Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

Ramsey shifted from one foot to the other. “I think I’ll go put this away,” he said, hefting up the bottle of wine.

The two girls watched him walk away, and silence fell between them like a brick wall. What did she have to say to Parker that Parker didn’t already know? It wasn’t that Parker was an inherently bad person. Lexi just couldn’t be around her without seeing Ramsey all over her. The man he had been, the things he had sacrificed, the desperation had shown to make things right—it made her heart ache.

“So, um…what do you think about the divorce?” Parker asked.

Oh, for f**k’s sake!

“About Bekah and Jack?”

“Yeah…it’s kind of weird, right?”

Lexi eyed her suspiciously. “Why do you think so?”

“I just know that, growing up, Bekah was in love with weddings, and she always said that once she got married, that was it. I’m surprised to see her breaking it off so soon just because he cheated on her. I mean…he’s done that before,” Parker said, biting her lip and looking away.

“How do you know that he cheated on her?” Lexi asked.

She filed away the information about Bekah. It made her want to gag, and she would look at it another time when she could process.

“Oh…well, I don’t know. I’m just going off what she said.”

“He didn’t do it,” Lexi said.

She wasn’t sure why she had to defend him in that moment. For a while, she herself had been debating whether or not it was the truth, but with the words tumbling out of Parker’s mouth, Lexi just couldn’t let her think that about Jack. He hadn’t done anything with Lexi when he’d had chances…so she highly doubted he had with anyone else. She hoped she was right.

“Well…if he didn’t, then it’s even stranger,” Parker admitted.

“She hasn’t told you why?” Lexi asked, arching an eyebrow.

Parker shrugged. “I know a lot of people don’t like Bekah, but she’s not all bad.”

“You mean, her heart is black. It’s not missing?”

Parker actually cracked up laughing at that. When she did, Lexi could almost see the girl who Ramsey used to love. It was a strange feeling in that moment. She had seen Parker laugh before. It was like her guard was down for a split second. She didn’t look so tired, overworked, and disheveled.

“Bekah and I aren’t as close as we once were, but I don’t think she would divorce Jack if he hadn’t actually done something. So, if he didn’t cheat on her, then what did he do?”

Then, what did he do? That was a good question. Lexi had a few theories herself about that situation, but she wasn’t sure if Parker was the best person to try them out on.

“I don’t know,” Lexi answered with a shrug.

Parker looked off in the other direction, like she was thinking about something else, when Brandon snuck up behind Parker and grabbed her around the middle.

“Hey, you!” he cried.

Parker jumped and turned around in surprise. Her smile dropped marginally when she saw who it was, but then she recovered and smiled slightly up at him again. “Hey, Brandon.”

“Oh, aren’t you just excited to see me?” he said dryly.

“It’s good to see you.”

Brandon glanced at Lexi and gave her a look that said, She’s f**king lying. “What were y’all lovely ladies just discussing anyway?”

“Bekah and Jack’s divorce,” Parker told him.

“Ah…the Bitch,” he said, nodding.

“We were just discussing what we thought the real reason was for Bekah divorcing Jack,” Lexi said, smirking at his comment.

“Lexi doesn’t think that Jack cheated,” Parker said.

“Because Jack would never do anything wrong,” he said sarcastically.

“He didn’t cheat on her,” Lexi repeated.

“So, what’s your theory then, honey?” Brandon crooned.

Her theory? Eesh. It was probably not the best time for any of that, but they were both staring at her now.

“Personally, I think Bekah put in all the effort in the beginning while they were dating. She saw it as a competition. She saw it as just another way to win. She did everything…and I mean, everything to keep Jack, even when it was pretty clear that no one else knew why. Then, they got married, and she won,” Lexi said softly. “So, she had nothing left to fight for. Jack started putting in the effort to make the marriage work…to salvage the heap of shit that they walked into. She had nothing left to put effort into though.”

Parker and Brandon stared back at her in surprise. Neither of them spoke.

“The game was over.”

Chapter 12

Chyna latched on to Lexi’s arm as she stumbled forward. “You will not believe the things Adam can do with his tongue.”

“I don’t have any desire to know what he can do, Chyna,” Lexi grumbled.

“No, seriously, Alexa.” Chyna giggled as they walked forward out of the restaurant.

“Please spare me the details of your love life.”

“I never had to spare you the details before. You’re getting boring now that you have a job,” Chyna complained.

“Boring? Are you kidding me right now?”

“I can’t help it if your job and boy toy are turning you all domesticated. When you’re with me, chica, you get raunchy details, and we’re going to party like you never left. Have to make up for the lost time,” Chyna said just as her driver opened the door to her town car.

They both stepped into the onyx car, and he closed the door.

“So, we’re supposed to be meeting Adam at the usual spot. He’s already on his way,” Chyna informed her.

At the moment, it seemed she had forgotten about the story she was telling. Lexi was happy to allow her to forget. She leaned her head back against the black leather interior and sighed. It was so nice to be back in New York. She knew so many people who liked the city, but they needed to be far enough away in the suburbs, in the country, out in the f**king cornfields to feel like they could breathe. But Lexi felt the exact opposite. It was like the three years that she had lived here had been instilled into her very existence. Atlanta was a big city, but it had a different energy than New York. And through the smog, the traffic, the noise, the smoke, and the waste—she felt like she could breathe. Every time she visited, it felt more like coming home than it did when she went back down South.