Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)

 

 

“Money and weapons. I can bring the guys. Once we’ve removed the moonshiners, we’ll need funds to build our organization and fend off anyone thinking of messing with us. It could take a year before we can expand further into Kentucky. By then, I’d have my club together. Once we have a strong base, we can push out and take more territory.”

 

“And you just came up with all this since you got a kid coming?”

 

“I’ve always thought about stuff, but the Vandals don’t have the organization to make those kinds of moves.”

 

Arlo was interested in my idea, but he didn’t trust anyone and needed to poke at me before agreeing.

 

“I thought clubs were about loyalty to your brothers.”

 

Arlo’s dark eyes made me feel like a fucking chump. I wondered what my dark eyes made him feel.

 

“I joined the Vandals because I knew one fucking guy. He’s dead now. What do I care about loyalty to a group of kids playing tough guys?”

 

To make me squirm, Arlo ate the rest of his meal before talking about my plan again.

 

“I’ll back you, but if you’re underestimating these moonshiners, it’ll be your ass. I won’t send reinforcements. I’m not investing my reputation in this scheme. Money and weapons, I can recoup. A damaged image never goes away.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

Arlo leaned back in his chair and yawned. “I don’t see you doing daddy duty, Kirk.”

 

“And I never saw you being a badass when we met back in juvie. Shit, didn’t you cry the first day?”

 

Grinning, Arlo nodded. “Yes, I did. Point made. I wish you the best of luck with the family man routine. Is your kid’s mother okay with you wiping out moonshiners to get her a new zip code?”

 

I wiped my mouth. “My woman is mine so you know she’s got balls of steel.”

 

Arlo laughed, and the mood shifted to talking about sports. That was that. He would back me unless I fucked up. Then I was on my own. Fortunately, I didn’t plan to fuck up.

 

 

 

 

 

16 - Jodi

 

 

I cried like a fucking baby when Kirk told me he was leaving town for a few weeks. The hormones made me weaker than usual, but the idea of him never returning was the real reason for my blubbering.

 

I was terrified of giving birth and raising a baby. I still needed to get my GED and learn how to be a mom. All of my plans felt possible with Kirk at my side. Except I would be on my own until he returned.

 

“This place is pretty as fuck,” Kirk told me the day before he left.

 

We rested in bed while he teased the stretched flesh of my swollen gut. I managed to get through the first half of my pregnancy without puking or nausea. I only wanted to eat all day and hide in the apartment. The hormones made me paranoid, and I was fairly sure the homeless man across the street was working for the CIA.

 

“Ellsberg is quiet,” Kirk said, painting a picture of our future home.

 

“Chesterfield has quiet parts.”

 

“No, it really doesn’t. I live in the nicest part, and it’s a fucking shithole.”

 

I thought of the homeless CIA agent and figured Kirk had a point.

 

“What if you don’t come back?”

 

“I know what I’m doing. I have it planned out up here,” he said, tapping his big, beautiful head.

 

“Things can happen.”

 

“Things can happen if I’m here too.”

 

I only grunted because being alone in Chesterfield for weeks sounded like the worst thing ever.

 

“It’s not too far from here. I can visit while I’m putting things together in Ellsberg.”

 

“Ellsberg sounds like a loser town,” I said, pouting despite knowing I was making shit harder on Kirk.

 

“It has a small college where you can take courses. It’s a nice school too, not like the crappy community college here.”

 

I imagined myself on the campus of a real college, and my worries settled slightly.

 

“Colleges probably have nice libraries,” I said while putting my pout in neutral.

 

“I bet it does.”

 

“Do you think the schools will be good enough for our baby?”

 

“Way better than here. Safer too.”

 

“Can we have a yard?”

 

“Hell yeah,” he said, smiling at how I was coming around. “Our boy is going to need space for him and his dogs.”

 

“Dogs? Now there’s more than one?”

 

“Sure. I always wanted a dog, but I ain’t taking it for a walk like Missus Glibber downstairs. I want a yard for us and our kids.”

 

Smiling easier now, I rested my hand on my stomach next to his.

 

“I like the idea of our baby growing up somewhere nice, but I like the idea of you staying here with me better.”

 

“I’ll call you every night before bed. I’ll visit whenever I have a chance. And Jodi,” he said, pressing his forehead against mine. “I will return to take you and our kid to Ellsberg.”

 

“Do you promise you’ll be as vicious as you need to be, so you’ll come back to me?”

 

Kirk’s expression shifted, and I saw the killer hidden inside the man I loved.