by K. A. Linde
“Now, you all know my dear brother,” Bekah said a little too cheerfully. “He’s been off running his own business and being a star.” Lexi knew for a fact that him running his own business had never made his family think that he was a star. They all hated that he owned the clubs. “But we’re thrilled to announce that he is finally coming home and taking on the position as Vice President for Bridges Enterprise’s newest company.”
Lexi’s mouth dropped open in shock. She had heard not a single word of this. She had lived with him for two months. All of this had to have taken longer than the month she was gone to put together. Why hadn’t he told her any of this? Was this what Lola had meant about Ramsey making it all up to her? Was this why Brad and Jason had been so secretive about him doing all of this for her?
She just couldn’t understand. Ramsey hated the idea of working for his father…for the company. He had bucked the status quo for so long that she had no idea why he would possibly want to do this.
Bekah’s voice cut off Lexi’s train of thought. “I’m pleased to announce along with this new development that the new wing of the company is going to be a full-time medical wing, and to head up our medical center with my brother is none other than our own, Parker Mackenson. Parker, come up here!” Bekah shrieked excitedly.
JULY—ONE MONTH EARLIER
It was easy to pretend like nothing had happened. Lexi’s father ended up staying in the ICU for longer than anticipated, and she kept making the excuse that she had to be with him. No one would ever question her decision to stay in the hospital for extended periods of time.
She still went in to work, but she was distracted. Her earlier fervor for the company slackened. She was certain her bosses noted the change in her work ethic. And she knew it was a stupid risk on her part to let herself fall behind. She needed the job that she had; it paid well and she could tell they were leaving open a job for one of the interns in the fall. Up until that dreadful conversation with Parker, Lexi had been gunning for that job. But the program would be over soon and they would have to make their decisions either way.
She couldn’t give them the truth. How could she tell her bosses that she was afraid she didn’t know her boyfriend any longer? That wasn’t something they even cared about.
So she gave them the same excuse that she was giving everyone else since it had happened. That her father’s heart attack had really shaken her, and she was terrified his condition might worsen. The company had allowed her the time however reluctantly. But there wasn’t much time left, and they were going to want her to complete the project she had been assigned. That had become her back up excuse, when it was brought up that she was spending too much time at the hospital.
Lexi knew Ramsey’s schedule by heart now and found herself showing up at the apartment when she knew he wouldn’t be there and leaving before he woke up the next morning. She couldn’t help it. She knew that she should just ask him about what Parker had told him.
After all, Parker could have simply made the whole thing up. She had been friends with Bekah since birth; Lexi wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that. But who was she kidding? Parker wasn’t Bekah. As much as she wanted to hate her, Lexi couldn’t. Parker had never done anything to her. If everything she had said was true, she had done her a huge favor.
Yet, Lexi couldn’t seem to bring it up. She had been doing everything in her power to avoid her own boyfriend. It had been over a week, and she couldn’t bring herself to ask the questions that she had lingering on her tongue. The last thing she wanted was for him to confirm the story or, even worse, for him to lie about it…again.
She had barely been sleeping between hospital visits, work, and trying to avoid seeing her boyfriend. When she trudged down the stairs the next morning, she knew that the only way she would survive the day was a pot of coffee, a large pot of black coffee. Lexi poured herself a mug and leaned forward against the counter as she drank. She wore a light grey skirt suit with her hair pulled up into a tight ponytail. She had to be in to work soon to finish her research for the project.
Lexi closed her eyes and hung her head. She hadn’t been sleeping and the hours were beginning to catch up with her. She could feel her body beginning to give into sleep while standing. The coffee was having next to no effect on her so far, and all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed for another couple hours.
“Tired?” Ramsey asked as he descended the stairs.
Lexi spun around quickly sloshing a bit of the coffee down her front. “Damn it!” she cried pulling her jacket off and tossing it onto the table. Luckily, her blouse was untouched.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you,” he said with a smile. “You’ve been getting up so early I haven’t had a chance to see you. I thought I’d catch you before you left.”
“Oh,” was all she managed as she wet a towel and tried to salvage her outfit for the day. After a second of dabbing at the fabric, she decided it was a lost cause and would have to take it to the dry cleaner later.
“Coffee?” he asked walking up to her and pouring himself a mug.
“Yeah,” she mumbled sitting down on one of the dining room chairs.
Ramsey added some cream and sugar to the coffee before taking a sip. “I still don’t know how you drink it black.”
Lexi shrugged. “That’s how I like it.”
“So, I was thinking,” Ramsey began, setting his coffee down on the counter and turning to face her again. “I know you’re busy with work stuff, but I thought maybe we should go do something tonight. You haven’t really had any time to yourself. I thought it might be nice to get away.”
“Don’t you have work?” she squeaked out, dropping her eyes to her coffee mug.
“I can take a night off for you,” he said smiling.
“I guess, let me see how far I get with my work today, and then I’ll let you know,” she said reluctantly, never pulling her eyes from her drink.
