Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge Book 2)

“You’re here!”

Raven flew out the front door and down the sidewalk that cut through the yard. Haddie’s smile was wide as she climbed out of her little red sedan, though she playfully rolled her eyes as she dug into the backseat to grab her bag.

“As if I wouldn’t show?”

“Um, since you’re miss popular now, it was a tossup.”

“Pssh…like I would ditch my bestie for a couple acquaintances who only like me because I have a car now?”

Raven hurried to unlatch the gate and ran through it and out onto the sidewalk.

“Well, I only like you for your car, too, sooo…” She drew out the tease as she rounded the tail of the car parked at the curb.

Haddie playfully slugged her in the arm. “Shut up.”

Giggling, Raven snuggled into Haddie’s side as Haddie slung her arm over Raven’s shoulders. “Okay, fine, maybe I still kinda like you because you’re basically the most amazing person in the world and I can’t live without you.”

Haddie squeezed her tighter. “Now that is what I like to hear.”

“Aww, did someone need their ego stroked?”

“I’ll tell you about something I stroked when we get inside.” Haddie whispered it salaciously at Raven’s ear.

A gasp ripped out of Raven. “Oh my gosh, did you⁠—?”

Raven’s question clipped off when the front door of the house suddenly whipped open, and Otto came striding out. Big body bristling beneath the sun, a grin stretched over his entire face, his blue eyes dancing with mirth.

Raven’s stomach tightened. To hide it, she dropped her gaze, worried it would be written all over her expression. Worried she’d be caught thinking thoughts she absolutely couldn’t think.

But they’d been coming too much lately. This feeling that swelled inside her whenever he was near.

“Is that my baby sister?” he called.

Excitement buzzed from his spirit. Raven knew how much he adored Haddie. How close they were. Could see how he worried since their mom was a mess. Clean one minute and then relapsing the next.

Otto had wanted Haddie to come live with them, but Haddie had chosen to stay with their mom.

She’d been really good for the last three months, though, so Raven was hopeful.

Haddie unwound herself from Raven and did a little flourish and a bow. “In the flesh.”

A rumbly sound echoed out of Otto’s chest as he took the two steps down from the stoop and came striding her way. She dropped her bag and went running for him, and he picked her up and spun her around.

“Ahh…missed you.”

“And I missed you. And Raven.” Haddie slanted her attention to Raven.

Raven who was picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder and striding their way. “I’m impossible not to miss.”

Haddie was still clinging to Otto as she teased, “Now who is looking to get their ego stroked?”

Another giggle fumbled out of Raven, and Otto stepped back, gesturing toward the door. “Come on, you two, let’s get you inside.”

Haddie didn’t hesitate. She scampered up the steps and through the door and into the house where Raven lived with River and the guys.

Her family.

A traditional sort of family it was not, but to her, that’s exactly what they were. They were the ones who’d protected her. Cared for her and raised her.

They’d kept her sheltered and secreted until River had made their mother sign off as her guardian, even though she’d continued to do classes online since she’d freaked out when she’d tried to attend school.

Too many people around her. Too many voices. Too many fears still lingering inside her that she still didn’t know how to get away from.

She kept trying, though. She would never give up, and she knew one day, she would find her place.

Her comfort and her joy.

Her father might have destroyed a big part of her childhood, but she wouldn’t allow him to destroy her entire life.

She was slowly finding her way, even though it was difficult sometimes.

Which was why she was really glad she had Haddie.

Haddie who’d been her best friend since Otto had introduced them when she was nine.

Haddie who was brave and bold and ran out into the world without a care, embracing everything that came her way.

They might have basically been opposites, but the two of them were inseparable, and they spent as much time together as they could.

Haddie went directly for Raven’s room and tossed her bag to the bed right before she did the same with herself, flopping onto her back and bouncing on the mattress. Her light brown hair was spread all around her as she laughed toward the ceiling, so pretty that the guys lost their minds whenever they went out.

Ice cream shops.

Stores.

The few parties they’d gone to together.

The attention they garnered was something Raven was still trying to figure out how to deal with. How to handle it when her first instinct was to cower and hide.

Haddie sat up onto her elbows and cocked Raven a bawdy grin.

“This is going to be the best weekend ever.”

“What are you thinking? This is the worst idea you’ve ever had.”

And Haddie had suffered more than a few of them. Raven rarely got into trouble, but when she did, it never failed that she was with Haddie.

They were supposed to be watching a movie and then going to sleep. At least that’s what Haddie had told Otto before he’d left on business.

And there they were, slinking through the city under the cover of night.

