She walked over to a table and recognized Porsche and a couple of other girls. “Do you mind if I sit down with you all?”
“Sure why not? We could use the company.” Porsche smiled gently and pointed to an empty chair. “This is Zoe and Topaz.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Meadow nodded then took a bite of her salad. It was delicious. She moaned. “This is wonderful.”
“Thank you. I was the one that cooked it tonight.” Topaz smiled.
“You girls cook?”
“Yes, we do. What did you think we did all day long, shake our asses?” Zoe chuckled.
“No I didn’t mean that.” Meadow felt saddened by what the girl assumed. “I just wondered who did all the cooking around here. There are so many people and it seems like such a lot of work.”
“We all pitch in when we have the night off. If we’re working, then of course, we don’t cook,” Topaz commented.
“That makes sense. Sorry I assumed you all don’t cook.” Meadow felt stupid. “I could barely handle food for myself and Clive, I couldn’t imagine making it for… gee are there like a hundred people here?”
“Give or take,” Topaz replied. “We got quite a few former grunts around here, willing to peel a potato or two. It’s pretty slick operation with everyone helping.”
She hoped she didn’t insult these wonderful people. Everyone had made her feel so welcome and she seemed to screw up more times than not. “Porsche, I wanted to ask you how did you escape Clive?”
“I was able to get away from him with the help of the Steels.” Porsche set her sandwich down. “Right place right time. Men around here don’t believe in putting hands on a woman—”
“In anger,” Zoe replied with a laugh. “Because we all know they love putting hands on us.”
The women laughed right as a few men passed, one sliding his hand along Zoe’s shoulders as he did. A private, wordless conversation between the two as he continued to the food.
“See?” Zoe laughed. “Sorry, keep going with your story.”
“Rude, but true,” Porsche said. “Anyway, I’d gotten away from one of his fits and made my way to a bar where a few of the guys were. Alphabet offered me his napkin to clean up and soon, I was safe on the compound, filing a restraining order against Clive. He’d done enough to earn him a year, so that gave me a cushion.”
“You’re the one who put him in jail then?”
“No,” Porsche replied curtly. “He put himself there. I was the proof of his sickness.”
“Right, sorry, years of if it weren’t for that bitch, are hard to shut off,” Meadow explained.
“Eventually, you take the tape recorder he has jammed in your head outside, set it on a fence post and used a shotgun to blow the fucker away.”
The visual alone let Meadow know Porsche wasn’t exactly healed from her time with Clive, even if it had been years ago.
“Well,” Porsche went on. “When we heard Clive had been released, Red had just come home for his daddy’s funeral and was setting up a new MC. The Steels moved me up here to Montana to get completely away from him.”
“That’s what I was wondering. I miss New Mexico and I wanted to go back.”
“I wouldn’t think that would be a great idea. He’ll find you.” Porsche’s eyes saddened. “For three months I was on lockdown at the New Mexico compound. It’s big, but not being able to run to the store or go to a movie is suffocating. He loomed outside the gates for weeks. The only safe place was locked away and I didn’t want that. Sunshine and mountains aside. I’d rather be able to go grab a Coke and bag of chips without worrying. Distance is more important.”
“I still miss my home, but Porsche, I think you’re right.” Even now, Meadow could see Clive coming up behind her at her favorite flea market. Whispering something sweet, making her forget the thousand negative things he’d screamed at her.
“It was hard to escape him. I love my life here now. I work hard, make my own money and take care of myself. I don’t have to always look behind me to see if Clive is going to show up. Since he found you, I have to assume he stopped looking for me.” Porsche finished her dinner and pushed her plate away from her. “I’d hoped he’d moved on or got help. Sorry that it was a shift in his twisted idea of love.”
“That’s probably true. It wasn’t always bad though. He had his good days and he was good to me.”
“Stop,” Porsche said. “Seriously, you need to talk to Doc.”
“Red?”
