The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  “Where are you?”

  “What are you doing?”

  “You didn’t come home. I’m freaking out.”

  “Have you spoken with Clark, because he keeps calling me.”

  “LEXI, what do I tell him?”

  “What if he shows up at the apartment? Can’t you just get back here?”

  Lexi sighed heavily when she reached the end of the messages, a hard knot forming in her stomach. This couldn’t be good. Clark would never call Olivia unless it was important. Maybe something had happened while he was home. She wasn’t sure, but she figured she should get home sooner rather than later.

  “I’ve got to get going. Something’s going on with Clark. I’m not sure what, but I have to head out,” Lexi told Jack as she changed out of his t-shirt.

  “All right, let me know what you find out,” he said kissing her briefly on the forehead before she darted out of the house.

  Olivia was pacing the living room absently strumming her guitar when Lexi walked through the door. She looked like she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before.

  “Where the fuck have you been?” Olivia squealed before Lexi could say a word. She placed her guitar in its stand and stared at Lexi angrily. “Clark kept calling and texting saying that you weren’t answering your phone, and that you weren’t responding to any of his messages. What did you expect me to tell him?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect this to happen. I had a few too many drinks last night and ended up sleeping at Jack’s place,” she told her. Most of what she had said was true.

  “I figured as much, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He would have come back and barged into Jack’s apartment without notice.”

  “He could have. It’s not like we were doing anything,” Lexi lied biting her lip at Olivia’s frustration.

  Olivia snorted. “Suuuure. In either case, I finally picked up and told him that you were fine and just passed out in your room from drinking last night. I’m surprised he isn’t over here yet. You should definitely call him.”

  “I’m not sure why you are so frantic,” Lexi commented.

  “Because I’m lying for you. I don’t mind, but you can at least confide in me,” Olivia cried. “I’m your best friend, and you can’t even tell me the truth. You’re a different person than you were when we first knew each other. I think this has to do with Jack, and I’d really like to be clued in.”

  “For the last time, there is nothing going on between me and Jack,” Lexi said storming into her room and leaving Olivia hovering at her door.

  “If that’s the case, then why didn’t he just bring you home last night? Huh?”

  “Because he’d been drinking too and he lives closer to downtown,” she said, the lie coming out easier this time. She couldn’t even count how many she had made by now. They all seemed to be running together.

  Olivia seemed to just let it go from there. There was no point in trying to argue with Lexi when she was in this state.

  She pulled out her phone again and texted a message to Clark, “Sorry. I passed out last night from drinking. Hope you’re not worried.”

  Then she typed out one to Jack. “Made it safe. No need to worry.”

  After several hours of silence from Clark, Lexi was beginning to get worried. If he had been so frantic earlier, why wasn’t he returning her message now? It was very strange. When she was about to send him another message, a knock on the door sounded from the living room. As she went to check the front door, Olivia was already standing there with it open talking to Clark.

  “Hey, I was just wondering about you,” Lexi said smiling brightly.

  “We need to talk,” Clark said walking into her bedroom without another word.

  Olivia looked at her anxiously as Lexi followed him into her room, her smile dropping from her face. “I got all your messages.”

  “Then you know what this is about?” he asked in a very serious tone.

  Lexi’s stomach knotted together, and she could hear her blood pounding away in her ears. This wasn’t about something that had happened when he had been home. No. Judging by the way he was looking at her, she could tell. He knew. She had no idea how he knew, but he did. He hadn’t touched her. He had barely looked at her. And those lone looks had been ones of disgust. Not the loving tender looks she normally received from her boyfriend.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered tentatively.

  “Don’t do that, Lexi.”

  “Do what?”

  “Lie to me anymore. Just don’t lie. Okay? Can we just go through this one goddamn conversation without you lying to me?” he asked running his hand through his shaggy black hair a couple times before resting his green eyes back on her.

  “Uh, yeah, sure.”

  “Tell me what happened with you and Jack.”

  She stared at him, anxiously holding her hands in place so she wouldn’t be tempted to mess with her hair. Everyone kept pointing out that little habit to her, and this would be the worst time for it. “What about me and Jack?” she asked gulping hard.

  “Lexi, please!” he cried his breath quickening. “Just don’t lie to me.”

  “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

  “Just the truth.”

  “There’s nothing going on between me and Jack.” She had said the words so often that even she sometimes believed them when they rolled off her tongue.

  “Goddamnit, Lexi!” he yelled turning around in place and visibly tensing at her words. He looked as if he were about to throw something across the room. “I already talked to Jack!”

  Lexi froze in place. He had talked to Jack? She couldn’t believe it. Had he gone to Jack’s place after she left this morning, which is why it had taken him longer to get here? Jack must have told him everything to save his own skin. Lexi meant nothing to him. She just wanted to cry. Why wouldn’t he have at least warned her that he had spoken to Clark? Unless of course she really did mean nothing to him. Everything he claimed to feel for her had just fallen away when he had been confronted by her angry boyfriend…his angry friend.

