Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

Richard passed the evidence to the judge and explained each of them thoroughly. Lexi thought that Bekah and her attorney were going to combust. She had never seen Bekah fraying at the edges like this. Bekah was going to have an outburst. Lexi could see it, and so, she just smirked at Bekah.

Take that, Bitch!

The judge looked at the picture and the dress and shook his head. He was muttering under his breath to himself. Lexi couldn’t make out what he was saying, but she thought she might have heard, Damn kids. Maybe she had heard wrong.

“Ms. Bridges, would you be willing to submit a copy of your credit card history to the court from the time this picture was taken?” the judge asked.

Bekah swallowed and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Lexi could hear the fear in her voice. She was sure the judge saw it all over Bekah’s face. Falsifying evidence, lying under oath—Bekah was surely adding up all the things that had gone wrong in her plan.

“Good. We’ll take a short recess for me to determine whether or not to proceed with this new evidence or to reconvene at a later time when this can all be properly processed,” the judge said, slamming the gavel down and giving them a short break.

Richard and Jack followed Lexi back out of the courtroom and into their room once more.

As the door closed behind them, Richard started talking. “That evidence is going to push the outcome to a fifty-fifty split,” he said confidently. He looked practically giddy with relief. He had been pretty sure that Jack was going to get screwed out of everything.

Fifty-fifty was way better than losing Jack’s entire livelihood to a Bitch who didn’t even need it!

“Good,” Jack said. “We don’t need to push for anything more than that. I just want it to be over with.”

“She’ll have to back down. The judge looked like he was going to have to use the evidence after Bekah’s comments,” Richard said. “Good thing you thought about the dress.”

Jack found Lexi’s hand once more and pulled her closer to him. “It is good.”

“I didn’t want her to get away with it,” Lexi said softly, her brown eyes meeting his baby blues.

She wished in that moment that they were alone and this was all over. She just wanted to start over with Jack. After today, they would finally be rid of Bekah and the past and could think concretely about the future.

They spoke for a few more minutes about what to do going forward, and then they were called back into the courtroom. Lexi took the seat directly behind Jack this time. It was clear she was part of this hearing whether or not Richard had wanted her to be. He was probably thanking her at this point since, based on the prenup, the offending party would have to cover his attorney fees.

The judge ambled back into his chair and took a seat. “I’ve decided to include the evidence into the file as long as Ms. Bridges produces the proper paperwork. We’re going to break for lunch and return in an hour.” He banged his gavel down and disappeared as quickly as he came.

An hour came and passed so slowly that Lexi felt like she was trying to run through shoulder-high water against a current. She ate something, but she couldn’t really tell anyone what it was. Jack had been just as high-strung during the break. He wanted it all to be over with more than anyone. He was the one who had been dealing with this for the past nine months and dealing with Bekah four years more than that. It would surely be a relief like nothing he had ever experienced to have this all over and done with.

Lexi and Jack walked back up to the courthouse together. She hoped that she shouldered some of the tension for him—that was all she could hope for. As they got closer to the entrance, she noticed someone standing just outside with his arms crossed over his chest. Lexi squinted against the sun beaming into her eyes. She was sure that she was imagining what she was seeing. As she got closer, she realized that her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

“Clark,” Lexi said tentatively in greeting. What was her ex-boyfriend doing here? “Hey.”

Jack tightened his grip on her hand like he thought she might pull away, but she had no intention. She felt absolutely nothing for Clark anymore. If she hadn’t pulled away in front of Bekah, she certainly wasn’t about to for Clark.

“Lexi,” Clark said, nodding at her. “Jack. Isn’t it funny, seeing you two together? No? No, not really, I suppose.”

“Hey,” Jack said, just as tentative.

“Are you in court today?” Lexi asked, trying to figure out why he was standing here.

He was in business, but she hadn’t kept tabs on what he was doing. She hadn’t actually even known he was still in the city.

Clark chuckled and shook his head. “No. I came to talk to Jack actually.”

“What’s up, man?” Jack asked.

Clark stepped forward and dropped his arms. Lexi had no idea what this was all about. The last time she had seen Clark had been at Jack’s wedding. He had been a total ass to her, and everything had just gone downhill from there.

Clark stuck his hand out to Jack as if to shake. Jack stared at it hesitantly, like he was wondering what to make of it all, but then decided he had no real reason not to take the offered hand, so Jack shook his hand.

“I just wanted to say that we’re even,” Clark said, squeezing.

“Even?”

“A long time ago, you took what was mine,” Clark said, completely calm, “and now, I’ve taken what was yours.”

Jack dropped his hand and drew back. He cocked his head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

“I knew she would never tell you because she’s as much of a coward as you were. So, I wanted to come and make sure you heard it for yourself. I’ve been sleeping with your wife for the last year,” Clark said evenly without a single waver or an ounce of remorse.

Lexi stared in shock. She couldn’t even comprehend what had just come out of Clark’s mouth. Bekah had…cheated. She had cheated on Jack with Clark.

“What?” Jack asked. He sounded as surprised as she felt.

“We met at your wedding and ran into each other again probably a year after that,” Clark explained. “It took me only a couple of weeks to get her into bed. I really thought you would notice your own patterns when they were used against you.”

Jack just stared. There was nothing either of them could say to what was coming out of Clark’s mouth.