Capturing Dreams : DreamCatcher MC Page 3

  “You let me figure that out, right now. You need to get those two extinguished and get our girl home.”

  “It’s club business, Pops. We need to take care of this.”

  “It may be club, but one, I’ll always be club, and two, that’s my daughter we’re talking about.”

  “You need to get that shit outta your head, she’ll be your daughter-in-law soon.”

  “She may be yours, but she’ll always be mine. Get over your pig-headed ways, boy. Talk soon, I’ve got some phone calls to make.” He disconnects without a proper goodbye, as always.

  3

  Cameron

  I look at my phone one more time before deciding to make the dreaded call. Pull your big girl panties up, Cam. She’s your best friend, she’ll stand behind you no matter what. It rings several times before a breathless Country answers the phone. I hang up immediately. I can’t deal with him right now. As I go to shower and dress for the morning, the phone rings. Without thinking, I answer it.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s called star sixty-nine, Cameron.” Fuck my life, I forgot about the callback feature. “I need you to listen to me, it’s important, do not hang up.”

  “Okay,” I reluctantly reply.

  “Is it her?” I hear my bestie say.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell her!”

  “I am, woman, give me a minute.” Tears well in my eyes when I hear her voice. Hearing them rant at each other gives me the sense of home, something I’ve been desperately missing.

  “Country! Speak now, argue later. I have a job to get to.”

  “For a minute there, I almost forgot what it feels like to be ganged up on by you two.” I smile at his announcement. “You’re in trouble, Cam girl. You need to come home, now.”

  “What? Why?” When he lays it out for me, I’m dumbfounded, and my heart breaks a little more than it already has. “Why would they do that?” I whisper.

  “We don’t know, but we can’t protect you if you’re out there all alone. We need you home to protect you.” My hand instinctively goes to my belly. I rub it vowing to protect my baby, and right now, being here feels the safest for the both of us.

  “I can’t, I’m anonymous here. They’ll never find me. I’m safer staying right where I am.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “Just a little bit,” I give my standard reply to that question.

  “Come home, Cameron, right this minute!” I hear Charlee scream out.

  “I can’t, I just can’t.” I hang up the phone and pull the wire from the wall. A temporary fix, but one I need right now. I shake off the impending doom and go about my day, pretending like I never heard this information from them.

  When I make it to the front desk, my mind is so filled full of work, that I forget my life is in danger. The day passes by in a flash, it isn’t until I’m lying in bed that night, that it all comes rushing back to me. Why would my dad and Jamie want me dead? It makes no sense. What do they gain from it? Not a damn thing, it must be a ploy to get me back home. Yeah, that’s it. I fall asleep knowing that I’m safe. How dare they use my fears against me? My father may not love me, but he’d never want to see me dead.

  I wake the next morning feeling refreshed. I’ve never slept so well as I have since becoming pregnant. The only thing I wish I could get rid of is the expelling of my stomach lining throughout the day. I’ve started carrying a toothbrush in my purse, and crackers and ginger ale are in my locker at all times.

  Today is my first OB/GYN appointment and I’m both excited and scared to death to go. Unlike most women, I know the exact date of conception. That day will forever be ingrained in my memory bank. The way his hands glided along my skin, the sweet words he whispered in my ear. The way he made me feel like the only woman alive on the planet. I’d never felt so treasured and revered in my life. Until Charlee and Country’s wedding that is. That day overshadows the first one.

  At the doctor’s office, I blow out a breath before exiting the car. I had a phone conversation with the doctor and told her about my situation. We are keeping me as a Jane Doe patient so that if anyone was able to breach their secured files, my baby and I’d be protected. I was referred to her by a woman’s abuse shelter that Stella hooked me up with. She has a friend who works there, and they’ve helped me with information.

