Quit Bein' Ugly

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Bryan looked worriedly at Flint before turning to me.

  “So I don’t know this for a fact,” he grumbled. “But I’m putting bits and pieces together here. I think that the person that is giving me directions is a teacher at this school.”

  My brows rose, showing my surprise.

  Flint all but stood up as he said, “What makes you think it’s a teacher?”

  Bryan blanched at Flint’s body posture.

  “A few of the things they’ve had me do,” he said. “Like with Ms. Stone. It was a teacher. I was supposed to steal her computer. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I had to steal a list of some sort from the office. I’m not sure what. Then, the time before that, I was to contact a kid. Give him a note or something. But all of the things that I’m having to do for them are always taking place at the school.”

  I uncrossed my arms and looked behind me before I said, “How do they contact you?”

  He reached into his pocket and tossed me a burner phone.

  I looked through the call log, but every message he’d gotten was from an unknown number. No help there.

  I tossed it to Flint.

  “I don’t know what to tell you to do at this point,” I admitted. “My gut is to say that you should ignore their phone calls. Get emancipated, which I can help you with, and get out of here before you have to deal with any more of their shit.”

  “Can I just leave?” he asked. “What about school?”

  I shrugged. “You can stay. But if you stay, you have to realize that they’re going to continue to use you because they have something they can hold over you.”

  “My dad?” Bryan laughed. “That’s not going to work anymore. I just… after today? After what I almost allowed them to push me to do? I won’t be able to do that anymore. My dad’s just going to have to deal with his own shit from now on. I’m done.”

  I just hoped that he could hold out. Because if I ever caught him with Carmichael in his sights again, he was fucked.

  CHAPTER 3

  CrossFit: the only place where saying ‘beautiful snatch’ isn’t a form of sexual harassment.

  -Text from Carmichael to Flint

  CARMICHAEL

  It was the squeak of my window opening that had me sitting straight up in bed.

  I looked over to Danger, the Alaskan malamute puppy—now more of an adult—that I was fostering. Only, Danger wasn’t there. I’d paired her out with her prospective match just yesterday.

  See, I owned a pet matching website.

  A person in our immediate area that was looking to adopt a dog went to my website. We asked them a series of questions and then paired him or her up with their perfect pet. So far, we had a ninety percent success rate.

  But that sucked for right now, because having Danger here would’ve really been helpful. She may not like me, but she didn’t like anybody else, either.

  My heart was pounding as I stared in horror at the room beyond where my bedroom door was.

  The living room window squeaked when it was opened.

  Quite badly, too.

  I’d been meaning to spray some WD-40 on it for months now since I liked to have the windows open at night, but I’d never gotten around to it.

  Thank God.

  I swung my legs over the bed and practically dove into the sweatpants that I’d left on the floor.

  Once dressed I yanked my phone free of the cord that was charging it and dialed my brother.

  He didn’t answer on the first ring. He answered on the seventh.

  I was nearly about to hang up when he grumbled a hello.

  “There’s someone breaking into my house,” I hissed quietly as I tiptoed to the bedroom door and locked it.

  All sleepiness left my brother’s voice when he said, “Did you call 911?”

  No. I hadn’t even thought about doing that.

  Jesus Christ. Where was my head at?

  “No,” I admitted. “I panicked.”

  He said something to who I assumed was Camryn then told me to go into my bathroom and lock the door.

  “I don’t have a gun. You have it,” I nearly cried.

  I’d given it to him last week to clean, and he hadn’t given it back.

  Why didn’t I just clean it myself? I knew how!

  I knew why, though. I was lazy and I hadn’t wanted to go to the store to buy a new kit to clean it with because my old kit was somewhere packed in a box and I didn’t know which one.

  Now, I was seriously regretting my decision to do that.

  I should’ve told myself to stop being a lazy bitch and gotten my boxes unpacked. Instead, I’d done the unthinkable, and now I was left with someone breaking into my house and no way to defend myself.

  It was then that I realized that at some point, I’d hung up on my brother.

  I’d just decided to call him back when there was a rather strong knock on my front door.

  I frowned, wondering if I should answer it, then thinking better of it when I didn’t know who was outside.

  Instead, I decided to stay put and wait for Flint, just in case.

  My phone rang and I practically jumped when it started to vibrate in my hand.

  Answering, I placed it to my ear.

  “What?” I asked.

  “That’s Croft at your door,” My brother said. He sounded like he was running. “I told him where the spare key was. Don’t freak out when someone starts creeping around the house. There’s another officer on his way that might get there before me, too. His name is Maddox. He’ll let you know when he’s close.”

  I closed my eyes as relief poured through me.

  Croft was here.

  That meant that whoever had tried to come into my house definitely wouldn’t have stayed.

  Croft was my next-door neighbor.

  Had I known when I moved in that Croft lived in the house next door, I would’ve turned right around in my moving truck and never looked back.

