Damaged and the Dragon (5 page)

Bailey touched her lips and smiled. “What’s
your mom like?”

Tapping my fingers on the table, I wished
she didn’t ask the standard questions. Why couldn’t we have talked
about movies and sports? Bailey didn’t want to talk about those
easy subjects. She wanted to know about my shitty family.

“
I haven’t seen her in a
decade or so.”

“
How come?” Bailey pushed
in the way she always pushed.

“
She had issues with drugs.
Meth mainly. Eventually, she was arrested for a bunch of things. I
didn’t really know the details since I was a kid. All I knew was
she’d gone to jail then to rehab. When she got out, she left my dad
and moved away.”

Bailey opened her mouth and it remained open
for nearly a minute. Once she shut it, I saw her considering her
options. In the end, she just nodded.

“
My mom is great. I’m
sorry.”

“
It’s not your fault your
mom is great and my mom isn’t.”

“
Was your dad why your mom
never came around to see you?”

Pushing back in the booth, I struggled to
think about the woman I barely knew.

“
She has a new family with
new kids. I was a mistake she made as a teenager with a man she
didn’t like anymore. That old part of her life was something she
wanted to forget.”

Anger flared in Bailey’s eyes. “You know
that’s fucked up, right? A mom should love her kid more than
herself. I mean, even I would and I’m pretty selfish.”

Grinning, I liked how she was looking at me.
Protective because I had value in her eyes. When Bailey looked at
me that way, I felt more like Dragon than when the groupies wanted
me to sign their tits.

“
Tell me about your mom.
Her name is Jodi, right?”

“
Yeah,” Bailey said,
smiling in the best way. “My mom is amazing. She loves me so much
and I always know she’ll have my back. Like I could fuck up really
bad and she would still love and protect me.”

“
Your family is
close?”

“
Totally. I have idiot
brothers and an evil little sister, but we’re still close. I used
to want to kill the demon child then Raven explained things.
Basically, sisters need to stick together, so I protect Sawyer even
though she’s evil.”

“
Evil?” I asked, grinning
as I looked over the menu. “Not really though.”

“
No, not really. She’s
rowdy is all and has a big mouth. It was always weird hearing nasty
things come out of her little mouth. I wasn’t like that as a kid. I
was sweet.”

I grinned at her, causing Bailey to roll her
eyes.

“
I really was. I had my big
loud brothers and I was the little princess. My pop carried me
around everywhere like my feet were too precious to touch the
ground. Mom was crazy about my hair because it wasn’t all curly
like hers. Back then, I didn’t need to be bossy. The world was a
paradise until Sawyer came around and destroyed everything with her
giant dirty mouth. Bitch.”

Even realizing Bailey was serious, I laughed
at her anger. “How old is she?”

“
Seven.”

“
So you were the baby for a
long time.”

“
Don’t lecture me please. I
got enough of that crap from my therapist. It’s why I dumped her.
Oh, and she didn’t think I needed an assistant.”

“
Do you?”

“
Sure. I want to be a
manager and that means I need to get used to having employees. I’m
in charge of Winnie. Her pay, hours, responsibilities, vacation
time, sick time, all that jazz. I know it sounds easy, but Winnie
isn’t easy to boss around. It’s good practice since being tough
with normal people is easy. Being tough with Winnie takes finesse
and that’s where I need practice.”

“
Winnie is the girl you
bring to class, so she can take notes for you?”

“
Yeah.”

“
She seems shy.”

Eyes narrowing, Bailey remained wary even
after the waitress arrived and took our dinner order.

“
You want her,” Bailey said
as soon as the waitress left.

“
I like
blondes.”

Bailey’s anger faded. “Does it piss you off
that I’m a possessive bitch?”

“
No. If I thought you liked
another guy, I’d want to bash his face in. I don’t think I would
because I’d end up in jail with a record and never become a
teacher. I’d want to hurt the guy though and I might give it a try,
if I could get away with it.”

