Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(28)
Author: K.A. Linde

“Huh. I thought he’d be a little…bigger,” John said, sizing Jack up.

“John, just cut it out.”

“Lex, what is he talking about?” Jack demanded.

“I could take him,” John said offhand.

He smiled at her with that insufferably arrogant look on his face, and she just waited for a f**king fight to break out.

Christ! Neither of these guys were even her boyfriend! Her boyfriend was currently with his ex-girlfriend. Perfect.

“Jack is married,” she told John, surprised that she managed to say it without wincing. “In fact, he’s married to a Bridges vice president. Jack and I are just friends, and you’re acting like an a**hole.”

“Oh, wait,” Jack said, like something had clicked into place. “You’re Adam’s brother.”

“Adam is my younger brother.”

“He’s the dick you f**ked when you went back to New York?” Jack asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

John actually laughed at that.

Great! She was a big f**king joke right now.

“That is none of your business. None of this is either of your business,” she said, smacking John for laughing and then smacking Jack just as hard. “Both of you can f**k off.”

Lexi stormed away. As if she wasn’t already angry enough with Ramsey, those two had to have a f**king dick-measuring contest right in front of her. She couldn’t believe John had brought that stuff up about Jack right in front of him, and then Jack had laid out her dirty laundry where anyone could f**king see!

Jack caught up to her easily. “Lex, Lex, slow down. Come on, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out for her to stop her in place. “I was surprised, that’s all.”

She slowed to a walk, and Jack fell into step next to her. He didn’t say anything else, and she didn’t really want to know what he was thinking. She wanted to get the f**king water she had said she was going to get and then get back to Ramsey. Maybe he would be done with Parker by then! She almost growled in frustration at the thought. What the hell had her world come to? She knew that this groundbreaking ceremony was going to be a bad idea. Too many people in one place.

Lexi sauntered into the conference building and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. She took a long swig with a sigh. Jack was staring at her, and she didn’t even care at this point. Maybe she should have just refused attending. That would have been the smart thing even though Ramsey would have likely objected to that.

“Hey, what was he talking about back there?” Jack finally asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“You told him that he doesn’t compare to me?” He looked surprised by the admission.

“Please just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Jack stood there silently for a minute. She wasn’t sure if he was pissed or just curious, but she didn’t care. Ramsey was out there with Parker. John had brought up all that bullshit with Jack. And Jack…why the f**k was she even angry with him? For laying out her dirt in front of everyone? For even just being here when he was f**king married to Bekah?

She shook her head and stared away from those blue eyes.

“Should I just leave?” he asked.

Lexi nodded, still looking away.

“You know,” he said, grasping her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him, “just because you’re pissed at Ramsey doesn’t mean you have to shut me out.”

“I’m not shutting you out,” she grumbled.

“Liar.”

“Just stop it, Jack,” Lexi said, shaking him off. “What do you want me to say anyway?”

“I just want you to stop acting like you have to go through everything alone. And, Jesus, I don’t think one question should set you off.”

His blue eyes were heated, and she just wanted to punch him…or maybe…

Nope. It was just Jack. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Do I need to call you a liar again?”

“You need to shut the f**k up.”

“I’m not the only one. You’re acting like an idiot when I’m trying to help you.”

“So, now, I’m an idiot?” Lexi asked.

“You are if you don’t calm down.”

Lexi swallowed and held her breath. She was angry and all riled up—not a good combination around Jack. He wouldn’t do anything about it, but damn, if she didn’t stop herself…she didn’t know if he would hold to that.

She was angry with Ramsey, not Jack. She didn’t need to take this out on him. It wasn’t fair to him. She had been taking out her frustrations on him for long enough.

As if he could sense her shift in mood, he chanced his luck. “Are you going to tell me what he was talking about or leave me wondering?”

“I broke things off with John last August after your…” She swallowed. She could say it. “After your wedding. He didn’t take kindly to it.”

“He seems like the type,” Jack said with a smug smirk.

She was going to smack it off his face if he didn’t keep it together.

“I told him that he reminded me of you but that he couldn’t compare…you know, with all of our history,” she ended softly.

Jack nodded. “Very few people can compare with our history…and maybe that’s a good thing.”

Lexi realized they were still standing close together, and she took a step back. She didn’t really want to breathe him in and fall back into that history. She wasn’t even sure how to interpret that last comment. Was he glad because so few people had ever been this affected by someone else like this or glad that others didn’t have to go through so much bullshit? She certainly wasn’t going to ask him.

