The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  A knock at the door startled both of them out of the conversation they were about to have. Lexi cursed in her head. She hated whoever was at that door for their terrible timing. She couldn’t believe how many times this had happened. She wished he wouldn’t answer the door, but she knew that was out of the question.

  Ramsey shrugged. “This can wait?” he asked as he went to answer the door. Lexi groaned hating that she had to wait, but agreed that nothing could be done.

  “Hey bitches!” Chyna cried as soon as the door swung open.

  Lexi gasped in surprised. Did she say she would hate whoever was on the other side of the door? “Chyna!” she squealed, running and hugging her best friend. It felt like an eternity since she had last seen her even though it had only been a week. As her arms circled her tiny frame, Lexi realized just how much she had missed her crazy best friend. “I didn’t know when you were getting here.”

  “I tried to call you last night and this morning, but you didn’t answer,” she said strolling into the living room. “Judging by your clothes, I’m guessing you were busy,” she said looking at Lexi’s boxer and t-shirt combo.

  Ramsey just smiled at her intrusion. “Yeah, we were busy,” Ramsey said pulling Chyna into a quick hug and grabbing the bag she was carrying.

  “Thanks,” she said sauntering into his apartment like she owned the place. She dropped her enormous purse on the dining room table. Lexi wondered if they had let her take the massive bag on as a carry on. “Adam is getting the rest of the stuff from the cab.”

  Adam appeared at the door a short while later with a large suitcase, obviously Chyna’s, as well as a smaller carry-on, likely his own. Lexi was almost certain that his carry on was smaller than Chyna’s purse. She could get back problems from lugging that thing around.

  “Hey, good to see you, man,” Adam said, depositing the bags next to the couch and firmly shaking Ramsey’s hand.

  “Likewise,” Ramsey said nodding his head at Adam in greeting.

  “Lexi,” Adam said with a curt nod and a rather pointed look. She smiled then quickly diverted her gaze focusing back on Chyna. She did not want to look at Adam too closely. He wanted to talk, and this was not the time or place for that. She was going to tell Ramsey about everything until they had barged in. Now, she figured she should talk to Adam about it before discussing it with Ramsey. She hated hiding it for much longer, but blurting it out in front of Chyna would be a terrible idea.

  “So, a wedding, huh?” Chyna asked more bubbly than the last time Lexi had seen her. Apparently, Adam was having a positive effect on her again. “When do we start?”

  “I was making breakfast,” Ramsey said walking back over to the stove where he had been cooking. “I have to be at the hotel by eleven. Lexi was going to come with me, but y’all can stay here if you want.”

  “Uh, no, I think we should go with you,” Lexi hastily said. She did not want to be alone with Adam and Chyna, when there was still so much left unsaid. Chyna’s reaction was sure to be less than pleasant. Lexi wanted to make it through the wedding alive. She had put all this time into preparing for it, she might as well go to the damn thing.

  “You sure, Alexa?” Chyna asked. “I mean that’s plenty of time for us to relax before this whole ordeal.”

  Lexi nodded, wanting nothing more than to get this day over with. Then everything would be out in the open, and she could finally move on with her life. “We’ll have plenty of time, and we can both get ready there. Right, Ramsey?”

  “Yeah. We have plenty of room,” he said eyeing Lexi a bit curiously.

  Chyna shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her. As long as she had enough time and space to get ready, then she could be easily accommodated. “Whatever you want.”

  “Now C, should I even bother to ask why you packed for a month long vacation, when you’re only staying one night?”

  “Do you even have to ask that?” Adam asked with a chuckle.

  “I don’t pack light. You know that. If it’s essential, then I bring it with me.”

  “How can you determine what’s essential and what’s not?” Lexi asked looking at the luggage she had brought with her.

  “You’ve seen my closet. I was able to narrow,” she said with a shrug. Lexi laughed realizing that in fact this was a big narrowing of Chyna’s closet.

  They didn’t have time to dwell on anything further. Lexi and Ramsey quickly ate their breakfast, changed, and stuffed everything they needed for the big day into Ramsey’s Mercedes. All four piled into his car, and he drove them to the St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead. Lexi had never actually been in the establishment, but she knew just by looking at the outside that the place must have cost a fortune to book for a wedding.