“
Good. I want you to want
me.”

“
I do.”

Learning forward in the booth, Bailey
smiled. “You saved me that night at the party. That was so hot, but
I thought you were showing off to make Farah want you. I know that
makes no sense. I also thought you might like Tawny because she
looks like Farah.”

“
You’re kinda obsessed with
Farah, aren’t you?”

“
Only because I thought you
were. She had you and my brother wrapped around her finger and I
wanted to kick her ass for that. Turns out, she’s not so bad. She’s
really good with Sawyer and Coop is really happy being married. I
never thought he’d like being tied down, but with her, he’s happy.
Weird shit. Anyway, I wanted to beat her ass, but now I’m glad I
only smacked her around a little. She’s a good sister-in-law. Hell,
she even bakes.”

“
I thought she was too good
for Cooper. No offense, but your brother seems like an asshole who
would use her up and toss her aside like trash.”

“
He is an asshole. Normally
I don’t let people talk shit about my family, but he did put you in
the hospital.”

“
He also paid for the rest
of my freshman year. Sure made my life a lot easier after
that.”

“
Do you hate him? Like does
it upset you to look at me and know I’m related to the guy who
fucked with you?”

“
No. Like I said, it worked
out. Cooper and Farah seem happy and I was working too much to keep
up with school. Once he paid the tuition, I had more time to study
and get caught up.”

Sighing, Bailey whispered, “He put you in
the hospital.”

“
It wasn’t my first head
injury. Won’t be my last,” I said, tapping on my head. “My skull is
hella hard.”

Bailey smiled, but it never reached her
pretty blue eyes.

“
I’m fine
really.”

“
I worried about you back
then,” she said, messing with her straw. “I felt weird caring about
a guy I didn’t really know. I mean I thought you liked Farah and my
brother attacked you. I normally hate people who mess with my
family, but I still worried about you.”

Wanting to change the subject, I thought
about the shit storm a few months earlier.

“
I heard about that guy
driving you off the road and trying to grab you. I hated not
knowing what happened. Most days, you felt pretty close because I’d
see you in class. Last summer killed me. I hadn’t seen you then
that happened. That’s when it really hit me how we’re strangers.”
Realizing I sounded like a weirdo, I hated myself for blurting it
all out. “I didn’t stalk you or anything.”

“
Why not? I only went to
the Thunderdome to see you even though I didn’t like watching the
fights. I just wanted to know you were still real. Does that sound
crazy?”

“
Yes,” I said, smiling.
“But you look really sexy when you’re crazy.”

Bailey smiled again like I was magic. We sat
there quietly for a moment, just thinking about how many
stalker-like qualities we shared. It was both weird, yet
exciting.

“
You pay for school
yourself?” she asked when our appetizers arrived.

“
Yeah, I worked several
jobs in high school and saved up as much as I could. After I moved
to Ellsberg, I got a warehouse job, but I was struggling to keep up
with costs until Cooper lost his shit. Once I started fighting, I
had cash to spare.”

Bailey grinned at me as we enjoyed the
cheesy fries.

“
I admit I splurged when I
first got paid for fighting. First the tat by Aaron. A back piece
isn’t cheap. Over the summer, I bought the Harley and moved into a
new place. I probably should have just saved the money, but life is
unpredictable. What if I slipped in the shower and died? Those
savings wouldn’t mean shit, so I enjoyed some of it. Since school
started again, I’ve behaved though.”

“
Why do you want to be a
teacher? Seems like you could do a lot of things. Anything really.
Why work with little kids? No offense, but they gross me out with
the boogers and screaming.”

Grinning, I loved the disgusted expression
on her face.

“
In high school, I did a
work study program. I tried working in a few different places.
Volunteered at a hospital then a bank. Worked on cars and helped an
electrician. As a senior, I worked with a fourth grade teacher. It
was my favorite. The other jobs weren’t awful and would pay my
bills. With teaching though, I looked forward to going in every
day. I loved seeing the kids grow over the year. The whole
experience was like a light bulb moment. I knew what I
wanted.”

