Smokey hadn’t wanted it to end like this.
“Hunter, you’re with me. Everyone else, check where Raven usually goes,” Smokey said.
No one moved.
“We don’t know,” Kinky said.
“What?” Smokey asked, looking at all of them.
“Raven is … secretive,” Brick said.
“Who knows what she does?” Elijah asked.
“I’d vote to go to Abriana and Ava’s,” Hanson said. “Raven scares the crap out of me.”
Smokey looked at his men, and he knew he was just as to blame. None of them knew Raven, not like she knew them.
Whenever Smokey had asked her to grab one of the guys, she knew where to look. She didn’t take long in finding them either. He couldn’t believe this.
Smokey ran a hand down his face.
“I think before we leave here, there are a few … facts about Raven’s life you all need to hear,” Smokey said.
He had kept this shit to himself for a long time. Often pretending he didn’t know shit, and over the years, it was easy to even think that as well. Learning the truth about her, about her past, he’d buried it so Raven didn’t even know what he did. It was her story, not his, but these men needed to know who she was.
This woman that he had hurt, she would die for this club. He’d failed her.
All the men sat back down, and Smokey told them of the young woman he’d met on the street, and what he had learned. He told them all how he went and found justice for her, and that Raven didn’t have a clue it was him who took care of it.
No one spoke as he finished.
Smokey got to his feet and left.
Hunter was hot on his heels as he left the clubhouse, heading toward the bakery. He couldn’t believe what a fucking asshole he’d been. Blinded by his own guilt, he’d hurt Raven. He’d never told her the truth. That he knew everything he needed to know about her. Whenever anyone asked, he always denied knowing anything. There was no point in anyone else knowing more than they needed to know.
Raven wanted to create a past. That was for her to do, and he wasn’t going to deny her that. Once he was on his bike, where he usually was able to focus, it didn’t help. All it did was serve to remind him of what he’d done.
In that bar, all those years ago, Raven had looked out of place. He’d seen the darkness within her gaze, and as she slid that piece of tissue across the bar with the message, warning him of what was to come, he’d been grateful.
He hadn’t known anyone was after his life, but his enemies would always go far and wide to hurt him. He should have seen it coming, but Raven, without even hesitating, stood right in front of him, ready to die for him. A complete stranger.
She’d earned her patch.
When he brought her here, she’d been determined to earn the respect of the rest of the brothers. He’d watched her change. Grow. Become this fierce, loyal bitch who could swing down with any of the guys. She was strong with her fists, knives, and her guns.
Arriving at the bakery, he parked his bike and entered the shop. It was rare for this place to ever be empty, but he’d caught Harlow on a day when it was.
She stood behind the counter, sucking on a lollipop. “What can I do for you?” Harlow asked.
“Your brother call you?” Smokey asked, getting straight to the point.
“I’m working. I don’t have time to check my cell.” Harlow didn’t even make a move to grab her cell phone.
Smokey thought kids were supposed to be addicted to those things.
“We need help,” Hunter said.
Harlow’s eyes turned to Hunter. “What for?”
“We need to find Raven,” Smokey said.
Her gaze was back on him. “I’m not a cell phone. Why don’t you just call her?”
“She’s not picking up.”
Her lips pursed as she stared between the two of them. “What did you do?”
“We didn’t do anything,” Smokey said.
“Then call her. From what I know of Raven, she is loyal to you,” Harlow said. He went to tell her that something had happened. Club business, but then, she pulled the lollipop from her mouth and began to use it as a pointing tool, moving it from left to right as she talked. “But then Ava did say she thought you were up to something and she was worried it involved Raven. So that means, if you’re here, and I know my brother is elsewhere, it means you need my help to find her.” Harlow frowned. “What did you do?”
“That’s club business. What I need to know is where she would go,” Smokey said.
Harlow laughed. “Okay, this is priceless. I’ve had a dozen on-and-off conversations with this woman. She is a member of your club, and you don’t have a clue where she’d be?”