Page 34 of His Obsession Her Cure

Gunner

D amn I missed my lil baby, she had been on my mind all day.

I couldn’t wait to leave the office, so we could cuddle and watch movies together.

That damn girl had my ass gone but I could care less.

As long as it was with her, she could get me to do just about anything.

I hit the answer button on my phone when I saw Ma’s name displayed.

She probably had a new project for us at the house or wanted all of us to come to dinner since we had all been spending more time at our house instead of hers.

We had all been pretty busy trying to get our projects done before the holidays.

We had hired someone to represent our interest in the businesses that we acquired from our grandfather.

And instead of a stranger we hired Liam as our assistant since Missy was gone.

It was actually going smoother than I had expected and we had made some major moves recently.

“Hey, Ma, What’s up?”

“I think Pepper is in trouble.” she rushed out.

“What?” I yelled, sitting up so I could hear her better. What, now? What about Pepper?”

“Baby, when we got home from the shop today there was a note on the kitchen island from Pepper. Gunner, her note said that she had to go back home to help with a family emergency. That she wouldn’t be coming back.

She went on to thank us for everything that we’d done for her and for giving her the love that she hadn’t received from her own family.

Gunner, I know something is wrong. That girl was so happy to be here.

Ain't no way she just left all that for a family that didn’t give a damn about her.

You could see the twinkle in her eyes when she spoke about becoming a doctor, not only that, but you could see a sparkle when she spoke about you.

I don’t believe she would just up and walk away. Not for one minute.” She cried.

Hearing Ma’s words made my blood boil. I had put my heart on the line and put myself out there only to be left out in the cold again.

I was pissed. I don’t know if I was madder that she walked out on her dream or because she walked on me.

I told her that I would give her anything she wanted except space, and she still ran after she told me she loved me.

“Maybe she realized this wasn’t what she wanted. Who knows?” I seethed.

“Nah, baby I don’t think she would do that. I talked to her about her past. After hearing her cry about the things she went through in her aunt's house I can’t believe so little of her. She wouldn’t just leave without talking to us. So, what are you going to do? We need to find her.”

“What do you mean? What am I going to do? I’m not doing shit, she made her choose to go back to the life that caused her so much pain. It couldn’t be all that bad if she ran back to it. If she likes it, I love it,” grumbled.

“Gunner, you are not about to give up on my friend like that.” Char said in the background.

She loves you and I know that she had to leave for a good reason.

She wouldn’t do that to me. But most of all she wouldn’t do that to you.

Are you so blind that you don’t know that Pepper is crazy about you?

That all she talks about is medicine, books and you.

Please don’t let your anger cloud your judgment,” Char begged.

“Baby, you gotta let go of that hurt. Everybody ain't your parents. My daughter was sick but not only that she was selfish. But that’s not Pepper.” She said, shaking her head at me in disappointment.

“Alright Ma, I have another call I need to take. I’ll talk with you later,” I said, hanging up before she could respond. I must have sat there zoned out for a minute because I didn’t hear Alestar and Aren enter my office.

“Gunner, what the fuck wrong with you? I've been calling you for like two minutes. You going off in here nigga.” Aren chuckled.

“Nah, I have a lot on my mind. What up though?”

“We came to ask you if you wanted to go out tonight and celebrate all our wins so far.”

“How about a raincheck? I’m good on that right now.”

“Nigga, what’s really going on it’s not like you to not what to celebrate our success.” Alestar stated with his brows raised in my direction. I blew out a frustrated breath and ran my hand down my face before getting to the root of my issues.

“Ma and Char just called, talking about Pepper being in trouble. She left a note saying she had a family emergency and wasn’t coming back.”

“Damn, man. What are you gonna do? Sis, wouldn’t leave unless something was wrong.” Aren said.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do? She left, not me. I did everything I could to show her I loved her no matter what and she still left. I'm good on her ass.” I snapped, knowing I was lying.

“Who’s running now nigga. My sis could be in trouble and you in your fucking feeling because she left without talking to you. The fuck is wrong with you man. They died, Gunner. Yeah, their decisions in life caused their demise but they died nonetheless.”

“What do you mean, they? I found another letter in the old man’s papers.

He found Amanda and her boyfriend hiding out west a few months after Dad’s death and killed them both.

He had it covered up and moved on with his life as best he could, but he never got over the fact that he lost his only son to Amanda’s drug addiction and mental illness.

Amanda was a piece of shit for leaving us, but you have to let that hurt go or it will ruin every good thing in your life.

” Aren said, voice cracking, and in that moment, I knew I had it all wrong.

“We still had each other, and we always had Ma and Char. It might not have been a traditional family, but we had all the love we missed out on when our parents were here. Don’t let our past fuck up your future.

I see how you look at her. Pepper was your future and right now your future could be in danger.

Now, I’m going to ask you again. What the fuck are we going to do about it? ” Aren gritted.

I wanted so badly to be angry, but my heart wouldn’t let my mind make me shut down and block out the love I had for Pepper.

And if I loved her like I said I did I wouldn’t leave her safely to chance.

I wasn’t stupid, I saw the way her eyes lit up when I entered a room or how the pulse point on her neck fluttered when I touched her skin.

And when I was inside her how she melted around me.

I had to go and get my lil baby because if we were being honest, I couldn’t live without her.

“Fuck, alright. Text Char and get her location and I’ll call the jet.” Aren was right, Pepper was my future. I was in love with her, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her.

