22. Amanda

AMANDA

I’ve had enough of this mess. It’s been six days, and he’s still acting like an ass. But I miss him; I miss being his baby girl, miss him holding me as I fall asleep or rubbing cream into my tummy to help the itching.

At least this morning, he was there when I woke up, even though he was in the shower. At least that’s a start. He even helped me put my shoes on this morning and held my hand as we walked down the stairs together.

He strapped me in, which was something he always did before he got so angry at me, and even held my hand as he drove. For some reason, by the time he dropped me off at the bakery, I felt this intense guilt. Don’t ask me why, because I haven’t done anything.

When I brought this up to Angel her response was, you only went and got yourself smacked in the face while carrying his child. No biggie. Then she went on to remind me that Thunder was a real man and not the little boy I’d married who I had been raising since we were about thirteen years old.

I never knew she felt that way about Dan and me, but apparently, my whole family feels that way, and no one bothered to tell me because I seemed so happy with him. The way she put the whole situation made me feel even smaller.

I guess I can see where Thunder was coming from and why he’d be mad that I ended up in that situation, but in my mind, it’s not like I set out for that to happen. Still, maybe I should tell him that I see his side of things and promise not to do it again. I’m tired of sleeping without my husband.

A few hours before noon I got the brilliant idea to take him his favorite lunch as an apology and felt better than I had in days as I made the brioche bread he likes to make his favorite creole chicken salad sandwich.

It was a lot of work, running to the store to get the chicken and different seasonings I needed, all of which I had at home but hadn’t thought of this idea until then. In the end, I learned that day that I wasn’t allowed to leave the premises, so one of the guys went to the store for me instead.

I should be mad at his high-handedness, but one of the things he’d said to me in the last few days when he deigned to speak to me, that is, was that as long as his kid was in me, I couldn’t take one step without his say so. Totally mental.

* * *

THUNDER

“Boss,there’s a Deidre Hall here to see you.”

“I don’t know anyone by that name.” I rifled through the papers on my desk and looked for the invoice I had come here for.

“She says she’s here about a job.”

“Send her in.” I’m usually in the nursery for most of the day because I hate being cooped up in an office, so this person caught me at the right time. Why they didn’t go to the hiring manager is anyone’s guess, but every once in a while, this happens, so no biggie.

I barely looked up as the person entered the room. “Hi, Thunder!” I finally looked up, and it took me a second to recognize her.

“What can I do for you?”

“Didn’t you hear him? I’m looking for a job.” Was that smile supposed to be seductive or some shit? She looked like a crackhead in need of a fix.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not in that line of business.”

“And what line of business is that?”

“Look, I sell drugs, not sex. Now get…”

“Thunder, where are you? Cam said you were over here.” Oh shit!

I see that Deidre recognized my wife’s voice because the look on her face changed from the anger brought on by my words to one of calculation. She started opening the buttons of her shirt and making her way around the desk. I guess she’d seen that shit on TV.

I bet she wasn’t expecting me to kick her in the stomach and send her flying back across the room. Amanda came through the door at that exact moment and was almost hit by the flying witch. I got up to go to her, but she was busy looking at the thing on the floor.

“Oh, I’m sorry you fell.” She started to help the woman up until she saw who it was.

“You!” My wife woke up and chose the fuck outta violence I guess, because she slapped her so hard that one of her earrings flew out of her ear. When she grabbed her hair and started dragging her across the floor, I stepped in.

“Okay, she-wolf, let her go.” She still had a tight grip on the woman’s hair with one hand while holding a picnic basket in the other. “No, let me.” She dropped the basket and started throwing punches like a wild woman.

“You’ve got nerve, you mangy bitch.” I let her get a few more licks in before pulling her away and trying hard not to laugh my ass off. Mangy bitch? Since when does my dainty flower talk like that?

I kissed her and put her behind me when Deidre finally picked herself up off the floor. “I’ll sue you, you crazy bitch.”

“Go right ahead. I’ll pay it, and then I’ll beat your ass again. Why don’t you go back to that loser you fought so hard to win? I know you like my leftovers, but this is one meal I’ll never share.”

That was one of my proudest moments. The time my wife called me a piece of meat. “I’d get out of here if I were you. I already told you what would happen if you came after my wife. Let me see, sweetheart, did you hurt your hand?” I kissed her palm and put her to sit down in my chair because she was breathing hard and still shooting daggers at the witch with her eyes.

“Kieran, get in here.” My boy came in and looked around. I know he heard what was going on since he’s never too far from me, but he knew not to approach unless called. I saw the smirk on his face and the thumbs-up he gave the slugger.

“Get that out of here, and she’s not allowed anywhere near my place again. If you see her, I give you permission to shoot to maim. Tell the others.”

“I’m not afraid of you. You can’t just go around shooting people.”

