Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(10)

"Never daddy," she purred lowering her long black lashes.

He growled something incoherent and tore his eyes from Chyna. "Just do what you're told," he grumbled just before brushing past Lexi and existing out the front door.

The wave of relief that followed his exit crashed into the room. Chyna slumped back against the sofa and heaved her chest up and down. She placed her hands over her eyes hoping to keep from collapsing into herself. Lexi had no idea what to do. She had never been in this kind of situation, and she didn't even know what was going on. She instantly went to her side and wrapped a comforting arm around Chyna's petite shoulders. It didn't matter what had just happened. All that mattered was that she was here now to comfort her.

"Are you okay?" Lexi asked pulling Chyna close. She knew it was a stupid question. Obviously, Chyna was not alright in that moment, but what else was there to ask. She had just witnessed something that she was certain very few other people had been able to see: Chyna in a vulnerable state.

Chyna pushed her hands up through her silky hair and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I'll be fine," she mumbled.

"I know you will eventually, but what the hell was all that about?" Lexi couldn't help asking. "When I walked in, you looked like a ghost. What is your dad even doing here? I thought you two had nothing to do with each other."

"We don't," Chyna said standing from her spot and pacing the living room. "That's the way we like to keep it. Didn't you hear what he said?"

"About what?" Lexi asked confused.

"He told me not to act like my f**king whore of a mother," she cried slapping her hands down against her thighs angrily.

Lexi's mouth dropped open. She knew the history between Chyna and her parents. They had divorced when Chyna was in high school because they were both sleeping around. Then after giving her the apartment Chyna was now living in, they had equally decided they wanted nothing to do with her. Chyna was too much like her father in personality and her mother in appearance for either of them to be able to handle their daughter.

"I can't believe that," Lexi mumbled in shock.

"He can't even look at me without thinking of her. I can't believe he had the gall to come here and speak to me like that in my own home. I don't give a f**k if he paid for the place ten fold. He has no right to barge in on me and boss me around. Then spring a f**king bomb on me."

"What happened?" Lexi asked her curiosity getting the best of her.

Chyna turned around abruptly and faced her best friend. The color was draining out her cheeks again at the realization that she was going to have to talk about what had just occurred. She wasn't used to being in this kind of position. Typically, she went through her problems alone. She liked to bottle up every terrible thing that had ever happened to her and keep it hidden away in a place no one else could see.

She didn't care about the strain that put on her as well as her relationships. She didn't care that it would dampen ever having a real relationship. Her reality couldn't exist any other way. It certainly hadn't helped her parents' lives by discussing all their issues with the general public, and she didn't think it would help her either.

But this wasn't the general public. This was Lexi, someone who already knew her history.

"My dad is getting remarried," she finally sputtered out.

"What?" Lexi balked her eyes bulging out. Her heart pounded away at the mention of marriage. It was still too soon for her to dissociate herself from Jack's betrayal. But she needed to focus on the present or she would fall back into her own state of depression when she needed to be here for a friend. "Since when?"

"Since four months ago when he proposed to her," Chyna muttered dejectedly.

"Four months? Oh C, I'm so sorry," Lexi said hopping up out of her seat and standing in front of her friend.

"I've never even met her," she blubbered falling into Lexi's open arms. She hadn't wanted to cry about this, but how could she not? Her father was marrying a woman she had never met before. She knew deep down that he didn't really want her in his life, but she had never thought that he would get engaged before even introducing the woman to Chyna.

"The bastard," Lexi cried encouragingly.

"I know," Chyna said pulling back and swiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry that I'm all…" she trailed off waving her hands in front of her face.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that. How many times have you seen me in a fit?" Lexi asked knowing the answer was a ridiculous amount. Lexi had her fair share of moments of the past two years for the both of them. Chyna was certainly due tears if she wanted to cry.

"I know, but this is dumb."

"What?" Lexi asked astonished. "You think it's smarter for me to cry over Jack, then for you to cry about your parents?"

Chyna chuckled once and let a small smile tease the corners of her mouth. "Well when you put it that way."

"See, I'm much more dysfunctional than you. You have every right to be upset."

"There's more," Chyna mumbled letting her green eyes rest back on her friend. Lexi didn't like the way she said that. What more could her father want from her? After barely speaking to Chyna for two years and dumping that tidbit of information on her, it was an asinine move to then continue the conversation.