“Char checked her computer and found an American airline receipt for a 5:00 pm departure from BIA with a seven-fifteen arrival at BWI. She should be home soon,” Alestar said, looking at the time on her watch.

“From what I found the plane ride is only about an hour and she’s like one hour twenty minutes from BWI.

Her cousin is that niggas brother and he helped her get here. ”

“We got his number?” I asked.

“I got it, you want me to call him?”

“No, get Char over here and I’ll have her do it. I need to know if we can trust him. He could run and tell his brother everything we talked about. He may be more willing to talk to her friend opposed to us.”

“How, do we know we can trust that nigga. That’s his brother after all.” Aren said.

“And Pepper is his fucking cousin who he should have protected from a fucking pedophile. But instead, they offered her up on a fucking silver platter because he payed a few of their bills. That nigga going to have to choose and if he chooses wrong, their family going to a double funeral.”

It took Char about twenty minutes to get to the house and up to the office to make the call.

“Put him on speaker." Alestar told her. She dialed the number, and we waited. After a few short rings a dude with a gruff voice answered the phone.

“Who diss?”

“H-Hello. Hey Tyron, this is Charlotte, Pepper’s friend from Brookview.

She left me a note saying she had to come back home for a family emergency and that she wouldn’t be returning.

I’m calling because I’m worried about her giving up on school.

Maybe me and my family can help her with this emergency, and she can return to school. ”

“He was quiet for a beat, letting out a sigh, before answering.”

“Man, there ain't no family emergency. I told her little ass not to come back here no matter what. I cleaned everything up and that was supposed to be the end of it, but I got a heads up that he wasn’t as dead as we thought. I’ve been out of town since I found out.

If she’s back here it’s not to see the family.

I’m sure if you are her friend you know about what my bitch ass brother did to her.

Taye is dangerous and is known to do anything to keep what belongs to him. She’s gonna need some help.”

“Fuck your brother. Pepper was mine. And I’ll kill anybody that thinks they can take her from me,” I growled into the phone. “We need your help to find her and bring her home. You failed her once; it won't be a second time.” I told him hoping he heard the threat in my tone.

“I can hear it in your voice that you love my cousin and I'm happy that she found someone to care for her and protect her like we didn’t. I’ll help you find her.

Just tell me what you need, and you’ll have it.

I know you probably don’t believe me, but I love my cousin, I truly didn’t know the extent of what he was doing to her.

She kept a lot of that shit to herself. She didn’t know it but I’m the reason she never moved into one of his homes with him.

I was adamant that she stayed with family so we could monitor her mental health, but I wasn’t always around to make sure she was good.

I let her slip through the cracks. But never again,” he said with a somber tone in his voice.

“Alright, then tell us something helpful.”

“Taye tried to hide his wife from anyone that knew Pepper, but it turned out she didn’t want to stay hidden.

I had the pleasure of running into her at a nightclub down here at the beach, the summer before I helped Pepper get away.

We’ve been cool ever since. She’s nothing like her husband and once she found out what he was doing with Pepper, she ran to me for comfort.

That comfort turned into our one-year-old son.

So yeah, I want that nigga gone for real this time.

I’ll make a few calls to get the ball rolling on finding out where he has her.

Until then stay in touch, as soon as I hear something I’ll reach out.

It’s up to you if you decide to come down now or wait for my call.

The choice is yours, but I would suggest you wait.

It won’t do her any good if you pop up out here asking questions and alerting him to your presence. ”

“We can do it your way for now, but nothing better happen to my girl in the meantime. I’m forever going to be the man she can depend on above all others. I'll also be your worst nightmare if my girl is hurt in any way by your bitch ass brother, feel me.” I growled before ending the call.

It took a week for Tyron to get a solid lead on where my lil baby was possibly being held.

But there was no fucking way I was waiting in another state while she was missing.

So, no sooner than we got off the call with Pepper’s cousin, we had the jet take us to the eastern shore of Maryland.

We stayed in a hotel outside of town in the fucking boonies as we awaited any updates.

We stepped off the jet and were greeted by a matte black suburban.

We planned a meet up for the next day so we could feel her cousin out and make sure we weren’t walking into a trap.

We decided to meet at the local IHOP during their busy hour.

We arrived first and waited inside for that nigga.

Five minutes after we arrived A big dark husky nigga that had the same eyes as Pepper walked in the restaurant, he was about an inch or two shorter than myself but had me by at least fifty pounds.

He walked in looking around until his eyes landed on us.

He gave us a nod, walking over and dapping Aren and Alestar up.

I stayed seated gritting on that nigga. He still hadn’t earned my respect for that fuck shit he let happen to lil baby.

We’d see how I felt about him after we got her back.

“What up? I’m Tyron,” he said. I hit him with a curt nod.

“I’m Alestar, this is Aren, and this evil ass nigga is Gunner.”

Tyron nodded.

“So, you're grumpy ass nigga that’s going to be my cousin in-law.” He smirked, clearly not giving a fuck about my glare.

“As soon as we take care of this little business.” I grumbled.

“Does she know that?” He laughed.

"Pepper knows this shits for life. Where is my lil baby?”

“I put a couple of my people on it, and they found out he’s been staying at a new beach house out in Ocean City.

It’s about an hour and a half drive from here.

Nobody has seen Pepper, but if he’s there, she’ll be there too.

You know Pepper so you know that if she’s with him and he’s still alive it's for a good reason.

Let's get going, it should be dark enough soon for us to go unseen when we arrive.” He said and we all climbed into the SUV and headed to find my wife.