The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  “So how close are we?”

  He jerked his head to the side at her husky tone. He had liked her when they had first met, because she had been completely forthright with him. She cared very little for his status, and showed it. He liked her the night before when she had been drunk, unrestrained, and outgoing. Her endearing personality only intensified with the alcohol. But this woman he was with tonight, he seemed to think he liked the best of all. He saw her possess the same strong-willed determination and unblemished character she revealed in the morning and the natural engaging playfulness that resulted from a combination of liquors. He could certainly get used to her surprising personality.

  His eyes roamed her face resting where her bottom lip was caught between her teeth in a thoughtful expression. God, she had tasted so good the night before. He wasn’t sure how he had been able to restrain himself. He hadn’t told her that she had propositioned him in her drunken stupor. He was almost certain that a woman of her caliber would be mortified that she had been so willing to give herself away. Possibly even more mortified that he had turned her down flat. That he had had to peel her arms off of him and practically wrestle her under the covers, he had also left out of the story. Still, when she had managed to weasel her arms back around him pressing her tiny form against him, he had still found the strength to extract her eager body from him. He remembered how readily his body had reacted to her. He gulped and attempted to force those thoughts out of his head.

  “Probably only about ten, maybe fifteen, minutes,” he answered her.

  She rested back into his comfortable champagne colored seat and felt her phone buzz in her purse. She extracted the old thing and checked the text message.

  “You busy?”

  Lexi sighed as she stared at the words on her screen. She hadn’t exactly been expecting a text message from Jack, and she didn’t want to dampen her mood with thoughts of him. She closed the phone and placed it back in its position.

  “What’s up?” Ramsey asked curiosity getting the better of him.

  “Um…oh…nothing,” she answered not wanting to address the situation with him. So far it seemed that he knew little of what had happened with her and Jack, and why she was in Atlanta in the first place. If at all possible, she would really like to keep it that way. Jack had a funny way of ruining every relationship she had ever been in. Even though she had no thoughts of that for Ramsey, she wasn’t going to risk anything just yet.

  Lexi heard her phone buzz again. Annoyed, she stared down at the message. “Lex?”

  She really did not want to deal with him right now. She quickly shoved the phone deeper in her purse. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be able to know if he messaged her again.

  As they neared their destination, they listened to whatever was playing on the radio. Neither of them minding what was coming through the top 40 station at that moment. Realization began to dawn on her as stared out at the horizon, but she shook her head in disbelief.

  No, he couldn’t be taking her there. She hadn’t been there since she was a kid. Beyond that fact, it wasn’t exactly a place to take your date. She had always gone there with family or church groups. More a place for group entertainment than dating. Not that she was looking for a normal sort of date from Ramsey. She had only been thinking a while ago that she was relieved he hadn’t taken her to some special five star dinner, but this was really about as far from that as a person could get.

  Ramsey reached the gate and handed over a wad of cash to the eighty-something year old attendant and breezed his Mercedes into the establishment. They took the winding road past rows and rows of pine trees until they reached a valet parking lot at the front entrance.

  Lexi glanced around in awe and wonder at Stone Mountain. Her eyes focused in on the giant mural that had been hand-carved into the rock during the Civil War as a testament to their faith in the Confederacy. She felt like a speck next to the giant mountain that tourists from all over came to climb and enjoy the surrounding park which consisted of camping grounds, a water park, train station, and over the summer an amazing laser show. This was the last place she had expected Ramsey to take her. For some reason, that made it all the better. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t think that he needed all of his wealth to impress her, and he was right. At this moment, she was impressed.

  She flattened out her green spaghetti strap dress she had worn for the occasion and silently thanked God that she had decided on brown thong sandals instead of her heels. Ramsey jogged around the car and directed her toward the stone pathway leading to the lawn reserved for the laser show. She let her eyes leave her surroundings long enough to glance at her date for the evening. He wore a nicely cut polo that matched the green shade of his eyes and fitted khaki pants paired with brown flip-flops. She liked his casual attire, and wished she had paid more attention before. She might have realized that they wouldn’t be going to some extravagant place had she recognized his flip-flops before this moment.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” he said as they walked around the corner and down another path that opened up to the main lawn.

  “Starving, actually,” she admitted cringing at how that sounded.

  He smiled at her bluntness. Yet another feature that he was starting to like about her. “Good. We have a banquet.”

  When they reached the grass, they trekked forward through a line of people. Apparently, everyone was setting up for the laser show. It was the last week before school officially started for the public schools in the area, which generally brought out more spectators than any week except Memorial Day Weekend and Fourth of July. Lexi had no idea how they were going to find a quiet place to sit and eat after arriving so late for the show.

  She should have suspected something was up when a large opening in the crowd appeared before her. Her mouth dropped open at the display before her. Ramsey had called ahead and had the area cleared specifically for them. A large quilted blanket, much like the ones she slept with back in Manhattan, covered a ten by ten space on the lawn. A giant wicker picnic basket sat at the center of the roped off expanse and a cooler directly next to it. It was the most ideal location for watching the show. He must have done all this hours earlier. A grin broke out across her face.

