Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

Chyna’s driver pulled up in front of the club they always frequented, and they glided out. A mile-long line was already wrapped around the building, and Lexi was reminded of the first night when she had met Chyna. Lexi had been one of those girls waiting to enter the club, and Chyna had yanked her out of line after Lexi had bitched her out. Lexi had been sure Chyna had heard it a million times before, but it had been different somehow. And now, they were best friends and had been for four years.

The bouncer recognized Chyna in an instant, and he swished back the rope to let her in. Lexi heard the venomous threats sent their way as both girls squeezed through the door and into the crowded nightclub. They took the stairs to the VIP lounge on the top floor where Chyna winked at the bouncer as he smacked her ass to let her through. Lexi only shook her head. Chyna would always be Chyna.

Chyna pointed out Adam across the room, and they veered toward him. As they approached, they saw another body plant two drinks down before turning to look at the girls. A smirk crossed his face, and Lexi could see those hazel eyes staring straight through her in that moment. He was too damn attractive for his own good.

“What is he doing here?” Chyna asked, crinkling her nose.

“I don’t know. Adam probably invited him.”

“You didn’t?”

“I don’t talk to him,” Lexi told her.

Except when she had to talk to him, when he was helping with the medical wing. She saw him at least once a week, but it wasn’t the same. He knew way too much about her life, and she had no clue who was filling him in.

“Must have been Adam then,” Chyna grumbled. “If he f**ks with my buzz, I will end him.”

Lexi laughed and continued behind Chyna toward Adam and John. Chyna rushed right over to Adam, who promptly stood and wrapped her up in his arms. Lexi smiled at her friend. She was so happy for them. It was nice to see Chyna in some sort of a normal relationship. They had been going steady for over a year and a half, excluding their short time apart. Lexi knew a bit too much about what had happened when Chyna had been in Milan to completely discount that time, but neither of the girls tended not to bring that up.

“Hey, babe,” John said, standing and offering Lexi a seat.

“Hey,” Lexi said softly.

“Vodka cranberry, right?” John said, shifting past her.

His hand brushed against her arm as he passed, and she shivered.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

He just smirked at her once more. “Chyna, dirty martini?”

Chyna glared at him. “Go f**k yourself.”

“I’m not really into that.”

“I bet your hand gets a pretty good workout,” she grumbled.

Adam tapped her lightly on the arm and whispered in her ear.

John just shook his head. Lexi could read all the thoughts swirling through his mind. She remembered what had gone down between John and Chyna so long ago. Chyna had a hard time letting go of grudges. It was clear the grudge with John was still perfectly intact.

“Dirty martini, it is,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” He reached out and squeezed Lexi’s hand, his thumb running along her palm, before he walked away.

“I wouldn’t let him touch you, Alexa. Don’t know what you might catch,” Chyna said, glaring after him.

“Chyna, back off. Jesus!” Adam said, pushing her into a seat. “He’s still my brother.”

“And he’s still disgusting. Why did you invite him here tonight?”

“I was hoping you would be able to grow up for one night,” he shot back.

Chyna shrugged. “I guess not.”

Adam shook his head and took a seat next to her. “You’re insufferable. It’s a good thing I really f**king love you.”

“You mean that I really f**king love you,” she shot back, almost as a challenge.

“If you guys start making out, I’m leaving,” Lexi said, plopping down next to Chyna.

Chyna shrugged. “Where’s your boy toy tonight anyway?”

“I already told you that he had to work.”

The new medical wing was set to open in just two months’ time, and Ramsey was working around the clock. Considering that fact, Lexi was a little surprised that John was here at all. Lately, he had been in Atlanta nearly as often or maybe even more than he had been in New York.

“That blows. It would have been nice to sit here and watch Ramsey beat John for eye-fucking you when we walked in,” Chyna said.

“He was not eye-fucking me!”

Chyna rolled her eyes. “Whatever, chica.”

“Chyna, your phone is ringing,” Adam said, holding up the small clutch in his hand.

“Ugh! Who is calling me at this hour?” she demanded. She fished out the small phone and stared down at the number. “That’s strange.”

“What?” Lexi asked.

“It’s international.”

“Is your mom abroad or something?”

“My mother doesn’t call me,” Chyna said, staring down at the number curiously.

“Just answer it,” Adam told her.

Chyna shrugged and pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

All of the color drained out of her face in the split second it took for the person on the other end of the phone to respond. Lexi had never seen Chyna look so mortified in her life. There might have been a twinge of green to her face in that moment.

“What the f**k do you want?” she demanded, her voice like ice.

Lexi and Adam both stared at her very carefully. Adam rested his hand on her thigh. Neither of them knew what was happening on the other end of that call.

“Are you f**king serious right now? It’s been a year! A motherfucking year! And you have the audacity to call me after what you f**king did to me!” she nearly screamed into the line. Chyna stood up swiftly and started yelling louder, “You f**king blacklisted me, Marco! I haven’t had a goddamn modeling job in a year!”

Lexi’s and Adam’s eyebrows rose in equal proportion. Marco. Now that was a name Lexi had not heard in a long time. He was the illustrious fashion designer and photographer that Chyna had worked for and become lovers with during last summer when she had been in Milan. He had made her a supermodel and had taken it all away when she had left him high and dry, taking the million-dollar dress she had worn at her spotlight gala with her. Their falling-out had shaken Chyna’s world after he had blacklisted her from the modeling world for theft.