Damaged and the Cobra

by Bijou Hunter

  “True,” he said, jumping off the dresser. “If you had let me, I would have kissed you until you forget about that tattoo thug.”

  “He’s not a thug and I don’t doubt your kissing skills. I just doubt I could ever think of you as anything more than a brother.”

  “We could try.”

  “No offense, but eww. I don’t want to kiss my brother.”

  Dylan rolled his eyes and walked out the door. “Not your brother.”

  “Still eww,” I called out to him as he disappeared down the hall.

  When I heard Dylan laugh, I finally set my book down. The feel of him on my skin creeped me out, so I washed my face then showered when that wasn’t enough. Later, as my damp hair dripped on the boring school book, I realized why Dylan’s touch bothered me. Not because he was my brother. He just wasn’t Aaron.

  Chapter Twenty Six - Aaron

  The Christmas before, Mom bought me a tiny trampoline that I was supposed to use while watching TV. When I saw the gift, I thought it was a joke, but she actually thought I would enjoy bouncing. Apparently when I told her I needed more exercise than I was getting by working so much, the trampoline was her solution.

  After putting the thing together, I stuck in the corner of my gym so Mom would think I used it. I never did, of course, and figured I’d give it away eventually. Seeing Lark bouncing on it though, I was very thankful for that trampoline.

  Painting her while she bounced nearby to The Breeders, I alternated between laughing at her enthusiasm and adjusting my shorts as a result of my enthusiasm.

  “We had a trampoline when I was a kid and I loved it.”

  “I see that. Please, don’t stop.”

  Grinning, she winked at me and bounced around in a circle. Her small breasts bounced along with her, unhampered by a bra since we’d gone straight from bed to the studio. Wearing only a pink tee and purple panties, she looked colorful, yet overdressed for my taste.

  “You’re making my butt too big in the sketch,” she said, bouncing slower now while studying my pinup version of her. “It’s not that round.”

  “As someone who had spent the last day admiring your butt, trust me that my sketch is accurate.”

  “Really? I have a nicer butt than I thought.”

  Laughing, I tried to focus, but she was really bouncing again. Once her tee came flying at me, my focus wasn’t on the painting.

  “Can you show me how to draw?” Lark asked, sliding up against me. Each time she wiggled her butt, those panties slid farther off.

  Taking her hand, I dipped those slim fingers into the dark chalk. Lark leaned against me as I guided her fingers where I had been sketching her breasts.

  “Can I make them bigger?” Lark mumbled, concentrating on the picture.

  “Only if I can touch them while you work.”

  “Sure, have at it.”

  As Lark sketched herself huge breasts then giggled about the result, I explored her delicate shoulders. When I grazed her spine with my fingers, she shivered and smiled back at me. Soon, I kneeled down behind her and removed the barely clinging panties.

  “Yes, I know this butt,” I murmured, stroking each cheek and leaving smudges of chalk behind.

  “I’m busy,” she said, now giving the sketch giant nipples. “I don’t even know how I’ll carry around these watermelons. I want to make my butt more bodacious too.”

  Lark goofed around, turning the pinup into a weird oversexed monstrosity. Having her ignoring both me and my erection wasn’t an option though, so I bit one of her cheeks gently. When she simply squirmed, yet focused on her picture, I spread open those sweet cheeks and gave her a good deep lick.

  A gasp followed by a shudder, Lark stood very still until I licked again.

  “Hey,” she murmured, melting into my arms. “I wish I could draw like you.”

  “You just need practice,” I said, resting Lark on her back. Spreading her legs, I gave a light nip to her inner thigh. “With time, you’ll be an expert.

  “Liar. I’ll never be any good. Oh, wait, are we still talking about art? If you mean the other thing, I’m already a pro. If I had those giant boobs, I bet I could charge a lot too.”

  Blowing on her wet pussy, I smiled as she squirmed for me. I loved when she wiggled around in anticipation. Hell, I loved everything about her and I needed to tell her, but not during sex. That was too lame and clichéd and nothing about our relationship was less than perfect. Well, the hiding was annoying, but temporary.

