Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding #1)(45)
Author: K.A. Linde

"That she’s a virgin."

"No. That I love you."

Lexi’s head snapped up. "You what?"

"You’ve known that for a long time. You say it to me all the time with your eyes. I came here to straighten things out with Kate. To make things right for us."

"Did you say you love me?"

"Lexi you know I do."

"No, no I don’t," she said pulling herself away from him and slamming into her car door.

"You’re just lying to me."

"I’d never lie to you again. I’ve told you that so many times. Just let me straighten things out so we can work this out."

"I don’t want to work it out," she said numbly staring at him. She was still shell shocked and saying the first thing that came to her mind. How could he say those things to her? After everything he said only a couple hours ago about wanting to be with Kate, and having no desire to let her know about what happened, how did he expect her to react? Did he think she was just going to roll over for him? She had made a decision in that coffee shop with Clark and she was going to stick by it. He couldn’t just come in here with his sweet talk and think everything would just go back to normal. He wanted her now, maybe, but that wasn’t good enough. He had to want her all the time. He had to need her. He had to put her first. If he loved her, that’s what he would have done from the beginning. But Jack had never put anyone first in his life. "I want to be with Clark. He wants to take me back."

The look on Jack’s face hurt more than Lexi ever thought would be possible. "Fine. Go be miserable with your little lap dog. Forget what I said. Just forget it," he said turning away from her pushing aside the lone tear that had managed to seep out of his eye. "Forget it all."

But she would never forget.

* * *

K.A. Linde

Interview with the Mistress Pt II

Lying here on the couch

With my heart in my mouth

I realize you were right, I was wrong and

I’m in pieces and bits but that’s nothing you can’t fix

Cause baby you’re still my addiction

– O-Town "Craving"

* * *

Chapter 15: Present

Finding a town car pull up in front of Ramsey’s place the next morning with breakfast and coffee wasn’t exactly the type of hospitality Lexi had been expecting to receive from Bekah. When they had last parted it hadn’t exactly been on good terms. So far, everything had officially gone completely opposite of how she had planned. All she had wanted to do was tell Bekah her story and get over Jack. Instead, she had stayed at his house, nearly been seduced, met Bekah’s entire family, started a near brawl with the girl, made out with her brother, and went on a date with him. None of these things had fit into the master plan. By now she was supposed to be sitting on the back porch of her parents’ house sipping on a margarita and enjoying the remaining week at home. Instead she found herself being whisked off to some boutique to go shopping for Jack’s birthday party. A birthday party that not only did she have a date for, but it was with the aforementioned brother.

She sighed and took a long sip of the black coffee hoping the caffeine buzz would addle her brain back to its proper mode of functioning. If she could get out of this situation sooner rather than later that would be better for her rattled nerves. The only problem was she wasn’t sure what to tell Bekah.

Things with Jack had never been simple enough to put a label on.

For some reason everything had to be explicitly complicated when it came to Jack. If they had just dated and got bored with each other like normal couples, then maybe she could just go to Bekah and tell her a very simple story. But under the circumstances, Lexi thought it did their relationship a disservice to reduce it to such simplicity.

How she felt about Jack crossed lines that she wasn’t sure how many other people had ever experienced. The way he looked at her and touched her and just seemed to understand her made the whole scenario much more difficult to explain.

And it’s not like she could tell Bekah the entire story. No one had ever heard the entire story. She was all but certain that Jack hadn’t confessed anything. After all, he hadn’t even mentioned a word about Lexi to this girl he had been dating for nearly two years. No way was he going to tell anyone else about New York. And Lexi never had the heart to reveal all the details to anyone else.

So that just left her back at square one. What should she tell Bekah?

What to tell Bekah did seem to be the biggest issue at hand. One, that at the present moment, she would just have to play by ear. If Bekah dug too deep into the past, she could always close off conversation. If she played it safe and just stuck to the briefest of details, and things somehow relevant to the inane reason she had flown her down here, then perhaps they could work things out.

Lexi had expected to pull up in front of some swank boutique. To her surprise Phipp’s Plaza appeared before her eyes. The mall parking lot was already swarming with expensive cars bustling to feed their owner’s shopping desires. Lexi hadn’t been inside since high school and the only reason she hadn’t returned was because she hadn’t been able to spend a dime in the place. It wasn’t a Manhattan boutique, but it wasn’t like Lexi could afford this either.

She pushed her bangs off her forehead as she entered through the overly air conditioned sliding doors. The stench of wealth that had permeated the parking lot didn’t end upon entering the building. She felt out of place in her loose fit purple tank and running shorts compared to all the fake princesses clicking along the marble in their four inch Manolos and swishing their tiny butts in professional garb.

