Page 4 of Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy #9)

Chapter Two

Lexington

I t only took a moment for the woman in my arms to freeze at my hold before she pulled back, eyes wide for a bare instant, before her face blanked.

“Mercy. It is you.”

I was usually far better with words than this. Only I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say in this moment. It had been over two years since I had seen her. Two years since everything had been beyond reality and unable to actually see reason.

She looked much the same, though I knew her reality was anything but.

With her dark blonde hair pulled back from her face, dirt on her chin, and pale underneath those red cheeks from either embarrassment, or fright, she was the same Mercy she had been before.

But that wasn’t true. There was no way she could still be that same Mercy.

“Lexington.”

I held back a wince. I’d used to be Lex to her. I loved both of my names, but I’d never just been the mouthful of Lexington when it came to the woman I’d grown up with and had once called my good friend.

“Is this your house?”

She nodded before wiping her hands on her hips. “Yes. I didn’t realize you were working on the house next door. The Montgomerys really are everywhere, aren’t they?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but she turned to the person beside me.

“Thank you for dealing with that. I hate having to kill any living creature, but it was venomous, and I don’t really want it to go into another yard and harm a child or small animal.

So thank you. Now if you don’t mind, I need to go inside.

I’m late for work.” She gave me a look then.

“Work that’s a little difficult with all the noise going on. ”

I winced. “I didn’t realize you lived next door. When I went to visit all the neighbors to tell them we were adding onto the home, you weren’t here. I’m sorry if we’re too loud for you.”

“You own this place?” she asked and shook her head. “Of course you do. Of course Justin’s best friend lives next door to me. Because why wouldn’t you?”

I couldn’t help the scowl that covered my face at the mention of my former friend’s name. “I haven’t spoken to Justin since the day after and...” I let my voice trail off. “Well, the day after I saw you last.”

Because after Mercy and Emily had gone to the hospital, I hadn’t seen them again. They’d packed up and headed to a hospital with better care and on the top edge of research for Emily’s particular cancer.

I hadn’t even been able to check in on them because they had been so focused on keeping Emily alive, that I couldn’t even express my sorrow, or anger at Justin, to Mercy.

The two women that I had hung out with as a child and grown up with had cut me out of their lives with a precision scalpel just like they had with Justin. And I had resented it.

Then again, my world had upended on its own a few times since then, so it wasn’t as if I didn’t understand finding a way into this new world. Only mine paled in comparison.

“I see.”

She didn’t elaborate and I had no idea what to say. But I didn’t want her to leave. Damn it. I used to be better at this. We used to be better at this. “I do own it. I wanted a house that the Montgomerys didn’t build, and I could make it my own. I guess I moved in right after you did.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the rest of my crew that had run to Mercy’s backyard at the sound of her scream head back to the project site. And for that I was grateful. I didn’t need anyone else to see me fumbling like this.

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it. But if you could let me know exactly when you guys are working, especially with the loud noises, that would be great. My sound booth only works so well.”

I winced once again. “I can text you every day what we’re doing, and if you’re behind on deadline or something, let me know, we can work something out.”

“I didn’t realize that you were able to control contractors like that? Isn’t timing important?”

“I’m the boss, and it’s my house. And I do remember how you work, Mercy.”

“I’m not the same person, Lex. And work changes over time. So do people.”

“You’re right about that.” I slid my hands into my pockets, rocking back on my heels. Mercy and I had been friends once. I wanted to believe the resentment in her voice was because of Justin, but maybe I had done something wrong as well.

“I didn’t know, you know.”

She winced, and I knew that was the exact wrong thing to say. “I need to get back to work.” A loud meow echoed from behind her, and she sighed. “And Mr. Darcy needs his food.”

I looked past her at the familiar black cat. “Hey there, Mr. Darcy. Long time no see.”

Mercy just nodded at me, before she turned on her heel, and walked carefully back to the closed-in patio. Then she picked up the meowing cat and walked into her house, closing and locking the door behind her.

