“Are you going to stay with the Steels?” Meadow asked.
“Of course, they are my family.” Her face softened. “Are you?”
Would she? Clive was gone. She could go back to Albuquerque and return to what was left of her life. Only her life had just rolled down the road with lights and sirens.
She wanted to go to the hospital where they had taken Freaky.
After the cops left, she rode bitch on the back of the bike with Red. Holding tight enough to not fall, but it wasn’t the same as when she was with Freaky. Then she was becoming part of who he was. Their bodies melding as the world went by. She missed that, she needed that. No matter what else happened in the world—she wanted his eyes to open and hold his hand.
Freaky fought the blackness, he tried to remember what happened, but everything was foggy. His only thought was that he needed to get to Meadow. He felt as if he was at the bottom of a lake holding his breath, trying to swim to the top. The smell of stale water and old grass permeated the space as a light shown in the distance.
The light wavered, bright then muted, he couldn’t move his arms to swim to the top? Was that why the light darkened? Where was Meadow? Redness, mixed with strings, was he pushing through the weeds? Why did everything hurt?
A figure formed in front of him. Pushing aside the muck of the lake with a halo around her head. Warm strokes to his cheek helped his breathing even out until a face appeared.
“Are you—who—are you a dream?”
“He’s awake,” the woman with kind eyes yelled out. “You tell me, Christopher?”
“Dreamer? Is that—” delicate fingers circled around his as they brought his hand to his chest.
“Yeah, Freaky, it’s me.”
“You’re safe,” he asked.
“Of course I am,” she said when suddenly her hand moved and she was pulled away from him. “You saved me.”
Trying to sit up and bring her back, Red’s heavy hand pushed him hard to the bed. “Not yet.”
Doctors and nurses rushed around him as the bright flashes from pen lights nearly blinded him.
“Where does it hurt?” a man asked. “And how much, scale of one to ten?”
“Where’s Meadow?” he replied wanting to focus on what was most important.
“Let her slip in,” Red said. “Or he’s gonna buck more.”
Meadow stood by Red on the other side of him and held onto his hand. Had he told her yet he loved her? Nearly dying woke him up to more things than not. He hadn’t. Fearing she was still in love with Clive. Memories slammed into his aching brain.
“Gone, gone.”
The words he needed to hear from her lips. She’d told the man to go away, but that wasn’t enough. For her to be safe. The final part. Why were they messing with his feet? A painful scrape sent his toes into a tight twist.
“We’re doing good,” the doc at the end of the bed said. “Still need to hear some more from you Christopher.”
Freaky’s free hand rubbed at his cheek to find more facial hair than he’d expected.
“They wouldn’t let me shave you,” Meadow said. “Few more days and you’d give Mountain a run for his money.”
“Days?” He scanned Meadow and saw she was in a hoodie and jeans, not what she’d been wearing when he picked her up. The room wasn’t in an ER that was for sure, in the corner was a bathroom and there was a little built in couch that had been made up in a bed. “How long?”
“About five days,” Red explained. “Dreamer hasn’t left your side.”
“Christopher,” the doc prodded.
“My belly is at a nineteen due to the dragon burning a hole in my gut, I’m a bit bothered I have no desire to pee…”
“Don’t look at me,” Red said with his hands up. “Swear to God, I did my best to avoid that step in the ditch.”
“The ditch, that’s the smell,” he said.
“Smell?” Meadow questioned.
“You can’t smell it?” Freaky replied. “My boots in here?”
“Yeah, the closet,” Meadow said, opening the door and a waft of scent covered the room from the stale water that had to have soaked his clothes and boots. “Okay, now I smell it kinda.”
“Kinda?” He shook his head.
“I thought Cass was joking about your ability to sniff out shit,” Red said. “He’s right, we should have called you bloodhound, not Freaky.”
“Well, it was that and the fact I ate a scorpion in Falluja.” He held up his hands. “It was salted and dipped in chocolate.”
“Any other issues,” the doctor asked stopping the side tracked conversation that could lead down a rabbit hole.
“I’m not really sure my head is attached.”
“Sorry, Freaky, they did the CT and found a brain,” Red said. “Guess I’m a shitty doctor for thinking you could function without one.” He paused. “You awake enough to get the run down?”
Was he? Right now, the only thing he wanted to know was if his Dreamer would complete his life. Looking at the rumpled mess of a bed, he hoped it wasn’t guilt that had her at his bedside but something more. “Hit me.”
“You’ve been hit enough,” the doc said as the nurse fiddled with his IV and a rush of cold sent a chill through his veins. “You had a severe concussion, I don’t want to think how you rode a bike with it. We had to remove your spleen and we’re monitoring your liver.”
“Oh, dear God,” Freaky joked whatever was in that cold cocktail was hitting him. “Please don’t say it.”
“You should be able to drink,” the man groaned. “There was a laceration that needs to heal first.”
Freaky let out a grateful sigh as Meadow squeezed his hand.
“Cuts and bruises, didn’t see anything broken.”
