Damaged and the Beast (Damaged #1)

Holding onto his forearms while he moved deeper and harder, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Cooper. His muscles flexing with every movement, I remembered when his size scared me. Now, all of his power provided me a sense of security. Cooper loved me and I was safe with him.

Knowing he was close, I teased his nipples like he did to mine. While his weren’t nearly as sensitive, it was all the help he needed as his need intensified.

“No one else,” he gasped, finally coming hard inside me. “Never anyone else again.”

“Never,” I whispered, stroking his face as his movements slowed.

Once resting together, we said nothing. What was there to say anyway? We were where we belonged and nothing could tear us apart. As if proving me wrong, the sound of approaching motorcycles tensed me out of Cooper’s arms.

“Shit,” he muttered, getting up to look outside. “It’s my pop’s friends. I forgot they come in for the fair.”

“Should I go?”

Cooper glanced back at me with a frown and looked ready to bitch before changing his mind. His frown eased as he walked towards the dresser.

“Let’s take a quick shower and get breakfast.”

Forcing myself to go to the window, I looked outside where thirty Harleys were parked in the massive driveway. Some of the bikers were women, most weren’t.

“Do you recognize any of them?” Cooper asked, throwing clothes onto his bed.

“A few from your dad’s bar.”

“But none from before?”

Turning to him, I shook my head. Cooper nodded then reached for my hand.

“There are a lot of fucking bikers in this country so I probably don’t know them. If you ever see one of those fuckers though, you tell me and I’ll make him wish for death. Do you understand?”

Nodding, I walked with him to the shower. We soaped off without any fooling around. Nervous now, I tried to hide this fact, but didn’t succeed. To avoid making my tension worse, Cooper never once got anything sexy going even though he was hard again. Seeing me wet had that effect on him.

Out of the shower, Cooper handed me his shirt to wear and I finally calmed down. I was impressed by how he thought to comfort me in such a way. In fact, he knew how to calm me better than I could calm myself now. Somewhere along the way, Cooper Johansson had become the Farah whisperer. When I told him this as we walked downstairs, he laughed so hard I thought he would fall.

“Hell yeah, I am,” he said as we joined the others.





Chapter Twenty


The big Exam Day arrived and New Hampton fell into an eerie silence. Walking to my first class, I was shocked by the tension in the air. The first big college wide tests sobered the usually wild student body. The exams were scheduled on a single day to ensure everyone showed up. They were also scheduled on a Tuesday because students like Cooper didn’t attend school on Fridays. I was still amazed by how much the administration kowtowed to certain whims.

Sitting in my first class, I wasn’t overly nervous about the exams. I only missed one day of classes and I had always been good at tests. While I didn’t necessarily expect to ace them all, I figured I should easily pass. Then, I looked at the first question and realized I might be in trouble.

By the third class, I knew I was in trouble. I would barely skate by because I really didn’t know most of the answers. How had I forgotten so much of the lessons? I took good notes and studied each day. Maybe not as much as I should have since I had work and Cooper, but I did study. Yet, I figured I’d get low C’s on the exams when I was accustomed to solid B’s.

Waiting for the last exam of the day, I wished Cooper would arrive and cheer me up. My mind raced with all of the questions from all of the exams. I had also begun second guessing my answers. Instead of Cooper, Nick appeared.

“It’s not that bad,” he said, grinning. “The tests don’t even count for much of our final grades. It’s just a thing the school does to force students to stop partying and take classes seriously. A wakeup call.”

“I sure got one,” I said softly. “Are you feeling good about your tests?”

Nick ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed loudly. “Good? No. Okay? Yeah, I guess. I’m not great at tests, but I think I remembered most things.”

“Do you think we could maybe study again like we did before? I don’t really know anyone else in most of my classes and I’m pretty sure I did bad on the tests.”

“Sure. I only have my roommate Tad to study with and the guy is drunk most days.”

I felt like being proactive helped settle my anxiety. By the time Cooper arrived looking grumpy, I wasn’t nearly as worried about the tests.

“Did your big brain let you down?” I asked as we sat in the back.

“What?” he muttered, still grumpy.

“Should I not talk to you?”

“Do you want to talk to me?” When his tone shut me up and I stared at my desk, Cooper leaned over and whispered, “Why are you always fucking talking to him?”

“Nick? He’s in most of my classes. He’s nice and he helped me study.”

“I said I would help you. I’m smarter than him. I’m also your man, unless you want that to change?”