The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  “Just like that?” Lexi asked. Bekah was the devil.

  “Just like that.”

  “Was there any forewarning that this might happen?”

  “No.”

  “She wasn’t acting strange…erm, stranger?” Lexi asked.

  “What do you want me to say? That I knew my wife was going to divorce me? That I should have seen the signs? That I should have known better? Well, I didn’t,” he growled. “I didn’t see any of it, and yeah, that probably makes me even more of a fucking idiot. But I tried every day for the past two years with Bekah, and I was still trying up until that day she handed me the papers. Marriage isn’t easy, but I wanted my marriage to work, so I put in the effort.”

  “I’m sorry, Jack,” she whispered. She didn’t know what else to say to that. She wasn’t sorry about Bekah, but she was sorry for Jack.

  “Please don’t pity me, Lex,” he said so softly she almost didn’t hear him. “Don’t remind me that I gave you up for this.”

  Her heart seemed to hammer in her chest, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. Her throat felt swollen just for a minute as she fought back the tears threatening to spill out. Why now? Why did he have to realize this now? Too little, too late. She loved Ramsey. She was marrying Ramsey. End of the line.

  When she felt like she could speak again without her throat closing up, she said, “I’ll find you a lawyer tomorrow, okay? I should probably go.”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  “Hopefully, this will all be as painless as possible,” she encouraged, assuming Bekah would do her worst because she always did.

  “For who? Certainly not me…”

  She hated agreeing. He had dug the hole himself, and now, he had to sit in it, six feet under—right where Bekah wanted him.

  Lexi hung up the phone and rested her head back on the couch. She sniffled and hugged her legs tight to her chest. She needed to stop this feeling.

  But she couldn’t help it.

  She felt really, really bad for Jack. It was an emotion she was so not used to. Normally, the things she felt for Jack were, ahem…a little lower on her body. When had this happened? All she felt in this moment was sympathy. She did pity him—even if he had told her not to. The thought of Jack being married to Bekah had always made her sick, but the thought of him actually hurting from the divorce…well, that was a different feeling entirely. It was like so much of her wanted him divorced…wanted him rid of Bekah finally. But at what cost?

  It was so messy.

  She sniffled again and tried to think of something else—like her engagement. She needed to tell Chyna. That was all she had left—well, Chyna and Jack, but Chyna needed to know before Jack did. That was for sure!

  Lexi sat back up and reached for her phone just as the door to the office slowly pried open.

  “Lexi?” Ramsey asked, peeking his head around the corner.

  God, she hoped she didn’t look like she had been crying.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m just about to call Chyna to tell her about the engagement.”

  He eyed her likely bloodshot eyes and red cheeks cautiously, but he broke out into a smile at the word engagement. “Let me know what she says.”

  “I will,” she said, producing her own smile for him before he retreated.

  Yeah, messy didn’t even begin to cover it.

  Lexi spent a minute straightening up her hair and sitting up properly as if Chyna could see her. It was ridiculous, but still, it made her feel better and helped her forget.

  Chyna answered on the second ring. “Chica! I miss you. Come to New York for the week,” she said.

  Lexi laughed. Oh man, she missed her best friend. “I have work this week. Maybe soon.”

  “You keep saying that, but all you do is work.”

  “We can’t all be like you, Chyna.”

  “Obviously.”

  “How was your weekend?” Lexi asked. She knew Chyna wasn’t really known for small talk, but Lexi hadn’t seen Chyna for a while. It made Lexi feel better to know what Chyna had been up to.

  “Oh, you know, same old, same old,” she said dryly. “Went to the club, got drunk, got picked up by a guy, and went home with him. So hot. He’s an architect.”

  For a second there, Chyna almost had her fooled. She had been about to freak out on her friend if she was cheating on Adam. They were so good for each other, and Lexi knew she wasn’t the person to talk about cheating, but damn, she would have lit into her friend. Adam was too good of a person for that.

  “Jesus, Chyna, you about gave me a heart attack,” Lexi groaned.