“Are you okay?” Ramsey asked moving to stand in front of her. “I know that you’re sad about your dad but everything is going to be all right with him. He was released, right?”
“Yeah, he was,” she said. She desperately wanted to tell him about what Parker had said, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. All she wanted to do was go back upstairs, crawl into bed, and forget that this past week had happened.
“Maybe it would be a good idea to get away,” he said bending down and resting his hands on her knees.
Lexi stood up abruptly letting his hands drop back to his sides as she towered over him in his crouched position. “I’ll see about work,” she said sharper than she had intended.
Ramsey stood slowly watching her closely. “All right,” he said his eyes following her every movement. “How about this? I’ll be at the club in my office, if you want to go out after work just swing by.”
“I’ll do that,” she agreed diverting her eyes as she moved to walk away from him.
Ramsey’s hand darted out and grasped her by the elbow. The light pressure on her arm sent shivers up her back. “Please come by,” he whispered softly, pulling her into him and kissing her softly on the lips. “I’ve missed you.”
Lexi pulled away from the kiss, still feeling the warmth of his mouth on hers. She took another step away from him, gave him a curt smile, and disappeared back up the stairs to change into an outfit that didn’t have coffee stains on it.
Work was practically mind numbing that day. She knew that she had to go see Ramsey afterwards, and she knew she couldn’t hide what had happened from him any longer. This morning had been the first time they had really been alone. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like going out with him. She couldn’t convince someone like Ramsey, who noticed her every move, that the only thing that was bothering her was her father’s heart attack.
He would know that something else was up with her. She would have to tell him what Parker had told her. Then she would have to get the truth out of him. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for
that. What would he say? Would he confirm all her fears or deny them? She didn’t even want to think about it. And so, of course, she thought of nothing else.
The whole time she was conducting research for her firm, making phone calls, and digging through files, she was distracted. Her mind was lost on the words that Parker had embedded into her skull forever. Ramsey had lied. She could care less that all of that stuff had happened in the past. The past was the past. If anyone should know that, it was Lexi.
She had a past that she knew she couldn’t hide. Everything always seemed to catch up with her. Why should Ramsey be any different? How could he think that he was any different?
What did he think he could gain from hiding it from her? His friends knew the situation. They knew that they had been together…for years. They knew that they had been in love. They knew that they were practically destined for one another. And Christ, they at least knew that Lexi looked like Parker. Yet, she was never mentioned. She was never brought up. He acted as if nothing had ever happened between them beyond the physical. No wonder he had freaked out when she had been left alone with Jessie and she had said that Parker and Ramsey looked like a cute couple.
Of course they did! They had been a couple for so long that it was second nature to them. She knew it did for her and Jack. Being with him was like breathing. You didn’t just date someone for so long and then try and cover up the fact that it ever existed. People didn’t get over things like that. If anything, the cover up made it seem like you never got over it… which was even more troublesome.
Just when Lexi thought her brain might explode from over thinking everything, she received an incoming text message. “Lunch. Sushi. You know the place. See ya in 20. – Pookie.”
Lexi sighed, dropping the stack of papers she was holding onto her tiny desk. She grabbed her purse and left the office, letting her manager know that she would be back in an hour. The balding middle age man leered at her as she exited the office giving no complaint. At least she had that going for her.
Entering the crowded restaurant, Lexi searched the premises for Brandon. It was nearly impossible to find a table at this place, but Brandon always seemed to find them a spot. She didn’t ask how that was even possible. Finally seeing him crammed into a corner, Lexi strolled across the room and plopped down opposite him.
“Hey honey, you’re looking a little rough,” he said not too kindly.
Lexi scoffed, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Fuck off.”
“No, really. Have you slept at all?” he asked leaning back in the booth.
Lexi took a sip of the water he ordered for her and shook her head. “Not really. Did you already order?”
“Yeah, same thing, right?” he asked. She nodded. “Cool. So, what’s up? You haven’t been dogging me for lunch, or interrupting my make out sessions, or any of your other annoying habits. I’ve barely heard from you. Who am I supposed to have lunch with?”
“Weren’t you just complaining about me having lunch with you too often?” she asked, feeling her annoyance from the past week and a half begin to take over.
“Yeah, but I was joking. You know I want to get in your pants. Lunch is just a way to be around you,” he told her with a wink for good measure.
Lexi didn’t even have the patience to humor him. “Whatever, Brandon.”
“Brandon? Did you just call me by my first name?” he asked his brows scrunching together. “Lexi, what’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, all right?” she snapped fiercely as the waitress walked up.
“Uh, sorry,” the waitress squeaked before scurrying away.
Brandon tilted his head at her slightly. “Now you’ve run our waitress off.”
“I don’t care. I’m not that hungry anyway,” she mumbled though she felt pretty bad about having an outburst like that. It wasn’t like it was Brandon’s fault that she was in a pissy mood.
“So are you going to make me guess what set you off, or are you just going to tell me?” he asked crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward.