  But, as for right now, having him so close really worked for me.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “I’m on the bike. Hard to talk and ride. I’ll be there soon.” Then he hung up, leaving me staring at the door with worry written all over my face.

  Two minutes later there was a soft knock.

  “It’s me,” Croft called loudly. “It’s clear.”

  I opened the bathroom door and rushed to the bedroom one, throwing that open too.

  I didn’t even register that the man was in sweatpants and sneakers.

  Nope. All I noticed was that he was there, and that I was still freaking out.

  I threw myself into his arms and latched on to his neck so tight I heard him choke.

  “Was anyone in here?” I asked worriedly.

  “No,” he answered. “No one. The window was open, though. The flowers around the door were trampled, too.”

  My stomach knotted and I looked worriedly at Croft.

  “Did he come inside?” I wondered.

  Croft shook his head as if he didn’t know the answer.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But…”

  The doorbell rang, and Croft let me go to answer it. “Find some clothes.”

  I looked down at my nearly naked body and realized what I’d just done.

  I’d shown him my period outfit. The stained sweatpants that had been washed, but still had questionable smudges on them. The ripped and faded t-shirt that was so soft that it didn’t bother my skin.

  Son of a crotch rocket.

  I whirled around and tore back into my bedroom, slamming the door closed so hard that the damn thing reverberated throughout the entire house.

  Heading first to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take care of my personal business, I then went to the closet and found the sexiest thing that I could put on and not look ridiculous.

  A pair of short jean shorts, a camisole, and some tennis shoes later, I came out just in time for my brother to knock at the door.

  “That’s your brother,�
� Croft told me as he was leaning over the open window to inspect where the flowers were trampled with the officer. “Get it.”

  I ignored the order, at least, I would’ve ignored it had it not been my brother.

  “Hey,” I greeted as I pulled my head away from the peephole and smiled tiredly at my brother. “You were fast.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Of course I’m going to be fast when my sister calls me to tell me someone is breaking into her house.”

  I didn’t say anything as I opened the door all the way to allow him entrance.

  My brother and I actually lived about a half a mile apart in the same neighborhood.

  Surprisingly, who also lived in the same neighborhood was Raleigh and Ezra, as well as that other man across from me that I tried not to focus on too much.

  “Where’s Camryn?” I inquired.

  “Camryn stayed behind because you had a break-in, Mikey. I’m not bringing my pregnant wife to a break-in,” he grumbled as he pushed past me. “What’d you find?”

  The three men discussed what little they found, then turned to look at me in unison.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “Did you have your alarm set?” Flint asked.

  “Probably not,” Croft countered. “Otherwise she would’ve had the alarm company calling and not her. She’s lucky that she fuckin’ heard it.”

  I gritted my teeth and tried not to admit that he was right.

  I’d forgotten to set it.

  Just like I did most nights.

  I just didn’t remember.

  It wasn’t my fault.

  I wasn’t used to having a stupid alarm.

  The only reason I had one now was because my brother had insisted when he’d moved me into my new house.

  “That’s not smart, Mikey,” Flint grumbled as he started to look around.

  He saw it at the same time that I did.

  “Looks like they stole your computer,” Flint said as he stared at where my old laptop had once laid.

  I looked at the spot that had a collection of dust on the table around it, meaning I hadn’t moved it in quite some time, and then looked at Flint.

  “Why would they steal that? That one doesn’t even work.” I threw up my hands.

  Flint’s eyes, however, weren’t on me. They were on where the laptop had once laid.

  “Why would a kid be told to try to distract you and steal your laptop?” he countered.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but immediately closed it.

  That was twice in two days, one of my computers had nearly been stolen and another actually had been stolen.

  What the hell?

  “No idea,” Flint grumbled. “What I do know is that you need to start setting your fucking alarm.” Flint turned his attention to the officer. “Did you dust for prints?”

  The officer shook his head, but ended up doing just that a few seconds later as he walked toward the door to go get his bag. He came back in moments later to start dusting for prints, just in time to hear the two men continuing to lecture me on ‘women’s safety.’

  By the time that the officer was done about twenty minutes later, I’d had enough.

  “Listen,” I snapped. “I will set it from now on. What I will not do is listen to y’all bitch anymore. I’m done. Done. Finished. No more!”

  Croft rolled his eyes at me at the same time my brother said, “Well maybe if you used your fuckin’ brain.”

  I pointed at the door. “You can leave now.”

  Flint threw up his hands. “I was just worr—”

  “Leave!” I growled.

  Flint sighed and made eye contact with Croft, letting him know that it was ‘his turn’ now.

  Well, I had a surprise for them.

  I was nobody’s to be taken care of.

  I was a strong, independent woman.

  Just as my brother headed for the door, I said, “And I want my gun back, you procrastinating bastard!”

  Flint flipped me off as he left with the officer, leaving me alone with the intimidating man at my back.

  I turned woodenly, as if what I was about to see would traumatize me for life.

  When my eyes found his, it was to see him staring at me with barely contained fury.

