AVOIDING RESPONSIBILITY (Avoiding #2)

Chapter 1-1

1

Present

A sing-song tune echoed from a distant location far removed from the king-sized bed where Lexi Walsh lay curled up amongst the sheets. The muffled chorus of a popular radio song hit her ears, causing her to roll over and bury herself farther into the depths of the bed. An arm wrapped around her waist and the warmth of a body pressed against her skin. The man trailed his fingers gently across her stomach, down the curves of her side, and over her toned thighs. She giggled as his touch turned more insistent, rocking her body back and forth.

“Mmm,” she groaned, her eyes fluttering open. “It’s too early.”

“I know,” he agreed, moving his hands back to her flat tanned stomach. “Too early for your phone to be going off.”

Lexi sighed and nuzzled into his chest. “Agreed.”

She laced their fingers together.

“Are you going to answer that?” he questioned, his breath hot against her earlobe.

Lexi lazily shook her head and shifted ever so slightly, imploring his lips to her ear. “Mmm, no.”

“You sure?”

She angled her body, allowing herself a look into his hazel eyes, and smiled. “Do I look like I want to get out of bed?”

A confident smirk crossed his face. “Not in the slightest.”

“There’s your answer then,” she muttered, yanking the sheet up around her bare shoulders and relaxing into him.

He responded by holding her tight against him as his other hand swooped up and ran through the long thick strands of chocolate brown hair. He splayed the curls out across the creamy white pillow and brushed her bangs off her forehead. He leaned forward in bed and planted a light kiss on her forehead careful not to adjust her easy slumber.

“That feels nice,” she murmured into him.

“I thought you’d fallen back asleep already.”

Lexi kissed his chest and held onto him a little tighter. “Not quite.”

“So, who could be calling you so early in the morning?”

Instantly, Lexi’s heart sped up. She knew the reaction was entirely irrational. The last time she had been awoken at such an early hour on a Saturday morning, Jack had called her. That fateful conversation nearly a year earlier had led to an outrageous week where she had not only traveled to Atlanta to see Jack and his new girlfriend, Bekah, but had been suckered into attempting to convince said girlfriend that Jack was ready for marriage. What a sham that had been!

She had been set-up by Bekah and, inevitably, after a few rather inappropriate experiences with Jack, had convinced him that he was, in fact, ready to marry Bekah. After six years of trying to work things out between her and Jack, he had proposed to another woman with a duplicate of the ring he had promised only belonged to Lexi. She had walked away with some semblance of the closure she had desired, but returned to New York with a whole new world of heartache she hadn’t been prepared for.

But Jack hadn’t called her since she had left him standing alone at the airport in Atlanta, and she knew he wouldn’t be calling her now.

That didn’t lessen the thumping of her heart though.

“I…I don’t know,” she told him.

She didn’t care who was calling. She didn’t want to be forced from her tranquil environment to face the realities of the real world. And if she was honest with herself, a part of her was afraid that one day Jack would come crashing back into her existence. Didn’t he always?

Jack. The man who had taken her from a brilliant, confident, controlled woman to a love sick, uncontrollable girl at the first glance from his blue eyes. Together they had ruined relationships, friendships, and families with their heated desire and relentless passion. But those days were over.

The familiar lyrics began playing again, and this time Lexi could pinpoint the location of her purse amongst his impeccably clean décor. She sighed, wishing the noise would stop allowing her the peace and quiet she desired.

“Perhaps you should attend to that, while I go fix you some breakfast.”

Lexi groaned as he shifted next to her, hauling his tight ass across the bed and over to his closet stocked with expensive suits. He threw on a pair of black boxer-briefs and took the stairs two at a time down to the landing. He returned a second later with her purse in hand and placed it gently on the bed. She smiled up in his angular face and was rewarded with a kiss on the lips full of promises.

“Answer that,” he commanded, pointing at the phone that was still lit up from the previous phone call. “Come down when you’re finished.”

She watched his backside retreat down the stairs and out of sight before picking up her purse and fishing out her new cell phone. Up until a couple months ago, she had had the same old, dinged-up phone since college. They had had their rough spots along the way, like when she had lost all the numbers after dropping it in the toilet once, but it had been good to her nonetheless. Her best friend Chyna had finally gifted her something a bit flashier. She claimed it was a graduation present.

Her phone came to life at the tips of her fingers as she grumbled at the early hour. Her night had been pretty insane, and the last thing Lexi wanted to do was be awake at that moment. She groggily clicked on the message that claimed she had two missed calls.

Lexi cursed under her breath as the name filled the screen: Ramsey Bridges.

She could think of a million and a half reasons for him to be calling her. None of which she wanted to deal with at this moment in time.

Lexi threw her head back roughly against the down pillow and bit the inside of her lip to keep from cursing aloud. Just as she was about to swing her legs over the side of the bed and trek downstairs, the phone lit up one more time. This time the ding alerting her of a text message.

Reluctantly, Lexi clicked on the message and read it to herself.

