The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  “Hello?” Ramsey asked after checking the caller ID.

  “What?” he asked cursing under his breath at whatever he was hearing on the other line. “No. No, don’t leave. Fuck. No. I’ll take care of it.” There was a pause while someone on the other line spoke. Ramsey looked pissed—really pissed. His eyes were fiery. His fist clenched to his side as he listened to someone ramble on. “I said I’d fucking take care of it. Jesus Christ, just hold tight. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Ramsey hung up the phone and threw it down on the bedside table. He closed his eyes and his breathing was deep and heavy. Lexi couldn’t believe he looked so utterly furious.

  “Uh…what’s up?” she asked cautiously.

  “I have to…take care of some business,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

  “Right now?” she asked refastening the hook and eye in her and dress and closing the zipper.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” he said buttoning his shirt up and throwing his pants back on.

  “You’re serious?” she asked standing.

  Ramsey stopped what he was doing and moved toward her. His hand came up and cupped her cheek. “If there was any way I could get out of it, I would.”

  “Well, where are you going?”

  Ramsey sighed and looked back up at her. “I just have to take care of something.”

  “Is this about work?” she whispered into the silence that had followed his comment.

  “No,” he said shaking his head. “I wish.”

  “Can I come with you then?”

  He was shaking his head before he even answered. “You’re not going to want to do that.”

  “Why do you always have to be so fucking secretive? We were just about to fuck and now you’re running off to somewhere you won’t even tell me. Stop doing that,” she yelled at him.

  “Fine, come with me then,” he growled stuffing his phone back in his pocket. “But we have to go now.”

  Ramsey flagged down a cab as soon as he reached the street and gave the guy an address. Lexi leaned back against the scratchy cab cushion and wondered where in the world he was taking her. The cab drove them clear across town and as the lights started fading into darkness. One sign in particular caught her eye. A bright, neon yellow sign above all others read—Erotica: Live Girls XXX.

  Lexi’s stomach dropped. “What the fuck are we doing?” she cried looking over at Ramsey in surprise mingled with anger. “I thought you said…”

  “I said I had to take care of something. You insisted on going with me. I’m sorry, but this is where we’re going,” he murmured unhappy about the situation as well.

  Lexi huffed noisily, crossing her arms over her chest. “I can’t believe we stopped having sex for this.” The look on Ramsey’s face promised that it was only going to get worse before it got better.

  The cab dropped them off in front of the entrance to the strip club. A burly man dressed in all black checked their identification before allowing them inside. A petite buxom blonde took Ramsey’s card to pay for the cover, but after taking a look at the name handed it back to him and told him it was on the house.

  “Go figure,” Lexi murmured walking past the blonde who had sidled up to Ramsey.

  “Excuse me,” he told the woman pushing her arms back at her sides and rushing after Lexi.

  “So what’s the big emergency?” she asked, her eyes sweeping the dimly lit club filled with girls clad solely in G-strings or getting close to that point of nudity.

  “Uh…” Ramsey began but was cut off by Lexi’s squeal.

  Lexi was lifted off her feet from behind and spun around in a circle twice. When she was set back down, she swiveled around quickly ready to assault whoever had hoisted her off the ground. “What the…?” she cried, her hand coming back. As her eyes began to adjust to the lighting, the face before her registered in her mind and her mouth dropped open in surprise. “Seth?” she questioned, wondering if perhaps she was seeing things.

  “Lexi, baby,” he crowed reaching forward and running his hands up down her the sides of her body. She would have normally slapped him away, but she was in such a state of shock that she didn’t even know what to do. She could tell he was severely intoxicated, and from the rush of women surrounding his approach of her, he had obviously wasted a good deal of money.

  “Are you the present?” he slurred keeping his hands pressed to her hips.

  “Am I what?” she asked her brows furrowing together.

  “That’s enough, Seth,” Ramsey cut in knocking his hands off of Lexi.

  As soon as she was free from Seth’s grip, her eyes moved to the people standing behind him. “Hunter, Luke,” she murmured barely loud enough for them to hear. She felt as if she were taking a trip back in time. When she had been in college, she had done everything with these guys and now they were here…in New York City…at a strip club.

  Her eyes doubled in size as everything started to come together. “No,” she muttered her vision losing focus.

  She didn’t deserve this.

  This could not be happening to her.

  Someone was speaking to her, but the words weren’t processing correctly in her brain. Her stomach turned, and she thought she might be sick at any moment. Her hand reflexively came up to twine around a loose strand of hair and she pushed it behind her ear. Of all the things for her to insist on being in attendance, she never in a million years would have guessed that this would be the place she would end up.

  “Lexi, are you all right?” Ramsey asked putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  “Don’t touch me,” she spat venomously, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. She didn’t care if this wasn’t his fault. She needed someone else to blame other than herself for this, and he was the easiest target.

  “Come on, don’t be like that,” he pleaded.

  “You brought me here!” she cried louder than she had intended. Seth, Luke, and Hunter, despite their inebriation turned to look at her along with a few additional patrons and rather unhappy strippers. “So take care of the big emergency!”

