Page 45 of Praying for Thunder

Ani and I quickly got to our knees after she screamed. Scurrying to the tub, Anita tried to touch him but squealed in pain, then held out her hand. “Hot! Like he was!”

Water pelted his stomach and legs. “No,” he weakly said, “Not like Thunder.”

As he lay motionless, I remembered seeing him like this a couple years prior. “Dio.” I grabbed his hand, palm to palm, thumbs linked, knowing he wouldn’t burn me, like he hadn’t back then.

“No!” yelled Ani until she saw Dio wasn’t hurting me.

Trembling, she covered her mouth. “This isn’t happening.”

Tired, yet proud as fuck, Diablo held my hand. “I felt you.” He jostled our grip. “You’re of the light.”

It was incredible, but I felt a sense of maturity blow through me, as well as a message. I knew it was coded, but something he needed to hear. “They said, ‘To have one, there must be the other’. They said, ‘He is the opposite of who he kills’.”

A very deep and well-hidden sob escaped him. “Thanks for that, Thunder.”

We both looked to Anita, who was now cowering against a wall, shaking her head, eyes drenched in tears, fear possessing her face.

As when with my mother, she refused to believe.

Do I hold resentment toward her? Never did, never will. Tiger was nicknamed well, and following her path… her instincts, her need to protect me, was so deep that she refused to trust what she couldn’t see or comprehend.

Why did Diablo choose to not force her to listen?

Respect.

Her shaking head told him all he needed to know. Don’t forget, he had already explained it all. ‘What pleases you, eases me.’

I understood, also. ‘They’ said respecting her wishes was for the best.

Ani felt my safety was all she needed.

Denial can offer a sheltered feeling, hence why so many choose it.

⚡⚡⚡

Between Ani and Dio, I had the best parents a kid could ever want. I didn’t go without anything. And what wasn’t spent on me, or a branch of something to keep me provided for, no longer fit in the freezer. So, Ani and Dio hid mad cash all over his apartment and shop. From what I would learn later, they even hid money at his clubhouse.

The tattoo artist and stripper were disciplined and had joined forces, in every way, except for making their relationship official. I can’t blame them. Their focus was honed in on one thing.

Me.

Since Anita no longer had to worry as much about money, or about protecting me by herself, she chose to only work two shifts a week at Myths. Now that I was seven, she was also considering a different line of work. Maybe she worried about what I would think of her, as if I would ever see her as anything other than the beautiful soul I loved.

On the nights that she did work, and Dio had club business to attend to, I got to see my aunts. Entering the building before it was open for business, I was treated like a rock star. Stew gave me a high-five, my aunts squealed and doused me in affection, Harry gave me a Coke with a cherry in it, and Ben vowed to cook me anything I wanted.

Once the doors were ready to open, I went to the dressing room to hunker down for the night.

Since I had outgrown my toddler bed, and a full-size bed was cumbersome, I now had a super cool hammock hanging above where my kid bed used to be. Stew and Dio secured two hooks to be used on the rare nights I was there.

While I changed into my pajamas, Ani stood behind Tiny Cherry’s chair, brushing her hair. She asked her, “You okay?”

Tiny was, indeed, small, but the light that was radiant around her felt endless. It entranced me to the point I pondered walking over to them so I could touch it.

The little dancer didn’t sense it though. She sighed. “Yeah. Just seeing old ghosts, ya know?”

Twisting red hair into a clip, Anita exhaled heavily. “Unfortunately, I do. They appear from time to time.”

Tiny looked at Ani through the mirror. “Still? Even with all you have now?”