Lord Have Mercy (Southern Gentleman 2)

“I don’t know why that’s relevant,” I admitted.

“It’s relevant because my brother’s a dick, and you shouldn’t give up your crush on Croft because you think he’s going to be nice.” She paused. “He can be nice, yes. But he’s not really all that nice unless he wants to be.”

I snickered. “I’m not saying that I’m going to pursue anything with him. I’m just saying that he made me realize that Croft wasn’t it for me.”

She made a sound in the back of her throat. “I’ve had a crush on Croft since he started coaching with my brother.”

I looked at her with a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. “Croft is a good guy.”

“Croft’s too good for me. I’m just a lowly substitute teacher and half owner of this gym. I hate to work out. I’m just not made for it. And everyone treats me like a doll. I’m not a doll. But yet I still haven’t had a date in my entire life.”

I studied her. “You substitute?”

She nodded.

“Where?” I questioned.

She gestured to me with a flick of her hand. “Your school. I just started this year. I was at the meeting that y’all had just a few days ago. The day that you hit my brother’s car.”

I pursed my lips, causing her to snicker.

“I know. It was actually kind of funny when he retold the story.” She paused. “My brother says that you’re scared of him.”

I shook my head. “Not him, exactly. His dog? Yes. Him? No.”

She tilted her head slightly. “You’re scared of Dooley? He’s a sweetheart.”

I shrugged. “Police dogs scare the absolute crap out of me.”

Then I proceeded to tell her why.

Her mouth dropped open. “That’s like you’re telling me a plot from a movie!”

I grunted in response as I walked to where my keys and phone were sitting.

When I picked up my phone, the screen flashed bright, and I saw the unread text message from Raleigh brightening the screen.

I quickly shoved the phone into my bra so I wouldn’t be tempted to look at it here.

“Anyway, long story short, I’m scared of dogs—police dogs and big scary dogs? They’re one and the same. It doesn’t matter if I’m told they’re friendly. My rational brain and my irrational brain don’t seem to connect when there are dogs involved,” I told her bluntly.

She frowned. “Did you tell Flint that you’re scared of the dog?”

I barked out a surprised laugh. “Since when do you think Flint gives me the time of day?”

I bent over one more time and snatched up my bottle of water, then tucked it underneath my arm.

“Can I tell him?” she asked.

“Sure,” I answered. “But I doubt that it’ll matter.”

Just as I was about to head for the door, an enraged scream came from the opposite side of the gym, causing me to pause and stare at the spectacle.

My eyes widened as I watched Nivea lay into Flint as if he’d done her a grievous wrong instead of only breaking up with her.

I mean, she had been acting like a real bitch, so what did she expect to happen?

A man like Flint wasn’t going to allow the bullshit Nivea was laying out to go on for long. It was only a matter of time before he decided Nivea wasn’t worth the effort.

I didn’t feel sorry for her at all, either.

Not when she was hissing and spitting at him, calling him names that everyone and their brother knew didn’t apply to him.

Luckily, it was only Flint, me, his sister and Nivea left and this whole ordeal was only between the four of us.

I would’ve been super embarrassed if this had happened with everyone still here.

Thank God Raleigh and Croft had gone out to dinner and left me here to talk on the phone. If it hadn’t happened, they would’ve likely been privy to this shipwreck, too.

And Flint struck me as the type not to want his dirty laundry flapping around for everyone to see.

“Get control of yourself!” Flint barked. “I broke up with you. What I didn’t do was kill your cat! Go home!”

Nivea stomped her foot. “I will not go home until you give me a good enough reason as to why you think we should see different people.”

Flint cracked his neck from side to side, and I knew that he was gearing up to really let his anger loose.

My eyes caught on the alarm panel at my side, and I tapped it with one finger.

The screen came to life, and I saw the little blaring alarm button at the top right of the screen.

On instinct, I pressed it, and seconds later, a loud wailing alarm was sounding throughout the gym.

Flint’s eyes left Nivea and landed on me.

I bit my lip and muttered, “Oops.”

Carmichael started to laugh and walked to the screen, but suddenly Flint was there, pushing us both out of the way.