Damaged and the Knight (Damaged #2)

“Whatever, but don’t puke the pancakes up in the car. I’m not warning you again.”


I stared at Judd who ignored me until after he ordered. Once the waitress left, he met my gaze with his indifferent eyes.

“Don’t cry.”

“I’m not.”

“You look ready to bawl.”

“I need to use the restroom.”

“I’m not taking you.”

Sliding out of the booth, I felt the same way as when my father talked down to me. Unlike his fake love for Farah, he never pretended for me. Mostly because Farah was the one who would go to college and give him something to brag about during his poker games.

Returning from the bathroom, I noticed a guy wink at me. Instantly nervous, I hurried to the booth and stared at my hands.

“What?” he asked. When I avoided his gaze, he grumbled, “No crying.”

“Okay.”

Judd leaned his head back and cracked his neck. “We can catch a flight tomorrow morning and be in Ellsberg by the afternoon.”

Saying nothing, I wished I was already in Ellsberg. Judd tapped at the table until I looked up at him.

“What’s the problem, kid?”

“Some guy winked at me. I’m nervous.”

“What guy?” he asked, gazing around the place with his cranky stare. “Whoever it was is some asshole checking out the hot chick. Don’t get all weird about it. If he messes with you, I’ll do what I did to your boyfriend back at the motel.”

When his gaze returned to my face, Judd narrowed his eyes. “Do not cry.”

“If Cooper paid you more money, would you stop being an asshole?”

Judd gave me a little grin. “How much more?”

“I don’t know. How much money does he have?”

“Maybe not enough if you plan to cry.”

“You’re the reason I want to cry.”

“How do you figure? You’ve looked like that since the minute we met. I can’t imagine you were already hating my personality back then.”

“That guy wasn’t my boyfriend,” I muttered. “He planned to rape and kill me. He said so lots of times and that’s why I was trapped in there. You know he wasn’t my boyfriend, but you’re being mean just to be mean. Your lack of manners makes me want to cry.”

Judd gave me a half smile and nodded. “If my lack of manners is all it takes to get you bawling, you’re never going to shut up. Might have to drug you for the flight.”

“I’m not flying.”

“I’m not driving you. It’ll take days.”

“Farah won’t let you make me fly.”

“Farah isn’t my boss.”

Judd said the words, but I knew he was thinking about how his boss paid money to make Farah happy. That happiness meant we weren’t flying. He didn’t admit this fact, but I saw it on his face.

When our food arrived, I was careful to eat slowly. No matter how much Cooper paid Judd, I didn’t doubt he’d yell at me if I puked in his car. The entire meal was silent and Judd didn’t even look at me. He stared at his food or at loud people. He also kept an eye out for trouble. I saw the way his jaw tensed when he viewed someone as a possible threat.

Even eating slowly and leaving behind food when my stomach cramped, I felt sick as we headed to Wal-Mart. Judd decided I needed clean clothes because mine were dirty and he didn’t want to waste time washing them.

Shopping with Judd wasn’t fun. He acted like I was an inconvenience and scared all of the clerks with his cold glare. He was like a less charming version of my dad. The only upside was Judd didn’t expect me to shoplift.

Looking over the clothes, I wasn’t sure what to buy because I hadn’t gone shopping at a real store in years. We usually went to Goodwill and mostly stole what we could. Now, I had the instructions of “buy something fast, kid” to guide me.

After checking a rack with cute sweatpants, I returned a pink pair.

“What was wrong with those?” Judd muttered, crossing his arms.

“They’re seventeen dollars.”

A frowning Judd blinked and his expression eased. Sighing, he stepped closer. “Kid, I don’t give a shit. It’s fucking Wal-Mart. Whatever they sell in here ain’t bankrupting me. Just pick some fucking clothes, so we can go.”

“You like to say fucking a lot, don’t you?” I muttered while adding the sweatpants to the cart.

“It’s like verbal salt. I enjoy sprinkling it on everything.”

Smiling at him, I grabbed a few more sweatpants then added two pairs of jeans. While I waited for Judd to bitch about how much I was taking, the idea of new clothes was too much to pass up and I kept adding things.