She wanted to get to the clubhouse early to get pictures of Hack. Then go over to Preacher Girl’s house, where she was getting ready for their day. Then she’d have to go to the church then back to the clubhouse where they planned on having the reception.
Taking some Tylenol with a bottle of water, she hoped the headache would calm down enough for her to have a better day. Finding a banana, she figured the potassium wouldn’t hurt and ate it slowly before stepping into a shower to chase away the rest of the aches.
Picking out her outfit, she went for easy to move around in for her to take as many pictures as the couple needed for memories. She wanted it to be perfect. The curse of her photography classes. Instructors telling her when you shoot for an event expect half to be tossed out. Half? That’s fifty percent. That’s an F and that would not be tolerated in her home.
Searching out her purse, she found her extra batteries then got her camera and flash all together. Thinking about her day ahead, she found her backpack and slid her laptop in it, so she could upload mid-day.
Driving over to the clubhouse, she wondered how these people were up and moving around like most of them hadn’t been out until well past three. And still, the place was as active as ever.
Dell was walking toward the kitchen when Meadow saw her. “Dell, wait up.” She raced ahead to catch up to the other woman. “How are you doing?”
“I’ll be better after I eat some breakfast.” Dell frowned.
“Me too. Had to take some Tylenol for a headache this morning. Too late last night. Didn’t sleep very well. I guess I’m a little worried about today.” Meadow pushed the door open to the large room that held all the girls. “Usually, I’m not part of the celebration, just in the background.”
“Well, it’s a long drive back from Billings and you deserved a few shots.”
A few? Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she thought. It had been the end of the night, so draining a bottle wasn’t exactly a full one.
Preacher Girl sat at a table with several other ladies surrounding her. They all had a plate of food in front of them. The fresh faced bride showed the recovery afforded to the youth. The girl technically hadn’t hit legal drinking age and Meadow had been surprised when she didn’t go all out with the booze like most people. The women around her, well that was another story. But only Preacher Girl’s little sister Rose had to be up with her at the altar, so it wasn’t like they had to be bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Dell and Meadow walked up to the table that housed all the food.
Meadow dished eggs, toast and hash browns onto her plate. She grabbed a glass of what looked like apple juice. Making her way towards the table, she decided she should get some pictures of the breakfast.
Taking a bite of toast, she grabbed her camera and started taking pictures.
All the women were good sports about Meadow shooting pictures. They actually were having fun.
“Hey Meadow get a picture of all of us together,” Preacher Girl ordered.
She stood at the front of the table and took the picture of all the women holding up their drinks. Something in Preacher Girl’s eyes unsettled Meadow. She’d caught glimpses of it the night before when she was describing the upcoming ceremony. There was a missing element to her dream wedding and Meadow couldn’t put her finger on it.
Red came into the room and the ladies all silenced.
Roadkill covered her lips to hide her smile.
Meadow was keenly aware an important moment was about to happen as Red dropped to one knee before Preacher Girl. “Sweet Hannah,” he began.
Meadow hid behind her camera capturing the moment.
“You are strong, independent and our club’s guiding star on all things holy.”
Preacher Girl glanced back at Roadkill then back to the woman’s husband who was on bended knee before her.
“Although you are more than capable of walking yourself down the aisle to Hack, every girl deserves support. As President of this club and man who sees you as the oldest daughter he never knew he had, I would like to offer my services to make your wedding complete.”
Preacher Girl leapt and wrapped her arms around his neck in a choking hold that had him falling back a moment. Catching himself, he hugged the young woman who’d broken down in fat, happy tears. Most of which was thankfully, caught on Meadow’s camera.
“Thank you for asking before we did her makeup,” Roadkill commented as she rustled her fingers through Red’s thick hair. “You know this means you have to be in a tux?”
“He can wear his cut,” Preacher Girl said gulping back her sobs and cupping Red’s face in her hands. “I don’t care. Thank you Red. You and Roadkill have been everything to me. You are my family.”
