Dare had invited Maverick and Alexa to come over, so Cora and Haven had made a big, hearty dinner of chicken pot pie. They'd sat for a long time around the table, everyone talking and laughing, and the men even shared some funny stories about a much younger Slider that made Cora and the boys laugh. Like the one where a female park ranger caught Slider skinny-dipping at night up at the South Mountain lake, the rest of them having run into the woods in time. Unable to find his clothes in the dark, he'd simply walked bare-assed through the woods to the parking lot while the ranger followed him out, her flashlight guiding the way and throwing a spotlight on his behind.
Cora almost couldn't imagine such a ridiculously carefree version of Slider, but it all just made her realize how deeply she loved him, and how much he already felt like family. She couldn't lose that. Not when she hadn't thought she'd ever find it in the first place.
At some point, Ben slid into her lap to listen to everyone talk, but when he started yawning, she suggested he grab some sleep in Dare's bed until his dad got back.
"Okay, Cora," he said, yawning again.
She took him by the hand. "You good, Sam?"
The older boy nodded. They hadn't told him what was going on, but he was old enough and had been around Dare and Maverick long enough to sense that something wasn't right. "I don't want to sleep yet."
She read the concern on his face loud and clear, so she just nodded and led Ben upstairs. She turned on the lamp on the nightstand and tucked him in, then sat on the edge of the bed. "Okay, Mr. Bean, close those peepers and get a little sleep. Your dad will be back before you know it and then we'll go home."
"I love you, Cora," he said.
The words made her throat go tight and her chest feel too small for her heart. "Oh, Ben, I love you, too."
He threw his good arm around her neck, and then he turned onto his side. "Wake me up when Dad comes."
She nodded and smoothed the cover over his shoulder, then closed the door on her way out.
"Did he get settled down okay?" Haven asked, when she returned downstairs.
"Yeah," Cora said, hugging herself. "And he told me he loved me."
Haven's expression went so soft as she pulled Cora into a hug. "Of course he loves you, sweetie."
"I want Slider to come home," she whispered, trying so hard to keep her worry in check. She didn't want Sam to see it, not when his worry was already so clear on his little face.
"I know. Soon. Just hang on a little longer," Haven whispered back. They'd been through this before, but in the past, Cora had been the one comforting Haven while Dare was away.
Finally, Cora's phone rang. "It's Slider!" she called out, and everyone gathered around. She pressed the cell to her ear. "Are you okay? What's happening?"
"Yeah, we're all fine. Put me on speaker?"
She did, but her gaze went to Sam. "You're on, but Sam's here."
The boy shook his head. "I know something's going on. I'm not leaving, Dad." Cora traded glances with Dare and Maverick.
Slider's voice came through the cell. "Sam, everything's okay-"
"Something's not okay, and you're out there in it, so I deserve to know," he said, giving more than a hint of the man he was going to become. Slider's son, through and through.
Nodding, Dare finally asked, "How'd it go?"
"We got in and out. Phoenix got the pictures. And we just passed Martin leading a raid on the location after all," Slider said, his words breaking up a little. "But we hit a complication, too."
Cora's belly threatened to fall to the floor.
"What's that?" Dare asked, his expression fierce.
It was Phoenix who answered. "You're not going to like this, Dare. But Dominic Hauer was there. He's the one who's running these fights on behalf of the Crew. That's why it's so new."
Haven gasped, and Cora clutched her hand. The guy who'd blackmailed the Ravens over them was still alive?
"Aw, Christ," Dare said, and then he grimaced as he looked at Slider's boy sitting there taking it all in. "Sorry, Sam."
Maverick met Dare's stormy gaze. "But you said Martin's raiding the place, right? So that should take care of him?"
"That's our read." Caine's voice now. "Listen, you're breaking up . . . storming . . . bad here . . ."
Beep beep beep. Cora's phone dropped the call.
Dare raked at his hair and paced the room, agitation rolling off him.
"You really don't have to censor what you say around me, you know," Sam said, crossing his arms.
Dare and Maverick chuckled. "You say that, but we'd prefer your father didn't want to kick our butts for teaching you bad habits," Maverick said with a wink.
Just in case Slider might be able to receive it, Cora shot off a text. I can't wait to hold you in my arms and look in your eyes so I can tell you in person how much I love you. Because I do. xo
The storm they must've been driving through finally hit Dare's house, and he and Haven went around lowering some of the windows where the rain came in. But the sound was soothing and almost lulling, and Cora enjoyed it as she sat in a big comfy chair by the front window.
Headlights swung across the front of the house a moment before the sound of an engine drifted in on the breeze. Cora was up out of her chair in a flash, her face pressed to the window. "It's them. They're back," she said, and then she ran out onto the front porch just as Slider was jogging up the sidewalk. She rushed out into the soft rain and jumped into his arms.
He held her to him so tight, and his mouth found hers. It felt like the first time she'd been able to take a deep breath in hours, the relief of holding him again was so strong. "I missed you. I love you," she said.
"God, sweetheart, I love you, too," he said. "Come on, let's get in out of the rain."
"I'm so proud of you," she said as they jogged up the steps. "You guys really did it."
Inside, they all gathered around Dare's living room as Slider, Phoenix, and Caine spent the next half hour recounting what they'd seen. Cora's belly flip-flopped to think of what they witnessed in that place, and she'd gasped out loud when they described how Dominic cut them off as they were leaving. Would the past never stop coming for them?
"You're sure neither Davis nor Dominic recognized you?" Dare asked.
"We went over this ourselves," Phoenix said. "No way Dominic would've let us leave if he had, and none of us ever got close enough to Davis for him to have any reason to notice us."
Caine nodded. "It was as clean as it could be, considering."
"I texted Martin on the way home," Slider said, "but not surprisingly he hasn't replied yet."
"No doubt he's got his hands full after the raid," Maverick said, "but let's keep trying him. I want the full details."
Dare nodded and sagged in his chair. "I need some whiskey." The men chuckled and agreed, then relocated to the kitchen at the back of the big open space.
"Can we go home soon, Dad?" Sam asked, his voice tired.
"Yeah, buddy. In just a little bit," Slider said from where he stood at the big island.
Cora stretched and got up out of her seat. "We're gonna sleep good tonight, aren't we, Sam?"
"Yeah, I guess," he said.
"I hope the rain lasts all night," she said, going to the front window and leaning against the sill. Sam joined her, and she smiled at his reflection in the glass. "I want to open our windows at home . . . and . . ."
As she watched, a truck passed the house, hit its brakes, and backed up. A blue truck. Dread rolled through her, sudden and sharp. "You guys!" Cora yelled. "Davis is here!"
Which was the last thing she knew as the bullets shattered the world around her.
Chapter 24
Slider saw it all unfold in slow motion. As in a dream, or a nightmare.
Him turning as Cora called out.
A voice shouting in the night. "This is for the Iron Cross, you Raven pieces of shit!"
A hail of automatic gunfire hitting the front of the house, shattering glass, ricocheting around the room.
Slider yelling Cora's name. Oh, Jesus, she was right in front of the window.
She turned, grabbed Sam, pushed him to the floor.
And then all of a sudden, time was a runaway train, speeding so fast Slider could hardly keep up. Screaming, crying, shouting, diving. Were they still shooting? Slider couldn't tell for the buzzing in his head. He pulled his weapon from the small of his back and went to the edge of the window, but the brake lights were already moving away, and Caine was running across Dare's front yard, firing as their attackers retreated.