Page 21 of Thunder

The soft full lips that had wrung pleasure from her body and tenderly kissed her neck were set in a hard line. Alarm bells were going off in her head and she stood. Stepping over the side of the tub, she fumbled for a towel and dried her body, creating a distance between them.

A distance that allowed her to breathe and process his words. He remained in the tub like a wet angry statue. What had she done to flip his switch like that?

Andy felt a connection to this man, but she wasn’t sure if dropping her TBI on him when he looked like that was a swell idea. Plus, a part of her was a little ashamed. She didn’t freely tell anyone about it. Would he look at her differently? Brain injuries weren’t exactly sexy. ‘Oh, yeah, I like women with long legs, a huge rack, and a TBI. Fuck yeah, that’s my dream girl.’ She had to say something though. Andy tackled it the way she did everything. Spontaneously. Open mouth and see what comes out.

“I had a lot happen three years ago and well, it forced me to take some me time.”

Nick got out of the tub and stood right in front of her dripping wet and looking like a vengeful Greek god. “Scratch the first question. That was me trying to be nice. Why did you ghost me?”

No mistaking his anger, but there was a hint of hurt and openness to him as well. The conversation was getting more and more confusing to Andy.

“I didn’t ghost you; I didn’t even know you. Sure, I fantasized about meeting you and doing other things. But I never got the nerve. Hell, I didn’t know you even noticed me back then.”

His face became unreadable for a moment before…holy shit. If she thought he was angry before, she was wrong.

“Lexi had finally talked me into approaching you, and I think I was almost there before—”

“What fucking game are you playing? What are you running?”

His shout echoed off the tile surrounding them and made her jump. That just pissed her off. She hated being scared. She made a promise to herself a long time ago she was nobody’s victim.Never again.

She threw her towel at the mad giant. “I don’t play games. Games are for children, insecure women, and assholes with fear of commitment and mommy issues who like to have power over women. I’m none of those things.” After hurling her words at him, she stomped to the bedroom and pulled on her underwear and began the search for the rest of her clothes.

As she found them, it hit her, he might have thought her last words were an assessment about him. For a split-second, she almost apologized and explained. Andy turned to do just that but found him towering over her with rage oozing from every pore of his body.

Even so, something told her he wouldn’t hit her, or maybe it was wishful thinking on her part. But she’d seen him in fights. He never let anger control his fists. His face would be a mask of rage occasionally, but his hits were planned and controlled. If not for her borderline obsession with him as Killer, she would’ve been crapping her pants with fear.

Another thing that pissed her off.

“Almost there?” His words transported her back in time. “Shoving your hand down my shorts and fisting my dick in front of everyone is almost there to you? Letting me rail you from behind in a dirty locker room is almost there? Shit, woman, if that’s your almost… I guess you fucked so many guys that night you can’t remember them all.”

Andy didn’t think. Didn’t even process all his words. She understood enough to know he’d called her a whore. Slut-shamed her when he was the one who carried her to his room and buried his face in her snatch before even saying hello.

Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. She could see Nick through her fury and his, but she also saw someone else. Someone from her past who made her feel ashamed and helpless.

Fuck that, was all her internal voice screaming at a deafening volume.Fuck you and every man who has ever slut-shamed me for liking sex as much as them. Fuck you for everything. Just fuck you.

Then she said fuck you out loud. But it wasn’t loud or even laced with anger. It was barely audible and monotone. She’d flipped the switch. Nothing good came from two angry people hurling insults or God forbid, fists.

As angry as she was now, she was in control of her physical response. She wanted to bust his fucking nose, but she didn’t. Andy would retreat to assess everything that had happened, and only then, respond accordingly. She’d learned years ago that anger and logic were mutually exclusive. She lived her life spontaneously, but not with emotions. Nope, those were Fort Knox and could only be accessed with a series of steps.

She tried to let go of her anger at him for being a grade-A cunt bag, and at herself, for allowing the security breach of her feelings. She could beat that dead horse later, and she would. Heaven knows she would.

Nick took a small step back with the force of her flat whispered words and plunged his eyebrows south. She recognized that look. It was the re-evaluation of his own words or thoughts.How many times had she done just like that? Hell, she’d literally just done the exact same thing.

Not the place or the time, Andrea.She shoved all her doubts deep inside for later analysis. She needed to get dressed and get the hell out of there.

She picked up her jeans, boots, and shirt, then studied his expression. Shit, he did not subscribe to the same philosophy she did. Retreat and reevaluate was clearly not his style. He wasn’t done hurting her feelings. Her words earlier had apparently, albeit unintentionally, struck a chord. She had enough presence of mind to recognize it for what it was. Coupled with his nightmares and his words in the tub, the man suffered from some sort of PTSD. No getting through that, not here, not now.

“Get out.” It was low and growly and soaked in fury.

She wanted to stop him before he said words she may not be able to cope with. She turned to flee before she could hear them, but his voice thundered after her.

“I couldn’t give a shit that you’re a lying bitch pretending not to remember fucking me. I only care if you’re running games on my club, my brothers.”

Oh, God, oh God, oh God.His voice was getting louder. She needed to move faster. She felt it coming like a hound of hell on her heels.

“I don’t do games and I don’t do liars, well, I did do one. Won’t make that mistake again. You were easy pussy, Andy, and now it’s time for you to do what easy pussy does and get the fuck out.”

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