by K. A. Linde
Her hands balled into fists as she rounded the corner and stared through the glass windows into Parker’s office. It was as it always was—a hot mess. Paperwork was stacked high on every surface. Parker rarely ever got to them because she would spend more time in surgery, helping people, than anywhere else. Medical equipment sat in boxes, some half-opened, some still in plastic containers, while a few others were out and looked like she had been trying them out. A bicycle was in the corner. Lexi wasn’t sure what it was doing there. Parker didn’t live close enough to bike into work, and Lexi wasn’t sure what people would think if Parker took that thing into the elevators. Some clothes had been strewn into the corner—a couple pairs of scrubs, the black maxi dress she had worn yesterday, a few other random articles of clothing, and at least three pairs of shoes. She must practically live here.
But what Lexi didn’t want to take in as she surveyed the room was what she couldn’t help but see.
Ramsey was sitting on the couch, completely relaxed, with one arm on the armrest and the other on the back of the couch. He had a gigantic smile on his face, and he looked like he had been laughing all afternoon. Parker was lying back on the couch, her head on the opposite armrest, with her feet pressed against Ramsey’s thigh. As Lexi stood there, she watched Parker say something that Lexi couldn’t make out. Parker then threw her head back in laughter as she kicked out at Ramsey for whatever he had said in response.
Lexi felt numb from her fingers to her toes. She stared unblinkingly at the display before her, knowing that it was just them. It was just Ramsey and Parker and the way they interacted, the way they had always interacted. It was this inherent familiarity that they had since they had known each other their whole lives…and loved nearly as long. Chyna had once equated it to how Lexi was with Jack.
Maybe it was. Maybe it was platonic at this point. Maybe it shouldn’t make her sick.
It wasn’t like they were having sex on the couch or anything. They weren’t actually doing anything, except sitting around and laughing. They were completely clothed aside from Parker not wearing shoes. There was no reason for Lexi to feel like this, but she still did.
Ramsey noticed Lexi first, straightening visibly before standing. Parker realized that Lexi was there next, but instead of adjusting herself, she just smiled brighter and waved Lexi inside.
Lexi moved mechanically to the door and walked in. A part of her wanted to turn around and just walk away. She wouldn’t do it, of course. Ramsey and Parker hadn’t been doing anything wrong. Lexi was just making up about a billion scenarios in her head. But that was all it was—her imagination getting the best of her.
“Hey, y’all,” Lexi said as the door closed behind her.
“Lexi, speak of the devil, we were literally just talking about you,” Parker said, her feet falling onto the ground as she sat up on the couch.
Just talking about me now…when you were laughing?
That was what Lexi wanted to ask, but of course, she didn’t.
“What about?” she asked instead.
“We were talking about the look on my parents’ faces when we made our announcement this weekend,” Ramsey filled in.
That was funny? Lexi thought it had been pretty horrifying.
“Anything that makes them look like that is a good thing,” Parker threw out there.
“And here I thought, they hated me,” Lexi said, staring between them.
Parker shifted her feet and stared at the ground.
Ramsey shook his head and started to walk toward her. “They don’t hate you.”
“They don’t treat many people very well,” Parker said. “I mean, they were rotten to me for years.”
Ramsey turned to look at Parker, who promptly closed her mouth.
Lexi shrugged. Great. Now, she was being compared to Parker. Well, it wasn’t the first time.
“At least I have years then, I guess,” Lexi said. She knew it probably sounded bitchy, and the words had only tumbled out of her mouth because she was so thrown by the situation.
Parker pursed her lips, and Ramsey took another step toward Lexi.
“Can I talk to you?” Lexi asked.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Ramsey said, taking her hand. “See you tomorrow, Parker.”
“Bye, y’all,” she said softly as they exited the office.
Ramsey walked next to Lexi down the hallway. He opened the door to his office for her and flipped on the lights. Once the door closed behind him, he turned back around toward Lexi, who had moved to the center of the room.
She felt pretty shitty for saying that to Parker. Nothing was going on. But it was hard not to feel upset about it all, especially after the summer. She just wanted to forget everything about it. She really just wanted a life without Parker, but it wasn’t one she could have. Ramsey and Parker were working together. They had opened a company together. Lexi had said she was okay with it. So, she just needed to be okay with it.
“Sorry,” she said immediately, shaking her head. She was flustered, and it sucked! “I got off work early. I wanted to surprise you. I feel dumb.”
“Lexi, it’s all right. You’re not dumb. I’m glad you’re here.” He walked across the room and pulled her into his arms.
She breathed in his peppermint scent and let it calm her nerves. This engagement was making her a spaz. She needed to chill.
“You know there’s nothing between Parker and me,” Ramsey stated calmly.
“I know,” she said. “I know there’s nothing. I’m not worried. I just feel dumb.”
“Stop calling my fiancée all of these terrible things. She’s wonderful and beautiful and mine,” he whispered before he leaned forward and kissed her.
