Lord Have Mercy (The Southern Gentleman #2)(16)

“I was coming to deal with y’all when I was informed about the new track coach,” she sighed. “Y’all do realize that it’s unprofessional to have a relationship such as the one that y’all have, correct? The students need to be able to rely on you, Officer Stone. And you, Ms. Presley. They don’t need to be getting any whiff of the type of relationship y’all share.”

I stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re implying, but I don’t like it. I’m more than capable of doing my job, and have never, not in all the years of working here, given you any indication that I couldn’t. My record is nothing less than exemplary.”

“And I haven’t done anything either,” Camryn said, a lot less eloquently, might I add.

Then she crossed her arms over her chest and glared, causing me to snort.

She turned to me with a glare. Our earlier camaraderie was gone. She was now back to her pissed off, prickly self.

That was the girl I was beginning to fall for.

Grinning slightly, I turned back to Mrs. Sherpa who was looking at us curiously.

“A photo of the two of you is circulating around the school.” She pulled out her phone and started tapping. The moment that it was up, she turned her phone around and showed us.

It was a photo of us from last night. I was stretching her out, unluckily all you could see was my back and her bare legs.

Camryn hissed in a breath.

“You can’t even tell that that’s me and her,” I pointed out. “All you can make out are legs and a back. A back, which I might add, is completely covered.”

“It has your name on the back,” she pointed out.

“Actually,” Camryn said. “It has the gym’s name on the back. CrossFit Gun Barrel. Even I have a shirt that says that since I started boot camp there.”

Mrs. Sherpa sighed. “I know you’re right. I just wanted you to know that you need to be more careful about what you’re doing, and who you do it in front of.”

“Who sent you this?” I asked curiously.

The way it was positioned, it could’ve been anyone on the south side of the building. But it’d definitely come from someone inside the building.

Right about where Nivea had been standing.

With her phone, I might add.

Anger surged through me, and I started to wonder why, exactly, I’d spent any amount of time with her crazy ass.

It would be my luck that I’d attract the crazy ones.

“It was sent anonymously,” she said. “To about half the student body.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course, it was. How, exactly, does that happen?”

“Technology is the bane of our existence,” she said. “And, speaking of technology, I heard that y’all are now wearing body cameras. Does that include you in this school?”

I nodded. “Every time I step out of my cruiser and get so far away from the main hub, it starts recording. It’s for our safety and theirs.”

I saw Camryn nod in my peripheral vision.

“The only problem is that the school district has a no recording policy. Which is why it’s so difficult with the students having their cell phones.” She sighed. “We’re going to need to talk to the school board about this, but I don’t see why it would be a problem with you having it.”

My brow rose. “It’s either I have it on, or I’m not here…which one would you rather?”

Mrs. Sherpa rolled her eyes. “You know damn well what I’d choose, Flint.”

With that, she stood and gestured for us to leave. “Do try to be a little more circumspect next time, children.”

If it wasn’t so rude and unprofessional to flip-off an old lady that held control over my being at that school, I might’ve done it just to see what she’d do.

Camryn turned and walked out without another word.

She was halfway down the hallway by the time I made it out with Dooley.

“Don’t forget to roll those chips up or they’ll go stale,” I called to her back.

She stiffened, then turned. “Yes, Flintstone.”

I couldn’t wait to see her at the gym later that night.

***

She needed to get the fuck out of my gym.

She’d walked in wearing black spandex shorts, a black cut off T-shirt that had barely an inch of fabric right at the waistline holding it all together, and a bright, hot pink bra that molded to her every curve.

Every single goddamn curve on her pretty little body was driving me insane, and she knew it.

Her eyes were on me, and they were shining with mirth.

And, to make matters worse, today was deadlift and burpee workout, meaning I’d be seeing a lot of her ass bent over in front of me.

The warm-up was bad enough, but then she started talking to Croft, and I started to get irrationally angry.

By the time we were starting the workout, my anger was nearly to the boiling point, and I was annoyed.

Croft was talking to her like she was a new shiny toy. Yet, I distinctly remembered him complaining about his sister’s best friend, and how she was always hounding him for a date when he didn’t want anything to do with her.

He never really said why he didn’t want anything to do with her, and now that I’d met her, I couldn’t really figure out why because I liked everything that I saw and heard. But I seriously wanted to know why the fuck he was suddenly showing her so much attention.