Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains #4)(22)

But it wasn’t that easy. She’d been trained to duck her head and apologize for everything. She was twenty-four years old and likely that habit would be one she carried until the day she died. Why? Because she’d been methodically convinced that she was only as good as her ability to secure a high-ranking mate. “Can I ask you a strange question?”

“Sure.”

“What would it mean to you to be the highest ranking man in Raven’s Hollow?”

“Nothing,” he said decisively. “I would rather be the lowest ranking member of the Bloodrunners than the highest ranking member anywhere else.”

A smile stretched her lips. That right there told her so much about Weston. He wasn’t about power, or what others thought about him. He was a decent man who was happy with a simple existence. Who was happy growing his business and taking care of his friends instead of chasing ranks.

“I’m sorry, Avery,” he said suddenly. “Do you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.” Silly man. She was the one created to hurt him. He’d only reacted to her assumed betrayal like anyone would.

“Can you just say it out loud?” he asked so softly she almost missed it over the roar of his truck engine.

Avery slipped her hand over his on top of her leg and squeezed it gently. “Weston Novak, I forgive you.” She leaned her head back on the seat and gave a private smile to the woods outside her window. He was the first man who had ever apologized to her, but he had been forgiven from the day they’d met all those years ago. Why? Because he’d been so kind to her in the letters. He’d saved her when she was a kid in so many more ways than he would ever understand. When the loneliness of Raven’s Hollow had threatened to swallow her up, she’d read his letters and imagined herself in Damon’s Mountains with him. Weston didn’t know it, but he had always been her beautiful escape.

Using his words and giving him the same sanctuary he’d offered her, Avery murmured, “And now you don’t have to say sorry anymore either.”





Chapter Ten


Weston’s heartrate was kicked up too high. He inhaled sharply to try to ease the tension in his chest and turned up the volume on the radio a couple notches so she wouldn’t hear him freaking out. Avery was in his truck, smelling like that f*cking delicious cherry lip gloss and some floral shampoo she’d used on her hair. Even her skin smelled good and so…Avery.

She’d been driving him wild for a straight week as she’d worked quietly at Big Flight. He’d been watching her. Why? Because he couldn’t help himself. She was beautiful, and already so different from the first day she’d come in for an interview in that ugly sweater. At first, he’d convinced himself she just looked different because Ryder had peer-pressured her into wearing a tank top and shorts with her sneakers. How wrong he’d been.

Avery had been broken by her people.

Each day, she’d gained confidence. She’d stopped wearing her hair in a tight bun and let it flow down her back in soft waves. She smiled more and met customers’ direct gazes. She’d stopped dropping that pretty chin of hers around Ryder, but she’d kept the habit around Weston. That was his fault.

Ma was right. Weston could feel it in the air. Avery did have a more dominant raven inside of her, but her people had cowed her. They’d bent her and pushed her until she’d gone to her knees and forgot how to stand back up. And damn, there was something so rewarding about getting a front row seat to watch her learn to stand again.

He would have to be careful not to coddle her. It wouldn’t help a woman like Avery if he just came to her rescue like his inner animal was crowing to do. She needed to gain confidence on her own that she was a capable woman.

Already, Weston admired her so much just from what he’d learned tonight. She’d left Raven’s Hollow, and he had a feeling it had been much harder to do than she was letting on.

Weston squeezed her thigh again just to reassure himself she was still here, still solid under his palm. Fuck, he loved touching her. He was gonna keep that to himself, though, because the rest of the crew wouldn’t understand the history here. They wouldn’t understand how much Avery had meant to Weston growing up. How she’d been a first in so many ways. First friend outside of Damon’s Mountains, first crush, first lo— Weston shook his head hard because he couldn’t afford to go there again. That word had dragged him to his knees, too, and he wanted to remember how to stand up along with Avery.

There was a reason he hadn’t wanted a serious girlfriend over the years. There was a reason he slept with girls and ended relationships after three dates. There was a reason he’d been terrified of giving his heart to someone else. Because Avery had taken up so much real estate in his chest at fourteen and fifteen, she’d left a mountain-sized hole when they’d parted ways. She’d been a grenade, and no normal woman stood a chance of filling that void. It was too deep and too wide, and Weston didn’t give trust easily. He never had.

And now she was back, her fingers linking with his, and he needed to figure out what this meant. What she meant. What it meant to feel this good just touching her leg. What it meant that his heart was pounding so hard, and why his dick had been at full-blown boner-status since the day she’d walked into Big Flight. He’d have to figure out what it meant that every instinct in his body wanted to go to Raven’s Hollow and throttle everyone who had ever hurt her. The urge for violence to avenge her pain was dizzying.