Escaped Artist (Untamed #3) (16 page)

“Although,” Leo now said, leaning forward to be heard, “we were a little off on—”

“Shut up and enjoy the glory, Leo,” Hawke said. “It was fucking perfect tonight.
WE
were perfect.”

Leo’s face got hard. “It’s Lynx, you fuckwad. My name is
Lynx
.”

“Your name is Leo,” Indie said, pointing at him. “And it’s staying that way. We are not going to call you Lynx. Ever. Give it up already, while you’ve still got some dignity intact.”

Leo looked ready to pout, but then the brunette on his right spoke.

“Leo?” she said, her voice as smooth and velvety as her brown skin. “That’s kinda sexy.” She purred as she petted his arm.

“Totally,” said the blonde on his left. “Like a lion. You can be king of
my
jungle anytime.” She took hold of his jaw, started to bring his mouth to hers, when Hawke put his hand between them.

“Sorry, babe, but there’s already a queen of Leo’s jungle.” Hawke turned her face to him while Leo looked half-relieved, half-disappointed. Hawke’s voice dipped into a low and sensual territory. “But, tonight, you can make
me
roar.”

Indie’s mouth fell open as she just shook her head. “You do realize that lions don’t actually live in a
jungle
, right? Oh, fuck it. Never mind.” Then she shrugged and went back to dazzling the cute guy sitting next to her with a brilliant smile.

I looked over at Synner to see if he’d noticed—he usually did—but he was too busy talking to Dalia.

Dax stared slack-jawed at the girls fawning over Leo and Hawke, drooling on the table. Without taking his eyes off of the women, he hit Dash’s arm.

“Just this very minute I discovered I have musical talent. Can I join your band?”

Dash laughed, shaking his head, his arm draped around a stunning blonde.

“You don’t have a musical bone in your body.” Dalia turned away from Synner for a moment. “And a musical boner for groupies doesn’t count.”

“Okay, fine!” Dax laughed. “Then I can be your muscle. How about I go on tour with you as a roadie?” He flexed one well-toned bicep. “I play football, you know.”

“How about you finish school first.” Dare smacked the back of Dax’s head, and Dax glared at him. If we weren’t sitting in a restaurant, he probably would have pounced on Dare right then.

God, I loved it. Every single moment.

I hated to miss anything by going to the ladies’ room, but guzzling water instead of downing shots tended to have an…
effect
.

When I came out of the stall, Dalia was freshening up her lip gloss. Our eyes met in the mirror as I washed my hands, and she beamed at me.

“So…” she said, “we haven’t had a chance to talk yet, but it looks like things are good.”

I nodded, unable to wipe the delirious smile from my face. “Really good,” I said.

She tilted her head to one side. “You seem…different.”

“I am,” I said. “I’m trying to be.”

“Dare said something about rehab?”

Oh, wow. He’d told his family, then. He was so close to Dalia and Dax, and since they’d unfortunately been privy to some of my past fuck-ups, I supposed it made sense to share the good news with them.

Regardless, I was a little thrown. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that a stint in rehab wasn’t something to feel shame over. Shedding years of McKinley conditioning was easier said than done.

“Who’d have thought, right?” I smiled, trying to hide my discomfort. “Getting clean in Amsterdam of all places. Oh, the irony.”

Dalia laughed, then reached over to squeeze my arm. “He’s so proud of you, Ree,” she said. “I don’t know if you realize how huge this is to him. Our mom…” Her eyes started to water and she had to swallow a couple of times before she could continue. “She’s never made it through.” Her voice was tight. “She’s tried so many times, but never stuck it out no matter how much we begged her. Dare has always felt like we weren’t enough for her, like
he
wasn’t enough. And now that you’ve made it through…” A couple of tears slipped out and she threw her arms around me, squeezing me tight. “You’ve made him feel like he is enough. Finally. He can’t stop bragging about how brave you are, how strong, how amazing.” She pulled back to look at me, her face wet, an immense grin getting in the way of the tears. “How much he loves you.”

My own eyes began to sting as I hugged her to me again. “Thank you,” I finally said.

See, Ree? Nothing to be ashamed of.

“No.” Dalia pulled away and wiped at her eyes. “Thank YOU. Now I don’t have to hunt you down and kick your ass.” Her laughter sparkled around us, echoing off the restroom tiles.

We walked back out to the table arm in arm. She leaned down to say something to Synner as she slid into the seat next to him, and he laughed.

My eyes sought out Dare. He and Dash had stepped away from the group and were locked in an intense conversation by the bar. The closer I came, the clearer their words became.

“…you don’t think they deserve to know?” Dare shook his head. “It just doesn’t seem right to keep this from them.”

“We don’t know anything so let’s not spoil the end of their trip. They’ll be going back to reality soon enough.” Dash noticed me nearing, and his voice dipped. “No need to scare them unnecessarily.”

Dare’s eyes met mine.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“As far as we know, it is.” Dare glanced at Dash, then back at me. “You okay? Is this too much tonight? Do you want to get going?”

He put his arm around me and started leading me away. I couldn’t help but glance back at Dash, my curiosity spiked by the worried look on his face.

Something was going on that they weren’t telling me about.

All I could think was that something was wrong with Dare’s mom. Because why else would the two brothers be talking about spoiling Dalia and Dax’s trip?

I opened my mouth to ask again, but then quickly shut it. They obviously didn’t want me in on the issue. I was just going to have to wait until Dare was ready to talk.

I would be patient with him. Just like he had been patient with me.

