CHAPTER 3
Clay
I liked working with my hands. I was damn good at it. However, today, it was more work of the mind than anything.
I was the assistant project manager for Montgomery Builders.
Meaning, I worked directly under Beckett Montgomery.
He was the eldest of five siblings, and each of those Montgomerys worked together at our construction company.
I didn’t know the entire history of Montgomery Builders or exactly how they came about.
However, I did know that Beckett’s parents had built the place from the ground up.
Beckett’s mother’s family, the other Montgomerys, had a construction company of their own called Montgomery Inc.
That business was even bigger than the one I currently worked at.
They did projects all over Colorado, while Montgomery Builders was a little smaller and tended to focus on two or three projects at a time.
Montgomery Inc. was growing by leaps and bounds, while Montgomery Builders was doing the same in their own right.
The elder Montgomery, Beckett’s father, used to have a feud with the other Montgomerys down south, though I wasn’t sure the other Montgomerys were aware of it.
All I knew was that every time I walked into a business meeting—or what was supposed to be a business meeting—when Beckett’s father was there, things got weird.
The older man used to get egotistical, standoffish, and would insert himself into every part of the project, ignoring his talented children’s request to retire like he’d said he would do.
Everything had come to a head over a year earlier. Now, things were finally settling.
The five Montgomery siblings, my bosses, worked well together and were each building families and foundations of their own.
Beckett was marrying Eliza, and the two were in the process of looking into adoption. They were strong together, and Eliza was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my life.
Beckett was a little loud, a bit brash, and would literally take a bullet to save you. Because that’s the kind of man he was.
Benjamin, Beckett’s twin, was the landscape architect. He had his own team and was rarely in the office. These days, he was with his fiancée, working on and building incredible landscapes in people’s yards or for the larger buildings the company worked on.
We didn’t just build model homes. We created custom housing and businesses. We were damn good at what we did, and Benjamin made it sing.
But we couldn’t do it all without Annabelle. Annabelle Montgomery-Queen was our lead architect and newly married. She joked that she would knock off the name Montgomery and stick with only Queen, but the Montgomery women didn’t tend to change their names—or they hyphenated.
To be a Montgomery was to be family. To be truth. All of them had a Montgomery iris, the family’s logo and crest tattooed on their bodies. People who married into the family got it, as well.
Paige, the youngest Montgomery and the company’s office manager—AKA the person that kept everything running smoothly like a well-oiled machine—had joked that since I had been working with the Montgomerys in one way or another for nearly a decade now, I should get a tattoo of my own.
I had shaken my head, though the idea of having a tight-knit family like that, one that held you when you fell and didn’t back down when things got hard, meant a lot.
My connections to the Montgomerys came from the Denver branch and how my life had changed when I was a little kid—when I lost everything, and Storm got hurt in the process.
I’d grown up knowing that Storm would always be there. And when he married Everly, she’d thought of me as family, as well.
I wasn’t a kid anymore. And I wasn’t a Montgomery.
“Why do you look so sad?” Archer, the final Montgomery and Annabelle’s twin asked as he walked in, looking as if he’d just gotten out of a shower. Archer was the lead plumber for Montgomery Builders.
I raised a brow. “I’m fine. Why do you look like you’re wet?”
“Because I am wet.” He winked and grinned. “Should I not say that with an employee?”
“Probably not. But I’m the one who brought it up.” Archer pressed his lips together at the word up, his eyes dancing. I threw back my head and laughed. “Considering you’re a plumber, how many innuendos do you make a day?”
“Thousands, all to myself. I’m not about to make them to my staff.
” He paused. “And now I could say something about staff, but I won’t.
However, I did just hit the shower because there was an incident.
I don’t want to talk about it, but I’m clean now.
After three showers, thanks to the lovely full bathroom in my office. ”
“I guess it helps that you are the plumber and can make sure you get what you need in terms of showers for your office.”
“I designed that baby knowing I would use it on certain days when I don’t have enough time to go home.”
“Well, for all our sakes, I’m glad you’re clean.”
“Do I want to know?” Beckett asked as he walked in, shaking his head. “No. I don’t want to go down that path. Not again.” He shuddered. “Never again. Come on, let’s get into the main conference room.”
