Page 50 of These Reckless Hearts

Lucas hands me the binoculars. “Absolutely.”

My father’s words wrap around me.Tell Dakota she deserves to find the treasure.

I bring the binoculars up and start searching the cliff face, the niggle of doubt in my stomach dulling to a smolder. It’s hard when who you are gets ripped out from underneath you. Instead of dwelling on that, I do what I do best: start searching.

The cliff faces sparkle in the bright sunlight. I’m sure there’s a science-y reason for it that’s probably been explained to me before, but science was never my forte. I always preferred books, fairy tales, and dreams. If I had to write my story, I’d write it with a happy ending. It’s changed since I was a little girl. It used to be me, my dad, and the Wilder legacy. Now, it’s me, Lucas, Wyatt, and Stone. Together. If the treasure comes, that’s cool. But as long as we’re together, that’s everything.

I turn to study the other cliff face but stop when I spy something unusual. Straight lines usually aren’t found in nature. I bring my hand up to mess with the binoculars, zooming in. “That’s...interesting,” I report, not knowing if what I’m seeing is important or not. High in the brown rock face, close to a pitched ledge, is a carving. The Apaches etched a lot of things into the rock here, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility to find markings, but it’s interesting that this is a square that matches one of the symbols on the map.

“Did you find a cave?” Stone’s voice is so close it almost makes me jump.

I shake my head. “No, I think I found a rock painting. Or carving. It’s a square. Like from the map.”

I hand the binoculars off to Stone who changes the magnification, moving the lenses until he’s focused on what I found. I can’t see it without the binoculars, and actually, it’s just dumb luck that I caught it at all. The sun must have hit it just so as I was sweeping the landscape.

Before I can ask, Lucas takes out the map, unfolds it, and spreads it out on the ground, smoothing the edges. It’s such a delicate piece of paper. The crude lantern drawing is at the end of the canyon—step one, I think of it as. No one has ever figured out what the x’s and squares mean, only that they could’ve represented cave entrances.

If this square is what’s on the map, it’s not a cave entrance at all. It’s a drawing.

Stone hands the binoculars off to Wyatt and kneels next to Lucas and me. “Hmm, it doesn’t match the map. The x’s and squares are outside the canyon.” He sucks his lip in, nibbling as he surveys the drawing my ancestor made.

“We should still notate it,” I express. “If it ends up meaning something, we’re going to need to know where it is.”

Stones takes out the GPS, climbs the little rocky hill and stands directly under the square carving as directed by Wyatt. He enters the coordinates.

Only time will tell if this means anything. I only hope it doesn’t take us another hundred years to figure out step two. Then the Curse of the Wilder treasure would be handed down to another generation.

22

At the end of the day, we find another square and three x carvings. We make multiple passes in the valley, recording the coordinates of each symbol. I don’t know how they fit into the map yet, but my gut tells me they’re important. It tells me we’re on the right track. We just have to figure out what they mean; or what they’re pointing to. Putting myself in my ancestors’ shoes so far isn’t working.

Knowing we’re a step closer than my family has ever been should make me feel freer, but instead, a weight settles on my shoulders. I wonder if it’s one my dad also held onto. Now that we’ve made it this much further, I want to take the next step and the next. I want to find this treasure once and for all. I want to take the glory away from Lance Jacobs, but more than that, I want it for the Wilder family.

The mountains have always helped me think. The crags and rocks a point of self-reflection. The majestic beauty a blatant symbol that there’s so much more out there than our regular lives. While we found the x’s and squares today, the back of my mind worked on the issue I’ve had since finding out I’m not really a Wilder. My dad said I deserved to find the Wilder legacy, but that’s the exact point I’ve been struggling with. The Wilders always deserved to find it, but now that I’m not one, I’m not sure I do.

But the thing is, you can’t break from your ties that easily. I may not be a Wilder in blood, but I was brought up one in name, in legends and stories that go back hundreds of years. And if I don’t have that, what do I have? I need something to grasp onto. Whether it’s technically accurate or not, I’ll always be more Wilder than I am the sister of Cole’s friend.

Now I need to come to terms with that.

While the campfire licks toward the overcast sky, Ninja and Pete tell stories about being Dragons. It’s evident they both revere Cole, which only solidifies my feelings for him. He may be the leader of a ruthless gang, but he isn’t all barbs and prickers. Maybe at the end of all this, I can learn more about him. And, in a way, become closer to Charlie.

Wyatt will hate the idea, but the cowboy will have to get over it. Maybe we could have Cole out to his family’s ranch. Now that will be a sight. Cole on a horse? I might die laughing.

Lucas wraps his arms around me. “What are you smiling about?”

The flicker of the flames reflected in his brown eyes draw me toward him, but there’s no way I’m making him privy to my thoughts. “Nothing.” My lips turn up into a teasing smile.

“I love to see you happy,” he murmurs. Sometimes when Lucas looks at me, I see the loneliness in his childhood recede further and further away. The hardness melts, warmth takes over, and who Lucas is at his very core shines through like a beacon.

I lean closer. “You can want things for yourself,” I murmur as Ninja talks about putting a bullet in a drug dealer’s skull. “You were the only one earlier who said you only wanted me to be happy and didn’t want anything for yourself.”

“I thought you understood,” he breathes, gaze settling on me. “I have everything I’ve ever wanted right here.” He pulls me closer until we’re only a whisper of a breath away. “A family to share my life with. To be there when I wake up in the morning. To talk about my day with. To share dreams and memories. For the longest time, I never made any memories worth remembering.” He stares off into the distance. The dark night is eerily calm, shadows lurking everywhere, making shivers run up my arms. “When I met Stone, things changed. Then Wyatt came into the fold. But you clicked everything into place, Dakota. For all of us. It was as if this whole time, I was looking for you and I didn’t know it. I wouldn’t care if we stopped searching for the treasure right now; if we ran off and started a new life together, just the four of us. But I know how much it means to you...and Stone.”

He shakes his head and smirks. “Stone can say all he wants that he’s doing this for you, but he’s full of shit. He’s fallen for the whole idea of the treasure just as much as you have. And like you, it’s never been about the riches like it was for his dad. He wants to find it for the challenge, for rewriting the history books.” Lucas tilts his head to stare at his friend whose eyes are wide as saucers as he listens to Ninja finish his tale. “He wants it bad.”

“And Wyatt?” I move my stare to find that he seems to be enjoying Ninja’s story more than Stone. He’s chuckling at all the gory parts.

“He needed the distraction. Until he found you.” Lucas peeks back at me, and we lock onto each other. “You’re a way better distraction than the treasure ever was. Healthier. Sexier....”

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