Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(17)
Author: K.A. Linde

Lexi just sputtered in shock. Why would he want her to stay? This hadn’t been his idea. He didn’t have a clue that this was going to happen, and now he wanted her to stay? She couldn’t process this right now. She was at a strip club for Jack’s bachelor party with Ramsey. She couldn’t think of a much more uncomfortable situation. She knew, when she was in association with Ramsey, she might have to see Jack on occasion, but nothing like this. She just was not prepared for anything like this.

Suddenly a round of shots appeared before them that Luke had ordered at the bar. Lexi hadn’t even noticed until a shot glass filled with clear liquid was shoved into her hand.

Seth raised his glass high. "A toast. To Jack’s freedom. Soon enough, he won’t have it anymore!"

The guys laughed and downed their shots. Lexi stared at the liquid that she knew would only make this night worse and debated. After a moment of hesitation she poured the liquid down her throat letting the burning sensation wash away any emotion she was presently feeling.

"Vodka," she sputtered covering her mouth and searching around for a chaser. She snatched a drink out of Hunter’s hand and took a big gulp not caring what was in the glass. Not exactly a wise decision since she ended chasing the vodka with a large gulp of bourbon. She swallowed hard and tried to force back the tears that were threatening to be unleashed from the sheer toxicity of what she had just consumed.

"Are you okay?" Ramsey asked placing his hand gently on her lower back to steady her.

"Peachy keen jelly bean," she muttered indignantly.

The rest of the group had settled back into a cluster of chairs in the corner they had occupied. It was pretty clear that they were all obliterated though, and most of the cash they had brought with them was depleted. The bouncer who had spoken to them earlier appeared at Ramsey’s side. "If you guys aren’t going to be spending any more money, then you should probably do as you originally intended and get out of here," he said motioning towards the door.

Ramsey took the man aside and had a few words with him, but eventually agreed that perhaps it was the best time to get out of there. The guys had gotten in their good times, and had a few too many stories already about the trip. Ramsey corralled the group and forced them out of the door. He stuffed the four guys in one cab and took a separate one with Lexi to their hotel.

The ride to the hotel was silent. Lexi was still a pissed about the entire situation. She hated herself for her moment of weakness with Jack. She hated it even more than Ramsey had had to witness it. She was certain that Ramsey wasn’t exactly happy about how everything had gone down either. There was no way this was how he had intended their night to progress. When she had invited him into her place, she was sure that things were going to work themselves out. Now they had both done incredibly stupid things, and she just didn’t know where they were going from here…or even where she wanted them to go.

Luckily, the guys had waited outside for them. Whether they had done that out of courtesy or because they were too intoxicated to know where their room was, Lexi wasn’t certain. Lexi followed them up to their room to wish Ramsey good night and then head home. She was both physically and mentally exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster that this night had turned out to be. All she wanted to do was go home and sleep off the hangover she knew would result from mixing too many types of alcohol.

They stepped into the hallway and Ramsey slid the keycard into the slot allowing everyone to enter. Just as she was about to walk inside, Jack latched onto her arm. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked resting his arm against the wall for support. She could tell he was really drunk, and that without the support he would have already fallen over. This probably meant bad things for her. She couldn’t have him trying to be sweet to her or even worse, actually try something with her.

But as always, she was torn. It wasn’t like Jack could do much more harm to her life than he already had. And she was supremely curious as to his motives for the whole trip not to mention for the conversation they would have if she stayed.

"Lexi, come on," Ramsey said glaring at Jack.

"Uh…" she muttered her eyeing moving between the two guys.

Ramsey’s green eyes pleaded with her to just say no to him. He was begging her to follow him into the room and not care what Jack had to say. He didn’t exactly trust them together, and it was with good reason for him to be on the cautious side about leaving them alone, even if they were just outside of the room he would be standing in. "Please," he implored.

"Uh, just give us a minute," she said taking a step away from the door.

"You’re serious?" he asked his throat going dry.

"It’ll just be a minute," she promised. "If it’s much longer than that, come out here and save me." She sent him a reassuring smile, but she could tell he wasn’t reassured. The last thing he wanted to do was leave her out here by herself. But as the gentleman that he was, he smiled forlornly at her, walked into the hotel room, and closed the door.

One minute.

"What do you want Jack?" she asked.

"I just…" Jack began unable to keep from slurring his words. "I’m glad…I g-g-got to s-s-see you." His eyes were half-closed and so the beautiful blue eyes underneath weren’t able to focus on her. This gave her a little more confidence

"You didn’t expect to see me though," she prompted hoping to catch him.

"No, but it was a g-g-great surprise," he told her.

"Yea at least for one of us," she muttered sarcastically.