Once the tears were all shed and everyone was done eating, they decided to head to the church to help Preacher Girl and the others get ready for the wedding.
Meadow continued to take pictures as the women all got ready.
Preacher Girl’s wedding dress was beautiful…a long white flowing gown with beads adorning the entire piece. The halter top accented her smaller bosom and when her long chestnut hair was pulled up in a twisting chignon, Preacher Girl’s elegant neck was on full display. Gorgeous bride, with a bright smile and nothing but hope for the future was captured by Meadow’s lens.
Sneaking away from the women, who were enjoying a bit of bubbly before the ceremony, she made her way to the groom’s room.
Hack was a ball of nerves and when he noticed Meadow had arrived his face paled a bit. “Tell me everything is okay in Hannah’s room.”
Meadow stepped back a bit. Trying to do the calculations in her head on the myriad of real verses road names then realized there was only one woman on his mind. The bride. “You mean the stunning woman in white who’s laughing with her friends and smiling with every part of her body? Think she’s good.”
Color returned to his natural tanned skin. Native American by birth, raised locally she’d learned it wasn’t that he rejected his heritage so much, as he didn’t embrace it. Maybe when they had children. That’s when people look back. Then again, there are others here she’d met that never seem to turn back to the past. Instead, they took on the day ahead of them with a wild abandon and hope.
The ranch had no name, at least not like the ones she’d shot in New Mexico with one forged out of iron and arching the entry. To Meadow, she would call this place Hope Ranch or Hopeful Future. Maybe Freaky was right, she was a cocky-eyed optimist, searching for beauty even in places where none existed. But there was beauty here, in the land and the people and her job was to find it. With a quick click, she captured the relief washing over Hack, then set up a few posed pictures.
There was always a quiet before a storm when it came to weddings. A time when a few early arrivals mill in and the couple were settling the last of their nerves. Stepping out into the spring air, she saw the perfectly symmetric line of black rubber and shiny silver chrome. She didn’t need the whole hundred or so bikes, just this group of about fifteen. One of which was being fitted with balloons, cans and a sign that said, Claimed for Life.
She caught a few shots of the bikes lined up, then of Freaky and a man named Shark, tying on the last few cans. Meadow would have to rush out to catch Preacher Girl in her long dress hiking it up to hop on the back of that bad boy.
“No tux?” she joked catching a shot of Freaky as he adjusted his tie. The man was in his leather coat, starched dark jeans and button down shirt with a bow tie. With heavy boots that had been polished.
“Only the groom is stuck in that, and only for the ceremony,” Freaky said as he wiggled the bow tie. “But didn’t I go classy with the tie.”
She snapped a shot of his flirty smile, with his eyes shining… it seemed just for her. “That you did.”
“You know what else this tie is good for?” he asked as he stepped closer.
She narrowed his eyes at him. The heat of him warmer than the sun currently shining bright in the sky. When his head
dipped to her ear, fire shot off down her back and arms when his lips brushed the soft flesh by her neck.
“It’s the perfect length to wrap around your head and cover your eyes.”
His words trickled into her mind. “Really?” she replied, all moisture leaving her throat. “I’d think it would be too short.”
“Should we test it out?” he asked. “I have enough time to retie it.”
His hand glided over her belly setting of a rollercoaster of emotions as she remembered the feel of him holding her in the park. The way he explored without touching her skin, yet finding every curve and letting her know his hand enjoyed the feel of her.
“I’d hate to underestimate and then we need to find a regular tie for the job,” he whispered.
“I don’t need to be—” The flash of an older sedan turning a few blocks away from the church made her pause. It couldn’t be? Jesus, she was on edge.
“Day Dreamer, did you just stop mid-sentence in your argument that you don’t get distracted? Now what caught your eye?” Freaky took a step back and scanned the area. “I can’t even hold your attention for twenty seconds. I swear I need to work on my game.”
