by K. A. Linde
“If I bloody remembered, would I have asked?” he bellowed down to the woman.
She waived her Bloody Mary in the air. “I’ll go check on her,” the woman replied unaffected by his belligerence. Lexi decided against telling them that she had seen Bekah; she didn’t want to get dragged back inside.
“Tell her to hurry up. It is not every day my little girl gets married. She needs to be more attentive to these types of affairs.”
“Yes, dear,” she drawled, waltzing away from the group.
The awkward silence that followed was unlike anything Lexi had stood through. She wasn’t sure what was worse. Ramsey’s father was alternating between staring daggers at Ramsey and the back entrance to the house. It was as if he couldn’t determine who to be angrier at for wasting his time…or making him stand outside in the blistering August heat in a navy suit.
Lexi felt her hands clamming up and wished she could wipe them on her sundress. The sun was making her sweat and she was concerned, with the increased tension between her current company, her body would go into overdrive. She felt a bead of sweat run down her back and she sighed in protest. Luckily, she had been smart enough to wear something cotton so that it wouldn’t show.
“Ramsey,” his father barked breaking everyone’s attention. “Go check on your goddamn sister.” Ramsey opened his mouth to object, but the look of pure venom that he shot his son was unlike anything Lexi had ever seen. Finding it a battle not worth fighting, Ramsey nodded. Lexi opened her mouth to tell him, but then closed it. If she hadn’t told his mother, then it would look strange if she told him. Though, the alternative was being left with just Ramsey’s father and Jack. Choices, choices.
Ramsey smiled at her, squeezing her hand before he left. She watched him walk away and didn’t do a damn thing to stop him.
She sighed and made the mistake of looking into Jack’s eyes. He tilted his head to the side, beckoning her toward the exit. She looked away, refusing to acknowledge him. “Will you excuse us for a moment?” Jack asked Ramsey’s father.
“Just be back before the women return. I’m not going to listen to their idle chatter alone,” he said clapping Jack on the back forcefully. Jack tried hard not to stumble forward a step, but he couldn’t help but stutter a bit with the force of the blow.
“Lexi,” Jack said, snatching her up by the elbow and directing her away from the intimidating man.
As soon as she was out of eyesight, she jerked her elbow out of Jack’s grasp. “Don’t do that,” she muttered.
“Sorry. I had to fucking get away from there,” he responded, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“Well, we’re away now,” she said, turning away from him. She couldn’t be alone with him.
“Walk with me a bit,” Jack said, resting his hand gently on the small of her back and urging her forward.
She dug her feet in, not moving an inch. “I—I can’t,” she told him.
“I don’t bite.”
Lexi coughed, biting back her laughter.
“Okay fine, I do…just a bit,” he muttered huskily.
“Stop it, Jack,” she warned him.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Can we just keep walking?” he pleaded.
Against her better judgment, Lexi turned her face up toward him. She knew she was a lost cause. He looked way better than the last time she had seen him when he had turned up at Ramsey’s apartment. His hair had been cut short and styled in a way that made him look younger and more professional. The short strands stood on end instead of falling haphazardly into his eyes. She could remember pushing the long pieces out of his eyes and him kissing her tenderly just as she pulled her hand away. She pushed that memory of her mind and focused her eyes elsewhere.
His typical stubble was completely wiped from his face. She could remember the scruffy feel of his beard running against her stomach as he kissed a trail lower. Her breathing quickened as she unsuccessfully tried to shove the memories out of her misbehaving mind. He licked his perfect lips and more memories flooded her conscious: their first kiss on top of a Ferris wheel, her fingers teasingly trailing against his pouty lips before he captured her own, the way he kissed every part of her body as if he worshipped it.
As her eyes finally moved upwards to his beautiful blue eyes, the brilliance of which she could never perfectly remember, she had a feeling he knew exactly where her thoughts were. The longer they stood rooted in that spot, the more crystal clear his eyes became. She knew what that meant.
“Lexi, please,” he growled, hungrily begging her to move, “we need to keep walking.” His voice was desperate and pained from restraint.
Taking a deep breath to calm her pounding heart, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Yes,” he agreed, his eyes dropping to her lips.
“Let’s walk, Jack,” she said taking that first hesitant step.
She saw him visibly deflate from exertion. His hand moved to her lower back once again as he directed her toward a pathway. She wasn’t sure why she was allowing him to steer her in a direction not only far away from the rest of the guests, but also to what appeared to be a portion of the land secluded by massive trees. But she did. After walking a short distance, Jack stopped in front of a large weeping willow. Pulling back a few of the extended limbs, he revealed a wooden bench in the shade of the branches.
“Come on,” he said, nodding his head toward the bench.
Speechless, Lexi ducked into the private enclosure that the tree had formed after years of life. “How did you know about this?” she finally asked taking a seat. She didn’t really want an answer. Anything that he said would ultimately involve Bekah, and that wasn’t something she particularly wanted to discuss at this moment.