  Lark always called out my name when she came. She sounded surprised too like the pleasure was unexpected. Each time, she smiled at me afterwards and wiggled for more.

  “I’m very limber,” she said as I slid a pillow under her butt to prop her hips up on the hard floor. “You’re very energetic. We make a great team.”

  Lark sighed as I filled her then smiled and wiggled.

  “The best team.”

  Hearing the emotion in my voice, Lark reached up and caressed my cheek before her fingers slid down the cobra from its face to the tail curled around my heart tattoo.

  Lark held my gaze as I thrust deep into her. Even in the heat of the moment, the look in her eyes wasn’t passion. She stared at me with a tender expression and I could imagine seeing it for the rest of my life. Lark must have understood what I was feeling.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered as I came. “We’re together and everything is okay.”

  Holding her in my arms, I wished she would stay and we could stop hiding. I wanted to show her off to my family. Pretending my heart wasn’t in her hands was a lie and I had no interest in lying to Lark.

  We showered off the heat, sweat, and chalk then Lark curled up in my lap on the couch.

  “Tell me something that’ll shock me,” I said, kissing her damp hair.

  “I hate college and wish I could quit.”

  “Really?”

  Lark looked ashamed as she continued, “I thought I’d like it because I love to read, but the schoolwork is so boring and I hate reading all that crap. I also think I hate the law. It’s boring too. I’m going to spend my life working on boring shit and it depresses me.”

  “Why don’t you quit or work on something else?”

  “Because I’d be the loser like my family said I was. I said I would be a paralegal and they laughed like I was stupid. If I admit I hate school, they’ll win. Besides, I’d have wasted all the time and money on school.”

  “It’s not wasted if you learned something from the experience.”

  “Like I hate college?” she asked, smiling tightly.

  “Sure. If you finish the year, you’ll have those credits for later. That way, if you ever figure out what you want to study and want to go back, you can.”

  “That’s a good idea, but my family would make fun of me.”

  “They’re losers, Lark. Fuck their opinions. Besides, do you think they’d be proud after you graduated? They’d probably just find another reason to make you feel bad.”

  “That’s true. I just thought it would make me different because the women in my family never go to college.”

  “What about the women in your dad’s family?”

  “I don’t really know my dad’s side or want to.”

  “Where’s your real dad?” I asked as she teased the cobra with her tongue.

  Pausing, she sighed. “He’s dead.”

  “How?”

  “Killed in prison.”

  “What was he doing time for?”

  “A lot of stuff,” she said, resting her head against my chest as I wrapped her tighter. “The main thing was holding up a convenience store and shooting the teenager working there. She didn’t die. Not like that makes it okay, but I just didn’t want you to think I was the daughter of a man who would kill a girl for doing her job.”

  “You can’t control what kind man your dad was.”

  “I know that, but having a loser for a dad makes me feel like a loser sometimes. The sad thing is Larry’s the best man
my mom’s ever been with.”

  “He’s an asshole.”

  Lark grinned slightly. “I know, but he’s the best asshole she’s ever been with. Like he makes her happy.”

  “He’s still an asshole.”

  “Yeah, but the women in my family always end up with assholes.”

  Caressing her freckles, I smiled. “Not always.”

  Sharing my smile, she whispered, “No, maybe not always.”

  “No maybe.”

  Lark held my gaze and we were both afraid to say the words. Even knowing the other one was thinking them, we avoided any declarations.

  “I heard you have a bitch ex girlfriend,” Lark said, changing the subject in the least subtle way.

  “I’ve dated mostly nice girls. I like nice girls,” I said, grinning down at her. “Kristen seemed nice, but she was a bitch. Still is a bitch, but she’s not my problem now.”

  “Did you love her?” Lark asked, testing out that word.

  “Not even a little.”

  “But it hurt you when she cheated.”