“Beyond his brain,” Red added. “But that’s a chronic state.”
The doc laughed. “We were waiting for you to wake up. Let’s get your pain manageable and you walking then I’m comfortable with you recovering at home. Lord knows, our waiting room could use a little less leather. Though we’re gonna miss the free food.”
“Maggie got lemon bars out there?” he asked.
“Really? Your first thought is can I get me some lemon bars?”
“They are amazing,” the doctor stated. “Maybe I should take some in the rooms with coma patients.”
“So there are some?” Freaky asked unsure if the pain was hunger or the fact someone played operation and pulled out his wishbone for extra points.
“Sniff hard and tell me,” Red grumbled. “Damn Freaky.”
“I can get you some,” Meadow offered. “If it’s okay with the doc.”
“As long as I get one too,” the doc said following her out along with the nurse.
Red stayed. “In a month you should be healed enough to make a run. We had a little sit down with Blood Sport.”
“Now, you’re all for it?” Freaky snapped. “After they almost got my woman killed?”
“You talked to the Prez, they didn’t have anything to do with it,” Red said. “They’re young and dumb, and we can’t hold it against them. Especially with them setting up shop next door. Besides, Hollywood got to teach them more than the rules and they had no issues with his method.”
“What did he teach them?”
“Not sure if you knew, but one of the men who took Dreamer, died on the road.”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“The other, Creep, is down at Red Lodge recovering from having his back stripped and burned.”
A chill twisted down Freaky’s back at the method of excommunication. The tattoo on his back could be removed and not with a soft laser. Instead, they cut down layers of skin and pull it back like a deer in hunting season. To stem the bleeding and add to the pain in the Steels, they douse the man in gas and light him of fire for five seconds before putting it out and dropping him at a hospital. “They had no issue?” he replied.
“None at all, they were apologetic and every member watched,” Red sa
id then glanced to the door. “The Prez himself wanted to offer himself to you pay penance for approaching Dreamer once you’re healed enough.”
Dreamer returned with a plate of bars and cup of water.
“Hey Red,” Freaky said. “I need to talk to Dreamer alone.”
The man gave him a nod and left the two lovers alone.
Setting down the plate, Meadow finally broke down. “Freaky, oh my God you almost died!” She sat on the edge of the bed and took his face in her hands. Peppering his chapped lips with kisses before wrapping her arms around his neck. “They had to—had to—when you dropped like a sack, I didn’t know what.”
“Hey woman,” he said unwrapping her arms and pushing her back enough so he could see her. His thumb stroked along the inside of her healing wrist. “Listen to me. I love you, I should have said it a thousand times before now, and I want to claim you right now as my woman.”
“What?” She sat, confusion written on her face.
“I mean it. You understand the difference between saying your mine and what Clive thought,” he said. “We claim. Red claimed Roadkill and vice versa. You’re staying in Turnabout aren’t you?” The reality sunk in, she’d been here for days, but that and fifty cents wouldn’t get him shit off the dollar menu. She had no investment in the town beyond him and as her eyes softened, he braced for a blow worse than any he’d been dealt. Jesus he’d put himself full on to bear with the woman and now she seemed to have bad news for him.
“I don’t know if it would be appropriate,” she replied her hand stroking his bearded face. “Me being the only teacher, at least for a few years, all Laura Ingalls style. Being claimed, then I’d get married you know how these prairie towns would expect me to pop out kids and ignore my teaching duties.”
“You’re fucking with me now aren’t you?”
“Huh? I got a bit distracted, have you seen—”
Grasping her behind her head, he used all his strength to pull her to his lips. The claiming more than complete as aches and sharp stabs he’d take any day as long as her lips were on his.
“Yes Christopher,” she said with a smirk. “You mean your freak sniffer couldn’t smell the fresh new leather hanging in the closet.”
“What new leather?” he asked.
She got up and crossed to the closet. With a swoosh, she put on a leather cut like the women of the Steel MC Montana charter wore. Her name on the front and on the back Owner and Operator of Freaky. “It’s cute that you thought you had a choice,” she teased his lips with her fingers. “Two hours, two days, two weeks, it didn’t matter to me. Being yours is the one dream, I’ll never wake from.”
Epilogue
The community center had originally been a school. The Steel MC had already converted part of the building into a day care center, but when Meadow had them bust through a wall to create one large working environment, she’d never envisioned it would turn out so well.
Technically, they were a charter school, but one that drew young families from the larger Berrington that was still in recovery.
Houses were selling which helped the club and more importantly, Freaky and her. She’d studied a few different teaching models. Montessori, Walldorf, traditional. She was mixing a few different ones to create an environment that would work for the students. Teacher centered was her least favorite and she’d already determined that would be her last method.
Hanging up the welcome sign for the ten students she would have that year, she understood how rural schools were failing. The Steels were funding her in a way she’d never thought they would. A home. One in town and one Freaky was fixing up, but a home. Where she would be painting murals and they chose it because there was a back sun porch.
