Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)(11)

Jodi’s eyes suddenly popped open, and we stared at each other.

“I had nowhere to sleep at my place,” she said.

“Did anyone hurt you?” I asked, sounding like an angry beast.

“No,” she said.

We watched each other for another minute. I didn’t know what to say to her. Everything I’d been thinking about involving Jodi Sears wasn’t something a man should say in a dark room with a teenager.

“Can I sleep here tonight?”

“Yes,” I said, standing up. “Don’t leave tomorrow before I get up. We need to talk.”

Jodi mumbled thank you while I walked away. I felt her gaze on me even after I was inside the kitchen. Despite the shock of finding her in my house, I was tired after a long day of chasing idiots around town. I kicked off my boots and jeans before crashing within minutes of climbing into bed.

I dreamed of Jodi cooking me breakfast. When I awoke, I even thought she might be cooking until I remembered there was no food in the apartment for her to use.

Showering, I scrubbed my skin extra rough. I wanted to smell good for Jodi. This thought was f*cking stupid. I couldn’t help myself with Jodi, who made me dumber than when I was a horny teen looking to land my first lay.

I found her sitting on the couch, watching Jaws on TV. She glanced at me and then stood up and walked to the kitchen where I opened a beer can.

“We need to get food,” I said.

“I don’t have money for food. Robin already used our food stamps for the month.”

“It’s my place. I’ll pay.”

“Are you mad about me staying here?”

Crossing my arms, I studied her perfect face. Jodi’s blue eyes revealed true fear at my reaction. I liked seeing her scared. If she knew how much power she had over me, I’d be a dead man.

“Think your mom would notice if you didn’t come home?”

“No. She sleeps all day and is wasted all night.”

“So you’ll stay here then.”

“Are you done waiting then?” she asked, not f*cking around.

“Do you even know how to play things coy?”

“I don’t even know what ‘coy’ means, Kirk. I like your apartment, and I don’t like my place. I want to stay here, but I want to know what you want. Is that playing coy?”

“No,” I said, reaching out and caressing the soft skin on her bronzed skin. “I like your honesty better anyway.”

“So what do you want?”

“You in my bed,” I said, not f*cking around either.

Jodi’s eyes widened slightly, but she recovered quickly. Nodding, she glanced at my bedroom.

“Now?”

I laughed. “Is that what you’d be willing to do to stay?”

“What the f*ck do you meaning by willing? I think about you all the time. In my head, we’re already together.”

Her words nailed me hard in the gut, but I refused to let her see me weak. “Your fantasies ain’t the real world, kid.”

“Don’t call me that. It’s your way of saying I’m not good enough for you,” she said, frowning ugly at me. “If you need remembering, do it silently.”

Fuck, I loved when she stood up to me. She was nervous, though. About going to my bedroom. About staying with me. Mostly, I thought she was afraid I’d change my mind and kick her out.

“I have this feeling,” I told her after taking a big swig of beer, “that once I get you in my bed, I won’t want you leaving it.”

“What’s wrong with that? Is f*cking one woman for too long bad for your reputation?”

“Screw my reputation. Also, what I’m thinking about with you isn’t simple f*cking, and besides, you’re not a woman.”

Jodi took my last comment as an insult. “And you think I’ll magically turn into a woman once I’m eighteen? Or are you just waiting for it to be legal? I think it’s probably legal in Tennessee already.”

I laughed. “Do you really think I give a shit about the f*cking law?”

Walking with my beer to a tiny table near a window, I smiled at Jodi thinking the law kept me from sweeping her up and walking us to bed.

“I’d prefer anarchy or street justice than any laws The Man designs. The f*cking law,” I said, still chuckling.

“Why wait?” she asked without joining me at the table. “Do you think you’re protecting me?”

“You? No, baby, I’m protecting myself by waiting.”

Looking confused, Jodi finally sat in the spare chair. “I don’t get it.”

“When I was your age, I was a fickle bitch. Thought I knew everything too. What did I tell you when you were having issues with those bitches at school?”

“In five years, it won’t matter.”

“Yeah, and I can see me getting all wound up over you, and then you deciding you need to experience life more than an old fogey like me can give you.”

“Old fogey,” she muttered, smiling. “So you don’t want to hook up because I could dump you.”

“My old man heart can’t survive you stomping on it.”

Still smiling, Jodi studied me. “How long will you wait before your old man heart can take the chance with my fickle one?”