“Your brother is going to be so pissed,” Raven continued, trying to talk some sense into her best friend.

Okay, Raven’s brother was going to be pissed, too.

Really pissed.

This endeavor was so off limits, so out of bounds, Raven would likely be grounded until she was twenty-seven, and she wouldn’t put it past her brother to try to enforce it.

Raven clomped along a foot behind her, trying to balance on the outrageous heels Haddie had insisted she wear. What made it even worse was she’d pulled a sequined cream-colored miniskirt and a black lacy tank from her bag and had insisted that Raven actually put them on.

She’d never felt so exposed in her life.

Haddie was dressed pretty much the same, though her outfit was red.

“He’ll get over it,” Haddie said with a grin.

They rounded the corner to the sound of heavy music thrumming through the air and the hoots and shouts of inebriated voices.

Apprehension stirred Raven’s conscience into unease. This was a bad idea. A really bad idea.

But Haddie just kept strutting along like it was the best one she’d ever had as they headed toward the bar and the buildings in the back where River’s friends all hung out. Where they had their meetings and dealt their dirty deals. Some of them actually lived there.

Okay, she called them his friends, but she understood what they really were. She knew it from the long row of motorcycles parked at an angle out front and the leather vests they all wore. Knew it from the way the conversations often cut off whenever she came into a room, and the way River and the rest of his crew were always looking over their shoulders.

She hadn’t gotten it at first, too young and naïve to understand, but she knew now.

They were members of a motorcycle club.

The Iron Owls.

And she was pretty sure they didn’t partake in the legal, their illicit activities dangerous. But when she’d finally gotten the courage to confront River about it, he’d promised her he would be fine, and he would never let anything happen to him. Told her not to worry.

She knew it all the way down to her soul that River did it for her. That he’d gotten swept into this life because it was the only way he’d been able to care for a child. Knew the rest of the guys had gotten here because it was the easiest way when you started out on the streets.

Aligning yourself with those who would have your back.

That didn’t mean Raven trusted any of the guys outside of her family, and her feet dragged in dread along the sidewalk while Haddie lifted her chin and sashayed right up to the door, sending the bouncer at the front a megawatt smile.

Raven’s throat thickened. God, this was so dumb and reckless.

The jacked-up, heavily tattooed guy eyed Haddie up and down, gaze lascivious. “You lost?”

“Nope. I found my way just fine. I’m Otto’s sister, and this is River’s sister, and we just wanted to pop in to say hi.”

Surprise filled the man’s expression, and he cocked his head to the side. “Neither of ’em are here.”

Haddie shrugged a casual, flirty shoulder. “That’s fine. We’ll just wait for them.”

“You got ID?”

She leaned in close to his ear, and Raven could barely make out what she said. “Do I look like I need ID to you? Come now, we all know who you work for, and you wouldn’t want to make any of them mad, would you?”

She pouted like she was concerned for him.

A puff of hot air left him, and he grunted as he said, “Go on in.”

Haddie spun back toward Raven, barely able to contain the squeal she clearly wanted to release, but there was no hiding the gleeful triumph on her face, before she turned back around and started into the raucous vibe of the bar.

Raven gulped for confidence, and reluctantly, she followed Haddie into the fray.

Inside, the ceiling was low, and dingy yellow lights glowed from the pendants that hung above the booths that lined the walls. The music was loud and drowning the voices that lifted in an attempt to be heard over the blare.

A handful of pool tables and round tables took up the middle, and a long bar ran the back wall.

A ton of people were packed inside. Men clad in the same leather cuts that her brother and his crew wore. Most of the women were dressed in leather and lace, though they had more skin showing than not.

Raven didn’t know if she wanted to gape or drop her stare when she saw a girl propped on the edge of a booth table with a man wound between her thighs.

Were they…?

Haddie grabbed her hand and tucked Raven against her as she whispered in her ear, “Can you believe we got in here? This is amazing. I told you it was going to work.”

Raven was too nervous to think it was amazing.

Too worried to even think about enjoying herself as Haddie towed her to two open stools at the bar. Warily, she sat, trying to adjust her skirt so she wouldn’t give everyone there a peek at her panties.

“What will it be?” A bartender with a long white beard tossed two cocktail napkins to the bar in front of them.

“Two gin and tonics, please,” Haddie answered before Raven had the chance to ask for a water.

Haddie gave her another winning smile when the guy turned and started making their drinks, and she leaned in and shouted so Raven could hear, “Relax. It’s going to be totally fine. Stop being such a fun sucker and loosen up a bit, would you?”

