Avoiding Responsibility (17 page)

"Fuck," he muttered angrily under his breath.

"Now, Calloway!"

"Yeah yeah," he said reaching forward and pressing the number 24 on the elevator. "Pit stop?"

Lexi followed Brandon off of the elevator and down the hallway. She had no other tour guide, so the only thing she could do was to follow him to his office. She entered the office and couldn't help but to compare it to the only other office she had ever seen in the building. It was much smaller, but still had a series of glass panes behind the desk overlooking the city. The view wasn't quite as spectacular and the room was sparsely decorated, but Lexi kind of liked it. A medium-sized desk sat in the center of the room in front of two cushioned chairs. Lexi moved forward cautiously and took a seat as she waited for Brandon to finish what he had to get.

"So what do you do here?" she asked surveying the artwork on the walls.

"I'm an accountant. It's all a little technical. I'll save you from the boredom, but I crunch numbers for the big guy," he muttered rummaging through a stack of papers.

"Oh nice."

"Don't kid yourself. It's a job," he said stuffing the papers into a clear binder and clipping everything together. Lexi didn't really know what to say to that so she remained silent as Brandon finished up with his paperwork. "Sorry," he finally muttered standing up straight and stuffing the binder under his arm. "Ready to go."

"Yeah sure," she said hopping up and smiling brightly.

"So…Ramsey Bridges?" Brandon asked knowingly.

"Uh, yeah," she murmured brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"How do you know all of these high ranking people within B.E.? Jack Howard. Ramsey Bridges."

"Oh well, Ramsey and I are dating," she told him as they took the elevator to the top floor.

"Why does that not surprise me?" he said sullenly. "How long has this been going on, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh!" she said slightly taken off guard. "I guess officially since Thanksgiving, but we've been seeing each other since August I suppose."

"August," he gasped surprise written all over his face. He quickly hid the look, but she had seen it and heard the disbelief in his voice.

"Uh yeah."

"August," he said more calmly. "I didn't think he had it in him."

"What?" Lexi asked scrunching her eyebrows together at his statement.

"Nothing sorry. I've just known Ramsey for a long time, and no offense, but it just doesn't sound like him."

"Well none taken I suppose," Lexi said taking in what he was saying. This guy actually knew Ramsey. Not only that, but he was surprised by her existence as his girlfriend. She bit her lip deciphering the statements. Ramsey had flat out told her that he hadn't had a girlfriend, but the concept was so foreign to her. She wasn't entirely sure how to process it even now. And yes, Ramsey had been a player, but was he still?

She couldn't think like that. Ramsey obviously wanted her to be here with him or else he wouldn't put in so much effort to have her around as much as she had been recently. They talked on the phone nearly every day. It was irrational to think that he would be with anyone else when he was the one who had said that he wanted to be exclusive. She had never even mentioned that to him before it happened.

Yet this guy knew a side of Ramsey that she didn't, and she would be stupid not to use the assets in front of her. She didn't want to but her curiosity got the best of her. "So how long have you known Ramsey?"

"Uh…we grew up together," he told her obviously a bit more tentative now that he knew that she was dating someone else.

"Really?" she asked surprised that she hadn't met him yet. She had hung out with his high school friends several times since the night of the bonfire, and she had never heard a Brandon Calloway mentioned.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I've just never heard him mention you is all."

"Well I could say the same thing about you honey."

Lexi cringed but pushed forward with the conversation. "Well I'm going to be in Atlanta for the next week maybe we could all get together. I'm sure Ramsey would like that."

Brandon chuckled to himself. "Yes, I'm sure he'd just
love
that," he said sardonically. "You just bring it up to him and see what he says about that."

"What you don't think he'll want to?" she asked carefully.

"Not particularly."

"Oh," Lexi said a bit confused by his demeanor.

"You should probably just stick to his bidding if I were you," Brandon told her standing up straight as the elevator dinged to the top floor. "It's really just easier that way."

