Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(36)

“Of course I’ve tried to talk to her. She won’t see me. I had to move out. I’m staying with Seth and feel so…so…I don’t even know.”

She could almost see him in that moment—his eyes closed, his hands fisted into his dark brown hair, the look of pain on his face. It made her want to do something, anything to take it away. Despite everything they had gone through, she could never make herself stop caring. It was Jack.

“What did she say when she gave you the papers?”

He gave a stilted laugh. “I want a divorce. Then, she handed me the papers and told me to get out.”

“Just like that?” Lexi asked. Bekah was the devil.

“Just like that.”

“Was there any forewarning that this might happen?”

“No.”

“She wasn’t acting strange…erm, stranger?” Lexi asked.

“What do you want me to say? That I knew my wife was going to divorce me? That I should have seen the signs? That I should have known better? Well, I didn’t,” he growled. “I didn’t see any of it, and yeah, that probably makes me even more of a f**king idiot. But I tried every day for the past two years with Bekah, and I was still trying up until that day she handed me the papers. Marriage isn’t easy, but I wanted my marriage to work, so I put in the effort.”

“I’m sorry, Jack,” she whispered. She didn’t know what else to say to that. She wasn’t sorry about Bekah, but she was sorry for Jack.

“Please don’t pity me, Lex,” he said so softly she almost didn’t hear him. “Don’t remind me that I gave you up for this.”

Her heart seemed to hammer in her chest, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. Her throat felt swollen just for a minute as she fought back the tears threatening to spill out. Why now? Why did he have to realize this now? Too little, too late. She loved Ramsey. She was marrying Ramsey. End of the line.

When she felt like she could speak again without her throat closing up, she said, “I’ll find you a lawyer tomorrow, okay? I should probably go.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Hopefully, this will all be as painless as possible,” she encouraged, assuming Bekah would do her worst because she always did.

“For who? Certainly not me…”

She hated agreeing. He had dug the hole himself, and now, he had to sit in it, six feet under—right where Bekah wanted him.

Lexi hung up the phone and rested her head back on the couch. She sniffled and hugged her legs tight to her chest. She needed to stop this feeling.

But she couldn’t help it.

She felt really, really bad for Jack. It was an emotion she was so not used to. Normally, the things she felt for Jack were, ahem…a little lower on her body. When had this happened? All she felt in this moment was sympathy. She did pity him—even if he had told her not to. The thought of Jack being married to Bekah had always made her sick, but the thought of him actually hurting from the divorce…well, that was a different feeling entirely. It was like so much of her wanted him divorced…wanted him rid of Bekah finally. But at what cost?

It was so messy.

She sniffled again and tried to think of something else—like her engagement. She needed to tell Chyna. That was all she had left—well, Chyna and Jack, but Chyna needed to know before Jack did. That was for sure!

Lexi sat back up and reached for her phone just as the door to the office slowly pried open.

“Lexi?” Ramsey asked, peeking his head around the corner.

God, she hoped she didn’t look like she had been crying.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just about to call Chyna to tell her about the engagement.”

He eyed her likely bloodshot eyes and red cheeks cautiously, but he broke out into a smile at the word engagement. “Let me know what she says.”

“I will,” she said, producing her own smile for him before he retreated.

Yeah, messy didn’t even begin to cover it.

Lexi spent a minute straightening up her hair and sitting up properly as if Chyna could see her. It was ridiculous, but still, it made her feel better and helped her forget.

Chyna answered on the second ring. “Chica! I miss you. Come to New York for the week,” she said.

Lexi laughed. Oh man, she missed her best friend. “I have work this week. Maybe soon.”

“You keep saying that, but all you do is work.”

“We can’t all be like you, Chyna.”

“Obviously.”

“How was your weekend?” Lexi asked. She knew Chyna wasn’t really known for small talk, but Lexi hadn’t seen Chyna for a while. It made Lexi feel better to know what Chyna had been up to.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old,” she said dryly. “Went to the club, got drunk, got picked up by a guy, and went home with him. So hot. He’s an architect.”

For a second there, Chyna almost had her fooled. She had been about to freak out on her friend if she was cheating on Adam. They were so good for each other, and Lexi knew she wasn’t the person to talk about cheating, but damn, she would have lit into her friend. Adam was too good of a person for that.

“Jesus, Chyna, you about gave me a heart attack,” Lexi groaned.

Chyna laughed wickedly. “So, I let Adam pick me up from the club and take me home. This time though, I wasn’t passed out from getting roofied, and he f**ked me.”