Quit Bein' Ugly (The Southern Gentleman 3)

“Doesn’t mean that it gives him permission to harass ladies. Break into houses. Oh, and shoot people,” Flint barked. “Alfie, you have the right to remain silent…”

• • •

Flint walked in the door two hours later to cold pizza and a sleeping wife.

She was laid out on the couch next to Carmichael. I, on the other hand, was laid out on the loveseat with my feet hanging over the edge.

Upon seeing him, I slowly sat up, giving him a place to land.

He sat down carefully, grabbing a piece of pizza—meat lover’s which happened to be the only kind that was left—and shoved his face full of food.

It was only after he polished off his third piece that he said, “We got fuckin’ nothin. The good thing is, he isn’t going anywhere thanks to the prints. We got him for attempted murder, breaking and entering, robbery, and assault. Bitch is screwed. Just wish we had the motive.”

“You should pressure that boy that tried to steal her computer,” Camryn said with a yawn. “Didn’t he say that he was put up to it by someone? He could confirm whether that was Alfie or not, right?”

“Right,” Flint said. “And we did. Pulled the boy in, got the agreement that it was indeed him, but that’s it. We can’t move past this point until more information arises.”

“What about your cases that you’re working, Croft?” Raleigh asked. “Anything there that we could go on?”

“I’ve actually been thinking about that,” I admitted. “The only one that would’ve caused a red flag to go up was closed a few weeks ago. The guy plea bargained out. Case over.”

“Hmm.” Camryn sat up and reached for yet another piece of pizza. “This is a conundrum.”

“Where are you putting that?” Carmichael asked. “You’ve literally eaten seven pieces now, and I swear to God, you’re going to pop here in a second.”

“One day, when you’re finally pregnant with Croft’s love child, you’ll understand,” Raleigh teased. “I’d just like to point out, though, that Croft is against girls. He thinks that they’re a waste of space.”

I turned to look at my sister. “I said that you were a waste of space. I would never say that about my own kid.” I paused, turning my gaze to Carmichael. “And I definitely see the good in having Carmichael around. Camryn’s not too bad, either, now that she’s hooked up with Flint.”

“I’m not a waste of space!” Raleigh leaned forward and poked me. Right in the bad shoulder.

I hadn’t been expecting it, so I hadn’t thought to brace myself.

So my eyes watered when she did it.

“Hey!” Carmichael threw her empty bottle at Raleigh’s head.

And Raleigh, being Raleigh, didn’t catch it. It slipped through her hands and knocked her right in the nose. The same nose that’d been hurt earlier when Alfie the dick tried to do whatever it was he was trying to do.

“Owwww!” she cried. “Owwww!”

Carmichael leaned back into my body and said, “Sorry. I really honestly thought you would catch it.”

Raleigh gave her the middle finger.

“I just hope you know, I bled all over your keyboard earlier, and now I’m going to bleed all over your couch.” Raleigh groaned nasally.

“What are you talking about?” I asked as I picked up a stray pepperoni out of the pizza box and put it into my mouth.

“I was using the computer that you gave Carmichael. Luckily, I was able to hack into it based on all of your old passwords. I had to submit a giveaway to win a four-day cruise around Alaska.” She paused. “I bled all over the keys. Completely forgot about it until now.”

“Where is it?” I asked curiously.

I hadn’t seen the computer anywhere.

She pursed her lips and got up, walking out onto the front porch.

“Well…” She hesitated. “Maybe one of y’all picked it up? It was on the porch. I hate to admit this, but I dropped it. It probably doesn’t work anymore.”

All of us got up to look for it except Camryn, who was complaining about how full she was.

“I don’t see it,” I finally said. “Let me search for it using the app I have with work.”

I pulled out the app and searched for the computer.

Honestly, I was surprised that I still had it, seeing as I didn’t use the computer anymore. All the information on it, other than a few personal items, had been wiped.

“That doesn’t look like it’s here.”

I looked at the blinking dot on my app.

“Nope, it sure doesn’t.”

CHAPTER 16

You’re my favorite thing to do.

-Coffee Cup

CROFT

“The address is listed as a rental property. Owners are in Hawaii for the month.” Flint paused. “They said that they rented it out to a young woman that’s a lawyer.”

Carmichael started to laugh.

“It’s fuckin’ Karen, isn’t it?” she chortled. “Oh, God. That would make this just perfect. You’ve been working with her for freakin’ months now. And she stole your computer. How did she even get here to do that? Nobody saw her.”