Bailey nodded, but I didn’t think she
understood. Despite her insecurities, she fit in a lot of places.
She had a family and friends where she belonged. I had only my
dream of replicating the happiness from my senior year.

“
What made you want to go
into business?” I asked when she seemed unsure what to
say.

Bailey shrugged. “I didn’t have a dream to
do it. No light bulb moment. It’s just…” She smiled. “Well, you
fight at the Thunderdome, so you know Tucker is an idiot.”

When I smiled, she continued, “Cooper has to
run certain aspects of our family business. Tucker can’t help with
the other businesses because of his stupidity. Sawyer is too young
and evil to help. Mom and Pop want to retire, but they don’t want
to give up power to an outsider.”

“
So do you want to do it or
do you have to do it?”

“
I don’t have to do
anything. Coop expects nothing from me because he thinks I’m dumb
like Tucker. He once said he hoped I married someone smart who
could help with the business. He doesn’t believe in me, but my mom
does. She says I can be a great boss. So even though I don’t love
the idea of managing all the businesses, I do want to help the
family. I also want to prove I can do stuff. If I had a dream job
like you, I probably wouldn’t care about leaving it all to Coop.
He’s a douche who doesn’t believe in me. I shouldn’t care, but I
still want to help even if he doesn’t think I can. Prove him wrong
and help at the same time. I’m petty and nice that way.”

“
Multitalented,” I said and
Bailey’s face lit up. “Every job has its good and bad. Even if this
job isn’t something you always dreamed of having, it can still make
you happy.”

“
Do you think I’ll be a
good boss?”

“
I never see Winnie crying
or running away from you, so I’d say yes.”

Bailey laughed. “So far anyway.”

As we ate our appetizers, I steered the
conversation towards easy topics like which professors we liked and
which ones sucked. By the time dinner arrived, talk of my shitty
family was forgotten.

“
Do you have any siblings?”
Bailey asked as we let our dinner settle and waited for a dessert
to share.

My gut tensing, I realized there was no
avoiding the ugly stuff. Not with someone I wanted to know
everything about. Clearly, she wanted to know everything about me
too.

“
My mom has kids. I don’t
know them. I only know their names and ages.”

“
Do you want to know
more?”

“
Not really.”

“
So you’re all
alone?”

“
No, I’m here with
you.”

Bailey smiled softly. “Do you have any good
friends?”

I scratched my jaw. “I haven’t had a solid
friend since middle school. After Tate moved away, I just hung out
with different people. I do the same thing in Ellsberg. I have
trouble connecting with people, I guess.”

Bailey looked ready to ask another question.
Probably one that would leave me sharing too much and feeling
awkward. Instead, she smiled and reached for my hand.

“
I’m glad I freaked out in
the library.”

“
Best tantrum
ever.”

While we enjoyed our molten cake, I saw a
chance to touch Bailey when she smudged chocolate fudge on her
chin. Maybe my fingers lingered because her breath caught. Her gaze
was warm and stayed that way as we left the restaurant.

“
Wanna come hang out at my
place?” she asked, tugging at my tee. “Or I could come to your
place. Either one works for me.”

“
I need to get to bed
soon.”

Bailey blinked a few times. “Is that a yes
or a no?”

“
It’s a not
tonight.”

“
Why?”

“
I’m tired, Bailey. I get
up early every morning to train,” I said, running my fingers along
her long neck. “We can hang out this weekend if you
want?”

“
Hang out? If I want? Are
you blowing me off?”

Stepping back, I frowned at her. “What the
hell am I going to do with you? I tell you I want you. We have a
great time, but it’s not enough. Why?”

Bailey’s face twisted into a frown. “Why
don’t you want to spend the night with me?”