by K. A. Linde
“Bekah, how could you even think that I would do that?” Jack asked reaching for her. Bekah slipped away from him, and moved to stand in front of Lexi.
“You at least owe me an explanation,” Bekah said, standing squarely in front of Lexi with her hands on her hips. Her eyes were large like saucers as they stared deeply at Lexi, awaiting an answer.
“I don’t think I owe you anything, Bekah,” Lexi said with a shrug.
“Bekah, seriously?” Jack asked moving closer to her again.
“Ramsey!” Bekah snapped completely ignoring Jack’s pleas. “How are you so quiet? How are you not shocked at this news? Just think if she could do it then, she can do it now. After all, she just slept with someone else!”
Lexi glanced over at Ramsey to see his reaction to this ordeal. She bit down on her lip slightly as a worry line creased her forehead. Bekah’s accusations never sat lightly with Ramsey, and Lexi was terrified that any headway they had made this week would be stalled by Bekah’s insinuations.
“I’m quiet, because unlike you, Bekah, I prefer to think before I speak,” Ramsey said straight-faced and even-toned.
“What?” she demanded, sinking into one hip as if she hadn’t heard him correctly. Lexi wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly.
“You heard me. You don’t think before you accuse people of terrible things. You don’t think before you try to use your manipulative ways to ruin other people’s lives,” he said.
“Ramsey!” she yelped.
Ramsey cut her off. “You think I didn’t know that she slept with Jack?”
Lexi tried to cover her shock. She had never told Ramsey about that night. She couldn’t bring herself to reveal what a terrible person she had been. He knew everything else about her relationship, but she honestly hadn’t wanted anyone else to know.
She wasn’t sure if he was lying about knowing, if he was trying to cover up for her, or if he actually knew about what had happened. Either way, he was standing up for her, and telling Bekah off. It meant, at least she hoped it meant, they were that much closer to being on the right track.
“You knew?” Bekah gasped.
“What the fuck?” Jack cried shaking his head. “That didn’t happen.”
“Jack, just shut up,” Ramsey said silencing his outburst with a glare. “We all know. It’s not like Lexi is denying it.”
“Lex?” Jack pleaded, somehow thinking using her pet name would help him win his case. Lexi could see him imploring her with his big blue eyes. He wanted her to save him after everything that he had done. He wanted her to lie for him one last time. It’s like he had forgotten that she had just kicked him in the balls only a short while ago. She hadn’t forgotten that he had come onto her on his wedding day.
If she hadn’t lied to Ramsey about John, she certainly wasn’t going to lie about what she had done with Jack a year ago. There was no reason to lie for him…not anymore.
Lexi couldn’t keep hiding.
“I’m not denying it,” she finally answered, crossing her arms over her chest. Jack threw up his arms and began pacing the length of the hotel room.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Bekah demanded of her brother after Lexi’s declaration. Lexi shouldn’t have even been surprised that the question wasn’t directed at Jack. She hadn’t blamed him for anything else that he had done.
“How exactly would I broach the subject?” he asked pointedly. “Hey Bek, did you know that my girlfriend slept with your fiancé? Oh, you did? Nice. Well, glad that’s out of the way. I wasn’t going to ruin your life.”
“That’s not how it would go and you know it. As my brother, you had a right to tell me!”
“Just like you had a right to tell me that you were lying to Lexi about me playing her when we first started dating? Just like you had a right to tell me that you were going to lie to Lexi about my feelings for her? Just like you were going to leave her alone and not try to ruin our relationship?” he asked crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell me, Bekah…why exactly do I owe you anything as my sister?”
“How dare you!” Bekah piped up. “I only did what was in your best interest.”
Ramsey chuckled and shook his head. “Whatever, Bek. But just to clarify, in case you weren’t following along. Lexi slept with Jack before we were together, and she slept with someone else after we broke up. While I hate the thought of anyone else ever touching her again,” he said openly glaring at Jack, “the woman has a point. She never cheated on me, and I don’t think she ever intended on it. Stop trying to ruin her. Stop trying to ruin our relationship.”