"You didn’t want to see me?" he asked his eyes popping open and looking at her like a sad puppy. She sighed and tried to resist the urge to kiss him. She couldn’t give into his antics. He was gorgeous. She had always known that. She didn’t need to let that affect her any longer.

"Jack why did you want to talk to me?" she asked changing the subject away from dangerous territory. She didn’t realize that she was actually moving into worse grounds.

"Are you going to be at my wedding?" Jack drunkenly asked stepping into her personal space.

Lexi’s mouth popped open in surprise. She couldn’t believe he would bring that up. What a terrible thing to do to someone! She had loved him with everything, and now he was just going to throw what she had lost in her face. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to be hurt from his statement, but she was. "Jack, no…" she trailed off not wanting to let him see he was affecting her so strongly.

"But you’re not in school."

"No," she confirmed.

"Well then, I’d like to invite you," he stammered. He took another step forward clearing the distance she had left between them. His hand left the wall which was holding him up and he reached out and grasped her hips.

Lexi bit her lip as his head bobbed considerably close to her mouth. She tried to fend him off but he was too drunk to really know what he was doing. She put both her hands flat on his chest to hold him backwards. "Jack, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Sober you agreed or else you would’ve sent me an invitation."

Jack seemed to notice her efforts to get him off her and stood a little straighter. One hand snaked up to rest on her cheek effectively tilting her head up to him. His blue eyes bored into her deep chocolate brown ones. Her breath caught at the sudden movement. "You’re drunk," Lexi murmured.

"Yes, but it doesn’t change what I said."

"Actually it does," she told him.

"I want you to come to the wedding."

"Why Jack?" she asked shaking her head just slightly. She couldn’t think of a reason for her to be there. This was just painful for both of them.

"Lex, I know that you’re over me," he began. Lexi tried to hide the shock from her face. "You were my best friend for a long time. You’ve been at every important moment of my life, and it wouldn’t feel right not having you there."

"You think I’m…" she started, but was cut off by Jack leaning forward and resting his forehead gently against her own.

"I’m sorry. You know that right?" he asked his voice full of remorse.

She breathed in the familiar scent that was associated with Jack, and tried to keep her mind clear. This was harder than she had ever imagined it would be. "I know Jack, but like you said," she began taking a step backwards, "it doesn’t change anything."

Even his drunken brain could process the fact that she had used the same words as him a year ago. He sighed heavily and nodded. "That’s fair. But know that I want you there." Lexi nodded stuffing a strand of hair behind her ear anxiously. "No need to be nervous, love," Jack murmured taking her hand in his own and tucking another strand behind her ear affectionately.

The door clicked open behind them, and Ramsey cleared his throat as loud as he could. Jack gave her a despondent smile as he ran his hand through her silky hair. Lexi coughed uncomfortably taking a step backwards and out of his reach. She allowed him to walk past her into the room and the door to close before she turned to face Ramsey.

He didn’t even have to say anything. The look on his face said it all. She sighed heavily hoping that everything would just blow over. She couldn’t deal with all of this tonight.

"Can I stay with you?" Ramsey asked choosing to ignore what he had just walked into.

Lexi opened her eyes and stared up at him. She wasn’t sure why he was just going to let it go. She probably wouldn’t have if she had walked in on that. They hadn’t done anything but the emotions were strong between them. "I think you have enough on your plate as it is," she murmured remembering how all the guys were stumbling all over each other.

"I know I just thought it would be nice to get away," he told her taking a step closer to her.

"I wish we could just pick up where we left off," she told him looking up at him her eyes hopeful. But she knew that they couldn’t. Too much had happened that they had bottled up.

"Me too," he said glancing around. She could tell he wasn’t sure about where to go from here. It was quite clear that he wanted to wipe away the awkwardness of the past couple hours, but that simply wasn’t possible. "I know I said that I wouldn’t bring up the wedding, so I’m really sorry about all this."

Lexi sighed and nodded her head at him. "Yeah, I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen. And Jack kind of just brought up the wedding to me," she admitted cringing slightly at his sudden awareness.

"He did?"

"Yeah he invited me too."

Ramsey ground his teeth together in frustration. "What an idiot. I can’t believe he asked you."

"I think I’m going to go if you still want me to go with you," she mumbled knowing that it was the wrong decision to begin with. She never thought in a million years that she would go, but she was compelled. She didn’t know what it was about Jack that made her do this. She just couldn’t say no especially not after how sweet he was to her. Completely and totally obliterated he still managed to affect her so much.

"What?" he sputtered stepping forward close to her. "Why would you want to do that? I was just about to apologize. There’s no need for you to be there. It was terrible for me to bring it up. It was terrible for Jack to mention it. You shouldn’t have to go through that."