  Ramsey had the gentleman at the door valet his car and was instructed that their luggage would be moved to the proper suite. How he knew where it was supposed to go without asking was beyond Lexi.

  She had helped plan a few weddings and been to a dozen more, but nothing compared to this. Most of the events had been small outdoor events for friends and family. Chyna’s father’s wedding earlier that year had been the exception, but somehow this felt different. Lexi didn’t know if it was Jack or Bekah that made it feel that way.

  Lexi tried to keep from letting her jaw drop at the luxurious lobby that she walked into. The glamour of the place didn’t even seem to faze Chyna, who barely glanced at her surroundings.

  A woman greeted them as soon as they walked a few feet into the room. “Mr. Bridges, welcome to the St. Regis!” she exclaimed pleasantly. Her eyes traveled the length of him briefly before shooting back up to his face. Lexi was sure that wasn’t exactly business professional. “My name is Jenny. May I direct you and your guests to their accommodations?”

  “Thank you, Jenny. That would be great,” Ramsey said lacing his fingers with Lexi’s as he spoke. The woman’s smile waned only slightly before she turned on her heel and began to escort them around the lavish hotel.

  “As you well know,” Jenny said to Ramsey as she briskly walked through across the lobby, “the wedding will be held outside in our Grand Terrace with the reception in our Astor Ballroom down this hallway. We have a welcome reception set up outside of the ballroom for guests who arrive prior to when we will be seating them in the Terrace. The groom’s rooms are just down this hallway. You will find everything you need and more I’m sure.” Jenny stopped and gestured Ramsey down the hallway.

  “You’ll make sure my guests have rooms to prepare for the wedding?” Ramsey asked.

  “Of course.”

  Ramsey bent down and kissed Lexi on the cheek. “I’ll be up with y’all in a minute. I just need to check in and make sure I don’t need to do anything.”

  “All right,” she said kissing him on the mouth this time a bit possessively.

  Lexi, Chyna, and Adam followed Jenny to a separate area of the hotel where their items had been deposited. “We gave the gentleman his own separate room for changing. You ladies are welcome to the suite access in the room next door,” Jenny said signaling to a pair of doors.

  “Separate rooms weren’t really necessary,” Chyna said as she took the key from Jenny.

  “But thanks,” Adam added quickly. “We appreciate your help.

  “Of course,” she said with a head bob and then disappeared.

  Chyna reached forward and kissed Adam lightly on the mouth. “Well, off to your own room then,” Chyna said shoving him gently in the opposite direction. “We need girl time.”

  “You’re really going to make me have my own room?” he asked glancing between the two girls.

  “Yep!” Lexi said quickly, glad that Chyna kept them separated.

  “Yes!” Chyna agreed.

  “Fine, but can we talk later?” he asked Lexi directly.

  “Yeah, I forgot you guys needed to talk,” Chyna said dismissively, as she turned to open the door.

  “Sure,” she nearly whispered. “Later?”

  “Sooner rather than later,�
�� he amended, his hazel eyes demanding her attention. She nodded her head and then ducked into the room behind Chyna.

  Lexi couldn’t believe that their stuff was already in their room. They hadn’t been with Jenny for more than ten minutes and everything was in place. Her dress was even hanging up in the closet to prevent wrinkles. She couldn’t believe how on top of their game the hotel was. It must have something to do with the Bridges name for the wedding. Maybe they did their taxes or accounting. That would explain the diligence about everything…or maybe this was just how the hotel was. She had never been here. She didn’t know.

  The suite they entered had a full kitchen, dining room, living space, and French doors opening up into a grand master bedroom. Chyna entered the room and sat back on the plush king-sized bed. Lexi gawked at her surroundings as she entered the bathroom.

  “Holy shit, Chyna. This bathroom is bigger than my room at home,” she said admiring the Jacuzzi tub, glass-standing shower, and stretch of sink space.

  “Everything is bigger than that mouse hole you live in.”

