Wilder (The Wild Ones Book 3)

by C. M. Owens

  “This is actually Tomahawk,” Hale says as he walks back in, shivering and shutting the door behind him. “Rome is in Georgia or something,” he adds.

  I stop hesitating and take a very long pull off the blunt before coughing like an idiot for five minutes. Reese takes her turn while I try to recover.

  It’s the first time I’ve ever smoked pot. It’s definitely not a date I’ll ever forget. And at least I don’t need the vodka now.

  Wild Ones Tip #113

  We keep the things we like. Just a warning, in case you don’t want to be kept.

  Chapter 4

  KAI

  *******

  I’m fucking brilliant, because the girls are finally relaxing and not shrieking or staring blankly at us when we’re being perfectly good dates. The deer was definitely a stupid idea, but Hale doesn’t date much, so he went a little over-the-top.

  I could have just as easily brought over some thawed deer meat instead of spending four hours hunting for the “perfect” meal for the night.

  Reese is giving us the scoop on where they normally live…which is all the way on the other side of the country. In Rhode Island. Who comes to Tomahawk from Rhode Island?

  “So the horror writer chick was your grandmother?” I ask, confused but trying to follow the conversation. “And she’s from the other side of the country?”

  Piper is very fucking stoned as her head lulls to the side, eyes glassy and a little squinty as she grins like I’ve said something amusing. She’s found a lot amusing in the past hour.

  “Yes,” she says a little slowly. “But she wasn’t a horror writer…exactly.”

  I should have warned them I only grow the really good shit, but I didn’t know they were first-timers. I’ve never met weed virgins before.

  I make the cheesy stretching move before placing my arm on the back of the couch behind Piper, and she just grins broader.

  She really does look a shit-ton different when she’s not trying to die, even though she still looks tired. Her nose is still red and she’s sneezed half a dozen times or more since I’ve been here, but she looks a hell of a lot hotter when she’s walking among the living.

  I’m glad she wasn’t in the water longer. Shit could have actually gotten bad real damn fast.

  She leans forward, eating another cabob, tearing into the deer meat she probably didn’t think she’d like so much. She should thank the epic THC levels for loosening her up.

  “So what exactly was she?” I ask, moving in just a little closer, my eyes falling to her lips for the fifth or sixth time in the past few minutes, reminding myself I can’t actually kiss her until the end of the date.

  “She wrote horror romance, sort of. There was a lot of sex and blood and cult-like packs. She had a very small fan base, but she managed to scrape by and write the books she wanted to,” she goes on.

  Reese laughs, distracting me for long enough to see Hale dangling straws from his nose and mocking some weird animal sound that sounds nothing like any animal I’ve ever heard.

  My attention returns to Piper as she leans forward, grabbing a book from the coffee table. When she leans back, she’s magically sitting a lot closer. I’ll say she moved and not me, though I’m really not sure which one of us moved.

  She adjusts herself so that her side is touching mine, and I remain cool about it. It’s rare girls sit so close to me. Wilders terrify the majority of women.

  I have no idea why.

  “So you don’t even know how long you’re going to be in Tomahawk?” Hale asks Reese as she props her feet in his lap and just smiles at him.

  “No,” she states with no follow-up.

  “We came to decide if there was any use in keeping the cabin. Gran left it to the two of us,” Piper adds.

  “Doesn’t really look fancy enough for you two,” I muse as I look around at the small, multi-purpose room we’re in—living, kitchen and dining.

  “We’re taking turns sleeping on the couch,” Reese says on a groan as Hale actually starts massaging her feet.

  As her head lulls back, and she shoots him a lazy smile, I dart a look at Piper’s feet, considering doing the same. She’s wearing shoes, and she moves her feet under the table when she catches me eyeing them.

  Guess she doesn’t like her feet rubbed.

  Her loss. My hands are fucking magic.

  “Our mom and our dad have always made fun of Gran, so we just knew her as the embarrassment they said she was,” Piper says as she stares at the picture of the woman on the back of the book.

