Page 41 of Savage
“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.
32
Bythetimetheymade it back to the ranch, Donna’s nerves had settled, and her stomach along with it. They had found her but hadn’t dragged her back. Sure, they probably would have if Savage hadn’t been there to stop Jacob, but he had and since she had no plans to go anywhere without him, at least not any time soon, she felt safe. Or at least as safe as she could knowing they were looking for her.
That didn’t matter. Not here. Savage and the rest of the men were watching for them. They wouldn’t let anyone get to her. Of that, she was sure. Especially after today.
“Did you guys have a good time?” Beth asked as they stepped into the common area after parking the bike.
“The movie was great,” Donna said, not wanting to get into the parts of the day that weren’t so great.
“Is Sadist still working?” Savage asked, tilting his head toward the bunk house.
“Yeah, he’ll probably be at it another couple of hours tonight. He said he’s got at least two more days’ work here, if not three,” Beth said.
“Cool. I’m going to step inside and talk to him.” He turned to Donna. “Have a seat. I don’t know how long I’ll be. You should get comfortable.” He waited while she sat then turned and disappeared into the building. She watched him go then turned and found the other women watching her.
“Kinda gone on him already?” Kerry asked.
Donna didn’t know what to say, so she stayed silent, but she couldn’t stop her face from heating.
“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” London put in, “we’ve all been there. Most of us fell far quicker than we ever anticipated and for someone who, at least on the outside, was the last kind of guy we thought we’d end up with.”
“They look rough,” Dana said. “And they can be hard when they need to be.”
“Like when someone they care about is threatened,” Sissy said, “or hurt. Then there’s no stopping them.”
“But they’re good men,” Dana finished, as if that was where she’d been going with what she’d been saying all along, and maybe it was.
Later,asshebrushedher teeth and got ready for bed, she could hear the low buzz of voices in the next room as Sadist gave whoever he’d been working on instructions on how to take care of the tattoo and cleaned up his workspace. She let her mind go back to the morning she’d met Savage, he hadn’t been wearing a shirt and she’d seen several tattoos. At the time she hadn’t paid much attention to what they were. She’d been too concerned about getting farther away from Fort Collins.
Now though, she thought about it. She hadn’t spent any time watching as the man in the next room had worked, but she’d had to walk through the place a couple of times going back and forth to the bathroom, and now she wondered what might motivate someone to go through that. To voluntarily get stabbed thousands of times, leaving some design permanently inked into their skin. She’d known several people with tattoos but the few who she’d gathered the nerve to ask about them either told her they didn’t know, it was something they’d felt like they needed to do, or more often, they’d been drunk when they’d decided to get something done.
She wondered if she’d ever feel strongly enough about something to want to wear it on her skin for the rest of her life. Well, they did have a way to remove them now, but no one went into a tattoo planning to have it removed.
She finished up what she was doing, then packed up the little bag with her things as she prepared to go back to the tent. As she turned toward the entrance, she noticed that the sounds from the other room had stopped. The men must have finished and left. If she’d been paying more attention, she probably would have heard them. But she’d been lost in her own head.
Making sure she had everything, she picked up her bag and headed out the door. She was half way across the main room, focused on the door and Savage, who said he’d be coming to bed soon too, when a voice from the other side of the room startled her.
“You’re Donna, right?” the low voice asked.
She couldn’t help the scared squeak that escaped as she jumped, then spun to see who had snuck up on her. One hand flew up to cover her mouth as she stood staring at him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you knew I was here.” It was Sadist, still packing several things into a large bag that resembled a backpack but not one like she ever remembered seeing in a store.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there. Yes, I’m Donna.” She forced herself to lower her hand and stay where she was, not hurry out the door like her nerves wanted her to.