Wild at Heart (14 page)

“Miss?” One of the burly delivery men walked over to us and handed me his clipboard. “We need you to inspect the canvases and sign off on the delivery.”

“I’ll do it,” Arianna offered.

“No,” I said. “It’s fine.” I took the clipboard and began walking toward the office. “I’ll be back in five and then we can go home.”

I looked over the paintings quickly, initialed the delivery forms and paid the men. Then I sat at my desk and dialed Dare’s number.

He answered on the second ring, his voice filled with warmth. “Ree.”

“Dare…” Shit. My hands started shaking as the enormity of the situation hit me.

“Ree? Are you okay?” He sounded so panicked, and I now understood how justified that was.

“I’m fine,” I said. “But…there’s a problem.” I told him what Arianna had said. Every scary bit.

Dare was cursing before I’d even finished. “This is exactly what I was afraid of, why I didn’t want you involved.” He let out tortured groan. “How did he find out about the show? It’s not like he runs in the same circles as your clients. And I specifically told Arianna no advertising.”

“You did?” Oh, shit. “Uh…she placed a week long ad in the Times, Dare. I didn’t know—” He let out such a string of curses I had to hold the phone away from my ear for a moment. I could feel his anger vibrating through it. “Dare, she didn’t mean to—”

“No,” he said. “She didn’t mean to alert my father, but she didn’t fucking listen to me. FUCK.” He ranted for another minute, then said, “He is NOT getting his hands on you. I will kill that bastard if he even tries.”

I didn’t doubt Dare’s ability to protect me even for a second. But who the hell was watching out for him in all of this? Had he forgotten
he
was in danger, too?

“We’re closing now,” I said. “I’ll make sure Arianna is off safely, and then I’ll head back home. I know we’re not supposed to see each other, but—”

“To hell with that.” He practically growled. “From now on, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“So you’ll meet me later tonight?” I needed to see him, touch him, hold him.

“No,” he said. “I’m coming to get you right now. I was chasing another lead on Stanzi, but came up empty-handed. Again. I’m on my way back into the city right now. Don’t leave the gallery. I’ll be there in twenty.”

“I can get to Rex’s by myself,” I said.

“I’m already on my way.”

“Dare, it’s—”

“You can’t drop this on me and then expect me not to worry. I’m on my way.” Okay, he had a point. I was about to hang up when he said, “And Ree?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you,” he said, his voice softening slightly. “You know that, right?”

“I know.” I felt it with my whole heart. Warmth flooded my body at his words, easing away some of the fear coursing through me.

We’d figure this out. Together.

“You’re mine to take care of and protect,” he added before hanging up.

Arianna called my name from the front, so I placed my phone back in the pocket of my dress pants and locked up the office.

“This was left outside when I went to take in the dog water bowl.” She was turning over a small package in her hands. “We didn’t have any other deliveries scheduled, right?”

“Nope. Dare’s stuff was it for today. Maybe the guys forgot something?” I crossed to the front door, propped it open, and stepped outside. The crisp fall air felt good in my lungs after being inside all day.

“I guess it’s possible, but what kind of artwork fits into such a small box?” Arianna called from inside.

“I have no idea,” I said, as I glanced around the street. “Dare doesn’t have any pint-size paintings.”

At the mention of Dare’s name a guy across the street who’d been looking inside the gallery suddenly shifted his gaze to me. The hairs on my arms stood on end.

Something was wrong.

Every cell in my body was screaming
Danger!

I turned to look at Arianna holding the little box, starting to rip through the paper, and whipped my head around to see the strange man turn the corner at a dead run and disappear out of sight.

No. It couldn’t be. Dare’s dad wouldn’t stoop to—

“Arianna!” I screamed. “STOP!”

She glanced up at me in surprise as she pulled open the flaps.

“PUT IT DOWN!” I lunged for the door. “THROW IT!”

Time froze. I screamed a soundless scream.

