by Dena Christy
Loving Mercy
Dena Christy
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Also by Dena Christy
1
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
Those words drifted to Alex Sullivan from out of the kitchen of the bar and he had no idea what the hell Roger was talking about. His comment was appropriate for what was happening.
Mercy Chambers was walking in the door of Sawyer’s Place and seeing her again was like a baseball bat in the gut. It had been six weeks since she had blown his mind and seeing her again felt exactly the same as when he’d seen her for the first time. His heart was pounding, his palms were sweaty and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.
He forced himself to look away as she walked by without looking at him and went with Honor to find a table.
“What are you talking about?” Alex’s mouth gave a bitter twist as he turned to look at Roger through the pass-through to the kitchen.
“It’s a famous line, from the movie Casablanca. You need to get more culture in your life, kid.” This from a man who had been wearing the same grease stained ball cap every day since at least the nineteen-seventies.
The bar wasn’t busy, which usually meant that Roger got chatty while he waited for food orders to come in. Normally Alex enjoyed talking with the older man, but today he wasn’t in the mood.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t been in the mood for much of anything for about six weeks now, and the reason for that was sitting at a table waiting for him to take her and her friend’s order. She was his mind’s favorite obsession as he replayed everything that had happened that night, worrying over it like a dog with a bone.
“Okay. And why are you quoting random movie lines?” He would give Honor and Mercy a few more minutes to decide what they wanted before he went over there.
He was providing them with good customer service by waiting until they’d settled before he asked them what they wanted. It wasn’t because he wanted to avoid Mercy. There was absolutely no reason for him to. They were both adults and could pretend that nothing meaningful had happened six weeks ago.
“It seemed appropriate considering the look on your face when that pretty, black-haired gal walked in here with Honor.” Roger grinned at him and Alex rolled his eyes. “Speaking of, don’t you think you should take their order? Give an old man something to do besides look at your sour mug.”
“I’m getting to it. I was just giving them some time to decide what they wanted.” Alex grabbed his order pad and pressed his lips together. His feet stayed firmly where they were.
“Yeah, right. Do you want me to do it?” Roger braced his huge, grizzled hands on the counter of the pass-through and raised an eyebrow at him.
“No. Logan is adamant that you stay in the kitchen after the last time you tried to serve customers.” The last time Roger had waited on anyone had been a disaster. Customer service was not in his wheelhouse, and Logan had put his foot down about it when he’d gotten an earful of complaints from a bunch of tourists over the cook’s service style.
“Okay, so why aren’t you moving?” Roger looked at the table where Honor and Mercy were seated, and looked back at Alex. “Looks like Honor is trying to get your attention.”
Honor made eye contact with him and waved her hand. Alex sighed and pulled his shoulders back with his order pad in hand. This was something he did all the time. It was his job for shit’s sake. All he had to do was walk over to the table and be professional.
He walked over to where Honor and Mercy were sitting and pasted his professional, happy to serve smile on his face. It was the one he usually reserved for weekenders and tourists who weren’t normally a part of the regular community that lived in Cold Bay full time. With regulars, he was much more relaxed and genuine in his demeanor.
“Hey ladies. How are we doing today?” Out came his phony, happy waiter voice, and Honor looked at him like he was on drugs. Mercy was busy looking at the top of the table as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world when he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Her face was pale and she didn’t look well, and he crushed down the concern that wanted to leap up inside him. Mercy's health had nothing to do with him. She’d made that clear six weeks ago. “Can I get you ladies started with something to drink?”
“I’ll have a diet cola and I’m going to get a club sandwich with a garden salad as a side.” Honor smiled up at Alex and then turned expectant eyes to Mercy.
Alex forced his head to turn to look in her direction, with his smile still firmly in place. Mercy glanced up at him, and his smile stayed locked on his face when he looked into her killer, topaz colored eyes.
God, it was those eyes that did it for him. They seemed to glow when framed by her long, thick black lashes and set against her olive colored skin.
“And what can I get for you?” In his head he sounded like he wasn’t affected by seeing her again. There was just the right amount of friendliness without being too personal. She didn’t want to do personal and he could respect that.
“I’ll just have ice water and your soup of the day.” She turned her head to look out the window, and he watched her throat work as she swallowed. Something was definitely wrong with her, but he dismissed it from his mind. It wasn’t his problem. She didn’t want it to be his problem, and that was fine with him.
“Okay, I’ll be right back with your drinks and get your food order started.”
That wasn’t so bad. He’d seen her again and the world hadn’t fallen down around him. Alex turned on his heel and walked back to the bar. “Club with a garden, and a bowl of soup.”
“Does she want the bun or bread with the soup?”
“I’ll ask when I take their drinks over.”
Alex grabbed two glasses and scooped ice into each one. He put water in one and diet cola in the other. One thing was clear, the attraction he felt for her was still there, but for her nothing was different.
