Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Athena
T here was an itch on my nose. I sighed and reached to scratch it, except I couldn’t. Something was in my way. Something big and hard covered my finger and landed on the side of my nose instead of my finger. Something was attached to my hand, and I needed it off.
“Hey there, you have to keep that on,” a deep voice rumbled from the darkness.
Darius. He was the first thing I registered. He would always be the first thing I registered. But it was the second thing that made me suck air into the giant pit in my stomach. Darkness.
Not again.
My eyes flung open, fear driving them wide. Too wide. Instantly, light blinded me, and I made a weak noise of pained relief. There was light.
And him .
“Darius.” My voice didn’t sound like my own, a familiar dryness in my throat as I carefully opened my eyes once more.
His beautiful face crystallized in front of me. The tense edge of his jaw. His full lips. The scar along his cheek. And those dark eyes—full of worry and hope and something infinitely more.
“I’m here, Angel.” He pulled my hand to his mouth, pressing his lips to the back of my knuckles as he murmured, “I’m here.”
Here. Bright lights. White walls. Sterile scent. I was in the hospital. And it was a sensor attached to my fingertip; that was what I was feeling—and hearing. The rhythmic beeps reached my ears from the monitors on the other side of the bed.
“What happened?” I croaked and tried to turn toward him, my entire body protesting with aches and pains, my memory a foggy equivalent.
He shifted, and I noticed his left arm was back in a sling—a new one. One that looked far more necessary than the last. Along with the cast on his arm.
“You saved me,” he rasped. “You saved my life.”
Saved… for a moment, I thought my memory might be lost again. How many times could I traumatize my brain and expect it to still function like normal? But then details started to float to the surface—details that seemed far too clear to be anything but real.
The gallery. The gun. The detonator in Wenner’s hand. I gasped, the slight motion spreading pain through my chest.
“Careful. You have a few cracked ribs.”
I ignored him and the pain. “There was a bomb—he put a bomb on your bike.” Tears welled in my eyes, recalling the look on Dare’s face when he’d seen me in the car. And when he’d chased us to try and save me, I swore I could feel his pain and confusion in my very bones .
“I know?—”
“I had to keep you away. Wenner said if you got too close, he’d kill you,” I rambled, trying to blurt out all the things I hadn’t been able to tell him as I drove away from him before. “He—” I sucked in a breath and then started over. “He told me to get in the car and drive.”
The beeping beside me came faster, reliving brief flashes of those minutes held at gunpoint in the car. Told to drive faster. To lose him. The aching glances in the rearview mirror like I could reflect my plea all the way back to the man I loved.
“I didn’t know what else to do. He was going to kill you. I”—my breath caught—“I had to get you off the bike.”
“I know?—”
“Are you okay?” My lip quivered. “I’m so sorry.”
His eyes glimmered. “Don’t be sorry, Angel. You saved my life.”
I tried to swallow over the lump in my throat, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. “You broke something.” I nodded to the cast—an immovable one around his arm.
“We both did,” he rumbled. “My arm. Collarbone. You cracked a few ribs. Cuts, scrapes, bruises, and burns. All survivable. All because of you.”
I let out a shaky breath, curling my fingers a little tighter around his. “Dare?—”
“I love you,” he interrupted me, the words leaving his lungs with the force of a gale wind. “I love you, Athena Holman.”
“Dare…”
“I love your kindness. Your compassion. Your talent and dedication. Your strength and bravery. But mostly, I love your generous, selfless spirit.”
My chest shook, tears coming hot and fast down my cheeks.
“You more than saved my life, Athena. You saved my heart. My soul. ”
“I love you, too,” I choked out, reaching for his cheek and pulling his face to mine.
Between the two of us, I was sure we were a sight. Battered and bruised and bandaged, but blissful. Completely blissful as his mouth claimed mine.
The kiss swallowed us up into our own little bubble. It pushed out the past and the dangers that had almost claimed my life and then his. It kept away the pain of betrayal and the fear of loss. It left only the two of us with what we’d had all the way at the beginning—each other.
And that was everything.
“Dare—”
The door to my room burst open, Harm filling the wide space, followed by Rob and one of the doctors, distinguished by his white coat and scrubs.
“I told you he’d be in here,” Rob muttered and strolled around Harm with a loud sigh.
I looked at Dare. “Did you leave your room?”
“I had to see you.”
I bit my lip, my heart feeling like it wanted to explode.
“You could’ve left a note,” Harm grumbled, coming to stand beside Rob as he addressed me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. All things considered.”
“Good.” He let out a deep breath, his firm expression dissolving into pure emotion. “Thank you.”
“Me?”
“For saving my brother’s life.” His voice cracked at the end, and the glimmer in his gaze revealed his own tears that threatened.
“That was a heck of a stunt you pulled off,” Rob chimed in with a tipped smile of awe.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Dare growled at her. “We’re taking a break for danger. I think we’ve had more than enough for a while.”
A break from danger. Did that mean…
“Is Wenner…is he…”
“Dead,” he assured me before I even had to finish the question. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
Tears slipped down my cheeks. I hadn’t even felt them lining the edges of my eyes until they dripped free.
“He was at the house that morning,” I said quietly, drawing the attention of the entire room.
Dare stiffened at my side, his fingers closing just a little tighter to remind me he was here. “You remembered.”
I lowered my chin. “He came up to me in the gallery, and I remembered his face—I remembered the last of that morning.”
Dare lifted my hand to his mouth, pressing kisses to the back of my hand and wrist like he could fix my hurt through sheer will.