Raven took a deep breath and decided she might as well try since she was there anyway, and she took a sip of the drink the bartender set in front of her, trying not to make a face at the bitter taste.

Haddie giggled as she slurped at her straw. “Delicious, am I right?”

“Wrong. Totally wrong.” Raven drank a little more, anyway, deciding to fully let her worries drift.

Haddie stood from her stool, and she started shimmying her hips. “Come dance with me.”

Raven slipped off her stool, and Haddie threaded her fingers through Raven’s and lifted their hands high above them.

Raven had discovered she really did like to dance. Both with Otto who always goofed around with her, tossing her around like a ragdoll, and Haddie who never seemed to be able to sit still.

Raven let go, and the two of them danced like they normally did behind closed doors when they were messing around at one of their houses.

It only took a few minutes for Raven to be giggling.

“Admit it,” Haddie said. “You’re having a blast.”

Raven stuck her tongue out at her. “Fine, I’m having a blast. You always have to be right, don’t you?”

“Only if it means my bestie is wearing a smile like that…all while looking like a total fucking knockout.”

Redness flushed Raven’s cheeks. “I look ridiculous.”

“Are you insane? You look hot. Have you seen the guys looking at you?”

Raven couldn’t hold back her furtive peek around the bar.

That was just when a group of three guys came sauntering up. Wearing jeans and their cuts and lecherous grins on their faces.

Anxiety rolled through Raven’s being.

A bottle of tequila dangled from the hand of the guy in the front.

“What do we have here?” He whistled low. “Looks like somethin’ fresh and sweet.”

Haddie kept swaying her hips, and the guy stretched out his hand, gripping it on her waist as he moved around her before he pressed himself to her back, that same hand gliding around to her stomach to hold her against him as he began to move.

Haddie kept moving, too, and she bit down on her bottom lip like she was enjoying it.

There was no shame in it, but Raven didn’t come close to enjoying it when one of the other guys did the same to her.

She went rigid, the air heaving from her lungs as he curled an arm around her to bring her flush.

Nausea churned in her stomach, and she blinked, trying to see through the fear that flashed behind her eyes.

No, please, no.

The guy nipped at the lobe of her ear. “Bet you have a delicious pussy.”

Fear ripped through her, and her gaze shot to Haddie, but Haddie was too busy gulping from the bottle the guy had tipped up to her mouth for her to notice. The two of them were writhing, the guy’s free hand riding up the front of her thigh and under her skirt.

“Come on, baby.” That vile voice crooned in Raven’s ear, and panic surged through her body.

She started to shake, and she tried to pull away, only he grabbed her by the wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Leave me alone.” She wondered if there was even any sound to it, the way it wheezed out of her in a gush of desperation.

“Don’t take too well to teases around here,” he snarled as he yanked her back toward him.

She started to yelp, only everything froze when a thunderclap of rage suddenly broke over the mayhem.

“The fuck is goin’ on in here?”

It was a roar, and the music clanked off as all the voices in the bar went silent.

Relief slammed her when she saw Otto stood in the middle of the bar.

She could almost feel what was dripping from him.

The violence that curled his fists into hate.

The man vibrating with an aggression so distinct there wasn’t a soul in the bar immune to it.

The guy behind Raven stepped away, releasing her, and she gulped for the air she hadn’t been able to get into her lungs, bending over like she could hide herself as she stumbled over to Otto.

Blue eyes toiled, torn, and he inhaled a vicious breath when he turned away from her and to Haddie who was still wound with the other guy.

“Otto,” Haddie rasped when she caught sight of her brother glowering in wrath.

His enormous body convulsed with stormy indignation.

But the guy behind Haddie only grinned. “You got an issue, Hudson?”

Otto flew forward, and he ripped Haddie out of his hold and hauled her back. “Yeah, I got a fuckin’ issue, Gideon, you fuckin’ piece of shit. That’s my seventeen-year-old sister.”

A commotion broke out behind them, and Raven squeezed her eyes closed when a clatter of boots rushed in.

River was at the helm, and she saw the disappointment lash across his face when he saw her standing there.

Kane, Theo, and Cash came skidding to a stop on either side of him. “Fuck,” Kane spat as he took in the scene.

Shame bit across her flesh, and she didn’t resist when River grabbed her and pulled her against his chest, shielding her face like he couldn’t stand for her to witness what went on inside these walls.

“What the hell are you doin’ here, Raven?” he muttered to the top of her head. Anger buzzed across his flesh, though he was hugging her tight like he was making sure she was safe and whole.

