Damaged and the Cobra

by Bijou Hunter

  When we entered the house, Larry stood next to the fireplace like he was posing for me. The angry father so very disappointed in his daughter and ready to give her a lecture. At the glass door overlooking the backyard was Glenn who I suspected was there to intimidate me. I assumed they’d start boxing up my stuff soon and use the same old threats.

  In the kitchen, Mom sat at the table, cutting coupons because Larry told her it was her job to save them money. Every fifty cents off a can of soup was a step closer to his retirement and them enjoying cruises. My mother was a little obsessed with the idea of cruises.

  I should have been more afraid, but a weekend with Aaron gave me courage. As his muse, I felt fearless. Even when Larry turned and glared at me, I held my head up high.

  “I opened my home to you and my thanks is finding out you’re whoring around town with a thug.”

  “Thug? You’re the one monitoring my cell. I pay for that phone and you have no right to track me.”

  Larry walked casually towards me. “I have every right. You live in my house and represent me in the community. We both know you wouldn’t be able to afford the phone and school if I didn’t allow you to live here rent free.”

  “Well, we’ll see about that. From now on, I’m not sneaking around. If you say I can’t be with Aaron and live here then I’m moving out.”

  Still at the door, Glenn was grinning in the nasty way he was prone to grin when a woman stood up for herself and he thought she was about to lose. Dylan stood very still, arms crossed tightly while glaring at me. Behind us, my mom kept cutting coupons like nothing was happening.

  “No,” Larry said in a soft voice. “I have invested too much time and money into your upbringing to have you whore up the town. I forbid you from seeing him.”

  “Forbid?” I snorted. “I’m almost twenty.”

  Larry sighed as if tired then took a step forward and backhanded me. I had no time to react or even brace my fall. The sting of his hand was followed by me crashing into the kitchen table. My back screamed in pain at the impact and I lay stunned on the ground for a minute. Only Dylan’s yell kept me from passing out.

  “Motherfucker,” he hollered, running at Larry.

  Glenn met him halfway and Larry helped his brother knock Dylan to the ground. Even after Dylan slugged Glenn, the older man wouldn’t back off. He stomped down on Dylan who tried rolling away and ended up with Larry kicking him in the gut.

  “You’ve always been an idiot where that slut’s concerned.”

  Stumbling to my feet, I glanced at my mom who still sat at the table. She looked at me then Larry then lowered her gaze and returned to her coupons.

  The logical choice for me was to run from the house. I was so much smaller than these three battling men and the smart thing was to run. Yet, Larry and his bullshit family were why Raven left. They were always telling me what to do and making me feel like shit. Now, he’d hit me and I wasn’t running.

  Grabbing a chair from the table, I swung it at Glenn and hit him at the back of the neck. As he went flying forward, the bastard tripped over Dylan and toppled hard to the ground.

  Before I could celebrate, Larry ripped the chair out of my hand then came at me. I backed away and grabbed one of the millions of bear figurines. Throwing it at him, I nailed Larry in the chest with the first one. The second one caught him over the eye, leaving a gash. As Larry chased me around the room, I grabbed more bears and flung them over my shoulders at him. While most missed, a few made contact and he finally hollered in frustration.

  Having recovered from the blow, Glenn tried to block me in. However, Dylan shoved the older man outside then locked the door. Unfortunately for Glenn, Larry’s stupid fluffy dog hated him and proceeded to attack his leg.

  “Dylan, this is your last chance,” Larry said, his face red and blood dripping down his face. “Give me that girl or you’re done.”

  “Fuck you. I was done the minute you put your fucking hand on her.”

  Watching the two men glare at one another, I exchanged the bears in my hands for heavier ones.

  “I’m leaving,” I said more to Mom than Larry. “If anyone messes with me, I’m cracking their heads open with Picnic Bear.”

  “Margo, call the police,” Larry said, regaining his cool. “I want Lark arrested for assault.”

  As my mother reached for the phone, I nearly threw a bear at her. “I’ll press charges too. We’ll both end up in jail then the Johanssons can sort it out.”

