Going Wild (The Wild Ones 2)

“You’re really in Tomahawk for me?” I ask him, finally letting that sink in as stupid little butterflies restlessly rustle in my stomach.

“Why the hell else would I move here?” he volleys.

Slippery slope, here I come.

“My father won’t take it easy on you,” I say instead of rolling down said slope. “And he doesn’t even know you had a girlfriend while I was wearing out my jaw on you multiple times a day.”

He jerks the Jeep back on the road after he veers off course by accident, and he clears his throat.

“Damn deer,” he mutters.

There was no deer.

I don’t point that out to him as I grin.

“Stay with me tonight,” he says suddenly, keeping his eyes on the road.

I pretend to think about it. I’m not stupid enough to think I can keep living in denial. Liam is here. He bought a home in Tomahawk to be with me.

I’m fucked in every sense of the word, whether I want to admit it or not. But I don’t trust all these confusing emotions going to war inside me. My mother loved my father and me. Yet she walked away like it was the easiest decision of her life.

And she never looked back.

She has a husband and three step kids in Seattle now. Found that out through my cousins, who still keep in touch with their shitty parents on occasion. My mother went to be a mother to someone else because she liked the scenery better than our small town had to offer. Obviously I have trust issues with outsiders.

Not to mention…remember Felicia? I certainly do. I distinctly remember him telling her I was his savior, and not much else about me. Then again, he did tell her he forgot she existed, so there’s that. Still not making this an obvious decision for me.

“We need to swing by my house so I can grab some supplies,” I tell him, not responding to his invite just yet.

“Your house in town?” he asks, proving he’s done his homework and found out where I live, while his triumphant smile spreading.

He’s a good stalker, that one.

“No,” I say with a larger smile. “Not those kind of supplies.” I turn to face him fully. “We need to stop by my dad’s cabin.”

This time, when he swerves, I don’t restrain my laughter.

Chapter 15

Wild Ones Tip #119

Families are crazier when they’re all in one place.

Wild Families are just psychotic. Wear a helmet.

LIAM

I’m not too prideful to admit this is my worst nightmare realized.

But I heed Killian and Hale’s advice, and I don’t cower. As far as Kylie believes, I’m completely impervious. The very definition of confident.

In other words, I have balls of steel, because I’m acting like I’m not one bit afraid of having five men shoot holes in me until I sink to the bottom of the lake with ease.

As soon as we walk into her father’s house, five men look up from their recliners—yes, all five have recliners in this living room that has numerous animal heads mounted on the walls like a bad horror movie intro.

Only her father lives here, but they pretty much all stay here a lot, according to the info I’ve gathered from the Vincent brothers during steak nights.

Shotguns and rifles are also hanging on the walls, as though they want them there for quick access, or their interior decorator was a serial killer.

The one with a semi-grizzly beard—her father—narrows his eyes at the boxers and T-shirt Kylie is wearing.

This is where I start hoping for a quick and merciful death.

Why did I not think about her clothes?

Kylie grins like a devil over her shoulder at me, before returning her attention to her father.

“You guys remember Liam, right? You left me floating in the lake near his cabin last night.”

That humor in her eyes dies as she glares at all of them.

Her father cracks a grin, but the four monstrous cousins start looking around at anything but her.

“You know better than to get drunk first,” her dad says, still grinning.

“I’ll remember that. You’ll remember that too.”

His smile falls.

“You threatening me?”

“You scared?” she muses.

I’m almost positive he pales a little, which I, of course, find fascinating.

“Family rules,” he says carefully. “First one drunk pays the price.”

She crosses her arms over her chest, her eyebrow quirking in challenge.

“Family rules, no one gets to hit a girl, even when she doles out revenge.”

He rolls his eyes.

Then she turns and gestures toward me. “I’m going with Liam. The troopers are here. I’m just grabbing some supplies. He wants me to sleep in his bed tonight, so I thought I’d tell you not to wait up on me.”

I’m going to kill her.

Just as soon as I get out of here alive.

She flashes me that conspiratorial wink, before looking back at her father, who is stroking his beard thoughtfully as he studies me.