Ride Hard (Raven Riders #1)(103)
Next I have to thank fellow authors Christi Barth, who read the book right behind me and offered great comments, and Lea Nolan, who helped me out of more than one plotting problem. Their support, friendship, cheerleading, and help mean the world.
My next word of thanks goes to Liz Berry of the 1001 Dark Nights project for helping me kick off this series with my novella Hard As Steel. That opportunity gave me the chance to introduce readers to the Raven Riders world, and I appreciate her innovative, generous, and enthusiastic spirit so much. Thanks, Liz!
As always, I couldn’t finish a single book without the amazing support and help from my family, so thank you to my husband and daughters! Much love to you! And thank you to the Heroes, my street team of awesome, who do so much for me—you guys rock!
Finally, thanks to the readers who allow my characters into their hearts so they can tell their stories again and again. Your support is everything. Ride on, my friends. Ride on.
~LK
Keep reading for an inside look
at the next heart-poundingly sexy novel
in Laura Kaye’s new Raven Riders series,
RIDE ROUGH
Coming Fall 2016 from Avon Books
Maverick Rylan stared at the flower-draped casket and hoped this was the last funeral he and his brothers had to attend for a long damn time. This loss hit him and everyone in the Raven Riders Motorcycle Club particularly hard—because it had happened on their own turf. Inside their own clubhouse. And the victim—prospective member Jeb Fowler—had been too young and too good to get taken out in cold blood.
The proof of Jeb’s goodness was sitting right beside Maverick. Bunny McKeon, Maverick’s mother, whose face still bore the bruises and scratches from where she’d been struck and her mouth duct taped. But she was alive because Jeb had taken the bullet intended for her when a group of lowlife criminals had broken into the clubhouse looking for something—or someone—that wasn’t theirs.
Mav’s gaze slid over to his right, where the club’s president, Dare Kenyon, sat with his girlfriend, Haven Randall. Three days out of the hospital, Dare’s face was pale and dark circles ringed his eyes. He’d been shot twice in the same attack that had hurt Bunny and killed Jeb. An attack meant to force Haven back under her abusive father’s control by whatever means necessary. An attack that had ultimately failed, despite the losses the Ravens had sustained.
It all could’ve been so much worse. Which was true even though Maverick felt like shit thinking that while sitting there in front of Jeb’s coffin. Especially since Jeb had sacrificed himself for Bunny.
The service concluded and people around Maverick rose to their feet. The June air hung humid and gray. Almost oppressive. The weight of it was fitting. It was as if their collective grief had taken on a physical form.
Maverick held out his hand to Bunny. With her white-blond hair and dark blue eyes, she was still as pretty as she’d ever been. And every bit as feisty. Well, usually.
Accepting his help, she gave him a sad smile and rose. Her husband, Rodeo McKeon, steadied her from her other side.
“Thanks, Maverick,” she said, stepping toward the casket. She pulled a long-stemmed red rose out of the arrangement and brought it to her nose. A moment later, she laid it on top of the lid by itself, her hand resting there for a moment.
When she turned away, her lips trembled, and when she made eye contact with Maverick, her whole expression crumpled.
Maverick pulled her into his arms, her tears like ice in his veins. “It’s gonna be okay, Mom,” he said, using a name for her he hadn’t used regularly in years. Everybody called his mother Bunny, and somewhere along the way it had stuck for him, too.
From behind her, Rodeo rubbed her back. Mav met the older man’s gaze and saw reflected at him the same pain and regret Maverick felt. Normally, Bunny was the youngest sixty-something you’d ever meet, but the attack and Jeb’s death had left her fragile. And Maverick f*cking hated it. Not because he thought her shakiness wasn’t warranted, but because it reminded him of another time: When Bunny’s first husband—Maverick’s father—had beaten her so badly she ended up in the hospital for days.
That had been seventeen years ago, but not a day had gone by when Maverick hadn’t blamed himself for not realizing what was going on, not being there, not protecting her.
Maverick’s gaze slid over Rodeo’s shoulder to the casket. I wish there was something I could do to repay you, Jeb. But you can believe I’ll never forget.
“I’m okay,” Bunny said, wiping at her cheeks. She patted his chest. “Thanks, hon.”
Rodeo gave Mav a nod that said he had her, and Maverick didn’t doubt it. Not only was Rodeo one of his brothers in the Raven Riders, he was also the best thing to ever happen to Bunny.
“Are you coming to the clubhouse?” Maverick asked. Bunny hadn’t been back since the attack five days ago, which was totally unlike her. Normally, she spent part of every day there, often cooking one or more meals for whichever Raven happened to be around or drop by.
“Yeah,” she said. “We’ll see you there.”
“Okay,” he said. With a last look at Jeb’s casket, Maverick turned for the drive that wound through the rolling hills of the cemetery. Motorcycles formed an unbroken wall of steel and chrome almost forty deep. The whole club had turned out to pay their respects. As it should be when a brother took his last ride.