Quit Bein' Ugly (The Southern Gentleman 3)

“Croft, honey,” Karen said softly. “Do you want another drink?”

He blinked in confusion then turned so that he was staring at Karen.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, lifting his elbow as if he could knock her off with the movement. “Stop touching me.”

He then bodily shoved her hand away from his forearm when she didn’t let go, causing his entire face to whiten as he rocked the wound at his shoulder.

Karen dropped her hand from his arm and stepped back, looking shocked.

“Don’t know what it’s going to take,” Croft continued to mutter, sounding tired and a little bit drunk. “I seriously have done everything in my power to let you know that I’m not interested. And you ruined what I had with Mikey. I have you to thank for that.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Surely this was a dream, right?

“You don’t mean that, do you, Croft?” Karen asked. “You’re just confused.”

“I’m not confused,” he grumbled as he turned back to me. “I was shot.”

My lips twitched. “I know.”

“It hurt.”

“I thought you were shot before?” I asked.

“I was younger then,” he countered, his eyes staying on me despite the girl beside him that thought it would be a great idea to take off her jacket and reveal her tits. “Things didn’t hurt nearly as bad. Now all I have to do is get out of the bed and things hurt.”

He did have a point.

“You were shot before?” Karen gasped, once again moving forward, this time with the power of her breasts behind her.

Croft didn’t answer, but he did close his eyes as frustration poured through him.

“Please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t fucking touch me. My skin hurts,” Croft hissed through clenched teeth.

I glanced over at Karen to see her staring at him with determination.

“Since you seem overcome by pain, I’ll distract you.” She sounded pleased with herself. “I’ve decided to stay on at the firm,” she said softly. “Isn’t that great?”

That sounded awful, actually.

I hadn’t even been aware that she was leaving, now I was bummed that she wasn’t.

“You don’t have a job after Tuesday,” Croft said as he closed his eyes and cleared his throat. “We hired a new girl to replace you. She starts Monday so that you can hand off all your cases and give her updates before you go.”

“Oh.” Karen frowned. “That’s… I’ll talk to the big boss tomorrow morning. I’ll figure it out.”

Just as Croft would’ve said something more, the nurse came in, shooing everyone out.

“I have to check his wound and do an inspection of some things,” she said to us all. “Shoo. All of you. Even you, ma’am.”

That was directed at Karen.

I would’ve smirked had I not felt horrible.

With one last longing glance at Croft, I made my way out of the room and toward where I could see Schultz and my brother speaking.

I walked right up to them and into my brother’s arms.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in tight, knowing that I felt like a horrible piece of shit.

He was very much aware of my obsession with Croft, and he knew what I was feeling.

At least, he assumed he knew what I was feeling.

“What else happened?” Schultz asked.

“Nothing.” Flint shook his head. “We ran the prints almost immediately. They matched the ones that we pulled last night, too. That’s about all I have at this moment. The other cops that are on shift are canvassing the area. Detective Dodge is checking with the local businesses around there to see if there were any cameras on the lot. Other than that, we’re kind of stuck until we know more.”

“What about the law firm?” I asked. “They didn’t have any on the lot?”

Flint shook his head, his eyes on something behind me.

“No,” he answered. “They’d been turned off. They were out at two after a power line went down, and apparently, they didn’t ever come back up. Nobody thought to check because normally it’s an automatic thing.”

“Well, shit,” I grumbled. “That’s sucky.”

“Agreed,” Flint said. “I think that nurse wants you.”

I turned to see her heading my way.

“You’re Carmichael?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Croft would like to see you.” She paused and looked at me with all seriousness. “He’s going to say that he doesn’t need anyone to look after him tonight, but don’t allow him to get away with it. He needs someone for twenty-four hours. He said that his parents are away with his sister for the weekend. You’re able to help? He said that you were his neighbor.”

I nodded my head, my heart swelling at the thought of getting to spend any amount of time with him.

“Okay,” she said. “Now, he needs to have his wound checked around midnight, then again in the morning. We want to make sure that there isn’t any excessive bleeding or that an infection doesn’t set in.”