  Chyna laughed wickedly. “So, I let Adam pick me up from the club and take me home. This time though, I wasn’t passed out from getting roofied, and he fucked me.”

  “Y’all are ridiculous!” Lexi couldn’t stop shaking her head. Only Chyna.

  “We just know how to have fun. How are you and Ramsey? I swear, for a man who used to manage strip clubs, he is a lot less fun than he could be, Alexa. I mean, sure, he can throw a party, but all I’ve heard you talk about is the medical wing. Work, work, work. Don’t you do anything but work?” Chyna asked.

  “Well, he proposed,” Lexi said offhand, staring off across the room while waiting for Chyna’s reaction.

  “What?” Chyna cried. A crashing sound blasted through the phone and then a series of curse words before Chyna came back. “Fuck! I dropped the phone. Are you fucking serious? Did you tell him yes?”

  “No, Chyna. I told him, why the hell did I spend three years of my life with you when I have no intention of marrying you?” Lexi drawled sarcastically.

  “You’re a bitch. I hope he smacked you.”

  Lexi giggled. “Of course I said yes!”

  “Oh my God! This is so fucking exciting. When should I come down? This weekend? We need drinks! Shots! Hookers! Whatever you want, that’s what we need,” Chyna yelled into the phone.

  Lexi could practically see her bouncing around her apartment.

  “You want to come down this weekend?”

  “Yes! Are you kidding me? My best friend is getting married. I need to be there to celebrate with you, chica.”

  Lexi smiled brightly. Now, this was what it was supposed to feel like to be engaged. It had only taken her a week to get the giddy feeling back. She had been so happy when Ramsey had asked her. She had been shocked beyond words. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t seen it coming, but then when it had been right in front of her, she couldn’t believe it had happened to her.

  Ramsey had worked so hard to make the night perfect, to make it memorable, and it had worked. She knew she would never forget what it had felt like, walking through the park, the candles, the picnic.

  “Yes, come down! We’ll party here to celebrate,” Lexi said after a few seconds.

  “So, how did he ask you? Tell me everything. Did it happen today, over lunch, or what? Come on, dish!” Chyna said enthusiastically.

  “Um…” Lexi said awkwardly. She had forgotten about this part—the part where she hadn’t called Chyna for four days when she should have called her right away.

  “Oh no,” Chyna groaned. “What’s wrong?”

  “He asked me on Thursday.”

  “Thursday? Why did you wait so long to call me?” Chyna asked, sounding hurt.

  “I, uh…well, I had a freak-out about it.”

  “Already? I thought you were excited about this.”

  “I am excited! Ramsey wanted to tell his parents in person, so we told them over brunch today.”

  “In front of Jack and Bekah?” Chyna gasped.

  “Um…well, not exactly. Jack wasn’t there.”

  “Why not? Aren’t they, like, white-picket-fences and shit now? Oh my God, does Jack not know, Alexa?” Chyna asked. “Please, please, please tell me that Jack knows.”

  “They’re getting a divorce,” Lexi said quickly, releasing the breath she had been holding.

  Chyna was struck silent on the other end. />
  “That’s why he was calling to talk to me earlier during the week.”

  “No,” Chyna murmured.

  “I know.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Lexi sighed. She wished she could explain, but even she didn’t really understand any of it. Jack and Bekah had been married for two years with no problems as far as Lexi could tell. Jack was still Jack, but things had changed.

  She didn’t even know if she could articulate it clearly. How could someone be the same person he had always been and yet so different? Then, this…she had never seen the divorce coming. With the Bridges’ abhorrence for divorce and Jack’s personal feelings toward the matter, she had thought their marriage would have been a one-and-done deal.

  Now with him back—nope, she wasn’t thinking about that.

  “So, let me get this shit straight. Jack has finally come to his senses and is divorcing Bekah. What is his reasoning? Irreconcilable differences?” Chyna asked.

  Lexi knew that was what Chyna’s parents had filed their divorce as in New York.

