Free Damaged and the Bulldog by Bijou Hunter Page B

you stopped following his lead. The world has
too many fuckwits.”
    “Lark gets full credit for that. I’d still be trying
to make him value me if it wasn’t for her. I probably wouldn’t have met Winnie
either.”
    “Better watch yourself with Winnie. Well, not her, but
Cooper. He’s looking to recruit guys he can trust into the club. Hooking up
with Tad’s daughter puts you on Cooper’s radar. Hell, taking on the Devils when
you were essentially unarmed put you on his radar. Now, the pinging must be
deafening for him.”
    “I doubt it. He’s never mentioned anything and I see
him nearly every day.”
    “Cooper paces himself. The club is transitioning over
into his hands. He’s in no hurry to show his cards, but he’ll probably make a
move with you before next year. Bailey talks a lot about family stuff and she
says the guys from Memphis are pushing for Cooper to be fully in charge by
sometime next year.”
    Our food arrived and Nick smiled at his big bowl of
spaghetti.
    “I’m not telling you what your answer should be, but
you said you crave the rough edges. Cooper and those guys live a life that
doesn’t interest me. I don’t mind knowing what’s happening, but I can’t do what
they need done. Whether you can or not is up to you, but I thought I’d give you
a heads up.”
    As Nick ate his lunch, I picked at mine. I felt uneasy
about Cooper approaching me. Not so much about joining his lifestyle, but that
I wouldn’t live up the standards they required. A privileged upbringing left me
wanting more. Yet like Nick said, riding a Harley didn’t make me club material.

Chapter Thirteen ~ Winnie
    Harlow wanted to buy a Harley with the money she won
from fighting. Mom said no way and wished she would save the money for school
or the future. Dad said spending so much money on a Harley when he had two in
the garage made no sense. His solution was to have her drive the red one,
hoping this satisfied her urge.
    Harlow always drove nice and careful when we were on
residential roads. Yet get her on a main strip and she drove as wildly as
Bailey. All I could do was hold on and pray we didn’t die.
    Fortunately, we arrived at the bowling alley without
injury. I climbed off then steadied myself while Harlow fixed her hair.
    “Speeding is fun,” she said, giving me a wink. “Learn
to live a little, Winnie.”
    Irritated at her for treating me like a dork when she
was scared of a lot of stuff too, I said, “I might let Dylan see my boobs this
weekend. I think that means I’m a bigger badass than you.”
    Harlow frowned. “You should make him wait until you’re
married to see your boobs. Why give it away for free?”
    Sharing her frown, I glanced down at my chest then
back at her. “What if I never get over my weird sex thing? He shouldn’t marry
someone defective.”
    “There’s more to marriage than sex. Besides, you’re
not defective for thinking sex is gross.”
    “True, but I want to look at Dylan’s boobs, so showing
him mine is probably the fairest way to make that happen.”
    Blank-faced, Harlow stared at me. Turning away, she
shook her head. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Bailey Johansson
had been a bad influence on you.”
    Grinning, I followed her into the bowling alley where
the bad influence sat on Nick’s lap.
    “Hey, bitches, check my hickeys. My man marked me
good.”
    Harlow said nothing and kept on walking. I stopped
though and checked out the hickeys on her neck. Nick just smirked while Bailey
smiled like she’s won a prize.
    “I have one too,” I said, showing off a new one near
my ear.
    “Slut,” Bailey cried. “I love it.”
    “Who’s a slut?” Tawny asked, entering with a bored
Judd.
    “Winnie’s joined our slut club. Raven is still the
ambassador though.”
    Hearing her name as she entered, Raven played it safe
and flipped us off. Tawny grinned while sizing up Raven and Vaughn’s matching
bowling shirts.
    Raven and Vaughn turned around to show off