Avoiding Responsibility (49 page)

Lexi reached for the door knob, but Jack stopped her. "Okay Lexi, you win."

She wasn't sure if she had ever heard those words from his mouth. Somehow throughout their entire relationship, Lexi had always felt like she was on the losing side of the scenario. Jack never gave in. Jack never backed down. Jack never relented.

"What did you say?" she asked slowly turning back around.

"You win," he repeated admitting defeat.

Lexi gulped. "What do I win?" she asked hesitantly.

"I didn't give you what you deserved. I screwed you over like a royal ass when I really just wanted to make everything better," he said edging towards her.

"Jack," she murmured eyeing his approach with caution. She didn't want this apology…or whatever it was to get out of hand.

"I've never treated you the way I should have. I would do anything I could to go back to that time when we could have been together and change the way I acted. But…"

"But you can't," she finished for him easily. She hardened her gaze and crossed her arms barring him from intruding in her space.

"No…I can't," he said nodding his head sadly. "So what should I do Lex?" he asked his bright blue eyes searching hers.

Lexi sighed and shrugged her shoulders. What could she tell him? She was here to tell him to get married to give up on her, and wasn't that exactly what she had just argued for? Yet, a small part of her still didn't want him to get married. An even larger part just didn't want him to marry Bekah. She was torn. Could she truly tell him to marry someone she thought was completely wrong for him? Was it better to just allow him to be completely and totally off the market even if she was sending him to his grave? She hated thinking like that, but it kind of felt like that.

"I can't tell you what to do Jack," she murmured dropping her arms. "You have to decide on your own."

"I know I should, but what should I do?" he asked begging her for an answer.

"Look, the fact that you are debating this at all should be a sign," finally muttered.

Jack nodded pleading with her to continue. "So you think I should call it off?"

"I am
not
going to be responsible for you calling off your wedding!" she cried. "You make up your own fucking mind Jack Howard!"

"Don't start yelling at me. You know how I feel about you when you get angry," he said taking another step towards her.

"Do you want to have another injury?" she asked him arching an eyebrow.

"Uh no," he said stepping backwards again. "I just don't know what to do Lex."

"Do whatever you want. I was supposed to come in here to convince you to marry her. Well let's be honest I came here a year ago and was pretty successful at it. Why should now be any different?"

Jack stopped and really looked at her. Lexi wasn't sure why that statement had managed to keep him from advancing on her, but she wasn't going to complain. If she had finally gotten through to him then all the better.

"Alright," he said nodding. "Thanks for coming to see me even though you didn't want to. It really means a lot…everything to me Lex."

Lexi tried to keep her mouth from dropping open. Who was this person? Jack never gave up. Jack never apologized. He certainly never thanked her for her opinion on the matter. They could work together in the easy way that their relationship had formed over time, but this was different. This made it seem like Jack had somehow grown too since she had last seen him, which seemed hella implausible considering he had just kissed her.

"You're welcome Jack," she said taking that opportunity to push the bedroom door back open.

Lexi turned around to face the questioning looks of the groomsmen and found herself face to face with an entire room of people she had not been anticipating.

"I knew it!" Bekah screeched sauntering forward. Her hair and makeup were immaculate, but she had yet to be fitted into her wedding dress for the upcoming event.

Lexi could not figure out what the fuck she was doing here. Ramsey, Chyna, and Adam seemed to be trying to restrain her from walking forward, but what was she doing in the room in the first place? This was her wedding day. She was not supposed to know that Lexi had ever been in that room. It was tradition that the groom wasn't supposed to see the bride on their wedding day. Lexi would have never pinned Bekah as someone who wanted to break tradition. This just didn't make any sense.

"Bekah stop," Ramsey commanded grabbing her elbow forcefully. "You're going to ruin everything."

"
I'm
going to ruin everything?" she asked twirling around and smacking his hand off of her. "You're little homewrecker is in a bedroom with my fiancé. Don't you think I should be a little concerned with that?"

"Not if you trust Jack like I trust Lexi," he pointed out.

