The Avoiding Series Boxset

by K. A. Linde

  “Lexi,” someone called as they veered away from the groundbreaking area.

  John came into view, and she almost groaned. As far as she knew, he hadn’t met Jack yet. This was going to be fun.

  “You aren’t leaving, are you?”

  “No. I was just going to get some water,” she lied through her teeth.

  Jack looked away and tried to hide a smile. She must really suck at lying. Well, after being out of practice for a couple of years now, that tended to happen. It was a good thing as far as she was concerned.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met,” John said, holding his hand out to Jack. “John Ward. I’m one of the leads on the medical wing project through Global.”

  Jack took John’s hand in his and squeezed. “Jack Howard. I’m a senior accounting executive at Bridges.”

  Worlds collided.

  Lexi wanted to run as fast as she could until her lungs burned, her legs shook, her breathing came out in gasps, and she literally couldn’t carry herself any farther. That would be better than standing here in this moment.

  They released hands, but something had shifted in John. She didn’t know what it was, but she was sure she wouldn’t like it.

  “Come on, Jack. I really need that water,” she said, pushing him in the opposite direction.

  “Is this the guy?” John asked before she could run off.

  Jack’s features screwed up at the question, and Lexi wished she could just keep walking.

  “What?” she managed.

  “The one I don’t compare to?”

  Lexi groaned. Great. Her words were getting thrown back at her.

  Jack’s head snapped to the side to look at Lexi, but she couldn’t even meet his eyes.

  “Huh. I thought he’d be a little…bigger,” John said, sizing Jack up.

  “John, just cut it out.”

  “Lex, what is he talking about?” Jack demanded.

  “I could take him,” John said offhand.

  He smiled at her with that insufferably arrogant look on his face, and she just waited for a fucking fight to break out.

  Christ! Neither of these guys were even her boyfriend! Her boyfriend was currently with his ex-girlfriend. Perfect.

  “Jack is married,” she told John, surprised that she managed to say it without wincing. “In fact, he’s married to a Bridges vice president. Jack and I are just friends, and you’re acting like an asshole.”

  “Oh, wait,” Jack said, like something had clicked into place. “You’re Adam’s brother.”

  “Adam is my younger brother.”

  “He’s the dick you fucked when you went back to New York?” Jack asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

  John actually laughed at that.

  Great! She was a big fucking joke right now.

  “That is none of your business. None of this is either of your business,” she said, smacking John for laughing and then smacking Jack just as hard. “Both of you can fuck off.”

  Lexi stormed away. As if she wasn’t already angry enough with Ramsey, those two had to have a fucking dick-measuring contest right in front of her. She couldn’t believe John had brought that stuff up about Jack right in front of him, and then Jack had laid out her dirty laundry where anyone could fucking see!

  Jack caught up to her easily. “Lex, Lex, slow down. Come on, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out for her to stop her in place. “I was surprised, that’s all.”

  She slowed to a walk, and Jack fell into step next to her. He didn’t say anything else, and she didn’t really want to know what he was thinking. She wanted to get the fucking water she had said she was going to get and then get back to Ramsey. Maybe he would be done with Parker by then! She almost growled in frustration at the thought. What the hell had her world come to? She knew that this groundbreaking ceremony was going to be a bad idea. Too many people in one place.

  Lexi sauntered into the conference building and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. She took a long swig with a sigh. Jack was staring at her, and she didn’t even care at this point. Maybe she should have just refused attending. That would have been the smart thing even though Ramsey would have likely objected to that.

  “Hey, what was he talking about back there?” Jack finally asked.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “You told him that he doesn’t compare to me?” He looked surprised by the admission.

  “Please just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Jack stood there silently for a minute. She wasn’t sure if he was pissed or just curious, but she didn’t care. Ramsey was out there with Parker. John had brought up all that bullshit with Jack. And Jack…why the fuck was she even angry with him? For laying out her dirt in front of everyone? For even just being here when he was fucking married to Bekah?

  She shook her head and stared away from those blue eyes.

  “Should I just leave?” he asked.

  Lexi nodded, still looking away.

  “You know,” he said, grasping her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him, “just because you’re pissed at Ramsey doesn’t mean you have to shut me out.”

  “I’m not shutting you out,” she grumbled.

  “Liar.”

  “Just stop it, Jack,” Lexi said, shaking him off. “What do you want me to say anyway?”

  “I just want you to stop acting like you have to go through everything alone. And, Jesus, I don’t think one question should set you off.”

  His blue eyes were heated, and she just wanted to punch him…or maybe…

  Nope. It was just Jack. Breathe in. Breathe out.

  “I’m perfectly fine.”

  “Do I need to call you a liar again?”

  “You need to shut the fuck up.”

  “I’m not the only one. You’re acting like an idiot when I’m trying to help you.”

  “So, now, I’m an idiot?” Lexi asked.

  “You are if you don’t calm down.”

  Lexi swallowed and held her breath. She was angry and all riled up—not a good combination around Jack. He wouldn’t do anything about it, but damn, if she didn’t stop herself…she didn’t know if he would hold to that.