  “Bekah is divorcing him.”

  “I’m sorry…what? That Bitch is completely mental. Why the hell would she divorce him?”

  Lexi bit her lip. She hated this conversation. Chyna was the one who was going to go mental when she heard the reason.

  “She claims that Jack cheated on her, and she is filing a fault divorce, so she can run off with any money he made during the marriage. Apparently, the idiot signed a prenup with an infidelity clause in it.”

  Chyna burst into laughter. “Wow. Give me a minute with that one,” she said, her laughter coming harder. “I told her that he’d cheated on her on her fucking wedding day, she still went through with the wedding, and then two years later, she’s filing for divorce for infidelity. That’s…wow…that’s rich. I mean, why is she dragging this out anyway? She has a fortune of her own. As shitty as it is, I get why my parents dragged it out. They both were worth a ton of money, and neither wanted to get screwed. Bekah doesn’t need his money.”

  “That’s the million-dollar question—quite literally,” Lexi said under her breath.

  “Well, just because he is getting a divorce doesn’t mean you can’t tell him you’re engaged, chica. You know that, right? I mean, I know he’s different, but it’s still Jack.”

  “I know, C.”

  “Right, you’ve always known. You’ve always known everything.”

  “Chyna…”

  “I’m just looking out for you. You’re marrying Ramsey. He’s a good guy. You love him. Remember that.”

  “God, I haven’t forgotten any of that, all right?”

  “Just saying.”

  “So, are you finished reminding me of things I already know? And can we get back to planning your trip this weekend?”

  “Just don’t be stupid.”

  “Thanks for that one.”

  “Jack makes you stupid.”

  “He’s married!” Lexi snapped. She did not want to have this conversation. She had been fighting that battle with herself. She didn’t need Chyna’s help with it.

  “Not much longer…”

  Lexi spent the next day at work searching out the best divorce attorney in Atlanta who didn’t currently work under the Bridges hegemony. She was fucking pissed by how difficult it was to do that. How did they possibly have five of the best attorneys in-house? Didn’t that seem a bit ridiculous to anyone else? Who had allowed them a monopoly on the market?

  Fucking Bekah Bridges—that was probably how.

  The girl never stopped plotting. Three of the attorneys had been acquired in the last year since she had been married to Jack. It didn’t seem coincidental, but Lexi didn’t know how to prove that it was connected. It made her eyes hurt.

  In the end, she just plucked up the courage to ask her boss about it.

  He suspiciously eyed her. “You thinking of getting a divorce before you’re even married?” he asked.

  “Just asking for a friend, sir,” she said.

  “Did I hear you got engaged?”

  Lexi smiled sweetly. It was the only way to deal with her boss. “That’s right,” she said, showing off the ring.

  Her boss whistled between his teeth. “That’s a big diamond.”

  “Yeah, he spoils me.”

  It wasn’t something she would have normally said, but her boss cared about pedigree, power, and privilege. Ramsey had all three, and sometimes it helped situations.

  “Good man you have there.”

  “So, sir, about that attorney. Do you think you could put me in contact with one?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

  “Yeah, I know a guy. I’ll give him a call on my lunch break and put him in contact with you,” he grumbled. “Oh, and Lexi…”

  “Sir?”

  “Any progress on the Bryant case? I want that one resolved this month. It’s eating away time,” he told her before promptly turning around and walking away like he hadn’t just handed her an impossible task without a second thought.

  “Great,” she said, storming back to her office.

  At least she was getting that fucking name.

  Lexi spent the rest of the afternoon buried in casework. She hadn’t even bothered surfacing for lunch, and by the time she was ready to leave the office that afternoon, she was starving and still without a contact for the divorce attorney.

  She hesitantly wandered over to her boss’s office.

  His assistant was looking bleary-eyed at the computer screen. “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Is Chuck still here?” Lexi asked.

  “No, he never came back after lunch.”

  “Great,” Lexi groaned. “Did he happen to leave a message with you about a divorce attorney?”

