Page 37 of Praying for Thunder

After trying to unlock it, and failing, Ani stumbled back from the door that could have trapped her at any time. She clutched her robe tighter around her body. “I-I didn’t know about that.”

“Makes that camera outside the door more effective, right?” Stew told Dio before unlocking the door.

Ani quickly opened it, then stepped out into the hallway, all the while looking at the door as if it were her enemy. “I don’t like being locked up.”

The room fell silent.

A secret had been spilled.

Dio adjusted me to one arm while walking to her. His free arm pulled her to his chest. “As long as I have a say, you will never be locked up again. Stew will only use this to keep Thunder safe if something were to go wrong.”

Her body rigid, I felt her panicked breathing against my leg as she nodded.

Seeing my bottom lip tremble, Dio promised, “She’s okay, Little Guy. I got her. I got you both.”

Laying my head on his shoulder, I noticed Moola fanning herself. So, I told him what I knew. “Dio, you made Aunt Moola hot again.”

The whole room burst into laughter.

⚡⚡⚡

The next hurdle for my Ani was where we had been living, and where Dio wanted us to live. On a stairway between his shop and the shop next store, Ani asked, “Where are we going?”

It was the apartment above his tattoo shop and had the exact same layout as the space below. Shotgun living room that led into a dining room. Beyond that was a modern, yet barn-style kitchen. On each side of the living room was a bedroom, just like the two extra tattoo rooms below us.

Ani gasped. “Is this your place? It is incredible!”

“Well, I’m kinda hoping it could be your place.” Queued by her flabbergasted expression, he quickly added, “I don’t live here. It would be just you and Thunder.” Before she argued, he assured her, “You would be doing me a favor! I’m always at the club. This place isn’t getting any use.”

Due to the used coffee cup on a black dining room table that Ani was studying, she knew he was fibbing. This place was used often, if not daily.

Dio rushed to the table, waving off Anita. “This cup is from weeks ago…”

She was already shaking her head before he finished. “Diablo, this is taking whatever we are too far. My place is just fine.”

He playfully countered, “I mean, if you’re fine with Thunder living next to drug dealers, I think you’re right. Just fine. Oh, wait.” He tapped his lips in a fake ponder. “Was that a body I saw behind your building last night?”

I found my way to a corner by a front window in the living room, playing with a kid’s workshop. It had plastic tools and a bench for me to stand at while I built things. “I love it here!”

Ani’s nostrils flared. “Diablo, are you bribing my Niño?”

“Hmm?” He brushed her off. “Noooo. I’ve had that playset for ages!”

I squealed, “Firetrucks!”

He coughed. “And those.”

Ani went to Dio and clunked her forehead against his chest. “You don’t play fair.”

He wrapped her up in his embrace. “Hey, you’re the one always saying bikers can’t be trusted.”

She peered up at him. “What if we get into an argument? I can’t just move him from place to place.”

Oozing affection, he pushed her long hair to hang against her back. “Babe, I’m not sure where you’ve been, but we argue every day. You need to up your reasons for not moving in here.”

A pause, then she had a counter of her own. “Okay, how about this? I can’t be up here sleeping or watching a movie while you’re doing—whoever—in that chair of yours below.”

He smirked. “Is Anita claiming her man?”