Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(74)
Author: K.A. Linde

Lexi stopped just before she reached the door to the groom’s dressing rooms. She took a deep breath and entered the room. The space was a near match of the one she had just left, but two or three times the size with a fireplace and grand piano. Seth, Luke and Hunter were sitting in chairs in the common room. Seth was drinking straight from a handle of Jack Daniels. They must have thought it would be funny….ironic. Bourbon only made her sleepy. Seth passed the bottle to Luke when he noticed her.

"Don’t tell Sandy," he said standing quickly as she approached.

Lexi couldn’t help but smile at him. At least someone really seemed to care about their significant other. "No worries there. I’m here to see Jack."

Seth, Luke and Hunter sent each other a knowing look. She could have read that look from a mile away. They didn’t think it was a good idea for her to go in to see him especially in the state he was in. Seth at least knew what he was capable of even if he didn’t typically mind. And to be honest, she would agree with them on so many levels. Her being alone with Jack right before his wedding…not the brightest idea in the world, but then again it hadn’t been her idea. And if the last thing he wanted to do before he got married was see her, well she figured she could oblige. Well…at Ramsey’s insistence.

"Can we talk about this Lex?" Seth asked freely using Jack’s nickname.

"Look I’m only here are the request of the groom and the insistence of one of the groomsmen…my boyfriend," she tossed out the descriptive for reassurance. Though she doubted it gave them any. She had known all of these guys a long time. They had all been there when the Clark/Kate fiasco had gone down…and even before that with Danielle.

"I just think that maybe you should stay out of it," Seth proceeded forward.

"I couldn’t agree with you more," she said.

"Well then what you doing here?" Luke asked tossing back a shot of the whiskey and handing it to Hunter.

"There really isn’t time for this guys. You know as well as I do that Jack is a philandering ass. You’ve always known and you never cared up until this moment in his life, because now he’s getting married," she said waving her hands in the air belittling the statement. "For some reason a piece of paper changes your mind about his behavior, which is kind of bullshit to be honest. So just do the same thing you did for the last seven years and turn a blind eye to the fact that I am going into his room. Okay?"

She knew that none of them would believe her if she had said that nothing was going to happen. She didn’t want anything to happen, but the only way to get their attention would be to throw it back in their face. They had stood idly by all those years and let things happen. There was no legitimate reason now to get all high and mighty.

The desired effect occurred. All the guys ducked their chins admitting their involvement as an accomplice to Jack’s actions. They knew as well as anyone just what they had witnessed and overlooked all that time. And though they felt bad about it at the moment, they weren’t going to stop her. And anyway she wasn’t planning on anything happening with Jack.

Lexi threw them a fake smile before sauntering towards the French doors. She opened it without knocking and quickly closed it in the faces of the three guys behind her.

"Lex," Jack murmured in an almost desperate tone.

"Hey Jack," she said tentatively. She couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous he looked in his tux. She wondered if they had chosen blue to match his eyes, because she could see how much they stood out from across the room.

"I’m glad you’re here," he said as he cleared the distance between them.

Before Lexi even knew what was going on, Jack grabbed her h*ps firmly in his hands and pressed her back against the door. Lexi gasped as she thudded against the wood. As she was recovering from the fact that her back had shaken the door frame, she realized in that split second that Jack’s body was pressing against her. His hand threaded into her hair and his face began to move closer towards her. Lexi’s mouth opened slightly in surprise…was he about to kiss her? Just when the thought connected in her mind, his mouth dropped down and met her lips.

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Thanks for the reviewers: Meow X, Cupid’s Psyche, sweets1103, spunkyorange, Ms. Vengeance, Kelly Rogala, Bkimmer, Sophie, CMtaylor, LandofPeoples, taurus09grrl, helplessromantic285, Jensi, and effortlessromantic.

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K.A. Linde

Revelations

There was a time I thought, that you did everything right

No lies, no wrong. Boy I, must’ve been outta my mind

So when I think of the time that I almost loved you

You showed your ass and I saw the real you

-Beyonce "The Best Thing I Never Had"

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Chapter 24: Present

Lexi could not believe that Jack had the nerve to kiss her on his wedding day. She knew that it hadn’t meant anything to him before, but this had to be different. She didn’t care if he was having doubts or if he wanted to bow out of the wedding, that didn’t suddenly make it okay for his to kiss her. In fact, it just showed how confused and desperate he was. Just what she didn’t need to deal with right now. Even Lexi with her loose morals when it came to Jack Howard knew that this was 100% not okay.

She placed both of her hands on his chest and attempted to separate herself from Jack. He didn’t even seem to notice or acknowledge her efforts. His hands resting on her h*ps just held her more firmly in place. She couldn’t believe this. He wouldn’t even budge an inch. "Jack," she groaned still trying to shove him away, but he wasn’t listening. He was a man possessed.