  His secretary glanced around her desk before shaking her head. “Nothing here, sorry. Did you want me to phone him?”

  “No,” Lexi said quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was to draw more attention to herself than she already had. The next time she talked to her boss, he would probably tell her to close the case by the end of the week rather than the end of the month. “Thanks.”

  She would have to remind him about it some other time. There wasn’t all that much time to waste, but there was nothing she could do at the moment.

  She took the elevator down to the parking garage, got into her car, and drove out of the building. Stopping by the nearest drive-through restaurant, Lexi ordered some much-needed food, and then cut across town to Ramsey’s office.

  Last night, she had told him all about Chyna’s freak-out about the wedding and how she was going to come into town for the weekend to celebrate. He had been ecstatic to hear it. By the look on his face, it almost seemed like he had been afraid that Lexi wasn’t excited about the prospect of their engagement. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited. She had just had so much other stuff piled on top of her all at once. Listening to Chyna freak out about it had brought Lexi back to reality, and now, she was looking forward to the celebration.

  In fact, she was on her way right now to celebrate. She had gotten out of work a little early, and she was surprising Ramsey at the office. They hadn’t spent as much time together prior to the engagement, and she thought it would be a sign of goodwill, proving that she really was invested in him. She loved him. All this talk of divorce made her anxious to show it.

  Lexi had a pass to the staff parking lot, so she could come and go whenever she wanted. She found the closest open spot and parked her car. She had stuffed down the burger while she was driving, and she was finally starting not to desperately crave food. She could still eat more, but she didn’t feel like she was dying. Maybe she could grab something light with Ramsey on the way home. She smiled at the thought as she entered the medical wing.

  It was a bustle of activity as doctors, nurses, and patients flitted about in the midst of activity. Lexi smiled at a wide-eyed receptionist at the front. She had caramel-colored skin with long black hair and brown e
yes.

  “Hey, Cierra!” Lexi said with a wave.

  Cierra had been with the company since day one, and Lexi thought she was one of the best hires. Cierra had a great smile and was always able to calm people down like no one else.

  “Hey, Lexi!” she said, waving. “Good to see you today. How is your case coming along? Are you kicking ass?”

  Lexi chuckled and shook her head. “I wish it were over. How are things here?”

  “Peachy. Smooth-sailing. Some of the doctors called out. I guess something has been going around, but it’s been fine. No complaints at least,” Cierra said with a giggle.

  “They should know better than to complain to you about it anyway.”

  “You know that’s the truth.”

  A patient walked up then, and Lexi stepped back.

  “See you later, Cierra.”

  “Bye, girl.”

  Ramsey’s office was on the top floor of the colossal building. He had always preferred his office at the clubs to be shrouded in secrecy with a full view of everything else that was going on. He hadn’t wanted something so extravagant, but the architects had said that offices were best on the top floors to get them out of the way. Then, they had kind of gone out of their way to make sure Ramsey had something nice. He had considered firing them over it, but Lexi had talked him off the edge. It had been a nice gesture.

  She stepped out onto the top floor and over to Ramsey’s office. The lights were off, and his secretary was missing. He hated having a secretary, but with the added responsibilities, it was a necessity.

  He should still be here though. He never left the office this early. Plus, most days, he would call her to let her know when he was on his way home to her. Sometimes, she was impressively domesticated, and she would cook him dinner if she got home first. She wasn’t a great cook by a long shot, but he never complained about it.

  And that was why she was a bit confused as to where he was.

  Lexi pulled out her phone to call him when she heard voices coming from next door. Maybe someone else knew where he was.

  Taking a deep breath, she walked to the other office—Parker’s office. Her secretary was also absent, Lexi noticed as she approached. Her stomach knotted uncontrollably even though she knew she was overreacting. Ramsey had proposed to her last week. There was nothing going on with him and Parker. There hadn’t been anything going on with them for years. She wished her stomach would cooperate, but it wouldn’t. It never did when she knew they were together. And she most certainly knew they were together now.