Trouble in a Tank Top

"Ande, baby, what are you doing?"

Ande looked up from the cube of colorful squares with a pout prominent on her lips.

"Tony, this is so hard. How do I solve it?"

Tony laughs, rubbing a small hand towel through his still damp hair, and sits down beside his girlfriend. He wraps an arm around her and kisses her cheek before taking the cube from her hands. She found it sitting on the coffee table he had in front of his soft leather couch, already solved. Tony deduced that she must have mixed it up while he was taking a shower and tried to solve it.

"How long have you been working on it?"

Ande ducked her head as she started to pout again.

"Since you got in the shower," she mumbles. That was over twenty minutes ago. Tony laughs again before he shakes his head.

"Watch this."

Before her very eyes, Tony's tattooed fingers began to move across the cube, twisting and swapping the squares around until all the colors on the six different sides matched up. Ande is completely amazed, shocked into stillness, but it, but Tony just frowns to himself. He's getting rusty.

"That took a lot longer than usual."

Ande simply stares at him.

"That took longer than usual?"

Tony nods and drops the cube back onto the table, only to grab the remote to the television to take its place. Ande punches him shoulder.

"You little smart ass! You've been holding out on me!"

Tony just laughs and rubs his shoulder, being careful when he rubs the sore area she wounded with her fist.

"What are you talking about, babe? I'm not smart, I'm just good at solving things. My high school grades show that."

Ande just watches him; watches his chest move as he breathes, watches his eyes dilate and move as he watched the television, watches as his knee bounces and his thumb rubs circles on her arm. He looks over at her, feeling her dark eyes on him, and raises a dark eyebrow. Ande just smiles, letting her hand come up to softly caress his cheek.

"There's a difference between making good grades in school and being smart, Tony, baby."

She kisses him, and Tony doesn't reject the shower of affection she gives him. Somehow, Ande finds herself straddling his lap, the television in the background as droning noise so they don't sit in silence. Their chests are heaving for air but their lips can't part in fear of never touching again. Ande's throat lets loose a small, muffled moan when Tony's hand find their way slipping under her shirt, creeping up her spine to find the clasp of her bra. Ande doesn't stop him, she just arches her back to bring her body closer to his, feeling his warm chest.

His phone begins to ring just as Tony undoes the clasp.

“Ignore it,” Ande whispers against his lips. Tony groans and wishes he could, but it’s Vic’s ringtone and Vic knows to never call when Tony is spending time with Ande. The phone stops ringing for five seconds but starts right back up, sounding angrier than it did the first time.

Tony breaks their kiss and pulls it out of his pocket. “What?”

His eyes stay on Ande, watching as she bites her kiss-swollen lips and plays with her dark hair. Tony holds in a groan as he listens to Vic talk about their next meeting. He couldn't really care any less at the moment seeing as he had a woman sitting in his lap that was being too damn sexy to handle.

“Vic,” Tony says, interrupting the older male. His friend would understand his tone of voice. “I’m going to have to call you back, okay? Ande and I are kind of… busy.”

Ande giggles. Tony listens to Vic stammer out an apology on the other side before hanging up. He drops the phone onto the couch beside him, and lunges forward to capture Ande’s lips with his again. She lets out a soft moan against his lips. Tony pulls her higher into his lap, gripping the curve of her ass with the palms of his hands.

They both feel the shiver of pleasure they get from the denim of their jeans rubbing together as Ande grinds down into Tony. His hands squeeze, feeling the roundness of her ass, and it causes Ande to gasp in surprise. Ande pulls her lips away and stares at him, letting her eyes show just how much lust she had drowning her body.

Tony had never seen Ande life this before. This was not the sweet, innocent, lovable Ande he had seen outside the bank that day and chased after in the diner for a month until he grew the courage to eat lunch with her and ask her on a date. Tony liked seeing this Ande, but he loved the one he originally met.

SURVIVE

Ande smiles over the edge of a cup of coffee, watching as the steam that curls up mixes with the picture she’s watching play out before her. Tony is leaning over the draft table with the rest of the guys, nursing a nasty hangover. The girls are sitting on the pretty white couch to the left of Ande, talking carelessly about something to pass the time.

Tony looks up and sighs, stepping back from the bright light. He and Ande make eye contact, two pairs of brown eyes shining brightly the other. Tony breaks out in an adorable grin, causing Ande to do the same since his smile was so infectious. The girls stop talking as they notice the couple.

“Hey Ande!”

The brunette looks away from her lover and to Jessica and Frenchi. Frenchi nudges her friend, finding it rude that Jessica interrupted the lovers’ moment. Tony looked away from Ande and back to the plans they had been working on.

“Yeah?” Ande says softly, sipping her sweetened coffee.

“Are you adjusting okay?” Jessica asks. Ande knows she means well, but she can only handle the sweet smiles for so long.

“I’m getting there. I just got use to Mrs. Perry’s house, and then I’m dropped off at Jaxin’s and now I’m here. It’s a lot of take in.”

Jess nods and smiles, but looks to Frenchi in need of help to keep the conversation going. Frenchi gives her a pointed look, but speaks to Ande nonetheless.

“You wanna go for a dip in the pool?”

Ande’s eyes widen.

