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Zach’s head was spinning with a million questions. He gripped Toni’s upper arms. “Wait, that video was from Chris? The suit?”
She nodded. “He said he’d send it to the school where I work and send it out on social media. He said it’d go viral in a matter of hours. I have three weeks to get back to Chicago before he posts it. He doesn’t actually want to be with me. Just wants me to convince my uncle to advance his position at work. He’s nothing but an opportunist, and a desperate one.”
“Fuck. That fucking piece of shit.” Zach spun away and raked his fingers through his hair. Could this situation be more fucked up? “Okay. We’ll deal with him. No one else will ever see that video. I promise you. Now how did your uncle get you away? Because, baby, no one leaves the Dragons in one piece.”
Toni looked startled. “I have no idea. I was pretty messed up back then, and it took me a long time and a lot of therapy to straighten myself out. I don’t think I ever asked, or really even thought about it.”
“We need to call him.”
Toni grabbed his arm, panic in her eyes. “No! Chris said if I mentioned anything to Mark, he’d post the video immediately.”
Zach snorted. “Fucking piece of shit isn’t going to do anything. I’ll talk to your uncle. Convince him to keep quiet and let me handle it. We got this, okay?”
“We?” she asked.
“Yeah, we.”
For the first time since he’d walked out of that bathroom he was treated to a genuine smile from Toni. “Okay.”
“Okay, I need to call Copper.” As he pulled his phone out, Toni’s hand landed on his arm.
“Wait. Did you say Shark was the one who took Maverick?”
Shit. He had blurted that. Club business wasn’t for open discussion, but Toni had just bared her soul to him. He owed her something in return. Something to show the same level of trust. “Yes. And we’ve been spinning our wheels for days because we have no idea where to find him. Shark’s definitely grown some teeth, because no one is talking no matter how much pressure we put on them. The gang’s all but disappeared. No one’s been at their headquarters since before Mav was taken. We’ve got fucking nothing.”
Toni’s eyes widened and her grip tightened until her nails pricked his forearm. Her mouth opened but no sound came out.
“What, baby?”
“I know where he might be,” she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Over the past few weeks, Toni had spent a considerable amount of time in the presence of the MC members. Of course, that was in her diner where they were well fed, caffeinated, and happy. The one time she was on their turf, they were drunk, raucous, and looking for sex, but still happy.
Now, she was in their clubhouse once again, and the mood couldn’t be further away from amusement and fun. She sat at a gigantic round table with no less than twenty tired, stressed, and pissed off bikers staring at her. Never in her life had she seen so many murderous scowls in one place.
The scowls weren’t aimed at her, but they were still intimidating as hell.
Beside her, Zach squeezed her knee and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, baby. I promise. Everyone here is on your side. No one will hurt you or ever make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
She swallowed and nodded. If only his supportive words softened the bikers’ expressions.
Copper cleared his throat and her attention shifted to him. How Shell could be attracted to him was a mystery to Toni. That wasn’t entirely true. The physical attraction she got. He was hot in a growly, brooding kind of way. But he was also intense and crazy menacing, and that trumped the hotness in her mind.
“Thanks for coming here, Toni. I get that you had a rough morning and are dealing with some major shit. I’m sorry if this dredges up bad memories for you.”
“That’s all right,” she croaked then cleared her throat. She wasn’t some wilting flower. She could handle this. “It’s fine. I’m just hoping I can help you find Maverick.”
“So, Zach tells me you know a little about the Gray Dragons.”
Zach curled an arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to give any details you’re uncomfortable with, baby,” he whispered in her ear.
She placed her hand on his thigh and squeezed in gratitude. Recounting the entire humiliating story of her shameful past would be traumatizing at best.
“You want me to tell them for you?”
Zach was being so sweet and supportive. Never would she have imagined a rough and gruff biker could handle her with such care. Like she was a fine china plate that had just cracked down the center. Ready to shatter at any point.
Giving him that impression was her mistake and it was time to put a stop to it. While she loved his attentiveness, she wasn’t, in fact, going to shatter at any point. Zach wasn’t to blame for thinking her weak. She’d lost her shit in her kitchen. But that was just the shock of watching herself being violated. And knowing Zach was a witness to it as well.
