Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

“What? You think you’re a f**king attorney or something, kitty-cat?”

“Yes, actually, I am. And you’re nothing more than a stripper who got knocked-up by someone other than my boyfriend. You’re nothing more than an embarrassment. You can’t keep crying wolf and expecting people to take you seriously. My advice is to get far, far away from me, Ramsey, this facility, and the entire Bridges Enterprise, or we will take legal action,” Lexi said. “There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If you keep harassing us, then I’ll take you to court myself. And I don’t lose.”

“I bet you don’t,” Elisa said, rolling her eyes.

Lexi could see a shift in her demeanor, a sense of unease.

Elisa took a step back as if she were going to walk away peacefully, but then she grabbed a drink sitting on a nearby table and threw the liquid at Lexi. Luckily, it missed her face, but it landed all over her brand-new dress.

Lexi’s mouth dropped open in shock. Had Elisa really just thrown a drink at her? The liquid sank into the material, and Lexi felt sticky all over at once. Lexi knew almost immediately that the dress was ruined. Another expensive beautiful dress was ruined at a party…and this time, it wasn’t even for something fun.

People rushed forward as one. Parker was at her side, and then Cierra was there, too. A few other people ran over with napkins and towels to try to clean off the dress, but Lexi knew it was useless. When she glanced up, Ramsey was walking with two muscular bouncers. They had picked up Elisa, who was kicking and screaming, and they were now carrying her out of the building.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Lexi said, shaking people off of her.

But she wasn’t fine. Her hands were trembling with anger. She was trying desperately to hold it together in front of all these people.

Lexi walked over to a table and held her hand up to keep people at bay. Everyone stayed back, except for Bekah. For some unknown reason, she thought Lexi might actually want to talk to her. She had thought Bekah was the last person she wanted to see, but she was pretty sure that, for now, that spot was reserved was Elisa. Jack hovered just off Bekah’s side—not really involved but not really out of it. He didn’t seem to know where his place was.

“I can’t believe you treated her like that!” Bekah said.

“What?” Lexi cried.

She was covered in some type of liquor, and Bekah was chiding her for how she had acted?

“Ramsey had it under control. If you hadn’t said anything, she would have just left. Why do you always have to have the last word?”

Lexi’s mouth dropped open. “Are you joking?”

“Just because you can’t handle something that happened in Ramsey’s past doesn’t mean you can ruin the entire party with your antics,” Bekah threw the words at her.

They landed all over Lexi’s body like a punch to the gut.

“Why don’t you just shut the f**k up?” Lexi snapped.

She couldn’t hold back her anger—not now, not after what had happened with Elisa. Lexi visibly straightened and glared at Bekah. Lexi’s dress was soaking wet from the crazy lunatic who was trying to tear apart Ramsey, and Bekah had the gall to yell at Lexi.

Lexi just couldn’t take it.

“You didn’t even care that your fiancé had cheated on you before he proposed. You don’t get to be involved in this at all,” Lexi said, her voice barely above a whisper but so threatening that it might as well have been deadly. “So, why don’t you just go scamper off and worry about your marriage or something equally useless?”

Bekah’s eyes were on fire, and she was visibly seething. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, you little bitch. You weren’t good enough for Jack, and you’re certainly not good enough for my brother—”

“Bekah,” Jack snapped, moving in between them, “just leave her alone.”

“What?” Bekah nearly screeched. Her nose was scrunched up as she stared at Jack in shock.

“I said, leave her alone. You don’t need to attack her like this right now. It’s bad enough that someone wrongly accused Ramsey, and she’s dealing with the aftereffect. You don’t need to lay into her, too.”

Lexi and Bekah both just stared at Jack. When had he ever stood up against Bekah? When had he ever kept Lexi and Bekah from each other’s throats? Lexi didn’t know what to say to that. She just wanted to thank him because him speaking up had actually shut Bekah up…and that was all Lexi had wanted at this point.

“Come on, Bekah,” Jack said, taking her hand, “just walk away.”

So, she walked away.

And Lexi stood there, speechless.

Chapter 15

How fast had she run out of that apartment?

Jack’s lips had hovered so close to hers. His eyes had been drunk with more than whiskey. She could practically hear his heart beating out of his chest. Or had that been hers? The heat rising between them had been like a blazing inferno threatening to overpower them both.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t look into those blue eyes and give in to the feelings he always stirred in her. They were friends now…just friends. And if he felt otherwise, then maybe she should stay away from him.

But her head knowing that didn’t seem to connect with the rest of her body begging and pleading with her to stay—just stay, just one moment, give in. Give in to that smirk, those eyes, the pheromone-spiking smell of sex, to the heat and desire and passion that consumed them inside and out. All she would have had to do was close her eyes. It would have been that simple.

Jack knew what she wanted. He had always known. And it would be no different now.

No different.

No…it certainly wouldn’t be different than any other time they had gambled their relationships away. No different than all the other times they had drawn a line in the sand only to cross it over and over and over again. No different than any of it.

“Then, I should go,” she had whispered into the stillness.

His hand had come down hard on the doorframe to steady himself, and she had thought for a split second that he would cross that line they had drawn more than two years earlier.

“Yeah…yeah, you should.”

“Your hand is still…” Lexi had gestured to the door where his hand had been covering hers.

He had withdrawn his hand with a sigh, and Lexi had turned the knob.