Lord Have Mercy (The Southern Gentleman #2)(59)

I didn’t have to break up any fights. I didn’t have to reprimand anyone.

Honestly, it was the best day I’d had at the high school since I’d started.

I knew that it wouldn’t last, that it was bound to get worse, but for now the kids were being good.

They were also happy to have me back and took the time to tell me that.

It was a humbling experience, and I knew that I’d stay at this exact position as long as the Chief allowed me to.

I loved it at the high school.

The hours weren’t half bad, either.

“You ready, Freddy?”

I looked up to find Camryn standing in my doorway, a small smile on her face.

“Yep,” I gestured for Dooley to get up, which he did.

He made his way over to Camryn and pushed his nose into her hand.

She took the hint and ran her hand over his head, causing Dooley to close his eyes in bliss.

“He loves you almost as much as I do,” I informed her.

Camryn shot me a bemused look.

“I love how you just toss all that out so easily now,” she murmured. “Come on. I have one more place we’re going to stop before it’s time for rehab.”

I had a feeling that I didn’t want to go where she was going to take me, but I’d stalled for time for too long.

She was right.

It was time for me to go back to the gym.

It was when we were making our way to the parking lot that I saw the sleek new silver SUV with Carver standing next to it.

“Get a new car?” I asked as we rolled past.

“Yep.” His eyes skittered around nervously. “Have a good day.”

When he got in and pulled away moments later, I looked at Camryn with a grin. “I think he doesn’t like me.”

“He’s Carver.” She shrugged. “He actually wrecked that little car of his. He had a nasty bruise on his face from hitting the steering wheel. Then he got this Suburban that was such a huge contradiction to his previous car that everyone and their brother commented on it. You don’t remember him getting all that shit from Raleigh and Ezra?”

I shook my head. “No.”

She shrugged. “He had the Suburban for like two days before that was gone, too. I imagine that it was due to the fact that he didn’t want to get any more shit any longer.”

“Was the Suburban a rental?”

She shrugged. “I think it was actually his at one point…though he told me that it wasn’t in his name just yet. Said he’d bought it at an estate sale, and that was why he didn’t feel comfortable driving it much.”

I frowned as I rolled to my vehicle, and kept frowning all the way to the gym that she thought she was secretly taking me to but wasn’t, all the while thinking about the SUV that we all knew he wouldn’t drive.





Chapter 21


I’m on two diets now. I wasn’t getting enough food on one.

-Camryn’s secret thoughts

Camryn

“Baby?”

I rolled over and blinked open my eyes, ears straining as I tried to figure out what had just woken me.

A scuff, followed by a thud.

I frowned and tried to blink the sleep out of my eyes.

“Flint?” I asked, this time a little clearer headed.

“Yeah?” he grumbled, sounding deeply asleep.

“Is Dooley next to you?” I whispered sleepily.

I felt Flint move and then heard the bed squeak as he leaned over the side of the bed to, my guess, feel for Dooley.

Despite Dooley’s love and devotion to me, he was still one hundred percent Flint’s dog. If given a choice, he’d choose Flint every single time.

That included sleeping on his side of the bed.

“He’s right here,” Flint said a few seconds later. “Why?”

He sounded much more awake now.

“I heard something,” I explained. “It sounded like a thud.”

A thud loud enough to wake me.

Though, that wasn’t saying much. I’d always been a very light sleeper.

So light, in fact, I could hear the neighbors as they walked out to their cars and closed the doors two houses down.

Hell, I could also hear the paper getting delivered.

But the sound I’d heard wasn’t something I’d ever heard before.

Otherwise I would’ve been able to go back to sleep.

“Hear it anymore?” he asked, sitting up in bed.

I strained to hear anything, but ultimately the sound wasn’t reproduced.

“No,” I admitted. “Not anymore.”

“I’ll go look.”

That’s when I started to panic.

“Flint, you’re in casts and can’t walk!” I whispered, throwing the covers off of me.

He snorted. “I’m in walking boots, Camryn. Remember?” He paused. “Not to mention I have Dooley.”

I deflated.

That’d been a new development after school yesterday.

We’d gone in for a checkup on Flint’s legs, and they’d cut the casts off of each side. After a few x-rays, it was decided that the only support Flint needed now was his lower legs on both sides, which hadn’t healed as fast as his hip. He’d spend another four more weeks in his walking boots, and from there, he’d be free to walk without even those.