And then the entire world exploded.

seventeen

R
ushing to the Mount Sinai emergency department, not knowing whether Ree was dead or alive, ripped my world apart. Over the past couple of months, I’d had my body beaten and broken in countless places, my mind and spirit crushed, but none of it compared to this level of pain and panic.

When I’d gotten to SoHo, I couldn’t even get close to the gallery. Fire trucks, ambulances, and cop cars were everywhere, flashing red and blue lights for blocks. I’d parked, jumped off my bike, and sprinted to Ree’s street, where bright yellow caution tape and several officers blocked it off.

Smoke billowed out through the shattered windows of the building where Ree should have been waiting for me. If I hadn’t forced her to stay at the gallery—thinking she’d be safer there, foolishly believing I could protect her—she would’ve been halfway to Rex’s by now.

Instead, I’d signed her fucking death warrant.

Oh, god.

Don’t let it be true…don’t let it be true!

People all around me were talking.
Someone had been killed
, they’d said.
It had to be terrorists. But why would they blow up an art gallery?

They wouldn’t. But my dad would.

I tailed an ambulance all the way to the hospital, hoping Ree was inside. I abandoned my bike at the nearest lot, and was now racing toward the ER.

Praying for the best. Fearing the worst.

She was here, thank the gods, but they wouldn’t let me see her. Two hours of pure, hellish agony passed before anyone even answered a single question. Despite lying about being her brother, they refused to tell me anything, threatening to have me removed if I kept harassing the nursing staff for information. Ree’s actual family—the ones who could probably bypass all the red tape—were nowhere in sight.

A uniformed officer walked in through the ambulance entrance, and spoke quietly to the triage nurse. She pointed to me and I felt all the blood inside my body rush straight to my head. My ears were ringing, my hearing going in and out, and I was only able to make out half of the words he was saying.

A homemade bomb. Not terrorism, but a targeted attack. Couldn’t reveal any more right now, but did I have any idea who could’ve wanted to hurt my sister?

“Yes. Daren Wilde.” I heard myself tell him from a million miles away.
Find Daren fucking Wilde.

“Can you come down to the station to leave a statement?” the cop said. “Doesn’t have to be today. But tomorrow or the next day. It’ll help.”

I nodded—hell, I’d agree to almost anything if someone would just let me see Ree—but I knew better than to believe the police would actually be able to do anything about it.

“Is she…” I said, the pressure inside me reaching an unbearable high. “…okay?”

The cop rubbed his jaw, tensing slightly. “I think it’s best if you speak with the doctors.”

And that was when I lost it. Unable to contain myself any longer, I stormed into the patient area, shouting for Ree.

A nurse was on me in an instant, but I shook her off.

“I
have
to see her.” I growled the words out.

“Everyone has people they need to see here.” She tried to turn me around and push me toward the waiting room again. “We will come to get you when you’re allowed back here.” She pointed toward the doors, sounding like a drill sergeant. “Out! Now!”

But I sidestepped her and strode past a few rooms. “REE!”

The nurse was out of breath when she caught up to me. “Sir, I’m going to have to call security if you don’t settle down.”

“I have to see her! PLEASE! I have to know she’s alright!”

“Dare?” A small voice floated from the room to my right.

Her
voice.

The moment I ran inside and pulled back the curtain, my knees buckled. Ree was sitting on a gurney, cut, bruised, and bandaged, but alive. My entire world shook, then rushed into focus as the realization that I still had her hit me. Colors became brighter and sharper. Sounds louder. My heart beat a wild rhythm as tears of joy sprang into my eyes.

“SIR!” The nurse charged in after me. “You cannot just barge in—”

“No, please,” Ree said, holding up a hand as if to stop her. “Please let him stay. I want him with me.”

The nurse glared at me, harrumphed, mumbled her assent, then left in a huff.

