by K. A. Linde
“He already knows,” Lexi said defiantly. “And seeing as I broke up with him…it’s really none of your business.”
Bekah had the decency to look surprised. Lexi had actually surprised the Bitch who seemed to know everything. It was a gratifying experience.
“You weren’t good enough for my brother,” Bekah said, gloating.
Lexi glared at her. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“Visiting my husband, you whore.”
Bekah’s eyes roamed Lexi’s body, clad completely in Jack’s clothing, like she was some two-cent slut Jack had picked up on the street. Lexi stood there, letting Bekah assess her, without so much as flinching.
She knew that Jack and Bekah had been legally separated for nine months, and as long as they weren’t living together, they could date whoever they wanted in that time. Lexi knew the law. There was absolutely nothing Bekah could do about it unless it had been happening before Bekah filed for divorce, but it hadn’t.
“Bekah, you’re divorcing me. I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Jack cut in right away.
“You know what?” Lexi said, stepping forward. “You remember the time I saw you after the temporary hearing? I really meant it when I said that none of this was your business. I still mean it.”
“Well, he’s still my husband,” Bekah said with a sadistic smile. “And we were having a conversation. So, you can just run along now.” Bekah actually rolled her eyes and flitted her hand at Lexi like she was a fly that needed to be shooed away.
Lexi took a deep breath before surging forward, ready to claw the Bitch’s face off, but she was cut short when Jack spoke up.
“The answer is no,” he said. “I don’t know what made you change your mind, but I don’t want us to try to work it out. Maybe nine months ago when you first gave me the papers. Maybe. Even then, I don’t know.”
Lexi stared with her mouth slack. Bekah had come here…to try to win him back. What the fuck? What would possess her to do that after nine months into a divorce with only a week before the whole damn thing became official? Bekah had worked her ass off to make sure that Jack was seen as the supposed cheater that he was, going as far as pressuring him out of her own company. Why would she try to get him to come back? What possessed that crazy woman?
“It’s Lexi,” Jack said. He took a step toward Lexi, found her hand, and laced their fingers together. “She’s what I want.”
“You don’t think that it’s disgusting she broke up with my brother and decided to jump into bed with you?”
“No,” Jack said flatly.
“Oh, that’s perfect,” Bekah said, taking a step back. “You’re both perfect sloppy seconds. Not good enough for anyone else but another lying, cheating scumbag.”
“Bekah,” Jack warned, his eyes fiery.
She raised her hand and stopped him. “Oh, please…save it for court. You’ll need all the help you can get.”
“You should get the hell out of my place,” Jack said, raising his voice and pointing his free hand at the door. “Right now.”
“Allow me to leave you to your adulterous ways,” she said, throwing her hands up and backing out.
Bekah turned to say something to Lexi, but Jack cut in front of her line of vision.
“Don’t you dare say one more word to her. She’s too good for your bullshit, Bekah,” Jack growled. “Now, get out.”
Bekah opened her mouth to say something else, something likely villainous, but Jack snapped his fingers in front of her face.
He repeated himself, “Out! Get the fuck out!”
And Bekah did the unthinkable. She actually turned and walked out of Jack’s apartment without saying another word. Lexi wasn’t too sure if that was for the better with the way her devilish mind worked, but she was just glad to have Bekah gone. Jack had told her to leave…and she had.
Lexi was still reeling from the outburst when Jack scooped her up in his arms and started to carry her back into the bedroom.
“Wha—”
“I don’t want you to think about what she said for one second,” he whispered, walking into the bedroom and tossing her back onto the bed.
“I’m not worried about her, Jack.”
“I know you’re not, Lex,” he said, crawling across the bed to her and brushing aside the hair that had fallen out of her messy ponytail.
“How can you even imagine that I could be thinking about anything else but you telling her that I’m what you want?”
Jack’s smirk returned with full force, and he kissed her lips until she had to pull back breathlessly.
“You’re all I want,” he whispered, his mouth touching her lips. “You’re all I want,” he repeated. His lips dropped onto the corner of her mouth.
He repeated the phrase each time he kissed her cheek, her nose, her eyelashes, each temple, her earlobe until she was smiling from ear to ear, lost in the words echoing through her mind.
You’re all I want.
She was all he wanted.
PRESENT
Lexi knew that it wasn’t a good idea to walk into the courtroom with Jack.
As a lawyer, she knew that she wasn’t in the wrong in her relationship with him. She knew that they could be together right now while he and Bekah were separated. But the lawyer in her also knew that walking into a courtroom for his divorce proceedings when his wife was trying to prove that he had cheated on her was idiotic. She would kill her client if the person even thought about it.
Jack’s attorney, Richard, had basically said the same thing when Jack addressed it at the follow-up meeting that Lexi had attended with him. Even Lexi had looked at Jack like he was a crazy person when he had suggested it, but Jack hadn’t backed down.
How long had they been in hiding? How long had they pushed their relationship aside to deal with the rest of their lives? Well, they didn’t want that to define them going forward. Jack wanted to show solidarity. He wasn’t afraid of Bekah, and based on the evidence, he was certain she didn’t have a case that could prove he had cheated on her—because he hadn’t.