  Whereas I want to see Country’s warning as a trick to get me back home, I can’t take any chances. This baby has to come first, always. I walk into the office and sign in. The nurse looks at me skeptically, but doesn’t say anything. Just asks me to fill in the form as best as I can since I won’t be sharing my past medical history other than what I have first-hand knowledge of. Judgmental much? I want to snap, but instead take the bundle and sit to fill in the blanks.

  I give as much medical on my parents and Gunner as I know. The rest, we’ll just have to take a chance with. I know Gunner and he’s in good medical shape, and I know I am. As far as my parent’s lineage goes, who knows, they were never ones to share about their parents. I used to wonder if they were grown in a medical lab or orphaned. I could care less about their childhood, but now that I’m having one of my own, I can’t help but wonder if there’s something I should be concerned with.

  Not that I’ll be picking up the phone and inquiring about that tid-bit of information. I turn the paperwork in and a few minutes later, I’m being called back. “We need to check your weight and blood pressure before we go into the room. Follow the hallway and the scale will be on your right hand side,” she informs me. I follow her directions and take off my shoes before standing up on the scale. I watch as she levels it out and am happy to report, I’ve maintained my weight even though I haven’t been eating as well as I ought to. “One-hundred and twenty pounds. Let’s see how tall you are,” she pulls up a lever and places the steel hand on my head. “Five-foot, three inches. Now, if you’ll sit here, I’ll go ahead and check your blood pressure.”

  Once all the formalities are done, I’m taken into a room and asked general questions about my last period, any concerns I may have and what not. Before she leaves, she thrusts a gown at me and tells me to put the open side on my front so the doctor can do a well-check along with my prenatal screening.

  Fifteen minutes later there’s a knock on the door. I tell her to enter and in comes a woman around her late forties. “Good afternoon, Cameron. I’m Doctor Millicent Croswell, but my patients call me Dr. Milly,” she introduces herself.

  “Good afternoon, you can call me Cam.”

  “Well, Cam. It looks like you are here because you believe you’re pregnant?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Took one of those home tests that came out positive.”

  “Well, we’ll need to get a urine sample and blood work to confirm, but we can go ahead and do that and send the bloodwork to the labs. We won’t get those results back for a few days, but the home tests are pretty accurate. How long has it been since you’ve had your menstrual cycle?”

  “Nine weeks,” I give her the only date I could’ve conceived.

  “It’s unusual to know the exact date, are you sure?”

  “Pretty positive, we were only together that one time.”

  “Let’s confirm that, shall we?”

  Two hours later, blood taken, one cup peed in, and the feeling of nausea has returned. Oh, and I got meds for that along with my prenatal vitamins and folic acid. Next appointment, I get to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. From the measurements she did, it looks as if I’m right on target for how far along I thought I was. That puts my due date near Christmas time…the twenty-sixth to be exact.

  It will be the best Christmas present I’ve ever received. I make it back to the motel and notice Stella is gone for the evening. I make my way to my room and have to fight my instinct to call my best friend and share my news with her.

  Instead, I grab a bag of potato chips, a big glass of ice-cold water and dig into a sappy movie. One that challenges my hormones because I end up a blubbering mess.

  Gunner

  I’ve pulled out all the stops to make sure that Jamie and Cam’s father don’t rest easy. They will be looking over their shoulders with every move they make and sleep with one eye open. I will make their lives miserable before I have their lives taken. I’ve made sure the price on them has gone nationwide and there’s no way they won’t hear about it.

  Their bodily sweat will replace my heart’s tears. I’ve cried out Cameron’s name every time I close my eyes. I end up waking from nightmares where I’ve found her lifeless body in a ditch on the side of the road. Something I fear could become a reality if I don’t find her and bring her home soon.

  As I sit here at my desk in my office, I lose myself once again in a bottle of jack. Usually I drown it with some coca cola, but here the last day or two, I’ve needed the burn of the alcohol as it coats my throat. I look at the numbers on my spreadsheet, but they’re blurry and make no damn sense to me. I push them outta my way and lean my head back against my headrest.

