Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(129)

“You already are.”

“Legally.”

“Legally, you’re mine, too,” she teased.

Jack gave her a knowing smirk and planted a kiss on her lips. “Not yet, but you will be. Someone has to make an honest woman out of you.”

“Jack Howard,” she cried, smacking him on the arm.

He laughed at her outburst and looped her arm with his. “There’s my Lexi.”

She shook her head at him as they walked to the building and through the double doors. They passed through security and into the lobby of the courthouse. It was an enormous old building set in an old Southern style with large white columns and a grand staircase leading up to the many ascending floors. The civil courtroom where the divorce proceedings would be taking place was off the right wing of the building, and Lexi walked with Jack in that direction.

Standing with her arms on her narrow hips, Bekah was talking to a team of lawyers as well as her daddy and another Bridges associate Lexi had seen around but still didn’t know his name. Bekah looked like the queen bitch she was in a knee-length black pencil skirt with a long-sleeved cream blouse tucked into it. Her nude heels were on the shorter, more modest side. The only jewelry on her body was the pearls in her ears. Her makeup was light, and she had her natural blonde hair pinned back, out of her face.

Victim.

She was always trying to play the victim. It was how she got away with everything. Sugary, sweet outside, but a sour, rotten human being on the inside.

Out of the corner of her eye, Bekah eyed Jack and Lexi, dropping her gaze to where their hands were linked before flitting back up to their faces. Bekah didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Lexi could see the contempt on her face from a mile off. She pushed Jack toward Richard, who was standing off to the side and fumbling through a stack of papers in his hands.

“Good, you’re here,” Richard said, his face drawn and tense when he looked at Lexi.

“Right on time,” Jack said.

“I see that you still showed.”

Lexi bit her lip and nodded. The look on Bekah’s face had been enough to know that Lexi was needed here. In a way, it was deeply satisfying knowing that while Bekah had married Jack…she had never really had his heart. He had just been fighting his love for Lexi all along. He certainly hadn’t found what he was looking for in a match with the Bitch.

Richard blew out heavily. He looked like this case was causing him a lot of grief. Lexi hadn’t picked him because it was going to be easy. She hoped he wasn’t losing his grip.

“There have been some last-minute changes. Sorry to repeat myself, Lexi, but I wish you would have stayed home.”

“Last minute?” Lexi asked, furrowing her brow.

“What happened?” Jack asked. He crossed his arms, his jaw set. He looked like he was ready to get right down to business.

Despite the situation, Lexi smiled, admiring the man that he had become.

“It seems the judge has allowed the Bridges to admit some last-minute evidence into the case,” Richard said, shaking his head. “In all my years…”

“Fuck,” Lexi said, feeling the other shoe drop. She knew that packet had felt incomplete. What was the Bitch hiding?

Richard handed Jack a packet of information, and Lexi glanced over his shoulder to read what it said. She skimmed through the legal jargon that warranted Bekah admitting new evidence after the designated discovery period. Lexi’s mind was already trying to figure out how to get this thrown out. There was no way this could be admissible in court. Why had the judge allowed Bekah to submit this?

Because Bekah owned the judge.

Lexi had suspected before, but this seemed to confirm it in her eyes. No judge would have just allowed Bekah to produce new material without some serious justification. Bekah was strategic in holding back this information. She didn’t want anyone to see it until the day of. She didn’t want to give Jack a chance for a rebuttal. Now, they only had an hour before court was in session to discuss what to do with the new information…unless they requested a change in date.

Looking at Jack just then told her that there was no way he would agree to that. He was ready to be rid of Bekah. He would go through with it even if it were against his better judgment. When would they next get a court date? Bekah wouldn’t push for a quicker date, knowing that Lexi and Jack were together. She would delay, delay, delay.

Lexi pinched the bridge of her nose, understanding then why Richard looked more run-down with the weight of this news.

And then, Jack flipped the page.

Her mouth dropped open, and she braced herself against Jack’s arm. It was a photograph of her and Jack. They were at the beach. She was wrapped in his arms, her head resting on his chest. She couldn’t tell from the angle that she had been crying. It just looked like they were together…really together. The next ten pages were of that night.

Lexi’s heart raced as she looked at each one individually. These were from so long ago.

The next picture was of them at the D-Bags show. Shit! Whoever had taken the picture had somehow zoomed in enough to get their hands laced together. She had completely forgotten about that. It had been friendly. It hadn’t been anything at all. It hadn’t happened like that.

Jack flipped through the pictures, one at a time. There were dozens of them together—some in his apartment, others at lunches together, one of him opening the door to her office after-hours. Lexi felt herself hyperventilating. Bekah had been tailing them. With the quality of these, Bekah must have hired a private investigator.