Avoiding Commitment (41 page)

“Did you sleep with him?” Chyna shrieked into
the phone.

“No. No, I didn’t.”

“Don’t lie to me, Alexa Mae.”

“I’m not lying. I didn’t sleep with him. I
promise, C. But he wanted to. And we would have, if I hadn’t
stopped his advances. Now he’s saying he wants to be with me for
real this time, and I just don’t know what to do, Chyna. He’s what
I want. Of course, he is. I just don’t want things to backfire in
my face,” she said, confessing all her fears.

“Oh, baby, you shouldn’t be doing this to
yourself,” Chyna cried maddeningly. “You know he’s just going to
hurt you. That’s what he does. He hurts you. He drags you
down.”

“But he doesn’t,” Lexi eagerly protested.
Though, she wasn’t quite as certain about that as she let on. “He
makes everything right with me. You’ve only seen the worst of the
situation. You only saw what happened in New York. If I can make it
right with us, that’s what I want. That’s what I’ve always
wanted.”

“Shit!” Chyna cursed.

“What?”

“I told you
not
to do that. God, he
completely changes you, doesn’t he?” Chyna asked sighing heavily.
Lexi could tell that she was starting to get pissed off. She heard
Chyna take a few calming breaths before continuing. “You are
absolutely right, chica. I need to be there. I’ll talk to Daddy
about using the jet. I should arrive in Atlanta in a matter of
hours. I’ll have a car pick me up at the airport, and then we can
talk this all out together. Possibly a shopping spree to get our
minds off of what potential disaster you are creating in your
life.”

“Chyna, you can’t come down here thinking…”
Lexi stopped mid-sentence and set her coffee mug down on the
counter silently. She thought that she had heard something at the
door. She had been pretty sure she had heard something, but she had
been so heated in her conversation she had almost missed it. She
strained her ears to listen for another potential noise.

“Thinking what?” Chyna asked snippily.

“Hold on one second,” Lexi said listening
more closely this time. Someone was knocking on the door. She
jogged down the hallway and pressed her eye to the peep hole.
Ramsey’s face appeared distorted and warped by the curved glass,
but it was definitely him. “Shit!”

“What?” Chyna cried surprised by Lexi’s
outburst. “What’s going on?”

Lexi rushed back down the hall her heart
leaping to her throat as she panicked. “Ramsey is here.”

“Here where?” Chyna questioned her.

“Oh shit, shit, shit,” Lexi mumbled under her
breath pushing her free hand through her messy bed-ridden hair.

“Alexa, calm down. Where are you? I thought
you were at your parents,” she asked trying to get a grasp on the
situation.

“No, I’m not. I really have to go,” Lexi told
her thinking about what she would have to do next.

“Where are you?”

Lexi hated that she had to admit this to
Chyna. “I’m at Jack’s place. I’ll see you in a few hours,
chica.”

“Don’t hang up…”

Lexi clicked off the line before Chyna could
even finish her statement. She paced in a circle, feeling more and
more nervous as the seconds ticked by. The knock on the door forced
her to spring to action, and she rushed down the hallway to Jack’s
bedroom. She burst through the door in a panic. Jack’s head was
buried under a mound of pillows when she walked in.

“You were gone too long. Come lay down,” Jack
said patting the bed beside him.

“Ramsey is here!” she cried hopping onto the
bed beside him and yanking a pillow off of his head.

“What?” he asked jumping up like he had been
jolted with electricity.

“Ramsey is at the front door,” she repeated.
“He’s banging on the front door like a freaking maniac. Did you
know he was coming over?” she asked frantically brushing her hair
away from her face as she looked into his now frightened blue
eyes.

“No, I didn’t know. What is he doing here?”
he asked brushing his hand through his own hair and cursing under
his breath.

“How the hell should I know? He’s at
your
front door. You have to go get rid of him. He can’t see
us together. Shit would hit the fucking fan.”

“I know. I know. I’ll see what I can do.
Shit!” he said hopping off the bed and throwing a t-shirt over his
head. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

“I don’t know, just get rid of him,” she said
shoving him towards the door.

“I’m going. Just stay in the guest bedroom or
the bathroom until he leaves. I’ll go find out what he’s doing
here,” he said as he jogged down the hallway. “Don’t make a peep,”
he warned.