Six weeks since he’d seen her and she couldn’t bring herself to look at him for more than a few seconds. He’d like to know how he fucked up so that he could fix it, but he would not ask. He’d gotten the message loud and clear when he’d woken up that morning six weeks ago to find his bed empty and her gone.
“What is wrong with you? Those drinks won’t deliver themselves.” Roger’s voice barked out from the kitchen and Alex jumped.
He turned his head and glared at Roger for a second before he took both drinks in his hand and walked away from the bar. He got to the table and put the drinks down in front of the two women.
“With the soup, do you want the bun or the bread?” He looked at Mercy and didn’t bother pasting his happy to serve smile on his face. It was wasted since she wouldn’t look at him.
She closed her eyes for a second and there was a pause before she answered. It didn’t seem like that tough a question.
“Just the soup, please.” The words came out in a rush, and Mercy stood up suddenly. She bumped against his arm in her haste and hurried to the bathroom.
Was he so repellant to her that she had to run away from him?
“What the hell is going on?” Honor looked at him with a frown on her face.
“How would I know? She’s your friend
.” If anyone knew what went on in Mercy’s head, it was Honor. It was clear to him that he had no idea what was going on with that woman.
“I wasn’t talking about her, I’m talking about you. What is with you lately?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A lie if ever there was one. “I’ll bring your food over once it’s ready.”
“Alex, seriously. What’s wrong? First, you come over here like some waiter robot hybrid. Now you look like you want to fight with someone.” She reached out and put her hand on his arm.
There was concern in her eyes, and it wasn’t the first time that she’d looked at him like that. He’d been a bear to work with for the past couple of weeks. He knew it wasn’t fair to her but he couldn’t seem to help himself.
He couldn’t very well tell her that Mercy was his problem. If she didn’t know what was going on, then Mercy hadn’t told her what had happened. So Mercy didn't want her to know, and it wasn’t his place to spill the beans. Also, he didn’t want to get into it when the subject of all his thoughts for the past few weeks was going to come back from the bathroom at any moment.
“I just have something on my mind. Nothing to worry about.” He moved his arm away so that her hand fell away and forced his face to smooth out.
Alex turned and went back to the bar. “No bread with the soup.”
“You know what you need?” Roger looked him up and down. Alex closed his eyes for a second, wanting to tell him that he wasn’t in the mood to talk, but he knew from experience that it wouldn’t make a difference. Roger was about to share one of his pearls of wisdom, and nothing he said would make any difference.
“Nope, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“You need to get yourself a mate. The reason you’re so out of sorts is that your plumbing is all backed up and you need to clear the pipes. My advice, get yourself a mate and have sex regularly. It will transform your life.”
Alex stood behind the bar and prayed for a rush of people to come in. Then Roger would stop talking. He made it sound so easy, just go out and get a mate. Have regular sex and life would take care of itself.
Mercy caught his eye when she came back from the bathroom and he turned his gaze away. A rush of customers would do more than stop Roger from talking. Keeping busy was what he needed so that the time would go by and he wouldn't have to think about her. He’d done way too much of that for the past six weeks, and maybe it was time to stop. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him, and maybe he should get the message and move on.
Mercy stood on shaky legs as she gripped the bathroom sink. She swallowed several times to make sure her stomach wouldn’t try to turn itself inside out again.
Once she was sure it was safe to leave the bathroom, she washed her hands and went to the door. She stood there with her hand on the handle for a long time before she got the courage to pull the door open. Why did Honor have to pick here to have lunch? If they’d gone somewhere else, she wouldn't have had to see him. Sweet, kind Alex, who didn’t deserve to have a cowardly woman run out on him before the sheets on his bed had even cooled.
With a shake of her head, she braced herself and threw the door open. She had bigger fish to fry than looking at a gorgeous werewolf who’d rocked her world one night six weeks ago. She had thrown up every day for the past two weeks, her breasts were tender and her monthly visitor hadn’t shown up at all since she’d slept with the man tending the bar.
She peeked at him from the corner of her eye as she walked toward her table. He didn’t look like a happy man and he was scowling at something. She wanted to go up to him and tell him that the problem wasn’t him, but her. And wasn’t that just pure ego talking, as if his issue was because of her? For all she knew, he’d already moved on from that night and haven’t given her a second thought. She’d tried to do the same but hadn’t been at all successful.
She slid into the booth across from her best friend, Honor and grabbed her glass of ice water. She downed half, hoping it would settle her stomach.
“You okay?”
“I’m not feeling great.” Mercy forced herself to smile. “Nothing to worry about though.”
At least she hoped it wasn’t. But there was that nagging voice in the back of her head that knew what her problem was, and it was getting harder to ignore. It wouldn’t let her bury her head in the sand for much longer.
