The Finish Line (The Ravenhood, #3)

by Kate Stewart

I dismissed their feelings because I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that they fucking shared the woman I moved heaven and earth just to steal weeks of happiness with.

“Why?” “You know why. You’re right there with me! But I’m not fucking sharing her, not with you, not with my brother, not with a goddamn soul! That’s where you fucked up, Sean, and you know it. Her place is with me. End of.” “You think so?” His condescending smirk has my blood boiling. “I wouldn’t be so fucking sure. I know what I saw today, and maybe I can’t fight a lost cause, and that’s my cross to bear. But I also know what you laid witness to as well back in that yard. I saw the fear in your eyes. Fear for the parts of her you’ll never have. The part that belongs to me, the other to your brother. Claim her all you want, mark her, piss all around her, but you’ll never have her fully. Not. Fucking. Ever. You’ll always be sharing her with us, no matter what you fucking do. You’ll never possess her the way your thief’s soul needs to own her. And you get to live with that. We all get to live with that.” He shoves his way past me, and I slam my fist down at the hood of the truck.

“Jesus, man,” he scoffs, “the fact that you still need assurances is pathetic. Using her as an in was the excuse I came up with for you mere days after I met her. This has always been about her.”

Seconds pass, the howl of the wind outside shakes the bay doors. “Why didn’t you claim her?” His eyes slice. “Because none of us were worthy of doing so with the lies floating between us. And those lies existed because we had your back. Because we believed in you and our cause. And until she knew the whole truth . . .” He shakes his head. “Doesn’t fucking matter now, does it?”

As hard as he was, that’s not Dominic’s heart. That’s not who he was at all. He was the same impenetrable man operating on love, a mirror image of you.” I bite

I nod. “I know that love, Cecelia,” I confess, “a father’s love. For the most part, I was Dominic’s father, despite my title.” I shake my head, unable to see her now through my pain. “And the day before he died, I took the one thing he wanted most in the world away from him. He died in love with you. I thieved from him and broke his heart, his trust. What reason did he have not to step in front of those bullets?”

“I don’t know if I’m the man you fell for,” I confess. “I don’t know if I ever will be again.” “I know.” “I’ve never been a king, Cecelia.” “That’s where we disagree. You don’t see what I see. Maybe you never have. All you seem to see are your mistakes, and I’m determined to change that. But to me, you’re everything.”

We sit for several moments just listening to the noises of the night, the sweat drying on my skin as I breathe in her scent again and lift my eyes to her. “Juniper,” I grin, my eyes half-mast from exhaustion. “You are aware, Trésor, that gin is made of juniper berries, right?” “Don’t flatter yourself, Frenchman, that’s pure coincidence. I’ve been wearing it since I was sixteen.” “It’s not a coincidence.” I run my hand down her wings, her eyes hooding a little more with each caress. “Nothing about us is a coincidence. You should know that by now. Life may have a fucked-up sense of humor for pairing us together, and all outside forces may have deserted us, but if there was ever evidence of two people fucking fated to be together, star-crossed or not, it’s us.”

He reaches me in two confident strides and slowly lifts the form-fitting dress I chose from the hanger, unzipping it for me to step in. I do before he pulls it up and lifts my hair to press a kiss to the nape of my neck.

After locking the front door, I turn with Tobias at my back to head toward the limo, and he stops me, blocking me, his eyes intense. “You locked it.” “Yeah?” I stare up in confusion. “You locked it three times,” he rasps out, emotions swirling in his eyes. “You locked it three times, Trésor. You didn’t even realize it, did you?”

“Nothing,” he says softly. “But I do want to say this, and I never thought I would ever say this.” He exhales a slow breath and peers down at me. “I’m glad that you loved him, and I’m glad he knew what it felt like to be loved by you before he died, and it’s because of the way you love, Cecelia.”

I nod over my shoulder. “Blame him. He’s the one who took half an hour to dress.” Tobias cuts his eyes to me. “I spent fifteen of those minutes spelling my name with my tongue, first, middle, and last,” he announces unabashedly as my cheeks heat.

“Guess things are going better?” Tyler muses. “Thank God. I was this close to starting on a Dad bod and researching lawnmowers.”

“You two finally realizing what idiots you’ve been?” Tyler chimes in. “Because I seriously fucking begrudge you both for it.”