Just then the door to the groomsmen suite burst open, and in sauntered Amber, Maddie, and Kersey. Parker stood awkwardly in the doorway, uncertain whether to take part in what was going on or to make a quick exit. Kersey glanced back when she noticed, and grabbed her rather forcefully for a girl who didn’t even reach five feet tall. “Bekah, what are you doing in here?” Amber demanded her eyes wide in surprise that so many people were in the room. “We have been looking for you everywhere. Don’t you know it’s bad luck to see the groom before the wedding.” Her thick Southern accent drawled out the last word an unnecessarily long time.
“Yeah, honey, let’s get out of here,” Kersey said openly eyeing Adam up and down like he was something she was going to eat for lunch. Chyna possessively stepped in front of him, and Kersey just shrugged as if that didn’t matter.
“Actually, we’re having a serious problem,” Maddie interjected. “We couldn’t find you or the wedding planner and the band cancelled.”
“What?!” Bekah yelled, shocked out of her silence for the first time. “I thought you were on this Maddie! Don’t you know the lead singer?”
“Well…yeah,” she said her cheeks flaming slightly at the mention of the lead singer, “but uh…they’re getting really famous, and when I tried to call him about showing up, he said that something came up. He was really vague.”
“You promised me that they were going to be here tonight at my reception. Have you had my Daddy call their manager or anything?” she demanded instantly turning into Business Bekah.
Maddie shook her head. “No, I just tried calling him. He said that he had to go home to Seattle for an emergency, and he was really sorry he couldn’t make it. You should have heard his voice…it was practically delectable. God, I can just imagine him with his shirt off all over again with that gorgeous body…”
Bekah waved her off. “Don’t even right now, Mads. This is serious. I was promised a band, and I don’t have a band.”
“You still have a DJ,” Kersey piped up. “We double booked, remember?”
Bekah shot her a look that would kill. “I don’t care if I have a DJ. I want that band here. Find the wedding planner, find my Daddy, and make it happen.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…you can’t be serious. You’re still going to marry him after what you just found out?” Chyna gasped out.
She wasn’t the only one who looked shocked either. Lexi, Ramsey, and Adam all held the same blank expressions. Lexi never wanted Bekah to know about what had happened between her and Jack that night. Bekah had won. But she had always thought Bekah would leave him if she had found out about what had transpired. Lexi hadn’t done it for that purpose; she had done it thinking Jack would choose her, and he hadn’t. But the fact that she wasn’t even going to stop to think about leaving him after that just amazed her.
Was this woman who had everything in the world that desperate for someone to care about her that she wouldn’t even accept reality? Was she that desperate to get married?
“Of course, I’m marrying him,” she said through gritted teeth, as if it were the most obvious course of action. “The wedding is happening within the hour. Everything is prepared. All the guests are arriving. It’s all paid for…”
“Bekah, you know the money doesn’t matter!” Ramsey said speaking out against this insane wedding.
Bekah sent him a mutinous look. “I love Jack,” she said stepping toward hi
m as he drew closer toward her.
Lexi couldn’t even believe what was happening in front of her. Bekah and Jack were still going to go through with this? It had to be the worst decision on the face of the planet. Not only had Jack cheated on Bekah, but it had happened the day before he proposed. And he had tried to do the same thing on their wedding day! She couldn’t fathom it. Jack had been having second thoughts all week. There was no way that could have changed in the span of this conversation.
“What are they talking about, Bekah?” Maddie asked.
“Nothing y’all, let’s go,” Bekah said turning her back on the group.
“What you want to hide the truth from them too?” Chyna demanded not willing to let the absurdity of the situation go.
“Chyna,” Adam whispered warningly.
“No, Adam this is outrageous. She just found out that her boyfriend cheated on her prior to their engagement, and she’s just cool with that? Doesn’t that seem fucked up to everyone else in the room?”