  Larry’s confidence flickered. “If you leave, you’ll never come back.”

  “Not much of a threat, old man. I’ll be back for my shit later. If any of it is missing, I’m going to get Bailey over here to show you her gun. I don’t care if you disappear, Larry. Mom will have your life insurance and the house and she’ll do just fine. You’ll be gone, but your money will live on. Do you understand?”

  Larry swallowed too hard to pretend he wasn’t worried. He should be worried because I was pissed and my back hurt so much that I could barely walk. Yet, I pretended to be at the top of my game. Like I learned in roller derby, never let your opponents see your weaknesses.

  I didn’t even back out of the house. Instead, I walked out with those bears in my hands until I was on the driveway and Dylan stood next to me.

  “I’ll drive you into town,” he said, wiping his bloody mouth. “I’m sorry he hit you. I hope the Johanssons do kill him.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I can’t believe those old fucks jumped me. I thought I was better than that.”

  “I was very disappointed in you too,” I teased, limping now. “Where will you go?”

  “I’ll stay at a friend’s house until I find a place. I assume you want to go to your boyfriend’s house.”

  “Thank you for helping me,” I said, standing next to his Harley.

  “I’ll never been able to think of you as a sister, Lark. I just can’t.”

  “We’ll be friends then.”

  Dylan smiled before grimacing and touching his bloody mouth. “Are you taking those bears with you?”

  Glancing down at my hands, I threw them both on the driveway. As I watched them shatter, I was really saying goodbye to this part of my life. Good riddance to all the bullshit, I was a new Lark now. From this day on, I was the muse Aaron saw when he looked at me.

  Chapter Twenty Eight - Aaron

  The moment I saw the red mark across Lark’s face, a little part of my humanity died. While she entered the house and tried to explain, I heard only part of her words. The ones about who hurt her and who needed to bleed.

  Rage like I’d never felt before surged through me until I could barely breathe, let alone think. I needed to hit something. No, someone. The urge to hunt down the fucker who hurt my woman was too intense to deny. I hungered for revenge.

  Until I stared into Lark’s terrified eyes and my breath caught. She was in a panic. Balled up in front of me like a frightened child, she waited for my rage to erupt. A part of me, deep under the rage, realized she thought I was going to hit her.

  Unable to speak calmly, I stormed from the room and to my gym. The bag felt my vengeance in a way I couldn’t deliver on the fucker who deserved it. I bashed my fists against the bag until I worked off the edge of my anger. When I felt more in control, I returned to find Lark in the exact spot I’d left her. She looked too afraid to move. She even flinched as I knelt in front of her.

  “It’s okay,” I soothed.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You did nothing wrong.”

  “Please, don’t go over there.”

  “I won’t. Do you want to go sit on the porch?”

  Shaking her head, Lark whimpered, “I want…”

  When she didn’t answer, I caressed her cheek. “What do you want, my muse?”

  “I want you inside me,” she whispered, her arms wrapped tightly around her body as if for protection. “I need you to be mine.”

  “I am yours. I’ll always been yours.�
��

  “You belong to your temper right now. It’s like Raven was before she left me.”

  “I’ll never leave,” I said, tugging her gently to her feet. “Let’s get you cleaned up in the shower and I’ll show you how I’m yours.”

  Finally, a little smile emerged on her frightened face. “I stood up to Larry. I even made him bleed.”

  Smiling tightly, I knew I was grinding my teeth. I needed to make the bastard bleed, but Lark wanted me to calm down. Even in the shower with her pale skin soapy under my fingertips, I couldn’t stop grinding my damn teeth. Almost as if I would explode in rage if I didn’t hold my jaws tight.

  Lark was happy though. When I paused soaping her and stared at where a nasty bruise was forming on her back, she wiggled her butt at me and grinned. Sharing her smile, I tried to focus on her as she leaned against me while I teased her nipples.

  Despite her hunger, I could only think that if Lark was Cooper’s girl then Larry would be dead. My friend wouldn’t stand down. Nothing would keep him from killing the fucker like he killed the bastard who hit Farah. Instead of protecting my woman, I was letting the bastard walk. Tomorrow, Larry would be strutting around as if he hadn’t a care in the damn world. No way was that happening, yet Lark wanted me to back off.

