Page 90 of Maximus

After the introductions were made and Liam ran out of things to ask, the boys happily went into the bedroom to play with the bazillion new toys Max had bought for them. None of which I made him return.

What can I say? I was a sucker.

“Has Max talked to you about the plan?”

The ball of nervousness in my belly quickly grew into a boulder and I blindly reached out for Max, needing him to anchor me in the storm of uncertainty.

“No. He said we’d talk about it when you got here.”

And that wasn’t due to my lack of trying. I’d asked Max to talk about it with me but he’d clammed up and gave me his signature frown and fiery stare. When he explained he was pissed and needed a minute to get himself sorted, I stopped pushing. It wasn’t like he was keeping secrets from me, and if he needed some time, I needed to give it to him. And the fact he’d been honest about being upset and didn’t try to hide it made my decision to let it go easier.

Zane’s gaze skidded to Max and the two men locked eyes. Icy blue to cold-hard-steel blue. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that they were united in some sort of telepathic conversation.

“The plan is solid,” Zane broke the silence. “Tex and Bubba agree.”

“Mark?” I asked.

Max severed the stare and looked down at me and tucked me closer to his side.

“I’ve asked that in the future, Bubba is left out of any further communication.”

“You did?”

“You said you didn’t feel comfortable with him being involved,” Max unnecessarily reminded me.

“I don’t,” I confirmed just as needlessly.

“I’m afraid that’s no longer an option,” Zane cut in. “It would appear your son had quite the impact on Bubba. He’s made it clear, he’s down to help any way he can.”

“I don’t want that.”

“Sometimes you don’t get what you want.”

“Careful, Zane,” Max growled.

“I fucking hate this part,” Zane shot back with the same snarly tone as Max had, only his wide smile belied his harsh words. When he was done grinning at Max, Zane turned to me. “Let me ask you something, Eva. Does it matter to you what Bubba wants?”

“Of course it does.”

“Then you’ll have to find a way to be okay with him providing us with intel. His job prevents him from doing more than that. He can’t just take leave and go to Alaska with you, but he can deliver valuable information. He knows the players involved better than we do. So I suggest we take him up on his offer and not offend the man.”

Go to Alaska with you.

My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I vowed never to go back there—bad things happened in Alaska. The whole state was bad luck—unpredictable and unfortunate things happened to me in the ice box.

“But—”

“Eva,” Zane sighed, obviously losing patience. “This is something Bubba wants to do.”

“You said that,” I snapped. “What I was going to say was, I want to go.”

“What?”

“Fuck.”

Both men spoke at once so I wasn’t exactly sure who said what, but I could guess it was Max who nearly shouted the expletive.

“But won’t I be arrested?”