  “You talked to Jack?” she whispered.

  “Yes, he told me everything.”

  “Everything?” she asked in disbelief.

  “Yes.”

  “But nothing happened,” she said attempting to stick to her story.

  “Lexi,” he began shaking his head. “I already talked to Jack. Don’t give me that. Now I don’t want to believe him, but I need to hear the truth from you,” he said facing her cowering figure. “Tell me what happened between you and Jack.”

  Lexi gulped even harder this time fear glistening in her eyes. She realized that she was compulsively threading hair behind her ears from anxiety. She had never wanted things to turn out this way, but somewhere along the way everything had been flipped upside down. How could she tell Clark what had happened between her and Jack? If she just blurted out the facts, it would make her look bad. Worse than she actually was, but if she left something out that Jack had divulged he would know she was lying and hiding things from him. It was the prisoner’s dilemma she had learned about in school. Except there was no winning side to giving away any information. “We slept together.”

  “You slept with him?” Clark asked hardly containing his disbelief. She nodded. “When?”

  “May.”

  He did the math in his head. “Almost eight months ago?” he cried. “When did you have time? We were together all month.”

  She choked back tears before answering him honestly. “It was at the beach house.”

  “Are you fucking joking? While I was asleep in the same house? Has it happened since then?” Lexi sighed heavily and shook her head no. “I don’t believe you. You mean to tell me that you fucked eight months ago, and it hasn’t happened once since then.”

  “No, it hasn’t. We decided not to.”

  “Oh, for your own fucking sake,” he paced rapidly around the room doing anything to keep from looking at her.
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br />   “It hasn’t happened again.”

  “How do you expect me to believe that?”

  “Because it’s the truth.”

  “I don’t think you fucking know what that is.” Lexi remained silent not wanting to egg on his anger. “Have you done anything else since then?”

  “Yes. We kissed some, and I would spend the night at his place.”

  “Oh, you just kissed a little. You want me to believe that you spent the night and didn’t fuck? I told you not to lie to me.”

  “We didn’t do anything more.”

  “What about last night?” he asked cornering her.

  “What about last night? Nothing happened.”

  “I wouldn’t say nothing! I saw you at Chamber with him all over you.”

  Lexi’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t been manic and delusional. Someone actually had been watching her all along. She couldn’t believe it. “You were watching me?”

  “Yes and I’m not ashamed of it either. You would have never told me the truth, and I needed to see y’all together for real.”

  “I can’t believe you would do that.”

  “I know, because I’m not the scheming scumbag who goes behind people’s backs. That would be you and your little fuck buddy. I can’t fucking believe you, Lexi. Were you even careful? Did he get checked for diseases? How could you sleep with me after you slept with him? How could you even look at me with those big beautiful brown eyes of yours and tell me you love me? When you obviously don’t.”

  “I do love you,” she said quietly.

  “I don’t want to hear that from your deceitful, manipulative, lying mouth.”

  “I am so sorry, Clark,” Lexi gasped sucking in deep breaths between tears.

  “I still can’t believe you actually slept with him.” He crashed back against the bed burying his face into his hands. “You little whore.”

  Lexi’s glazed eyes stared down at him. Her humiliation was evident. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “You slept with him while you were with me,” he said through clenched teeth. Finally, looking up at her, he said, “That makes you a whore.” She brushed her palm against her cheeks forcefully. It did no good, the tears kept coming faster. “After all that bullshit you fed me about y’all just being friends. After all the warnings I gave you about him.” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him as his anger intensified. “Fuck, Lexi, you told me yourself that you didn’t think he had been faithful with one person he’d ever been with. Why would you let this happen? How could you let this happen? Do you think you are special? Do you think he’s just going to leave Kate for you? He just wanted to fuck you. And, now he’s done that. Try to explain to me how that doesn’t make you a whore?” he spat at her.

  She had no answer for him. She had never felt so belittled before in her life, and she knew that she deserved every word. She had made a terrible mistake, and then on top of that she had attempted to hide her dirty actions. No wonder everyone had told her that she was acting uptight lately. She had been carrying around such a weight on her shoulders since that night in May. It was almost a relief that Clark knew.

  “I just…I need to get out of here and think about this,” Clark said standing resolutely. He brushed past her and entered the living room.

  “Clark…” she cried as he pulled the door open. “What does this mean for…for us?”

  “I really don’t know, Lexi. I just can’t look at you right now. I’ll just…call you tomorrow after I’ve had time to think about all of this,” he said turning away from her and shutting the door.

  Lexi crumpled to the floor shuddering from the tears raking her body. She could not believe that had just happened. How had she been so stupid to let this happen? She had just let the best guy she had ever had in her life slip through her fingers.

  After a minute, Olivia came out of her room and sat on the floor next to Lexi. She scooped her up in her arms and held her as she bawled.

  “Did…did you...h…hear all…of that?” Lexi asked her through her tears.

