Lord Have Mercy

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  It was hard not to listen and be immersed in the love that school had for him.

  “You were the talk of the school then, as you are now,” I told him honestly. “I remember this girl getting all teary-eyed that you were sick and ‘on death’s door.’”

  He snorted. “I wasn’t at death’s door, though it might’ve felt like it. I did have a hospital stay for two days, though, due to my inability to keep anything down and dehydration.”

  I rubbed my hand lightly down Flint’s chest, being careful to not press down too hard on his bad side where he’d sustained breaks.

  Flint caught my hand and pressed it down hard to the middle of his chest.

  I buried my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent.

  “Seeing you there scared the absolute crap out of me,” I told him.

  I didn’t have to go into detail on when I was talking about. He knew just as well as I did.

  “That SUV rolled over on me, and all I could think about was you. What hearing about me dying would do to you,” he rumbled quietly. “I never, not once, wanted to see you hurt.”

  My breath hitched in my chest.

  “I did realize one huge thing with that massive vehicle laying on top of you.” I took in a deep breath. “I want to marry you, Flint Stone.”

  There was a long, silent pause.

  “Did you just ask me to marry you?” he asked after a few long seconds.

  My lips twitched.

  “What if I did?” I asked carefully, still not pulling my face from his neck.

  “Then I’d say yes…when I can officially walk.”

  Chapter 18

  Triscuits are what I would imagine a scarecrow tastes like.

  -Text from Flint to Camryn

  Flint

  Four weeks later

  I was alive.

  How did I know I was alive?

  Every piece of my body hurt.

  Bad.

  I hadn’t been out of the hospital for more than six hours, and I was already hating myself for wanting to leave.

  Everything was harder here.

  Nothing was set up for a man that couldn’t use either one of his legs, and only had partial use of one of his hands.

  Hell, there were no bars to help me get on and off the toilet. In or out of bed. Up or down the stairs.

  Fuck, it was torture.

  And I was forcing Camryn to do a whole lot more than she ever signed up for.

  She was looking at me with such love shining in those bright eyes that it took everything I had not to yell.

  I wanted to scream out how pissed off I was, but with her love and support wrapped around me, I did none of those things.

  I just tried harder.

  “Your therapist should be here around nine,” she said. “Are you sure that you don’t want me to help you to the bathroom?”

  “Yes, I’m fairly fucking sure I don’t need you to pull my pants down so I can take a shit,” I growled.

  I’d managed to do that just fine on my own earlier. At least, when I’d been upstairs. Now that I was downstairs, and the bathroom was twenty feet farther away, I wasn’t so sure.

  I might not get back up until she got home.

  Camryn’s head tilted slightly sideways as she stared at me with amusement tilting up the corner of her lips.

  “I love you, Flint.”

  My heart thumped hard in my chest.

  “I’d love you more if you gave me a blowjob.”

  Her mouth fell open, and I winced.

  I hadn’t meant that to come out of my mouth.

  But goddamn, was I horny.

  Then, as if in a dream, she walked over in her prim as fuck skirt that came down past her knees, dropped down on said knees, and then started to pull my sweatpants down.

  My cock, which had been hard for the longest time now, started to stiffen further.

  “I don’t know what it is about you,” I said. “But fuck.”

  Eloquent I was not.

  She finally got the waistband of my pants down enough for my cock to pop free, and for once my legs no longer hurt.

  For the first time in a month I could think about something else but the ache and pain of the appendages that were fairly useless for now.

  “I’m not sure I should be doing this, but you have been rather grumpy lately,” she teased.

  The doctor had said that there should be no sexual intercourse of any kind—and he’d made sure to list the ‘kinds’—until I was healed enough from surgery that I wouldn’t risk popping a suture or rebreaking anything.

  But I was fairly sure I was beyond that point at this many weeks post-op.

  I’d spent over a month in the hospital, and I was just released from the rehab floor. I still had physical and occupational therapy, but now they were coming to the house to work with me.

  Needless to say, I was bored out of my goddamn mind. My dick was constantly hard because Camryn was a really good listener when it came to my safety on the line. Oh, and let’s not mention I hadn’t been able to hold Camryn in my arms because she was scared to death that she’d accidentally roll over into me in the night and hurt me.

  I missed my woman.

  “Say it again,” I ordered.

  Ask me to marry you.

  She rolled her eyes and then dropped her mouth until she could reach the tip of my cock—which was already dripping with pre-cum. The dot of liquid smeared over her lips, and swear to God, had I not jacked off earlier that morning in the shower, I would’ve come right then just by the look of it alone.

  “Holy fuck,” I groaned. “Sweet baby Jesus, that’s hot.”

  Her mouth quirked. “What’s so hot about it?”

  Seconds later she licked her lips clean, leaving me swallowing hard at the sheen.

  “Goddamn,” I said, belly clenching.

  My ribs protested, though not nearly as hard as they would have just a few days ago.