“No, Doc, she’s the shrink,” Topaz said. “A lot of the girls use her. Heard she’s even taking on some of the men. Good thing we aren’t charged by the minute for video chatting.”
“The woman has helped so many people here,” Porsche continued. “Started with Lil’ Bit, but now even I check in with her once a month, if I start feeling some kinda way.”
“This place really is a one stop shop,” Meadow said. “I wouldn’t think it would be so…”
“Progressive?” Zoe laughed. “Oh, the men here grunt all caveman style, but most have been around more than one block with a pretty dark alley.”
Meadow’s eye instantly caught sight of Freaky when he walked into the room. It was hard not to be drawn into a man with a hard jawline outlined by a few days growth of a beard. Now here was a guy, a girl could look at on a daily basis. Even when he had the dirt of a hard day’s work on him, it wasn’t a bad thing.
He gave her a quick nod of his head then walked down a hallway and away from her.
“I think Freaky likes you Meadow,” Zoe teased.
“No, I don’t think so.” Meadow shook her head.
“He took you out,” Porsche replied. “And didn’t come back for drinks and dances after he took you home. Both, mind blowingly odd for him.”
“Or he was tired,” Meadow added.
“Did you wear him out?” Topaz joked.
Heat flooded Meadow’s face. “No, he’s a gentleman.”
The three women shared bewildered looks before bursting out into laughter.
“His nickname is Freaky,” Porsche said. “But then again, look at Lil’ Mama and Cass.”
“The whiter the lace, the blacker the leather.” Zoe snapped a baby carrot between her teeth. “You’re one of those aren’t you? All fancy, but once you get your clothes off, you’re reaching for the handcuffs.”
“No.” Meadow held up both hands to shake off the giggling women.
“It’s always the quiet ones.” Topaz cleared the plates as Freaky came back downstairs and followed her into the kitchen.
Although the man was obviously getting his own food, Meadow couldn’t help feeling a stab of jealousy. Was Zoe right? Did she have a chance with him? What was she thinking? She wasn’t ready to find another man. She hadn’t even truly ended things with Clive.
Freaky stopped his motorcycle alongside the sidewalk of the community center parking lot. The former school had been fixed, partially thanks to the Steels and some money left in the city funds, and now they were helping bring what was left of Turnabout Creek together. It was easy in a place with harsh winters and neighbors separated by miles for people to feel isolated. Red wanted Turnabout to go back to the community he’d grown up in when the school was the center of the town and kept people engaged. Though he doubted the district, which now stretched to Berrington, would even reopen a school in Turnabout, there was always a chance as they continued to draw people to a safer part of the county.
He’d spotted Meadow on his way to work and wanted to go and see what she was doing.
Walking up behind her, he didn’t know if he would scare her. She seemed engrossed in what she was doing. Not flinching or even glancing over when his fat boy rumbled behind her. Maybe she’d become numb to the noise.
Leaning against an old oak, she had one leg cocked, her sketch pad resting on her thigh. Though she wasn’t drawing at the moment, lines and figures were on the pad. Right now, her pencil was between her lips as her thumb rubbed the graphite on the p
age in front of her. Smudging the skyline as her eyes bounced between kids playing at the playground and the paper in front of her. She paused, her focus no longer on what was in front of her but something further away.
“Dreamer?” he whispered next to her ear.
She smiled, turned to him and plucked the pencil from between her teeth. “What did you call me?”
“I called you Dreamer. Do you like it?” Nicknames were organic around the MC and he had been thinking about what to call her. “I called you Dreamer because you always seem to be dreaming even when you’re awake.”
“How did you know?” Meadow put her pencil down.
“You’re an artist right?”
“Yeah, but why Dreamer? I’m focused, not dreaming.” Meadow began to sketch again, this time defining the kids on the playground.
“Aren’t you?” he replied and sat down next to her. “Because an eight ton bomb couldn’t make you shift your eyes from your subject.”