“Because it’s true. The only opinion, the only reflection I care about, is looking right back at me. And as long as she’s staring at me the way she is, I consider myself both validated and recognized.” “I see you. Even what you hide.”

“Dis-lui que le temps ici est parfait.” Tell him the weather here is perfect. I lean in as he struggles for breath, eyes darting toward the motel door. “Et que l’eau est prête.” And the water is ready.

“You made me a Raven. You gave me my wings, so I took it upon myself to use them.” “What?” I call out to the man standing next to Palo. “Julien, s’il te plait,” Julien, please. Julien comes forward, kneeling so he’s eye level with Tobias before discarding his Glock on the carpet. Tobias bristles atop of me until Julien unbuttons his shirt and slowly rolls it up to reveal fresh ink. Tobias’s jaw goes completely slack as he faces off with one of his own and realizes the implications of the hell he put him through. “He got it last night,” I say with a grin. “It’s the least I could do after the brain damage you nearly cost him. Julien has been a raven for almost six years.”

“What did you do?” He glares between them and reads their expressions. “Tobias—” “Amnesty, for all of us, for you, and for your son,” Tyler announces proudly. “If Dom ever decides to ink up.” Sean’s eyes drop, and I know he’s trying to rein in his emotions, but they get the best of him as he lifts his eyes to Tobias, and they share a lingering look. “See, worth the wait,” Tyler whispers to Tobias with the subtle lift of his lips, “just to see the expression on his face.”

“So, what now?” I ask, turning back to Tobias. Tobias shrugs, a slight lift to his lips. “Don’t ask me. I’m not in charge.” Tyler grins. “How does it feel?” Tobias smiles back. “Fucking terrifying—” he pulls me tighter to him and entwines our fingers—“but I’ll . . . adjust.”

Sean looks over to me, his eyes shining with pride. “You did good, Pup.”

Sean looks over to Tobias and I can feel the shift in the air between them as if they’re really seeing each other for the first time in years. Sean’s eyes rake over us together, and he nods, his eyes shining with acceptance. “But it looks like things are good now.”

Tobias only nods, seeming introspective as Sean speaks up again. “We’ll have a lot to work out down the line, and we will, but since we’re now covered by the government, why don’t you both take a little trip while I clean this mess up?” Tobias turns to me with zero objection, and I can still see he’s trying to work it all out. “Any ideas?” He narrows his eyes when I upturn my lips. “I’ve got just the place in mind.”

I’ve just been schooled by my queen.

“What made you go after her, finally?” “Because maybe you are capable, but I’m not. There’s no one else for me but her. Never before, never after.”

“Dom told you about Antoine,” I say, turning to face him. “A long, long fucking time ago. Still looking out for you, even from the grave.” He shakes his head. “Only Dom.” The truth of that sets in. “It’s the one good thing that came from our time in France.” I don’t bother to hide my surprise. “Yeah, man, of course we looked into him while we were there. We’ve had your back the whole time. Always.

“He was only a worthy adversary because you made him one.”

“The worst day of our lives was the day we broke your heart.”

temporarily because of the sacrifices you made for us, Tobias. For the years you spent doing everything for us, risking your life, for us, because that’s the type of man you taught us to be.” His voice shakes as he speaks, his eyes darting down at the gravel between us. “And we started missing your love and loyalty the minute we lost it.” He exhales a plume of smoke and lifts watery eyes back to mine. “The second worst day of our lives was the day you broke our hearts—”

“But that very same day you broke our hearts, you showed us what true love looks like, and you gained it by sacrificing everything, including us, and our cause, for her.” He glances toward Cecelia and then back to me. “Something we both failed to do. And in turn, you earned her, and you do deserve her for it.” He swallows audibly. “When you tried to defend yourself, we knew you were right, but we were cut so deep we didn’t want to fucking hear it. Because losing her completely was a good enough reason to resent you, and our hands weren’t as dirty if you were equally as guilty.”

He exhales again, his shoulders rolling forward. “Dom realized it that night because he caught on a lot faster like he always did. He understood. I didn’t fucking want to. But he always saw things clearly for what they were, even if it hurt. It took me a lot longer to sort it out. And Tessa, that woman, she went through hell showing me where I went wrong, but you deserve to know you’ve had my forgiveness for a lot longer than you think.”

