indicated the smaller pickup. “My guess? It’s a road rocket. Someone put some money into that baby. Swords put their money into their bikes.”
Steele didn’t change expression, although his heart dropped. He wanted his son to be close. If he wasn’t here, they had three other places they knew to look. This had been their best shot at finding him fast. With the information Steele had gotten from Bruiser and Scalp, as well as what was collected on their phones, it looked as if this estate was a sure thing. He wanted it to be. Every minute in the hands of Bridges meant Zane’s life was more at risk.
Transporter had noted the Swords liked adding speed to their rides. He used to shake his head when he saw them pay so much money and get practically nothing back. He never offered to help them though. None of the Torpedo Ink crew had given away any of their abilities to the Swords. If someone had fixed up the little pickup, it most likely hadn’t been a Swords member—or at least one from the New Orleans chapter.
Steele had learned patience, and this was still nerve-wracking, so he didn’t want to think too much about Breezy and how she would be taking this. “I shouldn’t have gotten so angry with her,” he told Savage. “About Bridges. That was three years ago, and she’s going through some heavy shit right now. She did something amazing for me and I wasn’t very nice about it.”
He’d probably hurt her. How did Czar maneuver through his relationship with Blythe? He wanted Breezy safe and reliant on him. She must want the same thing for him. “Fuck.” His hissed the word through clenched teeth. “I just fucked up again. I should have been more understanding.”
Savage shook his head. “The bigger picture is you make sure she’s safe at all times. From anyone. From everyone. She has to know that. You don’t make a point now, she might hide things from you again. Better to let her know you won’t put up with that kind of shit.”
It didn’t surprise Steele that Savage was hard-core about what he expected of his woman.
“A man hits my woman, that’s a dead man. If she kept it from me and I found out after the fact, ten hours, ten days or weeks or years, she would be a very unhappy woman for a long time. I would make my point, Steele, the first time, so I never had to make it again.”
“I get that. But I could have chosen a different way to make my point. Breezy isn’t the type of woman to do things just to piss me off. She thought she was doing right.”
Savage shrugged his broad shoulders. “Doesn’t matter, her motivation. She put herself in danger and didn’t tell you. That’s not ever going to be okay and you know it. Hell, Steele, I want to go down there and shake some sense into your woman. She’s ours. Torpedo Ink’s. The minute she became your old lady, he had no right to touch her. Pisses me off.”
Savage turned away but continued talking. “We have a code we all live by. It’s what keeps us all alive and safe. We bring a woman in, she lives by that same code. She doesn’t, she endangers all of us as well as herself. You have to shut that shit down fast.”
Savage didn’t look pissed off. He looked scary as hell. Overhearing the conversation, Preacher took his eyes from the binoculars and turned to look at them. Transporter did the same. Even Ink blinked and glanced their way.
“What the hell did Breezy do? Who touched her?” Transporter demanded. “And how?”
Maestro had come up on the roof behind them, handing water to Preacher. He raised an eyebrow at Steele. “Someone hurt our girl?”
Steele nodded. “Back when we rode with the Swords. Breezy told me Bridges beat her every month because she wasn’t doing what he wanted, getting him in good with us. She didn’t tell me because she was afraid for me. Hit her in the stomach so I wouldn’t see the marks on her. She’d say it was cramps.” But he would have known better if he’d taken the time with her that he should have. That was on him.
There was a shocked silence. He didn’t know if they were all shocked because Breezy hid it from him, or because Bridges was that reckless and stupid—or because he hadn’t known. Steele would have killed