  I need to find her, she needs to be home, in my bed, on the back of my bike and giving me her attitude that makes me instantly hard. I never imagined I could miss someone as much as I do Cameron and not having her sassiness in my daily life. She can bring a room to life with her smile alone.

  Someone pass me a vibrator, I’ve suddenly grown a vagina and it needs to be tamed. I chuckle at those thoughts, because my men would give me hell if they heard where my thoughts were going. I’d lose my credentials for sure if one of them suddenly became a mind reader.

  I fall in a deep sleep dreaming of my beautiful, wild woman.

  4

  Gunner

  “C’mon!” I bang my fist on the table. “It’s been six goddamned weeks! How is it one woman can escape us without a trace! This is ridiculous.”

  “We’ve got markers out there, Boss. Everyone is looking, no stone is being left unturned,” Kruger asserts.

  “Better not be,” I order. “Have we heard from our allies out North?” Country nods his head in affirmation. “Fuck!”

  “We’ll find her.”

  “But will she still be alive when we do?” I question my men. None of them can answer that. Instead they lower their eyes and suddenly find our old, scarred up wooden table fascinating. “It’s been twelve-weeks total since she’s pulled her disappearing act,” I mumble. “That’s a long time to not know your woman’s whereabouts.”

  “It’d kill me if that was Charlee,” Country quietly contributes.

  “You have no idea, brother. Not until it happens to you.” I bury my head in my hands and know that I need to get this chapel meeting done and over with. I need some time to myself. “Any other order of business we need to discuss?”

  I look around the table and see everyone shaking their head no. I slam my gavel on the table and stand up. “Dismissed,” I call over my shoulder as I make my way out of our room. When I walk into the bar, I see Charlee going head-to-head with that club slut, Judy. I roll my eyes not having the patience to deal with this today. Country passes by me and walks up behind his woman, wrapping his arms around her waist.

  “What’s going on here?” he requests of the two of them.

  “Nothin’,” Judy says, looking down at her nails.

  “Nothing! Nothing!” Charlee screeches, nearly taking out my ear drums. “This…this, hussy. She…augh…she just informed me of the most interesting news I’ve heard all year. Gunner?”

  “Please, let us all in on this developing news report,” I roll my hand in indication that she should continue. Who knows what it’s about, it doesn’t take much to get my baby sister’s hackles to rise these days.

  “Well, big brother.” She places her hands on her hips and cocks it to the side. This is her ‘we’re fixing to fight’ stance. She’s done it since she was two and I stole the last cookie. “I was informed that she,” she points her finger at Judy, “will be your old lady here soon and I should watch my step, or I’ll be scrubbing the toilets and floors.” She smiles at me triumphantly, like she knows I’m fixing to lose my shit on this cunt and she can’t wait.

  “Is that right?” I ask her with a calm façade.

  “Yep, it’s her truth.”

  “Is that the way you see things, Judy?” I test her, winking in her direction. I know I shouldn’t encourage this bad behavior, but if she did state this, she’s seen her last days inside this club.

  “Gunner, you know how good we are together,” she purrs. Does this trash think she’s cute? “Since Cam…”

  “Don’t you say her name…ever!” My sister goes to claw her eyes out but is caught at the last minute by Country. I study the two of them while he whispers something in her ear. She nods then turns her eyes in my direction. Begging me to do something about this insolent little twit.

  “Judy, please continue,” I make a circular motion with my wrist in a hurry the fuck up notion.

  “Anyways,” she draws out, glaring in Charlee’s direction. Charlee squints her eyes and retribution is clearly evident in her eyes. If I don’t get this moving along, the guys will end up breaking up a cat fight. I know better than to get in the middle of one of my sister’s brawls, last time I ended up with a black eye and split lip. “You know how good we’d be together, Gunner. I know what you need and crave and am willing to look the other way when you need something different.”