After all, we had all the time in the world.

seventeen

“H
ey, not near the food!” Dax groaned the next morning as he sat down at the table.

Dare broke our kiss, flipped the finished pancakes onto a plate, then poured more batter into the hot skillet. Grinning at Dax over his shoulder, he pulled me toward him again and kissed me so hard my toes curled in my flip-flops.

“God, Dare,” Dax said. “Get a room.”

Without releasing my lips, Dare yanked the dishtowel hanging off the front of the oven and threw it at Dax.

“Leave ‘em alone,” Dash said, smacking the back of Dax’s head, whose eyes narrowed dangerously as he sized up his older brother.

“Watch it, old man,” Dax said. “I’m not afraid to take you down a few notches. And I’m not going to go easy on you just because you’re famous.”

“WHO,” Dash laughed and hit his head again, “are you calling OLD?”

For a brief second Dax stared at him, then he was up, flying across the table, and tackling Dash to the ground. They wrestled around, knocking over chairs, banging into cabinets, making enough noise to wake anybody who may have been still sleeping.

Dash laughed even as Dax pinned him to the ground.

“Okay, okay,” Dash said. “I give up.”

“Pansy.” Dare shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re actually related. You NEVER give up. Especially not to Dax.”

“
Uncle
,” Dax said, not letting Dash up. “You’ve got to say
uncle
.”

“Fine. UNCLE.” Dash grinned, and I could feel Dare smile behind me. “So this is what it’s like to have brothers.”

“That’s
right
.” Dax got up, a smug look on his face. “And THIS is what it’s like to get smacked down by your brother.”

“Dax would know,” Dare said. “He’s had a LOT of experience with that.”

Dax pointed at Dare. “I can take you next.” Then he looked around, his brow furrowing. “Speaking of getting smacked down, where the hell is Dalia?”

Dash sat up. “She’s not on the couch?”

Dax shook his head. “She wasn’t there when I got up.”

“She must be in the sh—” Dash started to say, but stopped when Synner’s door swung open.

Synner backed out of his room, his lips firmly glued to Dalia’s.

There was a moment of stunned silence in the room as we all stared. Dalia wound her arms around Synner’s neck as he slid his hands down the small of her back, over the swell of her ass and squarely took hold.

Synner actually SQUEEZED Dalia’s butt. In front of her three brothers.

Time truly felt like it stopped.

Then all hell broke loose.

Dash leapt to his feet while Dare lunged for Dax, who struggled to get free of Dare’s steely hold, a murderous expression on his face.

Dash tapped Synner on the shoulder, and as he turned his head, Dash punched him in the face. Synner reeled from the hit, a line of curses flying out of his mouth.

“Bloody hell, Dash! You just broke my fucking nose.” He was blinking his eyes, his hands pressed against the bridge of his nose. When he pulled them away, they were smeared with blood. “What the fuck is your problem? I’m your fucking bandmate.”

“And she’s my fucking SISTER!” Dash grabbed hold of Dalia’s wrist and yanked her behind him.

“DASH!” Dalia tugged her arm free. “STOP IT! I’m a grown woman.”

“She is, indeed.” Synner grinned even as the blood seeped out of his nose. “Best piece of tail—”

Dax roared and Dare swung him around, shoving him into the kitchen and sending him sputtering to the floor at my feet. Then he launched himself at Synner, hitting him square in the jaw.

“LITTLE sister,” Dare roared, his chest heaving. “She’s our little sister, you prick!”

Dax had gotten up and was now also charging at Synner, but Dalia dove for his feet, tackling him to the ground. Then she scrambled up onto his chest and caught him in a choke-hold.

“Cut. It. Out.” She got right in Dax’s face. “NOW, Dax!” Then she looked up at Dare and Dash. “Every single testosterone-filled Wilde better back the fuck off. If you hit him again, I will knock the shit out of all three of you.” She punched Dax’s shoulder as he started to struggle under her. “I’m not kidding, Dax. I am nineteen years old. You guys don’t get to pull this shit anymore. I will sleep with whoever I want, whenever the fuck I want.” She leaned into Dax, causing him to grunt in pain. “Am I making myself clear?!”

Dax glared at Synner, but he nodded reluctantly.

Dalia rose to her feet and placed herself in front of Synner, facing Dare and Dash. “How about you two asshats?” She poked each of them in the chest. Hard. “Have
you
got it?”

Neither of them took their eyes off Synner, but they nodded in unison.

“Good.” She turned her back on them and reached up to gently touch Synner’s face.

“Marry me, love,” he said, gazing down at her in awe.

Dalia laughed, the sound wild and free, and shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.”

A week later, Dalia and Dax were on their way home and my job in Paris was looming. Dare was putting the finishing touches on my phoenix on our last Sunday together.

Strangely, I’d come to love the sound of the tattoo gun humming, and no longer minded the sting of the needles so much. What I loved most, though, was watching Dare work. The more complete my bird became, the closer I felt to him. Having his creation on my skin made me feel like I had a part of him etched into
me
.

The buzzing stopped, and Dare wiped off my skin, taking a moment to gaze at his work.

“It’s done,” he said quietly. “You look…beautiful.”

“I need to see it.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. “Before you cover it up.”

He pulled me up and guided me over to the mirror, never letting go of my hand.

The lines of the tattoo swooped and swirled down my right side, the bird’s tail feathers curling at my hip. Its wings gracefully brushed my ribs, spread as if in flight, rising above the remains of the phoenix’s rebirth. Fire licked the edges of the feathers, making them appear as if they were bursting into flames of red and gold.