Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

"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 great rid of him. He can't see us together. Shit would hit the f**king 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 f**k 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 just rolled her eyes. As if she was stupid enough to do that. She walked into the guest bedroom leaving the door slightly 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 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 easily towering over Jack's frame with his six two build. "I just 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 otherwise gave no sign that he had noticed his sharp intake of breath at the mention of Lexi's name. He smiled pleasantly knowing he was on the verge of acquiring the information he had been so interested in for the past couple days. He just hadn't been sure when he would be able to talk to Jack. Lexi was a closed book, shying away from any mention of her past. Bekah got furious with him for even broaching the subject, and though they typically shared everything, he knew she was hiding from him. Jack, on the other hand, couldn't escape him now.

"I just 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 just 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 just 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 just 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 defense about the situation, but he had caught them kissing on Ramsey's balcony. Granted, he had way too much to drink and had completely overreacted. Regardless, he simply did not want Ramsey to take interest in Lexi.

"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?" Jack asked defensively.

"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 just 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. He was unsure of what he was getting himself into, but he knew one thing at least, that he didn't want to tell Ramsey anything about Lexi. "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 just 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 wanting to get to the bottom of this. Secrets always nagged at him.

"Well she lives in New York," Jack said lamely 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."