  “Lexi, you’re gonna need to chill out,” Seth said motioning drunkenly around him. “We’re celebrating. Let’s do a shot, honey.”

  “Do I look like I want to celebrate, Seth?” she growled.

  “You look fucking hot.”

  Lexi rolled her eyes. She should have known better than to think she’d get a straight answer from Seth. He had always been the one to goof off. Ever since she had known him he had been the one who made everything a joke. Nothing should change now…seven years later.

  “Come on, Lexi,” Hunter pleaded his eyes glazed over. “You’ve gotta celebrate with us.”

  “Yeah,” Luke agreed.

  “I think not.”

  “But it’s Jack’s bachelor party,” Seth told her smiling as if he’d just told her the best news of her life…instead of the worst.

  SEPTEMBER—ELEVEN MONTHS EARLIER

  The accumulated wealth in the sea of people surrounding Lexi was astounding. Expensive tuxedos, silk formal dresses, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of diamonds were twirling around the magnificent domed ballroom.

  She should have expected something like this. In fact, Chyna had warned Lexi that her father took extravagance to a new level. She had even warned her that it might be worse than normal, because it was such a huge event for her father.

  Lexi was dressed the part in a floor-length navy dress with tiny spaghetti straps that flowed out behind her as she walked. Her back was almost completely exposed and her long, dark hair fell down in ringlets to meet the material. Even in a pair of Chyna’s Manolo heels, she was a head shorter than the majority of people in attendance. This was due in large part to the number of fashion models circulating the premises.

  “You look nervous,” someone said coming up behind her and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  Lexi twirled around, a little jumpier than she had thought she was, and stared up into t
he handsome face. “Adam!” she cried surprising him by throwing an arm around his neck and pulling him into a hug.

  “Hey, whoa, calm down,” he said extracting her arms from around him and taking a step back. “I can’t play a convincing boyfriend, if you’ve got your hands all over me.”

  A blush crept up on her cheeks, but she got over her embarrassment at the easy smile on his face. “Sorry to pull you into this whole thing,” she told him.

  “Hey, glad I could help,” he said sliding one hand into the front pocket of his tux.

  Chyna sure did get lucky with her savior that night. When he had first helped her out, Lexi hadn’t even noticed how attractive he was. Now that he was standing in front of her all cleaned up, it was hard to ignore the way his dark brown eyes seemed to light up and his dark brown hair curled lightly at the edges. He was really tall, but then again everyone was tall in relation to Lexi.

  Most of all she liked how put together he appeared. He had the same air that he had while being in Chyna’s apartment – cool and confident. Lexi could admit that it was endearing.

  “You’re more than helping,” she finally muttered looking out across the ballroom. “And anyway, do I really look nervous?”

  He laughed at the nervous face she flashed his way and nodded. “Just calm down,” he said offering her his arm. She placed her hand gingerly on his black suit and allowed him to escort her to the refreshments table.

  “Why are you so calm? Did you see who walked by?” she asked trying to keep from staring at the platinum blonde celebrity who had passed them.

  He handed her a glass of red wine as he took his own glass of scotch on the rocks. “They’re just people. You can’t forget that fact. As soon as you do, you get that look on your face,” he said pointing at Lexi’s star struck expression. He took a swig of his drink and smiled as she immediately closed her mouth.

  “They’re just people. Right,” she muttered following his lead and indulging in the alcohol presented to her. She needed to loosen up a bit.

  Lexi still couldn’t believe Adam had agreed to play Chyna’s boyfriend. They had known each other less than a week and had only hung out twice, outside of the unusual circumstances that surrounded her drugging. After Chyna had found out what he had done for her, she had insisted on doing anything she could to thank him. Just like that night, he had refused any payment whatsoever for his help. He swore that he would have done it for anyone if they had been in that situation.

  Chyna hadn’t been able to let it go though. She had coaxed him into going out to dinner with her, and they had seemed to hit it off really well. She had then invited him to come to her father’s engagement party. Chyna had neglected to inform him that he was doing her a huge favor, and Lexi accidentally spilled the beans by asking him how he felt about being a fake boyfriend for the night. He had come around to their side, but now they owed him double.

  “Where’s your faux boyfriend anyway?” Adam asked scanning the room.

  Lexi sighed, wondering that same thing. After her call of desperation, Lexi had spoken to Ramsey relatively frequently. She had admitted to him that she was terrified of relationships after having such a rocky past, and they had agreed on some boundaries before his arrival. She wanted to make sure that she knew what she was getting herself into before he showed up and, no doubt, swept her off her feet.

  This arrangement had somehow ended up with him meeting her at the party. Now she was just anxious to see him in person. It had been so long since she had left him all alone on the tarmac with just enough hope to keep him interested. She hadn’t been sure that she would ever call him. Even though she did have some measured interest in him, he wasn’t Jack.

  The past month without him had been difficult. Before she had always wondered if he was going to show up in her life again, but now she knew that he wasn’t going to be around. He wasn’t going to find her. She felt like a huge hole was left in the center of her chest that he used to occupy. Sure, she had been strong when dismissing him, but the reality of letting him go was a much different story.

  “I’m actually not certain where he is,” Lexi said pulling her phone out from the tiny black clutch she was carrying with her. “Have you seen your faux girlfriend yet?”