  I was taking it day by day, hour by hour. Each day I woke up and things weren’t as bad as they were the day before, and I had nobody to thank but the woman at my side—well, currently between my thighs—for that.

  “Will you marry me?” she repeated.

  I swallowed hard, looking down into her eyes that had the power to make my entire fucking being jolt with awareness.

  “Ask me again when I can walk,” I repeated my standard answer.

  Each day I fucked up. Each day I felt like I was a burden.

  But each day, when I woke up to her sleeping on the floor because she couldn’t bear to be that far away from me despite me practically begging her to get into bed with me, I knew that she was mine.

  The day that I could walk to her and get down on my knee to propose to her in turn, I’d say yes to her little proposal.

  She laughed and swirled her tongue around the tip of my cock.

  “One of these days I’m going to stop asking,” she teased.

  She wouldn’t.

  “You won’t,” I told her honestly. “We both know that.”

  She shrugged, then sucked hard on just the tip, causing my balls to rise as my traitorous body started to ready itself to come despite my want for this particular blowjob to last all day.

  Alas, Camryn’s single-minded focus, paired with her mouth on my cock for the first time in weeks, was the end for me.

  Not to mention she was so goddamn good with that mouth.

  “Aw, fuck,” I cried, my hands clenching.

  My fucking ribs protested as well, and suddenly I was coming. So hard that it literally took my breath away.

  And I couldn’t even blame it on the pain.

  It was all Camryn and what she did to me.

  “Jesus Christ,” I said, head back on the couch, breath heaving my chest.

  My eyes were directed at the ceiling, and I couldn’t even scrounge up the energy to look down at Camryn as she lazily sucked on my cock, c
leaning my release from my shaft.

  She laughed and I felt her push up off her knees.

  I looked at her, thankful that I didn’t have to move my head to do so.

  “I think you broke me,” I admitted.

  Really, I was having trouble getting my arms to move.

  I needed to tuck myself back inside my sweatpants, but the idea of lifting my arm to do any of that sounded exhausting.

  Luckily, realizing my predicament, she did it for me, carefully tucking me back inside, while also patting it lightly when she realized that it wasn’t going to fit in there very nicely just now.

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  Her head tilted. “For the blowjob, or for tucking you back in?”

  I reached for her, and she came willingly.

  Her mouth hovered inches over mine as she leaned both fists into the couch beside my head.

  “For loving me.”

  Her face softened. “I do.”

  I tucked a stray lock of hair over her ear.

  “Come here.”

  She did, pressing her lips to mine in a soft, sweet kiss that would’ve brought me to my knees had I not been sitting.

  “Love you, too.”

  I tugged on her shirt, looking down it at her breasts that were plumped up nicely with the bra she was wearing for the day.

  “I like this top. It’s sexy as fuck.”

  She leaned back up and smiled down at me.

  “I got you something,” she said, her eyes lit with happiness.

  “Another one of those when you get home at lunch?” I asked.

  Was that hope in my voice?

  She rolled her eyes. “No.”

  I grinned. “Then what is it?”

  “I left it on the bed.”

  With that she left, stopping only long enough to allow the physical therapist that came by three times a week in before continuing on to my car.

  I looked down at Dooley, who hadn’t left my side since I’d gotten home.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do with her,” I told him. “But strangling her comes to mind.” I paused. “She goddamn knows how hard it is for me to get up and down those stairs, and she also knows that I’m not going to be able to resist going up them.” I watched his ears twitch as I waved at Kinsley, the therapist. “I have to go up the stairs. Would you mind making sure I don’t fall down them?”

  Kinsley’s mouth rounded into a smile. “Excellent. Today I was going to suggest that anyway. I wasn’t sure you’d be willing.”

  Normally I wasn’t.

  But today I had an extra incentive.

  ***

  “You bought me an engagement ring?” I grinned at the woman that came through the door on her lunch break.

  Camryn’s smile was weak at best.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked her, holding my hand out.

  She practically fell onto the couch next to me.

  “Long day,” she admitted. “I was hoping to hurry home and have the full hour of lunch with you, even stopped by to get some food.” She gestured toward the door where she’d dropped the bags containing food. “But then I saw the Chief there with Schultz, and we got to talking about the man that hit you…they still don’t have anything.”

  I completely understood her tiredness now.

  She’d been worried about that so much lately that she’d been making herself sick, throwing up in the bathroom or anything handy that wouldn’t ruin if she upchucked into it. Literally every time the accident was brought up, she’d puke.

  I’d have been worried about other things—such as pregnancy—had she not told me a few days ago that she was on her period and not to even look at her.

  When I’d tried to make it better by ordering pizza, she’d cried about the fact that she’d made dinner in the crockpot before she’d left for work—but had forgotten to turn it on. Not only had she ruined a twenty-dollar pork butt, but she’d also made herself feel stupid.

  Her words, not mine.

  “And what did the Chief and Schultz have to say?” I asked.