Lexi tilted her head back and opened her mouth to meet him. God, he tasted heavenly. She wound her hands behind his neck and let him press his body flush against hers. Their lips moved together, breaths intermingled, hands desperately held on to each other…to forget everything else.
She wanted to push the moment. She wanted to take this feeling and stretch it to infinity. Because here, right now, she didn’t feel anything but his lips on hers. She didn’t overanalyze, she didn’t reconsider, she didn’t freak out. She just felt Ramsey—her fiancé. She actually allowed herself to feel rather than think.
He broke away before she was ready, and he laughed when she tried to pull him back down to her.
“I think your phone is buzzing.”
“Shit!” she said, digging through her bag and pulling it out. “It’s my boss.” Lexi answered the phone. “Chuck, how are you?”
“I just got a hold of my friend, the divorce attorney you were bothering me about,” he said with no preamble.
“Oh, that’s great. Thank you, sir,” she said, a smile spreading on her face.
“His name is Richard Brian with Brian & Hancock. I’ve given him your information. He’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Thank you very much. I look forward to his call.”
“Yes, well, don’t forget to work on the Bryant case.”
“I’m on top of it, sir.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The line went dead in her hand, and she placed the phone back into her purse.
“What was that about?” Ramsey asked, his eyebrows scrunching together.
“I asked my boss for a recommendation for a divorce attorney, and he just called me back with a name.”
“A divorce attorney…” Ramsey said. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Lexi as if waiting for an explanation.
“Yeah,” she said, the excitement over getting the name draining out of her.
Ramsey didn’t look happy about it.
“Lexi, why are you getting involved in that?” he asked, shaking his head. “I’m assuming that’s for Jack.”
“It is.”
“I just…don’t see any possible gain from you getting involved. If Bekah really has information on him cheating on her, then the best possible thing for yo
u, your career, your future…fuck, our future…is to just stay far, far away.”
“I’m not involved,” she said stubbornly.
“He called you when he found out. He wanted to talk to you about it. He wanted your advice. And now, you’re getting him an attorney,” Ramsey said, ticking these things off on his fingers. “You’re already involved.”
“Well, that’s the end of it anyway. He is doing everything after this point.”
“Are you sure?” he pleaded.
“Look, what do you want me to do? Your sister…” She shook her head and glanced away. “She’s going to try to bury him six feet under. She knew Jack’s past. I fucking told her about his past. After accepting that and marrying him anyway, she is going to try to divorce him over it? That’s just twisted.”
“It’s their problem. Please don’t make it our problem, too.”
“It’s not my problem. It’s not your problem. But at the same time, we are invested in it, Ramsey. It would be stupid to think we aren’t. Bekah is your sister. Jack is one of my closest friends.”
“No,” Ramsey said, putting his foot down. “We can’t get involved in this. Promise me that you’ll stay out of it, Lexi.” His voice softened at the end, and he pulled her back in for a kiss.
She let him kiss her with the unanswered promise hanging between them.
OCTOBER—TWO YEARS EARLIER
Lexi stood outside of the conference room in the rented office space where the Bridges medical wing team was working. She had thought it was strange that they would rent space when they had all of Bridges Enterprise to use for the conferences with Global as well as the contractors, architects, and various other businesses they were working with to get this building up and running. But Ramsey had told her that when they had first gotten the place, they had wanted something semipermanent near where they would break ground.
Apparently, the location of the new Bridges tower was far enough away from the rest of Bridges Enterprise to warrant this. Lexi thought it was ridiculous. The plot was already being cleared, but it wasn’t like they would be looking up at a skyscraper next week or anything. Why waste the money? Besides the fact that they could
This was why she had never gone into business. She found it incredibly boring—not that law didn’t have its moments, but this whole thing just looked like a headache.
Some days, she was happy that Ramsey was keeping her in the know about every little detail, and other days, she felt herself zoning out. Really, he could settle with what was important and stick the rest through some kind of filter.
She yawned and sank back into a chair. Ramsey had said the meeting wouldn’t be that long, and she could come with him if she wanted. This was her last Friday before she started her new job, and she had thought she would get to spend some time with Ramsey, finish unpacking a few of the stray boxes from New York, and get prepped for the big day on Monday before heading out to the D-Bags show with Jack later that night. But one meeting had turned into three, and she still couldn’t believe that three hours later, she was wasting the day in meetings.
Lexi had sat through the first one, but when it had become clear that it was a bunch of gibberish that she couldn’t comprehend, she had lost interest in trying and dipped out. The battery of her smartphone was dying a slow death, and if it didn’t last to the end of this meeting, she was definitely going to leave.
Shuffling in the other room brought her out of her thoughts, and she stood, praying to anyone who would listen that they could leave. She was never agreeing to this again.
Several contractors walked out of the room without so much as a glance in her direction, and then the door closed. Lexi sighed and fell back into the chair. Seriously? She could not handle waiting. It was the worst thing ever.