“What can I get for an apple?” Freaky asked as he stepped inside the renovated room holding an apple in his palm. “A free pop quix?”
“You’d get further with fries and a burger,” Meadow replied and took the fruit.
“That can be arranged,” he said. “I’ve got prospects on speed dial.”
She smiled, and took a small bite of the apple, trying to cover the nausea she’d been feeling for the past few days. No reason to get the whole place in a twitter over nothing. It could be nerves. Although they had the certifications right now, she was it when it came to the school. Ten students this year, it would go up at least three more next with the twins and Beno old enough for a Pre-K program.
When she’d wandered down to the daycare, there were town kids who would have to make the choice and if she did good by next year, her class could double. That was a normal size one, but not when the kids were pre-k to sixth grade.
“You okay there?” he asked sensing her unease.
“I think I need some fresh air. A new classroom smells like a strong mix of Lysol, paint and paper products.”
“I agree, and don’t forget those scented markers.” He guided her out of the building past the silver sneakers ladies who were as excited to see the school partially reopen as the rest of the town. Maybe they could be a resource for her. Lord knows, if the nausea wasn’t from nerves and was from Freaky’s need to christen rooms right, she might have to cross her legs at the end of the school year to get through the last day.
Their fingers intertwined as she stepped on the sidewalk of her new home. The leaves still a month from turning, the club members made sure not to waste the good weather as they rode through town. Giving the couple a wave as they passed.
“Two weeks,” she said with a long sigh. “What was I thinking?”
“That you found your place,” he replied.
“I did.” She smiled up at him, the sun trying to push through the leaves creating a pattern on his now cleanly shaven face.
“How are you going to pay attention to the kids if you’re distracted by every little thing?” he teased covering her eyes.
The smell of sawdust and leather was more soothing to her now than lavender and vanilla had ever been.
“You can’t wear a blindfold and teach,” he said. “The kids will be hanging from rafters and coloring on the walls.”
“Now, you know the method to my madness.” She pulled his hand down and pushed up on her toes to kiss him. Of course, she’d forgotten her sandals in the classroom.
“Hello,” a woman said as she approached the lovers. She had two school aged kids in tow. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just have to get to work soon. Are you the new teacher?” The woman’s expression looked a bit put off.
“Yes, I’m Mrs. Anderson,” Meadow said, still getting used to the change that happened midsummer by the stream on the compound. What was supposed to be a simple ceremony at one with nature was over run, as usual, by the Steels as Dell served as her maid of honor in full leather regalia while Meadow wore a soft linen sundress and a crown of daisies. “You can call me Meadow.”
“Well Meadow, we were looking at one of the houses here in town.”
“Which one?” Freaky asked.
The woman’s face pinched. “The one on Pine,” she replied.
“You know that backyard is big enough for a swing set, it wouldn’t be but a couple hundred more we’d happily install it,” he said. “Personally, I love the back deck on that one, sit there with a cup of coffee and watch the kids play for hours. Took a bit extra to sand it down and repaint, but it matches the house much better now. We went back and forth on the playset, but you never know who’s gonna buy it.”
“You refinished it?” the woman asked.
“Yes ma’am. My crew did.” Freaky beamed.
“It’s perfect for us, but I wasn’t sure. So far from Berrington, but our realtor said a school was starting.”
“Yes, a few students, we’re a charter for now, so it’s a whole process. One room. All grades.”
“Oh my,” the woman said with her hand to her chest.
“No, it’s a good thing, there’s a peer driven learning model I studied in college.” Meadow squeezed Freaky’s hand. “Come see the classroom i
f you have enough time and I’ll explain it all to you.”
“Jack, Gwen, why don’t you check out the playground here,” their mother said then rethought herself. “I suppose it would be safer—”
“We’re not Berrington,” Freaky assured her. “Besides, the daycare kids will be out in a few minutes, so there will be adults around.”
“Well, okay,” the mother prodded. “Go on and play.”
“I better go,” Meadow said reaching up to kiss her husband. “Pick me up after you’re done for the day and we can go for a ride.”
He leaned down and kissed her deeply. The world melting away for a moment. Only a moment, because even bare feet are planted and hers would forever be part of the land here. She was also a part of the men and women of the Steel MC both here, and across the country because she’d finally found a home. One where flights of fancy were a jumping off point, love was the only constant and one could live in their dreams.
Books by Michel Prince
Long Ranch
“Cowboys and love mixing it up.”
One Last Rodeo-Novella
One Last Sunset ****
The Last to Know
The Last Laugh
At Long Last
Chrysalis
“The hardest part of growing up is learning you are worth more.”
Chrysalis*
The Beam
Not Even Death
Unto Us
The Growing Strong
“Biology is the last thing that makes a family.”
The Guardian’s Heart**
The Queen’s Heart
The Politician’s Heart
The Teacher’s Heart
The Frozen
“If your heart is frozen in time, can it still beat?”’
Shared Redemption
Redemption of Blood
Stolen Redemption
Love by the Yard
Dreamer: Book 7 of The Steel MC Montana Charter Page 21