  “Hey!” Lexi said, walking back into the bedroom.

  Chyna shrugged. “Do I have to ask or are you going to just spill?” Chyna asked lying back on the bed.

  “Spill what?”

  “Oh, don’t give me that! You were supposed to call me and tell me the details. Clearly things went well. I want to know what happened! Last I checked you were about to run away from him, and suddenly you guys are fine and back together? Sounds a little suspicious to me,” Chyna stated.

  Lexi filled her in on everything that had happened the night before. She excluded some of the more raunchy details of the evening, but told her all about how Ramsey had been hiding things from her for a reason. Even though hiding what he was doing was wrong in itself, the fact that he was doing all of these things for her did kind of help the situation. Then the nightlong escapade…well, that was worth a tale or two.

  “I don’t know how you do it, chica,” Chyna said twirling her stick straight black hair around her finger. “You always find the ones with epic baggage.”

  “Every guy has epic baggage, C.”

  “Maybe,” Chyna said thinking it over, “but not like you! You find them completely damaged. I sure hope he isn’t lying about anything else. I will kick his ass if he turns out to be a scumbag.”

  Lexi laughed out loud and collapsed onto the bed next to Chyna. “You’re not the only one.”

  “Maybe not, but my high heels can do some damage!” she crowed grabbing her shoe off her foot and showing Lexi.

  “Is girl time over?” Adam called through the door a few minutes later.

  “No!” both girls called at the same time before breaking down into a fit of giggles. It felt so nice to just be herself with Chyna like this. This is the reason she loved New York so much. She hated when Chyna had been in Milan, and Lexi hadn’t gotten this time with her.

  Chyna hopped off the bed and opened the door for Adam. “We’re not even dressed yet.”

  “Well, hurry up. I don’t want to be over there all alone,” he said. Chyna giggled, shook her head at him, and shoved him out the door.

  Lexi hadn’t even noticed that over an hour had already passed and Ramsey hadn’t returned to check on them. Not that she needed him there with her at all times; she just thought it was strange that he hadn’t shown up. He had probably gotten caught up in wedding preparations with Jack and Bekah. Lexi knew firsthand how much there was to do on the wedding day.

  Shrugging off his disappearance, Lexi and Chyna both began to get ready for the big event. Lexi took half as long as Chyna, even on a day like today when she was anxious about what was going to happen. She wanted to look pretty, but she didn’t want to stand out. The last thing she wanted to deal with was a bitchy Bekah…well, any more than she already was. She left her hair loose and curly with her bangs falling across her forehead. Her makeup was light, but accentuated her best features. She slid on her strapless purple floral dress and into her brown high heels. Then she sat and waited for Chyna to finish her get up. For a woman who was flawlessly beautiful, she sure put a lot of time into herself every day.

  “Hey, Lexi,” Ramsey called through the door as he knocked rapidly.

  Lexi darted out of the bedroom and yanked the door open. Ramsey looked a bit frantic as he burst into the room. “Is everything okay?” Lexi asked following him.

  “You look great,” he said stopping and really looking at her.

  “Uh…thanks,” she said waiting for him to explain why he looked so frenzied. Whatever had happened in the time that he had been away from her hadn’t been good. She could see it all over him. Something had gone wrong. “What’s wrong?”

  “You can tell that something’s wrong?” he asked, running his hand through his hair a couple times.

  “Yes,” she muttered.

  “I hate to do this,” he said sinking into one of the chairs in the seating area.

  “Do what?” she asked, her stomach dropping out. This really couldn’t be good.

  “Ramsey, glad to see that you’re back,” Chyna said, walking out of the bathroom in nothing but her lingerie.

  Ramsey didn’t even look at her. He was gazing so intently at Lexi and clearly contemplating what he was about to say. “Thanks.”

  “Is everything all right?” Chyna asked judging the situation.

  “I…don’t know,” Lexi said turning back toward Ramsey.

  “Ramsey?” Chyna asked.

  “Okay, so I thought we had fixed the problem earlier this week, but it seems that it wasn’t fixed,” he began fidgeting in place.

  “What wasn’t fixed?” Chyna asked at the same time Lexi asked, “What problem?”

