She nodded slowly. “Maybe I could do it. Kill Deveau, I mean. I have to figure out how I could get away before the alarm was raised.” She tapped her finger on her thigh and frowned, not looking at Candy or Lizard, trying to portray a woman who was contemplating killing a member of law enforcement as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Candy beamed at her. “I can’t believe you’re coming back. I hope you take over the cooking for the club. I hate it.”
“We all hope Breezy takes over the cooking,” Lizard confirmed.
Even during the year she was with Steele, Breezy had cooked meals for those club members staying at the clubhouse. She liked cooking, and it was a habit she’d cultivated in order to stay out from under Bridges’s fists.
Breezy laughed with Candy over the joke that wasn’t really a joke. They would want her back, so she could make everything run smoothly again for them. If Candy was in charge, she could believe that things weren’t going as well as the members would want. Candy was eighteen, nearly nineteen, and she wasn’t the brightest woman Breezy knew. Likable, but not bright. Candy would try to do her best, but she wasn’t organized in the least.
“Thanks so much, Lizard.” Breezy poured relief into her voice. “I was so worried I couldn’t think of a solution. I’ll do my best to get rid of Deveau, although I’m a little scared to go after a member of law enforcement.”
“He’s an enemy of the Swords, Breezy,” Lizard reminded. “You’re always going to be Swords. Think of it as you paying your dues to get back in.”
She turned and went to Candy, feeling a lump in her throat. Candy wasn’t much younger than she was, but they seemed worlds apart. She hugged the girl, one of her childhood friends she had to let go of. “I hope your life is always wonderful, Candy,” she murmured, unable to help herself.
“I’ll look after Zane,” Candy volunteered. “Don’t worry at all about him.”
“I won’t,” Breezy said sincerely. She was always going to be the one person the Swords could track. She was about to become one of their greatest enemies. They might not know who she was with, but someone had helped her get Zane back and they’d done it by killing the chapter president and several of his fellow Swords members. They would always recognize Breezy Simmons, and she would put Zane and Steele in jeopardy just by her being with them.
For a moment she considered confessing that she’d hired some mercenaries to get Zane back. She’d let Lizard take her up the chain of command, and the Swords could beat her or kill her. Because they’d lost a president and several members, they’d most likely kill her. Even with that, Steele and Zane would be safe.
“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.” Steele’s voice was low. Persuasive. Back to a velvet caress. “I need you, Breezy. Zane needs you. Come away from there where you can breathe again.”
How did he know? But he did. He knew her that well. He knew she would be contemplating giving up her life for the two of them.
She walked toward the door and Lizard. Her heart was pounding. She didn’t know if she wanted him to step aside or to hold her right there. She tilted her head up. “Really, Lizard. I appreciate your help. I’ve been so confused and angry lately. I cry a lot, and I’m so scared for Zane. It’s not been easy on my own. I think that’s why I was desperate to have Candy go with me. I thought if she was with me, things would be so much better.”
Lizard shook his head. “You need to get this done and come home to the club. I’ll make sure Bridges will accept you back. You’ll have Zane, and he’ll be raised where he should be. If he’s anything like his father was, he’ll be an asset to us when he grows up.”
Breezy nodded several times and took more steps toward him. Lizard stepped forward and unexpectedly put his arms around her. “You’ll do good, girl. Get this done and you’ll have your son back in no time. I’ll see that you’re taken care of.”
She looked up at his face. “He beats me all the time, Lizard.”
“I know he does, Breezy. There are a lot of men willing to take care of you, and they won’t let him. You just have to give them the signal that you’ll take them on.”
He patted her head. “You’ve got my number and Candy’s. When this is done, we’ll make everything right.”
She nodded and stepped out of his arms toward the door. He stepped with her and reached for the doorknob before she could grasp it. He leaned his weight there while his gaze moved over her speculatively. She wanted to scream. She knew he was testing her one last time and she couldn’t break, but it was difficult.
“You understand what I’m saying? You choose wisely when you come home. Your man is going to have to have some pull with the club to override anything Bridges does.”
She realized then he was talking about himself. If she gave him any kind of a signal, he’d be willing to incur Bridges’s wrath. She let that realization dawn and then she smiled, but shyly, ducking her head in an effort to hide how pleased she was. Lizard caught her chin and lifted her head, looking into her eyes.
“You come back, and I’ll see to you and Zane. You’ll have Candy to help you.”
Candy clapped her hands again. “Daddy always said maybe you’d join us, Breezy. I hope so. I want you to. We can share everything. I really like Zane. I’ll help with him, no problem. We’ll be sisters.”
She turned to smile at Candy because she couldn’t look at Lizard. He was old enough to be her father, but her age didn’t matter to him. She was becoming a little suspicious of Candy and Lizard and just what their relationship was. Breezy shook her head. She had to get out of there before she accidentally said something she shouldn’t.
“I’d like that, Candy. I’d better get going before it gets much later. I like to travel at night. I think it’s safer.”
“Stop talking. You’re going to slip up.”
That had been a slip. Now Lizard knew when she traveled she drove at night and slept during the day in motels. He might not know about Steele, but when the bodies at the estate were discovered, he would be one of the angriest because of this moment—when he thought he would have her. She’d tricked him, made a fool of him, and he would never stop until he found her.
“If you don’t do what Bridges and Daddy say, Breezy,” Candy said in her sweetest voice, “I’ll cut Zane’s throat myself. No problem. We’re a family. You don’t just throw away family.” She smiled, sugar dripping from her voice. “I’ve done it before. I killed every one of Jessie Barker’s kids, right in front of her, for calling the cops on her old man. Then I killed her.”
* * *
• • •
Steele pulled out the earpiece and shoved it carefully in his pocket. He lifted his head and looked at the others. They were all looking at him. He knew what they expected. He had no choice. None. Lizard had to go, and now, with what Candy had just said, she’d sealed her fate as well. Lizard would keep coming for Breezy, keep her alive for the Swords. Who’d want her dead. Candy just seemed fanatical. Her father had probably brainwashed her from her infancy to believe the Swords were right in all things.
“She was trying to save him again,” Maestro said aloud to all of them, but he directed the statement to Lana.
“I heard.” Lana sounded tired. “I’ll escort her in.” She turned and left the room.
Savage shook his head. “My point exactly. She’s surrounded by danger, and the only thought she’s got in her head is to try to cover for her man. That’s definitely a pattern and it’s going to get her killed. Worse, she considered giving herself up.”
“We don’t know that,” Steele said and pushed a hand through his hair. But he did know.
Ink shifted Zane’s sleeping form from one hip to the other. “We all know it, Steele. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself.”
“That’s the problem with the bullshit rules we’re supposed to learn,” Savage said. “You learn it, Steele, but she
isn’t any safer for it.”
Steele knew Savage was right, but he didn’t like any of the alternatives the club came up with to deal with the problem.
Savage continued making his point. “We don’t live in society, maybe side by side, but not in it. We surround ourselves with danger. That means family does as well.”
“He’s right,” Maestro agreed. “She doesn’t understand that. Blythe certainly doesn’t. I don’t know how much I want them to know, but at least if you try to explain it—”
“Then she isn’t going to sleep at night,” Ink said, rocking Zane back and forth.
“Why the hell should you have to explain anything? She trusts you, she listens to you,” Savage said. “The rest is bullshit.”
Steele saw both sides and neither worked for him. He was used to figuring things out easily. He found the solutions to the club’s problems. He always had. His brain worked fast, compiling ideas, sorting through them and finding the ones that worked the best. Breezy seemed to have short-circuited his brain.