Sorry it’s early and for everything else. Call me. Please. I miss you.

Lexi banged her head back and against the pillowcase in frustration. This could not be happening to her right now. She knew that she should wait to make the phone call. She had an incredibly attractive man making her breakfast downstairs and the last person, well second to last person, she needed to talk to was Ramsey.

But she couldn’t just ignore him. Something was up or else he wouldn’t be calling her. And despite her better judgment, she phoned him.

“Lexi,” he breathed into the other line.

His voice sent chills up her spine, and the intense way he said her name only made it worse…or better depending on how you looked at it. A wave of peppermint seemed to overtake her at the sound of his voice. She couldn’t believe that the taste of him could be so alive in her mind when he was thousands of miles away in Atlanta. She shook her head clearing her mind of her vivid imagination.

“That’s right.”

“Hey,” he muttered, surprisingly at a loss of words. “Uh, how have you been?”

“I’ve been great, Ramsey. Did you need something?” she asked, cutting the conversation as short as she could.

“Yeah, we have a lot to talk about.”

Lexi shook her head. No. She could not do this right now. “I don’t think we do.”

“Come on. You know we do,” he told her.

“Now isn’t a great time.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s early. Sorry about that,” he said. She could almost feel him scratching his head at that statement.

“It’s fine. Did you need something or were you just calling this early to chat?” she asked being as rude as she had ever been with Ramsey. Depending on the day, he could bring that side her of out better than anyone else she had ever met.

“No, I have something to ask you,” he stated hesitantly.

“Okay?” she asked curiously.

She knew that it would be better if she got off the line with him. She was at some other guy’s house, and it was too early in the morning for this kind of conversation. The last thing she wanted to do was be reminded of her past right now.

“Look, I don’t really know how to ask this of you so I guess I’ll just spit it out. Will you go to my sister’s wedding with me?” Ramsey asked in a rush.

Lexi sat there in silence unable to believe what she had heard. She couldn’t honestly believe that Ramsey would be asking her to go to the wedding. She had been doing everything she could not to have any knowledge of the wedding at all. And it hadn’t exactly been easy to keep her head down and out of the news.

She hadn’t received an invitation, which hadn’t really surprised her. On one level, she had been surprised Bekah’s vindictive side hadn’t surfaced and invited her out of spite. Another part of her was even more surprised that Jack hadn’t been begging her to come back again. After all, another year had rolled around and it was about time for him to try to ruin her life.

She hated thinking about Jack that way. Even though she had let him go back in the Atlanta airport, she couldn’t help but reminisce back to the good times of their so-called relationship. Apparently, he hadn’t been thinking about that or else her comments when leaving him behind would have struck home.

But now she had no idea of the date, time, or place of the wedding. She told herself this was more for her sanity’s sake, but she wasn’t sure if that was the only reason. She didn’t trust herself enough to not go, and she knew that she would only make a fool of herself if she made the mistake of attending.

That brought her back to reality. Ramsey had just asked her to attend the wedding she had been pointedly avoiding at all costs for the past year. He wanted her to go with him to see Jack and Bekah say their vows and become legally tied to each other. He wanted her to go to a wedding that he didn’t even want to attend.

There was only one explanation. Ramsey had lost his mind. There was no other way to describe it. He had to know, if anyone knew, that there was no way she was going to be in attendance.

“Lexi, are you still there?”

She snapped out of her trance. “Yes.”

“Yeah?” he asked, excitement evident in his voice.

“Yes, I’m still here.”

“Oh,” he said, “I thought you meant yes you would go with me.”

“Oh, no.”

“Lexi, please.”

“Ramsey, are you out of your mind?” she asked, running her fingers through her long brown hair as she tried to keep her voice level and under control. How dare he ask her such a ridiculous request!

“Probably a little bit,” he admitted.

“You’d have to be crazy to think that I would go with you.”

“Is this about me or Jack?”

Lexi huffed out an angry breath. “Do you really have to ask that?”

“You’re right. You’re right,” he quickly amended. “Sorry for asking.”

“Whatever. Ramsey, I’m not going to that wedding with you or with anyone.”

“Lexi, what happened a couple weeks ago…”

“Please don’t,” she whispered into the phone, resting her forehead into her hand, and wishing she had gone with her first instinct and ignored the call.

“I am sorry about…everything,” he murmured, his voice filled with emotion.

“I know. You said that.”

“I just…I don’t want to go with anyone else.”

Lexi could feel the tears beginning to well in her eyes at the admission. She really did not need this right now. She quickly swiped at her eyes hoping the effect of his words wouldn’t show through.

Stepping off of the bed and wandering toward the closet, Lexi stood before the full-length mirror and took a good long look at herself. Her eyes were rimmed pink, but as long as she held it together, the coloring would go away quick enough. Her cheeks were flushed, but it was a nice look with her tanned skin. She hadn’t let one tear trickle down her face. She was getting better at controlling her emotions.

“You can’t ask that of me Ramsey. You know it isn’t fair.”