He hadn’t had his lips on her in over a year, and she had wanted to keep it that way. After what had happened the last time, she hadn’t wanted to be put in this position again. Somehow she always found herself kissing him. It happened when she wasn’t expecting it and when it was the last thing that needed to happen in her life. But she wasn’t a confused girl this time around, she knew better than to let this continue. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do, but he wasn’t exactly leaving her any other option.

Almost out of instinct, Lexi’s knee hitched up and connected cleanly with his groin. Jack immediately broke free of her and doubled over in pain. "Fuck," he cried gasping for breath. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." She could see his face was turning red and was contorted into agony.

Lexi had never kicked a guy in the ball before, but she knew the general motion and apparently had executed it properly. She just stood there over him and watched as tears came to his eyes as he held himself. For some reason that was ridiculously satisfying. He certainly didn’t need to be using those things for anything in the near future, and he had been sexually harassing her.

"What the f**k was that Lexi?" Jack cried out as he put his head between his knees to ease the pain.

"What the f**k was that?" she asked him. "Are you joking? You were molesting me on the day of your wedding!"

"No need to knee me in my balls. Fuck," he cried out again relenting to sit helplessly on the floor.

"Oh you don’t think so? What gives you the right to kiss me? You completely lost all privileges in that department when you proposed to Bekah. What kind of person kisses someone else on their wedding day?" she asked throwing her arms in the air. "Are you a f**king moron Jack? Do you know nothing of fidelity or loyalty or honesty or commitment? I think you have no concept of those things. You are the exact same person you are when I first met you. You haven’t changed at all."

"You liked that person," he grumbled painfully.

"Oh don’t even get me started on that front! You lied to me. You were dating someone else and you never even bothered to tell me. How could I ever have been fooled into thinking you would like and respect me after that, let alone think you could ever love me? You are too selfish to see anyone or anything else," Lexi spat at him.

"You weren’t much better. You cheated on Clark," he mumbled taking deep breathes.

"It is my greatest shame, my biggest regret. You…you don’t even know what those words mean. You never felt bad…never. You never wanted me to be first. Bekah was right about one thing, as much as I hate to admit that, but I always was second best to you. You never wanted me for me. You wanted me for the easy sex you got when we were talking. We had so many shots and you just blew it. You knocked it out of the park. You made us look like we could never be together." Lexi crossed her arms angrily thinking about how f**ked up their relationship had been for so long. She was just as angry with herself for putting up with it. She didn’t care if she loved him or if she wanted to be around him or that they had this immediate attraction. She needed more than that and it was something Jack was never able to provide.

"I did want us to be together," he said glancing back up at her finally.

Lexi bent down to look at him at eye level. She couldn’t believe how gorgeous his eyes still looked even as they were teared up and slightly red. But he would need more than the beautiful blue eyes she had always fallen for to get out of this conversation. "It took me a long time to realize how much of a liar you are."

"I’m not a liar, Lex. I always said I would tell you the truth," he whined.

Lexi shook her head. "You always said the words, but you only spoke the truth when it benefited you. And in that sense Jack, you have never changed."

"When did I lie to you?" he demanded. He doubled back over as he clutched himself. She had really done a number on him.

"When?" she asked with a cynical laugh. "You want me to make a list for you?"

Jack nodded. "When I honestly lied to you Lexi."

"I think your most telling moment Jack was when you told me that you wanted to be with me and then proposed to Bekah. If that isn’t the biggest lie you’ve ever told, then I don’t know what is," she spoke bitterly.

Jack raised his head and let his sad blue eyes rest back on her. "I did want us to work Lexi."

"But you proposed to her only hours after hav**g s*x with me!" she cried straightening up to avoid the prolonged eye contact. "That’s disgusting."

"It’s just…I thought we could be together, and then I saw you with Ramsey. I was…jealous," he murmured attempting to stand up.

"You were jealous of Ramsey?" she asked arching an eyebrow.

"Yea and apparently I had good reason to be. You guys were together for a year. You’re here for him," he said with a shrug. He coughed twice trying to resist the bile that was rising in his throat. His lower half was throbbing in the most uncomfortable pain of his life. He felt like a tingly soreness had just fallen over his entire body and something was caught in his throat. He wouldn’t be walking straight for awhile.

"So you proposed to Bekah, because I kissed Ramsey not because you wanted to marry her?" Lexi asked. However implausible the scenario was, she wanted to get his absurd answers out in the open.

"That’s not exactly what I meant."

"No? You do realize whatever you are going to say is going to sound ridiculous," she asked crossing her arms again to block off the sympathy that was starting to creep up in her. She had known Jack too long. She didn’t need to get sucked into his trap again.