Damaged and the Beast (Damaged #1)

“An A.”


Staring at him, I couldn’t believe he did so well when I did shit. He must have seen the horror in my eyes. Not only the shock, but the disgust in myself for doing so poorly when my excuse for failing had done well.

“I’m older,” he said, nudging me out the door and towards the quad. “I’m used to college. And in case you forgot, I don’t have a job to go to after school. Every night, when I sit there with you serving me dinner, I’m studying. Now, I’m going to get you caught up.”

Cooper stopped at a picnic table and set down the books. “We’ll study outside where it’s nice. Later, I’ll get Tuck to bring us food. We’ll get all of your work done so you can start your shift feeling good.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled, taking his hand while fighting the urge to sob in front of everyone. “I’m really behind. Like I didn’t know what we were doing today in class. I used to be good at keeping up, but I’m lost.”

“So we’ll start from the beginning of the semester and get you caught up.”

Sighing, I wiped my wet eyes and stared at the laughing students nearby. When Cooper leaned in, I realized how much I missed the feel of his breath on my skin.

“It took me a month to push you off course and it’ll take more than a day to get you caught up. Soon, you’ll be where you need to be and you’ll forgive me and we’ll be together.” His voice sounded so desperate and his gaze looked so dejected then he faked a smile. “I’m going to make sure once we’re back together that you have time to study. I want you to be a teacher like you dreamed.”

“It’s not your fault. You know that, right?” I said, feeling like I might drop from exhaustion. “I made bad choices.”

“I’m not a bad choice,” he muttered. “But I didn’t make sure you were okay. I just wanted you to have fun, but I left you no time for school.”

“It’s really not your fault.”

“It’s not your fault either.”

“How can it not be my fault?” I asked, frowning at him.

“It just can’t. I say it’s not, so it’s not. You’re too serious and you dump too much blame on yourself. You didn’t protect your sister. You don’t work hard enough. You didn’t do this or that. You aren’t perfect, but you’re perfect for me. I’m going to be perfect for you too and I’ll do that by being the best fucking tutor the world’s ever seen.”

Laughing, I looked at the books. “I can say and write hello and goodbye. That’s it.”

Cooper gave me a weird look for the slightest second and I knew he was shocked by how little I had picked up over the last month.

“I understood everything in class,” I explained. “Then later, it got all jumbled in my head.”

Giving me a nod, Cooper sat down. I joined him on the bench, careful to avoid touching, yet wanting to be in his arms so badly. Cooper missed me too. It was written all over his face.

“We’ll start at the beginning and get you caught up. It’ll be fine.”

This time when I nodded, I actually felt like I would improve my grades. Cooper kept his word about staying focused and, hell, if he wasn’t a great tutor. He spoke softly, taking his time to go over his notes from the first week. By the time Tucker and Maddy arrived with burgers, I felt like I was getting some of the early stuff. The four of us ate dinner before Cooper worked with me for another half hour. Finally, he drove me home where he waited as I dressed for work.

“I’m going to drive you each night like before,” he said as if it wasn’t up for discussion even though his gaze was worried.

“I’d like that.”

Cooper gave me a small smile then we walked out to his bike. During my break, I sat with him and he quizzed me on what we had worked on earlier.

This was our new relationship.

During the weekend, we studied at my apartment while Amy went with Tex to a casino. We talked and ate, but no fooling around. Cooper did more than help me with Spanish. He basically re-taught me everything I hadn’t picked up the first time. By the end of the weekend, I thought he was the one who would be an amazing teacher.

Once the school week started, Cooper picked me up every morning. We hung out in Spanish class and studied afterwards. We ate dinner while studying then he drove me to work. Also on Monday, a still bruised Nick returned to school and acted like nothing ever happened. He was friendly, but not too friendly. While Cooper faked like he and Nick were buddies, I knew he would find it easier to pretend if we were back together. Feeling insecure, Cooper still stood a little too close to me whenever Nick was in the vicinity.

By Wednesday, I was feeling pretty confident. As we sat on the quad studying like usual, my arm touched Cooper’s and his gaze met mine. His eyes pleaded with me for a crumb of hope.

“I have a quiz in most of my classes on Friday. I think they want to see who used last week’s wakeup call to study.”