A shadow fell across their table, and Mercy glanced up to see Alex standing there with their food.
He set Honor’s plate in front of her, and as much as Mercy wanted to look at somewhere other than him, she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him. He set her bowl of chicken soup in front of her, and there was a chill in his blue eyes when he looked at her. Something inside her shrank back and shame over how she’d acted that night six weeks ago washed over her.
“Will there be anything else?” His voice was curt and definitely different from the over the top happy he’d been when they’d first come in.
Mercy shook her head.
“Nothing for now, Alex.” Honor spoke quietly as she frowned at him.
He turned and walked away. Mercy looked at Honor who was still frowning at Alex as he walked toward the bar.
“He’s acting a bit weird, isn’t he?” Mercy knew that she was testing the waters, trying to figure out if this was how he usually behaved at work. She had a feeling that it wasn’t but she didn’t know him all that well.
There was only one context in which she’d known him, and that episode was so crazy that it was hard to know what kind of person he really was. While it might be a little too late to think about the kind of man he was, it was information she was going to need if what she feared was happening turned out to be true.
“He’s not the only one. I swear there must be something in the water.” Honor took a bite of her salad.
“Oh yeah, who else is acting weird?” Mercy grabbed her soup spoon and spooned up some broth. Hopefully, her stomach was going to be able to handle this. She needed to eat. After a tentative sip of the broth, she looked up at Honor, who was staring at her.
“You are. What is going on with you? I’ve been trying for weeks to get you to go to lunch with me. When we finally go out you only want to stare at the table or out the window. Then you bolt for the bathroom. And come back to the table, pale, shaky and claiming you aren’t feeling well. What is going on with you?” Concern was written on Honor’s face, and Mercy put her spoon down.
She’d always been able to tell Honor anything, without her judging. It had been that way since they’d first met in second grade. And if there was any time that she needed a friend, it was now.
Mercy glanced around the bar, making sure that no one was in earshot and she leaned forward slightly. “I think I’m pregnant.”
Honor’s face paled, and a wealth of sympathy crossed her face. She seemed to absorb what Mercy had said, and to her surprise, there was venom in her friend’s voice when she spoke.
“I wish Rafe had killed that bastard.”
A frown pulled Mercy’s brows together. As far as she knew, Rafe and Alex were friends. When had Honor’s mate ever tried to kill him? Then it occurred to her that Honor had no idea that she and Alex had spent the night together and thought someone else entirely was the father.
“If I’m pregnant, Nathan isn’t the father.” Mercy took a deep breath and prepared herself to reveal the whole humiliating truth. “I should count myself lucky that Nathan only wanted to use me to keep tabs on Barrett. We never slept together.”
“What about the weekend when he came down to see you?”
Mercy gave a bitter laugh. She remembered that weekend, and the high hopes she’d had for it. “Nope. He said that he wanted us to take our time, that he wanted to wait before we had sex. And like an idiot I bought it. If I’d been smarter, I would have smelled a rat a lot sooner than I did. And he wouldn’t have tried to kill us both.”
Honor reached out and put her hand on Mercy's arm. “He used
you and there is nothing wrong in believing the best of someone. So if he isn’t the father who is?”
Mercy opened her mouth to reveal who her potential baby daddy was when said baby daddy came up to their table.
“Is everything okay?” He looked at Honor when he spoke, and Mercy didn’t know if she should be grateful that he seemed intent on pretending she wasn’t there. “Do you need refills on your drinks?”
Mercy shook her head, and Honor smiled at Alex.
“I think we’re okay for now.”
He turned away and Mercy couldn’t resist looking at him now that his back was to her. She remembered running her fingers through the short silk of his black hair, tasting his full lips and how delicious the weight of his strong body had been against her. Why had she given in to the impulse to run away from him while he was still asleep that morning?
She brought her head back around and Honor looked at her and then at Alex. She could see the gears turning in her friend’s head and knew the moment that she arrived at the answer to the question of who could have impregnated Mercy. Her eyes went wide, and she leaned forward.
“Alex? Alex is the father of your baby?” Fortunately, the shock had made Honor ask in a hissed voice, and Mercy quickly looked at where Alex was working at the bar.
He didn’t appear to have heard anything, thank God. If she turned out to be pregnant, she knew that she had to tell him but finding out by hearing it second hand at work was not the way anyone should learn something like that.
“Yes.”
“When did you start seeing Alex?” Honor looked confused, and Mercy sighed. She was going to have to tell her all of it.
“It was the night of the whole confrontation with Nathan. Alex was supposed to take me home but when we got there, I didn’t want to be alone. And I certainly didn’t want to be in my house where I had to think about how Nathan used me. So we took my car to his place and I’m sure all he intended was to talk and help me not be so frightened and upset.”