“What?” Parker asked. A chorus of gasps followed with Amber asking, “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, but if I had just found out that my fiancé was a total douchebag, I wouldn’t just be like, yay, that’s fine! I would be freaking out. So, I can’t fathom how Bekah could let this go. How she could be more concerned that the band cancelled for her reception than her future husband is a cheating sleaze ball.”
Bekah glared daggers at Chyna. “Look, we weren’t even engaged at the time, and he’s over her,” she said jabbing her finger in Lexi’s direction, “which is the whole goddamn point. So, mind your own fucking business.”
Lexi started giggling. She actually started giggling. The girl was manic. She had completely gone off the deep end. She had been told she was a princess one too many times, Lexi was sure of it. She had no idea why Bekah would continue in this delusional state of existence, but she was stuck to it apparently. To think that Jack would ever be completely over Lexi, after he continually tried to get together with her over the course of seven years was ridiculous. He was terrified of commitment. He was terrified of letting anyone see who he really was, but Lexi knew. She knew who he was and what he was capable of. If he really loved Bekah like he was claiming, he would have never wanted to look at another woman let alone sleep with Lexi before their engagement.
“Why are you laughing?” Bekah asked giving Lexi the opportunity to speak.
“No reason. It’s nothing. Nothing,” she said unable to hold back her laughter even as she covered her mouth. Tears were coming to her eyes the more she thought about the ridiculous aspect of the entire affair. “Proceed with the adulterous wedding.”
“Adulterous?” Bekah asked angrily. Bekah obviously wasn’t used to having the table turned on her. She looked more uncomfortable in that moment than Lexi had ever seen her, and it was a beautiful thing to witness.
“Of course, it’s adulterous,” Chyna interjected.
“Y’all, maybe we should just calm down,” Maddie said softly. Amber had a devious smile on her face as she watched the proceedings go on, and Kersey was teetering on her high heels as if she was ready to pounce at any moment. Parker still seemed unclear as to how to handle the situation. After all, her appearance had only caused trouble since she had graduated from medical school.
Chyna ignored her. “Yeah, there’s no way Jack hasn’t been with someone else,” she spat out.
Bekah shook her head in disbelief. “Y’all are delusional.”
Lexi arched an eyebrow. “You really don’t know Jack, do you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bekah growled.
“Oh come on, what was one of the first things I told you when you tricked me into coming to Atlanta?” Lexi asked. “I told you that Jack is liar. He always lies when it suits him best. The fact that that it didn’t stick with you is really telling.”
“Exactly,” Chyna agreed. “He’s a chronic cheater. I’d be more surprised if he hadn’t cheated on you. Actually, I’d be really surprised.” All three girls turned to look at him.
Jack opened his mouth as if to speak, and then as if realizing he was being backed into a corner promptly clamped it shut.
Lexi wasn’t going to let him get away with this. If she had to tell the truth about everything, he was going to have to as well. “So, who is it? Your assistant? What’s her name again, Gwen? Or the pretty little thing that works the front desk at your apartment? Or better yet, a total stranger?” Lexi chirped, beside herself.
“I…I…” he stuttered averting his eyes. “There wasn’t anyone else. Really, there wasn’t.”
Lexi scoffed. She hadn’t been sure, but his little stammer gave it all away. He sure as hell was blatantly lying to Bekah. Why he would want to ruin the sweet gig he had set up here was beyond her, but then again if she had to deal with the bitch everyday it would cause her to go crazy too. “I can’t believe you. You’re scum…” Lexi drawled.
“Jack?” Bekah asked eyeing him closely.
“Baby, you know I love you,” he said reaching for her hand. Bekah let him take it, but her eyes were still narrowed in his direction.
“Has there been someone else?” she demanded watching him stroke the top of her hand.
“There’s no one else for me,” he said looking her square in the baby blue eyes.
Chyna snorted, and Lexi rolled her own chocolate-colored eyes. Adam muttered under his breath, “What a sidestep.” If Adam was getting involved in the mockery that was Jack and Bekah’s relationship, then Lexi knew it must be a ridiculous scene.
