Ride Hard (Raven Riders #1)(102)

Feeling like she was standing on the edge of the tallest cliff, Haven knew she had to jump. Her life depended on it. “I want to live. To really live—”

Pain flickered over his face, making her swallow her words. “Then we’ll get you out of here as soon as we can. Because you deserve that, Haven.”

Wait. What? “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to live, Dare. And you’re the one who showed me that I could. Who showed me how beautiful it could be—”

“Killing your father was beautiful?” he bit out.

“I’m free now. For real. And someone who made a life out of hurting others is gone. Maybe that’s not beautiful, but it’s good. And if that makes me a horrible person, then I’m okay with it.”

“Should’ve been me,” he said, grit in his voice.

“I don’t need you to protect me, Dare. I appreciate it, but I can survive on my own. I’ve done it all my life. But I don’t want to just survive. Not anymore. I want to live and experience all the beauty and power and chaos of life. And I want that . . . I want that with you.”

Dare frowned, and then his eyes went wide. “Are you saying—”

“I don’t want to go,” she said. “Unless you don’t want me to stay. Unless . . . unless I’m really not that special to you.” Giving voice to those words was one of the scariest things she’d ever done. But she had to know. Once and for all.

She could barely breathe as she waited for him to reply.

On a groan, he reached for her with his good arm, and she leaned in to let him cup the back of her neck and pull her closer. “Come here,” he whispered. She got as close as she could without putting any of her weight on him. His gaze went soft and unshuttered, and then words spilled from that harsh, beautiful mouth. “I love you,” he said. “I f*cking love you so much that I don’t think I can exist without you. Not anymore. I don’t want you to go. Not at all. You’re the most special thing I’ve ever found. You’ve given me love and acceptance and peace and comfort and made me realize that I want things out of this life, too. Things I hadn’t realized and certainly hadn’t been pursuing. But the world I live in . . . f*ck, this life isn’t—”

Haven kissed him, happiness, relief, and overwhelming love making it impossible for her to speak. So she poured everything she felt into the way her lips caressed his, the way her hand stroked his hair. And then she looked down into his questioning eyes. “I love you, too,” she rasped. “You own my heart and you always will, because you taught me what love was and you showed me what life could be. You gave me wings, Dare, and they brought me right back to you. And they always will.”

“You love me?” he asked, raw wonder in his voice.

“Maybe from the very first time we spoke,” she said, happiness welling so big and warm inside her chest that she wasn’t sure how she could hold it all in.

“Fuck,” he said, his face crumpling with emotion. He tried to cover it with his hand, and the show of emotion reached into her chest and squeezed her heart. “You saved me,” he said, his voice cracking a little.

Haven smiled, completely overwhelmed by the perfection of the moment. “We saved each other.”

Dare heaved a deep, shaky breath. “You’re pretty f*cking awesome. You know that?” he asked.

Her smile slipped into a grin. “I really am.”

He gave a little coughing laugh and groaned at the same time. “Can’t . . . laugh,” he gasped.

“I’m sorry.” She stroked his hair back off his face.

“Don’t ever be sorry for making me happy, Haven. Because you do. Happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I didn’t realize how little I’d been living all these years until you came along. So, yeah, we saved each other. And I just can’t let you go. Not today. Not ever.”

Which was exactly what Haven wanted to hear. “That’s all I need, Dare. You’re all I need. We’ll figure the rest out.”

His fingers toyed clumsily with a long strand of her hair. “Yeah, we f*cking will,” he said, strength filtering into his voice. “One day, one night, one ride at a time.”





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


The idea for the Raven Riders, a different kind of a motorcycle club with a protective mission at its heart, was inspired by a real-life organization—BACA, Bikers Against Child Abuse (www.bacaworld.org). BACA works with referring agencies to create a safer environment for abused children. Working with state and local officials, BACA members provide emotional support and a physical presence to help children feel safer and shield them and their families from retaliation or intimidation, often for the length of a police investigation and any court proceedings. I admire what they do so much I wanted to pay homage to the spirit of their mission in the Raven Riders.

A book is always the result of a collaboration, which was definitely the case with this one. Thank you to Amanda Bergeron for believing in the Ravens and for offering such thoughtful and insightful editorial guidance on the book. It’s an amazing experience to have an editor really get your voice and vision and characters, all of which has made Amanda a great partner on all eight (!) of the books we’ve now done together. I appreciate that so much.

Thanks also to my agent, Kevan Lyon, who is always such an incredible source of support and encouragement. And thanks to KP Simmon for her positivity, generous spirit, and all the fantastic work she does on all of my books. It’s an invaluable experience to work with such amazing women and have them on your side.