Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(143)

"No, Ramsey, I didn't," she said hating this conversation more and more. She had kind of implied that he had cheated on her, but she hadn't come right out and said it. She knew it wasn't the truth that he hadn't done it, but that night still hurt her to think about. "I swear. I would never make that mistake again."

"I never cheated on her," he bellowed. "Never!"

"Oh you just got drunk and had naked women in your apartment who…what did you say?" she asked Parker. "Would suck your dick at a snap of your fingers?"

"You said that Parker, really?" he asked shaking his head side to side slowly as if he couldn't believe his ears. "After everything you still can't get over that night. I told you nothing happened. It was for Brad and Jason. Why can you still not believe me?"

Parker stared at him helpless, hopelessly. She couldn't get any words out.

"Probably because you lie," Lexi whispered into the stillness.

He sighed heavily before slumping in the seat behind his desk exhausted. "I never cheated on Parker. There were girls over at my apartment that night but I never nor would I ever do anything like to her…or to you," he added quickly. "If I had ever wanted to be with someone else, I would have just broken up with you. But I didn't then," he said glancing at Parker, "and I don't want to now." Lexi met his eyes as they landed on her face.

"Yet you lied about something else. It's hard to believe what you're spouting when you just told me that you lied…again," she said feeling tears spring into her eyes. She hadn't even realized how emotional she had gotten. All she had felt through this ordeal was anger. She couldn't believe he would just lie over and over and over again to her. She had been purely angry with his reactions and his answers. The last thing she had even thought about was getting emotional. Yet, the thought that he was now admitting that he still hadn't told her the whole truth made her want to break down in tears. The lies seemed endless.

Ramsey sighed heavily knowing she was going to hate him for this. "I…I got you that job at the law firm here."

"What?" she cried feeling the automatic need to punch something. "Are you f**king kidding me Ramsey? You interfered with my job? What did you not think I was smart enough to get that job? Did you not think I had enough money to get that job? What was it? I don't understand how you could go behind my back like that. No wonder it just fell into my lap. I made the mistake of acting like I was so smart…that I was so much more qualified than the rest of the applicants. You made me look like a fool. No wonder they were so easy with me. Did you tell them to do that too?"

"I was just trying to help. I knew you'd never take a Bridges associate position, but I wanted you close. I wanted you in Atlanta. So I made some calls. It's not the end of the world," he finished lamely.

"Not the end of the world? Not the end of the world?" she screamed nearing hysterics. "I had one thing that I was really good at. I worked my ass off all year long to get good grades so that I could get an amazing associate position hopefully paid. I put out applications everywhere. I applied everywhere. Then you go and tell me that you just got me this job. I didn't have to put in any of the work or the time. You just happened to know someone and drop the Bridges name and bam a job surfaces. God, it goes against everything that you stand for," she said looking him up and down like he was despicable. She knew on some level she should be happy that he had gotten her this job, but not this way. She couldn't be happy that he had gone behind her back like that. This was the one thing she still had to be proud of and he had taken that away too.

"Lexi, please try and see it from my perspective. This job wasn't even really open. No one would have gotten it because they weren't hiring until I talked to them. You wanted to be close to me too. It's a good thing not a bad thing," he pleaded with her.

"It could have been a good thing if you had been honest with me," she told him. "Instead you chose to lie to me. You chose to deceive me. I have nothing left that's mine. Your lies have permeated everything that is important to me. I don't know if I can talk to you anymore Ramsey until you find the truth," she said walking towards the door.

He quickly ran after her. "The truth is I want to be with you. I went about it wrong, but it doesn't change how I feel," he said grabbing her elbow to stop her. She yanked her arm back pulling her shoulder too forcefully and sending a wrenching pain through it. "I know I made some mistakes, but they are minor Lexi. We can work through them. Please give me the chance to work through them."

"How can I when I can't even look at you without seeing the lies all over you?" she asked taking another step backwards. "These lies were for you not for me. You lied to cover your past and your wealth and your importance. I just wanted you as you are. You wouldn't even give me that. Who are you?" she whispered.

"I'm yours," he said following her down the barren hallway. "I'm all yours."

"You can't be mine," she said shaking her head. "Someone who belongs to me is able to give themselves over to me. I gave myself to you and all you did was abuse my trust."

"Please let me try to fix this," he begged seeing her slipping through his fingers.

"You can't. I think this is it Ramsey. I can't date someone for a year and then find out I never knew who he was," she said weakly hating even saying the statement. She knew it was true but her heart was breaking at the thought of being without him.