Page 25 of Untamed Heart

“Uh, it’sconstellation, sweetheart,” Ezra corrected, but I barely heard him over the blood suddenly whooshing through my ears. It had been a long time since I had a panic attack, and I could one brewing just beneath the surface, threatening to pull me under.

“Uh, e-excuse me. I just need?—”

“Hate to break it to you Pops, but the burger nazi out there caught me,” a familiar voice spoke a second before the man I’d tried my hardest to forget all about over the past two days stepped into the room. “Told you I wouldn’t get it past her. She’s like a bomb sniffing dog or some—” Roe’s sentence trailed off as he lifted his head and locked eyes on me. The flash of those navy eyes was my breaking point. I had to get the hell out of there before I completely crumbled in front of the two men on the face of the Earth that didn’t deserve to see it.

I lowered my head, dropping my gaze to my feet as I skuttled to the door, refusing to look at anyone. “I’m sorry. Excuse me, I’m sorry” I mumbled, as I moved quickly, nearly running into Roe, then the wall in my haste to get the hell out of there without making eye contact with anyone.

I hadn’t cried inyears, but the damn was about to burst, and I was terrified that, once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop.

TWELVE

DAKOTA

“Dakota,”Roe called as he trailed behind me, his long legs eating up the distance I was racing to keep between us.

The burn behind my eyes grew worse, my lip clamped between my teeth so hard I tasted blood. I was losing hold, and fast.

Oh god.

Oh shit.

Oh damn.

Where was the damn bathroom and why was it always impossible to find one when you needed it most?

“Kota, goddamn it! Will you just stop for a second?”

I whipped my head around to scowl at him over my shoulder.Son of a bitch. He was closer than I expected. Those stupid long legs!

“Leave me alone!” I snapped loudly, not giving a single shit if I was making a scene. I picked up the pace, race-walking down the hall, only a few paces away from a jog.

His hand clamped around my upper arm in a vise grip. “Not until you fuckin’ talk to me,” he growled, and before I knew it, I was being propelled through a door that readSupplieson thefront. The fluorescent lights flickered overhead before cutting on completely and flooding the tiny space with light. I blinked against the glare for a second before my vision cleared only to find Roe standingwaytoo close for my own sanity.

“Let me go.” I glared daggers as I snatched my arm out of his grip. I was fighting with everything I had to keep hold of my anger. Because if I didn’t, I’d crumble.

Whatever he saw on my face in that moment caused his frustration to melt into concern, and I hated that I hadn’t been strong enough to keep my mask in place. That I let him see how the hurt was dangerously close to swallowing me whole.

“Christ, baby. Please stop.” His hand cupped the side of my face, his thumb tugging at my poor, abused lower lip. “Fuck. You’re bleeding. Please stop hurting yourself.”

The pain slicing through my heart at that moment was so acute it had numbed me to anything else. I hadn’t realized how badly I’d bitten my lip until he pointed it out. Releasing it, I dragged my tongue across the damaged flesh and hissed at the sting.

“Are you okay?” he asked, the question bringing me back to myself and causing me to jerk my face from his hold.

“No, I’m not fuckingokay,” I threw back bitterly, then forced myself to ask the question that made me feel sick to my stomach. “Adaughter? Are you—?” I couldn’t get the actual words to pass my lips, so I tried a different route. “Where’s her mother?”

Roe had the nerve to step back, his features twisting into a look of betrayal and disappointment. “You’re really fuckin’ asking me that?”

There was a brief moment of uncertainty where I started to second guess my own emotions, but I quickly shoved it back and lifted my chin. “I think it’s a reasonable question.”

His top lip curled in disgust. “Fuck me, you’re really standing there, asking me if I’m a fuckin’ cheater?”

That uncertainty continued to grow, not that I let it show. “I am,” I uttered, squaring my shoulders against the rage pulsing off him and turning the air in the small space to static. “You know goddamn good and well I’d never cheat.”

“Like I pointed out the other night, you’ve been out of my life now longer than you were in it. And by the time I left, you’d more than proven I never really knew you.”

“Don’t say that.” His voice might have come out hushed, but the desperation in those three words blared like a siren. “Don’t fuckin’ say that.” He took a hurried step in my direction, so close he was all I could see, all I could smell. He overwhelmed every one of my senses as he braced his hands on the wall on either side of my head. “You knew me. Youknowme. Better than anyone ever has.”

I shook my head frantically. I couldn’t listen to this. “Stop it,” I begged on a whisper.