Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

Lexi pulled her phone out and stared down at Ramsey’s number. She had to do this. There wasn’t anywhere else for her to go, nowhere else for her to hide. And she didn’t want to anymore. She was tired of this feeling, and having this conversation was the only way to get rid of it.

“Hey,” she said when Ramsey answered the phone.

“Hey,” he said just as softly. “It’s really good to hear from you.”

“Yeah. Same,” she said truthfully. It was good to hear from him. She had missed him in the short time they had been apart…as much from the physical distance as the emotional. “Can we meet to talk? I’d rather have this conversation in person.”

“Sure. Do you want to come home?” he asked, using that last word like he was tightening a vise grip on her heart.

“I think I would rather talk somewhere else.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Do you want to meet me at the hospital or something? I don’t know many other places that will be open and conducive to a conversation at this time of night.”

Ugh! One of the last places she wanted to be was at the hospital, surrounded by Bridges Enterprise with the knowledge that Parker was such an important actor in that company. But Lexi hadn’t thought about the fact that everything was closing soon.

“Is Parker going to be there?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t keep tabs on her, and since our conversation last week, she has made herself scarce,” he said stiffly.

“Scarce in her own hospital?”

“I might have had words with her.”

Lexi could imagine how that had gone. She didn’t doubt that Ramsey had probably blown up on Parker about the abortion paperwork. He had a short temper when it came to Parker, and Lexi had seen his short fuse unleash on Parker before. Lexi didn’t think Parker was necessarily a bad person, and she wondered in that moment what she thought about all of this, not that she wanted to talk to Parker to find out. Lexi was still pretty pissed that Parker had the audacity to bring that paperwork to Ramsey in the first place.

“All right. If you think she won’t be around, then I’ll come by.”

“Okay, I’ll head over there now,” he said eagerly.

Lexi hung up the phone with a sigh and placed it back in her purse. It was strange, as a lawyer, to hate confrontation, but she really did. Maybe it was just different because this was her personal life, and work had nothing to do with her, but it felt so much worse.

She drove across town to the hospital and parked in the staff parking lot as normal. She knew that Ramsey had likely beaten her here, and he was probably already waiting for her in his office. She tapped her foot anxiously in her car before getting up the nerve to head out. She knew she shouldn’t drag her feet and put off the inevitable.

Lexi breezed through the sliding glass doors and into the massive hospital entranceway. Her feet carried her toward the elevator when she heard her name being called out through the haze she was in. She shook her head and turned to face the direction where she had heard her name.

“Lexi!” Cierra said, waving at her. “What are you doing here? It’s late!”

“Oh, hey,” Lexi said softly. She hadn’t wanted to run into anyone. “Just coming to see Ramsey. I didn’t think you worked the late shift.”

“They started requiring us all to work one a week. I guess enough people didn’t want to work the night shifts.”

“Oh.” That was all she could manage. Her mind was elsewhere.

“I’m glad I got to see you. I really wanted to talk about the wedding. Just let me know if I need to help with anything or meet up with the other bridesmaids for anything for you,” Cierra said, her face an open book as far as emotions went.

Lexi sighed and bit her lip. She liked Cierra, and she had wanted her as part of the wedding party, but she didn’t really trust anyone but Chyna with what had happened between her and Ramsey and Jack. And she couldn’t talk about a wedding right now.

“Let’s talk about it another time, okay?” Lexi asked.

“Is everything all right?” Cierra asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Fine. I just have to meet Ramsey.”

“Okay. Come say hi before you leave.”

Lexi waved her off without a response. She couldn’t talk to her without seeing how this conversation with Ramsey went first. After this, then she would decide what to do about bridesmaids and the wedding and everything else in her life. One step at a time.

She took the elevator to the top floor. Through her nerves, she laughed at how this was the one thing that Ramsey hadn’t gotten to go his way. He hadn’t wanted a top-floor office like his family, and even though he had been given discretion over almost everything else, the designers had still put him up on the top floor. So much good that discretion had been for…Parker still worked with him, and they still had offices next door to each other.

He better be true to his word and have her out of the area if not out of the hospital entirely.

When the elevator opened on the top floor, Lexi steeled herself for the conversation she had been dreading all week. If she knew how this was all going to go down, then she likely wouldn’t be as terrified as she felt, but she couldn’t help it. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and walked out of the elevator.

Ramsey was pacing in his office as she approached. His secretary was mercifully absent. Lexi glanced into the office next door and didn’t see anyone. She sighed in relief. No Parker.

She was used to seeing him in suits, but he hadn’t been at the office. He had driven here from home, so he was dressed more casually in a pair of pressed khaki shorts, green polo, and boat shoes. He still looked perfectly put-together even though she could tell by his pacing, the way he ducked his head, the way he ran his hands back through his hair methodically, that he was a wreck.

Her hand landed on the doorknob lightly, and Ramsey’s head jerked up at the sound. Her heart broke at the sight. Her Ramsey never went anywhere without being clean-shaven, and Lexi could see stubble along his jawline. His eyes seemed far away, and bags were forming under his eyes, like he hadn’t been sleeping. She hated that he was like this…that she had caused this.

Lexi turned the handle and walked into Ramsey’s office, slowly, cautiously. He took a few steps toward her like he wanted to scoop her up and pull her into his arms, but when he saw her face, he stopped in his tracks. He wasn’t stupid. He didn’t want to push her again. But any distance between them felt exponentially worse with those few feet.