"I trust Jack," she amended quickly, "just not Lexi. You don't know what she's done."

"Actually I think I do. I know you find it hard to believe, but Lexi and I did talk about her past relationships when we dated for the last year."

"Then you know she's a cheating whore!" Bekah cried turning back to glare at Lexi who hadn't moved from her position in front of the door.

Ramsey grabbed her arm even more forcefully and yanked her backwards. "Now you listen and you listen good, because I'm only going to say this once. Don't fucking talk about her like that."

"Don't you fucking talk to me like that or manhandle me," she said pulling away from him again. "She's the one trying to ruin my wedding."

"She's the one trying to fix your wedding," he growled releasing her.

"It wouldn't need to be fixed if she didn't try to ruin everything," she said walking forward towards Lexi. "Isn't that right?"

Lexi didn't know what to say. It was true that she had tried to ruin their relationship, but only under the pretense that her and Jack were going to be together. After that she had left them completely alone. She had only contacted Jack once before this week and it was when her father had had a heart attack so it hadn't really counted. "I'm not trying to ruin anything for you Bekah."

"You sure about that?" she asked, "Because you look like you are coming out of a bedroom with my fiancé."

"Bekah what are you doing?" Jack asked coming and standing next to Lexi.

"Jack," she murmured after he spoke. "She's out to ruin us."

"No she's not. Just calm down," he said trying to reason with her. "What are you even doing here? I'm not supposed to see you until the wedding."

"I just had a sneaking suspicion that she was here. I had to follow my instincts, and look she's here. That doesn't seem like a coincidence. There's something going on."

"There's nothing going on between me and Jack," Lexi grumbled. "I can't fucking believe you would barge in here on your wedding day. You have no concept of reality. You have no concept of trust. You just thought something was going on and came in here unannounced. I'm not ruining your wedding day. You are!" Lexi couldn't believe she had gotten the words out. She had wanted to say something catty to Bekah for so long, but out of respect for the men in her life she had resisted. The accusations she was hurling Lexi's way had just been too much in that moment. She hadn't been able to hold back.

"This coming from the woman who walks out of a bedroom with another woman's fiancé," Bekah pointed out.

"But nothing happened with me and Jack," Lexi said standing her ground.

"Oh stop trying to act so innocent!" Bekah said to Lexi raising her voice.

Lexi narrowed her eyes at her dangerously. "Me? Act innocent after everything you've done to sabotage my life?"

Bekah scoffed. "You don't even need my help. You fuck it up enough on your own."

"I really don't need to hear this from you," Lexi said shaking her head and turning the other direction.

"Bekah just leave her alone. Don't you think you've done enough damage?" Ramsey asked glaring at his sister.

"I am your sister!" she cried staring at him in disbelief. "I am only trying to look out for you."

"By trying to hurt my girlfriend?" he asked looking at her like she was mentally impaired.

"By protecting you," she said grasping for straws.

"Oh that always worked out so well in your favor," Lexi said rolling her eyes. "Going to convince another girl to get an abortion to save your skin?" Lexi spat at her.

The room went silent. She hadn't even meant to say that out loud, but something about Bekah just made her snap. She hated her with everything she had. She wanted nothing more than for her to live a long and miserable life filled with heartache and loneliness. It was what she deserved after all the deception and lies. She wanted to tear her down as much as she had torn Lexi down. She knew it was wrong and that she should take the higher ground, but she just hadn't been able to.

The words had just slipped right out. She knew it was wrong to bring something like that up especially when it was still such a touchy subject for Ramsey. But what kind of person convinces her best friend to have an abortion when it's her brother's child? Moreover, she didn't even let Ramsey have a say in the decision. He didn't even know about the baby. She was so sick of this woman getting away with everything when she was truly the evil person in this situation.

"What…are…you…talking about?" Bekah asked her voice shaking.

"Lexi," Ramsey hissed grabbing her elbow.

"What is she talking about Ramsey?" Bekah demanded spinning around to face him.

