Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(107)

"That's not what I'm trying to do," he said quickly. "You just don't know what he's capable of."

"Well tell me," she said exasperated.

"Look it doesn't matter," he said shaking it off. "You are what matters. I know Brandon and the way he operates. He'll do anything to get close and that means you. Please promise to stay away from him?"

"I already told you that I'm not going to do that. I'll be extra careful around him, but it's not the end of the world. Just promise me you won't get angry with me," she begged.

He sighed heavily and dropped his head to her tiny shoulder. "You make things so difficult," he complained.

"You're the one imposing rules for who I can hang out with," she said sharply…a little sharper than she had even anticipated.

"You're right," he said straightening. "Of course you're right. I have my reservations, but they are my own. You're free to see whoever you want. But if he lays one hand on you or says one thing out of line," he warned, "you let me know."

Lexi nodded solemnly and hoped that she would never have to take him up on the offer.

* * *

K.A. Linde

Fake

I need another story

Something to get off my chest

My life gets kind of boring

Need something that i can confess

- One Republic "Secrets"

* * *

Chapter 17: Present

Rage Bar after midnight was everything she remembered Chamber to be from college. The new owners hadn't changed a single thing other than the name. Several bartenders worked the massive bar that stretched the length of the room. The medium-sized rectangular room was divided in two by sliding glass doors keeping the dance space and the more secluded lounge area separate. A raised platform designed in an L-shape was constructed against one wall in the dance hall so girls could show off their moves and easily be seen across the room. Large security guards now wore bright orange Rage polos and were stationed in precarious locations around the room.

The patrons never aged at this establishment. It was the same group of eighteen to twenty-one year olds sneaking in with fake IDs. She knew twenty-four wasn't old by any stretch of the imagination, but she might as well have been seventy with how old she felt at this bar. She smoothed out the ridiculous outfit Bekah had given them and tried to remember what it felt like to be nineteen.

She had danced her heart out on that stage more nights than she could count. She could remember the adrenaline of hanging out with your closest friends and the thrill of dancing with total strangers that you thought you would never see again. The town was too small for that though and she always ended up seeing the people she had drunkenly danced upon in her class or out for coffee later in the week.

New York was nothing like that. If she never wanted to see someone again, then she never had to see them again. Sure some of the guys circulated the same bars more than others. She could pick out the regulars, but the clubs were so large that they were easy to avoid if need be.

She remembered getting free drinks because she knew the bartenders. She made friends with a lot of them. Some were in her classes and others she just knew because she frequented the establishment a bit too regularly as an undergrad. The free drinks were given to her also because of the people she hung around with. Her friends from the gymnastics team could drink surprisingly more liquor than most of the people she had met in her life. Even though she had only set foot on the mat at one meet and it was only for exhibition, everyone still considered her part of the team. She had a stack full of team paraphernalia in her closet to prove it. She had been nineteen when she joined the team. Jack had gotten her that spot. She hadn't thought about that fact in a long time. Suddenly nineteen felt too young.

When she had been nineteen she had fallen into his trap. She had fallen in love with him. She hadn't been disillusioned by his inability to commit to her or his philandering behavior. But she couldn't think about going back in time like that. She wouldn't be the person she was today if she hadn't experienced what she had gone through with Jack. And though the things they had done together were wrong…terribly wrong, she knew that if she relived them that she wouldn't have been able to change a thing. And so she lived with her decisions and moved on.

She sighed realizing that whole train of thought had made her feel very far from nineteen.

With that she followed the rest of the drunken entourage to the bar. Lexi was feeling the booze in her system, but she wasn't gone just yet. She knew that it was important to try to maintain some semblance of sobriety tonight. Otherwise she couldn't guarantee that she would be able to hold back any snide comments. Bekah put her on edge and when she had her three stooges with her it was just a recipe for disaster. Lexi had survived this far with only one misstep with the phone call and she wanted to keep it that way. After this night she would just have the wedding to get through and then she could put this all behind her.

The rest of the group had no reason to want to remain sober for the night. They had all delved in as quickly as possible, and were having more trouble functioning as the night progressed. By the time they had hit Rage Bar, Kersey was having trouble with coherent sentences. Though somehow, she had found a way to flirt with every guy who walked past her. She was already clinging to a fraternity type standing against the bar. He looked like he had just won the lottery with the way she was fawning over him. Apparently her prudish composure washed away as the alcohol she consumed increased. Her br**sts were spilling out of the low cut shirt Bekah had insisted they wear and her skirt had bunched up to the point where her ass was nearly hanging out. The guys arm had circled around her waist and was resting lower and lower on her pleated mini skirt. She hadn't even seemed to notice.