Ride Hard (Raven Riders 1)

“Oh, God, Dare,” she said, her hand brushing his hair off his sweaty forehead. She curled over until her face touched his. “Don’t leave me. You hear? Don’t you leave me.”

“I need a fucking ambulance at the west concourse hallway,” Phoenix said into his radio. “Right now. It’s Dare. And it’s bad.”

CHAPTER 31

Everything fucking hurt.

His head. His arm. His side.

As consciousness returned, Dare remembered the full horror of what happened. And that’s when he realized that the thing that hurt worse than anything else was his heart. Because he’d failed Haven. Failed and let her father take her away.

On a groan, he forced his eyes open and licked dryly at his lips.

“Dare?” came a deep whisper.

Blinking up at the ceiling, he forced his eyes to the right to find Maverick sitting at his bedside. In a dimly lit hospital room. He tried to form his cousin’s name, but his mouth wouldn’t work.

“Don’t try to talk, man.” Maverick grabbed a white cup off a tray and held the straw to his lips. There was a joke in there somewhere. If Dare felt up to jokes, which he fucking didn’t. But the water was like drinking the finest aged whiskey. Dare couldn’t get enough.

“You look like hell,” Dare rasped.

Maverick barked out a hushed laugh. “You ain’t winning no beauty contests right now either, D.”

Grimacing, Dare went to scrub at his face, but only his right hand would move. Forcing his head to look down his left side, Dare’s chin dropped. Haven was sitting in a chair, her head and shoulders resting on the edge of his bed, her hand holding his. “Haven?” he said in a soft, disbelieving rasp. “Is that . . . I thought . . .”

“You should let her sleep,” Maverick said. “I think it’s the first time since everything went down that she finally managed to fall. And she won’t eat anything either.”

“I thought she was gone,” Dare said, emotion clogging his throat. Emotion that the pain and the drugs and the wonder of her being here wouldn’t let him hold in. He pressed his hand over his mouth and closed his eyes, holding his breath to staunch the fucking embarrassing sobs that wanted to break free.

“She saved your life, D. Saved your life and guarded you like a lioness guarding her cubs.” The admiration was plain in Maverick’s voice.

The words unlocked a door in Dare’s memory, and he could see her hovering over him, shielding his body with hers, grasping the gun from his holster. “Her father? What happened?” He scrubbed a hand over his eyes, catching a bit of stray wetness.

Mav nodded. “She took care of him, though she’s already been cleared by the police for self-defense. Nick’s guys took care of a few others, including Cora’s father. Our people took out the rest when they tried to come back to their cars, which is where we found Bunny, tied up in the backseat of one of them. She’s doing okay,” he said.

“I’m so damn sorry she got hurt in all of this,” Dare said, knowing it must’ve killed Maverick to see his mother banged up again.

Maverick shook his head. “Don’t worry. Doc, Rodeo, and Bear are with her at home. You know how tough she is. She’s more upset that she can’t be here with you. Meat’s okay, too. He’s down the hall. Jeb and the Winston kid driving number five didn’t make it, though. The whole incident on Friday night is being pinned on Randall’s crew and their attempted kidnapping of Haven.”

Jesus, that was a lot to take in. Dare’s chest ached for Jeb, a good kid who would’ve made a great brother. And he’d died trying to protect Bunny. “What time is it?” Dare’s head felt like it was full of cotton, his thoughts all scattered.

“Uh, it’s three o’clock Saturday afternoon. You were hit in the side and shoulder and were in surgery for five hours last night. You’ll be all right, though.”

Alarm shot through Dare’s body, making him groan. “Fuck. The exchange.”

“Cancelled,” Maverick said. “Iron Cross is denying having told Randall anything. Said he found out on his own, and they didn’t get paid shit from anyone. But let that be a worry for another day.”

Dare sagged back into the bed. Another day sounded good to him.

“Listen, nearly the whole club’s out in the waiting room, so I’m gonna go share the good news that your moody ass is awake and let you get some rest.”

Damn, even smiling hurt. “Don’t make me laugh.”

Maverick rose from his chair. “Before I go, there’s something I think you should see.” He grabbed a thick envelope from the rolling tray and pulled something out of it. A card. He handed it to Dare.

“What’s this?” Dare asked, trying to make his eyes focus. Mav just waited, and finally Dare’s brain caught up. A Missouri driver’s license. Haven’s new license. Except of course that wouldn’t be her new name. His eyes scanned . . .