  I never really liked that woman, and she always avoided us.

  I decide not to say that, since the lady never caused us any actual problems.

  “We never read her letters, let alone her books,” Reese adds as her smile slowly falls. “Not until two months ago when we got word she’d passed. We went to the funeral and saw so many people there we didn’t know at all, and they all hugged us when they found out we were her grandkids.”

  Piper nods as she clears her throat. “She never said anything bad about us, apparently. In fact, she had bragged about every small accomplishment in our lives. We’d never even talked to the woman.”

  “She was the only one from the family who has ever bragged on us,” Reese adds as she stares over at the mostly finished blunt.

  “I think we’re getting too deep, Piper. That stuff just makes my mind slow down enough to hate myself worse,” she adds very seriously.

  Piper nods like she wholeheartedly agrees. I’m just thankful that Hale hasn’t fucked anything up for us yet. I really expected him to tank, but I think he’s making way more progress than I am.

  “What about your life?” Piper asks me like she’s ready for me to change the subject.

  “You’ve met my family. You were a popsicle, but you still met them,” I tell her as Reese pulls her feet out of Hale’s lap and deliberately snuggles up to him, putting her head on his shoulder and her hand on his waist with a sense of overfamiliarity.

  His smile looks like it could break his face. Fucker.

  Piper just gives me a wary eyebrow arch when I let my arm drape across her shoulders instead of the back of the couch. I don’t move it, and her lips simply twitch as she looks back down at the book in her hand.

  “Your mom is interesting,” Piper finally says.

  “She’s batshit crazy,” Hale amends.

  I nod in total agreement. “Baby fever is going around. We’ll avoid my mother for a while. I suggest avoiding his aunt too,” I add, gesturing over at Hale.

  “Why your aunt?” Reese asks.

  Hale clears his throat a little. “We’re going to do some sledding tomorrow if you girls want to come with,” he says instead of answering.

  Reese glances over at me for whatever reason, and then Piper.

  “Sounds…fun,” Reese seems to force herself to say. “I haven’t played on a sled since I was ten. We do a lot of skiing though. Maybe after we sled, we can hit some slopes? Or do you have any slopes?”

  “There are tons of slopes to go down, but we usually only do skis on the water,” Hale tells her very seriously. “Right now, the majority of the lake is frozen solid,” he adds.

  Reese gives an uncertain nod, and I just smile as I watch him start to tank.

  Finally.

  Now I’ll look like the fucking winner and Piper will hopefully loosen up more before our end-of-the-date kiss that I’ve been waiting for all night.

  It seems like she only gets sexier as the night goes on.

  “So do you live nearby, too?” Piper asks him, showing way too much interest in Hale just because she’s looking at him instead of me.

  “My family owns all the land around this section of lake. A few hundred acres or so. My cabin’s not far from this one. I don’t live with my mother,” I tell her, feeling like an ass the second Hale smirks at me like he knows I was trying to impress her.

  How am I still the one fucking tanking?

  “I have a small spot on
the far side of the lake back that way,” Hale says as he tosses a thumb over his shoulder. “I recently moved into my sister’s abandoned cabin to keep it from going to shit. Homes need someone living in them or they fall apart. We built that cabin together, and I don’t want to see it suffer,” he adds.

  “Aw. That’s so sweet,” Reese says as she leans up and kisses Hale’s cheek, snuggling even closer to him.

  Un-fucking-believable. I saved Piper’s life. That alone should have her practically in my lap. Just sayin’.

  “So, we’re on for sledding tomorrow?” I ask Piper, looking down.

  She shrugs. “What the hell? Sledding sounds harmless.”

  “If not, you know there will be a hero around to save you,” I dutifully point out, since absolutely no one is praising me for that, and I’m way more fucking awesome than Hale Vincent.

  “Are we going to be sledding on ice or something?” Piper asks in a worried tone.