  She was angry with Ramsey, not Jack. She didn’t need to take this out on him. It wasn’t fair to him. She had been taking out her frustrations on him for long enough.

  As if he could sense her shift in mood, he chanced his luck. “Are you going to tell me what he was talking about or leave me wondering?”

  “I broke things off with John last August after your…” She swallowed. She could say it. “After your wedding. He didn’t take kindly to it.”

  “He seems like the type,” Jack said with a smug smirk.

  She was going to smack it off his face if he didn’t keep it together.

  “I told him that he reminded me of you but that he couldn’t compare…you know, with all of our history,” she ended softly.

  Jack nodded. “Very few people can compare with our history…and maybe that’s a good thing.”

  Lexi realized they were still standing close together, and she took a step back. She didn’t really want to breathe him in and fall back into that history. She wasn’t even sure how to interpret that last comment. Was he glad because so few people had ever been this affected by someone else like this or glad that others didn’t have to go through so much bullshit? She certainly wasn’t going to ask him.

  “We should probably head back outside now that I have my water. I’d hate for people to come looking for us,” she whispered.

  Irritation flashed in his eyes, but then it was gone, and he was ushering her out of the conference office. She didn’t even have a second to wonder what that was about because as they stepped outside, it was clear that people were already looking for them. She hoped no one got the wrong impression since, clearly, absolutely nothing even remotely sexual had happened between them. Even though Ramsey was supposedly becoming more and more comfortable with the fact that she had th
e beginning of this strange friendship with Jack, he still wouldn’t be okay with her wandering off with him. It made everyone look bad.

  Ramsey caught her attention first. He looked like he wanted to stride over to her and steal her away from Jack—as if there were even a competition anymore. She tried to keep her face impassive. She was angry enough with him, and any confrontation could make her blow up in public—not a good idea. He had an image. His reputation was as important as Bekah’s at this point.

  Lexi didn’t even say anything to Jack as she walked away and headed straight for Ramsey. Parker was still at his side, but she was talking to someone else. Her eyes flashed to Lexi as she walked closer, but then Parker’s gaze quickly darted away. Lexi was sure she would never figure out Parker. What was she thinking behind those haunted eyes?

  Truthfully, it didn’t matter.

  As long as she stays out of the way.

  “Hey, baby,” Ramsey said with a smile that she knew he was faking for the press in the vicinity. “Where were you?”

  His eyes asked, What were you doing with Jack?

  “Getting some water.” She held the bottle up.

  “We’re about finished here. Are you ready to head out?”

  “I’ve been ready,” she said through a smile of her own. She was sure he had read the edge to her own comment, Before you were playing nice with Parker.

  “Great, I’ll just be a minute,” he said.

  “I’ll be right here.”

  She knew she was acting a bit crazy, but that tended to happen when her boyfriend of a year and a half told the entire world that the medical wing he was working on with his ex-girlfriend was all on her genius!

  Ramsey returned a few minutes later as promised, and they managed to duck out of the groundbreaking ceremony before she could run into any other unpleasant surprises…like Bekah.

  The ride back to their place was tense and silent. Lexi stared out the window, unseeing. Ramsey was gripping the steering wheel a little too tight. She knew she should say something, but she didn’t.

  They made it all the way up the stairs and closed the door before she burst open at the seams.

  “Parker is the mastermind behind this whole project?” she shouted at him. “She’s the reason you decided to do this? It’s all her?” Her hands were flying as she spoke, and she couldn’t keep her temper under control.

  “What do you want me to tell the cameras, Lexi? Do you want me to tell them that I fucked everything up with my girlfriend, so I did this, trying to make it right by her?” he demanded.

  “It would be a better fucking story than telling the fucking cameras that it was Parker who made you decide to do this! You want to know why that would be a better story?” she asked, striding right up to him.

  “Why, Lexi?” he asked, his green eyes narrowed and fiery.

  “Because it would have been the truth!”

  “I didn’t lie.”

  “Are you fucking serious? Because it’s news to me that Parker was the reason for any of this!”

  “Parker has been doing a lot of the work. I’ve been the Bridges name and have offered my two cents on the business side. She knows the medical side. It’s her baby.”

  “Only because she lost the other one,” she said before she could stop herself.

  Ramsey glared—actually glared at her. “Don’t talk about that,” he said calmly.

  It was a scary calm, one that was bordering on madness. She had touched on the topic that he couldn’t possibly discuss with a level head, and she knew it. She was pushing him for no good reason, pushing just because she was angry and wanted the fight in that moment. She wasn’t even playing fair.

  “I don’t like her. You said she would be gone if I wanted. You said that she didn’t have to be in our lives anymore. I don’t want her in our lives anymore,” she told him flatly.

  “I said that before I signed the contract for the medical wing,” he said, some of the fire in his eyes leaving.

  “Another broken promise,” Lexi said, shaking her head.

