Page 113 of Under an Endless Moon

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.”

THIRTY

OTTO

I bolted uprightto the screaming of the alarm. So fuckin’ loud it was disorienting. My heart hammered at warp speed as my eyes tried to adjust to the dim light.

Hands already in fists, ready to slaughter any motherfucker stupid enough to come around here.

Raven flew up to sitting, too.

Raven who was in my bed.

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