  “Oh, that’s right! With all the craziness, we haven’t even talked about how you saved my sister’s life,” Reese says with wide eyes. “Sorry. We’re ungrateful douches, but we’re working toward being better people.”

  I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.

  “Oh, right. Thank you for saving me and stuff. It was somewhat eclipsed by the breeding experiment talk,” Piper says as she leans her head toward me a little bit.

  That’s more like it.

  “I know you’re not sticking around, and I want to raise my kid on my land, so I won’t be knocking you up,” I tell her on a sigh.

  Sort of sucks. She really is fucking gorgeous, and seems nice enough. She isn’t running and screaming, and that’s already more progress than I make with most girls.

  She looks…confused. Her lips are puckered, her brow is scrunched, and her head is slightly tilted. “Um…thanks?” she finally says, wording it in a questioning tone.

  “My babies will be fucking pretty. Just look at me,” I inform her, gesturing to all of me. “You should probably be upset instead of thanking me.”

  Probably best if she knows what a catch I am.

  She just quirks an eyebrow at me, staring like she has no idea what to say to that. I made her speechless. She’s like putty in my fucking hand now.

  No one’s giving Hale those sweet little doe eyes now.

  “Alrighty then,” Reese finally says as Hale shakes his head. “This weed must be really strong,” she adds.

  “I only grow the best,” I say with a humble shrug.

  “You…grow pot?” Piper asks, clearing her throat.

  “Not being Mom,” Reese weirdly tells her. I think she just blurts out random shit sometimes.

  “Everyone in town buys from him, even if they don’t always know it,” Hale tells them, saving me from having to boast that myself. “He usually keeps that on the down-low.”

  I give a lazy grin to Piper and wink.

  Why isn’t she acting more impressed? She’s supposed to feel special for knowing something not even many locals know.

  “You’re…a drug dealer?” Piper asks as she clears her throat and darts a seemingly nervous glance toward Reese.

  “What? No,” I tell her, wondering if she’s a few screws short of a solid brain. “Why would you think that?”

  She opens and closes her mouth a few times.

  “He just grows herb and sells it. Not drugs,” Hale says, coming to my defense.

  Reese’s grin is huge as she stares at Piper, who is just staring at me with wide eyes and no grin.

  “This is where you swoon a little because you’re impressed,” I decide to explain, in case the poor girl needs some direction.

  “Do you sell it legally?” Piper asks as she scoots back just a little, putting some confusing distance between our bodies.

  “It’s legal to sell weed in Washington,” I tell her.

  “That…doesn’t really answer my question,” she says.

  “I thought you said you were a college grad,” Hale says pointedly to Piper.

  “She’s actually a college dropout. It’s brought a mountain of family shame,” Reese supplies dryly, lips curved in a grin that doesn’t really fit the words…

  “Are you following government regulations?” Piper continues, apparently still genuinely confused.

  I snort out a laugh, and so does Hale, while Reese just pulls her shirt over her mouth and stares at Piper.

  “Don’t worry. It’s kosher. The lone cop is the main distributor,” Hale adds.

  Piper’s jaw flips open and shut a few times as she simply blinks.

  “Okay then. I’m on a date with a drug dealer, but I’m not judging,” she says as she darts a glare toward her sister.

  “You heard Hale; he just sells herb. Not drugs. Quit being dramatic,” Reese says as she lowers her shirt and folds her hands in her lap, still just staring at Piper.

  “Two very different things,” Hale says, backing us up.

  Piper is still pretty and sweet…even if she isn’t all that smart.

  She leans back, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  “So far, this may be the most interesting story we’ll ever have to talk about,” Reese goes on.

  “That’s just sad. We haven’t even done anything at all exciting. What do you two normally do?” I ask very seriously.

  Piper just shakes her head.

  “There’s no way for me to answer that without sounding like a total douche, so I’ll just elect to skip the answer and focus on tomorrow. How long will we be sledding?” Reese asks instead of answering.