“Your game is fine,” she replied. “A bit too fine, you make me a little light headed.”
“And I don’t even have you upside down,” he said with a shake of his head.
Now, the visual of Preacher Girl being flipped on stage made Meadow laugh. “I better get back in, but keep the tie handy for when I’m not working.”
“Well, that’s one way to keep her around,” Steel’s deep baritone broke the two apart as he and Dell headed toward the church doors. “Are you binding her hands together or to a bedpost?”
“Stop teasing them,” Dell chided, giving her man a shoulder nudge. “Besides, you know weddings already make me hot. Last thing I need are ideas floating around about that tie you’re wearing.”
Steel moved behind Dell and wrapped his arms around her waist. They walked in lockstep past Meadow and Freaky with Dell grinning wide as Steel nuzzled her neck.
Meadow captured the intimate moment and wondered if she’d ever had that with any man. Teasing, joking, fun in the relationship? One where sex and words co-mingled in a way that the mere mention of an intimate act would make her think of fantasies in concert with her lover.
She turned back to Freaky who was sitting on his bike sideways. His long legs outstretched, and lean body at rest. The ceremony would be starting soon and she needed to get pictures of the guests arriving and still her camera came to her eye and she captured Freaky. The sunlight shining on the polished chrome on the back of his mirror. Stepping closer, his eyes and lips drawing her to him until his hand covered the lens and her camera was moved away from her face.
Sandwiched between her grip and his, he brought his other hand to her cheek, wrapping his long fingers around the back of her neck and pulling her toward him. The kiss, gentle at first had her hold to the camera loosening, as his tongue delved into her mouth and warmth rushed between her legs. He was the distraction now. The dream she was becoming lost in and if she didn’t stop, she’d miss the whole ceremony.
“Don’t you have a wedding to shoot?” he asked as they broke from the kiss, though his lips were still caressing fullness of hers with his words. “Or am I distracting my Dreamer?”
His Dreamer? The idea crashed against the sign he’d placed on the back of the bike. Claimed for Life. She wasn’t his, she wasn’t Clive’s, but then again, she didn’t exactly match up with anyone else did she? Could she be his? Would that make him hers? More guests were milling by, though they ignored the two locked in the forehead to forehead moment. Nothing to see here, just Meadow falling into a deep set of dark eyes and sexy lips.
“I better—check my other—equipment. I’ve got a few—video cameras set—up in the church,” her rushed words halted at times because Freaky had moved his mouth to the column of her neck. The soft brushed and intimate kisses made the world go out of focus. She couldn’t be distracted by a pretty image because she’d never been a fan of Monet and right now, the muddled watercolors suddenly made sense. Had he been painting as someone teased his body?
“Don’t let me distract you Dreamer,” he said pulling back while making sure she had fully grasped her camera before releasing her lens. “Hack and Preacher Girl deserve a beautiful wedding caught by a talented photographer.”
Meadow hurried away. Her body on fire and in need of a good ten gallons of water. Her fingers ran through her hair only to remember she’d pulled it back into a loose bun that was now completely out of sorts. With a quick stop by one of her video cameras, she dropped to a knee by her camera bag and found her water. With a few quick swallows, she was settling her nerves.
The chapel was almost all filled with leather clad men and women in nice outfits, ones who could add leather quickly without a fuss. Both sides filled even though Meadow had been told that Preacher Girl wouldn’t have any family outside of her sister in attendance.
Starting the video on all three cameras, she’d be editing out later, she prepared herself and moved toward a pew five rows from the front, so she could capture those coming down the aisle.
Beno and Braxton flanked the little princess Murphy as co-ring bearer as the little girl tossed rose petals in the air above her head. It seemed she found it was better to be covered in them than lay out a path for Preacher Girl. Milky white pedals were caught in her soft curls. Some falling on her shoulders and then to the path. The laughs from the crowd only increased the action as the twin two year-olds and the three year old made their way to the front.