He let the branches swing closed, the light now only coming in at uneven intervals through the leaves. The temperature was cooler, as if it was dusk, and some of the humidity had dissipated in the shaded enclosure.
For the first time in a while, she felt utterly and completely alone with Jack. It felt strangely familiar and also eerily different. He took the seat next to her, and breathed out a sigh of relief. He adjusted his tie, allowing himself the freedom of being out of the spotlight. Then he sat there next to her without a word, not even answering her question.
She remembered what she thought was going to be her final farewell to Jack.
I appreciate the fact that you have one redeeming quality, Jack, but that is all it is. Just a hint of redemption with six years of disappointment.
She had been cruel, but not anymore than he had been with her.
I wish you the very best in your future, because without you in my life I think I might finally have a future.
He had proposed to Bekah after everything that had happened between them that week. Her words were nothing in comparison.
It is like cutting off the spoiled part to get to the juicy center.
She wouldn’t feel bad for them. She had meant every word, and she knew that she was still angry.
I want everything this time around, and I deserve it.
She hadn’t forgiven him. And she had wanted him out of her life.
Yet, here she was, sitting under a weeping willow with him in complete silence. To anyone else this would have been the strangest thing in the world. Why would you run off with the groom at his own luncheon?
“Don’t you think we should get back?” Lexi asked tugging on a long brown curl and letting it bounce back into place. She did this a few more times before pushing it behind her ear.
Jack shrugged noncommittally and looked into her large brown eyes. “You look beautiful.”
“Jack,” she said quietly into the dim lighting.
“I know,” he told her not letting her add anything else. “I love the way you say my name.”
“Funny, I hate the way you say my name,” she quipped, hoping to put some much needed distance between them.
“Don’t lie, Lex. You’re bad at it,” he told her nonchalantly leaning backward and pu
tting his arms across the back of the bench.
“Jack, don’t call me that,” she reminded him, feeling the closeness of his arm to her back. She inched forward to avoid touching him.
He shrugged again as if he was never going to break that habit. “I like the way you look at me.”
Lexi sighed heavily. “Can we not?”
“We don’t have to,” he acknowledged, “but I do love how short of breath you get.”
“Don’t use that word so freely either,” Lexi commanded.
Jack turned abruptly in his seat and stared directly into her eyes. Lexi sat motionless, as he seemed to examine every pore on her face. She couldn’t help but prove him right. As his gaze intensified, her breathing quickened.
“You smell delicious,” he muttered, his free hand reaching up and running his fingers through her long hair. Her breath caught at the accidental grazing of her ear as he moved the silky strands into their rightful place.
“Wh…wh…what are you a vampire now?” she asked trying to lighten the mood.
He cracked a smile at the comment. “I don’t sparkle in the daylight, if that’s what you mean.”
Lexi giggled reflexively and he took the opportunity to move in even closer to her. She took a sharp breath at his nearness. “Oh God…” she murmured.
“That’s something I’ve heard before,” he said smirking.
“No,” she told him scooting over an inch into the metal bar at the end of the bench. “You smell like sex.”
Jack actually laughed out loud at her statement. “I haven’t had any.”
“So you’re what—horny? Is this what this is about?” she asked angrily.
“What? No. I—I don’t know. I hadn’t planned this,” he said careful not to move.
“Oh Jack, why did I just tell you that you smell like sex?” Lexi asked burying her face in her hands in horror.
“Maybe it’s my cologne?” he asked.
“Obviously it’s your cologne, but what’s wrong with me? I’m not even supposed to be here with you,” Lexi said standing abruptly. “I’m so pissed at you; I can’t even function.”
“What?” he asked, standing with her. “You were just telling me I smell like sex, and now you’re pissed at me?”
“Yes.”
“Lex, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Stop calling me that,” she cried turning around to face him. “Lexi. Lexi. Alexa. Whatever you want to call me…just not that, all right?”
“Whatever I want to call you?” he asked moving forward a step closer to her.
“Jack, you’re infuriating.”
“I know,” he agreed taking another step closer.
“You are getting married in less than a week,” she reminded him.
“I know.”
“You will be legally bound to another woman in less than a week.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you doing this?” she asked as he stopped in front of her.
“I still have a week,” he said shrugging.
Lexi’s mouth dropped. “You’re joking!”
“I am,” he said with a chuckle. The way he said that was even more confusing. She couldn’t tell if he really was joking or not. She honestly didn’t want to ask though. She had no idea what kind of reaction that would elicit from him.
“You should really stop this,” he told her gesturing to her whole self.
“Stop what, exactly?” she demanded.
“Getting all fired up,” he said, his eyes trailing the length of her body.
“Well, then stop acting like an idiot,” she commanded him.
“I just mean that you are sooo hot when you get feisty,” he reminded her.
Lexi shook her head in disbelief and turned to leave. Jack grabbed her wrist and tugged her backward. She stumbled into him. “Hey, I’m just kidding with you,” he said his arms circling her waist to steady her balance.