I stood in her backyard, hands in my pockets, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do now.

“Hey, Montgomery, are you going to come back here and help out?”

I shook myself out of whatever the hell my brain was doing in that moment, and walked through her backyard, and through the back gate. I closed it behind me, noting that she hadn’t locked it from the other side.

I took my phone out of my pocket, ready to text her and tell her to lock it, and realized that she would probably do it herself, and I wasn’t even sure if she had the same number.

Because she hadn’t answered a single call since I’d watched her and Emily get into that ambulance, red sprayed over all of that beautiful white lace Mercy had worn.

Sighing, I walked the slow path to my backyard, and through the open back gate.

“Everything okay?” Cullen asked, and I nodded at the large, bearded man.

He was one of our main plumbers for Montgomery Construction, and we were grateful to have him.

He had more experience than pretty much anyone on our crew considering he was a full decade older than most of us.

But he didn’t mind calling the rest of us boss.

He was just good at what he did, and he didn’t complain much.

“Sorry, you need me?”

“Mercy okay? I heard there was a snake. What kind?”

“Something venomous. You know Mercy?” I asked, wondering why that tickle of irritation rolled up my spine.

It wasn’t as if I had been on site recently to meet the rest of the neighbors other than that first time.

I was the lead for the entire company, and our architect.

We had multiple projects going at once, and my house wasn’t on the top of the list. I wasn’t even living here full-time because I was working on multiple bids, so I still had my apartment.

It was easier for me to go back into the office if I only had to drive less than a mile. But my lease was up soon, and I would be living full-time in my home, complete with construction noise. No wonder Mercy looked perturbed. And it wasn’t just for the snake.

Not only did she get a blast from the past from seeing my face, but she also had to deal with construction noise. And that had to be killer for a voice actor.

“I’m friends with one of her friends. I don’t know her too well, but yeah, funny coincidence.”

“Oh,” I said before another worker called me over.

“Anyway, everything okay?”

“All good here. We’re all set with the bathroom addition, now we just need to work on a few other things before I get to head to another project and then come back here to do the big part.”

“I swear, you move around from project to project more than Dash does.”

“Did someone say my name,” my cousin said as he strutted over, a grin on his face.

Dash was my age but sometimes acted like he was a decade younger than me. Mostly because it made him stand out amongst the rest of us. He liked being the easy, happy-go-lucky guy, and while that was usually my thing to do, recently, I wasn’t in the mood to keep up with that appearance.

“I’m headed out back to the office, I know Jamie and Brooklyn need to have a meeting. Are you going to head that way soon?”

“No I have to work here, sign a few things, and then I have that house up in Aurora.”

I nodded as we pulled out our phones and went through our schedule.

We weren’t the first, nor were we the second, construction and contracting company within the Montgomery family.

My cousins’ grandparents had actually begun the first construction company.

Montgomery Inc. They had made a name for themselves, and then the next generation, my aunts and uncles had come along and expanded the business to the point that people sought them out even in other states.

In fact, a family in England had a Montgomery Inc.

home thanks to a friend of a friend, so now it was an internationally known company.

My aunts and uncles, as well as my grandparents had started another company, Montgomery Builders.

Apparently, there had been beef between the two sets of grandparents, and though the companies had never been one, they had been trying to outdo each other.

Or at least, they had been on the Builders’ side.

My mother had done some of the art for the family, but it was my father who was a Montgomery Builder.

Dash did what my father, Beckett Montgomery did, while I took my Aunt Annabelle’s place as architect and lead.

While we could have continued on in the Montgomery Builders name, I had wanted to start fresh.

Because it wasn’t as if my parents had retired yet.

They were still young enough that they had plenty of time.

In twenty years, if we all decided to combine companies, we could, but for now, we were a subset, our own group that instead of building from the ground up, did more of restoration and updating.

We liked to keep a little bit of the historical parts but use what we had.

Hence my home.