Page 24 of Obey

I choke on my food and reach for my glass of water to stop the coughing. Once I’ve recovered, I glare at him. “What other guy?”

“The guy who clocked you right in the face,” Thunder says. “C’mon, you didn’t really expect me not to comment, did you? For what it’s worth, you rock the bruised look something fierce.”

I reach up to touch my bruised eye. It aches, but not anymore than any other bruise I’ve had. It’s not obscuring my vision, and I’d honestly forgotten it was there until he’d brought it up.

No wonder the waitress had given me a strange look.

“It’s nothing,” I mumble. “Just a stupid argument.”

“Uh huh.” He doesn’t sound like he believes me. “Look, man, I know it’s been a minute since we were, you know,” he says with a wave of his hand. “But we’re still friends, right?” He flashes me a toothy grin. “I still tell you my secrets.” He leans in. “Now stop being cagey and tell Uncle Thunder what happened to poor baby Knives.”

I snort in amusement. “”Uncle’ Thunder? You’re what, five years older than me? At most, you could be a brother.” I rub my eye, pressing into the bruise, and let out a sigh. “It was that guy I told you about. The one who landed me in jail in the first place.”

Thunder whistles, leaning back in his seat. “You’re still talking to him?” He looks me over briefly. “Well. I guess ‘talking’ is the wrong word. I told you, fuck him. He abandoned you, Knives,” he says, sounding more serious now. “It’s his fault you had to room with a lowlife like me for five years during our state-mandated vacation.”

“If I had a fucking choice, I would not be talking to him,” I say with a growl. “New Bristol is one of the largest fucking cities in the country, but somehow we both ended up working for the same fucking organization. And now the boss wants us to work on a project together.” I clench my fists in anger. “Like he fucking thinks this is going to fix our issues.”

I’ve been doing more than talking to Maddox though. The fucking is incidental though. Just me putting him in his place.

Maddox might have said he didn’t want me to touch him anymore, but I don’t give a damn about what he wants. Besides, I know better.

“Damn,” Thunder says, and he actually sounds sympathetic. “Your boss sounds like a real sadistic cunt for that. Does he know you have a history?”

“I don’t fucking know. I mean, I’ve made it clear I don’t like him.” I sit back, trying not to let the anger overtake me again. “I don’t know how often I can warn them that Maddox is an unreliable asshole. Nobody believes me.”

Thunder shakes his head. “Yeah, well. They’ll learn at the worst possible moment, I guess.” He gulps the rest of his soda down, setting the empty glass back on the table. “In the meantime, that sucks, man.”

It’s always amazing to me how much Thunder manages to eat. He’d complained constantly about how hungry he was back in prison; only after we’d both been released did I get to see why.

“Anything going on in your life?” I ask, content with my single plate of food. “Tell me something more interesting than this shit I’m dealing with.”

The waitress brings him another soda, and he nods to her before turning back to me with a wolfish smile. “Got a new boyfriend,” he says, obviously trying for modest and failing miserably.

“Don’t you already have one?” I ask, arching a brow.

“Yep. And?” he asks, giving me a look that dares me to judge his love—or sex—life.

I try to imagine having more than even one lover, and that’s another thing I can’t fathom about him. If I’m with someone, they’d be the only person I would think about. I’d want to be the only one in their life, too. I wouldn’t be able to handle watching, or even knowing, that they’re fucking somebody else, letting another man whip them, getting dominated by some fucking nobody loser who can’t even hold a whip properly?—

I break that train of thought and scowl. “That’s great. Dunno how you find the time to fuck two people all at once.”

Thunder laughs. “Not always all at once! Sometimes they do their own thing. Sometimes I just watch. But this new one… god, he’s such a sweet little thing. Small. I didn’t think I’d like ‘em small, but something about his blowjob lips…”

“Guess it’s the blowjob lips that does it, then,” I point out. Fuck, I’m supposed to be happy for him, not start wallowing in more misery.

Thunder seems to pick up on my mood. “Clearly you aren’t getting laid enough. When’s the last time you had sex?”

“Last night,” I blurt out with irritation—and realize a second too late exactly what I’ve admitted.

“Last night?” Thunder repeats. “Was that before or after you got beaten by Maddox?”

“After,” I mutter. “Never mind. It wasn’t very good. Just a parking lot fuck.”

“A parking lot fuck with who?” he asks suspiciously, though from the look on his face, he already knows the answer.

“Look, he was…” I scratch at my beard, feeling angry and awkward. “He was being needy. Sort of in subspace, sort of not, and we were both high on adrenaline from the fight, and…”

Thunder’s eyes narrow. “Well, you just complicated everything in your life,” he says. He regards me for a moment, then asks slowly, “Was that the first time you two fucked since… you know?”

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