Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding #1)(79)
Author: K.A. Linde

"Ma’am, we’re on the highway."

"He can walk," she told him.

"That is illegal. I cannot let you out of the car until we are off the interstate," he said zooming down highway 85 towards the airport.

"I’m not going anywhere anyway," Jack told her.

"Then I’ll get out and hail another cab," she told him turning back towards the window.

"Lexi it’s a duplicate," he told her reaching out and turning her head towards him. She yanked her face out of his reach.

"A…wait…what?" she asked staring in the blue pools of his eyes.

"A duplicate. I had another one made, because I couldn’t give her your ring," he said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a rather familiar black box. He flipped the top up and Lexi stared down at the wedding ring he had almost given her once. It was as exquisite as she remembered with every detail cut to perfection.

"How do I know this isn’t the duplicate?" she asked staring down at the ring and knowing that no one could really duplicate this. The ring itself had an old time-y appearance and was completely unlike anything else she had ever seen.

"Why would I go to the trouble of getting you a duplicate?"

"To cover your ass?" she guessed.

"No to show you that, no matter what happens, you truly will always have a place in my heart," he whispered tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. The cab pulled into the line of traffic in front of the airport.

Lexi pulled her gaze up from the dazzling ring and met Jack’s look. "I appreciate the fact that you have one redeeming quality Jack, but that is all it is. Just a measly hint of redemption with six years of disappointment."

"No matter what you do, it will never make up for what has happened between us. I will never trust you. I will never again be comfortable around you. I will never look at you or think of you without considering the destruction you have train wrecked through my life.

"I hope you the very best in your future, because without you in my life I think I might finally have a future. And as angry as I am with what you have put me through, I am so very glad that we are now at this moment. This moment means I can move on to bigger and better things without you constantly weighing on my shoulders.

"I will never again turn a corner in New York terrified that I will run into you and even more terrified that I won’t. I can go into any coffee shop I want. I can hope for love again. A love that will be more than anything you ever attempted to give to me. Because the love I am looking for will be reciprocated one hundred and ten percent. There will never be another someone to distract our affections, because you will not be in the picture.

"So as sad as this day is for me, as I am losing a part of myself with the loss of you, it is really just the beginning for me. It is like cutting off the spoiled part to get to the juicy center. So I would appreciate it this time, if you did not try and contact me, because as I’m sure you know I deserve much better. I want everything this time around and I deserve it," she said holding her head held high as the cab came to a stop in front of the airport terminal. "Take him back to Bridges Enterprise," Lexi commanded stepping out of the cab.

"Lex," Jack called hopping out of the cab.

"Don’t call me that," she cried turning around and facing him. As always Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was crowded thousands of people destined to travel all around the world. Families were huddled together hugging and kissing their farewells to their relatives. Lovers were embracing as they came and went through the hundreds of sliding doors. Business men and women carrying similar black luggage took hurried steps around the slower passengers. A few heads had turned at Lexi’s exclamation, but she was beyond caring.

"Fine. Lexi," he said taking a more hesitant step closer.

"What do you want? Because all I want is you mercilessly out of my life," she spat at him.

"I know and I’ll get out of your life. I’ll let you live yours. Can I make one last request?" he pleaded.

"Take, take, take. That’s all you do. What more could you want?" she beseeched him.

"Just a final farewell," he said taking another step towards her.

"No," she said her voice hitching as his hands reached out and lovingly cupped the sides of her face. "Jack no. You are engaged," she whispered.

"Just a good-bye. That’s all," he implored.

His head dipped down slowly. Lexi felt as if she were watching him in slow motion as he descended towards her. She could almost feel the taste of his lips as energy radiated out of every pore. Her skin was on fire and she could feel her body impulsively reacting to his touch. Her eyes stared deeply into the cerulean orbs entrancing her.

Her heart remembered every moment she had given into him just like this. She remembered her head feeling dizzy and light headed. Her heart racing along at a sprinter’s speed. Her eyes glazing over with desire and fluttering closed in anticipation. Her lips quivering as she wet them waiting for them to be covered with his own. Her cheeks flushing with warmth and desire. A wonderful ringing sound filling her ears.

She could remember every sensation she had ever felt with Jack in that instant as he demanded one last thing from her.

One last kiss good-bye.

Just as he was about to touch her lips to his own, she took a step backwards and smiled brightly. "Good-bye Jack," she said turning on her heel, walking through the sliding glass doors, and leaving him behind.

