Page 54 of Praying for Thunder

Dio grabbed his chest. “Ah, fuck. You okay? Thinking about Tiny?”

That was just the excuse she needed to release pent-up tears. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Resting his head over hers, he held her tight. “Never be sorry for caring for that sweet girl. I miss her, too.”

Pulling from his embrace, she wiped under her eyes, strategically moving them back to the kitchen. “Hey, uh, can I ask you to get us milk? I ran out last night.”

But Dio was too elated with news he wanted to share to notice her sign—the jug of milk on the kitchen counter. “Babe, I did it. I found him.”

“Who—”

He was over the moon. “His father.”

She covered her mouth, horrified at what Diablo was about to reveal. “Wait—”

Dio thought she was talking to him, but she wasn’t. She was pleading to the man approaching from behind. A gun pointed to the back of Dio’s head.

Blood rushed away from her stressed cheeks. “Dio—”

Dio could barely contain his excitement. “Can you believe it? And he’s good, Tiger. Just what every boy needs.”

The gun got closer… So, Ani put her life on the line.

As she did with me, she tried to block the oncoming barrel with her hands, pretending to simply be resting her arms around Dio’s shoulders. When her dark brown eyes filled with emotions so powerful I ached, I knew what decision she had made. Pain laced her voice as she told Dio, “I love you.”

His mouth parted. “Babe.”

Tears fell… “I always will.”

He sucked in air, then finally asked the question he now knew how she’d answer. “Will you be my Old Lady?”

She cried through her fading smile. “Yes.”

In the fleeting joyous moment, he slammed his mouth to hers.

One taste. One last touch of Heaven was all she got before Diablo’s body began to collapse from the hit he took from the butt of the gun. Feeling Dio’s fall, she bent her knees and forced her strong dancer legs to try to catch his weight. His knees buckled to the ground. The only reason his upper body had yet to hit the floor was because Ani held his handsome face to her stomach and… howled to the God she hated.

I watched in horror as the gun slammed down on the top of her head, too.

I screamed as Ani also crumbled to the ground.

The two lovers didn’t know it, but they had one last moment together. They lay, unconscious, yet arms intertwined. I let the image burn into my memory. It would be so long before seeing such love again.

The man who was destroying my life now stole Ani from her Dio and flung her lifeless body over his shoulder. He didn’t give me a command or instructions. He just left.

Shellshocked, I stood there.

My Ani.

Choices…

I had one to make.

My tears fell to Dio’s face while I kissed his cheek. Knowing only a secret could hear me now, I whispered, “Tell Dio I’m sorry. ‘They’ said—” I shook my head. There was no time.

Simple actions, which I had always done, now proved to be with… divine purpose.

Leaving unconscious Dio on the floor, I raced to be with—as I always had—my Ani.