Damaged and the Outlaw (Damaged #4)

After a short dozing nap, we ate soup in the family room.

“I like this place. It’s quiet and smells like you.”

“You really dig that body spray, don’t you?”

“Yeah because it makes me think of you.”

Vaughn smiled. “When this Devils shit gets dealt with, you and I can spend weekends out here.”

“Bring our kids out to teach them about the quiet.”

Smile fading, Vaughn studied me. “I want a family, Raven. A real family with all the boring crap most guys don’t like. I miss that closeness. We don’t have to start right away, but I really want kids. They scare Judd, but I like the little stink machines.”

Crawling closer, I kissed his bare shoulder. “I like them too.”

Vaughn opened his mouth to say something then changed his mind. I figured he was worried about jinxing things or maybe he was just getting used to being in love. Kids could wait.

We washed the dishes and prepared to leave. I was about to tease Vaughn about his choice of soups when a bullet tore through the window and landed between us.

Vaughn moved so fast I never had time to react. He pushed me down as a second shot whipped past. I stared up at him as his face hardened and the killer in the man I loved came to the surface.

“The fucker is going to open fire,” he said, getting onto his knees and turning me around. “Crawl towards the hallway.”

Before he finished his sentence, the shooter let loose with dozens of shots, destroying the front windows. As glass shattered nearby, we crawled into the hallway where he opened a closet and pushed me inside.

The closet held his weapons locker. Vaughn grabbed a handgun and gave it to me. Then, he took a rifle from the back.

“Stay in here. Don’t come out.”

“Vaughn,” I said, wanting him to join me.

“I’m not letting that fucker come in here. I’ll protect you.”

“Stay with me. We can both be safe.”

“Until he sets the cabin on fire,” Vaughn said calmly while checking his rifle. “He won’t come in looking for us. The guy might shoot for shit, but he’s not dumb enough to think he would be safe walking in here. No, he’ll burn it down and shoot whoever comes running out.”

“Please,” I whimpered.

Vaughn leaned forward and kissed me softly. “Do you trust me?” When I nodded, he caressed my lower lip. “This is what I do. Let me save my woman, okay?”

Nodding again, I wanted so badly to force him to stay with me. We could hide or wait for help. I knew they were both stupid ideas, but as he shut the door to the closet, I was certain I would never see him again.

I held the gun and waited. Outside the closet, I heard more fast shots followed by silence. The shooter would pause before letting loose again. My mind imagined Vaughn dead a million times.

Rocking myself, I thought back to when I saw Phoenix floating in the pool. I ran towards him and jumped in, all while thinking about how he would be okay. As I pulled him from the water, I begged God to save my little brother.

“Please, don’t take him,” I had said again and again as I tried to get Phoenix to breathe.

Kneeling next to me, Lark had wept and held her doll. Our idiot stepfather called for an ambulance once our screams woke him from his hung-over nap. Giving Phoenix mouth-to-mouth like I saw on TV, I tried to get him to breathe. All the while, I begged God not to take him.

As I waited for Vaughn to return, I begged God again. “Please, don’t take him,” I whispered over and over. The silence outside the closet taunted me. Was Vaughn dead? Would the cabin burn to the ground with me in it? I didn’t care if I died. Not if Vaughn was gone. Not if God took him from me like He’d taken Phoenix.

After an eternity, the door opened and I looked up to find Vaughn unharmed. He held out a hand to me and I took it immediately. Once he pulled me up, I grabbed at him, needing to know he was real and unharmed.

Vaughn cupped my face and studied my panicked gaze. “You still in this with me?” he asked and I heard fear in his voice.

“Till the end,” I said, meaning every word. “He didn’t take you.”

Smiling, Vaughn kissed me. First slowly, tasting and savoring. Soon, the kiss was nearly frantic, hungry and possessing. We were together and he was claiming me. Not just me, but a future. If the Devils wanted a war, Vaughn was ready to give them one.





Chapter Twenty Two – Vaughn


Before he became my mentor, Stinky lost his wife and baby son in a car accident one stormy night. The grief was so unbearable he literally drank himself to death. Even though the doctors resuscitated him, some guys in the club said Stinky never really came back. He was a shell of a man.