up nights and eating old food. He’d given himself a very bad case of food poisoning. He was back on his computer, and he’d found out which room Lizard and Candy were in.
She went straight to the door. The paint was old and chipping off. Dirt was smeared across the cheap wood. She raised her hand and knocked, facing forward so anyone coming up behind her or on either side, would have a difficult time seeing her face. She wore blue jeans, boots and a dark hoodie. The hood was drawn up over her hair and partially blocked her face on either side.
“What do you want?” Lizard growled, throwing open the door. Then he recognized her. His expression changed. “Breezy. What the hell?” He looked left and right. “You alone?”
Before she could answer, he grabbed her arm with hard fingers and jerked her inside. Slamming the door, he pushed her across the room. Candy sat on a bed, her arm in a sling, flipping through a magazine. She gasped, and half stood when Breezy pushed the hoodie from her hair.
“Breezy.” Candy’s smile widened. “I didn’t expect to see you.” She glanced at her father and then lowered her voice, as if he might not be able to hear even though he was just a few feet away. “Your father is very, very angry at you.”
“He’s always angry,” Breezy stated.
“Not like this,” Candy said. “You should have kept him informed about what you were doing and where you were.”
The room wasn’t very big, and the two beds were nearly pushed together. There was just enough room to slide sideways between the two of them. The blankets looked filthy and the room smelled of musk and sex. Breezy had the feeling it hadn’t been cleaned in years. There was a coin slots to make the beds vibrate, and it looked as if the old television had seen better days. She hadn’t thought there were motel rooms like this one anymore.
“Breezy, unless you killed Steele and Czar, Bridges isn’t going to be happy you’re here. When he’s not happy, people get hurt,” Lizard said. “Did you do it? Did you kill those bastards?”
“What makes you think they’re to blame for the massacre? They’ve disappeared too. Maybe no one was left alive,” Breezy said, allowing frustration into her voice. “If the Swords couldn’t find them, why would you think that I could?”
“Don’t try to convince him we’re dead. Just talk to Candy and get out of there.” There was a bite to Steele’s voice.
Breezy knew he wouldn’t like it, but she wasn’t passing up the opportunity to put doubt in Lizard’s mind. He had quite a bit of influence with the chapter and once it was known that Bridges was dead, he very well could be voted in as president.
“That man was crazy about you,” Lizard said.
“That man threw my ass out,” Breezy said. “I begged him to let me stay, and he refused. He didn’t even want me around the club. He was done with me and wanted me gone. That isn’t a man crazy about a woman. None of them were the type. I’m not going to say I didn’t have a childish fantasy, but if you looked at them, Lizard, you had to have seen how cold they were.”
“If you didn’t find them, what are you doing here?”
“I was going to try to get Zane back myself. I was watching the house, but then Candy came out with him and Donk tried to hit him, and she stepped in front of him …” She broke off. Her voice trembled for real. That moment had been terrible. She’d been so far away, and she’d been very afraid for both Candy and Zane. She was grateful Lizard had showed up.
“I’m so sorry you got hurt, Candy. Thank you for taking care of him.”
Candy shrugged. “I wasn’t going to let Donk hit the kid. He was so little and Donk’s superstrong. He could have killed him. It was bad enough that Bridges kicked him around. Boone and Junk too. All three of them. I didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much I could do.”
“Junk came out and took Zane back into the house and I could see there was no way to get Zane back, so I followed you here. I had to make certain you were all right, Candy. I was so worried about you.” That was genuine enough. She had been worried. Candy had really put herself in harm’s way to protect