Damaged and the Knight (Damaged #2)

Laughing quietly, she stroked my head for another five minutes. We often cuddled when life was ugly and the warmth of our embrace made the world bearable. Soon, my dark mood faded until I felt more like myself.

Sitting up, I smiled. “I’m staying at Judd’s again tonight. He doesn’t usually have people at his place, but he brought me there and he doesn’t want me to leave yet.”

Farah brushed my hair behind my ears and kissed my cheek. “I want you to feel proud of yourself. Judd isn’t an easy man and a lot of girls wouldn’t have given him another chance. They would have been too afraid. I know I would have, but you took a chance. You were brave and you should remember that when the dark feeling comes back.”

Sliding off the bed, we glanced at the closed door. “It gets loud with the Johanssons, but we’re safe here.”

Proving the loud part, the party exploded with laughter and hollering. We walked out to the family room where a few guys were wrestling on the ground. Apparently, the winner got a date with Bailey. Soon, Judd and Cooper appeared to take us to separate quiet areas.

“Feel better, angel?” Judd asked as we ate barbecued ribs on a back deck away from the others.

“Yes, thank you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me sometimes.”

Again, Judd looked ready to say something then decided against it. Instead, he just shrugged. “Let’s clock in another half hour at this thing then head back to my place. I’ve never enjoyed a beautiful girl in a hot tub before. I really should check that off my bucket list.”

“Hell yeah, you should. Wait, is that sanitary?”

“Babe, our biggest concern will be the audience.”

Laughing, I thought about Judd’s neighbors. The few who saw us in the hall were already treating me like part of the building. I was Judd’s girl, they said, introducing me to their friends. The women looked so happy for the good looking young man to finally find someone special. Judd just stared like he wasn’t listening, but I knew he had a soft spot for the older ladies in the buildings. He wasn’t quite the cold jerk he showed to the world. That was how he ended up with Pearl after all.





Chapter Nineteen


As per our new routine, Judd would pick me up after my shift and we’d spend the night together. We’d only been dating for a week, but I quickly grew to anticipate his face appearing as my shift came to an end. When it was time for me to leave work on Tuesday though, Judd didn’t appear. Instead, it was one of Cooper’s guys.

“You want to ride in my truck or have me follow your busses home?” Pete asked, scratching at his shaved head.

“Where’s Judd?”

“Didn’t he tell ya? He left town on a job. Don’t know when he’ll be back. Don’t know nothing about what he’s doin’. Just know I gotta make sure you get home safe. Cooper’s orders. Let’s go.”

I chose to have Pete follow my busses home because he was irritating me and I knew it would irritate him to waste nearly forty minutes behind my busses. I didn’t even wave at him when I arrived at my place. Why pretend I wasn’t disappointed that Judd hadn’t come to get me? Or hurt by how he hadn’t texted or called?

“He probably had to leave fast,” Farah said on the phone when I whined to her. “Cooper has some kind of issues, but he won’t really tell me what. I just know someone is messing with the business and he needed Judd to look into it. Vaughn went too, so it must be somewhere nearby. I got the impression Vaughn couldn’t travel out of the immediate Johansson territory.”

“I’ll text him and let him know I miss him. Maybe he’ll call when he gets where he’s going?”

“I’m sure he will,” Farah said full of conviction.

Farah’s certainty didn’t pan out.

Judd didn’t call or text that evening or the next morning. I spent the next day pretending like my mind wasn’t forever on my phone. When Farah and I had lunch, I smiled, but my heart hurt more and more. Every hour without word from Judd pushed me into a darker mood.

By the third day, I had a pit of depression in my gut and it was spreading. I didn’t understand why he hadn’t contacted me when I knew he had sent word to Cooper? Why would Judd ignore me?

“Men suck. It’s their balls,” Bailey said, driving Lark and me to a frat party that evening. “I think some kind of toxin is released from their sac and it makes them fucking stupid and mean. Can’t be helped, I guess.”

Lark grinned at Bailey’s comment, but I knew how tender Judd could be. How concerned with my happiness he was when he cared. Did he not care anymore?

“Perk up, Tawny,” Bailey added as we parked in front of a huge yellow house with Brad Paisley blaring from the open windows. “You can be my wingchick and help me find a guy to hump.”

“Romance is your middle name.”

Bailey snorted. “Romance is for suckers.”

“I would love to find a guy to romance me,” Lark said, climbing out of the SUV. “Man, it’s cold. Why would they have the windows open?”