  “Is this the kind of treatment you reserve for all your dates?” she asked sitting down on the massive blanket.

  Ramsey smiled brightly at her, still standing. “Not exactly,” he admitted.

  Lexi had been joking, not expecting an answer in the first place. Though, she wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth anyway. It could just be a line. She couldn’t picture the type of women she had seen at his party the night before being happy with an outdoor picnic and laser show as their first date. She shook her head realizing that she was overanalyzing. Who cares if he didn’t normally take girls on dates here?

  Luckily, he had learned his lesson and sat on the opposite side of the blanket from her giving her a wide berth. He was always so up in her face and it really just brought out the worst in her.

  “I didn’t know what you wanted,” Ramsey began digging into the basket, “so I just got a bunch of things. You can decide what you like.”

  “When did you have time for this?” she asked. She had stayed at his house all afternoon. Granted, she had felt like shit much of that time and took nearly an hour-long shower.

  “I just made a list and had some people take care of it,” he said sheepishly.

  “Oh.” She should have figured. It could have been worse. He could have not gone to the trouble. She shook her head again in frustration. Why did she care whether or not he went and picked out dinner for them? She had to keep reminding herself she didn’t really want to be here. Right?

  Lexi watched him extract a bag of green grapes from the bag and immediately snatched them out of his grasp. He jolted in surprise. She sent a smile his way and popped one into her mouth.

  Ramsey couldn’t help himself from staring at her. Lexi’s cheeks were flushed from the Georgia summer heat and
lips wet from licking off the grape juice that had squirted onto her bottom lip. He gulped heavily fishing around in the basket for something to distract him. He uncovered the remaining food and removed two cans of Coke for them.

  She caught him watching her, and in her eagerness scooted closer toward him so they were nearly touching. “Want one?” Lexi asked holding a grape between her fingers. He nodded and before he could reach out to take the fruit, she pressed it in between his lips.

  He crunched down on the fruit trying to act as if that hadn’t affected him. “Thanks.”

  Lexi batted her eyelashes before sitting back on her side of the blanket. Her hand brushed her bag and felt the vibrations through the material. She retrieved the device and flipped it open. “Are you okay? Where are you? Why aren’t you returning my texts? Lexi?!?”

  Lexi sighed heavily and bit her lip as she read through Jack’s text message. She had completely forgotten about messaging him back. She quickly typed out a reply and closed her phone. “Sorry. Alive.”

  “You got to your parents safe then?”

  Turning her head to look at Ramsey’s perfect bone structure, she giggled a little to herself. Man, if Jack knew where she was at this moment, he would have a fit. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell him though. At least, not over text message. Not when she couldn’t use the information as leverage. “Safe.”

  “Anyone important?” Ramsey asked casually taking a bite of the sandwich in his hand.

  Lexi rolled her eyes. “Just Jack again.” God, she hated how familiar this all felt.

  “Ahh...” he said unsure if he was prepared to broach that subject.

  “Do you want to come over tomorrow or something?”

  Lexi sighed again. Did she want to go see him? Yes. No. There wasn’t really a good answer. If she were honest with herself, the answer would be yes. The answer would always be yes. She always wanted to see him. She hadn’t spent any time with him in two years, and she missed him. A part of her always missed him. They had gone through so much; it was hard to not want to be around him. Even though things always ended so fucked up, her brain wouldn’t let her forget the in between times when things were oh so good.

  “Yeah. I’ll let you know.”

  “Great.”

  “So what’s up with you and Jack?” Ramsey asked against his better judgment. Lexi’s eyes immediately darkened.

  “Oh, just...you know,” she stated vaguely unsure how much she wanted to reveal. He didn’t know anything now, which was probably for the better.

  “Not really. You two seemed pretty heated last night. Was he just drunk? I’d never seen him that way before,” Ramsey admitted hoping to push the right buttons. He could see her begin to visibly relax as the attention fell away from her.

  “I’ve just known Jack for a long time, and he’s pretty protective. Kind of like an older brother,” she said dryly. She couldn’t help thinking that Jack would make the worst older brother in the world.

  Ramsey smirked noticing the ever-so-slight twitch in her muscles that indicated she was lying. He had always considered himself a great judge of character even when his parents hadn’t. Lexi’s phone began to buzz next to her again.

  “Hello?” Lexi asked not recognizing the Atlanta phone number. Last time that had happened, she had been led here. That thought almost made her want to drop the call, but the sound of a chirpy voice cut off her line of reasoning.

  “Hello, dear,” Bekah said from the other line.

  Cringing at the uppity sound of her voice, Lexi pulled the phone away from her ear. “What’s up?”

  “Where are you?”

  No way had Jack put her up to this. Then again she had to have gotten the number from somewhere, and Jack was the prime suspect. “I’m busy. Was there something you needed?” Lexi asked avoiding the question.

  She let her eyes fall back on Ramsey who looked at her inquisitively. She shrugged and mouth Bekah to him. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  “Yes,” Bekah stated rather deliberately. “I don’t believe we’ve finished our conversation yet. Do you have plans tomorrow? I’d really like to take you shopping for Jack’s big day, and we can talk then.”

