Ride Wild(45)

"He's already escalating things if he's the one behind cutting Cora's tires," Slider said.

"Agreed," Dare said. "Send by your patrol cars all you want, Martin, but  we've also got three details around Slider's house now. No one will go  up or down this road without us knowing it."

Maverick released a frustrated breath. "Fuck, Slider, I'm sorry I didn't get people in place first thing this morning."                       
       
           



       

"This isn't your fault, Maverick," Cora said, piping up for the first time. "This is all on Davis."

"She's right," Slider said, appreciating her for defending his brother  that way. "And Saturday night, we finish this once and for all."

A plan in place, the week absolutely dragged. But at least there was  something fun to celebrate-on Wednesday, Haven started her first day  working down at Dutch's, an old-time diner located in the heart of  Frederick's old town.

"Let's take the boys and go for dinner," Cora said. "Maybe Dare and some  of the brothers will come. We could all go down and support her."

Slider nodded, loving the way his woman always wanted to take care of  everyone around her. And getting out of the house would be better than  sitting around waiting for the weekend, because they were all going a  little crazy doing that. "Yeah, all right. Let's make this happen."

Which was how he and Cora, his boys, and a dozen Ravens ended up filling  the joint, one of those hole-in-the-wall-looking places with amazing  food. Situated on a street corner, Dutch's was a long, narrow space  filled with red-and-white booths, a jukebox, and a Formica counter with a  dozen spinning stools. Once, Dutch had opened it only for breakfast and  lunch, but now that he'd finally had his hip replaced, he was newly  open for dinner a few nights a week.

Standing behind the case of desserts, Haven nearly glowed with happiness  and surprise as more Ravens came in until the place was absolutely  jumping.

"I should've hired you years ago, Miss Haven," Dutch said to everyone's  laughter. A tall, older man with warm brown skin, graying hair, and a  manner that always put everyone at ease, Dutch had been a friend to the  club for as long as Slider could remember.

"Look at her," Cora said from their place at the counter. "I'm so proud  of her I could burst. You don't understand how painfully shy she used to  be. Six months ago, this seemed like an impossible dream."

Slider spun his stool toward his own impossible dream. "I know exactly  how that feels, Cora. Sometimes things actually do work out right." He  couldn't believe those words were coming out of his mouth, of all  people, but these days, he was living proof of it. And he was finally  going to let himself embrace it, despite all the shit swirling around  them.

"Yeah," she said, her smile so pretty. And all for him.

Everyone ate too much and then piled one of Haven's big desserts on top  of it. The boys had thick slabs of chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream,  while Cora moaned over a piece of strawberry shortcake, and Slider  tried a piece of the pumpkin-apple spice cake with chocolate chips and  raisins in it and a sinful creamy icing drizzled over it.

"Jesus," he murmured around his first bite. "This is amazing."

Cora laughed. "Annnd another one bites the dust." She shook her head. "It's impossible not to fall in love with Haven's baking."

He pressed a sticky kiss to her cheek. "It's impossible not to fall in love with you."

"Sweet man," she whispered, her expression so soft and beautiful.

"Aw, come on, Dad. We're eating," Sam said.

Cora laughed and ruffled the kid's hair, and then she went in for a sneak attack and nabbed a bite of his cake.

"Hey!" Sam turned to the side, shielding his plate with his body as they all laughed.

Many of them cleared out when they were done in order to make room for  other customers, but Slider and Cora hung out with Dare at the counter,  and the boys entertained themselves with a stash of comics that Dutch  kept under the counter. While Cora chatted with Haven, Slider and Dare  shot the shit about everything and anything. And it was fucking nice.

Once, they'd been close. Not as close as Dare and Maverick-who were  connected by blood and had grown up together. But Slider and Dare had  once hung out a lot, run on road trips together, and generally raised  hell together, even after the kids had come along. Dare had seemingly  accepted Slider back into the fold, no questions asked, but Slider was  suddenly feeling like he owed one of his oldest friends an explanation  for the way he'd just dropped off the face of the planet.