  “What’s your problem with me?” he asked bluntly. “I live right across the road. I would’ve gotten here in less time than it took for you to call your brother.”

  He had a point but… I didn’t like him.

  “My automatic response isn’t to call some random man that I barely know,” I told him honestly. “It was to call the man that has been there for me through thick and thin. The man that I trust with my life. The man that I know better than I know myself. I don’t know you, Croft.”

  His eyes narrowed. “And why is that, Carmichael?”

  My brows rose at his words.

  “What do you mean, why is that?” I stiffened. “I don’t know you because I don’t know you. It is what it is.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I asked you out on a date.”

  I rolled my eyes at his high-handed tone.

  “And?” I asked. “We didn’t go. You were too busy. With Karen, I think was her name.”

  His brows rose at the scalding anger in my voice, but there was literally no way in hell that I could hide that.

  “I was working with Karen on a case. She works at the firm with me. The case was rather large,” he explained. “I don’t know what this has to do with Karen. She wasn’t the reason that you bailed on the date.”

  “Actually, she was,” I said. “You brought her to the gym that day. She practically molested you through the whole workout. You barely even looked at me. And to top it all off, you walked out the door with her instead of waiting for me. So yes, I bailed on the date. Who wouldn’t?”

  “I walked outside because she needed help moving a box from her car to mine,” he said. “Which you would’ve known if you hadn’t left yourself.”

  “I didn’t leave,” I countered. “I was in the kids’ room saying bye to all of the kids.”

  Croft narrowed his eyes. “Bullshit.”

  “Not bullshit,” I snapped. “I was there. I never left.”

  He drew in a deep breath, then let it out.

  “Karen’s nothing” he started to say, but his phone interrupted him.

  He pulled out his phone, and I saw the screen as he shoved it back into his pocket.

  “Nothing, huh?” I asked. “It’s four in the morning. People who are ‘nothing’ don’t call at four in the morning.”

  Croft shrugged. “Sometimes she calls and texts. I’ve been putting my phone on silent lately because of it. You’re honestly lucky that I had it on loud because I usually don’t. Otherwise I wouldn’t have made it over here as fast as I did.”

  I lifted my shoulders as if I couldn’t care less.

  “I didn’t call you,” I said. “And there was no one here when you got here so…”

  So, let that sink in.

  I didn’t need him.

  I certainly didn’t need the complication and drama that Karen was likely to provide.

  The only man I needed was my brother, and that was that.

  CHAPTER 4

  CrossFit: realizing that you’ve joined a cult and you’re okay with it.

  -Text from Croft to Flint

  CROFT

  I arrived at work the next morning tired as fuck because not only had I been woken up out of a sound sleep, but I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Carmichael and her words since I got home.

  The first person I saw was Karen.

  She was practically waiting at the door with a cup of coffee in one hand and a donut in the other.

  I nearly growled at her as I breached the entrance of my firm.

  “Croft, hey!” she chirped as she walked to me. “I got you some coffee.”

  I shook my head. “Already had some, thanks, though.”

  “Oh.” She frowned. “What about a donut?
”

  I looked at the carb-filled morsel and shook my head. “No, I have a CrossFit competition in Shreveport in a few weeks. I don’t need any unnecessary carbs.”

  She all but deflated.

  I ignored her and moved swiftly to my office, anticipation for the day already humming through my veins.

  “Hey, would it be okay if I borrowed your computer?” Karen asked sweetly from behind me. “Mine’s not acting right.”

  “Sorry, but no,” I said. “Computers aren’t to be shared among us. There’s too much information on them that could possibly harm our clients, even unintentionally.”

  “Oh.” She paused. “Well, Matthews allowed me to borrow his a few weeks ago, so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem.”

  I looked at her over my shoulder. “Your computer’s been acting weird for a few weeks now?”

  She opened her mouth and then closed it. “Oh, well I got it back from IT, and it was still doing that same weird glitching. So I sent it back to IT.”

  “Sorry, but no,” I shrugged. “There’s a communal one in the conference room. You have to log in to it using your office ID.”

  When I got to my office, I slammed the door closed, knowing that Karen would come in if I didn’t.

  When I got there, I looked around the room, my eyes taking in the mountain of paperwork that I needed to get through today to get ready for the trial that was starting in two days.

  I still had to call a few of my key witnesses, and…

  Karen walked into my office without knocking, making my teeth grit in response.

  “Karen,” I said as I tried to remain polite. “I realize that you’re used to walking in here because of the case that we just worked on together, but I need you to please respect my privacy if my door is closed from now on.”

  The case that went fuckin’ bust thanks to the asshole copping a plea deal with the FBI.

  The assholes.

  All of them were assholes.

  Karen’s mouth all but fell open in response.

  “Now, I have a few phone calls to make, so you may see yourself out,” I continued.

  Karen shook her head, as if she couldn’t quite believe what I’d just said and nodded her head. “O-okay.”

  When she was leaving, my office phone rang, and I picked it up without reading the caller ID.