Damaged and the Outlaw (Damaged #4)

Damaged and the Outlaw (Damaged #4)

Bijou Hunter



Chapter One - Raven


Since I was old enough to notice boys, I’d suffered from a sickness when it came to men.

If a hundred guys were in a room and only one of them was a two-timing, money-stealing, back-handing piece of shit, I’d find him in the crowd. Not only find him, but promptly fall head over heels in lust.

I wasn’t purposely stupid. Never would I admit my men were losers. They were just misunderstood or rough around the edges. If their fuckups were too obvious for me to ignore, I embraced the time-tested lie women like me cherished.

I’d change him.

People called me a bitch. Hell on wheels. Scary even. If anyone could whip a man into shape, it should have been me. In the end, nobody really changes. They might train themselves to pretend, but inside their flaws remained.

My mom had gone through every kind of bad man. For her, Larry was the best she could manage. He didn’t drink, do drugs, or live in a trailer. He was a great man in her mind and no amount of punishments for her mistakes would change her view of him.

One day, I might become desperate enough to settle for a guy like Larry. Probably not. While I wanted kids, sperm was free at any bar in any town. I didn’t need a man to survive. With my sickness, I shouldn’t have one. So I returned to Ellsberg with the plan to swear off men from my life, my heart, and even my bed.

In Ellsberg lived the only person who really mattered to me. My mom was shit in my eyes. My dad was a fucking loser too. My little brother Phoenix drowned when he was three. All I had left was Lark. Fortunately, she was the best person I’d ever met.

Somehow, despite the Hancock women curse, Lark found a good man who adored her. She met Aaron, fell in love, got knocked up, and was married within months. This usual recipe for disaster turned out to be the most beautiful relationship I’d ever witnessed.

Everywhere I turned, people were in love. Cooper Johansson who was a poonhound in high school had married Farah. His enforcer married her sister. All these happy couples were constantly sucking face, so I avoided spending too much time with the group. Girl time was more my thing especially with my abstinence plan.

Fortunately, I found a new sidekick once Lark was married with babies onboard.

In high school, Bailey Johansson annoyed me, so I avoided her as if she was a cootie machine. Now, the fellow blonde chick was my copilot.

Before Bailey joined my abstinence plan, we tried hunting men for her. Her attempts at romance were more pathetic than mine. The poor shit couldn’t get a nice guy to give her the time of day. Meanwhile, assholes were lining up around the block to get a chance to hang and bang her.

As a result of her empowered decision to copy me, Bailey was in a constant state of horniness. This led to her being in a constant state of crankiness. I knew how she felt.

More than missing sex, I missed having a man. The way the stubble felt on my skin, the heat of their breath on my neck, the way their hair stuck up in the morning after a good night of fucking. Unfortunately, those fun parts came with cheating, beating, and leaving. Men always treated me like shit and I really didn’t miss that part.

Preparing for my fight in the Thunderdome, I wanted a cigarette. Ever since I was seventeen and my then stepdad told me smoking was for losers, I had been a smoker. He might as well have shoved a cigarette in my mouth and said inhale. Giving up sex was harder than giving up the company of a man, but they were both easier to ditch than my smokes.

Sitting in the locker room, I hoped the fight was really violent. A good wild battle would distract from smoking and fucking. I’d be tired and sore and nothing else would matter.

My first fight in the Thunderdome was against a black chick on a winning streak that I ended for her. As we applied ice to our swelling noses, Cecee thanked me. She said the pressure to keep winning was too much, yet people were sick of her beating everyone. She was stuck in a cycle of stress and I’d freed her.

The next time we fought, Cecee kicked my ass.

Bloodied and grateful for all of my teeth, I had wondered if the money was worth taking a beating every few nights at the Thunderdome. Once the cash was in hand and I considered my other employment options, fighting seemed like an easy paycheck.

In theory, the girl fights were more for show. We weren’t expected to hurt each other. Just make it look good, Axel said the first night. The girls only needed to look hot and give off a lesbian vibe. No one expected them to really fight. If Axel wasn’t my boss, I’d have punched him in the face for saying that to me. More than hot, I was tough as nails and stubborn like a mule.