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?”