  “Oh, Aaron,” Lark moaned as if an hour earlier she wasn’t beaten by a man twice her size.

  Turning to me, Lark stared into my eyes and I knew. The wait was over and she needed me inside her. My little muse stepped on the side of the tub, reached up to my shoulders, and lifted herself to meet my hips.

  “My pixy climbs like a monkey,” I teased as she pressed down and I filled her.

  “This is forever.”

  For the first time since pounding the bag, I stopped grinding my teeth. I’d get my revenge later. For now, there was only Lark under the hot water.

  “Fuck me harder,” she whispered, wrapped around me. “I feel like you’re holding back.”

  “I’m still pissed and I don’t want to take it out on you.”

  Lark pressed her forehead against mine and stared into my eyes. “Never hold back. I’m tougher than I look and I want all of you.”

  “You were scared earlier.”

  “I’d never seen you like that,” she said, licking my bottom lip as I moved slowly in and out of her. “I’ve seen you fuck before. I’m not afraid.”

  “Really?” I asked, lifting a brow.

  “Bring it on, cobra,” she said, licking the head of the tattoo. “Show me what you’ve got.”

  Wrapping her tighter in my arms, I thrust hard into Lark and she moaned like I’d never satisfied her before that moment. Hell, my muse really wanted to play.

  Yet, after a few more hard thrusts, I stopped and frowned at her.

  “Did you break it?” she said, laughing. “I could lick it better if that would help?”

  Smiling, I turned off the water. “I need you somewhere safe so when I fuck you hard, you won’t fly out of the shower.”

  “Big talk, she murmured as I carried her to the bedroom and rested on her back. “I like it hard. I like you hard too. If I keep saying hard, will you help me come?”

  I gave her a gentle kiss. “Tell me you love me.”

  “I love you forever, Aaron. You’re mine.”

  “Tell me you don’t think I’m a bitch to let some fucker hurt you.”

  “The only thing making me think you’re a bitch is how you’re teasing me with your cock like that. I want you.”

  One hard thrust and Lark gasped. Eyes wide, she grinned and squirmed under me.

  “Let go,” she murmured. “Don’t hold anything back. Not with me. Not ever.”

  Giving Lark what she wanted, I propped myself over her and all of my anger and frustration broke free in our lovemaking. At first, I think she was intimidated by the ferocity of my thrusts. Like our first night when she didn’t know what to do with her hands, she seemed awkwardly for a minute or two.

  Suddenly, her face lit up and she held onto my forearms and soaked in every thrust as our bodies became one. When she was close, one of her hands went between her legs and I nearly lost it watching her stroke her clit.

  Lark cried out my name as if startled by the pleasure. Seeing such beauty in her expression, I leaned down to kiss her. Her arms wrapped around me while her hips shoved up, wanting more. Bearing down into her, I felt my relief edging closer and closer. Harder and faster, we moved then she came a second time and I released everything I had inside her. All of the need and uncertainty from the last week. Lark was mine and fuck anyone who tried to take her away.

  “Mine,” she whimpered as I relaxed inside her and we caught our breath.

  “Always.”

  Realizing I was pressing down on her back, I awoke from the heat of the moment. Sliding out of her, I admired the sight of her satisfied pussy glistening for me.

  “It misses you already,” Lark teased, rolling over and wiggling her ass at me. “Do you miss it?”

  Hell yeah, I missed it. In fact, I missed it again and again until we were exhausted. Sitting against the headboard, I held Lark while she traced my cobra tattoo. She was relaxed in a wonderful way. Smiling easily, she wanted to play one more time before we finally slept. More than anything, I suspected she needed to be close after the earlier attack. An attack that would go unpunished.

  “I feel like a coward who can’t protect my woman,” I admitted. “I know what Cooper would do in this situation and I’m not doing it. I hate thinking he does better for Farah than I do for you.”