  I knew what they had to say.

  The same damn thing that they’d had to say the last time that Camryn had brought it up with them.

  There was nothing to find.

  The SUV that’d hit me had been recently sold to someone that had used a false name to purchase it. There were no cameras in the area, and there had been nothing identifiable in the vehicle to say who’d been responsible.

  Pretty much, it was a dead fucking end.

  Whereas I’d come to terms with the fact that we’d likely never find the person responsible for nearly killing me, Camryn wasn’t so accepting.

  “That there were no new leads.” She slumped down in the couch and looked so cute and defeated that I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for her and bringing her into my arms.

  “When do you have to leave?” I asked.

  I knew when she had to leave.

  I was just hoping for more time.

  “I don’t,” she admitted tiredly. “Your sister offered to take over my class. I went and puked three times during three class periods, and Mrs. Sherpa decided that it might be a good thing for me to get some sleep. Oh, and stop worrying so much.”

  I snorted and pressed her head against my chest.

  “It’s a three-day weekend, isn’t it?”

  She nodded, her hair brushing my chin. “Yes.”

  “Bonus,” I said, snatching the blanket off the back of the couch and throwing it over her legs. “Sleep for a bit. The sandwiches will hold for another hour.”

  She sighed and sank deeper into my arms. “Okay.”

  “Ask me again,” I ordered.

  She smiled sleepily. I could just barely make out the curve of her lips as she said it.

  “Marry me?”

  I sifted one of my hands through her hair.

  “Ask me again when I can walk.”

  She sighed. “You’re impossible.”

  “I’m your impossible,” I teased.

  Chapter 19

  I only do butt stuff at the gym.

  -T-shirt

  Camryn

  I wasn’t sure what I was doing was for the best, but I had to try.

  Anything was better than sitting there, moping around like Flint was doing.

  Pushing through the door to the office I’d been directed to, I smiled at the man behind the desk.

  “Hey, Chief,” I called.

  Chief Donaldson looked up, saw me standing there in the doorway of his office, and grinned as he stood up.

  “Hey there, girl.” He walked around the corner of his desk and straight to me. “How are you doing?”

  I smiled. “I’ve been…better.”

  He crushed me to him, and I went willingly, loving the way he felt larger than life.

  “Flint giving you problems?” he asked.

  I laughed.

  “You could say that,” I admitted, licking my suddenly dry lips. “He’s also why I’m here.”

  The Chief frowned and pulled away, leaning against his desk as he stared at me fiddling with my fingers.

  “What’s he doing?” he asked.

  I looked up at the ceiling. “He’s dying a little inside each day.”

  The Chief frowned. “I thought he was better…”

  “No, that’s not what I mean.” I shook my head. “He refuses to allow anyone to help him but me. And, saying that, even when he allows me to help him, he only allows the help to a certain extent. That means he won’t allow me to go to any extreme measures. No helping him get dressed. No helping him get in the shower. No pushing his wheelchair.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  “And I think that since he’s good enough to complain—constantly—that he should be good enough to work.”

  The Chief frowned.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I think you’re right,” he
admitted. “Schultz despises the school. He’s always saying how it’s boring, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard him complain over the last couple of days.” The Chief grinned.

  “He’s fully capable of sitting up, doing things, being an asshole.” I paused. “Which is why I think you should allow him to come back to the school. I think having something to do during the day will help him. He’s wasting away because he doesn’t think he’s useful.” I sighed. “He won’t even go to the gym.”

  Chief Donaldson cursed. “Shit.”

  Yeah, I agreed.

  The gym was Flint’s baby.

  For him not to want to go there? That was huge.

  “I’ve been too tired from helping him cover some of the classes and opening the gym when Carmichael and Croft can’t do it that I haven’t realized how unhappy he was.” I paused. “I sort of looked at him this morning as I was leaving for work, saw how sad he was, and realized that I’ve been failing to pay attention.”

  “Let me talk to Mrs. Sherpa…if that’s okay with her to have him there in his wheelchair, then it’s okay with me.” He laughed. “I need Schultz anyway. I had two officers quit last week to go work in the oilfield.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I think she’ll be happy to allow him back,” I admitted. “All the kids miss him like crazy.”

  ***

  Flint

  I expected the lawn guys to be at the door. Not the Chief of Police.

  “Chief,” I held out my good hand to him. “What are you doing here?”

  The Chief took my proffered hand and gestured toward the inside of the house. “You mind if I come in?”

  I stepped back and swept my hand in a low arc while still keeping the crutch in my armpit.

  “After you.”

  The Chief skirted around me.

  “You’re out of your wheelchair?” he asked.

  I nodded. “For short treks like to the door and back to the couch? Yes. For anything more than that, no. I still need the wheelchair. At least until the casts come off in two more weeks.”

  “That’s all you have left?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Hopefully.”

  The Chief agreed. “Perfect. In that case, we’re going to get you back to work.”

  “You want me to what?”