Otto hauled Haddie behind him and jabbed a finger into the face of the guy Haddie had been dancing with. “Stay the fuck away from her.”

He took one step back and whirled toward the guy who’d been groping at Raven. “Same goes for you, Dusty.”

He pointed between them. Raven recognized the names. Two actual brothers who River had complained about being dangerous.

Trouble.

“Stay the fuck away from both of them if either of you motherfuckers want to remain standing. Do you understand what I’m tellin’ you?”

“Fuck you, Hudson,” the guy named Gideon cracked, lifting his chin in a show of dominance. “That pussy was willing and more than wet.”

Otto had him by the throat and pinned against the bar top before anyone could make sense of the movement.

“Otto,” Haddie cried, and Theo looped an arm around her waist to keep her from running to him.

“I’ll end you if you even look at her again, and I’ll do it gladly,” Otto hissed as he angled over him. “You got me?”

Dusty and the other guy who’d been with Gideon edged forward, and Cash stepped in front of them, craning his head in a silent warning.

No one else moved. They all watched, agitation billowing through them as they waited to see what would happen next.

Otto finally shoved Gideon hard, and he turned on his heel and stormed back across to the rest of them. All the guys turned at the same time, making a circle around Raven and Haddie as they hurried them out of the bar, ignoring the jeers and laughter that suddenly went up once everyone realized there wasn’t going to be a fight.

They all stumbled out onto the sidewalk, and Raven dragged heaving breaths into her lungs once they were out in the cool night air. Trying to calm the frantic flogging of her heart.

They kept ushering them down the sidewalk, looking over their shoulders as they steered them farther away from the bar and down the street. When the sound of the music was only a dull drone behind them, Otto whirled, fury on his face.

“What the fuck did you two think you were doing?”

Shame swept through Raven, and Haddie shifted on her feet, though she tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal. “We just wanted to have a little fun. See where you guys hang out at night.”

Otto’s laugh was hollow as he tilted his head toward the sky and scrubbed his hands over his face before he whipped his attention back to her. Venom coated his words as he threw them her direction. “You wanted to have a little fun? Those guys are fuckin’ dangerous, Haddie. Fuckin’ dangerous. They could have⁠—”

He clipped off with a shout of fury, spinning around and ripping at his hair like he was envisioning exactly what could have happened.

Raven’s guts twisted in horror, just then realizing how reckless their actions had actually been.

A tear slipped down Haddie’s eye, and she swept it away. “I’m sorry. I just…”

“Don’t just me. Just fuckin’ listen to me for once. Please. You stay away from here. Stay away from all of them.”

She scoffed as her brow pinched. “So, it’s fine for you all to be here, having a great time, but not for the rest of us?”

Displeasure roiled in Otto, though Raven could feel the worry that underscored his demeanor. “You think this is fun to me? To us? We do it to survive, Haddie. We do it so we can put a halfway decent roof over our heads. So we can provide for you because no one else is going to fuckin’ do it.”

He leaned in closer. “We do it so you and Raven have good lives. And you’re not gonna get that kind of life by comin’ around here. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. It was clear she meant it that time.

Pain leached out of Otto’s heavy sigh as he pulled her into a fierce hug. “Need you to listen when I tell you something, Haddie. Need you to hear me. I promise you I’m not makin’ rules for the sake of it, but only to keep you safe.”

Raven met Otto’s intense gaze from where he looked at her from over Haddie’s shoulder, his sister still plastered tight against him. She felt him trying to press the same desperation into her as he was to Haddie.

“Let’s go,” River said, voice low and filled with disappointment.

Haddie sent Raven a look. One of apology. Raven reached out and squeezed her hand. A promise that it was okay, all while she was praying Haddie would actually listen.

“No. No, no, no, no.”

Raven thrashed, flailed and fought.

“No, please, no.”

A wail tore up her throat. She shot upright, and her eyes pitched open to the darkness of her room.

Her hand went to her mouth like she would be able to reel back in the shout that she could still almost hear echoing against the walls.

Like she could hide it.

But she should have known better. Should have known the door handle was going to slowly turn and a massive figure cast in shadows was going to emerge in the doorway.

Only she wasn’t afraid. She was never, ever afraid when it came to him, and right then, she felt both a wash of relief and shame.

Otto’s bare feet creaked over the floorboards as he quietly crept across her room, and like he always did when she had a nightmare, he slid down the side of the wall and onto the floor next to her bed.

Only tonight, his spirit was all different. His own turmoil pulsed and undulated, ricocheting into hers.

“Bad dream?” he murmured into the quiet stillness.