  Assuming Bailey was the one who blabbed about Kristen, I nodded. “I thought I understood her. I’m pretty good at reading people’s bullshit. I’m not a lie detector, but I can tell a person’s character. Or maybe I only can when I’m not that close. Maybe I can’t with girls, I mean.”

  “Do you think I have good character?”

  “The best.”

  Smiling, she ran her fingers down my cheek and tapped the cobra’s face.

  “I’m really loyal,” Lark said, focusing on the snake instead of me. “My mom said I get stuck in the mud a lot. If I like something, I just like it forever. I don’t change. I wasn’t just saying that the first night.”

  Leaning down, I kissed her “And you like me?”

  “I should play coy, right? I should make you work for it, but I can’t. I don’t want to lie, so I’ll just tell the truth. I like you more than I’ve liked any guy ever. I’m a little obsessed with you. Like if you dumped me, I would stalk you.”

  My smile widened. “Your honesty is really hot.”

  “Would you stalk me if I dumped you?”

  “Of course not,” I said, pulling a blanket over us. “I wouldn’t need to because I’d kidnap you and keep you as my muse slave.”

  “I’d escape. I’m wily like that.”

  “I bet you would, but we’ll never have to find out.”

  Lark and I stared at each other as if waiting for the other one to be brave enough to say it.

  “You’re mine,” I whispered. “No one else.”

  Lark gave a gentle smile like in the studio. “I love you too.”

  Finally, it was out in the open. The words sounded perfect and natural.

  “I loved you last weekend,” I admitted. “I should have said that, but I was a jackass.”

  “I loved you on our first date. I would have mentioned it, but I’m a bigger jackass.”

  Laughing, I leaned her back on the couch. “I want to celebrate the love between two jackasses.”

  “No,” she said, squirming free. “I want to be on top. I like exploring.”

  “And what you like, you’ll always like.”

  Tugging off her tee, Lark grinned. “I’ll be an old woman and still enjoying my cobra. Oh, and the hot guy attached to it.”

  Kissing her hard, I had more than my muse now. I had my love and we were going to create something beautiful together.

  Chapter Twenty Seven - Lark

  The sound of a rumbling Harley wasn’t anything out of the ordinary around Ellsberg. This bike roared its engine once, twice, again and again as if attempting to gain someone’s attention. Or challenge a person to a fight maybe.

  A frowning Aaron looked outside and his expression darkened. “It’s your fuckwad stepbrother.”

  My stomach flipped and I backed away from the door as if I might run. Returning to sanity, I sighed. “How would he know?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll tell him to fuck off.”

  Aaron walked onto the porch and Dylan turned of the Harley. I watched Dylan stop at the front fence where he glared at Aaron.

  “I know Lark’s here. She needs to come home.”

  “Fuck off,” Aaron said, keeping his promise to tell Dylan just that.

  “She’s coming home.”

  I heard the threat in Dylan’s voice and imagined Aaron bloodied. While I had no doubt my guy could win, the idea of him hurt because of my crappy family forced me onto the porch.

  “I don’t want to go home.”

  “Not your choice. Old man said I’m supposed to bring you home.”

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “As compared to where you were supposed to be?” Dylan growled.

  “I’m not a child and I can do what I want.”

  “Why lie then?”

  Shrugging, I didn’t answer.

  “He tracked your cell. Saw you weren’t at the Johanssons’ place and it wasn’t hard to figure out where you’d run off to.”

  “This is bullshit,” Aaron muttered. “Just fuck off and tell your dad to stop acting like a damn dictator. Lark isn’t going with you.”

  Dylan ignored Aaron and focused his angry gaze on me. “Lark, get your stuff. You’re coming home. If you think you’re a big girl and can do what you want, explain it to Larry.”

  Shaking my head, I glanced at Aaron who crossed his arms and gave Dylan a look that startled me. I had never seen him look so intimidating, but I still feared he might get hurt over me.

  “She’s an adult and she wants to stay,” Aaron said.

  “I know all about you, but I doubt she does. She thinks you’re a nice guy. She doesn’t realize you’re just using her. Fucking her until you’re bored.”

