Quit Bein' Ugly (The Southern Gentleman 3)

Yet, there he was, proving me wrong.

“Yes, this is her,” Croft replied softly, his eyes closing as he leaned his head back against the headrest.

I wanted to ask a thousand questions, in the end, I chose to keep my mouth shut, though. For Croft’s sake.

I’d ask him about it later, though.

When he wasn’t hurting so bad.

“Take care of my boy, Carmichael,” Cal said softly. “When this is over, you and Croft can come to eat with my wife and me. My girl loves your boy.”

I opened my mouth to say ‘maybe’ when Croft’s eyes flashed open. “I’ll bring her.”

Cal tapped the roof of Croft’s truck and said, “Better go inside before Karen decides to come out and harass you.”

Croft shuddered. “That woman needs to learn to catch a clue.”

Nobody disagreed with him.

Saying his goodbyes a minute later, Cal headed back inside while I rounded the front of Croft’s truck with the computer in my hands.

When I got inside, it was to find him staring at me.

“What?” I wondered.

He gave the smallest of shrugs. “Just like looking at you.”

I felt my face heat.

To cover up my sudden embarrassment at his words, I put the truck into drive and drove to the gym where I ran in really quick and gathered all the things that I’d left behind last night in my haste to leave.

I thankfully got out without having to talk to a single person inside and headed back to the truck and to our final destination.

Danger.

When I got back inside, it was to find Croft asleep, his head resting against the window.

After texting the couple that adopted Danger, I headed to our pre-approved meeting spot and sat idling waiting for them to get there.

When they finally arrived, I felt my heart skip a beat at the way the dog looked out the window longingly.

Every time I saw her, it was as if she was daydreaming about running away.

Getting out of the car, I smiled sadly at the two that got out of their car to meet me.

When the woman opened the door, she reached quickly for Danger’s leash so she didn’t take off, and Danger flinched.

The woman frowned hard.

“This is so hard,” she whispered as she gently tugged the leash to urge Danger out of the car.

I knew what she meant.

Danger had been with me for almost four months and we’d never made any progress.

“I know,” I agreed softly.

I heard the click of the door being opened behind me and looked over my shoulder at the man and the vehicle.

“This the dog?” Croft asked, sounding rough.

I looked up and nearly swallowed my tongue.

He’d followed me outside, shirtless and shoeless and uncaring that he was standing in front of two complete strangers.

Danger’s adoptive parents both looked at Croft as if he was lunch. Well, the wife of the couple did. The man looked kind of pissed, to be honest.

“This is Danger,” I confirmed as I reached for the leash.

The man handed her over to me and I gently tugged on her leash, urging her to the truck.

The dog slinked with me, back hunched, head dropped, ears pulled back.

My stomach sank as it always did when I saw Danger act like that.

I’d never hurt a dog in my life, not even by stepping on their tails. And there she was, acting like I would beat her at any second. The poor girl.

“We’re sorry,” the woman called out.

I waved her off. “No worries.”

I opened the back door and Croft looked down at the dog who was slinking her way inside of his truck.

He frowned hard, not looking happy in the least.

The dog meekly got into the truck and laid down at the back of the seats, making my heart ache even more when she curled into as small of a ball as she could.

I pressed a hand to my chest as I closed the back door and rounded the truck to the driver’s side.

When I got inside, it was to see Croft practically crawling into the truck one slow step at a time.

I reached for his prescriptions and got the pain pill, happy that he’d gotten something a little more heavy-duty than the one he’d gotten from the nurse last night.

“Here,” I said as I handed him the pill.

He took it, swallowing it dry yet again.

I grimaced and slowly started out of the parking lot, taking a peek at the pup in the back seat just before I pulled into traffic.

“Do you know any of her backstory?” he asked, reaching awkwardly into the back seat and slowly petting Danger’s head with his good hand.

I froze for a second, wondering what she would do, but she stayed perfectly still.

“The first time that I tried to touch her, she bit my wrist.” I showed him the scars. “Please be very careful. The last thing you need is a dog bite on top of a bullet hole.”