Page 51 of Savage

But what if he and Donna were actually married? If he were missing, it would be harder for her to divorce him. If he were missing, his friend knew he’d last been here. If he went missing, as far as Savage knew, all avenues of search would lead investigators to the ranch and the Souls.

Besides if Donna found out they’d killed him without giving him a chance to do the right thing, he didn’t know how she would react. She believed he was a good guy. He wasn’t ready to disabuse her of that notion, at least not yet.

He took a deep breath and turned back to Lurch. “Call the cops. Let’s give him one last chance.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll sit down and give you my reasoning in a bit, but can I get five minutes alone with him before the cops show up?”

Lurch stared at him a moment, as if trying to read his mind and figure out what he was planning. “If we’re calling the cops, he’s got to be breathing when they get here.”

“I won’t kill him. I’m just going to make him hurt a bit. Hopefully enough he forgets about Donna, the ranch and all of us. But I’m not going to do anything permanent.” Savage glanced down at the man still lying on the straw, fully aware the worthless goatfucker could hear every word they were saying. “Hopefully.” He shot Lurch a grin that he hoped the asshole couldn’t see, and hopefully letting Lurch know he was kidding, mostly.

Lurch stared at him again. Savage couldn’t tell what he was thinking and didn’t want to try and figure it out.

“You get your five minutes,” Lurch said after a moment. “I’m going to go call the sheriff’s department. We’ve got a decent relationship with them after the incident with Bonnie, but I’m leaving Jake here with you to make sure there’s enough of that piece of shit left for them to come pick up.” Without waiting for a response, Lurch turned and walked away. He nodded at Jake on his way out but didn’t say anything more.

Savage turned his attention to the man on the floor, wondering where to start.

“You want to help me?” He glanced up at Jake.

“Not sure why I should.” The man who was supposed to make sure Savage didn’t hurt the waste of skin too badly leaned against the wall a few feet away.

“Well, aside from the fact that he was trespassing on the club, he’s a threat to one of our women.”

“She’s yours then?” Jake lifted one brow as he watched Savage.

“She’s mine. I’ll get her free of this fucker,” Savage toed the man in the ribs, none too gently, “Then I’m going to try and convince her to marry me. I want her wearing my name.”

Jake shook his head slowly but didn’t move away from the wall. Savage couldn’t tell what he was shaking his head about and didn’t have time to try and figure it out. He bent and grabbed the rope wrapped around the fucker’s wrists and hauled him to his feet.

It took him a couple tries to get his feet under him, and even then, he wasn’t too steady, making Savage wonder if he’d been hit in the head when they’d found him and brought him. Not that Savage cared, other than it might make him less likely to remember what Savage was about to tell him.

Looking around, he found a hook where the feed bucket usually hung. He shuffled the fucker in that direction and hooked the rope on his hands over the hook, keeping him from sitting or falling over. Savage didn’t care how comfortable it might or might not be, in fact he preferred it if the fuckwad hurt a bit. He hadn’t cared how Donna had felt when he’d raped her, so he didn’t get any consideration from Savage.

“Have you figured out who I am yet?” He didn’t bother removing the gag, the shithead could nod or not answer, not that Savage cared. He was going to do this either way.

The fucknut lifted his head and glared at Savage. Satisfaction filled Savage at what he was about to tell this excuse for a man.

“I’m the one she chose. I’m the one who will teach her how a woman’s supposed to be treated.” He stepped forward and drove his knee hard into the tied man’s balls, then stepped back as he folded over forward, a muffled scream of pain coming from behind the gag.

Savage watched him for a moment, enjoying the man’s pained sounds. After a moment Savage grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up until he could meet the tied man’s gaze. All anger and fight was gone from his eyes as a pain that all men dreaded filled them. Savage waited until the eyes focused on his face, then he spoke between clenched teeth.

“I’m the one who will kill you if you ever come near her again. Rest assured, this is no empty promise. You won’t be my first kill and you likely won’t be my last, but I’ll rest a lot easier knowing you’re dead and I’m betting Donna will to.” Savage dropped the fuckweed’s head and started to walk away but decided he didn’t want the idiot to get off too easily. He wanted him hurting for a while to remember this lesson. Turning back to where the man still leaned forward, trying to protect his injured gonads, Savage spun and drove his elbow hard into the chicken fucker’s ribs. He pulled back and hit him again, this time without the momentum of the spin and aiming for a different spot. He didn’t think he’d broken any ribs, but he hoped he’d cracked at least one, maybe more. That would have him remember Savage and that he’d better stay away from him and Donna for a good long time.

“Cut him loose and hand him over to the police. I’ve got to go see my woman.” He didn’t tell Jake he had to warn her and let her know that she’d likely have to talk to the cops. Since they were coming, it would be a good chance to document some of what had been happening to her.

40

Donnajoinedthewomenaround the seating area, some gave her looks as if they knew what she and Savage had been doing and it wasn’t talking, at least in their mind. Then again, they likely hadn’t heard what she’d said to Noah. They would have no idea how upset Savage might have been.

She didn’t know how long they’d been gone but yeah, they’d had time for that, if not the inclination. Well, not yet. If they hadn’t been called back here, for some unknown reason, they might have gotten there.

She listened into the talk but didn’t add to the conversation. Her mind was still on her talk with Savage. He wanted to marry her. He wanted her and this baby to have his name. She knew she should feel something about that, but right now, she couldn’t. She was numb. She didn’t know if it was because Noah had shown back up or that she’d had to lock most of her emotions down to confront him, or maybe she’d just dealt with more than she could handle today.

It was good that he wasn’t looking for an answer now. Especially with Noah’s threat that they were legally married. And that she might have to legally divorce him before she could do anything else. How would she be able to afford something like that?

“Babe?” Savage’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

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