She wasn’t sure if she could believe him. But suddenly her mind wasn’t thinking properly. When she had fallen against him, her body had landed flush against his chest. Pressed against his heated body, she held onto his shoulders as she straightened herself. Her head tilted upwards and she realized his lips were only inches from her own.
Her mind went blank. Everything she had been doing or thinking about before that moment was gone. She felt like he was her desert oasis and she was dying for thirst at the feel of his arms around her.
He seemed to realize her nearness at the same time. They both stiffened, too scared to move in any direction and unsure as to what result moving would bring. Their eyes locked onto each other.
Jack’s head leaned forward and he rested his forehead against hers. She could feel the waves of exertion and desire coming off of him as he struggled to keep it together. “Lexi, I can’t,” he said at the same time she muttered, “We shouldn’t.”
“Jaaaaaack,” they heard someone yell not too far off.
Lexi sighed, realizing that they had to return to reality. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and crushed her body to him. He pulled her in closer and breathed in her familiar scent.
“It’s all going to be okay, right Lex?” he whispered into her ear, begging for reassurance.
He was asking for something she couldn’t give. He was making a terrible mistake, and she knew what a mistake it truly was. She could not reassure him that everything he was doing was going to be fine. In fact, she thought it would fall apart at the first sign of trouble. If anything, this was the second sign of trouble. They had done worse in the past.
“I don’t know, Jack,” she muttered.
He sighed heavily. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Just then the branches swung backward and light flooded in on their intimate moment. The two jumped back, as if they had been burned. The action made them look even guiltier than being found alone in a weeping willow together. Lexi’s cheeks flamed as her eyes shot over to the entrance to the tree.
“Ramsey,” she muttered forlornly, her stomach dropping out of her body. Fuck.
MARCH—FIVE MONTHS EARLIER
Lexi stared out across the beautiful ocean view stretching before her. The sand was perfectly white and flat, extending for miles in either direction. The clear blue water rippled faintly in the evening breeze. A warm sunset flooded the evening sky with shades of red, pink, and orange. Palm trees partially shaded a kidney shaped pool and cabana below.
She couldn’t believe she was spending her last spring break tucked into a gorgeous villa on the beach in south Florida with her boyfriend and a select group of his friends. Ramsey had been apologizing to her for his actions at New Year’s for months, and this planned trip was the piѐce de rѐsistance to his scheme to fully return to her good graces.
He had apologized in style even. Once he had settled the affairs of the club in Atlanta, he had immediately flown back to New York to, as he put it, “complete their evening.” He refused to have it any other way. He had taken her back up to the top floor of the building where Chyna’s blow out party had been. A table had been set up on the balcony with a single red rose, and thoughtful card explaining how, if he could go back in time, he would change everything. Then he had kissed her unlike he had ever kissed her before. When he pulled back from her lips, he had simply said, “Happy New Year’s.”
She had been blown away, to say the least. She probably would have let the whole incident go, but she couldn’t deny that his words had hurt her. The last thing she wanted to do was lie to him about her feelings. She couldn’t tell him everything was all right with her, when in fact she was beating herself up about what had happened.
Long distance relationships had never been something she had considered. She didn’t think that they actually worked, until Ramsey. Then he had gone and blamed her for everything that had gone down. Whether he meant to or not, he had opened up a can of worms of insecurity about the distance between them.
He had his clubs and all his adoring employees. He
had Atlanta, the nightlife, the celebrity status, and the charming good looks. He had everything he could possibly need there. And what did she have? She had no money, no job, and no real life outside of Chyna. She had a pile of debt waiting for her upon graduation. The more she thought about things he had said, the more terrified she had gotten about their relationship.
He didn’t need her. This much was clear. She couldn’t figure out why he even bothered. She had a mountain of baggage as large as her law school student loans.
There was no point in him having any feelings toward her.
After he had finally wrestled this information out of her, he had simply laughed. He laughed, until he realized she was serious. Then he blabbered on and on about his deep affection for her in a way that only Ramsey could. She had shaken her head unable to comprehend why someone like him could like her. He had told her to cut the crap; he liked her for exactly who she was, baggage and all.
She still didn’t quite understand, but a paid beach vacation for the entire week of spring break sure did make it more real. Why else would he bother?
“Are you ready?” Ramsey asked walking out onto the balcony and wrapping his arms around her waist. He gently pushed her up against the stone railing and buried his head into her neck. He placed kisses against her bronzed skin from ear to shoulder.
“Ye…yes,” she murmured, sighing pleasantly at the feel of his lips on her. “But really Ramsey, where are we going?”
“You know I like to surprise you,” he whispered huskily into her skin.
“I know, but I never know if I’m dressed right,” she told him.
He easily spun her around in place and let his eyes roam her body. She was wearing a pink, blue, and green floral sundress that flowed out to her knees. The dress had thin spaghetti straps that held it up and a v-cut in the front, revealing enough cleavage from his high vantage point, but not enough to be immodest. “You look perfect,” he told her, capturing her lips in his.