When Lexi had received the message from Bekah, she had just been about to go out on a morning run. Thus she hadn’t had much time to do anything but throw her hair into a slicked back ponytail and add the tiniest bit of lip gloss to her swollen lips. Bekah probably wasn’t going to approve of her choice, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She hadn’t let Chyna persuade her into five hundred dollar t-shirt, and that was her best friend. No way was she going to let this be any different. Lexi dealt with high end, wealthy people every day of her life. She was almost certain that there was nothing Bekah could send her way that would throw her off track.

Bekah’s nose turned up ever so slightly as she watched Lexi approach the entrance to Jimmy Choo. She placed a fantastic pair of brown leather boots back on the stand and sauntered up to the tiny girl. Bekah had never been one to put much effort into her appearance. She had always been the beautiful Southern Belle with long flowing blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and a clear complexion. She always stood out from the crowd and the wealth her parents bestowed her only helped with her wonderful wardrobe.

Under differing circumstances she could see why Jack had thought she would get along with Lexi. She had the same no theatrics beauty, and carried herself as if she owned the world. She looked just as beautiful if not more so than any of the other women who spent millions every year trying to achieve the flawlessness that came to these two women naturally. But Bekah couldn’t like her. She wanted to. After all she would only be here for a week. Jack wanted them to get along. Ramsey seemed to like her. Well that wasn’t a real reason for her to like Lexi. Usually she was disgusted in Ramsey’s choices in females. But that wasn’t really his fault. This girl obviously had charm.

She could twist a smile. She could tease with her eyes. She could beckon with the curve of her h*ps and the flick of her tongue upon her lips. Even the stupid habit she was doing right then where she pushed her delicate brown locks behind her ears was in some way charming.

Bekah just felt out done. It was a strange feeling, and this little shopping adventure was what she needed to get back her footing. She needed to remind this girl and herself exactly who she was. Bekah Bridges did not stand down or get flustered over some little girl.

"Lexi how wonderful to see you," Bekah trilled giving her a quick hug.

Lexi was momentarily caught off guard by Bekah’s continued hospitality. This girl really was an enigma. One moment she was a snotty nosed bitch out for her life, and the next she was all happy-go-lucky girl next door. What was scarier was that Lexi didn’t know how to predict her actions. Was it something that Jack had said that forced this woman to play nice with her today? Did Jack even know that they were out together again? Lexi hadn’t bothered to call him again after their rendezvous at Ramsey’s and then their texting conversation last night. She knew she would have to speak with him eventually since she had so much to figure out. She just didn’t know how much of him she could handle just yet. He acted as if everything was fine and there was nothing between them, but then there were moments…shining moments where he was her Jack all over again. And she knew in those moments, he would take her as he always had. He would somehow work his magic on her and make her remember just what it was like to be with him. That was when she needed to be on guard the most. She had to get closure. Wasn’t that what all this was about? Wasn’t she talking to Bekah and dealing with Jack supposed to be about?

Her thoughts seemed to press in at her temples, and she forced a smile onto her face as the pain continued to crush in on her. She didn’t want to think about that right now. She’d been able to forget for just the briefest of moments about Jack while she had been with Ramsey. That had been her break. Now she needed to get back to reality and fight out this battle so she could move on with her life.

"Good to see you too," she said pulling away from the embrace. "So what are we up to?"

"You’ll never believe it," Bekah began ushering her away from Jimmy Choo. A slight glint in her eye remained as she passed the high heeled boots she had just been holding.

"What?" Lexi asked feigning interest.

"I had this gorgeous one-of-a-kind handmade Vera shipped to me last week for Jack’s big day. Well my seamstress got a hold of it to do some last minute repairs and just destroyed it." The look on Bekah’s face was pure destruction. "I’ve never fired anyone so fast, and she’s been working for my family for years. You can’t just go and ruin a brand new dress. I’ve no idea what she was thinking, but there was no way to salvage it and still have the desired effect."

"So you need a new dress."

"As do you," Bekah told her angling her body to direct them into Barney’s.

"Oh, no I don’t think so. I can’t afford…"

"Money isn’t an option," Bekah said the twinkle in her eye replaced by something else…a bit more mischievous.

"I’d never be able to repay you so I simply cannot accept anything, but I’d be happy to help you find something," Lexi said not wanting to ever be in debt to this woman or anyone else other than the Federal government for her student loans.

"I’ll take answers to my questions as payment. How does that sound?" Bekah asked.

It sounded wonderful actually. She didn’t have anything to wear to something as fancy as Bekah and Ramsey made this event out to be and she simply couldn’t afford anything. But she could not let Bekah pay for her. There was more to that acceptance than Lexi was willing to succumb to. "I don’t think so," she said uncertainly.

"Well let’s just talk and if we find something then that was payment and if not then you’re just fine. Is that better?"

Lexi chewed on her bottom lip not wanting to give into her. She tucked a lock behind her right ear and fidgeted outside of the department store. "Fine, but I doubt I’ll find anything."