Quit Bein' Ugly by Vale, Lynn (best mobile ebook reader .txt) 📕

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.”

CHAPTER 6

As long as I have a vagina, you’ll never go hungry.

-Text from Carmichael to Croft

CROFT

Five minutes earlier

The nurse came in and shooed everyone out, including Karen and Carmichael.

Carmichael left way too easily, Karen, on the other hand, looked as if she was trudging through mud up to her knees on the way out.

The nurse fussed with my pillow, checked my blood pressure, took a look at my wound, and then said, “The doctor thinks that you can go home tonight. However, you will need to follow up with your primary care physician in seven to ten days to get these stitches checked. Also, you will need to watch the wound closely for signs of bleeding or an infection.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose with my free hand. The one that didn’t currently have a bullet hole in the arm connected to it.

“What’s the damage?” I finally asked. “What does he think on it? Can I resume regular daily activities?”

She removed the dressing and I looked down at it.

The shot went through the upper meat of my arm. It wasn’t hitting bone, but it definitely hadn’t just skimmed me, either.

“I think that with a week or so of rest you should be fine.” She pressed the skin around the bullet hole. “You were very lucky. If you follow this down just slightly, you get to the artery, and you wouldn’t be here right now.”

I looked at where she was pointing and was surprised to see that only about an inch or so separated my bullet hole from her finger.

I shivered.

“I didn’t really feel all that lucky until you just said that,” I admitted. “I’ll try not to be such a Debbie Downer now.”

She winked. “You’re allowed to be a Debbie Downer when you’re shot. At least, that’s what I hear.”

I snickered but quickly sobered when even that small movement made things hurt that should never hurt.

My eyes drooped as pain almost overtook me, but when I closed my eyes, I heard Carmichael’s voice, low and soft, in the hallway as she spoke with her brother.

I was so focused on her voice that the pain that I felt previously slowly lessened to more manageable levels, as if her voice was hypnotizing it away.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have her with me tonight.

And tomorrow.

Possibly all the days after that.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts of Carmichael and her in my house playing nurse, in a short white skirt and a tight little white top that showed off her perfect set of tits, that I didn’t realize that the nurse was going to touch my shoulder until pain once again shot through me.

“Ow,” I groaned.

“Sorry,” she said as she cleaned up some of my arm with an alcohol swab. “Go back to your happy place.”

“How do you know I was in a happy place?” I asked curiously.

My dick wasn’t hard, was it?

“You were smiling and you weren’t paying a lick of attention to me. I know when a man gets all dreamy-eyed over a girl,” she admitted.

Dreamy-eyed wasn’t even the least of what I