Page 40 of Untamed Heart

The sound of my old club nickname made me jolt, and I narrowed my eyes as I studied the man closer. The thick,overlong hair and beard made it difficult, but after a few seconds, recognition dawned. “Holy shit!Bane?”

That wasn’t his real name, of course. His real name was Justin Ryan, but it was a teasing nickname that his father, one of the founding club members, along with my dad and Courtland Pope Sr., gave him as a kid. He used to bring him around the clubhouse all the time, and there was no limit on the shit that boy would try and get up to. The name fit perfectly as a kid and apparently had stuck as an adult.

He smiled at me then, straight white teeth flashing through his beard, and suddenly, I wasn’t so intimidated by his size and ruggedness. Because that was one hell of a smile. “Hey, Kota. It’s been a while.”

I didn’t think before launching myself at him and wrapping the giant of a man in a hug. He’d been a teenager when I left with a bent toward nerdiness. I barely saw a hint of that kid in the beast of a man standing before me. It was only when I looked closely at his eyes that I saw the boy I used to know.

“Jesus, look at you. You’re a freaking mountain. How did that happen?”

He shrugged, and I could have sworn I saw two spots of pink pop up on his cheeks beneath that beard. Then I remembered that Kid Bane and Teenage Bane used to have a harmless little crush on me. “No one can really explain it.”

I looked down at the leather cut he wore proudly over his faded black T-shirt. “And you’re a Wraith now.”

“It’s in the blood,” he replied. “You should know that better than anyone.”

My smile started to slip, but I made a valiant effort to keep it in place. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “I guess so.”

Bane’s hand came up to rest on my shoulder as the skin around his eyes grew soft. “They missed you, Little Riley.” I really wasn’t sure how many more bombshells I could toleratebeing dropped on me at this point. “We all did. Don’t doubt that for a second. But Pops and Roe haven’t been the same since.”

I didn’t know what to make of that or how I was supposed to feel, so I mustered up another grin and reached up to pat the hand still on my shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate hearing that.”

Just then, like a little Tasmanian Devil with the best timing in the world, Cassi came running up to me and grabbed my hand. “Come on, Kota! It’s all done so we gotta go see!”

She’d taken to calling me Kota since we left the hospital, and I could have sworn she tended to gravitate more toward me than anyone else as we worked to furnish the house.

And as I let her drag me inside, I found that I didn’t mind it much at all.

In fact, I really,reallyliked it.

TWENTY

DAKOTA

Everyone had left,the house was settled, and for the first time since my return, I was alone with my father in a place where no one could barge in and interrupt the conversation we so desperately needed to have.

And I was terrified.

I was basically stuck here for the next six months. Sure, Lennon was sweet enough that, if I asked, she would let me out of my lease without complaint; that was the kind of person she was. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that to her. Not when she’d gone above and beyond to help me, a person she’d only just met.

I knew Ezra and I needed to talk, but every time I thought I found the courage to broach the subject, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, and I chickened out all over again.

Now was no different.

When I closed the door on Lennon and Iris, after a round of exuberant hugs and a ton of excitement on their part that I was staying, I threw the lock and wiped my clammy hands on the thighs of my jeans.

This was ridiculous! The man inside wasn’t a stranger, not really. He was my dad. So why was I so freaking nervous?

As I moved into the living room, I spotted Ezra stretched out on the sofa, the television in front of him tuned onto one of the procedural cop dramas he’d always liked. “You comfortable?” I asked, my blood feeling like it was buzzing through my veins. “Do you want a pillow? A blanket? Glass of water?”

He pushed up to sitting, throwing his legs over the side of the couch and resting his feet on the floor.

“I’m good, baby girl. Why don’t you come sit?” He patted the cushion next to his. “You’ve been runnin’ yourself ragged all day.”

That was true. I was exhausted. But I couldn’t bring myself to sit just yet.

“I really shouldn’t.” I tossed my thumb over my shoulder toward the kitchen. “I should get started on dinner. You need to take your meds soon, but you must eat first.”

I started toward the kitchen when my father said my name in a tone that made me jerk to a halt. I remembered that tone clear as day, even though I hadn’t heard it in more than two decades.