“Done,” Jagger said, then he threw Dare a mischievous grin. “Oh, by the way, D.”
“Yeah?”
“Haven volunteered for the dunking booth.”
As Dare’s expression visibly darkened, Jagger winked at Maverick and took off. Dare mumbled something under his breath about good hearts and wearing a parka that made Mav laugh.
Dare scrubbed at his face and released an agitated sigh. “You heading out?”
To Alexa’s hung unspoken in the air between them. Maverick tipped the bottle to his mouth and took a long draw. “Nah. Here with all you ugly motherfuckers is where I want to be for right now.” Seeing her yesterday had been fantastic, but it had left him feeling hollower than he wanted to admit. And he wasn’t leaving Dare when the guy looked like hell.
With a wry grin, Dare clapped him on the back. “Good. Then let’s find a place to plant our asses, because my goddamned side is killing me.”
The admission caught Maverick by surprise. “You—”
“Fine. Just overdid it. Which makes me sound like a fucking geriatric,” Dare groused as they cut through the crowd to one of the big groupings of leather couches.
“A geriatric dating a twenty-two-year-old hottie. Not bad,” Maverick said with a wink.
Dare glared at him. “Shut the fuck up.” He dropped into the corner of one of the couches on a grimace.
Maverick looked at him, and the realization hit that Dare wasn’t joking around like he had been. “Shit, D. You know I didn’t mean anything by that.” He sat facing Dare. “You gotta know I respect the hell out of Haven. As long as I live, I will never be able to forget seeing her save your life and protect your body with hers. Damn. I’m sorry.”
Waving him off, Dare shook his head. “Forget about it.”
“You’re really serious about her.” Maverick knew he was, but he hadn’t realized just how serious. Clearly. Dare just eyeballed him. “How serious? Talk to me, man.”
Dare nailed him with an assessing stare, then gave a little shrug with his uninjured shoulder that belied the significance of what came out of his mouth. “Forever serious.”
The words impacted Maverick square in the chest. “Have you asked her—”
“No,” Dare said, glancing around to see if anyone might be listening in. But the music and other conversations gave them cover in the midst of the chaos. “I’m in no rush. Neither is she. But when the time is right . . .” He shrugged again.
“Fuckin’ A,” Maverick said, managing a smile. “I’m damn happy for you. For both of you.” He meant it, especially since not two weeks ago, Dare had convinced himself that he’d have to send Haven away—to keep both her and the club safe. Now, nothing stood in their way. Just as it should be.
Which just cast a big, ol’ glaring spotlight on all the things Maverick didn’t have, didn’t it? Probably made him an asshole to spend one second of time feeling regret in this moment when his best friend admitted to having found everything he ever wanted. Maverick knew it did. But he couldn’t help it.
“Thanks,” Dare said. “But do me a favor and keep your trap shut about it. I don’t want anyone teasing and making Haven feel uncomfortable. Or whatever.” Mav nodded. “And besides, we got word on Friday that Haven may be due some inheritance from her father’s estate, assuming it gets released by the Feds. So we got things to work through.”
“Ain’t that some shit,” Maverick said. “What’s she thinking?”
“She was stunned at first. Then said she wanted nothing to do with anything that’d been his. But then she asked me if the Ravens could use the money to help our protectees.” Pride and affection came over Dare’s expression.
“And then she was willing to consider it?” Mav asked. It was just like Haven. He still remembered watching her tend to Alexa’s wounds the day she came here. He’d already liked Haven then, but that was the day she earned his undying loyalty.
“Yup,” Dare said. “Cora told her she should use it to open her own bakery business, which I think is fucking brilliant, but Haven said she’d rather use it to help other people like herself. We’ll see. Either way, it’s up in the air for now.”
“You got a good one, D. For real.” Maverick took another pull from his beer.
“The best.” On a sigh, he relaxed back into the leather.
“Hey, speaking of Cora, where has she been?” Maverick asked. “I haven’t seen her around lately.” Cora Campbell was Haven’s best friend from back home in Georgia. The pair of them had run away together from some bad situations and landed with the Raven Riders last month. From what Maverick understood, Cora had played a big role in helping Haven escape from her father, and she was also sarcastic and funny as hell. What Maverick knew of her, he liked.