Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)(22)

I believed his words, but I was lonely. The baby’s kicks weren’t enough to console me when I was left with an empty apartment day in and out.

The school year began without me. I didn’t miss it. Not when I had books to read at the apartment.

During my only trip out of the house for the week, I stood at the books and magazines racks at the grocery store. I thought I heard someone say my name, but I ignored it. Sometimes people from the trailer park or school would recognize me. They’d want to make chit chat, but I wasn’t interested. I only wanted to talk to Kirk, and he felt a million miles away.

“Jodi,” my mother said, suddenly beside me.

Wearing too much eye shadow and sporting frizzy, blonde hair, Robin looked just like I remembered. She always tried too hard to be young and sexy. In reality, she was her prettiest when she first woke up with a clean face.

I didn’t tell her that. I didn’t say anything. I only nodded an acknowledgment while she stood in front of me.

“Didn’t take you long to get knocked up,” she said.

The hormones made me prone to take everything personally, so her nastiness hit me hard. Only my temper kept me from crying.

“You might want to lay off all the slutty clothes now that you’re going to be a grandma,” I said.

“I don’t see a ring on your finger. Has he ditched you yet?”

“Would you care if he did?”

Robin twirled her over processed hair. “I don’t want you trying to move back into my place with your bastard.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, Grandma. If my man leaves me like every man leaves you, I’ll raise my son without your help.”

“Stuck-up bitch.”

“Used-up hag.”

Robin snapped her fingers in my face like some crazed whore from The Jerry Springer Show. “I’ll try not to laugh when you show up on my doorstep after the pervert gets bored of your jailbait *.”

I opened my mouth to unleash a million insults but stopped myself. What was the point of trashing her when she did such a great job of trashing herself? I needed to be smarter. Robin would argue until the end of time. That kind of thinking led her to a miserable end. Instead, I chose to walk away and finish shopping.

Robin wouldn’t understand about Kirk and me. Most people couldn’t because from the outside he looked too old, and I looked too young. In their minds, we couldn’t work long term, but I knew better. Call it blind faith, but I believed in Kirk and me and the long life we had waiting for us.





17 - Kirk


Violence never bothered me, but I wasn’t one of those guys that got off on it. Hurting someone was a means to an end. If I needed money, and I had to take it by force, I used force. If someone threatened me, I defended myself. I never giggled about it afterward, but I got the job done.

With the moonshiners in Ellsberg, the violence wasn’t personal. I wanted their territory. They didn’t want me to have it. I offered them an easy way out. They laughed because they didn’t know how much I wanted the town for my woman and kid. That part was personal. Killing the moonshiners wasn’t, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep over their deaths.

While burying one of the moonshiners, I stumbled upon one of the most f*cking beautiful places I’d seen in my life. Standing at the end of gentle drop-off, I drank in the sight of the thick green trees and a lazy river.

After I was done with the body, I walked around for hours and imagined what I could do with this land. I’d seen a “for sale” sign on the nearby road.

The land wasn’t cheap, but I talked down the owner. He was looking to retire with the money he made from the sale. The property sat for a long time without any interest, and I figured he would either take my offer or not. I wasn’t going to beg, not even for that view. There were other beautiful places around Ellsberg where I could build a life with Jodi.

The guy backed down like I suspected he would. He wanted out of Kentucky as much as I was looking to set up roots.

Despite getting closer to my goals, I missed the shit out of Jodi and hated not spending every day rubbing her belly. Bringing her to Ellsberg couldn’t happen until I had control of the town.

The moonshiners were gone, but I still needed to scare their customers into doing business with my club. The local cops remained dicey. They seemed willing to play ball as long as we didn’t cause too much trouble. I figured they’d soon enjoy their bribes too much to give them up, and I’d own them.

Too many damn weeks passed without Jodi. I called her every day, and she sounded as lonely as I felt.

“What’d you do today?” I asked one night when the baby had cooked for six months.

“I was so hot today that I walked around naked in the apartment. I read naked. Slept naked. Even ate naked.”

“Are you naked now?” I asked, grinning.

“No. I got a little chilly, and now I’m wearing one of your flannel shirts.”

“Just the flannel?”

Jodi laughed quietly. “Yeah, baby. I need you to come home.”

“I will soon. I gotta get our home together here.”

“I’ll live anywhere as long as I’m with you.”

Every night, we had the same conversation. I’d be frustrated by the repetition if I didn’t picture her sitting alone in the apartment all day every day. She had nowhere to go. She was alone and hormonal, and I kept telling her to be patient. Jodi was too young to be patient.