She glanced down at the small space he’d left between them.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
“Well, I don’t really have a choice now that you sat down, do I?” Meadow chuckled.
“You always have the choice my lady. I don’t force myself onto people.” Freaky didn’t need the Steel MCs rules to tell him that, the bylaws were more of a warning to those wanting to join. Hey, we don’t like rapists here. Move on.
This lady intrigued him though. She wasn’t like the other girls. Though a confident woman was appealing. A little mystery never hurt anyone. He’d forgotten what it was to date and meet someone new.
“Well, I don’t mind it if you sit with me for a while. I like the company.” Meadow continued to draw.
He watched her for a few minutes. “Do you like kids?”
“I love children. They are interesting subjects.” She continued to focus her attention toward the playground. “The ones on the ranch are adorable, but they know it, I think.”
“Kinda hard not to be the center of attention. Even the twins never really had to fight to be seen over the other because there were enough of us around. Only one they might fight over is Cass.”
“Daddy’s love huh?”
“Yep. I’ve always saw myself having a whole house full someday. I need to get married first.” Freaky didn’t know where that idea had come from. “Sorry, that was random and—”
“I want kids someday too. I just need to find the right man to have them with.” She put the pencil in her mouth then started to smudge the woodchips under the swing. “Thought Clive would be that, funny how we delude ourselves.” Her finger tucked loose strands behind her ear.
He wondered how soft the skin was there. When he’d stroked his thumb along her neck the other day all sorts of bells and whistles went off in his body. Now, with her so close, he wondered if he could control his desires. Lord knows, the leg closest to her was on fire and it wasn’t even touching.
“Maybe that’s why I took up teaching,” she said as her thoughts wandered again. “All the kids and I can take a heavy sedative and not worry about them setting the house on fire afterward.”
“Teaching can be a form of birth control I’ve heard.”
“Or an aphrodisiac. You have to be careful with the dosing.” She glanced toward him. Her lips curled up and eyes calm. “Speaking of which, heard you were planning a sick party for the man of the hour.”
“I am,” he replied, happy to move off the subject of ways of turning Dreamer on. “You interested in dancing?”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure no one wants to see that.”
“I wouldn’t say no one,” he replied a bit too honestly. “But I love how I’m supposed to hide the party from Hack even though everyone knows about it.”
“Hiding in plain sight is sometimes the easiest.” Her lips pulled in a bit as she slipped a colored pencil from a pack beside her.
“Does Dell know you came to town?”
“I think so, I told Maggie before I left.”
“Learned your sunrise lesson then?” he questioned remembering the red alerts slamming his phone for a whole morning. He was ready to rush back to the ranch when she was found.
“You guys are protective of your perimeter.”
“Huh?” he questioned.
“That’s what Onyx said when he found me. I was taking pictures that made the patrol nervous.”
“He was covering for Dell who was pitching a fit,” Freaky said. “If I didn’t have a thousand texts in between that fateful morning and now, I’d show you.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good. There were a few comments about you being the kinda girl who likes to wander.”
“Dreamer like?” she replied tapping the pencil on the edge of the notepad.
“At least, Creature didn’t come running up saying you’d fell in a well.”
“Creature?”
“Red’s dog.”
“Lovely, I’m starting to realize Dreamer’s a good name.”
“Could be worse.”
“I’ll take you at your word, Freaky.” She smiled when she said his name.
“And some have more than one meaning,” he replied.
“With a name like Freaky, I’d assume more than one was common.”
“You’ve been talking to the Hoez a bit too much,” he replied.
“Girl’s gotta make friends.”
Freaky heard a ding from a phone. He reached for his out of his pocket, but there wasn’t a message.
Meadow flipped her phone over and by the frown on her face, he knew it wasn’t anything good.
