Page 20 of Sprite
“I understand,” she said. Sprite went up on her tiptoes and gently kissed him. “I’ll be fine,” she promised. “I know how to handle my mother.” He just hoped that she did because losing her or their baby wasn’t an option.
“We’ll be listening the whole time,” Savage said. “We need a word that you can use if things seem wrong in any way. A word that you can use in everyday conversations but not so common that you might say more than once.”
Sprite seemed to think about it for a few seconds, and smiled, “Necklace,” she said. “My mother never leaves home without wearing at least three of them. She’s done that since I was a little girl. If she seems off, I’ll tell her that I like her necklace and that will be your clue that I’m in trouble.”
“Sounds good,” Bowie said. “We’ll have your back, Sprite,” he promised.
“Thanks guys,” she said.
“We’ll give you a few minute head start and then follow you into town. That way your mom doesn’t suspect that you brought back up,” Savage said.
“Sounds good.” Sprite grabbed the truck keys from Chains’ hand and smiled up at him. “See you soon.” He wanted to tell her that he loved her and that whatever happened today wouldn’t change that fact, but he didn’t want to get too sappy in front of Banshee and the guys. Plus, he and Sprite hadn’t given each other those words yet, and he didn’t want the first time he said it to her to be with an audience.
“See you soon, baby,” he said, giving her a half-hearted smile. He watched her as she climbed into the truck, and when she drove out of the lot, he was sure that she was watching him in the rear-view mirror. Chains knew that his girl would never back down from trying to prove his innocence. Sprite believing in him meant everything to him, and if meeting with her mother could prove his innocence, all his worry would be worth it.
The three of them parked across the road in a convenience store parking lot. He wished that they could park closer, but Savage insisted that wasn’t a good idea. He didn’t want anyone spotting Chains. He knew that Savage was right, but he was getting more antsy by the second.
They watched as Sprite went into the diner and found her mother. Bowie turned on the receiver and Sprite’s voice filled the truck. “Mom,” she said, nodding at her mother.
“You look wonderful,” her mother said. He was thankful that Sprite was still not showing enough for her mother to notice. She had worn an oversized jacket that hid her growing belly, but there was no way that her mother would figure out that she was pregnant.
“She’s doing great,” Bowie assured. “They are exchanging small talk and that will keep her mother off guard.”
“Sprite is smart, and she’ll get through this,” Savage said.
“I know, I just wish that she didn’t have to go through seeing her mom to possibly prove that I’m innocent. What if she’s wrong and her mother doesn’t know who killed Jake?” Chains asked.
“Then, we’ll figure out another way to prove that you didn’t kill him,” Savage insisted. He just wished that it was that easy. Whoever was setting him up was doing a fantastic job and he was sure that the cops had accepted that he killed Jake, no questions asked.
“Why did you want to see me, Mom?” Sprite asked
“Because I think that you’re in danger. I didn’t believe you when you said that you didn’t know where your boyfriend was.I wanted to see you to convince you to leave him and come with me,” she said.
“This is a bad idea,” Chains growled, grabbing the handle of the door.
“Wait,” Bowie said, putting his hand on Chains’ shoulder. “Just give her a chance before we go storming in there.”
Chains tried to sit back and relax, but there was no way that would be possible. “Chains isn’t a murderer,” Sprite insisted, “and, there is no way that I’m leaving him.”
“He’s just like Jake,” her mother insisted, “he’ll hurt you just like Jake hurt me.”
“Jake hurt me too, Mom, or have you forgotten that already?” Sprite asked.
“I haven’t forgotten,” her mother spat. She sounded like she was getting angrier by the minute and Chains worried that Sprite was pushing her too hard, too quickly.
“Slow down, baby,” he whispered to himself as though willing Sprite to hear him.
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re wasting your time. I’m not running away with you and I’m not leaving Chains,” Sprite insisted. She stood and turned away from her mother as she reached for Sprite’s arm, tugging her backward.
“What are you doing?” Sprite shouted. She was garnering a lot of interest from the other diners, and he worried that someone was going to call the cops.
“I’m doing what I should have done the night that you left. If you had just stayed, everything between Jake and I would be fine. I wouldn’t have had to kill him, and you’d be out of my life for good. Well, I’m going to remedy that now,” her mother spat, pulling a gun from her purse. The diners screamed and scattered, hiding under tables and running for the kitchen.
“Fuck,” Chains shouted.
“She just confessed to killing Jake,” Savage said. “Call the cops, Bowie. Chains and I are going in after her.” They both jumped out of the truck and ran across the road and to the side of the diner.
“You go in the back, I’ll take the front,” Chains ordered.