Avoiding Temptation (16 page)

Lexi steeled herself for what she was about to do. “Have you tried…talking to her about it?” She wanted to gag at the thought of urging him to talk to Bekah about it…to even hint at encouraging him to convince her not to go through with it, but she needed to be a friend right now.

“Of course I’ve tried to talk to her. She won’t see me. I had to move out. I’m staying with Seth and feel so…so…I don’t even know.”

She could almost see him in that moment—his eyes closed, his hands fisted into his dark brown hair, the look of pain on his face. It made her want to do something, anything to take it away. Despite everything they had gone through, she could never make herself stop caring. It was Jack.

“What did she say when she gave you the papers?”

He gave a stilted laugh. “I want a divorce. Then, she handed me the papers and told me to get out.”

“Just like that?” Lexi asked.
Bekah was the devil
.

“Just like that.”

“Was there any forewarning that this might happen?”

“No.”

“She wasn’t acting strange…erm, stranger?” Lexi asked.

“What do you want me to say? That I knew my wife was going to divorce me? That I should have seen the signs? That I should have known better? Well, I didn’t,” he growled. “I didn’t see any of it, and yeah, that probably makes me even more of a fucking idiot. But I tried every day for the past two years with Bekah, and I was still trying up until that day she handed me the papers. Marriage isn’t easy, but I wanted my marriage to work, so I put in the effort.”

“I’m sorry, Jack,” she whispered. She didn’t know what else to say to that. She wasn’t sorry about Bekah, but she was sorry for Jack.

“Please don’t pity me, Lex,” he said so softly she almost didn’t hear him. “Don’t remind me that I gave you up for this.”

Her heart seemed to hammer in her chest, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. Her throat felt swollen just for a minute as she fought back the tears threatening to spill out.
Why now? Why did he have to realize this now? Too little, too late. She loved Ramsey. She was marrying Ramsey. End of the line.

When she felt like she could speak again without her throat closing up, she said, “I’ll find you a lawyer tomorrow, okay? I should probably go.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Hopefully, this will all be as painless as possible,” she encouraged, assuming Bekah would do her worst because she always did.

“For who? Certainly not me…”

She hated agreeing. He had dug the hole himself, and now, he had to sit in it, six feet under—right where Bekah wanted him.

Lexi hung up the phone and rested her head back on the couch. She sniffled and hugged her legs tight to her chest. She needed to stop this feeling.

But she couldn’t help it.

She felt really, really bad for Jack. It was an emotion she was so not used to
. Normally, the things she felt for Jack were, ahem…a little lower on her body. When had this happened?
All she felt in this moment was sympathy. She did pity him—even if he had told her not to. The thought of Jack being married to Bekah had always made her sick, but the thought of him actually hurting from the divorce…well, that was a different feeling entirely. It was like so much of her wanted him divorced…wanted him
rid
of Bekah finally.
But at what cost?

It was so messy.

She sniffled again and tried to think of something else—like her engagement. She needed to tell Chyna. That was all she had left—well, Chyna and Jack, but Chyna needed to know before Jack did.
That was for sure!

Lexi sat back up and reached for her phone just as the door to the office slowly pried open.

“Lexi?” Ramsey asked, peeking his head around the corner.

God, she hoped she didn’t look like she had been crying.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just about to call Chyna to tell her about the engagement.”

He eyed her likely bloodshot eyes and red cheeks cautiously, but he broke out into a smile at the word
engagement
. “Let me know what she says.”

“I will,” she said, producing her own smile for him before he retreated.

Yeah, messy didn’t even begin to cover it.

Lexi spent a minute straightening up her hair and sitting up properly as if Chyna could see her. It was ridiculous, but still, it made her feel better and helped her forget.

Chyna answered on the second ring. “Chica! I miss you. Come to New York for the week,” she said.

Lexi laughed
. Oh man, she missed her best friend.
“I have work this week. Maybe soon.”

“You keep saying that, but all you do is work.”

“We can’t all be like you, Chyna.”

“Obviously.”

“How was your weekend?” Lexi asked. She knew Chyna wasn’t really known for small talk, but Lexi hadn’t seen Chyna for a while. It made Lexi feel better to know what Chyna had been up to.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old,” she said dryly. “Went to the club, got drunk, got picked up by a guy, and went home with him. So hot. He’s an architect.”

For a second there, Chyna almost had her fooled. She had been about to freak out on her friend if she was cheating on Adam. They were so good for each other, and Lexi knew she wasn’t the person to talk about cheating, but damn, she would have lit into her friend. Adam was too good of a person for that.

“Jesus, Chyna, you about gave me a heart attack,” Lexi groaned.

Chyna laughed wickedly. “So, I let Adam pick me up from the club and take me home. This time though, I wasn’t passed out from getting roofied, and he fucked me.”

“Y’all are ridiculous!” Lexi couldn’t stop shaking her head.
Only Chyna.

“We just know how to have fun. How are you and Ramsey? I swear, for a man who used to manage strip clubs, he is a lot less fun than he could be, Alexa. I mean, sure, he can throw a party, but all I’ve heard you talk about is the medical wing. Work, work, work. Don’t you do anything but work?” Chyna asked.

“Well, he proposed,” Lexi said offhand, staring off across the room while waiting for Chyna’s reaction.

“What?” Chyna cried. A crashing sound blasted through the phone and then a series of curse words before Chyna came back. “Fuck! I dropped the phone. Are you fucking serious? Did you tell him yes?”

“No, Chyna. I told him, why the hell did I spend three years of my life with you when I have no intention of marrying you?” Lexi drawled sarcastically.

“You’re a bitch. I hope he smacked you.”

Lexi giggled. “Of course I said yes!”