“There’s a pool?”

Jess and Frenchi take her reply as a “yes” to Frenchi’s question.

Ande frowned suddenly and sighed before drinking the last few swallows of her coffee. "I don't have a swim suit."

"You're about a size eight, right?" Frenchi asks, unfolding her legs out from under her and standing up. Ande nods slowly. "I had a feeling. I have something you can use. I worked in retail for years, I'm good at guesstimating sizes." Ande's unspoken question is answered with a simple answer. Jess follows her friend and stands up also, waiting for Ande to follow the two up the stairs to the upper floor of the house. Tony watches with a bit of fear in his eyes, hoping that Ande will adapt well and befriend the other guys' girls.

"Tony," Casey says, grabbing his attention. Tony looks at him. "She'll be okay."

Tony sighs, "I hope you're right."

Up in the room that Frenchi and Mike shared while on their stay at the cabin hideout, Jessica sits on the edge of the bed as Frenchi digs for the swimsuit that see knows will fit Ande. The brunette stands off to the side, watching them, feeling a bit nervous now since she knows more than likely it's going to be a-

"Ah ha! Here ya go," Frenchi exclaims to herself before handing over a simple white bikini with a small red rose on the left hip of the bottoms. Ande sighs and shakes her head.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Thank you though. I'll sit on the edge and talk with you," Ande tries to compromise but Frenchi is having none of that.

"No, put the bikini on and come swim with us! Please? For at least an hour?"

Ande wraps her arms around her stomach and stares at the two piece for awhile. She was never very comfortable with anything that should her stomach, and yesterday, when Tony had seen her at her most vulnerable time, if he had seen her scar then he didn't say anything. Or would he say something to her when they were alone later that day?

The small pout Frenchi is giving her finally makes Ande break. She takes the bikini from her and goes into the adjacent bathroom to change. Ande pulls on the smooth, white fabric and stares at the nasty scar that healed horribly. She rubs finger over the rugged edges - even though it doesn't hurt she still remembers the pain.

Oh the horrible, unbearable pain...

Ande pulls her shirt back over her body and it comes just low enough to fall to the top of her thighs. It's the perfect length for her to hide the scar until she can pull it off and jump into the pool. Jessica and Frenchi are already changed with a soft towel hanging from their arms. Jessica hands one of them to Ande, wearing a warm smile. Ande returns it and nods. The girls walk back downstairs to only find the their men lazing on the couch, drinking a bottle of beer. Or, in Tony's case, a cool bottle of water.

Jessica and Frenchi send cute, flirty winks to their men, getting grins and lustful looks in return as they open a door and walk down another long flight of stairs. Ande smiles at Tony before going over to him to press a kiss to his cheek. He grins and drinks from his water bottle. Ande then follows the two women down the stairs, closing the door behind her. Faint lights make the stairs easy seen so not to miss and step and go tumbling down.

The walk was only a minute at the most, but the basement underground-pool was what amazed Ande the most. The lights under the water shown through to the ceiling and then the rest of the wide, open room. There was a soft, blue light casting over the chairs and tables beside the pool.

"This is one hell of a cabin," Ande muttered, causing Frenchi, who was walking in front of her, to chuckle.

"The guys have used this place more than this once. I was the same way when I first found out. Now, I look forward to coming here. It's a very nice getaway. I wish the guys would just live here for the rest of their lives. Us girls can always go into town if they need anything."

Ande is surprised at just how comfortable Frenchi is talking about the guys' lives as criminals.

"Hey, Jessica?"

The Latina looks over at Ande and hums in acknowledgement at her, giving her a soft smile as she sets her towel down on one of the beach chairs.

"You've been with Jaime since high school. How did... how did they get into this life?"

Jessica is quiet as she looks to Frenchi for help of how to answer the question. Jessica sighs when she sees Frenchi's look.

"That is a story that Tony should tell you."

The girls say nothing. Frenchi and Jess easily slip into the pool, but Ande finds herself too shy to take the risk of showing her scar and just sits on the edge, kicking her legs back and forth. The two other women look at Ande but leave her be, just cruising around the warm waters, relaxing and just doing the simplest of movements.

Ande watches them; watches the blue ripples of the pool reflect on the ceiling. Her eyes follow one of the one light beams and they slowly fall onto a still, white net hammock. She stares at it, trying to figure out if she's really seeing it or if this is all a big trick played on her by her imagination.

But it's truly there. Ande is memorized by it, and soon finds herself climbing into the comfortable hold, curling up with her arms hugging her knees and her chin tucked into her chest. She doesn't hear the girls leave, or the door open and close twice. She doesn't hear the footsteps as sock-clad feet move toward the hammock positioned in the corner of the large room. Ande does, however, feel the heat from Tony's body as he moves the hammock slightly so he can slide in behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.

Ande doesn't move but lets Tony hug her waist and nuzzle her neck with his round nose and rub her hip bones with his thumbs through the shirt she wears.

"Tony?" Ande says, her brown eyes closed as she imagines the expressions on his face changing. "Can you tell me the story?"

"What story. baby?" He whispers, keeping his voice low for the intimate moment.

"The story of you and the guys. Why you do what you do."

There's no reply other than Tony's sigh.