“You promise?” Bekah cooed back at him. Though her voice had lost its edge from talking to Lexi, her eyes were still sharp. She had clearly put too much stock in this wedding, this dream she had made for herself.
Lexi had been dismayed a year ago when Jack had called her insisting that she come to Atlanta to meet his girlfriend, because she was the type of person who desperately wanted to be married. After Bekah’s confession last year about planning the entire thing to get rid of Lexi’s hold on Jack, Lexi had been sure it was all just a façade. Bekah didn’t need to get married. She didn’t need her parent’s permission to move in with Jack. She wasn’t this perfect little princess everyone else clearly made her out to be. She was a conniving, manipulative bitch, who did whatever was in her manner to get what she wanted.
Now standing in front of Bekah and seeing her feed into Jack’s every pleading word made her reconsider her earlier conviction. Bekah appeared more in love with getting married than ever listening to reason. The woman was not even twenty-five years old and already she was determined and, as far as Lexi could tell, desperate to be married. The fact that Jack was a philandering ass seemed to be something she could look over. And she deserved nothing less than to be miserable for the remainder of her days.
Jack nodded slowly linking his fingers with Bekah’s, and Lexi could barely stifle her gag. She knew that she had been weaker, by far, when it came down to Jack’s own sky blue eyes then Bekah was being right now, but she couldn’t fathom it any longer.
And in that moment, she felt as if she had gone through a turning point. For some reason, kneeing Jack in the balls hadn’t been as clear as this moment. That look in Bekah’s eyes of complete and utter devotion and complete and utter stupidity was enough to change Lexi. Whether Jack actually loved Bekah or just loved the idea of Bekah was something Lexi would never know, but what she did know in that moment was that it no longer concerned her. Jack and Bekah no longer concerned her. Whether they ever got married, whether they lived happily ever after, or whether they skinned each other alive did not matter to her, and that made her smile.
“You know what? I’m through,” Lexi said her smile growing with how true that statement was. “This entire week made me realize that I got over Jack a long, long time ago. I was so lost in the past that I couldn’t see the person I had become. And the person I am now doesn’t need to go to this wedding to get over a guy she never even dated,” s
he said sending a seething glare in Jack’s direction. “And anyway, I never much liked the circus so you can count me out.”
Lexi turned away from the crowd of people that had gathered and walked over to her best friend. She knew that Chyna was mad with her for what had happened with John, but she hoped that she could see past that right now. She hoped they would be able to work it out later like they had with everything else. “Are you coming with me?” Lexi asked her.
Chyna gave a quick chuckle before responding, “God, I thought you would never ask! Let’s go.”
Lexi took it all in stride. She knew that she would have to talk things out with Chyna, but at least she was amicable enough to still leave here with her. She knew she had one thing left to do.
Lexi glanced over at Ramsey hesitantly. She knew he was in the wedding as a groomsman. Even if he didn’t approve of the union, it’s not like he would ditch with her and Chyna. This was his sister after all. She didn’t care what kind of problems they were going through right then, the bond that he and Bekah held was strong. If he had been able to stick with her after discovering what she had done to Parker, then Lexi couldn’t imagine this changing his mind now.
“Well uh…” she began awkwardly unsure as to how to proceed. She didn’t want her departure to signal that she was leaving him as well. She had absolutely no intention of that happening. In fact, the more she thought about what this turning point in her life meant for her, the more she wanted Ramsey to be actively involved in that process. They had things to work on in their relationships and skeletons in their closets to overcome, but she was certain they could do it together. But she wasn’t going to force him to be someone else for her ever again. If he felt like he needed to go to this wedding, if he somehow thought it was the right thing to do, then she wouldn’t stop him.
“I guess we’re gonna…yeah. So I’ll see you after…or yeah, whenever.” Lexi tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She was more anxious about his reaction than she would have liked to let anyone know. She was, after all, abandoning his sister’s wedding, the place he had invited her to. She was leaving him to go through this all alone, but she thought he might understand why it was necessary for her to leave. She wasn’t leaving him, just washing herself clean from the scenario.