Chains

S avage had given the directions to the club's safehouse, and he got Sprite and him to the house in an hour. She had slept most of the ride and he hated to wake her to walk into the house, deciding instead to carry her. He still loved the way that she snuggled into his body and the way that she sighed every time he hugged her closely. Sprite was the perfect woman for him and there was no way that he'd let her go without a fight. Hearing her say that she still planned on buying her own place pissed him off. If she didn't like his house, he'd sell it and buy the one that she wanted, but there was no way that he'd be a part-time parent. He wanted the three of them together, under the same roof, and hearing her tell Savage and Bowie that she was saving for her own home had him panicking. He just needed to find the nerve to tell her everything—feelings included.

He laid her on the bed, and she stretched and woke up. She was starting to get a little belly and thinking about her being pregnant with his child nearly drove him crazy with lust. "Hey," she said, smiling up at him. "Where are we?" She sat up and looked around.

"We're at the safe house," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"A little stiff from sleeping in the car, but all in all, not bad. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Same as you. It was a bit of a drive to get here, but at least we're safe from the public eye now," he said.

"Do you think that no one will really spot us here? I mean, your face is all over the television and internet as a person of interest in a murder case. The cops in Huntsville are even offering a reward to anyone who has information about where you might be. I don't think that we're safe anywhere," she whispered. hated that she didn't feel safe anywhere—even with him. He'd do just about anything to make her feel safe.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go home, honey? You can stay at my house, and I'll put a few guys out front to keep an eye on you." It killed him to offer her that, but he didn't want her to feel unsafe.

"You want me to leave?" she asked. Her eyes teared up and he groaned. The last thing he wanted was a crying woman on his hands. He wanted to crawl into bed and hold her while they both caught up on some sleep.

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her onto his lap. "I didn't mean to make you cry, honey," he said. "The last thing that I want is to send you away, but I want you to be safe and happy, and if you don't feel safe around me, I'll send you home. It's your decision."

"I appreciate you thinking about my feelings, but I didn't mean to say that I don't feel safe with you. I'm saying that we can't really hide anywhere right now. You are kind of famous around town and we'll have to stay inside if we want to keep you out of jail. I don't want to leave, ," she insisted.

"Kind of famous, huh?" he asked. "I don't think I'll be signing autographs any time soon," he teased, "but I'm glad to hear that you want to stay here with me. What about the baby?" he asked.

"What about the baby?" she asked.

"You and the baby can't go on the run with me if we can't find out who killed Jake. You both need to see a doctor regularly and what happens if something goes wrong? We're out in the middle of nowhere right now." He knew that dragging them from safehouse to safehouse wouldn't be good for Sprite or the baby. He wasn't sure how long they could keep this up, but for now, he wanted her by his side. Maybe that made him a selfish asshole, but he didn't care.

"We can find a doctor or midwife to make house calls, and there is no reason to believe that anything will go wrong, . And we'll find Jake's killer," she insisted, "we have to because I don't think that I will be able to take care of this baby on my own." He had thought about that and before they left town, Savage had his lawyer meet him and at the bar and he signed the house over to Sprite. He wanted to make sure that if anything happened to him, she and the baby would be well taken care of. He also signed over his savings account and put his truck and bike in her name too. Savage was going to have his lawyer file all the documents at the courthouse in the morning. wanted to pretend that he had as much faith in them finding the real killer as she did, but he wouldn't lie to her.

"Listen, if we don't find the real killer," he started.

"We will," she insisted.

"Okay, but if we don't," he repeated, "I did something to make sure that you and the baby are both taken care of."

"What did you do, ?" she asked, sliding off his lap.

"Don't get mad, honey," he said, trying to tug her back onto his lap.

"I will reserve judgment until you tell me what you've done," she insisted. He gave up trying to pull her back to his lap. He'd just have to tell her everything and hope to hell that she didn't kick him to the curb.

"I met with a lawyer earlier today when we were at the club. Savage arranged it," he said.

"Go on," she insisted.

"I put the house in your name as well as my bank account and my bike and truck," he said. felt as though he was holding his breath waiting for her to react to his news.

"So, you don't believe that we'll get through this?" she asked. "You just gave up and put everything in my name." Yeah—she was pissed.

"I'm not giving up, honey," he insisted. "I just want to make sure that you and the baby are set if I do have to spend any time in jail." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. Usually, he would have found the whole scene funny. "We both know that the cops can catch up to me at any time. If that happens, I don't want you caught up in my mess. The house and everything will be yours and our babies."

"You didn't bring this mess to me," she insisted. "I was the one who had a problem with Jake. If I didn't tell you about him hitting me, you wouldn't be caught up in my mess."

He pulled her back onto his lap, and this time, she allowed it. "How about we stop blaming ourselves and find a way to just be happy for as long as we can?" he asked. Could it really be that easy? God, he hoped so.

"I don't know that I can just go back to your house without you," she sobbed.

He rubbed her back, "Sure you can," he said. "Plus, now it's your house. Promise me that you'll live there," he begged.

"If you can promise me that you're going to fight to prove you are innocent, I can promise that if anything happens, I'll go back to the house." blew out the breath that he didn't know he had been holding and she smiled at him. "You were worried about my answer, weren't you?" she asked.

"I was. This is important to me, Sprite. I just want to make sure that you and our baby will be okay if anything happens to me," he said.

She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Nothing's going to happen to you, . Everything will work out. It just has to because I'm not raising this baby on my own. Got it?" she asked.

"I've got it," he agreed. He wished that he hadn't just lied to her, but he had no choice. At the moment, he didn't feel like he had anything straight and that scared the shit out of him.