Have your own kitchen
Have your own home
Go skydiving
Get GED (go to college?)
Get a pet
Get a job (what do I want to be?)
Thank the teachers who tried to reach out to me
Put the past behind me
Conquer fear and anxiety
Volunteer to help people (a soup kitchen?!)
Find a way to repay Cora
Make a mess and don’t care!
Go skinny dipping
Fly in an airplane
Visit another country
See a castle
Haven flipped to the page of Dare-inspired items.
Kiss a guy
Kiss a lot of guys!
Have fun at a party for once
Wear makeup
Drink
Ride a motorcycle
Learn to drive a motorcycle
“Kiss a guy?” she asked, looking at Cora.
“I was hoping you were going to pick that one. Why not? It could just be a kiss on the cheek. Or maybe it’ll be more, who knows?” Cora waggled her eyebrows.
Haven closed the notebook and flopped flat on the bed. “This list is juvenile.” Not to mention impossible. The idea of checking things off the list was fun, but how heartbreaking would it be for some things—maybe a lot of things—to never get done? Maybe it would be better not to dream, not to want. Maybe she was wanting too much.
“No, it’s not,” Cora said. “This list is about you thinking about what you want out of a life you’re just now being allowed to lead.”
Haven sighed and let Cora’s words sink in. “Okay, well. Then kissing a guy is a ridiculous idea,” she mumbled into the pillow. After a moment, she rolled her head to peer up at Cora. “Who would I even kiss? And what would I do, just walk up to someone and be like, I’m gonna kiss you now?”
Cora laughed. “Just see if an opportunity presents itself. Being open to it happening is half the battle. So now the question is what you’re going to wear.”
Haven lifted her head and pushed her hair behind her ears. “I want to look pretty.”
“Well, that’s easy, since you’re gorgeous anyway.” Cora ran her fingers through the end of Haven’s hair.
Haven rolled her eyes, uncomfortable with compliments no matter who they came from. In her experience, compliments had almost always stemmed from unwanted attention and came with a price tag—like you owed the guy something because he thought you were pretty. “I mean, I want to look good. Really good.” Her stomach did more loop-the-loops.
“You want to look hot,” Cora said. “Also easy. Does that mean I get free rein on putting you together for tonight, then?” she asked, her face alive with anticipation.
“Don’t make me regret it,” Haven said. For the next forty minutes, Haven wore and did and went along with everything Cora suggested. She ended up in her new tight jeans and clingy black shirt, with her hair styled in big loose curls that Cora pinned up on the sides to create a cascade of curls down her back. Haven didn’t have anything more adventurous than the black sandals Bunny had bought for her feet, but Cora did her makeup so beautifully—another check for her list—that she looked like someone else altogether. “Oh, my God. Is it too much?”
Cora looked over her shoulder into the mirror. “Not at all. Man, you look stunning. I do good work.”
“You do great work. It’s like it’s not even me.” Haven turned her head back and forth, trying to look at the back of her hair.
“It’s totally you, Haven. Just you, glammed up.” Cora grabbed her shoulders. “We’re gonna have so much fun tonight! Let me do my hair real quick and then we’ll go down for dinner.”
“Okay,” Haven said, moving away from the mirror so Cora could do her thing.
While she waited, she sat on the edge of her bed and picked up her notebook. She flipped through the pages of items on her list and chose to see it Cora’s way. Because it was time for her to live her life and stop being scared of everything. At least, it was time to try. With a grin, she grabbed the pen and flipped to the first page. Inspired by Cora, she wrote two words at the top, and underlined them for good measure:
Live Dangerously!
CHAPTER 8
The loud rumbles of their motorcycles told Dare that his brothers were back from the day’s run. He made his way through his cabin on the outskirts of the Ravens’ compound to the front porch in time to see Maverick, Phoenix, and Caine dismounting their bikes.
“How’d it go?” Dare asked, bracing his hands on the rough-hewn log railing. With the help of some of the other Ravens, especially Bandit, who could do just about anything with his hands, Dare had built the two-bedroom cabin more than a dozen years before. While Doc had been more than happy to have Dare live with him, Dare’s demons had taken up even more space when he was a younger man than they did now, so he’d wanted his own place.