  “Jack’s having doubts. Well…no…more than that. He’s bowing out.”

  “What?” Lexi squealed. “What do you mean he’s bowing out? Everything is paid for. The wedding party is already here. All the guests will be here soon. We’re already at the hotel. He can’t bow out!”

  “I know,” Ramsey grumbled. “We all said the same thing, but he keeps saying that he can’t get married.”

  “Typical,” Chyna snorted. “It’s a bit late for that don’t you think?”

  “You would think so!” Ramsey said, pushing his hand back through his hair a couple more times.

  Lexi’s stomach knotted. He had said that he didn’t want to get married. She didn’t know what he was going to do, but she had a feeling this was going to be much worse than she had thought. This had something to do with her, somehow she was involved. Where Jack was concerned, she was always involved. “So, what’s going to happen?” she almost whispered, starting to put the pieces together.

  “I’m sorry, Lexi. I don’t want to do this,” Ramsey said.

  Chyna glanced between the two. “Do what?”

  “Jack wants to talk to you.”

  “No,” Chyna said immediately.

  “Don’t you think I know that, Chyna?” Ramsey asked torn in two about the decision. “I don’t want her to go talk to him anymore than you do. But he might not get married today if he doesn’t get some grounding.”

  “Why does Lexi have to ground him?” Chyna asked angrily. She really had to be pissed off to not use Lexi’s full name in conversation.

  “Probably because they’ve known each other forever,” he said with a shrug.

  Chyna shook her head back and forth. “No, because they used to fuck…forever. Not acceptable.”

  Ramsey shot up out of his chair. “Don’t you think I know that?” he repeated louder, angrier.

  “Hey guys, I’m still here,” Lexi said waving her hands between the two. Ramsey stutter-stepped backward as he seemed to realize that he had gotten out of hand. Chyna clamped her hand over her mouth. “And I can’t go talk to him.”

  “Exactly,” Chyna agreed, crossing her arms over her chest and sinking into her right hip.

  “Look, if there is any way that you can convince him to go through with this, e
veryone would be eternally grateful. He doesn’t even want to talk to the other groomsmen. The only person he said he would talk to about this was you. You know I wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear that either, but I want this wedding over with. I’ll never hear the end of it if Jack flakes. Please, Lexi, for me…just go talk to him.”

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m even hearing this,” Chyna snapped, staring angrily between the two of them. “This is between you two. It might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and I don’t want to be involved with this. So, you just figure it out.” Chyna stormed across the room and out the door leaving them alone. They heard her knocking on Adam’s door a second later.

  Ramsey hung his head. “You know I’d never ask you if it wasn’t urgent…if there was any other way.”

  “It’s not my fault that he’s having doubts. Honestly, I don’t think he’s in the right state of mind to get married, which explains why he is freaking out. He is terrified of commitment. Not to mention Bekah,” Lexi cringed at the name, “Well, never mind.” She didn’t really want to bring her into this.

  “He must have been in the right state of mind when he proposed,” he said. Lexi tried to keep from rolling her eyes. Ramsey didn’t know about her and Jack sleeping together that night. Besides Chyna, she didn’t want anyone to know. But without that knowledge, it sure did make this seem a little ridiculous on her end. “And he was in the right state of mind for the past year. He’s just getting freaked out. This is normal.”

  “Then why does he need me?” she asked crossing her arms.

  Ramsey shrugged. “He won’t let us talk to him.”

  “Well, I doubt I can convince him to stay with her.”

  “I bet you can,” he said not skipping a beat.

  “Why would I even want to convince him to stay with someone like Bekah?” she couldn’t help spitting out as she circled the room in frustration.

  “Because you’re not in love with him anymore,” he whispered into the quiet room.

  Lexi stopped in her tracks. She wasn’t in love with Jack anymore. Hadn’t she thought she felt exactly that this morning when waking up in Ramsey’s bed? She didn’t know if it was true. Jack would always mean something to her, but whether that was love in the same way it had been love in college, she couldn’t contemplate at this moment. And anyway, was that enough to make her convince him to marry Bekah?