  “Look, I have to work with her now, and I’m doing all of this shit for you. I can’t just push Parker away when we’re in the middle of getting this company off the ground. But it changes absolutely nothing in our relationship whatsoever.”

  Lexi looked away. Sometimes, it felt like it changed a lot more than he would ever admit.

  “And what about you?”

  “What about me?” she snapped. Her temper clearly hadn’t run its course yet.

  “I have to work with Parker, but you don’t have to be around Jack, and you still are. So, why are you still around him?”

  “Yeah, I don’t work with Jack, which means I don’t have to be around him every fucking minute of every day. It means I don’t have to tell the press that he’s the reason for my next big project,” she said, raising her voice as she spoke. “It means there is distance between us.”

  “Don’t be hypocritical!”

  “Hypocritical?” Lexi cried.

  “Yes! Just because you’re not around him all the time doesn’t make it any better.”

  “Jack Howard is not my problem anymore. He is married to your sister and has been nothing but a good friend to me since that happened!”

  “No one is that good of a friend when he stares at you like he does.”

  “Are you just trying to make me mad? Are you just trying to push me away?” she asked, walking away from him.

  “Lexi, get your ass over here,” he growled. “Right now.”

  “No,” she said stubbornly.

  Ramsey took two big strides to close the distance between them before crashing his mouth down on hers. She didn’t want to enjoy this. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to slap him and tell him to get his shit together or she was out the door. Of course, she wasn’t going to leave, not really. It was an irrational anger coursing through her from months of pent-up frustration about Parker being around Ramsey, months of wondering if something was going to happen, months of keeping her mouth closed.

  Then, she hadn’t been able to keep it closed any longer.

  His hands were on her in an instant, yanking her dress over her head, unclasping her strapless bra, and grasping her breasts in his hands. Her hands went to his belt buckle. She wanted him out of these clothes. She didn’t want him in anything that matched Parker ever again.

  Once she was finished with his pants, she grabbed his tie and jerked his face back toward her. “Did y’all plan this?” she demanded.

  “Plan what?”

  “Matching. You matched.”

  Ramsey looked at her in shock, and it was enough to tell her that they hadn’t planned it. Fuck. She thought that would make her feel better, but it didn’t. It made her want to curse the universe for her bad luck.

  “We need to get you out of this now,” she said, going to work at the buttons of his shirt.

  “No time,” he grunted.

  Ramsey pushed her toward the side of the couch and bent her at the waist. Her thong fell to the floor at his insistence. She heard the zipper of his pants, and then they fell to the floor as well. He held her down, facing forward, before thrusting into her.

  Lexi cried out. She was already heated from their conversation, but he wasn’t being gentle. He was as angry as she was, and that made for a deadly combination. With one hand on her shoulder and one on her hip, Ramsey pulled back and slammed back into her over and over and over again. He had never been this rough with her before.

  It had always been good, but this was…in a different ballpark.

  She couldn’t think of anything, except him pounding inside her, her pussy clenching all around him, and the anger building in her heart.

  “I’m so fucking pissed at you,” she growled.

  “Good.”

  He didn’t give up, even an inch, and she could feel her whole body giving in. She was so fucking pissed at him, but God, did she love this man.

  “You’re going to come for me.”
/>   “No, I’m not,” she said even though she knew that she was so close to the brink she was going to explode any second.

  “Yes, you are. And I’m coming with you,” he said, reaching one hand down in front of her and stroking her clit with his finger as he continued to fuck her.

  Her body started trembling. She couldn’t hold out. And he didn’t want her to.

  The way she was feeling at that moment, she didn’t want to either. She wanted to feel him thrust up inside her as they came together. She wanted to forget their argument and just live in the here and now—knowing that they might be angry, but it would be okay. They could move on from this.

  She felt her legs give out as soon as the orgasm ripped through her body. Lexi collapsed onto the couch as Ramsey let go of her shoulder and released deep into her. His weight shifted as he grabbed on to the couch for support.

  As she lay there, panting, she looked up at him and managed to get out, “I love you, Ramsey.”

  He smiled a lazy, heartfelt smile down at her. “I love you, too.”

  PRESENT

  “You what?” Lexi shrieked through the phone.

  “Chica, chill the fuck out,” Chyna said.

  “My party is this afternoon. What do you mean you have a photo shoot in New York?”

  “It can’t be helped. Fashion week is less than a month away.”

  “I don’t care about fashion week, Chyna. It’s your best friend’s engagement party.”

  “I know,” she whined. “I tried to explain that to them, but they don’t really care. Plus, we already celebrated when we found out. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll fly you up here to go shopping for it. Oh! Better yet, let me talk to the designer about your dress. We could get it custom-made.”

  Lexi shook her head. “You’re insane. Do you know how much a custom dress costs?”

  She could almost see Chyna staring blankly. Money wasn’t an object for her. But Ramsey wouldn’t object to whatever Lexi wanted anyway. That still didn’t mean she wanted to spend ten or twenty grand on a wedding dress.

  “Don’t worry so much. You’re going to come up for fashion week, right?” Chyna asked, deftly changing the subject.