The Bad Boys of Eden by Sharon Page, Eliza Gayle, Cathryn Fox, Opal Carew, Mari Carr, Adriana Hunter, Avery Aster, Steena Holmes, Roni Loren, Daire St. Denis

was about time to go meet Steele and the others at the tattoo studio anyway.  Raven was thinking of getting her first tattoo and she wanted to watch Steele get his.
    Rip and the others stood up.  The bouncer took the drunk guy’s arm and guided him to the door while Rip and the others followed.  Raven walked close to the woman and he could see they were talking.
    Once outside, the woman took Riley’s arm and guided him away.  She glanced back at Raven and sent her a smile.
    “You sure you don’t want us to come and watch you get your tattoo?” Shock asked, a glitter of amusement in his eyes.
    “No way.  I’m just watching Steele get his today and then I’m going to decide.  If you guys come, you’ll try and talk me into it,” Raven said.
    Shock laughed as they walked toward their bikes.  “You can handle it.  And you’ll look super sexy with ink.”
    Rip chuckled.  “Hey, man, you might as well give it up.  She’ll decide in her own time.”
    “Too bad.  The guy Steele’s going to is the best.”  Shock pulled on his helmet and mounted his bike, then he and Wild Card drove away.
    Rip grabbed Raven’s helmet from the back pouch of his bike and handed it to her.
    “So will this be a regular thing now that I’m riding with you?” she asked, her eyebrows arched.  “Being thrown out of bars?”
    He chuckled.  The first time he’d met her, he’d been thrown out of a bar, and Raven, who hadn’t even known him, had stood up for him and insisted it wasn’t fair, then found her own ass on the curb right alongside him.
    He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.  “I thought that’s what you loved about me.  The excitement I brought to your life.”
    She grinned.  “Too true.”  She climbed onto the bike and sat staring at him as he retrieved his helmet.  Clearly, she had something on her mind.
    “So who’s Marissa?”
    He sighed.  So they were going to have this conversation.
    “Marissa was a woman I dated about a year ago.”
    The guy, Riley, had said he’d ruined her life.  The words crawled through him and settled under his skin.
    Raven pursed her lips and nodded.  “I talked to the woman on the way out of the bar.  The guy is Marissa’s brother.  Did you know that?”
    Rip shook his head.  “I never met him.”
    “Apparently, after you and Marissa broke up, she was traumatized for some reason… the woman didn’t know for sure why, or wouldn’t tell me…but Marissa packed up and left.  Moved to another town.  Left her family and friends behind.”
    “Ah, fuck.”
    “You want to talk about it?” she asked.
    His lips compressed.  “Not really.”
    Raven just nodded, then pulled on her helmet.  “Anytime you do, just let me know.”  She slid her arms around him.  “Oh, and she told me Marissa lives in Miami now.”
    He pulled on his helmet and climbed on the bike in front of her, then started it up.  Once her arms were around him, he lurched the bike forward and turned onto the road.
    His heart compressed at the thought of what Marissa must have gone through to drive her away like that.  He lurched the bike forward and turned onto the road.  When she’d cut off communication with him, he’d thought the best thing was to just leave her alone.  He’d assumed she would just get on with her life and forget about him.
    Now he knew he’d changed her life forever.  And not in a good way.
    Fuck, he’d never wanted to hurt her.
    Raven knew they were heading through Miami in a couple of days, on their way to the resort they’d been invited to, and clearly she was suggesting that he look Marissa up.
    He wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, but he knew he had to do something.
    He vowed he would fix this.  Somehow.

 
    Chapter Two
    Marissa stepped into her apartment and dropped the mail on the dining room table.   She grabbed a soda and slumped on the couch.  It had been a long day at work and she was glad to put her feet up.  She turned on her cell,