Page 75 of Last Chance Seduction
If he ever came home so I could see him again.
Mr.Darcy meowed at the back door, gesturing towards the catio, and I sighed, letting him out on his own.
“Lex put a new lock on the back door that you cannot open.Do you understand me?I need you to stay safe inside.While it’s too cold for snakes, it is also too cold for you to be out for too long.”
My cat blinked at me as if he understood me, or maybe that’s just what I wanted him to do, and I closed the sliding door behind him.He stretched, and I resisted the urge to say good stretch, and went back to his little bed.He curled up, a little black void of poof, and I couldn’t help but smile.
I wasn’t the greatest cat mom in the world.I was still learning.But he was my everything.And I could tell from the way that he frowned at me, and pouted, that he missed Lex as much as I did.
I was going to fix this.Because there wasn’t any other option.Was there?
My doorbell rang as I tried to think of how to approach Lex other than just going over to his house, and I froze, slowly pulling my phone out of my pocket.He stood there, hands in his pockets, looking as lost as I felt.
Part of me wanted to reach out and trace his face with my fingers on the screen, but that was ridiculous.
Because he was here now.And I would hear what he had to say.And then figure out what I needed to say along the way.
I opened the door, heart in my throat, and he stood there, looking so handsome that it was hard for me to breathe.But that was usually the case with Lex.He always made it hard for me to breathe.
“You answered,” he said softly, and I nodded.
“I’m sorry for not answering my phone yesterday.I was in the booth, and then I didn’t know how to call you back.I just needed time to think.”
“I understand.I wouldn’t have blamed you for never answering your door.I was such an asshole.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t listen either.”
“Can I come in?I can stand on the porch if you’d like, but I’d like to come in.If you’ll let me.”
I took a step back, my heart aching.I didn’t know what I was supposed to say.But looking at him?It was as if every moment that I had been trying to forget slammed back into me, and I couldn’t breathe.
“I shouldn’t have blamed you.I know you were just trying to help with the Gia thing, and it was exactly what we needed.”
My eyes widened, but I didn’t say anything.
“Gia was trying to rub her relationship in my face.She cheated on me, dumped me, made me feel like shit.And she was trying to lord it over me.I hadn’t realized how many times she had tried to do that.And you stood up for me.But Mercy?The moment I held your hand at the JW?It was real.Everything was real to me.”
“I’m still sorry for lying.But you’re right, it was the both of us.”
“And it was real.And frankly?If we would have had more time, it would have been real from the start.”
My eyes widened.“What are you saying?”
“Mercy.I wanted you when we were teenagers.When we were out of college, I wanted you, and was ready to ask you out and stake my claim in that growly way that we both joked about, but then Justin did it first.”
“So he staked his claim?”I asked, my voice dry.
“And I thought you loved him.”
“I thought I did too.”
“So I stepped back, and then as soon as I saw you here again, it was like I had a second chance.Only I wasn’t sure how to take it, and then the facade happened first.I don’t regret anything that happened.Other than the fact that I hurt you.”
“You did hurt me.But I should have listened.I should have taken a moment to just figure out exactly what we were doing.”
“You didn’t owe me that.You should have yelled and thrown things and called me bad names.I said shitty things.And I’m sorry.”
“I wasn’t looking for you, Lex.When I moved here.I was trying to figure out how to live again without my twin.To be alone.And I don’t know how to do this.”
