Page 75 of Good at Being Bad (Rock Canyon, Idaho 8)

Jenny went into her bedroom before Ellie could reply.

Once she’d locked up the house, Ellie closed the door to her bedroom, mulling over Jenny’s words. The last thing she wanted was to lose her best friend.

She heard her phone ringing, and saw that it was a blocked number. She was tempted not to pick it up in case it was the mouth breather again. At the last minute, she slid her thumb across the screen. “Hello?”

“I miss you.” Mike’s voice sounded soft and slightly slurred.

Leaning against her door, she fought the giddy butterflies fluttering in her chest at just the sound of his voice. “I heard you got into some trouble. You okay?”

“No, I’m all broken and bruised. I need a sexy nurse to come take care of me,” he said.

Ellie bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Sorry, I’m not a nurse.”

“Can you just wear the outfit then? Please? Travis just dumped me on the couch and I can hardly stand.”

“I thought you kicked the other guy’s ass?” she said, suspiciously.

“He got in a few hits. I might have a concussion. You should probably come over and stay with me, so you can wake me up every few hours.”

“I don’t know. I have brunch with my dad tomorrow.”

“I’ll be the perfect gentleman, I swear. I need you, Ellie.”

At war with herself, she finally said. “Fine, I will be over in a few minutes.”

“You’re the best,” Mike said.

She hung up the phone, pretty sure she’d just been conned, but if that was the case, then she had let it happen because she wanted to see him. She couldn’t help it; the obnoxiously funny, sweet, amazing guy that Mike was had gotten under her skin.

After locking the front door behind her, she got in her car and headed over to Mike’s. It took about ten minutes to get to his place and when she walked through the door, Smalls jumped around her legs, barking crazily.

“Shush, baby, I missed you, too.” She flipped on the light, and her eyes found Mike almost instantly. His eyes were squinted and he had something dark and wet on the front of his T-shirt. She winced when she saw his bruised and swollen jaw.

“Ouch, that looks like it hurts,” she said.

The smile he gave her was lopsided and goofy. “Maybe you can kiss it and make me feel better?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Come on, dork. Let’s get you to bed.”

“You gonna join me?” he asked.

“No, I am going to help you get cleaned up,” she said, sniffing. “You smell a little rank.”

Ellie helped him to his feet, trying not to step on Smalls, who was constantly underfoot, and led him into the bathroom, shutting the door on the pup. Flipping on the light, she reached for the bottom of his T-shirt, and ignored Smalls’s claws scratching at the door as he whined.

“Can’t wait to get me naked, huh?” Mike said, waggling his eyebrows.

Ellie wrinkled his nose at his breath and let go of the shirt to grab his tooth brush. Putting paste on the bristles, she held it up to his mouth. “Brush your teeth. Your breath smells like ass.”

“You’re mean,” he said, but put the brush in his mouth and started brushing.

Ellie realized that part of the smell was a little vomit on the front of his T-shirt, and sighed. “Can you stand on your own long enough to take a shower?”

He took the tooth brush out of his mouth to answer and weaved a little.

“Answer enough,” Ellie said grimly. She kicked off her shoes, pausing to point at him. “Now, I am going to help you, but that is all I am doing, you got me? You cop one feel or try anything, and I will drown your ass.”

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