Before Lexi could say anything further, the elevator doors popped open and she found herself standing in an enormous foyer connecting several enormous offices. Unlike the other floors, it appeared that the entire top floor was devoted solely to the highest management of Bridges Enterprise. So there were very few offices, but each other them was ten times the size of ever other office in the building. Each was bigger than Lexi's entire apartment in New York, and she found herself gaping at the luxurious surroundings.

"May I assist you?" a beautiful brunette asked walking forward on her kitten heels to greet Lexi.

"Kace," Brandon purred falling back into his cool demeanor instantly.

"Mr. Calloway," she stated her eyes narrowing, "what brings you to the big leagues?"

Lexi choked out a cough. "I'm here to see you darlin', of course," he suavely stated ignoring her jab and moving towards her.

"Then you can turn yourself right around and get back on that elevator," she told him twirling her fingers at him.

"Also I have this," he muttered revealing the binder he had been carrying. "Which Mr. Bridges needed on his desk oh…yesterday."

"You're insufferable," Kace murmured reaching out to snatch the papers out of his hand. He grabbed her wrist instead yanking her forward to only an inch from his face. She gasped as he tilted her off balance coming dangerously close to his lips. When she regained her composure, she pushed him forcefully in the chest and straightened out her pencil skirt.

"Oh and Miss Lexi is here to see Ramsey Bridges," he muttered pointing his thumb at Lexi.

"Ramsey isn't seeing anyone today…or ever," she mumbled under her breath.

"I'm not a client," she told the woman brushing a lock behind her ear.

"That's his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" she asked incredulously.

Brandon let loose a loud laugh at her expression. "Exactly what I said."

Lexi couldn't figure out why everyone found it so unbelievable that she was his girlfriend. She knew they hadn't officially announced it to the universe, but geez this was completely different. "Yes, I'm his girlfriend. Can you please show me where he is?"

"Sure thing. Brandon Calloway take those papers to him right
now
," she told him pointing her finger directly into his chest.

"Yes ma'am. I like a forceful woman," he said smacking her on the ass with his binder as he passed.

"I'm going to file a sexual harassment suit against you Brandon Calloway," Kace threatened.

"Then I'll have to file one against you with what you did to me in that janitor's closet the other day," he muttered.

"Brandon!" she gasped shaking her head as he darted around the corner disappearing before she could thoroughly reprimand him. "My apologies." Lexi just laughed at them as she followed her to Ramsey's office. It was the very last one on the right and the only one absent a secretary. "He's not here all that often," she volunteered as to why the place looked deserted. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Lexi told Kace, not certain why she would need luck as she knocked on the door. She jiggled the knob, but it remained locked so she just waited…and waited. When no one answered, she knocked again more forcefully.

"What do you want? Christ, I'm in the office for one day and you have to bother me?" Ramsey called from inside his office. He yanked the door open and stared straight ahead in surprise. His jaw went slack and he immediately looked apologetic about his attitude. "Lexi."

"Surprise," she managed smiling brightly into his gorgeous face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked pulling the door further closed.

"I came to see my boyfriend."

"Brad dropped you off here?"

"How else would I get here?"

"Right I dunno. Can you just uh…give me a minute?" he asked nervously scratching the back of his head.

Lexi narrowed her eyes at him. "Why? What are you doing in there? Is someone in there with you?" She took a hard look at his clothing, but didn't really see anything out of place. He was wearing charcoal dress slacks with a navy blue button-up tucked into the expensive material. The top button was undone and he was without a tie, but that was hardly surprising.

"What? No, well yes, but…"

Lexi pushed the door hard letting it swing open and peered around Ramsey's large form. There sitting in one of the plush leather chairs was a tall blonde leaning languidly over a large computer monitor. Despite her casual posture, her clothes were professional in black pants, a crisp white blouse, and black dress heels. Her eyes were intense and focused and she didn't even look up as the door swung open.

"Who is this?" she asked glancing between Ramsey and the woman.

