“If you have their names, can you also find out things like what kinds of vehicles they own?” Dare asked.
“Probably,” Marz said. “DMV records are likely a piece of cake next to the shit we’ve had to access the past few weeks. I’ll give it a shot.”
“Thanks,” Dare said. Having that kind of information would give them other ways to be on the lookout for Haven’s father and associates. “We also have a developing situation that might complicate things in the city. We’re in the midst of finding a buyer for the hardware we acquired, and we’ve got interest from a gang called the Iron Cross in Baltimore. We were hoping you could look into them. We’re not interested in dropping that kinda heat so close to home, but we need to know more about them before we respond.”
“We’ve got a contact at the city’s gang task force and some resources on hand about known Maryland gangs. That’s not a problem,” Nick said. “Do you expect to do an in-person meeting with them?”
Dare met his brothers’ gazes across the table. “Haven’t gotten that far,” Phoenix said.
“Well, let us know if you need backup if you do. Things are volatile with the Church Gang out of the picture, so we want to keep our finger on the pulse of that situation anyway.”
Dare nodded, this conversation confirming it’d been the right call to bring the Hard Ink team in on all of this. “I appreciate that, Nick. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Good,” Nick said. “Now I have a question for you. Ike said the races were starting back up next weekend. We wondered if you might be up for a visit. Be nice to get out of the city for a few hours.”
“Funny you should ask,” Dare said. “Since I planned to invite you myself. Though I was hoping you might provide undercover security for the event. Turns out the two women you rescued, Haven and Cora, have a reward out on their heads for a hundred Gs. So we could use the extra eyes to make sure no one’s in the crowd we don’t want there. We’ve got space for all of you to stay the night.”
There was some murmuring in the background of the call, and then Nick’s voice came through loud and clear. “Consider it done.”
When the call ended, Dare shot off the photographs to Marz.
“Well, that went about as good as could’ve been expected,” Caine said, his pale eyes like ice.
“Agreed,” Dare said. “Now we wait to see what information they’re able to find.”
HAVEN HAD PROMISED herself no more holing away in her room, so when her full belly left her sleepy in the late morning, she changed into a tank top and a pair of shorts and took a blanket out into the backyard while Cora headed over to the chop shop to hang with Phoenix, Jeb, and Blake. Haven didn’t mind being alone, since she knew she was likely to fall asleep. It was a gorgeous, warm May day, and the views of the mountains and the valley were stunning from the Raven clubhouse. The perfect recipe for a nap that would pass the time until she and Dare could finally talk.
She found a flat spot with a particularly good view under the long, swaying branches of a weeping willow tree to spread out her blanket, and then she did something that not too long ago would’ve been unthinkable—she lay down and closed her eyes right there in the grass. Her father’s house had a big built-in pool in the backyard, but Haven hadn’t used it since she’d been a kid. No way could she wear a swimsuit and bare that much of her body in that house. Ever. Here, though? She didn’t have a single concern that she wouldn’t be safe.
With the breeze blowing and the birds singing and the distant strains of music coming from somewhere, Haven fell asleep quickly. When she woke up, she wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but she was absolutely ecstatic about having done something so simple as laying out in the sun to take a nap. Stretching pulled a long, moaning yawn out of her and—
“Good nap?” came a man’s voice from behind her.
She whirled onto her elbows. Dare. Sitting in his jeans, black T-shirt, and cut with his knees up and his back against the willow’s trunk.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
The look he gave her turned the sleepy warmth flowing through her body into something darker, something needier, something hotter. “Watching you sleep,” he said. He gave his bottom lip a long, slow flick of his tongue.
Haven was suddenly ravenous for a taste of that tongue, that lip, that harsh, masculine mouth. “Why?” she breathed.
“’Cause I don’t seem to be able to stay away from you, no matter how hard I try.” His blunt honesty did nothing to rein in her arousal. Instead, his declarations made her heart race and her hips press instinctively toward the ground, seeking a friction that wasn’t there but that she wanted desperately.
What would it be like to give such blunt honesty in return? Goose bumps erupted over her warm skin the moment she decided to find out. “What if I don’t want you to stay away?”