Page 11 of Thunder

“What party?” I ask, completely confused, and Dad huffs.

“Your sister and Kavan are throwing an anniversary party. The date they started dating- and your sister said that you refused to go because it reminds you that Kavan chose her,” Dad grunts, anger etching his tone, anger at me? I don’t know.

“I haven’t spoken to Rachel, Dad. The last text she sent was demanding I take Sammie on Saturday. She knew I was working until late afternoon Friday,” I mutter, “But you are right, I wouldn’t want to attend to remember my sister having an affair with my boyfriend for a year before I found out. To then have my whole family acting as if that was okay and normal. I’m getting fed up with being treated differently because we both know if I screwed Rachel’s boyfriend and announced I was pregnant at her prom, you would have disowned me.”

I sigh as I gently rub my forehead and I state, “Sammie is innocent in all this crap. It’s why I don’t deny having him if I’m not working. But honestly, I need to take a further step back from the family, from you, Mama, Rachel and Lorenzo. I’m being blamed for things I haven’t even done, and now you’ve just called me to accuse me of refusing to attend an anniversary party I didn’t even know about. That is how pathetic Rachel is. She’s supposed to be this big badass lawyer when in reality, she’s still acting like she’s in high school. You and Mama always take her side, always take Lorenzo’s side because he backs whatever lie Rachel tells.”

When am I going to finally be put first?

When are my parents finally going to open their eyes and be proud of me?

The answer is never, and I think I need a break. When I say break, I mean no contact.

Felix presses his paw against my leg, and I narrow my eyes yet again and mutter, “I need to go before my cat claws my leg and need to get some sleep before my night shift tonight. Goodbye, Dad.”

I hang up before he can say anything, but soon I shout when my demon cat scratches my leg. My leg kicks out, and my cat goes flying across the small kitchen.

My eyes widen, and he screeches as he lands with a thump that makes me wince, and he hisses at me, his fur all up.

Crap…

“Well, he’s definitely going to claw the shit outta me later,” I grunt just as my phone rings, but I silence the call from Mama and head to the pantry to feed the thing.

It’s going to be one long, sleepless day.

Chapter 3

Thunder – One Week Later

I tilt my head as Jimmy glares at Axel, trying his hardest to look hard but failing fucking miserably, his fingers trembling, giving his fear away.

The fucker is chained to a chair, wearing nothing but his boxers.

A week I’ve been following him without him realizing, and within that week I noticed his obsession with an oblivious Sophie.

I finally managed to grab him this morning after catching him recording Sophie undressing at hers and Ink's home while he took the kids out. The woman was none the wiser, fuck, she even messaged him to see if he wanted to grab some food later. That shit ain’t happening because I knocked the fucker out before Sophie could see we were in her home.

“I swear, Ink, it isn’t normal the way Sophie clung to this fucker,” I hear Gunner growl under his breath, “He gave her a sob story close to hers, and she fell for it, hook, line and fucking sinker just like she did with Clitter. This time though, it was more dangerous, yet she wouldn’t listen to anyone. She needs to seek medical fucking help I swear!”

“She threatened our fucking marriage if we didn’t give the fucker a chance,” Ink snaps back, and you can hear the frustration in his tone, “She swore he needed our help, and since she lost her mama, she’s been different. She wants to help people, but this, fuck, I can’t condone this shit.”

He loves his wife, his kids, but even I can see that she’s making their marriage harder by believing she’s always right.

“It’s shit like this that ensured Leah won’t let her all the way in again,” Flame grunts just as Axel steps closer to the fucker chained up.

“Recording an old lady who put her trust in you, having feds raid our decoy warehouses, tipping the feds off on our runs. Not very smart of you, huh, Jimmy,” Axel goads, and Jimmy's jaw visibly tics, but his eyes, instead of being on Axel, are on the blade in his hand.

This is going to be fun.

“How in the fuck have you not beat the shit outta him yet?” I ask Ink quietly, and he grunts, “He latched onto Sophie for a reason, we just need to know that reason,” just as my phone vibrates and I check the ID before quickly answering, “Dad, is this important?”

“Well, my son is refusing to come home, so yeah, it is important,” he snaps, and Axel side-eyes me with a smirk like a fucker while Jimmy frowns with confusion.

Guess a brother answering their phone in the middle of a torture session is unorthodox.

“Dad, I’m currently in the torture chamber with the Untamed. Some fucker took a shine to Ink's old lady. Can we not do this right now?” I sigh and fuck, even Ink snorts at my frustration.

I hadn’t heard from him all week, so I thought maybe he was calling about an emergency, but I guess I was wrong.