Lexi rolled her eyes. As if she was stupid
enough to do that. She walked into the guest bedroom leaving the
door ajar. She wanted to be able to hear what they were talking
about while still remaining hidden. She leaned her head back
against the wall and strained to hear what was going on at the
front door.

“I’m coming,” Jack yelled racing down the
hallway and unbolting the door. “Ramsey, hey man, what’s up?” he
asked casually leaning against the doorframe to block his view of
the inside.

“Hey, sorry to barge in on you like this,”
Ramsey said eyeing him reproachfully as he looked at his ragged
appearance, and then glanced at his watch revealing the time to be
nearly noon. “Bekah told me that you weren’t going into work today,
and that you should be home. I just wanted to see if I could talk
to you for a bit.”

“You know, right now really isn’t the best
time,” he said scratching the back of his head and yawning wide. “I
was up all night punching numbers. I’m pretty beat, and since I’ll
be out all weekend, I really need to get in as much work as I
can.”

“Oh, it’ll only be for a few minutes,” he
said towering over Jack. “I have a few questions to pass by
you.”

Ramsey brushed past Jack before he received
an answer. “Sure, come right in,” he remarked sarcastically
shutting the door as Ramsey entered the living room.

“So...” Jack said following him into the
room. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks. I just had a few questions,” he
said leaning back against the sofa and crossing his arms, “about
Lexi.”

Jack’s head snapped to the side at the last
statement. “Excuse me?”

Ramsey’s eyebrows lifted at Jack’s reaction,
but he otherwise gave no sign that he had noticed his sharp intake
of breath at the mention of Lexi’s name.

“I wanted to find out a little more about
her. What she’s like, where she’s from, how ya’ll know each other,
what she’s doing here…that sort of thing,” he said easing Jack into
the situation.

“Uh…well, why don’t you ask her?” he said
regretting that statement as soon as he said it. That wouldn’t
exactly be the best thing for him to do. He could imagine Lexi’s
phone going off in his room while Ramsey dialed it from the living
room. That thought made him cringe. No, that certainly wouldn’t go
over well.

“I’m just curious about her. I don’t want to
come on too strong. I’ve only known her for a couple days. Don’t
you think it would be strange for me to be asking her all these
questions? I know you. You’re practically my brother,” Ramsey said
clapping Jack on the back. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t share some
valuable information with your brother.”

“Yeah, man, I would, but I don’t feel
comfortable sharing her personal information without talking to her
first.” Jack didn’t know what Ramsey’s interest in Lexi was, but he
didn’t like it. He knew he was acting defensive about the
situation.

“Come on, Jack. I’m not digging around for
personal information or anything,” Ramsey said, “I’m talking to you
about her. Obviously ya’ll were together a long time ago.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Have you seen the girl? She’s hot. I
wouldn’t have blamed you for getting with her before you met Bekah.
She’s a polar opposite from my sister though,” Ramsey said falling
easily into the playboy persona he exuded around the majority of
the people he knew.

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Jack agreed. “And,
yeah, I mean, we were together back in college, but that was a long
time ago.”

“And I’m sure she’s changed a lot since then,
but fill me in,” Ramsey pleaded seeing Jack begin to cave under his
requests.

“Well, alright,” Jack agreed looking across
the room at the cracked bedroom door. He remained composed despite
the nagging feeling creeping throughout his body. “What did you
want to know?”

“So ya’ll met in college and dated while you
were there, why is she still in your life?” he asked bluntly. He
figured it was best to dive in so he wouldn’t give Jack time to
sugar coat his answer.

Jack’s face flushed at the accusations behind
his words. “What do you mean why is she in my life? She’s a good
friend of mine.”

“Really?” Ramsey asked nodding his head at
the obvious lie.

“Yeah…really,” Jack said more vehemently this
time. He couldn’t help glancing down the hallway again wondering if
Lexi was listening to every word they were saying.

“How come I’ve never met her before? Never
even heard you talk about her before?” he probed.

“She lives in New York,” Jack said stating
the obvious.

“Yeah, but we go to New York on a pretty
regular basis. Ya’ll never met up while we were out or anything.
Bekah or I were with you at all times, and from what I’ve gathered
from Bekah, she had never met her either.”

