20. Thunder

THUNDER

Iwasn’t sure which house to go to first, but I lucked out on the first try, and from the cars in the driveway, it looked like all the parties involved were here at Dan’s new house. Of course, I knew where he lived; I knew everything about this fuck. On paper, anyway. But from the sounds of it, things had changed physically.

You’d think that in the hour it took to get here, I would’ve calmed down a bit, but you’d be wrong. In fact, the opposite happened. I got more and more pissed as the miles went by. I was pissed at her, pissed at her team, and filled with murderous rage at her ex and his mother.

I used the dashboard to make a call to my head of security as I drove. “Cam, I need a new team on Amanda by tomorrow morning.”

“I understand; I heard what happened. What do you want to do with the team she has now?”

“Put them somewhere else where no one’s life is at stake.”

“Will do. Anyone in particular you want for the new team?”

“Cody’s team.” Cody is an ex-mercenary fuck who shoots first and doesn’t hang around to ask questions later. He’s a bit rough around the edges, so I didn’t think he was a good fit for her, but fuck it. Her last team is lucky that all they’re gonna get is reassigned and not buried in my garden.

By the time I pulled down the street where her ex lived, I was already working on my plea deal after I murder these fucks. I didn’t wait for my boys, who had followed me here, before approaching the house. I just held up my hand to let them know not to follow me inside.

I heard arguing coming from inside before I kicked down the door. Fuck a doorbell. I cased the room at a glance and stepped inside while the three people inside looked like death had come knocking.

“Who are you?” The older woman asked. I think they were in shock from my entrance.

“I’m the father of the child you slapped today.”

“What child? I didn’t slap any child.”

“He’s not born yet. Are you right-handed or left-handed?”

“What? I write with my right hand.”

“So you hit her with your right hand. Where’s your son?” I asked the younger woman.

“He’s asleep, but who are you?” I ignored her and turned my attention to the room’s only other occupant, who I assumed was the ex.

I walked over to the lump of shit that was sitting on the couch looking spaced the fuck out, lifted his right, looked his mother in the eye, and snapped his wrist. The two women started screaming, and his mouth opened on a silent scream from the pain.

“This is a warning. If any of you come anywhere near my wife again, I’ll send pieces of this fuck to you in the mail. Understood?" I’ve never been this coldly pissed off in my life. I wanted to do more, so much more. For all the pain and heartache they’d caused her, by rights, I should’ve taken them out by now. But I knew she didn’t want that; she didn’t even know I had that in me.

The mother came rushing toward me with her talons raised, screaming bloody murder. Perfect. I dropped her son’s hand and slapped the shit out of her because I’m an equal opportunity menace. Now, they were all screaming, but I was calm. “You come at me again. I’ll break his other hand, then what?”

I heard movement in the doorway behind me but didn’t turn to look. My boys have this place surrounded, as is the norm when I go on the hunt on someone else’s home ground. If this was a threat, they’d have been taken out before they reached the broken door.

“Shit, we’re too late.” I looked around to see Amanda’s brothers and her Dad standing in the doorway. I guess she’d called them. I turned my attention back to the other three. My guy wasn’t lying when he said this piece of dog offal didn’t look anything like his picture.

He’d gained a whole human in the time since that picture had been taken and looked like hammered shit. I didn’t give a fuck. He could’ve looked like the next top model, and it wouldn’t have mattered to me because what’s mine is mine.

“I’ll call the police.” The mother screeched while holding her face, but I noticed the younger one was eyeing me down like she thought I was as brainless as this fuck who was crying and cradling his wrist. I didn’t even spare her a glance.

“You can call the pope; I don’t give a fuck. I’ll smack the shit outta him, too, if he fucks with my woman.”

“Mandy? This is about Mandy? Where is she?” The asshole ex found his life again. Too bad that shit is about to get him killed. Why the fuck is he so excited about my woman? I leaned down into his face until our noses were almost touching.

“You seeking death? My wife’s whereabouts are none of your concern.” He recoiled from the look of venom on my face. He’s lucky he’s in this predicament, overweight with jowls and that bulbous thing the face does when you’ve drank too much alcohol for a prolonged period of time.

I stood up and looked around at all of them this time. “Remember what I told you. Any of you go anywhere near my wife and kid…. I already feel sorry for you because only I know what I’m capable of.” The mother shrunk back from the smile I gave her, and I turned and left with my in-laws hot on my heels.

I expected at least my father-in-law to give me shit, but the three of them started laughing their asses off. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long, thank you.” Her Dad slapped me on the shoulder.

“What the fuck happened to him? Why does he look like that?” I looked back at the house.

“We’re not sure. I heard the rumors, but as far as I can tell, once my daughter divorced him, he went downhill fast. Even lost his job, the last I heard. Shame, he was a good kid once.” He shook his head in disgust.

“Weak fuck!”

“So what happened? All Amanda said was for us to get here as quickly as we could because there was some kind of altercation, and she was afraid you were going to get into trouble.” Her older brother Mark asked.

“She hit her.”

“Who hit who?” I explained the situation to them. Now, I was the one holding them back. We said our goodbyes once I calmed them down and talked them into going home, but they all decided they wanted to come home with me.

She must’ve scared them into thinking I was going postal, or they were worried about what I was going to do to her once I got home. Knowing her, she’d told them everything, including the fact that she’d fucked up.

* * *

AMANDA

* * *

“How bad doyou think it is? I didn’t mess up too badly, did I, Angel?”

“I think you need to go into witness protection.”

“Could you be serious for one second?” I was scared out of my mind. Not that he would do anything to me, but I’ve never heard Thunder so upset, especially not with me.

He’d sounded so cold and detached on the phone. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal for me to go to the doctor alone. How was I to know that I’d run into them?”

“Isn’t that the reason you never wanted to go alone in the first place?”

“Yes, but it was just a precaution. Besides, we never ran into them before.” At least I knew that he wasn’t in jail because Dad had called not too long ago and told me everything was fine. I was so relieved. If anything happened to him because of me, I would never forgive myself.

I’d called Angel to come over to offer support, but as usual, she was on his side. I heard his car pull up outside, and my insides twisted around themselves. I got up and went to the door where he met me.

He didn’t say anything for the longest time, just looked at me before pulling me into his arms and kissing my forehead. The relief was so strong my knees almost gave out. “Oh, hi, Dad, hi guys.” I hadn’t seen them standing there until he let me go.

I kept waiting for the explosion, all through the impromptu family dinner, where all we discussed was the fact that grandma was moving in with us in the little carriage house on the property with her own help included and would be handling things at the bakery until after my maternity leave.

I couldn’t even argue the fact that none of this had been run by me because I was in enough trouble as it was. Whenever we got around to the day’s happenings, everyone gave me crap for not being careful, as if it was my fault that my ex and his mother had lost their minds.

All throughout dinner and after, Thunder had been his usual self. There was no sign of the anger I’d heard on the phone, and he seemed relaxed and at ease. I still didn’t know what had happened with Dan after he went to his house and figured I’d wait until we were alone to ask.

It was only when my family left, and Joy went to bed when he took my hand without a word and led me to the bedroom that I realized he’d been pretending this whole time. I almost made a run for it, but the look on his face told me that was the wrong move.