“There’re about ten people who would beg to differ, but you can take your chances.”

“No, don’t shoot her; we can bury her alive; we’ve got lots of land; no one would ever know.” Amanda didn’t even blink when she said that.

* * *

AMANDA

* * *

That bitch!I was so mad I could spit, but Kieran hurried and took her out of the room, and Thunder wouldn’t let me go after her. That’s the first time I’d ever hit someone in my life because I’m so anti-violence, but I can’t say that I feel too bad about it.

“And you, what was she doing here?”

“Beats me; she said she was looking for a job.”

“So why did you kick her?”

“She tried to give me fleas.”

“What?”

“Nothing, what’s in the basket? What did you bring me?”

“Nothing now. I came here to feed you and find you consorting with the enemy.”

“Uh-huh, pull the other one. By the way, I thought you said her name was Deidre Samuels; why did she say her name was Hall?”

“I don’t know, that’s the name she used before. Who cares? You haven’t made it up to me yet, so don’t try getting on my good side.”

“Made what up to you?”

“Letting her in here.”

“You’re not slick; I know this trick. You want me to apologize for something I didn’t do so you can get out of apologizing for something you did. I guess you like not cumming, me not cumming inside you.”

“Shh, people will hear you.”

“No one else is on this floor, and Kieran knows better than to come back up here unless I call him to. So, what did you bring me?”

* * *

THUNDER

* * *

I leanedover and kissed her before she could answer. It was the first time in a week that I’d gone anywhere near her lips.

Damn, hard as a pike in five seconds flat. I have to find a better way to discipline her ass. One that doesn’t make me suffer as well. We were both starved for each other, but when I started imagining fucking her on the desk, I had to take a step back. She might not be down for that seeing as the desk is hard as fuck.

I tried pulling back, but she wasn’t having it. She put one of her legs around mine and held me in place. I made the mistake of looking down into her eyes and almost promised her the world, damn sneak. I know she wore that soft, innocent look to trap me.

“What did you come here for, beautiful?”

“I came to apologize, but now I don’t know if you deserve it.” I quirked my brow and started to remove her leg.

“Okay-okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d get so bent out of shape. And I especially didn’t expect to run into those idiots.”

“And?”

“There’s more? What else did I do, Your Highness?”

“You knew I was worried because your stomach grew to twice the size it was in one day, and you went behind my back to see the doctor. You knew I wanted to be there. What’s that look?” She looked kinda sus to me.

“Don’t get mad, okay.”

“What now? What else did you do behind my back?”

“Nothing, it’s just. What’s on your nightstand at home?”

“What? What does that have to do with anything?”

“You have every brochure ever written about pregnancy; you expect me to follow every last one of their suggestions, some of which are so outdated no one alive in the last one hundred years has even heard about them. On top of that, what did you say to the doctor the last time we were there?”

“I don’t recall. It was probably something about her not doing her job.”

“You told that poor woman that you would take a scalpel to her if she tries any new age shit on your wife and kid.”

“She was talking about cutting you open to get the kid out.”

“It’s called a C-section, you goof. And women have them every day.”

“The shit sounded like some sadistic shit to me. And why the hell was she smiling when she said it?”

“I give up; seriously, you’re just nuts.”

“I don’t see how me looking out for my family makes me nuts, but okay.”

“I brought you lunch. I was going to share it with you, but now I can’t even eat after seeing her in your office.”

“You still thinking about her? Let’s eat.”

* * *

As apologies go,hers was shit, but I’ll take it. I spread the blanket she brought on the floor in my office, threw the cushions from the couch around it, and helped her down.

She’d made all my favorites I saw, and I was sure to show my appreciation. “This is really good, babe. Here.” I fed her some of my sandwich since she was only having fruit for some reason, and since I didn’t want any of her smoke, I left her alone on that.

“I missed the fuck outta you.” She stopped with a grape halfway to her lips and stared at me. Then she started crying. The books talked about this. I scooted over and took her in my arms, and let her cry it out. The guilt was gut-wrenching. I’d made my pregnant wife cry. Monster.

Now, I really did promise her anything as long as she stopped crying. She giggled, a sound I hadn’t heard in almost a week, and the knots in my gut untangled themselves.

I wolfed down my lunch and hoped she didn’t notice that I was in a rush to get her out of there. When she was about to leave, she was smiling, and I whispered a promise in her ear about what I was going to do to her tonight.

As soon as she was gone, I called Kieran back and sent him on an errand. If that twit was bold enough to show up here, then she wasn’t as simple as I thought.

I hadn’t really paid much attention to her before because, as far as I was concerned, she was just the woman who helped destroy my woman’s marriage to that jackass which cleared the way for me. But now that I’d seen her in action, my perception changed. She might be more dangerous than the ex.