Murphy rushed to her daddy, Casanova’s side as he stood next to Hack. Best man to the nervous groom. Beno and Braxton both held up the little pillows they carried.
Hack sweetly dropped to a knee and directed Braxton to one side and had Beno stay by him.
Meadow turned a bit late, remembering the kids were the first round. Rose would becoming behind them, the teenager smiled as she carried her bouquet of purple lilacs and white roses.
When the wedding march started, Meadow switched between Hack’s reaction and Preacher Girl’s entrance. What any girl wouldn’t do to have a man look at her the way Hack looked at his bride. For a moment, Meadow paused. Unable to click a picture as her heart swelled from the visual. The world faded away as these two came together at the altar with nothing but joy for the moment.
Meadow had forgotten the role of a relationship. To build for the future with a partner willing to be your everything and vice versa. She’d been going through the motions with Clive. His texts may say she was his, but they were never anything to either person but a place to lay at night. They weren’t building to the future, they were hanging out for a rotation of the Earth. A day, that extended to two and three, but nothing more.
During the actual wedding, Meadow moved about the church and kept taking picture after picture. Making sure to catch the most important moments and not stand in the line of her video cameras.
As Hack and Preacher Girl was coming down the aisle to leave the church, Meadow took their picture. Following them out to Hack’s decorated bike.
Casanova passed Hack his leather coat and they exchanged his tux jacket. Loosening his tie made Meadow’s stomach clench, or maybe it was Freaky giving her a wink when he did it.
Hack mounted and Preacher Girl placed her hand on her belly as her fingers fumbled with a small hook on the crystal wrap around her middle. The bottom of her dress was removed as easily as a porn stars belt. Her little sister gathered the satin fabric and Preacher Girl stood in the halter top of her wedding dress and the bottom white skirt reminded Meadow of a tulip.
Her heels still on point, Roadkill passed the woman her own cut and took Preacher Girl’s flowers before Hack extended his hand to his bride and she mounted the back slightly exposing the garter on her thigh.
The whole exchange only took a couple minutes, but Meadow hadn’t dropped her smile for a second as she watched.
They pulled away with Cass and Lil’ Mama following and Rose on the back with Shark. Others soon got on their bikes and the roar was practically deafening as she bent down on one knee to start shifting things around in her camera when she heard a voice that put her on high alert. Ice washed over her as if the sun had disappeared completely and a hard wind from the north had blown through. What the hell was he doing here?
She turned just in time to see Clive coming down the sidewalk toward her. The sedan she’d seen in the distance before had been his. Her heart sped as her hands shook. She quickly put the camera strap around her neck and held her hands out. “Clive what are you doing here?” she questioned, her voice trembling as he grasped her upper arms and squeezed. His fingers digging into her arms to the point she feared blood would be drawn by his nails. “I’m working. I can’t have you here.”
“Working? Like you just came for the day to capture some white trash wedding?”
“You need to leave.”
“I’m here to take you home where you belong! Bitch, it took me way too much time to find you.”
Meadow glanced around her in panic.
“And the travel, you know how fucking far you are from home?”
Obviously, not far enough.
Meadow’s eyes caught sight of Dell over her shoulder, the woman making her way toward her. Meadow took a deep breath and waited for the other woman to reach her.
Dell’s arm came down hard on Clive’s arm, catching the elbow and wrenching his backward. Freeing one of her arms, but the other was now being crushed by Clive as he pulled her away from Dell and the safety of the MC.
The image of Dreamer’s panicked eyes as a man yanked on her, making her feet stumble was a sight Freaky never wanted to see again. A man was clearly trying to take her. This had to be the ex. He was at the front of the church trying to get to the back of the church, but there were just too many people surrounding them. Dell, being the main one already engaging him.
Dreamer: Book 7 of The Steel MC Montana Charter Page 12