Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(19)
Author: K.A. Linde

“Just don’t be stupid.”

“Thanks for that one.”

“Jack makes you stupid.”

“He’s married!” Lexi snapped. She did not want to have this conversation. She had been fighting that battle with herself. She didn’t need Chyna’s help with it.

“Not much longer…”

Lexi spent the next day at work searching out the best divorce attorney in Atlanta who didn’t currently work under the Bridges hegemony. She was f**king pissed by how difficult it was to do that. How did they possibly have five of the best attorneys in-house? Didn’t that seem a bit ridiculous to anyone else? Who had allowed them a monopoly on the market?

Fucking Bekah Bridges—that was probably how.

The girl never stopped plotting. Three of the attorneys had been acquired in the last year since she had been married to Jack. It didn’t seem coincidental, but Lexi didn’t know how to prove that it was connected. It made her eyes hurt.

In the end, she just plucked up the courage to ask her boss about it.

He suspiciously eyed her. “You thinking of getting a divorce before you’re even married?” he asked.

“Just asking for a friend, sir,” she said.

“Did I hear you got engaged?”

Lexi smiled sweetly. It was the only way to deal with her boss. “That’s right,” she said, showing off the ring.

Her boss whistled between his teeth. “That’s a big diamond.”

“Yeah, he spoils me.”

It wasn’t something she would have normally said, but her boss cared about pedigree, power, and privilege. Ramsey had all three, and sometimes it helped situations.

“Good man you have there.”

“So, sir, about that attorney. Do you think you could put me in contact with one?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

“Yeah, I know a guy. I’ll give him a call on my lunch break and put him in contact with you,” he grumbled. “Oh, and Lexi…”

“Sir?”

“Any progress on the Bryant case? I want that one resolved this month. It’s eating away time,” he told her before promptly turning around and walking away like he hadn’t just handed her an impossible task without a second thought.

“Great,” she said, storming back to her office.

At least she was getting that f**king name.

Lexi spent the rest of the afternoon buried in casework. She hadn’t even bothered surfacing for lunch, and by the time she was ready to leave the office that afternoon, she was starving and still without a contact for the divorce attorney.

She hesitantly wandered over to her boss’s office.

His assistant was looking bleary-eyed at the computer screen. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yeah. Is Chuck still here?” Lexi asked.

“No, he never came back after lunch.”

“Great,” Lexi groaned. “Did he happen to leave a message with you about a divorce attorney?”

His secretary glanced around her desk before shaking her head. “Nothing here, sorry. Did you want me to phone him?”

“No,” Lexi said quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was to draw more attention to herself than she already had. The next time she talked to her boss, he would probably tell her to close the case by the end of the week rather than the end of the month. “Thanks.”

She would have to remind him about it some other time. There wasn’t all that much time to waste, but there was nothing she could do at the moment.

She took the elevator down to the parking garage, got into her car, and drove out of the building. Stopping by the nearest drive-through restaurant, Lexi ordered some much-needed food, and then cut across town to Ramsey’s office.

Last night, she had told him all about Chyna’s freak-out about the wedding and how she was going to come into town for the weekend to celebrate. He had been ecstatic to hear it. By the look on his face, it almost seemed like he had been afraid that Lexi wasn’t excited about the prospect of their engagement. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited. She had just had so much other stuff piled on top of her all at once. Listening to Chyna freak out about it had brought Lexi back to reality, and now, she was looking forward to the celebration.

In fact, she was on her way right now to celebrate. She had gotten out of work a little early, and she was surprising Ramsey at the office. They hadn’t spent as much time together prior to the engagement, and she thought it would be a sign of goodwill, proving that she really was invested in him. She loved him. All this talk of divorce made her anxious to show it.

Lexi had a pass to the staff parking lot, so she could come and go whenever she wanted. She found the closest open spot and parked her car. She had stuffed down the burger while she was driving, and she was finally starting not to desperately crave food. She could still eat more, but she didn’t feel like she was dying. Maybe she could grab something light with Ramsey on the way home. She smiled at the thought as she entered the medical wing.

It was a bustle of activity as doctors, nurses, and patients flitted about in the midst of activity. Lexi smiled at a wide-eyed receptionist at the front. She had caramel-colored skin with long black hair and brown eyes.

“Hey, Cierra!” Lexi said with a wave.

Cierra had been with the company since day one, and Lexi thought she was one of the best hires. Cierra had a great smile and was always able to calm people down like no one else.

“Hey, Lexi!” she said, waving. “Good to see you today. How is your case coming along? Are you kicking ass?”

Lexi chuckled and shook her head. “I wish it were over. How are things here?”