  Jack’s big day? She hadn’t heard anything about his big day. What was his big day? What were they celebrating? She had no idea, but she didn’t particularly want to give Bekah the satisfaction of knowing that piece of information.

  “Fine. How about I call you tomorrow?”

  “Sounds great, sweetie,” Bekah said happily. “Jack, stop,” Lexi heard her mutter playfully in the phone. She didn’t even know if Jack was actually there or if Bekah was just being a bitch. She supposed it didn’t really matter since it had worked. Lexi could feel her heart constricting and pain crease her temples. Her throat was closing up and she felt her body seizing at the thought of Jack being alone with Bekah. Lexi coughed uncomfortably and said a rushed goodbye before slamming the phone shut.

  “What was that about?” Ramsey asked, concern evident in his voice.

  “Your sister wants to take me shopping,” Lexi informed him pushing several strands of hair behind her ear forcefully.

  “That’s nice of her,” Ramsey said. Though for some reason, he didn’t really think it was.

  Lexi snorted. “Nice. Right.”

  “You don’t have to hang out with her,” he stated absentmindedly. He passed a sandwich to her, and she reached into the basket to investigate the contents further.

  “Yeah, I know, but Jack wants me to,” she said shrugging.

  “Why is that?” he asked honestly curious.

  Lexi shrugged again. “Beats me. We’ve known each other for a long time, and I guess since I’m here he wants me to get to know his girlfriend too.”

  Ramsey took a deep breath to keep from asking too many more questions. “How long are you here for exactly?”

  “School starts on Monday. I guess until Sunday then. A week total.” Lexi smiled at the grimace that crossed his face. She wasn’t entirely sure if that was because she was staying too long or too short, but she was going to go with the latter. She had found herself in quite an interesting scenario.

  “I guess you’ll be here long enough for Jack’s birthday then,” Ramsey said leaning back on his elbows and examining her reaction.

  Lexi’s mouth popped open in surprise. Oh my God. How had she forgotten his birthday? Of course, it was his birthday this weekend. And, if she recalled, this was a big one indeed. Twenty-five years old. Wow. A quarter of his lifetime gone by, and she had known him since he was just nineteen. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten. “Oh, yeah. What is he doing exactly?”

  She couldn’t believe she was asking Ramsey for information about this. Why hadn’t Jack mentioned it? Had he assumed she wouldn’t come? Did he not want her to be there? There were so many questions that she needed answered. At least now she understood why Bekah wanted to go shopping for Jack’s big day.

  “You don’t know?” he asked skeptically.

  “I wasn’t really filled in,” she admitted awkwardly.

  He sure thought it was strange that she had come to visit Jack, but he hadn’t even invited her to his birthday celebration. “It’ll be a surprise for you too. Want to go with me?”

  Lexi was interrupted from answering as her phone went off in her hand. “Goddamn it. Who wants to talk to me now?” Lexi popped open the phone. “Hello.”

  “Alexa!” Chyna squealed on the other line. “Oh my goodness, chica, I have missed you. How have things been going with, you know, everything? Are you planning to come home to me sooner rather than later?”

  Lexi’s laughed as soon as she heard her best friend’s voice. “Chyna, it’s so good to hear from you.” Lexi glanced over at Ramsey whose expression had lightened in accord with her own enthusiasm. “Sorry to disappoint, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be joining you back home anytime soon. Though I do miss New York terribly.”

  “I knew you would,” Chyna trilled. “How could you no
t? I know the summer is scathingly hot, but to get away to go somewhere not only hot, but humid? Disgusting.”

  “You convinced me to come down here in the first place,” she reminded her, getting lost in their conversation and not realizing that she was giving away information in front of Ramsey.

  “Yes, well, how does closure suit you?”

  “Actually,” Lexi said pushing her hair behind her ear as she glanced at Ramsey’s all too curious face, “I can’t really talk about that right now.”

  “And why not? You’re supposed to be with your family tonight, right?”

  “Err...”

  “Oh my God, Alexa, you are not with him right now are you?”

  Lexi’s brows furrowed together hoping to God that Ramsey couldn’t hear Chyna’s end of the conversation. “No, no, no, no, no,” she muttered quickly. “I’m just...um.”

  “Do not lie to your best friend.”

  “I’m not lying,” she quickly corrected. “I’m just...on a date.” Ramsey’s bright smile at the recognition of their date was totally worth it. This guy seriously had everything going for him. Which begged the question, what was he doing with her? But she couldn’t think about that right now.

  “What?” Chyna squealed. Then thinking the better of it, she asked, “With whom? Jack? It better not be Jack. Your vague texts over the past two days haven’t been enough. Fill me in. What’s going on?”

  “Chyna, I’m kind of in the middle of something here,” Lexi reminded her.

  “Oh geez, Alexa, I’m sorry. I’ll let you go, but I better get some details. You know how long I’ve been waiting for this to happen. If you don’t call me by tomorrow...”

  Lexi cut her off. “Good night, Chyna.” Lexi closed the phone and turned the damn thing off not wanting another such distraction. “I’m so sorry. I’m usually not this popular,” she admitted smiling at Ramsey who just shrugged off the statements.