Page 3 of Untamed Heart

“Baby, youhaveto tell your dad. I don’t understand why you insist dealing with this shit by yourself.”

I jerked back like I’d just been struck, my jaw hinging open in dismay. “You know why.”

It was an argument we’d had more times than I could count. One that tore away a tiny piece of my heart each time we fought about it. Roe took issue with the fact I stopped telling my father about my mom’s abuse years ago. Not that it was necessary. He saw the proof after the fact often enough to know it was still happening. But that didn’t matter to my boyfriend. He refused to see the man as anything but wonderful, a surrogate father who’d helped him most when he ran away from his own shitty, abusive situation. He believed in my father, no matter how many times he’d failed to stop his own wife from taking her misery out on his daughters. Or just didn’t care to.

“There’s no point, Roe. You know that. He won’t stop her.” I finally lost the struggle with the tears I’d been holding back since I got here. They slid down my cheeks, leaving hot, salty streaks behind and most likely taking off the makeup I applied to hide the proof of my latest run-in with my mother. “He stopped caring about us a long time ago.”

Pain washed over Roe’s face as his fingers tightened around my biceps. “That’s not true.”

I wrenched out of his hold and took a step back. “I know you think of him as some kind of saint?—”

“He saved me, baby. I owe the man my life.”

Indignation coursed through me with every pump of my racing heart. “You know who he didn’t save?Me.” My voice rose on each word until the last one came out as a shout.

I wanted him tofinallyunderstand. To takemyside. As much as I loved Roe—and I loved him so much I sometimes ached with it—I couldn’t shake the growing resentment I felt at being picked second by yet another man in my life. To the Iron Wraiths, Ezra Riley could do no wrong. He’d helped found this club that had given them all a family. He was their moral compass. Which was laughable, because to Remy and me, he was just a man who’d let us down over and over again.

“Christ, Dakota. You’re killing me. I hate seeing you hurting.” Roe reached for me, and as mad as I sometimes got at him, it was impossible not to melt into his embrace. He was my only safe place, no matter how upset I was. The steady beat of his heart against my ear was as soothing as a lullaby. Being wrapped in his arms was more comforting than climbing between freshly laundered sheets that were still warm from the dryer.

Wrapped in the only safety I’d ever had, I finally felt brave enough to say the words that terrified me. “I can’t do this anymore,” I whispered as fresh tears welled up in my eyes. “I-I can’t stay here another day. I have to leave.”

“Wait. What?” Roe’s arms fell away, and he took a large step back. “What are you sayin’?”

I closed the space between us, desperation causing the blood to rush through my veins so fast so fast I felt like I was vibrating, as though a colony of bees lived beneath my skin. “I’m leaving. And I want you to come with me.” The words came out in such a rush they were all jumbled together. “Let’s get out of here.” I gripped his shirt in my fists as I smiled up at him with a smilethat probably looked as manic as it felt. “We can go anywhere. We could live on the beach or in a secluded cabin in the mountains. Or we could do both. Just keep moving around until we find somewhere we want to stay forever.”

“Dakota—”

“I don’t care where we go. As long as I’m with you nothing else matters.”

Roe’s hand came up, his thumb tracing the upward curve of my lips. “Dakota...” My heart sank as the rest of his words faded away. It felt like it had been ripped right out of my chest and dropped onto my floor at my feet. His eyes gave him away before he could speak, but that didn’t mean what he said next didn’t leave me gutted.

“I’m sorry. I can’t.”

A painful lump formed in my throat. “But... why?”

“Please, baby, don’t cry.” He tried reaching for me again, but I took a step back. I wrapped my arms tightly around my belly, worried that if I didn’t hold myself together I’d crumble to dust.

Roe’s large figure blurred before my eyes as the tears began running unchecked. I couldn’t have stopped them if I tried, but in that moment all my energy was spent keeping the pain from crippling me. “I-I don’t understand. I thought... I thought you’d come with me. I thought you loved me.”

God, I was such a fool.

“I do! I do love you. Christ, Honeybee. I love you more than anything on this fucking planet. But we don’t have to leave. Baby, we can make this work.” His tone was pleading, but I could see it in his eyes. He thought the same thing I was starting to. That this was it for us. The same pleading I could see in his gaze filled his voice as he asked, “Why can’t you just stay here?”

I hated him a little bit just then. Because he already knew the answer to that question. I swatted the tears away, willing the anger to grow. Anger was so much easier than the soul-destroying pain I was feeling. “Why can’t you go?” I shot back, bitterness dripping from my tongue.

“I just can’t, Dakota.”

“Why?” I demanded to know, the word coming out harsh enough to make him flinch.

“Because this is my family.” The words spilled out fast, and his eyes widened in shock. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I could see the instant he wished he could take them back, but it was too late.

All the air whooshed from my lungs. The blow he just delivered with his words hurt worse than anything my mother had ever inflicted with her fists. He knew what my life was like. Heknew. He said he understood my animosity toward my father and the club and why I kept my distance. But with that one sentence, he proved himself a liar.

That lump grew even bigger, making it almost impossible to talk. “I—” I cleared my throat. “I thought I was your family.”

“You are!” he declared quickly, but it didn’t matter, the damage had been done. Those words were out and they could never be taken back. “You are my family, Dakota. You know that. But these guys are too.”

“And you’re choosing them.”