Then I was at Ree’s side, wrapping my arms around her, fighting the urge to crush her to me. I couldn’t remember the last time I cried. I’d vowed never to cry again when I was seven years old because it gave my father too much joy. But seeing Ree, touching her, feeling her warm breath on my neck, I couldn’t hold back the tears.

“Oh, god, baby…” I brushed the hair out of her face and peered into her watery eyes. “I thought…I—”

She crushed her soft lips to mine with so much painful need my heart clenched. My Ree. My other half. I kissed her back harder than I’d intended, giving her everything I had, knowing just how close she’d come to being stolen away from me.

When we pulled apart, I took my time examining her, gently running my fingers through her hair, over her face and arms, careful to avoid all bandaged areas. “It kills me to see you hurt,” I whispered hoarsely. “If I’d been more careful, if I’d made you stay away…” I shook my head and groaned, kissing her again. “But I couldn’t. I fucking couldn’t. I gave in to my weakness.
You
.”

“Stop blaming yourself, Dare,” she said tearfully. “Loving you might be beyond my control, but being with you is my choice.” Cupping my face with one hand, she drew my head down so our foreheads met. “You were my very last thought when the bomb went off.”

“God, Ree…” I kissed my way down her nose to her lips. “I came so fucking close to losing you.”

“They told me I was lucky because I was outside,” she said. “The blast knocked me out, and aside from a concussion and twenty stitches here”—she lifted her bandaged forearm—”most of the cuts are superficial.” Her words were muffled by my shirt as she rested her face on my shoulder. “Arianna was the one holding the package…but they won’t tell me if she’s okay. Oh, my god—” She pulled away, her eyes suddenly wild. “I have to know, because…”

Her voice faltered as I started to shake my head. “At the scene they said someone had been killed…and I didn’t know if it was you or…”

“NO!” She was waving her arms in front of her as if the gesture could somehow erase what I’d said. “No, no, no!” She collapsed into my arms, sobbing. “She wasn’t supposed to die! She was holding a package meant for me!”

“I’m so sorry.” There was nothing else I could say. I felt as just as shitty, maybe even worse because all of this was entirely my fault.

Ree looked up at me, her face a mixture of shock and pain. “Arianna was just laughing and teasing me about you,” she said in a hoarse whisper. Horror and anguish entwined around her words. “She was going places, Dare. She was going so many places. She can’t be gone! Not like this!” Tears streamed down her cheeks, sobs rocked her body. “I didn’t get to her in time! If I’d been faster…”

Then you’d be dead, too.

I thought the words, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them out loud. Instead, I just pulled her closer and let her cry.

“My father is going to pay for this,” I said into her hair. “I swear to you, Ree.” Nothing could undo the damage he’d already done. Nothing could bring Arianna back or erase Ree’s scars. But I would make sure the asshole went down for his sins.

In the meantime, I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight. I would chain myself to her if I had to. Take a bullet for her. Die for her.

We stayed locked together for what felt like an eternity. Ree sobbing as I tried to soothe her and keep myself from losing it, too. After a while, she stilled and her breathing became more even.

“Reagan!” The voice startled us both. Letting go of her, I turned in the direction it had come, bristling at the sight of the tall, blond guy crowding the doorway.

“Archer,” Ree said, a sad smile lifting her lips.

Asshole
, I thought.

“Holy shit, baby girl. I saw the news.” In a few strides, he was beside us. “I recognized the gallery and called a friend at the NYPD to get the details. What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

Ree looked up at me, then shook her head. “My friend,” she said, tears welling up again. “She was killed.”

“Shit.” Archer reached out and grasped her hand. “But you’re okay?”

Him touching her irked me, but I relaxed slightly when I saw the concern in his eyes. He might’ve been on my shit list, but the preppy prick seemed to genuinely care about her. And Ree needed more people who gave a damn.

But that didn’t mean that I was going to stand there and let him keep touching her.

“She’s far from okay,” I said, forcing his attention to me. “But she’s alive.”