Ramsey cleared his throat. "Lola, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Lexi"

The woman glanced up and smiled sweetly. "Hello darling," she drawled. She stood tall nearly six feet and made her way over to them. "What a pleasure to finally meet you."

Lexi glanced between Ramsey and this Lola woman her mouth opened slightly in confusion. She had never heard of her before. How was it that Lola had heard about her? Lexi's mind was swimming with possibilities. Everything she had just heard from Brandon and Kace just then filtered through her mind along with bits and pieces from her conversation with Bekah. Was it impossible for her to be his girlfriend, because in fact he was with someone else? She didn't want to even fathom that.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she tried to swallow but was unsuccessful. Her mind went to the worst possible place causing her to cough and sputter in horror. How could he do this to her? She had thought he was a nice guy and all along he had been playing her the fool. She felt like an idiot.

"Lexi, please calm down," Ramsey said sliding a hand through his hair.

"How can I calm down? Look at her," she muttered unable to control herself.

Ramsey sighed heavily. "Lola I need to handle this. Can I meet you later to finish discussing the details?"

"Of course darling. Anything for you love," Lola purred before stepping over the threshold and exiting the office.

"This isn't what it looks like," Ramsey said immediately.

"No?" she asked taking a deep breath to steady herself. She owed him at least the chance to explain himself. Her past had jaded her against this very scenario. "How come I've never heard about her before? Yet, she seems to have heard about me."

"Uh…it's hard to explain," he told her scratching his head thoughtfully.

"Well try," she commanded plopping down into one of the chairs.

"To put it plainly, Lola is my business partner."

"Oh yes, and what type of business do you run exactly Ramsey? You still haven't told me. We've known each other for six months and yet I still have yet to find out what it is exactly that you do. Where do you spend all your time? How do you have all this free time to just do nothing? Are you just living off of your trust fund?" she muttered the last question in frustration and immediately regretted it. She hadn't meant to ask that, but deep down she had always wondered if it was true.

"Wow," he breathed. "I'm just going to assume you're a bit distraught." Lexi lowered her eyes to the ground feeling kind of terrible that she had blurted out all those questions at once. "I do not live off of my trust fund. In fact, I've barely touched that money. Sure for special occasions I tap into it, but I try to live on my own."

"Is your Maserati a special occasion?" she asked bitterly.

He smiled despite himself. "The Maserati was a birthday present which is precisely why you have never seen me drive it."

"Oh," she said her mouth popping open again.

"You know what?" he asked. "I think it might be better if I just show you what I do. You might not understand if I just explained it."

Lexi gulped unprepared for this. "You sure she's just your business partner?"

Ramsey's smile lit up her insides. He was so magnetic. Something about him just turned her body to mush when she looked at him. Not only was he incredibly handsome, but he had a certain charm, a certain charisma that she just couldn't get over. And when he looked at her just then, she knew that she had been irrational. She had acted impulsively out of fear. Too long had she become accustomed to a life of secrecy that she assumed anything suspect was just that…because it always had turned out that way in the past. When she looked at him, she knew that he was hers and no one else's in that moment.

"Alright, where are we going?" she asked a cautious smile forming on her face.

"That's more like it," he said drawing her to her feet and kissing her tender lips. She leaned into the kiss letting her hands twine through his short blond hair. His arms wrapped around her slim waist pulling her body flush against his own

Someone clearing their throat in the doorway made them jump apart in surprise. "Don't let me interrupt anything," Bekah cooed leaning against the door frame. Her shoulder length hair was perfectly styled with choppy bangs covering her forehead. She wore a black skirt suit over a blood red tank top with matching black heeled boots.

"Hey Bek, what can I do for you?" Ramsey asked pulling Lexi closer to him more for her support than for his own.

Bekah strolled in the office putting one foot in front of the other as she walked. The smile she wore was devilish, and Lexi could see the wheels turning in her mind. She looked as if she was ready to pounce. "Well I came over to ask you about some paperwork on my desk."

"Why would I help with that?" he asked coolly.