There a few joys in the world greater than a perfect day. Temperature even, sun out, but not beating itself into your very soul. Maybe she’d had one too many outdoor events lately? But under a tree with new leaves so the shade was still taking shape and rays of sunlight could break through to the ground below, allowed for a balance Meadow was appreciating. Visiting with Freaky didn’t seem rushed or too much. The balance was there as they bantered. Then reality assaulted her idyllic moment.
Bitch you better call me or else. Meadow didn’t need to see the name at the top of the list of unanswered texts. She hadn’t so much as given him the hope of a response with a floating three dot bubble. Still, he persisted. Some sweet words, that tempted her, others harsh reminding her of the reality of the situation she’d left over a thousand miles away.
She ignored the message, but didn’t want to continue drawing because the mood was gone. With a hard sigh, she flipped her sketch book closed and tried to think of the best way to clear her head. “Freaky, I need fresh air and an open road,” she stated as she tucked all her supplies away. “Can you take me for a ride on your motorcycle?”
“Absolutely. Come on.” He stood and extended his hand to hers.
She liked the feeling of his warm callused hand holding hers as he tugged slightly, helping her to her feet. She needed to put her sketch pad and pencils away in her car. “I’ll be right back. I need to put these in my car.”
“I’ll walk with you.” Freaky continued to hold her hand.
His warmed palm heated her chilled fingers in a way she was enjoying a bit too much. How long had it been since a man intertwined their fingers with hers? Clive would yank her by her wrist or arm. Shove her in front of him when they were walking. There was no gentle tug to the bedroom or holding hands before, during or after their sessions. She no longer could call them love making or passionate sex. They were sessions where she fought to catch an ever more elusive orgasm on her own because it was not important to Clive she enjoyed the interaction.
After she stowed her stuff away in her car, she followed Freaky to his bike. Thanking the good Lord, she wore jeans and a sweatshirt today. She was actually dressed for a ride. “My car will be okay here I assume,” she said.
Freaky nodded and got on his bike, kicked up the stand, then stood up holding the large bike. “Get on behind me.”
Using his shoulder as lever
age, she stretched her leg and placed it over the seat before settling in behind him. She wrapped her arms around his midsection, slipping her hands under his coat before he zipped it closed. The hard muscles she could feel through his shirt and the smell of leather intoxicated her as she rested her chin on his shoulder. Prickles from his light beard brushed along her cheek as he turned over the engine and the bike came alive between her thighs.
Meadow was in the perfect state of mind for this ride.
“Dreamer, I need you to hold on tight. You ready?”
He turned his head slightly, sending electricity through her body as his beard once again, brushed her cheek. She nodded then smiled. Yelling over the loud noise of his motor, “Let’s go, I’m ready.”
The ride was exhilarating to her from the moment he pulled away from the old school. By the time, they made their way to the main road, thoughts of Clive almost left her mind completely. If anything, she wanted to forget about him and concentrate on this ride with Freaky.
The highway ride was long and vast. She enjoyed every minute they traveled down the lone road. They passed cars, trucks and other bikers.
It seemed to be a regular thing for him to wave to others on motorcycles. She was curious as to why. It’s not like he would know their club, but still with each passing bike his fingers rose. The time passed by and before she knew it, they pulled into a State park and continued down a dirt road towards a large parking area for a lake.
Freaky shut the bike off then leaned forward. “We’re here.”
She used his shoulder to unfold her body from the bike and to get off from behind him. With a tug, she removed her ponytail, then smoothed her hair the best she could and pulled it back up as she waited for him to get off the bike.
Freaky dug out a blanket from his side pouch, tucked it under one shoulder, then reached out his hand. “Come on, I have something to show you.”
Sliding her hand into his, they walked together toward a growth of trees and into a meadow, tucked alongside the lake.
Freaky had removed the blanket from under his arm and spread it out on the ground. Plopping down, he patted the blanket. “Come sit down.”
Dreamer: Book 7 of The Steel MC Montana Charter Page 10