Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding #1)(138)

"Oh shit," she cried. "Chyna lost the other one and I gave her mine. I have to go find her." She turned to make an embarrassing reappearance into the club.

"She's already left," he muttered stopping her from leaving. "I think she is going to his place."

"Fuck!" Lexi could not believe her awful luck. She couldn't stay here any longer, but there was no way she could go back to the hotel. "I guess I can see if they'll make me a new one," she muttered hopefully.

"Just come back with me," Ramsey said tilting her chin up to him. She did not want him to be in her personal space right now. He was too intuitive and would surely notice her bumps and bruises. She didn't want him to ask questions. If she woke up in the morning with scrapes, bruises, and hickeys all over her, he was going to know something was up, because he certainly wasn't going to be given the opportunity to touch her in that way.

"I can't," she muttered.

"You can stay in the guest bedroom…if you want," he added for his own benefit.

"Do I have any other choice?" she grumbled wondering why the universe hated her so much.

He shook his head. "Tell them to pull the limo around," he commanded the woman as he escorted Lexi out of the building.

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My awesome reviewers are: Cupid's Psyche (I hope I answered all your questions ;) ), sammi-2688 (I adored you calling Jack pathological, because as you can see that's a good word for him), 1PitBullGurl, total romance., CaliBound, Sure as the Dawn, and Jet . Black . dbs!

K.A. Linde

Black Box

Your new beginning was a perfect ending

But I keep feeling we've already been here before

It's time you let me know let me know just let go

Tell me with so many out there why I always turn to you

Your goodbyes tear me down every time

And it's so easy to see

That the blame is on me

-Kelly Clarkson "All I Ever Wanted"

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Chapter 22: December One and a Half Years Earlier

The next morning was the gloomiest of any Lexi had witnessed since moving to New York. Snow had fallen the night before after Lexi had made it safely back to her apartment. In typical city fashion, the streets had been cleared of the white flurries by daybreak. Brown slush took its place on the sidewalks and gutters creating a hazardous environment for any who traversed the city. Dreary, charcoal clouds covered the sky casting a depressing aura across the metropolitan area. A heavy fog mixed with the ever increasing quantities of pollution hung thick in the morning air.

Under these conditions, most normal people would have avoided leaving their apartment at all costs on a Saturday morning. Lexi was not one of those people. She thought she had switched off the alarm set for finals, but it still managed to go off at eight in the morning. Her sleep had been restless and no matter how hard she tried to go back to sleep, sleep would not come to her. Instead, she made the mistake of pulling on a t-shirt, black track suit, and running sneakers to take a brisk jog around the park before the city really livened up.

The wind viciously whipped her hair around her face cutting across her delicate skin and stinging her eyes. Water streamed from her eyes as she sprinted the last leg of her run before exiting Washington Square Park. She doubled over clutching her hands to her ribs as her breath came out in spurts. The wintry air filled her lungs causing her to wheeze in pain at the assault. Her heart was still working overdrive thumping away in her chest from the physical exertion. She attempted to wiggle her toes which felt near frozen in her soggy socks and snow-coated tennis shoes. The movement was painful as life came back into her lower extremities.

She straightened brushing her hair out of her face. The gloves she wore barely kept the cold from reaching her fingers. Now that she had stopped jogging, the sweat she had built up was settling onto her skin making her entire body shiver. The wind picked up in velocity pushing and pulling her the rest of the way to her apartment building. She stumbled into the high-arched enclosure letting the wind break past her. A low whistle could be heard as it rushed through the streets. Lexi was just happy that she was out of that. She didn't know what she had been thinking going on a run with the weather in such precarious conditions.

Well that wasn't true. She knew the real reason for her early morning jog. The message from Jack kept replaying in her head, and despite herself, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Sure she knew that she should be reasonable. He probably just went through another interview where he was rejected and left wallowing in his own pity. It had happened pretty frequently that she knew he shouldn't get worked up about it. But he had gotten worked up about it. She could tell from the tone of his voice that he was upset.

All she wanted to do was be there for him.

She wrapped her arms around herself as she strode past the security guard. He recognized her and waved not even checking for her identification card. She was lost in her thoughts as she took the stairs back to her apartment.

Lexi knew that she wasn't Jack's girlfriend. They weren't officially together or anything. They had made that perfectly clear in the beginning.

Yet, something was nagging in the back of her mind. When he had been threatening Clark, he had said just that. He had claimed they were together. She wasn't naïve enough to believe that they were automatically going to jump into something that they were unaccustomed to. She knew how they worked, and thus far, it had worked out surprisingly well. But it was a step in the right direction. If he could speak about them being a couple, even if it was just out of blind jealously, then she saw that as a positive.