Hissy Fit (The Southern Gentleman #1)(30)

I ignored her promise and headed into town, grinning widely when she sighed deeply in the seat next to me.

When she didn’t look at me for the next ten minutes, I’d thought it was due to me not taking her home so she could drive herself.

Turns out, as we pulled into the parking lot of the one and only clinic in town, it was due to the fact that she was embarrassed that I’d witnessed yet another faux pas on her part.

“Listen.” She turned in the seat and looked at me. “I’m a mess. I have accidents happen every day. I’m scared of the dark. I trip over air. I break at least one bone a year, and honestly? I’m not really sure why you’re even still with me.”

My brow rose at her admission.

“And you’re deathly afraid of working with seniors,” I started, watching her eyes go wide.

The stillness of her body had her father and brother’s points hammered home. She was deathly afraid. She’d also been victimized, and the last nail was hammered home.

“H-how did you know that?” She licked her lips, drawing my attention to that succulent mouth of hers. That mouth I hadn’t tasted in well over three days, and it was driving me wild.

“Your brother let it slip that you didn’t work with the older age groups. I let it slip that you’d been taking over my sex-ed class.” I paused. “And it all degraded from there.”

She looked down at her hand, which was holding the bloody towel into place.

“I want to get better…and I’d also like to keep my job. I took it as a sign that this was my time,” she explained hesitantly.

I didn’t know what to say to that.

On one hand, I completely agreed with her. She needed to get over her fear. It wasn’t healthy.

But I also didn’t want her to ever be scared in the first place—no matter what the cause.

“They wouldn’t have fired you,” I promised. “I wouldn’t have let them.”

She laughed. “You didn’t even know me then, Ezra. I was still invisible.”

I winced. “I would’ve known that you were fired because you didn’t take over my class. I wouldn’t have stood for it.”

She smiled sadly.

“Well, it’s not like you need to worry about it anymore. I’m perfectly fine, and I’m working through my fears.” She paused. “And your class is full of boys that are sweet. The girls are even sweeter. I’m lucky.”

“Next year you might not be,” I admitted. “What then?”

She sighed. “Next year it might not matter because I might be hit by a random bus crossing the road, and I’ll no longer be of this planet.”

Her flippancy made me angry.

“Don’t.”

Her eyes widened. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t joke,” I said. “Not about that.”

The idea of her not being around anymore felt like a blow right to the heart.

I hadn’t realized how attached I’d become until tonight. Her sweetness. Her beauty. Her teasing. Not having it around me anymore scared the absolute crap out of me, which in turn terrified me even more at the intensity of my feelings for her.

I’d never felt like this before. This feeling was utterly new, and it felt like something that was making my heart feel like it might burst straight the fuck out of my chest.

“Let’s go,” I ordered, getting out of my seat. “I don’t want that getting infected.”

She laughed. “Isn’t alcohol a disinfectant?”

I gave her a roll of my eyes. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

Teasingly, she flipped me off, but the lightness and laughter shining in her eyes was much better than seeing the terror of moments before as we spoke about what had happened to her.

Needless to say, I’d do just about anything to see her smile.





Chapter 10


It’s lit.

-Thomas Edison

Raleigh

I got six stitches in my thigh and a shot in the ass due to my clumsiness.

The icing on the cake was Ezra watching me bend over and pull down my pants, a look of heat in his eyes.

Now, I was sitting in the front seat of his truck in front of my house, wondering if I could talk him into coming inside.

Unfortunately, I knew that the moment he walked around the hood of the truck and helped me out that he wasn’t going to stay. Even if I asked nicely.

He looked shaken after what he’d learned about my assault and hadn’t gotten rid of the look ever since my dad and Croft had told him about it.

To make matters worse, he’d literally watched me get stitches with horror written all over his face.

Which then, in turn, made me feel stupid because I’d gone and screwed myself up, showing him exactly what he would be getting if he continued to date me.

And the bad thing was, ever since the night that we’d slept together, he hadn’t made a single move in my direction since.

He hadn’t even tried to cop a feel or kiss me.

Hugs, yes—not that I was complaining about Ezra hugs, they were the best—but there were other things I liked about him, too. Such as his lips…and his penis.

Like right now, he was keeping so much distance between us that I could definitely not miss the signs.