His gut squeezed at the idea of coming clean.

And that little niggle of fear was exactly why Slider should do it. It was time to move on. So. Right.

Slider took a deep breath, and let the question fly. "Hey Dare, can I  talk to you for a minute? Outside maybe?" A wave of nausea made him  regret having finished that whole piece of cake.

Dare gave him a look and a quick nod, and then they were heading out onto the quiet evening street. "Everything okay?"                       
       
           



       

"Now it is," Slider said. "But I feel like you deserve to know what happened to me all that time."

Eyebrows shooting up, Dare shook his head. "You don't owe me anything.  Your wife died, Slider. The mother of your kids. I can't even imagine  what that was like."

His stomach was a wreck. "It was more than that, Dare. It was so much fucking more."

His friend's eyes narrowed. "Okay. Whatever it is, brother, I'll have your back. You know that."

Slider sighed, his gaze catching on something down the street. And then  he manned up and looked Dare in the eyes. "Kim was cheating on me. For  about a year. Was going to leave me. She told me all this a few weeks  before she got sick, and then the asshole she was with refused to care  for her when it started getting bad."

"Christ," Dare bit out, his expression solid, no pity to be found. "But  you stepped up and took care of her. That took a lot of fucking guts,  man."

"I just . . . I couldn't let the boys know that their mother planned to  leave them. Not after the way I grew up. I couldn't let them have to  live with that." He shook his head. "But it ate at me from the inside  out until it felt like there was nothing left to give, not even to my  friends and this club I have loved most of my life."

"Jesus, Slider, you're a damn good man. And an even better father. Don't  think for a second you owe an explanation for doing the right thing or  for being wrecked by having done it. You're here now, and that's what  matters." Dare held out his hand. "But know that I appreciate like hell  that you trusted me with knowing this. You can count on me to keep it  between us."

Slider returned the shake, feeling like a weight he'd been carrying for  so long lifted off his shoulders. It was the past, falling away, at long  last. "I know I can."

"Everything all right?" Cora asked when they returned.

He slid onto his stool and squeezed her thigh. "Never better,  sweetheart. Never better." And it was true. Somehow, Slider Evans had  finally found love, belonging, and peace. That was everything he'd been  searching for but thought for sure he'd never be able to have.

Now, just one more fight stood in his way of keeping what he'd found, once and for fucking all.



The big excitement at the shelter on Thursday was the arrival of a bunch  of new dogs, neglected, but at least not abused. A farm in rural  Maryland had been discovered housing-poorly-nearly fifty dogs of all  ages, and the local shelter there hadn't been able to take them all. So  Cora got to help do intake on the eight dogs they were taking in,  including two seven-week-old shepherd-collie mix puppies that were so  cute she could hardly stand it.

"We get to name them," Dr. Josh said. "Well, at least give them  temporary names until they're adopted. These guys are sure to go quick.  Would you like to do the honors?"

"Me? Really?" Cora asked. She picked up the first of the puppies, who  was so small he almost fit in her hand. Brown and tan with soulful  little brown eyes. "I think this guy should be called Howie."

The doc laughed. "Howie it is. And his brother?"

What went with Howie? She wanted something fun and silly, since he'd  probably have another name before too long. "How about Horace."

Dr. Josh pulled a face. "That is quite possibly the worst dog name I've ever heard."

She laughed. "I like it! Howie and Horace. That's cute!"

The names stuck, and Cora was still chuckling about it when she left at  the end of her shift. And her smile just got bigger when she found  Slider there on his bike to pick her up again. He'd taken her car to his  shop and replaced her tires, and her red baby was now locked in his  garage to keep it safe. Until the dogfight was over and Davis was  finally behind bars, Slider wanted to personally take her wherever she  needed to go.