  “We’re still going sledding?” Piper asks.

  “Why wouldn’t you be?” I’m quick to fire back.

  “If this is still about the weed, you should know, his family and this town have run a certain underground ring since the times of prohibition,” Hale cuts in. “It’s all cool.”

  “All cool,” Piper echoes.

  “So it’s just you and us for how many miles?” Reese asks, as she lets one of her legs ease into Hale’s lap.

  There’s a good foot of space between myself and Piper now. That’s what I get the one time I brag. That’ll be the last time I make that mistake.

  “A bit,” I say in modesty, smiling tightly as I try to recover from whatever in the hell I’m doing wrong.

  Running a hand along my jaw, I look Piper over as she sits uncomfortably beside me.

  How is Hale Vincent doing so much better than I am?

  “My family and Cougar are the only ones who live here year-round,” I answer as I light the blunt back up.

  Piper pulls it out from between my lips before I can even get a full puff.

  “Cougar? Who’s Cougar?” Reese asks as she leans forward.

  Piper hogs the tension breaker.

  “She’s Kai’s cougar,” Hale tells her.

  Piper starts coughing so hard that she has to lean forward and start rocking. I thought she was already getting better with smoking it. Maybe she’d be better off with edibles.

  “Oh my damn,” she says so quietly I almost don’t hear it.

  “Sorry, did you say she’s Kai’s cougar? And you call her Cougar?” Reese asks as she blinks a few times.

  “Yeah, she usually stays at my cabin, but sometimes she heads to her own place because she needs her space too,” I tell them, deciding it’s a safer topic.

  “Alright then,” Piper says with a firm nod. “I think I’m tired and ready for bed, and we’re sitting on my bed since it’s my turn to hit the couch tonight,” she adds.

  “Probably a good idea. We start sledding at sunrise,” I say as I stand and stretch, deciding I’ll do more show than tell tomorrow and come out on a winning side.

  “I’m not tired yet, and you said it’s a long drive back to your side of the lake. Now you’ve smoked a lot of weed, and it’s too dangerous to be driving,” Reese tells Hale. “Why don’t you stay over?”

  “Are you serious?” Piper hisses.

  Reese just grins as Hale’s
eyes widen like he’s as surprised as I am right now.

  “Yeah. I am,” Reese goes on as she stands and takes Hale’s hand. “Unless you don’t want—”

  Hale is off the couch and grinning like a fucking dick in the next instant. “I’m game.”

  She just smiles bigger.

  Piper is staring down at her fingernails and tapping her foot like she’s impatient for this to all be over.

  I continue standing like the only chump who’s getting kicked out. I’m never going to hear the end of this. Hale fucking Vincent has more game than I do.

  I don’t think I’m getting that end-of-the-date kiss this time.

  The door shuts to the bedroom, and I hear muffled voices coming through the walls as I run a hand through my hair. I don’t get the same concerned invite.

  “No one else drives these roads, and my cabin isn’t all that far away. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bring a helmet,” I tell her as I head toward the door.

  I have no idea what the sound she makes means, but she’s stretching out on the couch and pulling the blanket up to her throat. Maybe I should have done the dishes or something.

  “Thanks for saving my life, Kai Wilder,” she murmurs sleepily.

  Or…maybe she really is just tired.

  Wild Ones Tip #596

  Wild animals are our closest neighbors and sometimes our friends. This sums up the amount of manners you should expect us to have.

  Chapter 5

  PIPER

  *******

  “No. Absolutely not. Have you seriously lost your mind? You actually let him spend the night?!” I whisper-yell as I glare at Reese.

  I thought she’d wig out and come to her senses before falling asleep.

  She waggles her eyebrows as she sips her coffee. “All we did was talk,” she quips.

  “Sure. That’s exactly why you found a ‘sexy mountain man’ who brings a fresh kill to clean and cook to a first date. To talk,” I tell her very dryly.