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Alone again, Zach stared up at the starry sky. Heading home was the best thing. He was fried, half drunk, and not thinking clearly. He could hit it hard again in the morning. But he couldn’t do it. Not with Mav out there enduring fuck knew what. He’d give it another hour or two.
For a moment, he let himself wonder what it would be like to have a woman in his life for more than sex. Might be kind of nice after the day he’d had. To go home to a warm, soft woman he could lose himself in. A woman who’d let him use her body to drown out the horrors of the day.
Toni’s face came to mind. And Toni’s body came to mind.
It was then he recalled telling Toni he’d meet her on her porch to watch the sunset.
Shit. She was going to be pissed he bailed on her. Not that anything about the day was normal, but she wouldn’t appreciate it.
Still, he couldn’t help but indulge in the fantasy of having her waiting at home warm, wet, and his for the taking.
Chapter Fifteen
Drinking a cup of coffee at midnight was always a foolish idea, but Toni was exhausted to the point of blurry vision. And she needed not to be.
No matter what time he rolled in, she planned to be awake when Zach returned home. Something had transpired earlier in the day, something that scared the fuck out of a tough group of men who were usually the ones scaring the fuck out of others.
When Zach had been a no show around the time the sun was setting her concern turned to full-on worry. Even though she didn’t have any right to inquire about Zach’s business, she’d called Shell in the hopes of at least learning if he was okay.
All her friend had been able to do was ratchet the worry up another notch with her own anxiety. Both of them had bikers follow them home from the diner. Then, Copper had called Shell and told her to stay put with Beth until she heard from him again. The call had been hours ago.
So that left Toni sitting outside in the rocking chair for three hours with her mug of coffee, in a slightly stalkerish manner. The porch lights were off in the hopes that Zach wouldn’t notice her watching out for him. She just needed to know when he arrived home and that he was safe.
And every one of those one hundred and eighty-four minutes was spent trying to think about anything other than why she cared so much. Cared to the point she couldn’t stop her knee from bouncing and her stomach from churning with apprehension.
Twenty minutes and a fresh cup of coffee later, headlights popped up in the distance. A caravan of two single lights followed by a double traveled down the road toward her. Two bikes and a car. Toni straightened as they drew near and slowed.
One of the bikes turned into Zach’s driveway while an SUV and the other motorcycle rode the extra few feet to her property. Before her mind had a chance to process what was happening, she shot to her feet and started down the walkway toward the vehicles.
A man climbed off the bike and removed his helmet. As he came into clearer view, Toni’s steps faltered. She’d assumed it would be Zach. But it wasn’t. It was the really severe, unsmiling man who hadn’t spoken but two words to her when Zach introduced them at the bonfire. Rocket, if she recalled correctly.
“Is Zach okay?” she asked. No point in social pleasantries. She wanted one thing from the man in front of her and it was to learn about Zach.
“In the car.” Rocket jerked a thumb in the direction of the car.
Zach sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window with a vacant expression.
“That didn’t answer my question.” The temperature had dropped over the past few hours, and Toni now regretted the denim shorts and thin T-shirt that read Sunny with a Chance of Wine. She crossed her arms over her chest feeling somewhat naked under Rocket’s assessing gaze.
Instead of talking, he focused on observing and seemed to see so much.
“Shit day,” he said.
Guess that was all she was gonna get out of Rocket. Whoever was in the driver’s seat spoke to Zach and he blinked as if just realizing the car was no longer in motion. With a nod for the driver, he opened the door and climbed out, stumbling before he got his footing.
“Is he drunk?” she asked without taking her eyes off the man whose blue eyes were devoid of their usual verve for life.
“Nah, not really. Just exhausted. He needs to sleep. He won’t hurt you.”
“What? No. I wasn’t worried about that. I know he won’t. I’m just concerned for him.”
