Nightmare's Dream

Chapter 2

~Nightmare~

"I can't believe we are going to be guarding Sally fucking Johnson!" Poindexter gushed for the hundredth time. We were on the way to pick the little pop princess up from the location of her last concert in Main of all places. I guessed that it made sense for them to visit all the places that had helped make them famous. Keeping your loyal fan base happy must be a big part of being in a band. But I didn't want to drive to fucking Main. especially with Superman and Poindexter, the later of whom had a small bladder and required multiple fucking stops on what should have been a shot four-hour drive.

Poindexter's latest potty break found us standing in the candy aisle at a Walmart in Vermont picking out snacks so the kid would stop complaining that he was hungry for the rest of the trip. "Do you think we should grab some snacks for her? What does she even like?" the kid pulled out his phone, presumably to google Sally's food preferences. But he wouldn't find that information on the internet. Not even his computer genius ass could dig up information that wasn't out there to be found.

I handed him a bag of gourmet jelly beans. "Get a fancy glass jar to put these in and tie it with a ribbon, but pick out all the black ones first." Next I grabbed three packages of those stupid wafer cookies that came in neapolitan flavors. "You can eat the chocolate and vanilla ones, she only likes the strawberry. Go over to the Christmas section and pick out a cute box to put them in." he nodded enthusiastically. "And grab a case of that expensive diet orange vanilla soda, it's her favorite."

"How do you know all of this? Are you like a mega fan or something?" He wasn't trying to be insensitive, the kid really didn't know. No one did. She didn't want anyone to know and that suited me just fine.

"Or something." I told him, walking away with a bag of twizzlers to chew on.

I heard Superman talking to the kid as they followed me to check out. "I know you missed the meeting about this because you were working on something for King, but you should have at least read the minutes of the meeting. Sally Johnson is Nightmare's wife." his voice was low. He didn't want anyone around to hear.

"Bullshit!" Poindexter called. "You're fucking with me. I might be young, but I'm not that naive. I dropped my candy onto the conveyor belt and turned on the heel of my boot to look the kid in the eyes. I didn't have to say anything, I just looked at him and he went pale. "You're not joking? That's for real?" I jerked my head in a nod and then left the store to sit alone in the SUV for a few minuets. The kid could pay for my fucking candy.

The first time I actually became aware of Sally Johnson was on a bus ride home in middle school. I was a few years older than, so she had never crossed my raider before. That's the way it is with kids. I was eleven and in sixth grade, I had no reason to pay any attention to a third grader. She was a bit of a weird kid, her clothes never matched and she always sat by herself. She was in the same grade as my younger sister Annie, but the two weren't friends. I usually sat with one of my buddies, but we'd had a falling out the day before and I was still mad at them so I decided to sit with her instead. "Can you please move your bag?" I asked. She glared at me.

"Sit down mister Ramirez!" the bus driver called back. I didn't bother to ask again. Instead I picked up her bag and held it on my own lap while sliding onto the bench seat beside her.

"Go sit somewhere else Jackson." she hissed. I was kind of shocked that she knew my name. I felt a little guilty that I didn't know her name.

"There isn't anywhere else to sit. The bus is full." I told her.

"Jackson Ramirez if you dont get away from me right now I will steal your immortal soul and you will be forever tied to me in this life and the next." That seemed a little bit of an excessive punishment for sitting next to someone on the bus. When I didn't get up she began chanting nonsense made up words. I ignored her and just faced forward.

"What is going on over here?" the bus attendant demanded. She must have heard the insane noises the girl beside me was making and came to make sure she wasn't having a seizure.

"She is stealing my soul." I deadpanned. My mother's family practiced Santeria and my father's family were hardcore Catholics. Both sides had declared before I was even born that I was a soulless bastard, so I wasn't afraid of whatever she was doing.

"Sally Jhonson!" the lady gasped while clutching nonexistent pearls. "We do not steal people's souls!" she sounded incredibly incensed on my behalf. "If you do not cut that out right this instant I will have to call both of your mothers." Sally kept right on with her weird sounds and added silly hand motions that had the bus attendant backing away in fear.

Sally eventually stopped. She looked at me with a smug smile on her pretty face and said, "your soul is mine now." Neither of us knew it at the time, but truer words had never been spoken.

I was called to the office later that day. The bus attendant had reported the incident to the office and they had called both of our moms. My mother was already speaking with the principal when I got there. Sally sat by herself in the corner, tears streamed down her face and her pretty blond hair was a mess.

"Dios mio, Mi hijo!' my mother said walking away from the principal to speak with me. "What is this man talking about? Your soul can not be stolen."

"I know. It's ok mama, she can have it." I told her.

She made a tisking noise. "Such a sweet boy you are." She moved to crouch in front of the girl who was still crying. "You hear that niña? You are not in trouble, he says you can keep it. What is your name?" she sniffed, wiped her nose on the long sleeve of her stained shirt and told my mother that her name was Sally. "Well Sally, you take good care of my boy's soul you hear?"

"Mrs. Ramirez, I really must insist..." the principal tried saying something. But my mother would hear none of it. She just gave Sally a little wink and waved to me on her way out the door. The principal said that I could go back to class since he had already met with my mother about the ordeal. But I didn't want the little girl to get in trouble with her parents when they came over something so silly, so I stayed.

We spent the entire day sitting in little wooden chairs on opposite sides of the office waiting for her mother to come. Poor Sally sat there for nothing, no one ever came. When the bell rang the principal came out of his office to address us. He handed Sally a note to put in her back pack and deliver to her mom. "I don't want any more of this fighting nonsense from the two of you. Am I clear?" we both nodded. I doubt her mother even bothered to read the note. I didn't sit on the same bus seat as Sally Johnson again until highschool.

"Yo, is that why you never sleep with any of the club girls? Cuz you are actually married to Sally fucking Johonson?" Poindexter passed me the bag of twizzlers as he climbed into the back seat of the cage.

"I have not seen my wife in person in ten years." I admitted. The kid inhaled so hard I thought he might break a rib.

"Holy shit! Thats fucking crazy."

"What is crazy is you still bought all that shit to give her as a gift even after you found out she is your VP's estranged wife." Superman pointed out. The kid's ears turned red.

"Don't worry about it kid. You just spend the rest of the ride picking all the black ones out of that bag of fucking jelly beans. She hates them." The rest of the ride was relatively quiet. Superman knew the score. This was technically his security business. sure it belonged to the club, but it had been Supe's idea. He did the paperwork, booked the clients, delegated the jobs to whatever MC member was free at that time, or he did the guarding his damn self.

This job was different. The record label had contacted MC security specifically because I was listed as a partial owner. They knew who I was, there had been all kinds of paperwork I had needed to sign when Sally and the band had first made it big. NDAs and shit like that. We were already separated and I was still in the military so they thought it would be best if my identity stayed secret. I'd asked if Sally wanted a divorce and was told no. That was the last I had heard from any of them until yesterday morning.

They said Sally was in danger. She needed protection and to disappear for a while. The problem was that Sally was in a delicate state and she wouldn't go with just anyone. They needed a company like ours, with a good reputation but they also needed someone she knew and could trust to be there in case things went south. I didn't have to be asked twice. Our separation wasn't because I didn't love my wife. It was because I was a coward and a fool. Even so, there wasn't anything in the world I wouldn't do for her.