“I went to drop off the paintings, and Wenner came to the house. He was clearly upset, so Rich—Ray—took him back to his office. I didn’t feel…comfortable, so I was going to leave, but I heard them talking.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat and pushed forward, the drugs in my system dulling the pain in my head I knew I would be feeling right about now. “I don’t know why, but I went toward the room, and I heard him—heard Wenner say that they had to get rid of me. That he was taking care of it.”
“Jesus,” Harm muttered.
“I ran, but not before Wenner saw me through the door.” My eyes closed then, retreating into the darkness for a moment where there was nothing else to focus on except that this nightmare was finally over.
“He’d already planned the bomb,” Dare said low, breaking the silence. When I looked at him, he continued, “Wenner must’ve been working with Ivans to blackmail or overthrow Belmont. It was why the account tied to the house belonged to GrowTech. Why it was the same account that paid Brandon?—”
“Why Brandon didn’t recognize Ivans,” Harm added. “It was Wenner who’d paid him.”
“Wenner was pulling the strings the whole time. He was using Ivans to get them both what they wanted, and when Ivans became too much of a liability, he hired Brady to take him out, and then got rid of Brady for good measure.”
“He’s been cleaning up after Belmont for a decade,” Rob said, her voice strained with anger. “If anyone knows how to cover his own tracks, it would be Wenner.”
“I was the only piece left,” I said softly.
“Because you saw him that morning. He didn’t know you didn’t remember.”
“Or that I didn’t even know his name.”
The room settled into silence for several long seconds, everyone seemingly waiting to be sure that one more shoe didn’t drop.
“It’s over,” Dare said low, finding my stare. “You’ll be able to go home.”
“We will,” I corrected him.
There was a soft noise, and we both turned just as the door to my hospital room closed softly behind Rob.
“She’ll be fine,” Harm said quietly, the brothers sharing a look that spoke volumes; it was best to leave her alone right now. “I’m heading back to the garage. Ty and Rhys have been handling the police investigation.”
“Thanks.”
“Thank you.” I released my breath when Dare and I were alone again. “I can’t believe this is all over.”
Strange how a few weeks could affect your life so completely, it felt like it had been years since things had been normal.
Dare cupped my cheek and brought his head back to mine. “It’s not over,” he murmured huskily. “This is just the beginning.”
“I think this was the last one,” Dare said, carefully breaking down what he’d declared as the last moving box we’d just finished unpacking.
I stood for a second, taking in the space now devoid of boxes. Taking in the filled shelves and decorated walls. Taking in all the photographs we’d hung of Mom and me, old photos of Darius and me, and photos of Darius and his family and his team. It was still Mom’s old couches and her floral wallpaper, but it was also me now; it was also us.
It had been two weeks since we’d been released from the hospital, both of us a little worse for the wear, but happier for the future.
Gentle recuperation had been possible because of his family…my found family.
They’d kept us updated on how the dust settled after the accident; apparently, Belmont made a statement mourning the loss of his longtime friend and COO in a tragic car accident. If he knew about Wenner’s discontent or the plot against him, there was no sign of it.
Ty made sure we were stocked on food. Tray after tray of his homemade frozen meals were delivered every few days, so all we had to do was microwave. Rorik came by to make sure we were healing well. Harm and Rhys and their partners, Daria and Merritt, would come over for dinner, after which Rhys would magically make his interesting-looking instrument—a hurdy-gurdy—appear, and we’d sing a few songs until the night ended. It was Rob, though, who visited the most. Helped us unpack at the beginning until we were a little more functional. Some days, it almost felt like she didn’t come to see us but to escape…something.
“What did Harm want?”
His brother had stopped by half an hour ago, and the two of them had talked in my makeshift studio in the garage.
Dare’s jaw tensed, and I went to him, resting a hand on his arm. My instinct as of late was to assume danger, but the pained look on his face didn’t signal a threat.
I watched his throat bob and the way he had to coerce every muscle into coordination to speak.
“He wants me to take his bike.”
My brow creased. Dare’s motorcycle had been completely destroyed in the bomb, but why would Harm want to give him his?
“Why doesn’t he want his own bike?”
“No.” His exhale blew through his lips, his head swaying. “Not Harm’s. My brother wants me to have Ryan’s bike.”
I felt my jaw slacken.
Dare nodded slowly. “It’s covered in the back of the shop. It’s an obnoxious yellow crotch rocket that we all bought after we came home. It was the one he always talked about, so we bought it for him…for his memory.”
Tears collected in my eyes, and when he looked at me, I saw the same mirrored in his.
“Harm said it was a unanimous vote for me to have it.”
“Oh, Darius…”
“I don’t know if I can,” he admitted low. “If I should.”
“Maybe it deserves more than to be hidden, preserved under a cover and known only by the people closest to it,” I said softly, framing his face. “Maybe it deserves to live its life now, too.”
The tension released from his shoulders with a big shudder and groan just before he kissed me, long and deep and slow, before he drew back.
“I love you, Angel.”
“I love you, too.”
“We should go.” He took my hand and started pulling me.
“Go where?” I balked but didn’t do much to resist him as he led us right through the front door.
“There’s a meteor shower tonight.” His eyes twinkled when he told me, and my heart skipped in my chest.
“Darius, what are you doing?” I let out a sound between a laugh and a cry as he locked the front door from the inside and closed it— locking us out. “My purse is in there, and my keys?—”
He pulled me into his arms, his lips finding the shell of my ear. “Good thing I know how to pick a lock.”