that way and it was the Swords that was the odd club out.
Candy made a face. “Nothing daddy said made sense to me. I couldn’t even follow it.”
Lizard shrugged. “I don’t think they’re alive, but Bridges does and that’s what counts, Breezy. Go back and kill Deveau and maybe Bridges will be satisfied.”
“I found Deveau, Lizard. He’s a cop.”
“Get the fuck out of there, Bree,” Steele commanded. The bite in his words did make her wince that time. She could almost hear his teeth snap together.
She knew what Steele meant. She wanted to get out, but Lizard still stood right there at the door, preventing her from leaving. It did provide her with an opportunity to try to convince him that Steele and Czar were dead, and she wasn’t going to waste her chance.
“I was scared to try to kill him, but maybe it wouldn’t be that difficult. If I could get him alone somewhere …” She let her voice trail off speculatively.
For the first time, a smile broke out on Lizard’s face. “Now you’re thinking. It wouldn’t be that hard for you. You look young, and if he’s a cop, he’ll want to go all protective on your ass. He’s not going to think you’re in any way a threat to him.”
“If I did, do you think Bridges would let me have Zane back?”
Lizard shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, but I’ll try to convince him.”
“I didn’t find evidence of anyone left alive. He can’t expect me to find ghosts when the club couldn’t find them.” She tried putting a little whine in her voice. She’d never been whiny, so she didn’t think it sounded very authentic, but Candy whined all the time and Lizard would probably buy into it, given that both were female.
“No, but he might tell you he wants you back with him. He hasn’t liked you gone, Breezy. You were always good for him, kept him mellow. You kill Deveau and tell him you want to come back. He’ll let you have your son then.”
Candy clapped her hands together. “Do that, Bree. We could have such good times together.”
Breezy bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from agreeing. They’d have wonderful times getting beat up, used and sent out on dangerous trips as drug mules. Her father would treat her like his personal slave and poor little Zane would be dodging slaps and kicks from his grandfather.
“Do you think he’d really give me back Zane if I agreed to come back, Lizard?”
“Of course, he would. He wants you back with the club, Bree. At no time were you banned officially, even though Steele wanted that. You could have walked into any clubhouse and been taken care of, you know that. Steele made you leave, but if you’d gone to your daddy or come to me, we wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.”
She wasn’t so certain. At the time, the club revered Czar and Steele. They had a strong chapter because of those men. If one of them wanted a woman gone, it was going to happen. All it took was one man wanting her banned and she was. A home was never secure for her in the Swords club. She was just now beginning to believe Steele when he told her that most clubs were more like Torpedo Ink than the Swords. Even the outlaw clubs.
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 was 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’d 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