"You know what I'm talking about. Stop acting so ignorant of the situation," Lexi responded. Ramsey's grip on her elbow tightened and she snapped her mouth close. She had gone too far. He didn't talk about these things. He didn't bring these things up, and here she had just announced the details to an entire group of people. Even if no one else really knew what was going on they were sure to think the worst. This seemed to be a conversation he had avoided having with Bekah. Lexi had figured they had already had it out about his suspicions that Bekah had convinced Parker to have an abortion. How wrong could she be?

"How does this involve me?" Bekah asked seething.

"We can talk about this later," Ramsey said pleading with Bekah not to continue the conversation.

"Hell no we can't. I want everything out on the table. What is this bitch talking about?" she growled.

"That's my girlfriend Bek," he said warningly.

"Hey!" Lexi cried at the same time.

"Well start answering questions then," she said angrily.

Ramsey sighed. He couldn't believe that of all days to have this conversation, it was going to be today on Bekah's wedding day. "I know what happened with Parker," he said hesitantly hating himself for bringing this up.

"What happened with Parker?" she growled

"That she didn't miscarry," he said barely louder than a whisper.

Bekah's mouth popped open and her face blanched. Even through her coat of makeup, Lexi could tell that she had lost all color in her skin. She looked shell-shocked that the conversation had come around to this topic. "She did Ramsey."

Ramsey shook his head. He knew that she would say that. He knew that she would deny it. This is the exact reason he had never discussed this with Bekah. He knew her horrible secret, but he hadn't meant for the world to know about it. He hadn't ever wanted her to know that he knew. He had been furious enough with himself after it had happened because he hadn't known…hadn't been able to stop it. He hadn't wanted anyone else to feel that kind of pain. He hadn't wanted Bekah to be involved. "She didn't miscarry Bek. I know she didn't."

"How could you know that?" she asked her hands shaking in front of her. "You weren't even there."

"I don't want to argue about this with you. God knows I've argued with Parker enough about it. She'll never admit to it and neither will you, but I know what I know," he said with a sad shrug.

"I can't believe you're bringing this up," she said turning the full force of her anger on Lexi. "You have no right to go digging into other people's lives."

"Oh that's rich coming from you," Lexi said rolling her eyes. "Didn't you ask me to Atlanta just to fuck with me?"

"I didn't ask you to come here. Actually, I never invited you to my wedding. I would have much preferred you stay away from me and my family," she growled.

"You don't get a choice in the matter," Lexi said looking up at Ramsey. She knew that it was probably a bad move to challenge Bekah. After all she was a major bitch and who knew what she would reduce to in an effort to hurt Lexi again. But there just wasn't anything left for Bekah to say about Lexi. She had no more cards left. Lexi wasn't exactly going around telling her secrets about her life. She had tried to steer clear of Bekah for a solid year hoping that it had paid off.

"Maybe I don't, but Ramsey does," Bekah said with a sinister smile that Lexi recognized. "If he knew the truth about you…"

Ramsey shook his head stepping between his sister and his girlfriend. "Would you both calm down? Bekah, Lexi is right. You have no say in whether or not I see Lexi. Lexi, Bekah is right in that you had no right to bring up this kind of stuff in front of everyone. You both need to calm down. It is your wedding day. I can't believe you're even here right now having this argument," he said in disgust.

Lexi took a step back from Bekah. She knew that she had been out of line, but she hadn't been able to see anything other than Bekah when she was fighting with her. It was like they were meant to argue. She was blinded to the rest of the world. Her vision went blurry. Her senses were dulled. All she could see was the bitch that was standing in front of her and the anger that bubbled up at the very mention of her name. But she couldn't be that person in front of Ramsey. It was, after all, his sister. He wasn't just going to completely turn his back on her, even if Lexi thought he should.

"Sorry," she murmured taking a few more steps back and standing next to Chyna who looked a little shell-shocked from the argument that had just occurred.

"Well I'm not sorry," Bekah called.

"Bek maybe you should calm down," Jack intervened. He too looked amazed at the showdown between the two loves of his life.