Savage (Demented Souls #15)

31. 31

31

S avage kept an eye in his mirror, making sure the ass hat who had followed them out of the restaurant didn’t follow them again as they pulled out onto the streets. He clenched his teeth as he forced himself to calm down. They spent several minutes driving aimlessly, as he made sure no one was following them.

“Do you know his name?” he asked.

When no response came through the radio built into the helmet that he’d paired with Donna’s new helmet when he’d bought it a couple hours before, he tried again. “Can you hear me?”

Again. Silence.

He reached down and tapped her calf, making sure he had her attention before tapping the side of his helmet, hoping she’d understand he wanted her to turn on the radio.

“Sorry, I forgot to turn it on.” Her voice came through a moment later.

“No worries. I wanted to make sure you’re okay, and then I have a few questions, if you’re good with it.”

He felt her take a deep breath, her breasts pressing more firmly into his back, then she spoke. “I think I’m as good as I can be at the moment. I’m not going to fall apart or start screaming. Right now, I’ll take it. I want to thank you for stepping in.”

He waved one hand to tell her that wasn’t important. He’d make sure she knew he’d always step between her and danger later.

“I’m glad you’re okay, at least for now. Do you know his name?”

“Just his first name. We didn’t use last names at the commune. Everyone was brother or sister and their first name.”

“That will make it harder, but even a first name will help narrow down who we’re looking for.” He paused a moment, trying to decide the best way to approach his next question. “Did you marry the fuckwad?” He didn’t know how else to say it, though he did wish he could risk stopping so he could watch her face as he asked. But maybe it would be easier for her if he wasn’t watching her.

“No. We never got married. He never asked, and I wouldn’t have agreed if he had. Did you actually tell him I was already working on a divorce?” Disbelief was clear in her tone.

“I did. He was trying to shock me, to get me to stop defending you. I will never do that. I used his lies against him and added the bit about knowing you were abused to let him know that they wouldn’t win whatever battle they start.” He paused trying to find the right words. “I’m not sure what the laws are about common law marriage in Colorado but if we need to, we’ll find an attorney and do what we need to do.”

“I don’t either. I don’t know how I got into this. I don’t know how it got so bad.” Her voice trembled and he couldn’t take it any longer. He pulled off the road and into the parking lot of a grocery store.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing is wrong, I just wanted to talk to you for a minute and I want to be able to look at you, to see your face.” He scanned the parking lot, looking for somewhere they might go inside, maybe sit down for a few minutes.

In the corner of the shopping center, he spotted a chain coffee shop. He steered the bike over to it, then walked it backwards into a space between two larger pickups, hoping that would make it harder to see from the street, just in case they had been followed. He hadn’t spotted anyone, but he wasn’t going to assume he was better than anyone else.

Once parked, they went inside. They found a small table next to a glass wall. Savage pulled out a credit card and handed it to Donna.

“Get us drinks. I want a black coffee but get whatever you want. Get some kind of dessert if you want.” He was aware of her going to the counter to place their order, but instead of watching her, he kept his gaze out the window and on the street, watching for any vehicles he recognized.

Not because he was expecting to see one of the few people he knew in the area, but because he’d been watching traffic since they’d left the restaurant and wanted to see if there was a vehicle that kept popping up when they’d been all over town in the last twenty minutes. That would be suspicious.

He hadn’t yet spotted any vehicles he recognized a few minutes later, when Donna came back to the table and gave him back his credit card. Put it away but didn’t take his eyes off the traffic zipping back and forth outside.

A couple of minutes more passed, Donna remained quiet until they called her name. She went to the counter and retrieved their drinks. When she returned, setting his in front of him before she sat, Savage turned his attention to her. If they hadn’t passed by now, they probably weren’t out there. Hell, he was probably being paranoid anyway. As he turned to face her, Savage watched her for a moment, taking in her pale skin and the resigned look on her face. She thought he was dumping her. That the trouble that piece of shit had dumped on her was finally too much, and Savage was done. He reached across the little table and took her hand.

“Like I said, babe, I have no idea about Colorado law, whether he can claim you were common law married because you lived together or not. But we’ll figure it out. We’ll find an attorney and deal with it.” He squeezed her hand, letting her know he was with her. “I’m going to reach out to a friend still in Tucson, see if he can start looking into finding us a good attorney. Once we get there, we can have a meeting with them. It would probably be a good idea to at least try for an order of protection too. In general, they’re not worth the paper they’re printed on, but we won’t be relying on it to protect you. It’s just to show that you want nothing to do with him.”

He didn’t like her so far away. He set his coffee where it would be safe then used his free hand to grab her chair and tug her close, so she sat beside him instead of so far away. Especially with what he had to say next.

“If he pushes the married claim, you may have to divorce him, even though you never married. We’ll deal with that. You may have to confront him in court. If that happens then he’ll see you, and it probably won’t be soon. He’ll know about your pregnancy, which could complicate things. I think it’s a good idea if we get a lab test done that says you’re not pregnant.” He moved their joined hands to cover her belly.

“But, that’s not possible, because we both know I am.” Her brow furrowed.

“One of my brothers is a wiz with all that computer stuff. He’ll be able to get one for us or make one. But I want you prepared for it. Getting free of him may turn out to be quite a fight. I want you to rest assured I’m in for it. I’m not going to cut and run because of a few challenges. You got me?” He squeezed her fingers again where their joined hands rested against her belly.

He didn’t know what else to say, what else he could do to set her mind at ease on this. Some of it would just take time, he knew. She had to learn to trust him, but from what he’d seen earlier, when she’d let him step forward, when she’d done what he’d told her when he’d said to get on the bike, she was starting to. He could live with that.

But damned if he didn’t want more.