“You surprise me,” she said.
Zach winked. “There’s more where that came from, baby.”
Toni laughed, which had to be his intent and, suddenly, a heavy weight lifted off her. Zach was right. This was over. Done. She’d survived and had been using her experience to try to help other misguided youth. Preferably before their situations got as bad as hers. How could she give that up? She might be coming to love life in Tennessee, but she had a passion for helping troubled teens she couldn’t just ignore. Sometime soon she was going to have to make some serious life decisions.
She turned back to Copper. “Sorry about that.”
Copper waved it away.
“Shark had a great grandfather that lived to be a hundred and six years old. He was a nasty, paranoid old bastard. Lived off the grid in a cabin in the woods. I think he was one of those guys prepared for anything from nuclear fallout to an alien invasion.” She rolled her eyes and rubbed at an ache in her neck. “Anyway, the old guy loved his great grandson and left his cabin to Shark when he died.”
Finally, Copper smiled. It was almost hard to see with the bushy beard. “That’s the best news we’ve had in days, darlin’. Why don’t you give the address to Jig over there, and we’ll get a plan together to get Mav back.”
“Well, uh, that’s the thing. I don’t know the address. I’m not sure it actually has an address. And it’s been so many years, I can’t remember exactly how to get there.” When grumbling started around the table, she rushed on. “But I could find it. I’m sure of it. Take me with you, and I know it will come back to me as we drive.”
“Over my dead fucking body.” Zach stood so fast she nearly tumbled to the floor. “No fucking way, Copper. This is not happening.”
“Uh, Zach, it might be the only way to get Maverick back,” Toni pointed out. She had to help. It felt like destiny. Like giving a purpose to all the shit she went through in the past. So she could now use her knowledge to help these men who’d come to mean something to her over the past few weeks. Help them save Maverick.
“You are not getting within ten miles of fuckin’ Shark. You hear me? This is not up for discussion. The answer is no fucking way.”
“Excuse me? Not up for discussion? Um, you’re damn right it’s not up for discussion. You do not get a say in this, Zach. If I want to go do a naked rain dance on Shark’s front stoop, I’ll damn well do it.”
The sound that came from Zach probably should have scared her, but she was done being scared. Now she was pissed. Pissed at what she’d gone through, pissed Maverick was missing, and even a little pissed at Zach’s macho bullshit.
“There is no way in hell my woman is going anywhere near the man who abused her for over a year. If I have to tie you to my bed and fuck you stupid to keep you from going, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Toni’s jaw dropped while a couple of the guys chuckled. She wasn’t his woman and he had absolutely no say over her actions. And if thoughts of him tying her to his bed and making good on his promise made her wet, that would just be her little secret.
Zach’s lips quirked.
Damnit. The stupid man knew his effect on her.
“Fighters, to your corners,” Copper said, his eyes dancing with laughter. Toni wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the man actually looked amused. “I know you don’t want to hear this, Zach, but Toni’s right. We have a shot to get Mav back and we have to take it. We can keep your woman safe. I swear it on my life. Shark won’t get within shouting distance of her.”
Zach gripped the edge of the table so hard his neck corded and the muscles in his arms bunched until it looked like his shirt sleeves were going to split. He bowed his head and sighed. “Answer me one thing, Cop, what would you be saying if it were Shell we were talking about taking with us?”
Copper’s face darkened in an instant and his fists curled.
Afraid he was going to take a swing at Zach, Toni jumped in. “Zach,” she said, cupping the tense muscles at the back of his neck. He turned his head until his ice blue gaze bore into hers. “I can do this. I need to do this. To help. To put some purpose behind everything I went through in the past. Shark won’t get near me. You guys will see to that. I trust you completely.”
She tried to convey to Zach how important this was through her gaze. If she could take the errors of her past and turn them around to help Maverick, maybe she could put that part of her life to rest permanently.