Chapter 1-2
1930 Words
“Can I just give you the date, and you let me know if you’re available?”
“What?” she shrieked. “No, don’t give me the date.”
Pulling the phone promptly from her ear, Lexi glanced around the room and over the balcony to see if she had caused a disturbance. She hadn’t intended on losing control, but the thought that after all her hard work Ramsey was going to spoil everything made her impulsive. After reassuring herself that her explosion hadn’t drawn any unnecessary attention, Lexi placed the phone back to her ear.
“Lexi? Hello, are you still there?” Ramsey asked.
“Yes, I’m here. Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”
“It’s fine. Look, I won’t tell you the date, if you don’t want to know, but will you at least think on it? I really don’t want to be there without you.”
“Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want to be there at all?” she whispered into the phone as she ducked into the bathroom.
“I know you don’t want to be there, but I have to be. It’s my sister’s wedding and since I have to go, I’d prefer to be with you. I always prefer to be with you,” he told her, using his easy charm. The words fell husky and persuasive off of his tongue.
She sighed quietly and closed her eyes as her mind traveled to a year ago. She had told herself she would contact Ramsey when she could hold her head up high. So much had changed and evolved, and it was harder now to resist him. He had always had an influence over her, drawing out emotions in her that she hadn’t realized she could even feel. Even in the beginning, his all-encompassing personality made her rude and took her out of her element. Those emotions had only intensified with time.
But she couldn’t let another man have control over her decisions. She was not, under any circumstances, going to see her sorta-non-ex-boyfriend get married, to anyone. She couldn’t do it and nothing he said was going to make a difference.
“Ramsey, I can’t,” she mumbled. “You have to understand. I just…can’t.”
“Please think about it,” he begged.
“I have to go. I’ll—I’ll talk to you later,” she said hanging up the phone without giving him a chance to respond.
She hung her head in front of the sink. How did these things keep happening to her? Here she was attempting to enjoy herself, to forget him, and he managed to bring up the one thing that would ruin it all—that damn wedding.
All Lexi needed was a fresh start. She thought she had been getting that with Ramsey, but with the way things had ended up, she knew that had been a mistake. Everything she had done—at least romantically—was a mistake.
It didn’t matter how he made her feel. She should have known better than to let her emotions get in the way of her judgment. Now she needed to get over it.
She wasn’t going to that wedding.
Lexi grabbed a long-sleeve, white button-up from a hanger on the back of the door and slung it on over her head. She scrunched the too-long sleeves up to her elbows and watched as they instantly fell back to her wrists. The shirt hit the top of her thighs barely covering her butt from view. After approving her appearance, Lexi trotted down the stairs and into the chic kitchen. She ran her fingertips across the black marbled countertop and approached the stove. She circled around the island in the center of the room and moved to wrap her arms around the man in front of her.
He jumped slightly, then bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “You surprised me.”
Lexi grabbed his left arm and pulled it around her body as he flipped a pancake over with the other hand. “That smells amazing.”
“Thank you. This is my mom’s recipe. Have a seat.”
He gestured for her to sit on a low-backed bar stool tucked under the counter. When she did, he placed a pile of pancakes covered in strawberries and syrup with bacon and orange juice in front of her. He turned off the stove, filled his own plate and moved to eat beside her.
“Oh my God,” Lexi groaned. “This is incredible.”
She shoveled the pancakes into her mouth not even caring that she probably looked ridiculous.
He chuckled softly to himself. “I like a woman with a healthy appetite.”
Lexi choked on the food she had put in her mouth, chewed a few more times, then swallowed. “Well, when you put it that way.”
She put her fork down and faced him. She tucked one leg up underneath herself.
“It was a compliment,” he reassured her. He drew her face toward him and kissed her lips affectionately.
“So, was your conversation important?” he asked.
Lexi nearly dropped her fork onto the plate at the question. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he would ask about the call since it had woken them both up much too early. However, she wasn’t prepared with a response. How could you tell someone that a guy you dated wanted you to go to a wedding with him for a guy that you had been sleeping with on and off for the past six years? Yeah, that wouldn’t exactly go over well.
“Uh, yeah, I suppose it was,” she mumbled.
“Ah,” he said, raising his eyebrows slightly, “you don’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s really not worth discussing.”
“All right,” he said doing the same. “What are your plans for the day?”
“I’m meeting Chyna to go shopping,” Lexi said, a smile creeping up onto her face at the question. She was happy to know that the s*x hadn’t changed what was going on between them. He still wanted to see her. Butterflies crept up into her stomach at the knowledge that this could actually go somewhere—this could be something, if that’s what she wanted.
“Let’s do dinner then,” he suggested.
“Tonight?” she asked, lifting her eyes to meet his.
“Yes. We’re always so low key. I want to take you somewhere nice,” he told her, pulling her off of the bar stool and wrapping his arms around her waist.
“We’re not low key.”