  Aaron stepped closer to the porch stairs. “Get the fuck off my property.”

  “Lark, get your stuff.”

  “No,” I said, finding my voice again. “I want to stay here.”

  “He’s just using you.”

  “No.”

  “You can’t do this shit, you know? Shacking up with some fuck then coming home when he tosses you aside. That’s not acceptable. If you want to live at the house, you need to get your shit together and come home now. If you want to run the streets, tell Larry and deal with the consequences.”

  “She’s not leaving,” Aaron said, stepping off the porch. “Are you deaf?”

  “I don’t give a shit what you have to say, pussy.”

  “You better give a shit because I’m the one about to crack open your fucking skull if you take another step on my property.”

  Dylan looked ready to run at Aaron. Feeling the tension building, I didn’t know what to do.

  “Is there a problem here?” Deputy Dickhead said, strutting over like the asshole he was.

  “Fuck,” Aaron sighed.

  “My father wants Lark to return home. He sent me to get her,” Dylan explained, putting on his respectable citizen face.

  “Why don’t you want to go home, hun?” Deputy Dickhead asked me and Aaron stepped closer.

  “She’s an adult,” Aaron said. “She can go anywhere she fucking pleases.”

  “Watch the language, Barnes.”

  “Fuck off, Darling.”

  “Your name is Darling?” Dylan asked, grinning now. “Aces.”

  “Shut up,” Deputy Dickhead barked. “Look the girl either goes home to explain the situation to her family or I take her home and stand there while she explains it to her family.”

  “This is bullshit.”

  “What’s it going to be?”

  “You can’t…”

  Placing my hand on Aaron’s arm, I smiled tightly. “I should just get this over with. Tell them I’m seeing you and they can accept it or fuck off. I don’t want to live there anymore anyway.”

  “You can move in here.”

  Unsure about the offer, I turned to Dylan and Dickhead. “I’ll get my shoes.”

  Once inside, I assumed
Aaron was going to bitch. Instead, he kissed me gently.

  “I should come with you.”

  “It’ll just make things worse. I need to show this is my decision and Larry can fuck off. He thinks women are weak. If you come with me, he’ll think you’re making me say stuff. Just let me handle it. Once I have some stuff packed, I’ll call you to pick me up. Is that okay?”

  “I want you to move in here.”

  “Bailey said I could stay in Coop’s old apartment.”

  Aaron’s angry expression flattened into something I’d never seen before. As if he was hiding his feelings, leaving behind only the mask he wanted me to see. Finally, he sighed.

  “Why there and not here?”

  “We haven’t been dating long.”

  Running a hand over his head, Aaron sighed again. “We’re not fucking dating, Lark. Why play games when we know what this is?”

  “What is it?” I asked softly.

  “Forever. What we have is forever. It’s not about tomorrow or next month. We’re in this for the long haul. I love you and you love me. Let’s not pretend we’re silly kids having fun. What we have is forever and you belong with me.”

  Hearing those words from him, I realized many of my dreams were lies. School, my dream job, finding acceptance from a shit family weren’t what I wanted in my heart. Aaron was the truth and he offered me a future full of love and acceptance. I said the only thing I could think to say with my whole life unfolding before me.

  “Hell yeah, I do.”

  Aaron grinned and I nearly leapt into his arms. The world outside the little house and this amazing man’s arms faded away until Deputy Dickhead Darling pounded on the door.

  “Don’t make me call backup!” he yelled while trying to see in through the shades.

  “Fucker.”

  “I’ll be back soon,” I said, slipping on my tennis shoes. “We’ll be able to sit on the front porch and go out together and stop hiding.”

  Aaron smiled. “If he gives you shit, call me and I’ll fuck him up. I’m sick of this asshole and his turd son.”

  Giving him a quick kiss, I walked to the porch where I ignored the deputy. Instead of respecting the dickhead’s authority, I headed straight to Dylan and climbed on the back of his Harley. A wave at Aaron later, I sped off to face the latest asshole in a long line of my mom’s loves.