Damaged and the Beast (Damaged #1)

“Dad’s an idiot. You need to find a weapon and keep it with you. I’m asking Cooper for help. He’s smart and he knows people and he’ll find and save you.” Again, Tawny said nothing so I did. “When was the last time Dad was around?”


“Yesterday. He didn’t get the money he needed and he can’t pay for the room much longer,” Tawny said then I heard her crying. “He said I’m lazy and I need to get a job. I told him I asked at the convenience store, but they’re not hiring. He said I need to walk my fat ass to town then he threw a beer bottle at me. He’s freaking out, Farah. He’s mad that you left and we don’t have money and he says I eat too much. I’m only eating once a day and it’s junk food. I haven’t eaten anything warm in two weeks, but he’s still mad. Now, he’s gone and I don’t know if he’ll come back?”

Crying now, I imagined my father the way he really was and not how I pretended. While he was nicer and more reliable than my mom, he was still a raging asshole. Mom might have left us with those bastards that day, but Dad was the one who put a target on our family. He was the one who brought trouble to our door. My parents could both fucking die for all I cared. I just wanted Tawny safe.

After reassuring Tawny, I called Cooper. God bless him for understanding anything I said over my sobbing. He listened then said he’d handle it. No ifs, no maybes. He was handling the problem and I instantly felt like it would be okay. Cooper Johansson was on the job and the damsel trapped in a shithole in Texas would be saved.

Before I hung up with him to call Tawny back, I told Cooper I loved him. Unlike his reaction to my panicked plea, he sounded so fragile when saying he loved me too. I knew he needed as much reassurance as Tawny so I ended the call with, “this weekend,” and he exhaled like it was all he had to hear.

Friday flew by, but I felt Cooper’s absence. I had plans to call Cooper after a trip to the grocery store. When the phone rang, I hoped it might be him. Once I hung up the phone, I stared at the wall and tried to process what the woman from the bank told me. While I wished it to be a bad dream, my nightmares weren’t like this.

My nest egg was gone. When I bought a book for class earlier, I used my card. The payment went through, pushing me five dollars over what was left in the account. Somehow, in the last few weeks, the money I saved for three years dropped from nearly eight thousand to a measly thirty dollars. I’d used up the rest and the only reason the charge cleared was because the overture was transferred to my credit card. A card I never intended to use unless for an emergency. I would never need the card, I told myself when signing for it. I would never be stupid enough to waste all of my money. Maybe I wouldn’t, but I knew who would.

If my mother had come home later, things might have turned out differently. Had she gone out to dinner with Tex instead of arriving home at that moment, I might have never confronted her. I wasn’t sure if fate was on my side or out to get me, but a few minutes after I hung up, the door opened and my laughing mother entered.

Amy saw me and showed not a hint of concern for what she did to me or what I might do when I learned she stole my money. In fact, she ignored me like usual and walked to the kitchen.

“I’m moving out,” I said quietly, instead of screaming like I wanted. “I won’t have the rent.”

My mother reacted like I expected. “That’s not acceptable. I can’t pay for this fucking place by myself.”

“Didn’t you save any of the money you stole from my account?”

“Wait now,” Tex said, standing between us. “Stole is such a legal word. Borrowed is more like it. No one stole nothing.”

“Like the bitch plans to pay me back. Like she could with her shitty job.”

“Fuck you!” Mom screamed, storming from the kitchen. “Ungrateful little cunt!”

“Ungrateful? You fucked over me and Tawny years ago and you’re doing it again. You stole my money!”

“Let’s just calm down,” Tex said, blocking Amy who looked ready to tear me apart. I truly hoped she made a move so I could claim self-defense. Meanwhile, Tex tried to play the voice of reason. “See, your mom had some bills to pay and she planned to give back the money.”

“Bullshit! You used it to go to the fucking casino! You wasted all my school money so you could party, you fucking losers!”

“I wasn’t giving it back,” Mom sneered. “You think you’re special because you attend some shit school? Or because you got some rich guy interested in you? He’s probably just impressed by all the skills you learned from those bikers.”

Five years of rage erupted as I ran at her, but Amy ducked and Tex shoved me to the ground.

“I don’t give a shit what you think Amy’s done,” he said, hands out as if to reason with me. “You never hit your mom. That just ain’t right.”

“You selfish bitch!” I screamed, jumping back up. “You let them take us to save your fucking ring!”