“Peachy. Smooth-sailing. Some of the doctors called out. I guess something has been going around, but it’s been fine. No complaints at least,” Cierra said with a giggle.

“They should know better than to complain to you about it anyway.”

“You know that’s the truth.”

A patient walked up then, and Lexi stepped back.

“See you later, Cierra.”

“Bye, girl.”

Ramsey’s office was on the top floor of the colossal building. He had always preferred his office at the clubs to be shrouded in secrecy with a full view of everything else that was going on. He hadn’t wanted something so extravagant, but the architects had said that offices were best on the top floors to get them out of the way. Then, they had kind of gone out of their way to make sure Ramsey had something nice. He had considered firing them over it, but Lexi had talked him off the edge. It had been a nice gesture.

She stepped out onto the top floor and over to Ramsey’s office. The lights were off, and his secretary was missing. He hated having a secretary, but with the added responsibilities, it was a necessity.

He should still be here though. He never left the office this early. Plus, most days, he would call her to let her know when he was on his way home to her. Sometimes, she was impressively domesticated, and she would cook him dinner if she got home first. She wasn’t a great cook by a long shot, but he never complained about it.

And that was why she was a bit confused as to where he was.

Lexi pulled out her phone to call him when she heard voices coming from next door. Maybe someone else knew where he was.

Taking a deep breath, she walked to the other office—Parker’s office. Her secretary was also absent, Lexi noticed as she approached. Her stomach knotted uncontrollably even though she knew she was overreacting. Ramsey had proposed to her last week. There was nothing going on with him and Parker. There hadn’t been anything going on with them for years. She wished her stomach would cooperate, but it wouldn’t. It never did when she knew they were together. And she most certainly knew they were together now.

Her hands balled into fists as she rounded the corner and stared through the glass windows into Parker’s office. It was as it always was—a hot mess. Paperwork was stacked high on every surface. Parker rarely ever got to them because she would spend more time in surgery, helping people, than anywhere else. Medical equipment sat in boxes, some half-opened, some still in plastic containers, while a few others were out and looked like she had been trying them out. A bicycle was in the corner. Lexi wasn’t sure what it was doing there. Parker didn’t live close enough to bike into work, and Lexi wasn’t sure what people would think if Parker took that thing into the elevators. Some clothes had been strewn into the corner—a couple pairs of scrubs, the black maxi dress she had worn yesterday, a few other random articles of clothing, and at least three pairs of shoes. She must practically live here.

But what Lexi didn’t want to take in as she surveyed the room was what she couldn’t help but see.

Ramsey was sitting on the couch, completely relaxed, with one arm on the armrest and the other on the back of the couch. He had a gigantic smile on his face, and he looked like he had been laughing all afternoon. Parker was lying back on the couch, her head on the opposite armrest, with her feet pressed against Ramsey’s thigh. As Lexi stood there, she watched Parker say something that Lexi couldn’t make out. Parker then threw her head back in laughter as she kicked out at Ramsey for whatever he had said in response.

Lexi felt numb from her fingers to her toes. She stared unblinkingly at the display before her, knowing that it was just them. It was just Ramsey and Parker and the way they interacted, the way they had always interacted. It was this inherent familiarity that they had since they had known each other their whole lives…and loved nearly as long. Chyna had once equated it to how Lexi was with Jack.

Maybe it was. Maybe it was platonic at this point. Maybe it shouldn’t make her sick.

It wasn’t like they were hav**g s*x on the couch or anything. They weren’t actually doing anything, except sitting around and laughing. They were completely clothed aside from Parker not wearing shoes. There was no reason for Lexi to feel like this, but she still did.

Ramsey noticed Lexi first, straightening visibly before standing. Parker realized that Lexi was there next, but instead of adjusting herself, she just smiled brighter and waved Lexi inside.

Lexi moved mechanically to the door and walked in. A part of her wanted to turn around and just walk away. She wouldn’t do it, of course. Ramsey and Parker hadn’t been doing anything wrong. Lexi was just making up about a billion scenarios in her head. But that was all it was—her imagination getting the best of her.

“Hey, y’all,” Lexi said as the door closed behind her.

“Lexi, speak of the devil, we were literally just talking about you,” Parker said, her feet falling onto the ground as she sat up on the couch.

Just talking about me now…when you were laughing?

That was what Lexi wanted to ask, but of course, she didn’t.

“What about?” she asked instead.

“We were talking about the look on my parents’ faces when we made our announcement this weekend,” Ramsey filled in.

That was funny? Lexi thought it had been pretty horrifying.

“Anything that makes them look like that is a good thing,” Parker threw out there.

“And here I thought, they hated me,” Lexi said, staring between them.