Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

“I had an interesting night.”

“Me, too. Adam proposed.”

“What? Wow. Well, that’s wonderful. I’m assuming Chyna said yes.”

“She did. I wish you had been here.”

“I wish I had been with you, too. Much more than dealing with what I just walked into,” he said, sounding beaten down.

“What happened? Was this at the company party you didn’t tell me about?” Lexi asked.

She hadn’t thought she was going to bring it up, but it had eaten at her all last night. He had probably been out with Parker instead of with her. Lexi’s imagination had gotten the best of her, and she hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything else.

“What do you mean, I didn’t tell you? I told you a couple of weeks ago, but you were set on going to New York,” Ramsey said defensively.

“I don’t remember you telling me,” Lexi said sheepishly. Had he told her?

“Then how did you know about it?” he asked.

Lexi bit her lip. Great. There was always a possibility she would run into John when hanging out with Chyna, but she and Ramsey just hadn’t really talked about it.

“John told me.”

“Ah, I knew he was invited, but I didn’t know his reason for not showing,” he said gruffly.

“He was here for the proposal.”

“Right.” He didn’t sound like he believed her.

“Doesn’t change the fact that I don’t remember you ever telling me about this event. Didn’t you think that I would want to go?”

“I did tell you about this, Lexi. You’ve kind of been absent recently.”

“I’ve been around more than you have.”

“I meant mentally…you’ve been out of it a lot. I don’t know if it’s stress, but that’s really neither here nor there. I need you to come home,” he said abruptly.

“Home? Why? I’m supposed to be in New York for two more days.” She did not want to give up her vacation.

“I just…need you here.”

“Ramsey, what the hell is going on?” Lexi asked, confused.

With the medical wing right now, he didn’t normally need her around, period. Why would he need her to fly back to Atlanta on the weekend she had off?

“I’m going to book you a flight. Make sure you make it, all right? I’d ask Chyna for the private jet, but I think that might be overdoing it. I’m not sure though. Do you think she would care? She probably wouldn’t, but I hate to impose,” he said, rambling on to himself.

“Ramsey!” she snapped. “What is this all about?”

He breathed out heavily on the phone. She could almost hear his brain working, trying to find a way out of telling her. Something had happened. She didn’t know what it was, but she had a feeling that it was bad. Everything about this felt wrong, and she reached out for the footboard on the bed in Chyna’s guest room.

“What is it?” she whispered again.

“Are you sitting down?”

“No.”

“Then…then, I think you should sit down first,” he said softly.

Lexi walked over to the chaise lounge in the bedroom and sat down heavily. Her stomach was in knots, and she couldn’t keep from automatically pushing her hair back behind her ear. She was ready for her heart to shatter. She was ready for her world to tilt. She was ready for whatever he was going to dish out to her. She could take it. She had been through worse than anything he could say right now. Right?

God, she didn’t even want to know. In that moment, the last thing she wanted was to hear something that was going to tear her apart. Hadn’t she had enough? Couldn’t she live through someone else’s perfect life for once?

Lexi braced herself on the armrest and sighed. “I’m seated.”

“I’m really sorry that I have to tell you this…that any of this is being brought up. I really hate that you have to hear this over the phone when I can’t see your reaction, reassure you, hold you in my arms. I’m just…I’m sorry about a lot of things.”

The way he spoke to her was like his heart was breaking. She could almost picture him sitting in their apartment, disheveled and unkempt, still wearing last night’s clothes.

She clenched the phone harder in her hand. She didn’t think she could prepare any more for what he was about to say to her.

“I’ve had a sexual harassment suit come up against me from a previous employee. It was a girl, Elisa, who worked at one of the clubs I managed.”

Lexi’s mouth dropped open. She had thought she was prepared for it…but she wasn’t. She couldn’t have prepared herself for that. Sexual harassment…when had that happened?

“She claims that we…had sex,” he said, his voice strained. “And that when she got pregnant, she was forced out. She has a son, not quite one year old. She claims that he’s mine.”

Her vision swam. A baby boy. AThe club whore had a baby boy with her boyfriend.

Oh my God!

No.

It couldn’t be possible. It couldn’t be.

Ramsey couldn’t have a kid with someone else. He had avoided the scandal with Parker. The clubs had just been a distraction. Ramsey would never sleep with employees. He would never force out pregnant women. He would never have a son that he didn’t know about.

Wait—not yet one year old!

That would mean…the baby would have had to be conceived when they were dating. It meant that Ramsey would have had to cheat on her.

She didn’t even have words in that moment. What could she possibly say to that?

Ramsey continued quickly, “It’s not true. None of it is true. Elisa is a bitch. I never, ever would have done any of the things that she said. There’s no way that she can prove it. She’s trying to capitalize on the publicity and success of the medical wing. She wants her fifteen minutes.”

“She’s f**king with my life for her fifteen minutes,” Lexi growled.

He sighed heavily. “I know. I wish none of this had ever happened. I wish she had picked someone else for this bullshit. It’s not fair to you or the company. I wish she wasn’t trying to drag us all through the mud to get a little bit of money.” He paused. “It’s going to hit the news tonight…tomorrow at the latest. I wanted you here with me before it broke.”