Page 25 of Thunder

Lexi wiggled every two seconds and huffed out a breath. It was clear she would not finish her ink if she didn’t have this conversation.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t beaten that dead horse repeatedly over the last few days. Andy was soul tired. She spent her days listening to Lexi tell her how out of character it was for Nick, or Thunder as she learned, to say what he said. Blah, blah, blah.

Deep down, Andy believed that, knew that. She couldn’t explain how, it wasn’t like she had the greatest track record at judging character. Between what she felt deep in her bones, along with Lexi’s dissertation, Blast’s shocked disbelief, Taps’ sympathetic and cryptic words, and even Ripley’s ‘well, that’s not typical,’ she’d accepted that Thunder wasn’t a bad guy.

“Fine. If you’ll stop fidgeting, we can talk about Nick, uh, Thunder, okay? But you have to be still or your lace is going to look like rotten fabric, and I do not need you showing this off at Tails and having people think I’m a hack. Deal?”

Lexi nodded her head emphatically.

“Stop. You can’t do shit like that, you skank.”

“Okay, I promise to be still, now. Let’s discuss exactly what he said and how he said it.”

Andy continued with the line she was working on before pausing to talk. “We’ve been over it a million times already. You know what he said, and how he said it. Hell, I’ve given you so much detail, you probably know the exact expression he was making.”

Lexi had the restraint to wait until Andy wiped her skin. “What I mean is, how did helook? Was he pissed-angry or hurt-angry, because those are two totally different things?”

“Different or not, he said some pretty hurtful shit. What does it matter? He basically called me a lying, scheming slut, to paraphrase. I was no different to him than the women who live there and sleep with any of them on a whim.”

Andy could tell she just hit a nerve with her best friend and she regretted it immediately. So, to save her friend a painful cover-up later, she lifted the needle from her skin.

“Okay, stop right there. First off, I am practically one of those women, even though I don’t live there. The women who live there are good people. Their bodies are not at the beck and call of the Phantoms. Not the way other club girls are or how you’ve seen on TV. They choose who they sleep with or if they do at all. They get paid to cook and clean and tend bar, shit like that. Some have nowhere else to go and no hope of another job. So do not come down on them because you’re hurt. Hell, I basically run an escort service and strip for my meals. If they’re bad, so am I.”

Her friend relaxed back on the chair and nodded for her to continue.

“I’m sorry, Lexi. I didn’t mean it like that, I really didn’t. Me, of all people, understand that. It was just, the way he said it was like a knife to my gut. It hurt like a bitch. And, well, talking about it hurts just as much. I shouldn’t have let my anger control my thoughts or my big mouth.”

“Apology accepted, and now maybe you have a better understanding of my question. So, pissed-angry or hurt-angry?”

Holyshit. “You are one smart stripper.”

“Why, thank you. Now answer.”

“Well, he definitely had some pissed-angry moments. A few were scary as fuck. And while I didn’t feel like he would swing at me, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he put holes in the wall.” She wiped Lexi’s abdomen under her breasts and admired her work while chewing on her thoughts. “Have a look.” While Lexi stared at her new ink from multiple angles, Andy started cleaning her station.

“Now that I think about it, he seemed hurt. Before, you know, everything happened. When we were lying in bed and in the tub, he seemed very vulnerable. Then he seemed hurt that I didn’t buy into whatever he was selling. His genuine anger came from thinking I was there to hurt the club. I—”

“OH MY GOD, STOP TALKING,” Lexi’s shout caused the entire shop to go quiet. It was already fairly low key since both herself and Ripley were inking boobs, so closed shop.

She dropped the hand mirror on the chair and hauled Andy up by her arms and started jumping up and down. . .topless.

“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod.”

Andy was extremely confused about what the fuck was going on. Over Lexi’s incantation, she heard Ripley give her client care instructions and unlock and relock the door. Ripley pulled back the curtain and stared at them before assessing the scene in front of her.

“We are just one pervy cameraman with a rug and a lighting guy with a boner from making girl on girl porn. What the hell is going on in here?”

“I’m curious myself,” Andy managed to eke out between Lexi’s squeals. Disentangling herself from her crazy, tits out friend, she reached for clear sanitary adhesives. “Be still and let me cover your ink.” Lexi stopped and lifted her boobs so Andy could cover the tattoo that ran under them and down her abdomen.

“Oh, yeah, it’s got definite porn vibes now,” Ripley observed with a touch of humor. “Nice work. The lines are clean, and those jewels are tight.” Ripley would know, Andy had done a similar one on Ripley. Her boss was a beautiful badass who was the president of the Shadow Angels, a female MC. Andy had never even heard of such a thing before applying at Horns & Halo.

“So, Tits, you going to tell me why you were bouncing around my shop with one of my best artists pressed up against your chest? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad sight, but I think my client was a little uptight about it.” She threw her thumb over her shoulder in the direction her client just left. That was another thing she loved about working at Horns. Everyone was themselves, no pretense, even her boss.

“Twenty minutes.”

Andy and Ripley exchanged a look. She shrugged her shoulders when Ripley raised an eyebrow.

Lexi pinged her head back and forth between them before pulling her top down over her head. “Jesus, did Thunder literally fuck you stupid? That is some dick if so.”

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