A second later, the door opened again, and John walked out. Lexi raised her eyebrow when he looked over at her still seated.
He smiled brightly when he saw her. “You want to get out of here?”
“Desperately,” she said, lifting her eyes to the ceiling and leaning back in the chair.
“We could go get something to eat,” he suggested.
She didn’t even have to glance at him to know he was smirking.
“You want me to walk out on you again?” Lexi asked
He chuckled, and she did look at him then. He had on dark dress slacks and a gray button-up, rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair was neat, but he was sporting a five o’clock shadow that really worked on his cut features.
“They’re sticking around to talk for a few more minutes. I needed something to drink. Could you at least manage a walk to Starbucks?”
Coffee. Heaven. Life force. “Yes, I think I can manage anything for coffee.”
Lexi stood and stretched with a yawn. She wasn’t even tired, but she had been sitting there so long that she almost felt exhausted. Plus, the mention of coffee had made her brain seem to slow down as if it couldn’t function properly on her caffeine addiction without the stuff running through her veins.
They walked out of the building and down the steps to the sidewalk. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and ducked her head against the wind. John looked at her questioningly with humor in his eyes.
“What?” she demanded.
“How are you cold? This weather is beautiful.”
“You live in New York. You’re used to the freezing weather.”
“Didn’t you live in New York for the past three years?” he asked.
“I never adjusted to the temperature change,” she said with a shrug.
“Well, I think you’re crazy. Sixty degrees is not freezing.”
“In the South, it is.”
“Right. It’s not where I grew up in Michigan. It’s laughable,” he told her.
“Laugh all you want,” she grumbled. “I’m still cold.”
“Good thing we’re here then, huh?”
John opened the door to Starbucks, and Lexi walked inside, shaking off the cold that had sunk into her cardigan.
They walked up to the counter. John ordered a chai tea latte and then allowed Lexi to order.
“Just a venti coffee for me.”
“Cream and sugar?” the associate asked.
“No, thank you. Black is fine.”
John smirked at that, too, and she didn’t even bother asking him about it. Most guys didn’t expect girls to drink their coffee straight. With as much as she drank, she would gain a million pounds if she added anything to it. Not to mention, she had gotten used to the taste in college and had never gone back.
John paid for the drinks, and then they set back out for the conference room. Lexi blew on her coffee. She didn’t want to scald her mouth, but she really wanted to drink it. Giving up, she dove in and started drinking the steaming brew.
“So…you moved in with Ramsey, I hear,” John said.
Lexi sputtered on her coffee. It was pretty freaking hot.
“Yeah, I did,” Lexi finally got out.
“Kind of quick, isn’t it?”
“Not really. We were living together before I moved back to New York.”
“And that worked out so well for you,” he said dryly.
“How do you even know we moved in together?” Lexi asked.
She hadn’t talked to John since that night when she had walked out on him. She figured he had moved on. After all, he was attractive and charming. He could get any other girl he wanted. She just needed him not to focus on her.
“A little birdie told me.”
Lexi turned to face him, narrowing her eyes. “A little birdie?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss.”
“You have someone feeding you my personal information, and you won’t tell me who said it?” she asked. That sounded like some pretty messed-up bullshit to her.
“That is what not being at liberty to discuss means,” he said with a glimmer in his hazel eyes.
“Well, you tell your little birdie to fuck off for me!” she spat.
&
nbsp; John burst out laughing and shook his head. “My little spitfire. You never do what I expect. It’s really hot.”
Lexi rolled her eyes and took another sip of her coffee. “I’m serious.”
“That’s what makes it all the better.”
They made it back to the office, and Lexi turned to face him. She didn’t want this little birdie to keep broadcasting her information. John didn’t need to know what she was up to. She had closed that door, and she wanted it to remain firmly closed. She couldn’t do that when he kept flirting with her, buying her coffee, and instigating the banter while he knew so much about her new life. If it were the chase he was after, she would have to show him that she had meant what she said. Ramsey was the one she had agreed to commit to. Someone who thought sex was the end game wouldn’t cut it—even if John would deny that to his last breath.
“So, are you really not going to tell me who told you?”
“If you think about it, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he said, clearly enjoying having the upper hand. “Aren’t you going to a concert with your ex tonight…the married ex?”
“That’s really none of your business,” Lexi shot back defensively.
“I sure hope this isn’t the one who I can’t compare to because if you thought going to dinner with me bordered on bad ideas…” He trailed off.
“This conversation is over. You’re just poking at something you don’t understand,” she said.
He was getting her flustered, and she needed to extricate herself from the situation. He didn’t know her history. He didn’t know about Jack or even about Ramsey. John most certainly didn’t what she had gone through to get to the point where Jack was married. And it was quite clear that John had no idea that she would have preferred to go with anyone else other than Jack to this show. So, while him prodding her for a reaction was working, it was surfacing the wrong emotions.
“Don’t be mad,” he said, reaching for her elbow.