Lexi sighed heavily. “Why doesn’t Ramsey like you?” she asked taking him off guard.
“You’re upset because Ramsey and I don’t get along?” he asked with a smirk.
“No. I want to know why. You never told me what the reason was.”
“That’s because you have a perfect little picture of your boyfriend in your head. I didn’t want to ruin it for you,” he said as a matter of fact.
“What if I don’t have such a perfect picture anymore?” she whispered, looking down at the tablecloth.
Brandon’s smile spread at that statement. “I did warn you from the beginning.”
“Tell me why you’re not friends anymore,” she spat looking back up at him.
Brandon seemed to realize that she was being serious about the situation. “I dated Parker for awhile after they broke up. If that didn’t make things bad enough, she told me some things about him that made my head spin. When I confronted him about it, we ended up in a fistfight. If his roommates hadn’t been around to stop him, I think he would have fought until he had no more fight left in him,” Brandon told her watching her expression carefully.
“Did he hurt you?” she asked, her emotions from the last week overpowering her as tears brimmed her eyes. The thought of Ramsey hurting Brandon, because he was dating his ex-girlfriend and had confronted him with the truth broke her heart. Who was the man that she had been dating for the last year?
“I had a few broken ribs. He would have killed me if Brad and Jason hadn’t been there to pull him off of me. I don’t like to admit that, but the guy is much bigger than I am,” Brandon said, with chuckle at the end.
“Oh, Brandon,” Lexi murmured softly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me,” he said with a snort of disbelief. “You just met me. You had no idea who I was, and you had no idea who you were dating. I wasn’t going to destroy your world.”
“But you will now?” she asked, looking into his big brown eyes for an answer.
“Honey, it looks like someone else already has,” he said reaching across the table and grasping her hand.
Lexi looked down into her water glass and tried to hold the tears in. He was right, of course. Parker had already destroyed the image that she had of her boyfriend. Sure, she hadn’t liked where he worked or that strippers surrounded him all the time. She hadn’t liked the distance. She didn’t like that he had a reputation as a player or that he had slept with a lot of people before they were together. But she could get over those things, because she had known about them. They were a fact of their relationship.
Those things hadn’t ruined her view of him. He had taken awhile to tell her what he did for a living, but it was kind of understandable. Most women would not be comfortable leaving their man in the hands of other women, whether he ran the place or not. But at least he had come clean. What Parker had told her…what Brandon had revealed were things Ramsey never planned on telling her.
That much was obvious. He was liar. He had looked straight in her eyes and said that he had never been in love, never had a serious girlfriend. Had he never expected to be confronted with Parker again? Or had Lexi been temporary? She didn’t even know what to believe.
“What did Parker tell you that made your head spin?” Lexi finally asked him.
“Judging by your appearance, I think you already know the answer to that,” he said eyeing her sheepishly. “I would have told you Lexi, but it wasn’t my story to tell.”
“I know. I don’t blame you. But what did she say?” Lexi asked. “I have to know.”
He sighed, clearly hating the position that he was in. “The gist of it is that he knocked her up when they were in college, and before he knew that she was pregnant, she walked in on him cheating on her with some other girls. Or something like that. Then when she told him later that she miscarried, he refused to believe her and called her a slut.�
� Lexi gasped out loud and covered her mouth quickly. She hadn’t intended to get so emotional, but hearing confirmation of Parker’s story made it all so much more real. “Lexi, I’m sorry. I really…I don’t know what to say.”
Lexi shook her head, silencing him. “No. Thank you for telling me,” she told him. “I guess I needed to hear it from someone else.”
“You know, maybe he has changed,” Brandon said trying to be reassuring though it sounded strange coming from him of all people. He had never really said a nice thing about Ramsey since they had started hanging out.
“Don’t lie to me,” Lexi said pulling her hand gently out of his. “I’ve had enough of that lately.”
“It’s true. I don’t think he’s changed,” he said, “but that’s up to you to decide.”
“Thanks Brandon…Pookie,” she said with a sad smile. She stood from the booth. “I’m suddenly not hungry. Sorry to leave you hanging on lunch again.”
“It’s all right,” he said standing as well. He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Let me know if you need me.”
“Bye,” she said taking a step toward the door.
“Hey, Honey,” he called back. She spun around to look at him. “I’m serious. I’m here for you.” She nodded solemnly and then strode out of the restaurant.
Driving to the club was a blur. She knew that at some point she called her boss and told him that she wasn’t feeling well. He hadn’t been pleased, but she was pretty sure she sounded convincingly sick since she felt like vomiting already. He had let her off the hook, as long as she promised to make up the hours if she was feeling better in the morning. Her final project was due Friday, the last day of the summer associate position, regardless.
She also knew that her car had driven her to the mostly empty parking lot of the club. She wouldn’t say that she had driven herself there exactly. It was more like the car was on autopilot, and she was along for the ride. Her body felt numb to the realities of the universe around her.