“We’ve been out of touch up until recently,”
he admitted hating how much information Ramsey was capable of
weaseling out of him. “You don’t mind if I get some coffee?” he
asked hoping to put some distance between them.

“Not at all,” Ramsey said watching him enter
the kitchen and reach for an already full mug of coffee. “Why are
there two mugs?” he asked curiously, immediately glancing around
the apartment as if a stranger were about to jump out at him.

Jack smiled as he brought this coffee back
into the living room. “That was from last night,” he improvised
quickly.

“Alright,” Ramsey said not convinced with
pretty much anything Jack was telling him, “So, ya’ll just recently
got back in touch. I’m surprised Bekah’s alright with this.”

“I’m not sure why you’re giving me the third
degree. I love your sister. Lexi is just an old friend. That’s
all,” Jack announced to Ramsey.

“Well, that’s good to hear especially since
we went out the other night,” Ramsey added nonchalantly. All the
while, he kept his eyes locked onto Jack. The reaction elicited was
almost uncanny. Utter shock seemed to sweep his body, starting at
this clenched fists and racing up his arms into his tensed
shoulders. Jack’s jaw tightened with the growing anger that sent
through him. His blue eyes were darkening by the second.

“You did what?” Jack asked hoping to keep his
voice level, but knowing he was failing.

“Yeah, I took her out for a picnic.”

Jack clenched and unclenched his fists a
couple times. All he felt like doing in that moment was throwing
his fist directly into Ramsey’s smug face. He needed to get out of
the situation before he did something he would regret. “Well…that’s
great,” he finally said lamely, breathing out as slow as he
could.

“Yeah, so anything else I need to know?”
Ramsey asked giving him a smug grin.

Jack shook his head. “She’s leaving soon. I
wouldn’t press your luck. I’ve known her a long time, and she
doesn’t really go for, well…guys like you. No offense.”

“None taken,” Ramsey said amused at Jack’s
reaction.

“I mean with your job and the people you
associate with, not to mention that you live in Atlanta, it
wouldn’t be best for her.”

“Of course not,” Ramsey said agreeing with
him for the hell of it.

“She’s different than your other girls.”

“How so?”

“Lexi’s special in her own way. She’s
smart…more like brilliant, and motivated. She’s going to make
something of herself. She’ll know if you’re playing her like you
normally do,” Jack told him, his gaze focusing on the hallway where
he knew she was listening in.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but thanks for the
talk,” Ramsey said extending his hand out to Jack.

“Anytime. I’ll see you around,” he said
thankful that he was leaving.

Ramsey took Jack’s hand in his own and gave
his hand a rather firm shake. “I’m not going to play her. She does
seem rather special.”

“She is.”

Suddenly, Ramsey yanked Jack forward so only
inches separated them. He set his gaze directly on Jack and growled
lowly, “I hear the way you talk about her, and I can see how you
feel about her. Don’t even try to pretend like you don’t know what
I’m talking about. Now, if you ever hurt her or my sister, I’ll
find you.” Jack gulped and attempted to avert his gaze. “Did you
hear me?” Ramsey asked menacingly still holding his hand in a vice
grip.

“Yeah, man, I heard you,” Jack snarled back
at him.

Ramsey released him shoving him back a little
harder than he had anticipated. “Well then, have a nice day, and
I’ll see you on Friday night.”

Jack watched him exit his apartment in a
raging fury. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so
infuriated with anyone in his life. First, the son of a bitch had
come into his house and interrogated him on his relationship with
Lexi. Then, he had decided to share the information that he had a
date with Lexi. After all that, he still had the audacity to
threaten him.

“Lexi?” he called down the hallway.

Lexi scurried out of the guest bedroom where
she had been hiding. Her heart was racing with what had just
happened. She couldn’t believe all the things she had heard through
the door. She completely understood Jack defending their friendship
to Ramsey, because the worst thing to happen right now would be for
them to get caught all over again. She couldn’t fathom why Ramsey
would tell Jack that they had gone on a date. She had planned on
telling him, but things had been going so well that she hadn’t
found the right time. Not to mention she had assumed Jack would be
angry, and from what she could tell Jack was furious.