Rex had brought us together and kept us together…even when we were apart. That he was…oh, god, the pain in my heart was worse that the wound in my side.

Rex was gone. Dead. And he’d died because of me.

Dare saw the look on my face, felt the guilt scorching my insides. “Don’t go there, Ree,” he whispered hoarsely. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine.” He took a deep breath. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Forgive you for what?”

“For everything. For what my father did, for letting you get hurt, for Rex, for—”

“Dare,
no
.” I pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t. I refuse to lie here and listen to you apologize for what that monster did. You weren’t responsible for any of it.”

“But—”

“And your love was the one thing—the ONLY thing—that kept me going through all the pain. It kept my heart beating. So don’t apologize for saving me.”

“You’re the one who saved me.” He shook his head. “You’ve always saved me. From the moment I met you and every minute since.” He picked up my left hand, held it gently in his, rubbing his thumb in circles over my skin. “I want to color your world, Ree. I want to be the source of your laughter, to inspire your smiles, to share in all the good that’s yet to come.” He leaned back in the chair and fished something out of his jacket pocket.

A small blue velvet box.

Oh. My. God.

“I don’t ever want us apart again. My heart broke at the thought of losing you. I can’t bear to go through that ever again. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He opened the box to reveal a small, antique silver ring with the most beautiful, brilliant sapphire stone set in the middle of it. “We are two parts of a whole,” he said. “We always have been. Say you’ll be my other half forever, Ree.”

“Yes.” I nodded. My head felt like it weighed a freaking ton, but I didn’t care. “Yes, yes, yes. Forever and then some.”

Exhaling sharply, he slid the ring on my finger and then claimed my mouth with his. His tongue entwined with mine, sending tingles down my spine. My heart was on a sprint and my head was on a tilt-a-whirl. The kiss seemed like it was going to go on forever—not that I was complaining—but he pulled away slightly to let me catch my breath. His lips were still so close to mine, his fingers still interlocked with my own, and his eyes refused to let me go.

The look he gave me warmed every part of my body, delving into my soul and spreading through me like warm, rich chocolate. It was a look from a best friend. A lover. A soul mate. A partner in all the good and the bad.

It held a promise that, from now on, our world was going to be filled with only happiness, laughter, and love. We were going to live the rest of our lives in bright, vibrant color.

We were way overdue.

seven

W
e stood in front of Rex’s gravestone, and all I could think about was the fact that the drab, gray marble wasn’t worthy of the man nor his memory. Even the “Beloved Friend and Father” inscription seemed like it wasn’t doing enough, wasn’t saying everything it should. Everything I wanted people to know about Rex.

He’d saved me. Plain and simple.

Not only had he been the most brilliant artist of his time, he’d been the most generous person I knew. He’d taken me in when he should have booted me out the door. He’d given me a second chance after I’d fucked up the first.

He’d loved me like my own father never had—like a son.

And the gaping hole he’d left in my life hurt like hell.

“Aw, fuck, Ree,” I said. The late November wind cut across my skin, stinging my face, chilling me to the bone. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, and pulled her closer into me. If it hadn’t been for her, my heart would be completely empty. Missing Rex.

“I know,” she said as she pressed her cheek into my leather jacket. “Me, too.”

No matter how firmly I hugged her or how hard I kissed her, I felt like we still couldn’t be close enough. Three weeks had passed since I’d gotten her back, but I still couldn’t let her out of my sight.

For the first time in my life, I had everything I wanted. Well, almost everything. But it had come at a steep price. For us both.

“What are we going to do with all of Rex’s stuff?” Ree bit down on her lip and glanced up at me. “We can’t just keep ignoring the fact that you’ve inherited his estate. Things have to be taken care of…” Her eyes glistened with tears. “We have to do right by him, Dare.”

“I don’t want his money,” I said immediately. “It’s not right.”

Two weeks ago, mere days after burying him, his attorney had called to tell me that Rex had left everything to me in his will. Money, paintings, even his house. He had no other family, and had listed me as his sole beneficiary.

Having led a frugal, reclusive life, he’d accumulated an impressive amount of savings. If I chose to keep the money, Ree and I were guaranteed an easy ride for the rest of our lives.

A ride that would be funded by blood money.

“I can’t, Ree…”

“I know. I can’t either.” She was quiet for a while, then said, “So we won’t.”

I looked over at her in surprise. “You really mean that?”

She nodded. “We don’t need that money.” We both knew that was a big, fat lie. She’d severed all financial ties with her parents months ago, and I’d lost most of my work in the explosion at La Période Bleue. To say that we were broke was an understatement.

Still…

“I just can’t stand to profit from this,” I said. “It would feel too much like I was celebrating his death.”

She looked down at the flowers laid out on the frozen earth—piles of them from friends, colleagues, and fans—and smiled softly. “Then what about celebrating his life instead? What if, instead of keeping the money, we did something with it in Rex’s honor? Something that celebrates the mark he left behind, both in the art world and in our hearts.”

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with crisp, winter air. When I was at my lowest, Rex had been the only one to believe in me. Not only that, but he’d also supported my work when no one else would. By the time I got out of juvie, many people had written me off completely. And those who hadn’t only wanted me to be Daren Junior.

Rex had steered me onto the right path, never doubting that I would get my act together. His faith in me had made me want to be better, do better. To be more like him.

And I suddenly knew exactly what we could do with the money to achieve that.

“What do you think about creating a scholarship fund in Rex’s name to an art school?” I said. “Something to help underprivileged kids looking to make a positive change in their lives, a transition in the right direction.”

Ree’s face lit up. “It’s perfect. I know Rex would approve.” She rose up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against my cheek. “He’d be so proud. It will be a celebration of the two of you as a team.”

The two of you.
Those words stung.

Rex and Dare. Never again.

“But I need more time to decide what to do about the townhouse,” I said. “Rex lived there for over thirty years.”

“We don’t have to rush it.” Ree gave me a reassuring squeeze. “There’s time, Dare.”

While I couldn’t part with the place, there was also no way in hell I could live there. And I knew with certainty that Ree couldn’t either. Not after everything that had happened within those walls.

“As for his art…” I stiffened. Fuck, this hurt. “I can’t sell his paintings.” They were him. The only tangible thing I had left of Rex. The money and the house were mere objects, but those paintings were his fucking soul.

Ree shook her head. “We’ll keep them forever. When you’re ready, we can adorn our entire house with his work. And when I have my own gallery one day, I’ll have monthly exhibits dedicated to him.” Her mouth quirked up in a small smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to leave room on my walls for some Wildes, too.”

eight

I
felt Rex’s presence as Ree and I worked to pack up his house over the next week. He was everywhere—and nowhere—all at once.

“Dare, come in! Show me your latest work. I want to see how you’ve grown.”

I saw him in front of the old gas stove where he taught me to cook so I could make sure the twins wouldn’t go hungry. His laughter echoed in the TV room that was riddled with a mountain of those damn Smothers Brothers tapes he loved so much. How he was able to watch the same episode over and over again, and
still
find something to laugh about had always baffled me. As did the fact that he refused to switch to DVDs when most of the modern world got rid of their VCRs.