Ride Rough (Raven Riders 2)

Maverick got a shot off first because he’d had his weapon at the ready. It was the only thing that saved him. He knew the slug found its target when the man’s head and arms slumped. Mav didn’t feel great about that, but the situation was too hot to sit and spin on it. And no one made it through life without losing a few pieces of themselves along the way, did they?

He waited for another moment, making sure no more Iron Cross were going to come out that side door that the flames hadn’t yet reached. But all was suddenly still. Time to fly.

He’d no more had the thought when his phone buzzed in his back pocket. Maverick looked at it to confirm the message.

Pull back. Follow assigned route home.

No kidding.

Racing to his Harley, his boots hit deep puddles and slipped on the grass, but then he was astride the bike and underway. Hauling ass away from the blaze. Maverick looked back once more in time to see one of the walls collapsing inward in a loud crack of flying sparks and flame.

Despite Chen’s assurances, Maverick expected the authorities to appear on their tails at any second. The only comfort was in seeing the groups of motorcycles forming up—each complete group of five a reassurance that their men had survived. It wasn’t until they were out on the open highway and heading west toward Frederick that Mav believed that they were truly free and clear.

The Bluetooth inside his helmet picked up an incoming call. “What?” he answered. He heaved a breath, trying to shake off the stress of the night.

“You okay?” Dare asked.

“Fuck, I don’t even know. Yeah. You?”

“I’m good,” Dare said. “So, that was some shit.”

“What the hell happened?” Maverick bit out, dark farmland flying by on both sides of the highway.

“I talked to Chen. He said there was some sort of power play inside the Iron Cross that tilted the whole fucking night on its axis, for starters. He’s not sure why the initial blast occurred like that, though they had a meth lab and were building explosives. For what, he wouldn’t say. They also had some kind of fail-safe destruct system hardwired in, which they apparently tripped,” Dare said, his voice sounding tired. Or maybe that was just their connection.

Building explosives? So the Iron Cross were into even more bad shit than they knew, just like Chen said. That lightened a little of the darkness inside Maverick’s chest over the man he’d taken out tonight. He sighed and shifted in the saddle, his back aching after being knocked on his ass.

“Are we whole?” Mav asked, still worrying about their men even though the bike count had been right on the way out of the city.

“Two not serious GSWs. Joker and Bandit. Otherwise, yes.” Dare’s voice didn’t sound like they weren’t serious. But the guy felt every hit the Ravens took personally and always had.

“Damnit,” Mav said. “Did Chen mention the women?”

“His men got them, and took a number of other Iron Cross out in the process,” Dare said. “They apparently got what they needed before it all went down.”

“Good. That’s good.” Those women could’ve been Haven. Cora. Alexa. Goddamnit.

“Yeah. Tonight sure as fuck didn’t go like we’d planned but hopefully it did what we needed it to do,” Dare said.

Well, that was an understatement if Mav ever heard one, but his cousin was right. “I’m just glad things might be settled with the Iron Cross now,” he said on a troubled sigh. “For Bunny, for Jeb, for all of us.”

They hung up, and Maverick tried to embrace the peacefulness of the open road for the rest of the trip. All told, it wasn’t long. Just about an hour door to door. Usually, having his fists and knees in the breeze was the surest path to chilling his ass out when life had him wound tight. Tonight was no exception, though perhaps he was wound a little tighter than normal.

Because of their own dead and injured. Because of what they’d just done. Because of his worry for Alexa.

He really was worried about her, and equally worried that there wasn’t much he could do. Not if she wouldn’t let him.

But at least with tonight behind him—with the Iron Cross finally out of the picture, Maverick could put his focus on watching out for her without feeling like he was letting the Ravens down.

He couldn’t do more to help those women, but he could help Alexa. And he would.

If she needed him, he’d be ready. That was all he knew. And for now, that would be enough.

CHAPTER 7

Dealing with her mother two mornings in a row was a special kind of hell. Guilt gripped Alexa for feeling that way, but she couldn’t help it. Yesterday after the doctor’s visit, her mother had broken down into hysterical tears that were, Alexa suspected, a ploy to get her to stay at the house longer. Which she’d done, making herself even later for work. Of course, Grant hadn’t appreciated that.