Page 27 of These Reckless Hearts

I can’t imagine Cole up in the Superstitions anyway. That shit would be funny.

“I hear one of you assholes can cook,” Cole states. “We haven’t had a good meal since we’ve been here.”

Wyatt takes in a huge breath before shifting his gaze to me. I see the gleam in his eye that he wants to tell Cole off, but when he sees me, he relents. “Yeah, sure. I can make something.”

“I’ll help,” I tell him, getting to my feet. Ninja and the other guard—and Cole, too—have done a lot for us, and the least I owe them is a good meal.

Cole reclines on the sofa, asking where the remote is. Lucas throws it to him before joining Wyatt and me in the kitchen. The three badasses with dragon fire tattoos licking up their necks sit on the sofa as Cole flicks through the channels, settling onForged in Fire, a cable show about bladesmiths who make accurate representations of historical knives and swords. Watching them act as if this is their home makes me grin.

Cole peers into the kitchen, catching me staring. He smiles, and I nod back. Stone, however, leaves the room entirely after throwing the ice pack in the kitchen sink.

“I should talk to him,” I tell Lucas.

He shakes his head. “Give him a couple hours. He needs to calm the fuck down first. Then, he’ll come to you.”

I worry my bottom lip. We’d just, and I meanjust, gotten over the hurdle of him not needing to apologize to me, and now something else has popped up. Stone can’t catch a break. “It’s not his fault.”

“No, but he’s not going to get that,” Wyatt remarks, taking out a frying pan. “He’ll hate himself for this.”

“We’ll get it back though,” Lucas assures me.

I can only hope he’s right. Those artifacts mean the world to me.

Behind me, a low voice promises, “You bet your ass we will.”

I turn to find Cole at the bar, eyes promising danger. A shiver starts in the base of my spine. I’m pretty sure Cole would do anything to get me my things back.

Literally, anything.

13

After a couple days of focusing on the treasure and everything else being quiet, we head up to the trailhead with Ninja and Dave. I figured it was best to actually learn Dave’s name instead of always thinking of him as Cole’s “other guard.” Speaking of, the big bad gang leader doubled over with laughter the first time I called his stealth-like guard by my nickname, and despite all the tattoos and muscles, Ninja himself blushed like a besotted schoolboy. It turns out, Ninja’s real name is Rodney, but I’m going to stick with Ninja.

If anything, it’ll be good to have the extra help with us, not only for safety reasons, but they’re also excellent pack mules. We brought every bit of equipment we could think of, plus extra food in case we decide to stay in the mountains longer.

We take more breaks on our trek up the Superstitions with Ninja and Dave. They’re in super good shape, but when you’re not used to hiking up a mountain, there’s nothing that can prepare you for it. Depending on how long they’re stuck with us, they could be getting accustomed to it quickly though.

To pass the time, Ninja questions us about the treasure. I tell him my family’s part in it, and I swear by the time I’m through, he has gold bars in his eyes. It’s called the treasure craze. There’s something about the idea of hordes of gold somewhere that people home in on. It’s that kid in every one of us who played pirates or talked themselves into believing they’d actually find something buried in their front yard with their little plastic shovel.

In my case, it was way more than a pipedream. I actually had a story to go along with my treasure fantasies. I had a definitive reason to want to search.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lucas remarks, rubbing his shoulder with mine.

“W-what?” I stammer, completely taken off guard. I was off in la-la land.

“Something comes over you when you talk about the treasure. You get this awe-inspiring gleam in your eyes.” His eyelashes fan over his cheeks, and I nearly jump him right then and there, but Ninja interrupts us.

“How close do you think you are to finding it?” He loses his footing on the rocks and catches himself. After wiping his hands on his pants, he peers up at me expectantly.

“Since we all hooked up, I have a really good feeling.” I glance at Stone who’s still avoiding me. I’m hoping this trip will help him get over himself. Yes, I’m upset about losing the contents of my family’s safe, but I also know that after seeing Lucas almost get hung to death right in front of my eyes, that there are more important things than antique papers and a ring I don’t wear.

I mean, averyfew things, considering the gold nugget was going to be used as undeniable proof that we actually found my family’s gold vein. However, Stone just happens to be one of them.

While we’re here, Cole is going to check in with the analysis team we sent the traps to so we can see where they areandmake sure they’re also not double-crossing us. He’s using whatever evidence they discover as another way to help mete out who’s working for Lance. Cole thinks if he knows who the team is, he might be able to attack them in another way to get them off our backs.

My hope is that if the people Lance hired follow us up the mountains, they won’t have any idea how to survive it. After seeing the two big, strong guards Cole sent with us struggle, I figure we have a good shot of being better than them at one thing.

Stone takes over answering a myriad of questions about the equipment we brought. At the end of the conversation, I’m wondering if Ninja’s going to jump ship from the Dragons and come work with us. When I jokingly tease him about it, Ninja stands straighter. “No can do, Dakota.” His lips are pulled taut and thin. “Even if I didn’t owe Cole everything, I couldn’t. Once you’re a Dragon, you don’t leave.”

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