come to his family home to kill him, and his son and grandson had been targeted as well. The motel was considered a separate incident.
It didn’t matter to Steele what the world thought, as long as no one was coming after his family. Fortunately, Bridges hadn’t communicated very well with others in his club. He’d liked to play his cards close to his chest. Most hadn’t known what he was up to. That worked out well as far as Steele was concerned. There was no chatter among the Swords, that Code could find, that included anything about Zane, Breezy or Steele. He hadn’t given Breezy any details of the “massacre” at the estate or at the motel, and she didn’t ask. He knew she didn’t look at any of the news reports and he wanted to keep it that way. He wanted his woman breathing easy.
His phone buzzed and, still holding his woman against the counter, he took it out and glanced down. Relief flooded him. “Czar needs us at the clubhouse. He’s scheduled a meeting with Inez and Frank Tuttle. Remember them? They own the grocery store in Sea Haven. We’re trying to open a smaller version of their store here in Caspar. We figure it will help bring in the locals if Inez and Frank are partners with us and do the actual running of it the first few months.”
“Why does he need us there?” Breezy asked.
“You’re kidding, right?” Steele said. He eased into a full upright position, taking a step away from her. Watching her warily. This text from Czar couldn’t have come at a better time. He needed to find a balance and he wasn’t there yet. Czar had given him an out by requesting their appearance at the clubhouse. “You’re perfect, baby. You represent everything we don’t. Normal. Good. You’re a mother with a beautiful baby boy. They’ll fall in love with you. You don’t look like an assassin.”
“You don’t either,” she said, her palm cupping the side of his jaw.
He loved when she did that, touching him so intimately. “You’re lying your pretty little ass off, baby, but I’m okay with that. We need to grab our son and get moving.” As distractions went, he thought it was a good one. She might not want club life, but she’d been raised in a club. When the president said he needed you, her automatic response was to go immediately.
“He’s up in his room still asleep,” she said.
He knew that. He’d come downstairs after staring at Zane for twenty minutes, breathing him in, after first touching that wild hair with his fingers as if he could absorb every detail about the boy. He’d come into the kitchen determined to sit his woman on the counter and have her for a snack. She woke him up every morning, her mouth paradise and her body hot as hell, so tight she took his breath every time.
He didn’t dare push his luck by saying they had time for sex. She’d give it to him, but she might decide to ask why he was keeping her a virtual prisoner. He’d hoped she wouldn’t notice, but Breezy noticed everything. She was already suspicious because he wasn’t riding, and he was always on his bike. She knew that about him. She’d lived with him a for year and he’d gone out every day, even when it had rained. She was going to question him, and he had to come up with an answer and soon.
When he turned to go, she caught his hand. “Honey, I need a little reassurance.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Reassurance?” he echoed, not reading her. What was she going to ask for? Something he couldn’t give her? What if she just refused to be part of the club now that she’d gotten Zane back? Breezy was smart, very intelligent, and she wasn’t above using the club to get the boy back and then … He cut off that way of thinking, it could only lead to disaster. He was supposed to be evolving, becoming a better man.
“We’re heading to the club and I’m feeling … I don’t know. Like something isn’t quite right between us. I don’t know what I did. If you’ll just tell me, I can do better.” She looked around the room. “Everything’s in its place. I thought you liked the meal. I said I’d get a different vehicle if that was important to you. What’s wrong?”
She thought it was her. Breezy thought the fuck-up in