Page 5 of Thunder

Maybe it's because I wanted something missing in my life, even if it was a strange old woman that I'd scared the living daylights out of and stolen her car; someone to look at me with even a fraction of that appreciation that Bullet and Rook both have with their partners, Maddy and Eliza.

"You two go. I'll finish closing up the shop," I say.

"You sure? Thanks, Thunder," Bullet says.

"You're not horrible," Rook adds.

"I'll lock up, then I'm going to deliver the Corolla to Eileen. Check in on her, make amends. I think it's time."

"You're going to spend your night with some old lady?" Bullet says, giving me a strange look as he scrubs a day's worth of grease from his hands at the garage's industrial sink. "What about that one chick? You know, the one you met when we returned those uniforms we used to sneak into the Covington Corporation. What was her name?"

"Nikki." I grab a clean rag and a bit of wax and start putting some shine in the Corolla. It's pointless—this car hasn't shined since before I was born—but necessary. My hands need something to do as I grapple with what's going on inside my chest. "She can wait."

"Wait? What's going on with you?"

"What's so special about this Nikki?" Rook says. "Can she regularly shoot a target past 1000 yards?"

I gawk at him. "What?"

"Sniping. If she could regularly shoot a target past 1000 yards, she'd be impressive."

"How the hell are you with someone like Eliza?" I say.

"Don't know. I'm lucky, I guess. And I must be lovable, because she tells me she loves me all the time. Now, answer my question."

"It's not her sniping prowess," I say. "She has other features that caught my attention. But she can wait. This car is more important."

"You didn't think that way when we met her," Bullet says, teasing. Then he turns to Rook. "She worked at this cafe near the uniform place. Thought we were actual HVAC repair men and asked if we could take a look at her air system in her cafe, because it had just gone out and she couldn't get ahold of anyone to fix it. Thunder here says, 'Yes, absolutely. We definitely are HVAC repairmen.' Next thing you know, she's got us in the back room in the shop, and Thunder tells her she should go out front, because it could be dangerous, and then he spends the next half hour watching YouTube videos to teach himself how to fix HVAC units."

"Fixed her HVAC, though. You should’ve heard how that baby purred," I say. I'll always feel proud of that accomplishment.

"Then you got her number, too. Said she didn't need to pay, that all she needed to do was let you take her out to dinner. Brother, you couldn't jump on that opportunity fast enough, and now, you're putting her off so you can go deliver a rust bucket on wheels to some old lady way outside of town? What the hell?"

"If you and Rook keep standing there, jabbering at me and watching me polish this sweet ride, you're going to be late for your dates."

"He's right. Shut your mouths or I'll shut them for you," Rook says.

But Bullet's still looking at me in that way that he does from time to time, where he knows me well enough to know something's off, and he's trying to peer inside me and figure it out.

I pat the car and give him a reassuring look. "Trust me, Bullet, this is just something I have to do."

Though even that's not quite the truth.

Deep down, this is something Ineedto do.

* * * * *

It's when I take the final turn off the coastal road and onto the long, winding driveway of Eileen O'Connell, with only the two, faded motes of light from the headlights to guide me, that I realize I'm taking a damn big risk for a damn stupid reason.

Who knows how this old woman will react to seeing the man who robbed her suddenly show up?

She might be grateful, or she might have a gun and decide, rather than hear out my apology, she'd rather just put a slug in my skull.

Or she might call the cops.

Either way, the likelihood of an awful outcome is far higher than my hoped-for momentary sense of fulfillment.

Fuck, here I am, calculating odds when I know what it is I want, and it's right in front of me. I've been spending too much time around Maddy.

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