Thunder (Hell's Handlers MC #10) - Lilly Atlas Page 0,90
tee. Always needing something to keep his hands busy. “Let’s start with the childhood shit.” He winked. “As any good therapist would.”
Thunder grunted. “I’ll give you the short version. Mom’s a whore. Dad’s a john. She’s remarried to my stepdad. They run a brothel. I grew up literally living in a small apartment at the back of the cat house. Saw all combinations of men and women fucking since the time I could walk. Seen normal shit, kinky shit, seriously fucked-up shit, basically women who’d do anything to get a dollar to change hands. The women there married and divorced like it was a sport. Men were abusive as fuck and high all the time. Alcohol started flowing the moment they opened their eyes in the morning. For some, it was the only way they could make it through the day. It wasn’t a classy place. I don’t have the first fucking clue how to make a woman happy beyond making her come. There you go, Dr. Freud. Not exactly a tough case to crack. Fucked-up childhood leads to an adult with more issues than he can count.”
“Shit, brother, I knew a little bit of that, but…well, shit.” Screw caught the ball then leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees. He stared straight ahead at the blank TV, perhaps lost in his own memories. Many unpleasant, if what Thunder had heard was accurate. “You know, you didn’t grow up too far off from how I did.”
“I’ve heard that.” He and Screw were close, brothers, but they didn’t typically sit around sharing their tragic pasts and crying in each other’s beers. Suddenly, he found himself dying to know what Screw’s life had been like prior to prospecting with the Handlers.
“My mom stripped, but not at reputable places like you have.”
Thunder grunted. He’d worked his fair share of seedy establishments.
“Most of my life, she headlined at this shithole titty bar notorious at my high school for letting teens sneak in.”
“Oh, fuck, brother. That must have made for one shitty adolescent experience.”
“Yeah, you can imagine how much fun that shit was. Anyway, any ‘relationship’ she had,” he continued, air-quoting relationship, “was off the charts dysfunctional. Telling you, brother, I’ve seen some shit as well. You think I had any idea what the hell I was doing when I hooked up with Jazz and Gumby?” He made a noise of disbelief. “I still worry I’m gonna fuck it all up on a daily basis.”
“Pretty sure those two won’t let you fuck it up. They love your stupid ass.”
Screw shot him a lascivious grin. “They sure do. Gumby is particularly fond of my ass.”
Barking a laugh, Thunder held up his hands. “Not touching that one, brother.”
“You better not touch it. Both of ’em’ll have something to say if you do.” As Thunder rolled his eyes, Screw said, “Man, I’m on a roll.” He gave himself a high five like the dork he was. “All right, I’m gonna get serious on you for a minute here, so man up and take it, ’kay?”
Ignoring his head issues and continuing a carefree life of stripping and getting blowjobs for cash was a million times easier than listening to this shit and trying to improve himself. But he wasn’t a stupid, horny kid anymore. Now, as a patched member of the HHMC, he’d proven to Copper and his brothers they could trust him. He was responsible. He was a fucking adult. Maybe he needed to take the same approach to his personal life.
“All right, lay it on me.”
“The fact that you’re all torn up over Mak tells me she’s already wormed her way in. She’s different.”
Yeah, she was different. Sweet, caring, dependable, intelligent. A host of attributes he’d never cared about before. And when combined with a physical package that drove his dick wild, it made for a woman he couldn’t stop being drawn to. He found himself thinking of her first thing in the morning, all throughout the day, and when his head hit the pillow. And yeah, many of those thoughts centered around fucking her. The million ways he could make her lose her mind and scream his name. But sex wasn’t all he thought about.
He wondered if she was tired after being on her feet at the diner all day. Whether she’d had enough to eat. If she needed help wrangling the kids.
“She’s different,” he said with a sigh. “In a way that’s making me insane.”