Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(150)

"Then why does he need me?" she asked crossing her arms.

Ramsey shrugged. "He won't let us talk to him."

"Well I doubt I can convince him to stay with her."

"I bet you can," he said not skipping a beat.

"Why would I even want to convince him to stay with someone like Bekah?" she couldn't help spitting out as she circled the room in frustration.

"Because you're not in love with him anymore," he whispered into the quiet room.

Lexi stopped in place. She wasn't in love with Jack anymore. Hadn't she felt exactly that this morning when waking up in Ramsey's bed? Was that enough to make her convince him to marry Bekah?

Nope.

"I still can't do it," she murmured. "Whether I love him or does not cloud the fact that I just don't like your sister, Ramsey. I think she's manipulative and deceitful and if she loves Jack at all, I would be very surprised."

"This isn't your decision though," Ramsey told her. "You don't get to choose whether she loves him or not…if he loves her."

"Yet I have to convince him to marry her when I think it is completely idiotic?" she responded raising her voice slightly.

"We just need you to calm him down because he refuses to listen to anyone else. You've known him the longest."

"No Seth has," she jumped in.

Ramsey didn't even seem to listen to what she had said. "And he trusts you. He will listen to you. You don't have to convince him to get married. If you can calm him down enough, he will figure it out on his own."

Lexi wasn't too sure about that. Ramsey did not know Jack like she did. If she went down there to "calm him down" all hell could break loose. "You don't know that."

"Well there aren't really any other options since he refuses to speak to anyone else."

"Does Bekah know?" Lexi asked.

"Fuck no!" Ramsey cried standing in frustration. "If this ever gets to Bekah it would be too soon. She does not need to know that Jack is freaking out. This is normal, and the bride doesn't need to be involved in this."

"Will she ever know that I went to see him?" she asked curious how this scenario would actually play out.

"Never," he said instantly. Bekah would be furious with everyone involved for all of eternity if she knew that Jack had seen Lexi alone prior to his wedding. No one wanted to deal with that wrath.

Lexi nodded. "Well I still won't do it."

Ramsey sighed and walked across the room to her. He pulled her into a hug releasing all the tension they had both been carrying in this argument. He didn't want her to go talk to Jack and she didn't want to go talk to Jack. Yet he was in the unfortunate position of convincing her to do something that neither of them wanted to happen.

He pulled back and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "Okay. If you won't do it, then I can't force you. But if you can find a way to do it…for me, I would appreciate it more than anything I've ever asked of you. I want us to work more than anything. Could you imagine having to deal with Bekah in our relationship if she doesn't get married today?" he whispered almost as a side note.

Lexi froze in his arms. That thought really chilled her to the core. If she didn't marry Jack, then Bekah would be even more involved in trying to break them up. Lexi never wanted to deal with Bekah again. Not that her marrying Jack was the ideal situation, but she didn't want her involved in their relationship ever again.

"That would be…awful."

"I know."

"Ramsey I don't want to talk to him today," she groaned sinking into his arms again.

"I know baby," he said stroking her long hair. "Can you just do it for me?"

Lexi hated this with every ounce of her being. She was standing her ground. She wasn't going to talk to him. She was finally over him, and then Ramsey had to pull that line. She wouldn't have done it for anyone else. She could have turned down anyone else, but Ramsey seemed so desperate. He needed her to do this, and what else had he really asked of her?

"Fine," she mumbled disheartened. "I'll go talk to him."

"Thank you so much," he said giving her another kiss on the cheek before releasing her, and reminding her how to get to the groom's rooms.

Lexi left the room a few seconds later. She sighed heavily as she moved throughout the hotel. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to do this. After everything that had just happened with Ramsey, the last thing she wanted to do was be alone with Jack. She had been alone with him under that weeping willow earlier in the week, and that had almost been catastrophic. Here she was finally happy with her lot and Jack just insisted on interfering.

She always had a place in her heart for him, but he wasn't it anymore for her. She couldn't remember a time in their pseudo relationship where she had ever woken up as happy as she had this morning with Ramsey. That was really saying something, because she had always thought that Jack made her happy. She was pretty sure that she had deluded herself into thinking that. How could you be happy with someone who you always had to wonder if they were deceiving you? How could you be happy with someone when you always had to deceive someone else to be with them?

Yet, she was still on her way to see him. She truly felt like an idiot. What kind of person puts herself through so much hell? The only reason she was doing this at all was because Ramsey had asked her to. Even though she had begged him not to make her do it, he had insisted. It wasn't the smartest moment of his life, but she had agreed albeit reluctantly.