Savage Road (Torpedo Ink 7)

“You found a suggestion planted in Plank’s woman, but you didn’t let on to her or to Plank.”

“There was really no reason to do that. She has enough to contend with. Let her be happy. It really doesn’t make much difference, does it? Definitely Brandon planted that suggestion. He must have done it before boosting his power by stealing from his brothers—if he ever did. The suggestion was weak. I doubt if she would have carried it out.” She yawned, her lashes falling.

“Drink more water, Seychelle.” Savage pressed the bottle to her lips. “Once you do, we have to talk to Czar.”

She sighed and did her best to rally, sitting up a little straighter in his arms and drinking the water. “Okay, Savage, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, but all this water makes me have to go to the bathroom. That has to be in the cards soon.”

“I’ll take you there as soon as we talk to Czar and the others. Can you wait that long?”

She nodded and started to slide off his lap. He stood up, shifting her in his arms so he cradled her close to his chest. “I’ll carry you, conserve your strength that way. You going to put my ring back on your finger?”

Seychelle sighed. “We haven’t exactly worked things out, Savage.”

“We worked out that we love each other and we’re going to talk shit out. That you’re my first priority and I’m yours. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, baby. We both knew it.”

“I didn’t know I was going to have to contend with your club, and they weren’t going to even attempt to be nice to me.”

“Seychelle. It isn’t like that,” he denied. He was on dangerous ground sticking up for the members of his club. “One or two acting like assholes doesn’t mean all of them act that way.”

She went silent, turning her face into his chest but pressing close to him so he could feel her tits smashed tight against him. She felt light, almost insubstantial, in his arms. He carried her right to the picnic table where Czar waited, ringed by the others.

“I think Seychelle discovered why you felt a distinct threat and knew you wanted her here,” Savage said without preamble. His gaze took in Lana, Alena and Maestro. He wanted them to know Czar had been certain they needed Seychelle and she had come through for them. Destroyer and Alena had answered the call when the text message went out that the Diamondbacks had invaded Torpedo Ink’s campground.

“Sylvia definitely had a suggestion planted by Brandon, but she said it was weak. She didn’t bother to tell Sylvia or Plank. She just removed it. The weird thing was what Shark and Lion had to say and what Seychelle found with them,” Savage informed them.

He filled his club in on everything his woman had told him. There was a long silence. It was Code who broke it. “The Ghosts again. They do keep circling around us, don’t they?”

“Why would this woman be after you, Czar?” Mechanic asked. “You go to the De Sade and get her hot and bothered and then dump her?”

Czar turned his penetrating eyes, laser-sharp, on Mechanic. “Got Blythe. I don’t go to clubs, Mechanic. You should know that. I don’t need other women. I would never risk my relationship with her for a couple of minutes with some woman that isn’t going to be my everything.”

“I get that, Czar,” Mechanic said immediately. “In all honesty, I wouldn’t be too happy if you were going behind her back.”

“But Mechanic does pose a good question,” Transporter said. “Why would this woman have it in for you?”

“Even if she’s affiliated with the Ghosts, and they figured out that our club had something to do with taking back those women for the other clubs, and I don’t see how that’s possible,” Steele mused, “why would her anger be centered on you?”

Czar looked to Code. “You listen in on the Ghosts as much as possible. You’ve got their supposed private investigators in San Francisco and Los Angeles. You found an office in Louisiana. I know that doesn’t give you much to monitor, but has my name ever come up? Has Torpedo Ink ever been named specifically?”

“Czar, come on,” Code said. “If your name came up, I would tell you immediately, even if it was in the middle of the night. As for the club, they’ve looked at us a couple of times, but only because we were a support club for the Diamondbacks and the one time they were after Anya. We’re small potatoes to them. We aren’t one-percenters. We’re nothing as far as they’re concerned.”

“Seychelle.” Czar turned to Savage’s woman.

Savage had her on his lap. She had curled up, looking smaller than ever, eyes closed as if she was asleep. He knew she was drifting, but she could hear what was going on. She just might not care so much. He bent his head to her ear, pushed her hair aside with his nose and caught the lobe of her ear between her teeth, slowly biting down until her lashes fluttered and he felt her body shift.