Haddie had been relegated to Otto’s room and he’d taken the couch. It was the obvious punishment for the two of them breaking the rules.

A sticky sense of dread had followed Raven to her room, and she’d been sure in the moments before she’d finally fallen asleep that the fear was going to follow her there.

Torment her in her sleep the way the memory of her father so often did. Though tonight, that dream had been different.

It had started with her father, the same as always, only his face had changed to Dusty’s.

“Yeah,” she whispered where she’d shifted onto her side so she could look at Otto.

A strained sigh pushed from his lips, and he rocked his head back on the wall as he scrubbed his hands over his face. “Could have been bad, Raven. The things those fuckers wouldn’t have thought twice about doing to both of you.”

Rocks clogged her throat, and she struggled to form the words around it. “I know. I’m really sorry.”

“Wouldn’t make it if something happened to one of you. If you had any idea of how fuckin’ scared I was when I came through that door and found you both there like that…”

He gripped his shirt right over his heart, his face contorting in agony as he swiveled his head to look at her. “If you had any idea, you would never have stepped foot through that door.”

Part of her wanted to say she hadn’t wanted to go in the first place, but she’d never throw Haddie under the bus like that. Haddie was just…going through a phase. Exploring and testing.

Things Raven would also want to do if she had half the courage and balls that Haddie had.

But sometimes when you were so eager to chase the good things in life, you made mistakes along the way. That’s all this was. A mistake.

Raven reached over and picked up the mirror she always kept on her nightstand, and she peered at her distorted features. Silently chanting the things Otto had told her all those years ago. That she was brave and strong and smart. A fighter. The truth that one day, she would rise. Stand firm and without fear.

“Were you scared tonight?” Otto’s voice was quieter than it’d been.

Careful.

She could barely nod her admission. “I…I didn’t like him touching me like that. It’s the first time…the first time I’ve been that close to a guy, and it wasn’t anything like I thought it might feel.”

“Fuck,” Otto seemed to say to himself, and sorrow curled through the shadows that played over his face.

Raven’s stomach twisted. Twisted in regret and also that feeling she knew she wasn’t supposed to feel. The feeling that made her want to reach out and trace her fingertips over the sharp angles of his face. The part of her that knew if it’d been Otto trying to dance with her like that guy had been, she wouldn’t have minded.

She would have fallen into the bliss of it.

The traitorous thoughts fell away when Otto yanked at his hair again. “Told you I would never let anything happen to you. That you’d be safe here.” He blinked in anguish. “And we were this close…”

He trailed off with a harsh shake of his head before he muttered into the lapping darkness of her room. “Never imagined it’d come to this. That we’d get so deep in this life there would be no getting out of it. So deep that eventually it was going to rise up high enough to consume those we care about most.”

It was the first Raven had heard of any of them speak of the MC in a negative light, but it wasn’t like she was privy to the inside. They tried to keep her protected from it the best that they could.

She’d seen a small piece of it tonight, though she imagined it went so much darker than she could ever imagine.

“What would you do differently?” she whispered like soft encouragement.

Air huffed out of his nose, and a sorrowful smile tugged at the edge of his mouth. He hefted his shoulder a bit. “Don’t know. Do somethin’ that makes a difference, I guess. Be a good guy. Somethin’ that brings goodness instead of corruption.”

Her heart clattered in her chest. It was the most candid she thought any of the guys had ever been, giving voice to the crimes and misdeeds she sometimes saw haunting their eyes.

“You do make a difference, Otto. For Haddie. For me.”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed and roughed his fingers through his hair. “Would do anything for you, Raven. For both of you.”

She got brave and she reached out over the side of her bed and found his hand. Heat blazed up her arm. “You are the one person who hears me when I need someone most, Otto. You’re the one person who makes it better. The one person who makes me feel like I don’t have to be afraid to go to sleep.”

The tip of his smile was both agonized and adoring. “Would do anything to rid you of every single one of your monsters.”

“I know you would.”

He hooked his pinky with hers, his voice rough as he whispered, “That’s why you’ve gotta be careful not to introduce any more monsters into your life, Raven. Know we’ve kept you shielded the best we can, but you’re almost grown, and we can’t do that forever. You need to know the real threat of these bastards. Take it seriously. Choose the type of people you hang with carefully.” He hesitated before he rushed, “And fuck, Raven, don’t let some depraved asshole use you up.”

Before she could say anything, he hopped to his feet and moved to the door.

He paused when she quietly called behind him, “Thank you.”

He hesitated before he looked over his shoulder. “For what?”

“For somehow always knowing what I need.”