“Oh my God! This is so fucking exciting. When should I come down? This weekend? We need drinks! Shots! Hookers! Whatever you want, that’s what we need,” Chyna yelled into the phone.

Lexi could practically see her bouncing around her apartment.

“You want to come down this weekend?”

“Yes! Are you kidding me? My best friend is getting married. I need to be there to celebrate with you, chica.”

Lexi smiled brightly. Now,
this
was what it was supposed to feel like to be engaged. It had only taken her a week to get the giddy feeling back. She had been so happy when Ramsey had asked her. She had been shocked beyond words. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t seen it coming, but then when it had been right in front of her, she couldn’t believe it had happened to her.

Ramsey had worked so hard to make the night perfect, to make it memorable, and it had worked. She knew she would never forget what it had felt like, walking through the park, the candles, the picnic.

“Yes, come down! We’ll party here to celebrate,” Lexi said after a few seconds.

“So, how did he ask you? Tell me everything. Did it happen today, over lunch, or what? Come on, dish!” Chyna said enthusiastically.

“Um…” Lexi said awkwardly. She had forgotten about this part—the part where she hadn’t called Chyna for four days when she should have called her right away.

“Oh no,” Chyna groaned. “What’s wrong?”

“He asked me on Thursday.”

“Thursday? Why did you wait so long to call me?” Chyna asked, sounding hurt.

“I, uh…well, I had a freak-out about it.”

“Already? I thought you were excited about this.”

“I am excited! Ramsey wanted to tell his parents in person, so we told them over brunch today.”

“In front of Jack and Bekah?” Chyna gasped.

“Um…well, not exactly. Jack wasn’t there.”

“Why not? Aren’t they, like, white-picket-fences and shit now? Oh my God, does Jack not know, Alexa?” Chyna asked. “Please, please, please tell me that Jack knows.”

“They’re getting a divorce,” Lexi said quickly, releasing the breath she had been holding.

Chyna was struck silent on the other end.

“That’s why he was calling to talk to me earlier during the week.”

“No,” Chyna murmured.

“I know.”

“I don’t understand.”

Lexi sighed. She wished she could explain, but even she didn’t really understand any of it. Jack and Bekah had been married for two years with no problems as far as Lexi could tell. Jack was still Jack, but things had changed.

She didn’t even know if she could articulate it clearly. How could someone be the same person he had always been and yet so different? Then, this…she had never seen the divorce coming. With the Bridges’ abhorrence for divorce and Jack’s personal feelings toward the matter, she had thought their marriage would have been a one-and-done deal.

Now with him back—nope, she wasn’t thinking about that.

“So, let me get this shit straight. Jack has finally come to his senses and is divorcing Bekah. What is his reasoning? Irreconcilable differences?” Chyna asked.

Lexi knew that was what Chyna’s parents had filed their divorce as in New York.

“Bekah is divorcing him.”

“I’m sorry…what? That Bitch is completely mental. Why the hell would she divorce him?”

Lexi bit her lip. She hated this conversation. Chyna was the one who was going to go mental when she heard the reason.

“She claims that Jack cheated on her, and she is filing a fault divorce, so she can run off with any money he made during the marriage. Apparently, the idiot signed a prenup with an infidelity clause in it.”

Chyna burst into laughter. “Wow. Give me a minute with that one,” she said, her laughter coming harder. “I told her that he’d cheated on her on her fucking wedding day, she still went through with the wedding, and then two years later, she’s filing for divorce for infidelity. That’s…wow…that’s rich. I mean, why is she dragging this out anyway? She has a fortune of her own. As shitty as it is, I get why my parents dragged it out. They both were worth a ton of money, and neither wanted to get screwed. Bekah doesn’t
need
his money.”

“That’s the million-dollar question—quite literally,” Lexi said under her breath.

“Well, just because he is getting a divorce doesn’t mean you can’t tell him you’re engaged, chica. You know that, right? I mean, I know he’s different, but it’s still
Jack
.”

“I know, C.”

“Right, you’ve always known. You’ve always known everything.”

“Chyna…”

“I’m just looking out for you. You’re marrying Ramsey. He’s a good guy. You love him. Remember that.”

“God, I haven’t forgotten any of that, all right?”

“Just saying.”

“So, are you finished reminding me of things I already know? And can we get back to planning your trip this weekend?”

“Just don’t be stupid.”

“Thanks for that one.”

“Jack makes you stupid.”

“He’s married!” Lexi snapped. She did not want to have this conversation. She had been fighting that battle with herself. She didn’t need Chyna’s help with it.

“Not much longer…”

Lexi spent the next day at work searching out the best divorce attorney in Atlanta who didn’t currently work under the Bridges hegemony. She was fucking pissed by how difficult it was to do that.
How did they possibly have five of the best attorneys in-house? Didn’t that seem a bit ridiculous to anyone else? Who had allowed them a monopoly on the market?

Fucking Bekah Bridges—that was probably how.

The girl never stopped plotting. Three of the attorneys had been acquired in the last year since she had been married to Jack. It didn’t seem coincidental, but Lexi didn’t know how to prove that it was connected. It made her eyes hurt.

In the end, she just plucked up the courage to ask her boss about it.

He suspiciously eyed her. “You thinking of getting a divorce before you’re even married?” he asked.

“Just asking for a friend, sir,” she said.

“Did I hear you got engaged?”

Lexi smiled sweetly. It was the only way to deal with her boss. “That’s right,” she said, showing off the ring.

Her boss whistled between his teeth. “That’s a big diamond.”

“Yeah, he spoils me.”

It wasn’t something she would have normally said, but her boss cared about pedigree, power, and privilege. Ramsey had all three, and sometimes it helped situations.

“Good man you have there.”

“So, sir, about that attorney. Do you think you could put me in contact with one?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.