  That statement right there is why she’d never make a good old lady. I want someone who’s gonna threaten to remove my balls if I was to even look at another woman. Someone willing to stake a claim on me and willing to fight for me. Great, now my thoughts are on the fact that Cameron had no interest in sticking around to even find out what happened in the bathroom let alone fight for me…for us.

  Needing to let those thoughts go, I turn my attention back to this twat. “Whose imaginary world are you living in?” I question her. “This is absurd, there’s no way in hell I’d make a club slut an old lady. I don’t know what fantasy land you’ve been visiting, but you need to come back to reality.”

  “Ha!” Charlee explodes, pointing her finger accusingly at Judy. “Told ya, bitch.” She nods her head at me giving me permission to continue. I roll my eyes in her direction because it’s better than the showdown I actually want to have with her. Just because she’s my sister doesn’t mean she can show her ass in front of my men. I’ll have Country have the talk with her. Mind made up I continue with my prior conversation.

  “Judy, you’ve gone too far. First the bathroom incident at my sister’s wedding, now you’re spreading lies around my club. You were already walking a fine line here, now you’ve broken the ice. Get her outta here,” I instruct the prospect who’s hanging out behind the bar.

  “But…” she begins to protest.

  “Shut it while you can,” Kruger advises her, “you’re lucky being kicked out is all that’s happening to you.” When I related to the men what happened the day Cameron ran, my men were upset and ready to force her out then. She didn’t actually do anything but make a pathetic play for me, I wanted to give her a second chance because she helped us out when Charlee and Cameron went missing all those months ago.

  The waterworks start to display themselves and the drama follows. “This isn’t fair! I know you’re meant to be mine!” Did this bitch actually just stomp her foot? Charlee breaks out into laughter followed by all of the men. This pathetic display of a temper tantrum wasn’t as well-received as she wanted it to be. She’s basically dragged out of the clubhouse with her claws extended. When I hear the prospect yell out, “Bitch! You touch me one more time with those nails extended, I’m going to fucking toss your ass out of here instead of walking you!”

  I guess with all of her time here, she hasn’t figured out that most of the men here won’t tolerate her shit and don’t mind roughly tossing her ass aside rather than dealing with her squabbling.

  Let the good times roll, is my motto and I’m sticking with it. The clubhouse landline rings and Country hollers out, “It’s for you Pres!”

  “I’ll take it in my office!” I call out walking down the hallway.

  When I get behind my desk, I see line one lighting up, picking up the receiver I press the button to connect me. “Yo,” I answer.

  “Seriously, Son. That’s the way you answer the phone. You sound like gutter trash,” my pops admonishes me.

  “Good to hear from you too,” I gripe. “What can I do for you on this fine day?”

  “I thought you’d like to know one of my guys visited a certain motel in Florida and happened upon Cam. She doesn’t know my men, so she has no idea she’s been spotted.” My smile is broad on my face and I know that I’ll be making a trip to the sunshine state here soon.

  “Thanks, Pops. Can you send me the information on the motel? I need to go and pack, looks like I’ll be hitting the road tonight.”

  “It’ll be dropped off at the clubhouse soon, I had a guy in your area and I’ve sent him exact coordinates and directions.”

  “Love you, Pops.”

  “Love you too, Son. Now, go get our girl and bring her home.”

  “Oh, I have plans on that. Even if I end up having to drag her back kicking and screaming.” Images of being a caveman about it has my heart beating rapidly, the excitement of the chase has my blood pumping in my veins. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I show up unexpectedly. If I was an evil villain, I’d be rubbing my hands together with the things running through my head.

  A couple of hours later I find myself on the road. My saddlebags are filled with a couple of days’ worth of clothing, my Glock and a few needed traveling essentials. It’s going to take me two days to make it to her destination if I stop and sleep for the night. Kruger insisted on accompanying me. He most likely wants to make sure I don’t strangle our escape artist. But she will sit and listen to me, even if I have to tie her up and gag her sweet and perky little ass.