More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
A.L. Jackson
Read between
February 9 - February 11, 2025
River, our leader. Kane, our money launderer. Theo, the protector. Cash, our hacker. Then there was me, the deliverer.
But my attention? It immediately swept to the left. To the private, secluded booth at the very back of the club that was always reserved for our family. River asked Kane to keep it roped off because he was a protective bastard like that, not that I was going to fault him for it when I was one hundred percent on board. Because there she was. Raven. Fucking. Tayte. My best friend’s little sister. Sweetest girl on the face of the planet. And to my great misfortune, the sexiest one, too.
Leave it to Raven to be dressed completely in black, wearing the shortest fuckin’ skirt I’d ever seen and a black leather corset that smushed her tits up at the top. Then she had to go and pair it with these thigh-high boots with a five-inch stiletto heel. Looking like the only place she belonged was on the back of my bike.
Otto Hudson was so hot it was unfair. So hot it was physically painful. Staring at him was like standing in the sun and knowing you were going to get burned, but you did it anyway because it felt so good while you baked in the blistering rays. The man was a mountain hewn of rugged stone. A beast barely contained. My burly bear covered in tats.
Otto pressed forward, his big body covering me in shadow, a tall tower that loomed with all that dark intimidation. But his hand was soft when he reached out and set it on my cheek, and he leaned in close when he said, “Told you I would never let anyone hurt you again, and I meant it.”
Yeah, it was probably a damned good idea since the only thing I wanted was to toss her over my shoulder the way I’d warned her and get her out of the sight of all these motherfuckers who’d been eye-fucking her since the second she’d stepped out onto the dance floor. Get her away from the prick who’d been pressing in on her like he had the right. Just get her the hell out of here before I did something stupid and snapped in front of everyone. Before I did some of that murdering or got really reckless and told her she belonged to me. Maybe push her fully against the wall and make that sexpot
...more
“The promises you make my brother. I see where your loyalties lay and how little I have to say about any of it.”
“You fuckin’ count, Raven. Count more than anyone else.”
“Might be as big as a bear, but that’s just so I can make sure no one can get in here. So, I can make sure it’s safe. And I promise you, no one will ever hurt you here. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.” He stuck out his pinky finger, and she wavered for one second before she hooked hers with his, and he murmured, “Promise.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?”
Needed to see your face because you’re the only thing in this world that keeps me sane. Only thing that grounds me to reality when I feel it slipping.
“Are you sure you aren’t the one who’s obsessed with me?” Her perfectly shaped eyebrow arched with the ribbing, though there was something in it that had me straightening and moving her direction.
I was nothin’ but a fool who reached out to take her by the chin. Those mesmerizing eyes grew so wide I was sure I could topple right into their depths. I leaned down as I murmured what I was pretty sure amounted to a threat. “You wouldn’t want to see me obsessed, Raven.” Wouldn’t want to see me letting go. Giving into the insanity she conjured inside me.
Should have known that things would start to bend, giving way to the breaking. That the second Raven stepped through my door, everything was going to change. Every oath I’d ever made obliterated. But there seemed to be no stopping myself right then.
“I don’t want to be in your way, Otto.”
“You’re my favorite fuckin’ person in the world, Raven. What makes you think I wouldn’t want you at my house?”
“Like I’d leave my girl out on the street.”
I will make it to the sunrise.
“All right, then, Moonflower, you win. You talk to your brother when you’re ready, and I’ll be here to support you through it. Thick and thin.”
“You’ve always been there to support me.”
“You keep forgetting that you’re my favorite person in the world.”
“All right, let’s get my girl something to eat.”
She wanted to be reached. She wanted to be touched. She wanted to be adored.
I wavered, unsure of what to do. Fuck it. I picked her legs up by the ankles, sat down, then rested her feet on my lap.
I didn’t even try to go for light. “Want you in my bed, Raven.”
“You are brave. So goddamn brave. Look at you, the way you smile and shine all your beauty into this world. Spreading joy like it’s gushing out of you. It’s a better fuckin’ place because of you, Raven Tayte.”
“It’s where I want to be, Raven. Right here with you whenever you need me.”
“Then stay. You make it better, Otto.”
I swallowed down the lust that bolted through me, my voice haggard when I muttered, “Sleep.” Because there was no cha...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“Sweet fuckin’ moonflower.”
The stunning piece took up the entirety of his left lower abdomen and hip. A tortured moon that hung in an ominous sky. Disfigured and misshapen. The earth was barren beneath it. All except for the single moonflower that cracked the dirt and blossomed beneath the pale, murky light.
“You shouldn’t be lookin’ at me like that, Raven.”
“And what am I looking at you like?”
“Like you want me to crawl back into that...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Otto leaned casually against the doorframe of his bedroom, staring over at me. So massive it felt like he was filling up the entire room.
“Don’t think it’s possible for someone not to love you, Raven Tayte.”
It’s you. It’s always you.”
“I’m not worthy of touching you, Raven. Not even close.”
“To me, you’re the only one who is.”
“You been fantasizing about me, Moonflower?” he gruffed.
“Fuck me, darlin’. Not sure what you think it is you’re doing to me.”
“I’ll do anything to you that you want.”
A groan infiltrated the air at the same time as a smirk hitched at the edge of his mouth. “You really shouldn’t say t...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“Maybe it’s time I do, Otto. Maybe it’s time I say exactly what I want. What I need. And for the record, what’s in those books isn’t what I want other men to ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“Eager girl. Don’t rush it. We’ve got all night. I’m going to take care of you.”
“It’s all I want, for you to be free.”
“You make me feel that way.”
“Don’t know. Do somethin’ that makes a difference, I guess. Be a good guy. Somethin’ that brings goodness instead of corruption.”
“Would do anything for you, Raven. For both of you.”
“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.”