  “Yeah, honey, I heard it. Why didn’t you just tell me? You know I would have been there for you. You know I would have kept everything a secret. I can’t believe you went through all of this alone,” Olivia said brushing aside her bangs. The movement reminded her so much of Jack that it only intensified her tears.

  “I…I don’t either. I just…thought…that I could…handle this,” she muttered.

  “All right, darling. You have to get up. Take a shower, and then things will look a little brighter.”

  Lexi nodded as Olivia ushered her out of the living room. “No!” she cried suddenly.

  “What?”

  “I have to go talk to Jack,” Lexi decided.

  “I don’t think that’s the best thing for you right now.”

  “Jack told him everything. How could he do that?”

  “I’m almost certain Clark threatened him into it, but that doesn’t matter. Seeing that boy while you’re in this state is a really, really bad idea.”

  “No, Livy, let me go. I need to go find out why the hell he would tell him everything and not warn me,” she said pulling away from Olivia and running for her keys.

  She was in the car before Olivia could utter another comment about staying home. She drove much too fast to Jack’s house, swerving to get around rather slow drivers. She skidded to a halt in his parking lot, and dashed out of the front seat. Bursting through the still unlocked door, Lexi darted into Jack’s room. She could tell just by looking at him that he had showered. Her heart melted at the sight. She was furious about what he had done, but her heart still longed for him. She wanted things to go back to the way they were only this morning. She wished with all her being that she didn’t have to be angry with him.

  “Lexi, what are you doing back already?” Jack asked surprise written on his face. “Are you okay? Have you been crying?” He rushed forward to meet her. She backed away not wanting to feel his hands on her.

  “How could you tell him?” she asked breaking down into tears for the second time that morning.

  PRESENT

  “Where are you taking me?” Lexi asked Ramsey for what felt like the hundredth time since they had been driving. She hadn’t thought much of it at first, but then as her mind registered the direction the car was taking them she began to get more suspicious.

  For some reason, she had expected them to stay in Buckhead and have dinner at a fancy five star restaurant over candlelight, perhaps serenade her with live classical music, red wine, and caviar. Show off his wealth to reel her in. She wasn’t sure what had triggered that idea beyond just the fact that she had assumed all people in Country Clubs went on ridiculously impressive dates.

  Jennifer, her college dorm mate, had told her many times about extravagant opulence displayed before her by men her parents had set her up on dates with. Lexi had always been wary of those types of stories and wondered if women actually succumbed to such antics. One too many towels on Lexi’s dorm door confirmed that they did actually work. As Jennifer proved this time and time again, Lexi slowly became adjusted to the fact that lavishness was more like a prerequisite.

  She was relieved that she didn’t have to go through another awkward situation such as what occurred at the Country Club. She hadn’t exactly wanted to go on this…outing with Ramsey, but after how he had treated her she had given in. He had called it a date and she certainly couldn’t forget his words. He had smiled so brilliantly at her acceptance that she had almost been duped into believing she had made the right decision. But how could she really feel like that? He had so many strikes against him already. Setting aside the kindness he had showed at his party, he was a member of a Country Club, he was related to Bekah, and clearly had no concern for others’ personal boundaries.

  All in all, she figured this was a huge mistake.

  Her brain was working in overdrive attempting to discern where he was taking her. His forced silence on the subject only made her more curious
. She had really only known this guy for one day, and the only good quality she had recognized besides his charming good looks was that he hadn’t slept with her.

  Maybe that was pretty big for guys, but she had blacked out and was entrusted into his care by his sister. Obviously that meant something to him.

  “Really, Ramsey, where are we going? We’re getting pretty close to my parents’ house, which I should remind you, is very far away from your place,” she told him.

  “We’re close to your parents’ place?” he asked glancing over at her.

  Lexi twisted her fingers back and forth in her lap, uncomfortable with revealing more information. Not that she was ashamed of her family by any means. In fact, she really got along with her parents and two younger sisters. But after being reminded of the Country Club, expensive Buckhead condominiums, and insane parties that resulted from such wealth, Lexi didn’t really feel comfortable explaining middle class to someone who had never had a bank account with less than seven digits. She had never even taken Chyna home, and she loved the girl to death.

  “Uh, I guess. I mean I don’t really know where we are,” she explained trying to maneuver the conversation back to their destination and farther away from her.

  “We’re close,” he said adding a wink at the end.

  “We’re close?” she asked arching an eyebrow.

  “Are you not close? I mean, you are sitting right next to me,” he commented trying to keep the devilish smirk off of his face.

  She smiled brightly, happy that she was still capable of flirtatious banter with someone other than Jack. “Oh yes…in the sense,” she said looking at him from under her eyelashes.

  He burst out laughing in a loud, boisterous, uninhibited manner that she had witnessed at the Country Club before brunch. It had annoyed her the day before even confused her a little, but maybe that was just part of his personality. Perhaps, there was more to him than what met the eye, but she wasn’t going to keep her hopes up. She would be polite and let him take her out to dinner this one night.