Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)

 

 

“And your mama was such a fucking prize?”

 

“No, she’s a doormat married to a wife beater.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

The guy shrugged. “You didn’t introduce them.”

 

“I might have. I’m a busy person.”

 

He grinned really nice at me. I suspected this was the same smile he used on people he planned to kill. I bet he told them it wouldn’t hurt too much. Did he have them close their eyes and think of Jesus too?

 

“Jodi Sears,” I said, giving him a little with the hope he didn’t take everything.

 

“I’m Kirk Johansson,” he said, handing me a card with only a phone number on it. “That’s my beeper number. Next time you have issues with those guys, you contact me. No more vigilante shit, okay, kid?”

 

“Not if you keep calling me ‘kid’ when I asked you to stop.”

 

“You didn’t ask, kid. You told me what the fuck to say, and I don’t get bossed around by bitchy women.”

 

I glared at him again. “Give me back my bat.”

 

“Say please.”

 

A moment passed between us. He was the big shit killer capable of making me disappear. Hell, he could make my entire family disappear. I was nothing and nobody. I had no power to do anything to him. Yet I didn’t back down. For whatever reason, I couldn’t let him win this battle. I was willing to consider it a tie.

 

“Please give me back my bat.”

 

Kirk handed me the bat, and I knew he was waiting to see if I swung it at him. I didn’t, of course. My stupidity faded the moment my temper did.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Nice manners. Now get inside and put on some clothes before a pervert gets any ideas about you.”

 

“Anything else?” I growled.

 

“Yeah, don’t be stupid. I’m serious about you asking me for help next time.”

 

Realizing he hadn’t called me “kid,” I considered this a win. Kirk might have realized it too because I saw him second-guessing his decision. Had he been too nice to the crazy, bat-wielding bitch?

 

Before he changed his mind about our truce, I turned around and hurried inside. Despite every urge, I didn’t look back at Kirk. Even so, I prayed that wouldn’t be the last time I ran into the sexy beast.

 

 

 

 

 

2 - Jodi

 

 

My neighbor and occasional friend Kristi always wanted to make her boyfriend jealous. This time around, her brilliant idea was to talk up the bikers hanging out around the Bounce House strip club down the road. When she told me her plan, I found two reasons to go with her. The first was Kristi would likely end up in deep shit from either messing with the bikers or her slap-happy boyfriend finding out. The second reason was I might see Kirk after weeks of thinking about him.

 

Kristi wore an AC/DC t-shirt and a short denim skirt showing off her long, pale legs. I knew she was tempting trouble. Like my mom, she would never make smart decisions. Some women refused to grow a brain. I might have been one of those women, considering how excited I was to see Kirk.

 

We arrived at the stripper bar and found several bikers hanging around outside. Kristi batted her eyes for a few and then giggled when they waved her over. Wearing loose blue jeans and a Guns N’ Roses shirt, I crossed my arms and played the good girl. Even if all I wanted to do was to be bad with one particular bad man.

 

On the bar’s house-style porch, Kirk sat in a chair. One of his legs rested on the railing while he used the other to rock the chair. I thought about pretending I didn’t recognize him. I told myself he didn’t want to talk to me anyway. Might as well keep my mouth shut and eyes forward. I didn’t need this kind of trouble.

 

Except I hadn’t stopped thinking of Kirk since that day. His card was hidden in a rotted hole of my bed frame. Every night, I caressed the spot and remembered Kirk’s dark eyes on me. Kirk called me kid, but he looked at me as if I were a strong woman. I’d liked his gaze on me, and I ached to feel it again.

 

Even terrified, I stepped onto the porch and faced him. The other biker sitting nearby scowled at me, but Kirk was the only one I cared about. He continued rocking his chair as I approached.

 

“Took you awhile to figure out whether I was worth your time,” he said once I told him hello.

 

“I like to consider all my options.”

 

My words reeked of confidence, yet my voice betrayed me by trembling. I was normally pretty good at faking bravado. My temper helped, but I wasn’t angry. I was terrified of Kirk and how I couldn’t stop thinking about him. His desire could rip me open. His indifference would most definitely destroy me. This bad man held my future in his hands, leaving me every reason to be frightened.

 

Kirk stopped pushing off the floor and dropped his leg. He sat up slowly, calculatingly, and I felt the urge to back away. I was tougher than some girls. I could handle shit others buckled under. I rarely flinched at the ugliness around me. None of that prepared me to face a man like Kirk.