Damaged and the Beast (Damaged #1)

“No, I just thought it was cute.”


“Cute?” he said, kissing me quickly before sighing dramatically. “It’s like pulling teeth with you.”

Laughing behind my hand, I followed him out to his motorcycle. “I like to think I’m hot enough that I don’t need to flirt well.”

“Do you? Fortunately, I agree. In fact, this time when you walk in front of me and think I’m checking out your ass, it’ll be true.”

“Cooper, you have such a way with words. A real poet.”

“Don’t I know it,” he said, sliding on his bike. “Hey, we’re meeting my sister, brother, and his girl over at Whiskey Kirk’s.”

“Can I go into a bar if I’m underage?”

“Listen up, nerd,” he said, glancing over his shoulder while I wrapped myself against his back. “Man, you feel good like that.”

“Your huge brain is working at a wavelength I don’t understand. Repeat what you just said in a dumb way so I’ll understand what my being a nerd has to do with you liking this,” I said, wiggling my hips against him before raking his back with my breasts.

After giving me a groan followed by a naughty grin, Cooper sighed. “I can’t even remember what the hell we were talking about,” he said, wrapping my arms tighter around him. “Oh, yeah, you being a nerd. So don’t worry about getting carded. The Kirk in Whiskey Kirk’s is my pop and he doesn’t care if you get wasted. He doesn’t believe in laws.”

“I’m not drinking.”

“Farah, you need to relax and enjoy life.”

“I come from a long line of drunks and addicts, so I’m not relaxing and enjoying life if it means I become like my loser relatives.”

Cooper glanced back at me and smiled. “Did you take a shower before I showed up because you’re hella feisty?”

“Do they have good food at this bar?” I asked, ignoring his question.

“Burgers, hot wings, only the best bar food in Kentucky. You just keep holding on while I see if I can concentrate with your tits pushed up against me like that.”

“I had them pushed up the other night and you concentrated fine.”

“That’s because you were wearing your uniform and I forgot you had tits. No forgetting today.”

“If you ever want to be friends with them, you really need to stop calling them tits. They don’t like that.”

“Yes, mam,” he said, laughing as he pushed off and drove away from the apartment.

Resting my cheek on his back, I really loved the feel of him. I felt happy too. Like maybe I wasn’t a stranger in a new place, but a resident of this town. I wanted to be someone people recognized and waved at on the street. I’d never had that before, but I might enjoy it in Ellsberg.

Cooper pulled into the parking lot of Whiskey Kirk’s and parked next to another Harley and a red SUV sporting the vanity plate, “PrncsBtch.”

Once I was off the motorcycle, I fixed my hair. Cooper immediately messed it back up when he pulled me against him and glued our mouths together. His fingers slithered into my hair, caressing my scalp as his tongue and mine danced to the music playing in the parking lot. As Kid Rock serenaded us, one of Cooper’s hands left my hair and cupped my butt.

“Hell, boy, you gunna fuck her right here in front of your little sis?” Tucker hollered, flicking away a cigarette. “Not that I blame you. I remember when I met Maddy and couldn’t wait to get inside her.”

Cooper let me go and blew upward so his hair fluttered out of his eyes. He gave me a smile then glanced at his brother.

“You’re creeping out my girl,” Cooper said.

“Your girl, huh?” Tucker gave me the once over. “She’s sure hotter out of the Denny’s getup.”

“Fuck Tuck,” Cooper growled. “Go leer at your girl.”

“She’s in the bathroom puking. Turns out that morning sickness thing is real.”

I wasn’t sure what my face did, but Cooper and Tucker looked at me and laughed.

“What?”

Cooper made an “O” with his lips then smiled. “You can’t know how hot you look when you do that.”

“His girlfriend is pregnant?”

Cooper finally removed his hand from my butt and got off the Harley. “Yep. Tucker screwed around with her pills and got her preggo so she’d stay with him.”

“She was gonna stay with me anyway,” Tucker announced really loudly like maybe he was deaf. “Besides, she was always saying she wanted to be a young mom so I did her a favor.”

After rolling his eyes at his brother, Cooper glanced down at me and smiled. “I told you he was a turd.”

“How old is she?” I asked as Cooper took my hand and walked towards the front doors.

“Nineteen. Same as Tucker. They’ll be awful parents and my mom will end up raising the kid. Just a big old crash and burn waiting to happen.”

“I get those shots,” I said to him with my most serious expression.