  Lark rested her head on my chest and curled up on the bed. Her eyes were tired as she studied me. I ran my fingers along her freckles and sighed at how she said nothing. Finally, she took my hand and rested it against her cheek.

  “Destroy his car. That’ll be your revenge.”

  “His car?” I asked, thoroughly unimpressed with this option. A guy could buy a new car. I wanted to take something Larry couldn’t live without. Like his balls.

  “It’s one of those old collectable cars and he’s spent over a hundred grand fixing it up over the years. It’s his favorite thing in the world. He loves that stupid car.”

  When I said nothing, Lark continued, “In his will, he’s not leaving the car to Dylan or my mom. He’s leaving it to some friend who has a bunch of those old cars. Larry doesn’t think anyone else is good enough for the fucking car.”

  Lark kissed the palm of my hand then rested on her tit. “You shouldn’t feel less than Cooper. Or that you’re not a man capable of protecting me. I know you want to use your fists to destroy Larry, but he’s an old man. If you really want to hurt him, you take that car. It’ll break his cold heart.”

  Searching her face, I realized the car was something not only Larry loved, but Lark hated.

  “He once said if it was between saving me, Raven, and Mom or saving his car, it wasn’t even a difficult choice,” she muttered then added, “I hate that fucking car.”

  “Then, we take his fucking car.”

  Lark smiled and crawled up to straddle me. She caressed my cheeks then kissed each one.

  “I don’t think Cooper is a better man. He’s rich, but he can’t create like you do. When I see you drawing or even doodling something on a napkin, it amazes me. How you can make something beautiful out of nothing. It’s like what you did with me. Like I was just going through life feeling like nothing and now I feel beautiful. You made that happen. I don’t wish you were anyone else.”

  Gently flicking her little nipples with my thumbs, I watched her expression shift. All of her emotions were open to me. The love, desire, acceptance, and hope I saw on her face were for me. Everything she was now rested in my hands.

  Chapter Twenty Nine - Lark

  The next few days were busy, yet exciting. Moving into Aaron’s house was an easy step. I just called Mom and told her we were coming by for my stuff. If Larry was there, Aaron would pound in his face, so the fucker should be gone. My mother said okay and hung up. L
arry wasn’t around when we picked up my clothes and few belongings.

  Aaron’s house wasn’t big, but I didn’t need a lot of space. He gave me the second closet in his room and dumped his extra stuff in the spare bedroom. The whole moving adventure took two hours.

  Dylan came by to check on me and say he had found an apartment. Aaron glared at Dylan even after thanking him for helping me. Dylan glared back even after saying he was happy I found someone with a nice front yard. It was friendly, yet tense. Through it all, Deputy Dickhead Darling watched us from his porch down the street.

  Living with Aaron was amazing. I didn’t have to worry about doing something wrong and getting yelled at by the jerk paying the bills. I didn’t have to deal with awkward chitchat with my mother. No more avoiding Dylan’s broody staring either.

  Instead, I woke up with the man I loved and fell asleep relaxed next to him. On the mornings I didn’t work, I sat in his makeshift gym while he worked out. As Aaron pumped weights, I struggled to keep my hands to myself. It wasn’t easy with him sweaty and those muscles flexing. I stared like an animal in heat until he finished then I’d help him wash off in the shower. Aaron really loved those mornings.

  Since he only used his Honda for shopping and errands where a trunk was necessary, Aaron didn’t really need the car. He gave it to me and I finally had a way to get around town. When I warned him that I was a lead foot, he just laughed and pointed at all the speeding tickets on the kitchen counter.

  The first week together was perfection, but I knew Aaron needed his revenge on Larry. Vaughn was planning to help him steal the car. When Aaron muttered during dinner at Cooper’s that he didn’t need help, Outlaw pointed out how the artsy fartsy country club boy hadn’t stolen a car before. Aaron flipped him off, but agreed. I didn’t plan to come along, but I looked forward to the pictures.

  Every day after school, I joined Aaron at the sub shop where we ate sandwiches and talked about our day. Back in the business, he finished up a little paperwork before we hurried home. I loved racing him back to the house, even though I never won.