  “Yeah, she found me right when I got here. She said she needed to take care of some things,” Adam said vaguely, “but that she’d find me later.”

  “Well, this is going to be a fun night,” she murmured flipping open her phone and seeing no new calls or texts. She knew his flight had been delayed in Atlanta due to weather conditions, but she hadn’t heard from him since then and had assumed everything was all right. She figured she would have at least heard from him by now.

  “Looks like it’s just me and you,” Lexi said downing the rest of her wine in one big gulp.

  “Where’s your date?” Adam asked concerned.

  “His flight was delayed so I’m guessing he’s stuck somewhere,” she told him trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

  “He’ll turn up,” Adam said placing his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. Lexi smiled up into his comforting brown eyes.

  “Well isn’t this sweet,” Chyna cooed coming up from behind them. Adam immediately dropped his hand to his side glancing away from Lexi.

  “There you are,” he said a genuine smile crossing his face. “Get everything taken care of?”

  “As much as could be done about the situation,” Chyna announced slurring her words slightly. She took a step forward to steady herself but managed to almost fall into Adam. He caught her easily and steadied her against him.

  “Are you drunk?” Lexi asked glancing around to make sure no one was paying them any attention.

  “I just had a bottle of wine. It’s no big deal,” Chyna said falling into a fit of giggles.

  “Fuck,” Lexi cursed under her breath, wondering how they were going to be able to handle this catastrophe when Chyna could barely even stand up straight.

  “I’ll take this,” Adam said snatching the glass of wine out of her hand and handing it off to a passing waiter. Chyna stuck her bottom lip out and leaned her head back against his shoulder.

  “Oh stop pouting,” Lexi grumbled.

  “I’m not that drunk,” Chyna said standing tall and smiling brightly. If Lexi didn’t know her so well, she wouldn’t have thought her drunk. But knowing the kind of impression she needed to make tonight made Lexi nervous. Chyna’s eyes were glassy and she was a bit wobbly on her feet.

  “Let’s just hope your dad doesn’t notice.”

  “Oh, fuck him,” she muttered, “him and his new trophy wife.”

  “Chyna, shut up,” Lexi hissed latching onto her arm and pulling her and Adam away from any potential eavesdroppers. “You know what’s on the line. Pull it together!” Lexi snapped at her.

  She needed to show the world that Chyna Van der Wal held her head high under all circumstances…even when she was breaking inside.

  “You’re right. Sorry,” Chyna mumbled covering her eyes with one hand. She inhaled deeply shaking her head side to side. “It’s just so hard.”

  “I know, but its one night,” Lexi reminded her.

  Chyna eyes were rimmed with unshed tears when they next glanced into Lexi’s. “No, I’m sure I’ll be forced into similar situations for the rest of eternity.” Chyna’s features hardened at the admission, and she raised her chin. “Well, I don’t need him. Let’s get this over with.”

  At that moment, a bell dinged somewhere in the ballroom. The guests took that as their cue and began shuffling to their assigned seats. Lexi followed Chyna and Adam to their table close to the center of the room. She stared wistfully at the empty seat next to her before sitting and checking her phone one more time to see if there was any update, but without any luck.

  Another bell dinged and the room began to fall silent. Lexi looked at Chyna in disbelief. Chyna just rolled her eyes in response.

  As dramatic as Lexi could have imagined, Chyna’s
father walked into the room through the grand double doors with his future bride at his side. Lexi had to admit the woman was beautiful. She was only a few inches shorter than Richard with long, flowing, blonde hair that could have been in commercials. The princess cut dress showed off her large chest and teeny tiny waistline. The massive diamond twinkling on her left hand was evident all the way across the room.

  The woman was about as far from Chyna and her mother as anyone in this world could get. Where Chyna was dark, tanned, and exotic this woman was light, pale, and comely.

  Likely the most disturbing part about the entire situation was her utter youth. She couldn’t have been a day over thirty, and that was really hitting high. She had a perfectly flawless appearance and not from Botox and countless hours of plastic surgery, but from the fact that she was young enough to be her sister.

  Richard made a quick speech thanking everyone in attendance for coming out to his “little” get together to celebrate his beautiful bride-to-be. Lexi about gagged through half of the speech as he made a ridiculous spectacle of cooing at his fiancé repeatedly. Lexi had no idea how Chyna was able to sit through this, but she managed. The couple took their seats at the center of the room, and as another bell sounded, waiters appeared from all sides of the room with dinner for the evening.

  “That was interesting,” Lexi murmured to Chyna.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Chyna said requesting another glass of wine from a passing server.

  “Is that really smart?” Lexi asked concerned.

  “I don’t give a fuck. Why did he have to put me through this?”

  “I don’t know,” Lexi said shrugging uncomfortably. “I just want you to make it through. He doesn’t matter. Can we do this together?”

  “Fine,” Chyna said crossing her arms and waiting for their food to arrive. She tapped her toe anxiously under the table, but a smile broke out across her face as she glanced across the room. “Hey, stop checking your phone,” Chyna commanded. Lexi’s head snapped up. “Look straight ahead.”