I frowned. “I thought we were meeting in your office.” The Montgomerys had this strange system where they rotated where they had the main meetings with the group.
They alternated offices, making it so nothing got stale, and everybody had an opportunity to feel as if they were comfortable in their place.
“There’s a bird outside the window and it won’t shut up. I can’t think. I don’t want to move it because I think it has a nest there, but it’s so loud that I might spoon my eyes out. So, no, we’re not meeting in my office.”
I frowned. “A bird?” I tried not to laugh. Beckett was my boss, after all.
“A bird. I don’t want to talk about it.” He huffed away, heading towards the conference room, and Archer and I gave each other looks.
“I won’t laugh. That means you can’t laugh,” Archer muttered, the light in his eyes dancing.
“It’s going to be hard.” Too late, I realized that I’d said the word hard to Archer.
“Stop making it so easy for jokes that can get me into trouble.” Archer made a strangled sound, and I laughed with him, following him to the meeting room.
“Do I want to know why you’re wet?” Paige asked as she shook her head. “No, you’re a plumber. There are things that I don’t want to know. Ever. Please don’t tell me.”
“Hey, I’m the one who helped fix the clog in your sink yesterday. For free.”
“And I organized your tax stuff for the accountant. I don’t know why you’re bringing that up,” Paige replied, fluttering her eyelashes.
“You do that?” I asked, leaning forward. “The organizing thing.”
Paige narrowed her eyes. “Not always, but I owed Archer. Do you need help?”
I cringed. “A little. Things are getting a little more complicated with the bonus you all gave me. Not that I’m complaining.”
Paige smiled, her eyes lighting up. “I’ll help, but you do need an accountant. We have a guy. He does personal taxes, too, not just business.”
“How much is that going to cost?” I asked with a wince.
“You’ll get the Montgomery discount. You just need to get the tattoo,” Annabelle teased as she waddled in.
I would not say the word waddle out loud, though, because she would hurt me. And she was really strong for a woman pregnant with twins.
“Okay, let’s get this party started,” Annabelle stated as she put her feet up.
“Before we do, we’re going to ask one thing that is off the record and not on work time. So, nobody’s getting paid right now,” Benjamin said as he leaned forward. “My wife has a question.”
“Oh, yes. I have questions, too.” Annabelle winced. “Only we’re at work, so I probably shouldn’t ask.”
I looked between them and swallowed hard. “Is this about the bar?” I asked, not bothering to hide.
Paige blinked. “What bar? Riggs’? What happened at Riggs’?” Her eyes widened. “Oh, with Riggs. I have questions. So many questions. I would say we should meet at the bar after work to talk, but maybe we shouldn’t.”
She rubbed her hands together with glee, and I rolled my eyes. “It’s not any of your business,” I answered casually, looking between them all.
“It’s not, but we’re your friends. So, if you’d like to tell us why the two of you left together and were trying to be subtle about it, I would love to know,” Archer urged.
I stared at my friend. “You weren’t even there.”
“I hear things.”
I laughed and leaned back in my chair. “Riggs and I have known each other for a long time.”
“What?” Beckett asked, his eyes widening. “Really?”
“Really. It’s not a big deal. Anyway, we know each other, and that’s all I’m going to say.”
“Like, know-know, or like want to know-know?” Paige asked, holding up her hands. “I get it, break’s over. But wow. He’s hot.”
Thankfully, we started talking about the project, and I leaned back, took notes, and asked questions when I needed to.
Unlike most of the other teams, I was one of the only people who wasn’t a Montgomery in these meetings. Most of the other staff was either already on projects or didn’t need to be here. They got what they needed directly from their superiors.
Beckett liked me being at the meetings because I asked decent questions, and he wanted me to learn how to do his job.
Not that I would ever have his job at Montgomery Builders.
If I wanted Beckett’s role, Montgomery Builders would have to expand—and they might.
Or I’d have to find another assignment. I could always go down and work for Montgomery Inc.
And thanks to the fact that the feud was no longer in evidence, nobody would hold it against me.
However, I wasn’t sure what I wanted yet. Right now, I just wanted to learn. Plus, moving the kids again would be a little too much. They already had enough on their plates.