“We should probably head back outside now that I have my water. I’d hate for people to come looking for us,” she whispered.

Irritation flashed in his eyes, but then it was gone, and he was ushering her out of the conference office. She didn’t even have a second to wonder what that was about because as they stepped outside, it was clear that people were already looking for them. She hoped no one got the wrong impression since, clearly, absolutely nothing even remotely sexual had happened between them. Even though Ramsey was supposedly becoming more and more comfortable with the fact that she had the beginning of this strange friendship with Jack, he still wouldn’t be okay with her wandering off with him. It made everyone look bad.

Ramsey caught her attention first. He looked like he wanted to stride over to her and steal her away from Jack—as if there were even a competition anymore. She tried to keep her face impassive. She was angry enough with him, and any confrontation could make her blow up in public—not a good idea. He had an image. His reputation was as important as Bekah’s at this point.

Lexi didn’t even say anything to Jack as she walked away and headed straight for Ramsey. Parker was still at his side, but she was talking to someone else. Her eyes flashed to Lexi as she walked closer, but then Parker’s gaze quickly darted away. Lexi was sure she would never figure out Parker. What was she thinking behind those haunted eyes?

Truthfully, it didn’t matter.

As long as she stays out of the way.

“Hey, baby,” Ramsey said with a smile that she knew he was faking for the press in the vicinity. “Where were you?”

His eyes asked, What were you doing with Jack?

“Getting some water.” She held the bottle up.

“We’re about finished here. Are you ready to head out?”

“I’ve been ready,” she said through a smile of her own. She was sure he had read the edge to her own comment, Before you were playing nice with Parker.

“Great, I’ll just be a minute,” he said.

“I’ll be right here.”

She knew she was acting a bit crazy, but that tended to happen when her boyfriend of a year and a half told the entire world that the medical wing he was working on with his ex-girlfriend was all on her genius!

Ramsey returned a few minutes later as promised, and they managed to duck out of the groundbreaking ceremony before she could run into any other unpleasant surprises…like Bekah.

The ride back to their place was tense and silent. Lexi stared out the window, unseeing. Ramsey was gripping the steering wheel a little too tight. She knew she should say something, but she didn’t.

They made it all the way up the stairs and closed the door before she burst open at the seams.

“Parker is the mastermind behind this whole project?” she shouted at him. “She’s the reason you decided to do this? It’s all her?” Her hands were flying as she spoke, and she couldn’t keep her temper under control.

“What do you want me to tell the cameras, Lexi? Do you want me to tell them that I f**ked everything up with my girlfriend, so I did this, trying to make it right by her?” he demanded.

“It would be a better f**king story than telling the f**king cameras that it was Parker who made you decide to do this! You want to know why that would be a better story?” she asked, striding right up to him.

“Why, Lexi?” he asked, his green eyes narrowed and fiery.

“Because it would have been the truth!”

“I didn’t lie.”

“Are you f**king serious? Because it’s news to me that Parker was the reason for any of this!”

“Parker has been doing a lot of the work. I’ve been the Bridges name and have offered my two cents on the business side. She knows the medical side. It’s her baby.”

“Only because she lost the other one,” she said before she could stop herself.

Ramsey glared—actually glared at her. “Don’t talk about that,” he said calmly.

It was a scary calm, one that was bordering on madness. She had touched on the topic that he couldn’t possibly discuss with a level head, and she knew it. She was pushing him for no good reason, pushing just because she was angry and wanted the fight in that moment. She wasn’t even playing fair.

“I don’t like her. You said she would be gone if I wanted. You said that she didn’t have to be in our lives anymore. I don’t want her in our lives anymore,” she told him flatly.

“I said that before I signed the contract for the medical wing,” he said, some of the fire in his eyes leaving.

“Another broken promise,” Lexi said, shaking her head.

“Look, I have to work with her now, and I’m doing all of this shit for you. I can’t just push Parker away when we’re in the middle of getting this company off the ground. But it changes absolutely nothing in our relationship whatsoever.”

Lexi looked away. Sometimes, it felt like it changed a lot more than he would ever admit.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?” she snapped. Her temper clearly hadn’t run its course yet.

“I have to work with Parker, but you don’t have to be around Jack, and you still are. So, why are you still around him?”

“Yeah, I don’t work with Jack, which means I don’t have to be around him every f**king minute of every day. It means I don’t have to tell the press that he’s the reason for my next big project,” she said, raising her voice as she spoke. “It means there is distance between us.”