“But the truth is now . . .” Sean admits hoarsely, his teary eyes lifting to mine, “I just want my fucking brother back.” In a flash, I cup the back of his neck and press our foreheads together. A pained gasp leaves us both as he grips my shoulders, the pressure unbearable until I release it, my emotions taking over as I swallow continually and try to speak. Sean grips my shoulders as we stand there for endless seconds. “Always brothers,” I whisper through a shaky breath as we clutch each

“We all made horrible mistakes, Tobias, but just look at where we are now, and it’s largely because of you. Take some fucking credit and let those mistakes fall to the wayside. It’s time to forgive yourself.” He sighs, running a hand over his face, his eyes shimmering again, his voice a plea, “But you’ve got to let him go. He wouldn’t want you condemning yourself like this. We all deserve to see how the rest of this plays out, especially you. You’ve got to let him go, man.”

“There are no coincidences, not in this game, we all know that, but that’s why you have us.” “Thank fuck for that.” “And what you did for me, for my family—” “Don’t, Sean, it’s the least I could do. You joined a crusade to help avenge my family without anything—” “I gained everything, brother, everything.

“Entertain Mr. Handsome? You like making me jealous.” She grins because she knows I’m still piecing it together. “You left that to-do list in a rather convenient place, Trésor. But it was last on the list.” She twists her lips. “It was to throw you off his scent. He was mine to take down.

But right now, all I see is a woman who did what she had to do to protect me.

You want to fucking be me, but I’ve learned true leaders have to humble themselves to evolve. They have to recognize their weaknesses and use them to strengthen themselves.” I avert my eyes to Sean as the aftertaste of my medicine coats my tongue. “And they have to know when to ask for help.”

Gaze lingering on Sean, I come to terms with that truth. Maybe at one time we were all phoenixes, baptized by our individual fires before rising from the ashes of our mistakes. But after the transformation, we declared ourselves a different sort of bird and managed to find our way back to each other. The truth of that is more comforting than anything I’ve ever felt. I was never alone, not once, and it’s so evident now.

When one of us falters, when our wings fail us and we lose direction, there’s alway...

The synergy is back, and it’s powerful. I can feel it between us now as we crest on the same breeze, wings wide open, scars from our separation the same depth, shape, and color. Sean dips his chin, confirming my line of thought as we feel the absence of one, never to be forgotten. And it’s then I let the rage totally consume me.

“And I didn’t have to lift a finger because I’m just a pawn, who managed to find a queen and make her fall in love with me. But what good is a pawn, who can check, without a mate?”

“Wish You Were Here” begins to chime from the jukebox.

And while some things change, love remains the same. So we drink to that.

“Damnit, Frenchman, you don’t get to hide from me anymore. Do you understand? Tell me you believe me, Tobias. I will never purposefully leave you for that. What hurts you, hurts me. What scares you, scares me,” I murmur to him as he runs his nose along my jaw. “If we fail,” I assure him, “we’ll fail together. You’ll never be alone again. Not ever.”

“And we know who shot JFK.”

“There’s no limit in being a friend, in being there for a friend. There’s no limit.”

“With the protection and aid from the government, we’re going after them—all of them. Any we can get to while Monroe is still in office. We’re not going to poke the bear. We’re going to fucking bitch slap him.”

“You see a refined, nearly impenetrable man in an expensive suit. And he is that, but I don’t see that anymore. I see a boy who started as just an orphan determined to protect his brother. Just a poor kid living on a bad street, intimidated by a world he didn’t understand and determined to change it for himself, for his brother, and for us. I see the man he’s grown into, who’s never forgotten where he came from and how it shaped him, no matter how much he’s evolved.”

Tobias flicks his gaze to me, daring me to argue with him before his lips tilt up and he speaks. “I can teach him to shoot.”

“We loved with a love that was more than love.” —Edgar Allan Poe

“My father reminded me of a memory the last time I saw him. It was the day on the beach, the only memory I have with him. Break it in half. Right down the middle.” I cup my hands beneath it to catch the spoils. She snaps the dollar in half, and the contents fall in my palm. I give a nod to luck when five perfect bone-shaped doves appear in my palm. She studies the evidence in my hand and lifts one to inspect it. “They look like little birds.” “Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Even before I knew what my destiny was, it was handed to me by a man I never really knew. What’s even more ironic is that these birds represent the five of us.” I lift the birds one by one. “Me, Sean, Tyler, Dom, and you.