Lexi had gone through the paperwork sent over by the Bridges’ attorney, and she just felt like something was missing. She didn’t know what it was, but with how thorough Bekah had been with all of her other evil plotting, Lexi just didn’t find it airtight. But they could only work with what they had sent over, so Lexi tried to let the feeling pass.
And even though she knew it was a bad idea…she couldn’t possibly stay away. She not only wanted to be there for Jack, she needed to be there for him.
That was how she ended up with the day off work, the first official day since Chyna’s wedding, standing outside the courthouse with Jack at her side. This was her job, her specialty and it felt strange being in court, not dressed to take down her next unsuspecting victim. Without the case, the power suit, the certainty that she was in this to win, she felt vulnerable.
She had picked out a sensible square-top black dress tapered to a fitted waist with a flare A-line skirt. She had paired it with a gold belt, long gold necklace, and her trusty pair of black Manolos. She had braided the front of her hair back with half hanging loose in spiral to the middle of her back. She completed the ensemble with neutral makeup and the softest pink lip gloss—Jack’s favorite.
“Please stop fidgeting,” Jack whispered, taking her hand and wrapping his other arm around her waist. “You’re going to make me nervous.”
“I’m not nervous,” Lexi said, showing the air of confidence her stomach didn’t have.
Jack looked gorgeous in a gray suit with a tie to match his eyes. He had even gotten his hair cut even though she had begged him not to. What was she supposed to hold on to?
“Lex,” he said, his hand running up her arm, across her shoulder, and to her ear where he looped her hair behind her ear, “you were never a good liar.”
“I just…have this weird feeling. It’ll pass. Don’t worry about it,” she said softly.
“You want to tell me about it?”
<
br /> He played with the loose strands at the base of her neck, and it took a lot of effort not to sigh and close her eyes to his touch.
“It’s just a big day. A lot rides on the outcome.”
“You and I don’t ride on the outcome,” Jack said softly. “No matter what actually happens inside…I’ll be free to be yours and only yours.”
“You already are.”
“Legally.”
“Legally, you’re mine, too,” she teased.
Jack gave her a knowing smirk and planted a kiss on her lips. “Not yet, but you will be. Someone has to make an honest woman out of you.”
“Jack Howard,” she cried, smacking him on the arm.
He laughed at her outburst and looped her arm with his. “There’s my Lexi.”
She shook her head at him as they walked to the building and through the double doors. They passed through security and into the lobby of the courthouse. It was an enormous old building set in an old Southern style with large white columns and a grand staircase leading up to the many ascending floors. The civil courtroom where the divorce proceedings would be taking place was off the right wing of the building, and Lexi walked with Jack in that direction.
Standing with her arms on her narrow hips, Bekah was talking to a team of lawyers as well as her daddy and another Bridges associate Lexi had seen around but still didn’t know his name. Bekah looked like the queen bitch she was in a knee-length black pencil skirt with a long-sleeved cream blouse tucked into it. Her nude heels were on the shorter, more modest side. The only jewelry on her body was the pearls in her ears. Her makeup was light, and she had her natural blonde hair pinned back, out of her face.
Victim.
She was always trying to play the victim. It was how she got away with everything. Sugary, sweet outside, but a sour, rotten human being on the inside.
Out of the corner of her eye, Bekah eyed Jack and Lexi, dropping her gaze to where their hands were linked before flitting back up to their faces. Bekah didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Lexi could see the contempt on her face from a mile off. She pushed Jack toward Richard, who was standing off to the side and fumbling through a stack of papers in his hands.
“Good, you’re here,” Richard said, his face drawn and tense when he looked at Lexi.
“Right on time,” Jack said.
“I see that you still showed.”
Lexi bit her lip and nodded. The look on Bekah’s face had been enough to know that Lexi was needed here. In a way, it was deeply satisfying knowing that while Bekah had married Jack…she had never really had his heart. He had just been fighting his love for Lexi all along. He certainly hadn’t found what he was looking for in a match with the Bitch.
Richard blew out heavily. He looked like this case was causing him a lot of grief. Lexi hadn’t picked him because it was going to be easy. She hoped he wasn’t losing his grip.
“There have been some last-minute changes. Sorry to repeat myself, Lexi, but I wish you would have stayed home.”
“Last minute?” Lexi asked, furrowing her brow.
“What happened?” Jack asked. He crossed his arms, his jaw set. He looked like he was ready to get right down to business.
Despite the situation, Lexi smiled, admiring the man that he had become.
“It seems the judge has allowed the Bridges to admit some last-minute evidence into the case,” Richard said, shaking his head. “In all my years…”
“Fuck,” Lexi said, feeling the other shoe drop. She knew that packet had felt incomplete. What was the Bitch hiding?
Richard handed Jack a packet of information, and Lexi glanced over his shoulder to read what it said. She skimmed through the legal jargon that warranted Bekah admitting new evidence after the designated discovery period. Lexi’s mind was already trying to figure out how to get this thrown out. There was no way this could be admissible in court. Why had the judge allowed Bekah to submit this?
Because Bekah owned the judge.