“We’re low key compared to where I want to take you,” he said, pulling her back toward the bedroom.
“I’ll think on it.”
“Don’t make me wait too long,” he said, watching her strip out of his shirt.
“Never,” she told him. His pupils dilated and he began to walk toward her. “Hey now. I really do have to meet Chyna.”
“She can wait,” he breathed against her neck.
“It’ll be another hour before I’m out of here.”
“You make that seem like a bad thing,” he said, nibbling across her collarbone and up her neck. “Stay.”
“I can’t.”
“Please,” he pleaded.
“As much as I want to.”
“Then stay.”
“Another time,” she said, extracting herself from his grasp. “Next time.”
She pulled her tight black dress from the previous night back over her head and slid into her heels.
Snatching her purse up off the bed, Lexi kissed him one more time. “When is next time?”
“I’ll call you,” she breathed, reluctantly removing herself from his eager arms, and exiting the apartment.
Lexi hailed a passing cab. The yellow car slowed to a stop and she fell into the backseat.
As she was whisked across town, Lexi tried not to think about her conversation with Ramsey. She had an entire list of things she needed to accomplish—mostly related to pampering herself post-Bar madness.
She had sent out her resume to over a dozen law firms in the past two weeks, and was waiting patiently for offers pending passage of the Bar exam. She wasn’t too worried about either scenario though. The bar had been grueling, time consuming, and painfully nerve-racking, but it was over.
All in all, she figured she had passed and that was all that mattered. The job offers would present themselves in good time. She had been fortunate enough to have intern positions for the past two summers, and due to that good fortune, Lexi was even less concerned with finding a job. Thus, relaxation was in order.
Now, Ramsey was calling her trying to take away her last few weeks of bliss before entering the real world. She needed some serious downtime to forget about that conversation. Luckily, she was supposed to be going out with Chyna all day, which always helped.
“Mr. B,” Lexi said, nodding her head to the doorman Bernard as she stepped out of the taxi and approached the entrance to Chyna’s Upper East Side apartment.
“Miss Lexi, it is always a pleasure,” he said. He pulled the door open wide for her.
“Always a pleasure to see you as well.”
He tipped his hat in thanks, letting her pass through the frame. The elevator stopped on the top floor, and Lexi breezed down the hallway to her destination. Fishing through her tiny clutch, she realized with despair that she had left her keys behind somewhere. She cursed under her breath. She banged on Chyna’s door hoping she was both alone and awake. She had forgotten, in her clouded thoughts, to ask Bernard if Chyna had arrived home alone last night. Just as Lexi was about to dial Chyna’s number, she heard the sound of the bolt sliding out of place. The door creaked open about an inch and one of Chyna’s emerald green eyes was visible.
“Yes?” Chyna asked, eyeing her up and down.
Lexi smiled. “Hey, C. Let me in.”
Chyna slammed the door closed, fiddled with the lock, and then reopened the door. “Are you in walk-of-shame attire?” Chyna asked. She flipped her long black hair over to one shoulder and pulled the door all the way to the wall.
“Good to see you too,” Lexi mumbled sarcastically.
She stepped through the entranceway in her four inch heels and across the white marbled foyer.
“Oh yes. It’s always good to see you, chica,” Chyna said, slamming the door shut and following her to the living room, which was currently in shambles. Lexi scooted away from a disturbing looking plaster and over to the covered black leather sofas. She took a seat and sighed resting her head back against the plastic covering.
“At least I’ll only have to endure this the first time.”
“Oh, so you think this will continue?” Chyna questioned, lying back against a cream psychiatrist’s chair that Lexi had never seen before.
Lexi realized her mistake and attempted to pivot the conversation. This wasn’t what she was here to talk about with Chyna, and she didn’t particularly want to discuss her love life.
“Has Frederick approved these changes?” Lexi asked, glancing at the half-upturned carpet, strings of bamboo blinds, and other, more exaggerated, environmental pieces.
Chyna upturned her nose at the comment, swinging her legs back off the chair, and onto the floor. “Frederick does not matter.”
Lexi laughed out loud. She always did have a flare for the dramatic and a not so secret crush on her rather gay designer. “Frederick would murder you if he saw this room.”
“Precisely,” Chyna said her eyes glimmering with thoughts of indiscretion. “But enough about me. Tell me about your walk-of-shame.”
“Chyna, I told you, it’s not a walk-of-shame.”
“I know. I know. So, is it serious?”
“We’ll see,” Lexi said, shrugging her thin shoulders. “I think he wants it to be.”
Chyna glanced back at Lexi with a devious look in her eyes. “Of course he does, darling.”
Lexi pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Because you spoke to Ramsey this morning?” Chyna asked, batting her eyelashes.
“Wha…?” Lexi asked. “How did you know that?”
“You have that look on your face,” she said as a matter of fact.
“And what look is that?” Lexi asked, mystified by her friend’s observation skills. She would have never guessed
- Writer