She felt as if she were walking on clouds as she ventured out towards the hanger where the private jet Chyna had secured was located. All she had was her purse. No Jack. No weight on her shoulders. She felt as if she was breathing in new air. Her mind was buzzing with possibilities. Her feet carried her out to the private hanger and across the cement tarmac to the waiting plane. As she approached, she noticed someone waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

The closer she got the more she realized that the person wasn’t dressed in a uniform of any sort. She knew the person standing there waiting for her. Her heart sped up in anticipation of what was to come. The lightweight feeling she had experienced left her with the prospect that she had one more conversation ahead of her before she left for home, one more conversation that she didn’t want to have.

"I’m glad I didn’t miss you," Ramsey said walking confidently to her side and enveloping her in a hug. She sighed into his chest and wrapped her arms loosely around his waist. "Chyna told me this is where you’d be."

Bekah and Jack’s words rang clear in her mind. At least one thing was certain, she had known Ramsey previously. The more she thought on that the more she realized that he had to be Armani Guy. She knew it was ridiculous to even consider since it was such a strange coincidence. But it would be even stranger if he just happened to know things about her like he had since she got here. The thought that he was Bekah’s pawn in a game she was playing to hold onto Jack was harder to believe, but it certainly would explain a large majority of his actions.

Ramsey pulled back leaving only a rather small space between them, as usual ignoring any means of personal space. "You look different," he mused out loud.

"Do I?" she questioned.

"I don’t know what it is," he admitted.

"Bad?"

"You could never look bad."

"Cut the act," she said turning her head to the side, away from his endearing green eyes.

"I’m not acting. From the way you left my apartment last night, you look like a new woman. It’s very becoming," he said eyeing her up and down.

"Well thank you, but there is no need for your charade any longer," she said taking a step back.

In typical Ramsey fashion, he followed her in a synchronized dance. "Why do you keep saying that?" he asked his eyebrows scrunching together.

"I know what’s been going on. They told me everything," she said running her fingers through her hair and sweeping a strand behind her ear.

"They? Bekah and Jack?" he asked and watched her confirmation. "Those bastards."

"So it’s true?" she asked taking a step back in pure shock. She hadn’t really believed it until she looked into his face. For some demented purpose, he had played her. But it didn’t explain what he was doing here. "If it is true, then what are you even doing here?"

"Look if you don’t want to see me any longer, I would understand, but know that I still want to see you Lexi. I didn’t know the first time I saw you again at the Country Club that you were my Alexa, but I figured it out pretty quick," he told her using her first name rather possessively.

"I wanted to tell you, but there was never a right time, and I thought you might think less of me. I wasn’t really in a good place at that time of my life. I thought you would just see me as that guy who had gotten you drunk and tried to take you back to his place. And I knew you were better than that. I wanted to be that other guy for you," he said rambling on like the first time when she had spoken to him outside of the bathroom at the Country Club.

"I don’t care about the fact that we knew each other that night. I was just using you to forget," she steered clear of Jack’s name, "forget everything anyway," she admitted. Ramsey’s face changed in that moment. It was as if his worries about slipping up had just fallen off of his shoulders. He even appeared taller which was really awkward for Lexi who already had to strain her neck to look up at him since he never left more than six inches between them.

"But they did tell you about that? I mean that would be it right?"

"Sure Jack told me that. I had the pieces in my mind already but I just hadn’t knit them together. And I guess your explanation makes sense, but I would have rather you told me the truth."

"You’re big on truth aren’t you?"

"Yes," she stated simply thinking about how lying and deceit had ruined her life.

"Well now that that is out of the way. When can I see you again?" he asked his full-watt smile reaching all the way up to his eyes.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Never, because you’re a player and you played me." She tried to move around him to the stairs of the plane, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. He spun her around until she was facing him again.

"I…what?" he asked his lips parted and eyes stormy. "I’ve never played you."

"You say that as if you are a player."

He gulped. "Well I haven’t played you."

"So everyone was right when they said I didn’t know you and that you weren’t everything you seemed."

"Is anyone ever what they seem?" he asked. "You have secrets. Everyone has them."

"Yeah but I don’t try and ruin someone’s life for sport," she spat at him.

"And you think I do?"

"As far as I can tell."

"Who’s life am I ruining this time?" he asked staring intently into her eyes. "Please tell me what I’ve done and why you are so offended."

"You seduced me. You tried to f**k me. You would have f**ked me," she cried disgusted.

"What’s the problem with that? It’s not like you didn’t want me to," he said stepping even closer to her. "You like me Lexi. I know it. You know it." He reached out to her, pushing his fingers up into her tangled mess of curly hair. "Why is that so wrong?"