Lexi had suspected before, but this seemed to confirm it in her eyes. No judge would have just allowed Bekah to produce new material without some serious justification. Bekah was strategic in holding back this information. She didn’t want anyone to see it until the day of. She didn’t want to give Jack a chance for a rebuttal. Now, they only had an hour before court was in session to discuss what to do with the new information…unless they requested a change in date.
Looking at Jack just then told her that there was no way he would agree to that. He was ready to be rid of Bekah. He would go through with it even if it were against his better judgment. When would they next get a court date? Bekah wouldn’t push for a quicker date, knowing that Lexi and Jack were together. She would delay, delay, delay.
Lexi pinched the bridge of her nose, understanding then why Richard looked more run-down with the weight of this news.
And then, Jack flipped the page.
Her mouth dropped open, and she braced herself against Jack’s arm. It was a photograph of her and Jack. They were at the beach. She was wrapped in his arms, her head resting on his chest. She couldn’t tell from the angle that she had been crying. It just looked like they were together…really together. The next ten pages were of that night.
Lexi’s heart raced as she looked at each one individually. These were from so long ago.
The next picture was of them at the D-Bags show. Shit! Whoever had taken the picture had somehow zoomed in enough to get their hands laced together. She had completely forgotten about that. It had been friendly. It hadn’t been anything at all. It hadn’t happened like that.
Jack flipped through the pictures, one at a time. There were dozens of them together—some in his apartment, others at lunches together, one of him opening the door to her office after-hours. Lexi felt herself hyperventilating. Bekah had been tailing them. With the quality of these, Bekah must have hired a private investigator.
Then, Jack turned to the back, and they both stared slack-jawed at a picture that, while it was grainy and hard to see, was unmistakably them. Neither would ever forget that night. Lexi’s back was pressed firmly against a wall, her red dress hiked up over her hips with her legs wrapped around his waist. There was no mistaking what was going on.
She was so shocked by the sheer volume of pictures and the story being told that Lexi couldn’t even get her mind working to tell Richard how much this was complete and utter bullshit. Jack had to get these thrown out. It wasn’t true, but goddamn it, from this storyline, it looked believable to even her. Lexi could account for every moment when these pictures had been captured. None of them were doctored, but also none of them were of her and Jack cheating…except for the last one.
“No,” Lexi said, shaking her head. “Let’s find a room to talk this out. It’s a false trail. She’s planted a false trail. She’s fucking falsifying evidence. Oh, I’ll skin her alive!”
“That’s a great idea,” Richard said, gesturing for them to walk down a hallway.
Lexi could hear the lilt in Bekah’s laughter as they walked away. It took every ounce of Lexi’s strength not to turn around and claw the Bitch’s face off.
They stepped into an open room, and Richard closed the door.
“Are either of you going to explain this to me, so we can have a starting point on how to address it?”
“Have the judge throw it out! It’s not permissible.”
Richard shook his head. “We need a plan of attack. The judge has already agreed to keep it. He took one look at it and said it was too important not to include.”
“What was their reasoning for not having it earlier?” she cried.
“The private investigator was waiting for video footage that was held up,” Richard said, shaking his head. “Bullshit. That’s how I know it’s all wrong. So, one of you needs to start explaining. We don’t have time.”
Richard yanked out a chair and took a seat. After retrieving his legal pad and a pen, they launched into the story. They explained every single
picture in complete detail. Neither of them wavered in their stories because it was the truth. For once, they had absolutely nothing to hide.
“And the last one?” Richard asked, raising his eyebrow.
Lexi looked at Jack, and he sighed and nodded.
“It was the night before I proposed to Bekah,” Jack said.
Richard dropped his pen. “You’re really not helping me.”
“It’s the truth though. Bekah knew about it before we got married.”
Lexi chimed in. “I was there. I told her about it. I can name almost ten people who were witness to that.”
“It’s too late for witnesses, but this will have to do. Is there anything else either of you can think of that would change the tides? They’ll work this storyline pretty hard. I can already tell.”
Jack and Lexi glanced at each other, trying to decide if there was anything else, but there wasn’t.
“All right. This is what we’re going to do…”
This entire thing hinged on whether or not they could prove that Jack hadn’t cheated. If he hadn’t signed that damn prenup with Bekah—saying that if either of them cheated, the one at fault had to pay the other a sizable, crippling amount of money and give up all of the assets—then none of this would even matter. It would be a normal fifty-fifty split, like every other divorce.
Forty-five minutes later, when they were called into the courtroom, they had a game plan for how they were going to approach the new evidence. Lexi took a deep breath, and Jack grabbed her hand again.
He squeezed it lightly and smiled down at her. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through this. Lying never seemed to work. Maybe telling the truth will do us some good,” he said with a wink.
Lexi smiled weakly up at him. She wanted to have his optimism in that moment, but this had gone from good to bad to worse in a matter of minutes. She didn’t want Bekah to demoralize Jack…to tear him down until there was nothing left. Lexi didn’t want to think Bekah was capable of it, but Lexi didn’t know. She just didn’t know.
They left the room behind and walked down to the entrance of the courtroom. Bekah smugly walked in before them. The way she looked at them made it seem like she had already won.
