Avoiding Commitment (49 page)

Lexi shook her head. Her body was trembling
as he wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her from her feet
as he stood straight. She wouldn’t let the tears fall. She simply
couldn’t let the tears fall. As Jack held her closely, her
breathing slowed and her trembling eased. His embrace was more
comforting than anything else could be. It let the memories be
pushed back into the box that encased them in her mind.

After a minute, she spoke, “I’m fine, Jack.
It’s not what he said. It’s what he made me remember.”

He set her down on her feet resting his
forehead against hers. “I know.”

“It’s okay,” she murmured.

“It’s not okay,” he uttered wrenching back
and looking into her dark brown eyes. “Lex, it’s
not
okay.”

Lexi sighed heavily and took a step
backwards. “You’re right. It’s not okay. We’ve moved on. So…let’s
just move on,” she said yanking the stairwell door open and walking
through it without waiting for his response.

She heard Jack’s footsteps behind her, but he
was smart enough not to come any closer. When she reached her
doorway, she strolled inside. A chorus of questions bombarded her
upon entry. The cacophony pained her fragile eardrums, and she held
her hand up to silence them. Surprisingly, the girls stopped at
once. Their dramatic gossip before she returned must have made them
realize that something had gone on, and with Jack in tow, they
didn’t care to embarrass themselves.

“Jack is here now,” she murmured, “Feel free
to ogle him. That’s much more normal than the rest of my life,” she
said walking into the only bedroom and shutting the door.

She heard whispers on the other side as the
girls hypothesized what had occurred. Then a knock sounded on the
door. “Lex,” Jack smooth voice called out to her.

“Just give me a minute,” Lexi told him taking
a seat on the cold tile floor and hugging her knees to her chest.
She just needed a second to let the waves of emotion fall off her
shoulders. A few deep healing breaths later, Lexi stood up and
looked at herself in the mirror. Beyond the wild look in her eye,
she didn’t look any different than before. Her make-up hadn’t
smudged and since she hadn’t allowed herself to cry over the pain,
she didn’t have any mascara streaks. Pleased with her appearance,
Lexi plastered a smile on her face and exited the bathroom.

“Are you guys ready to party?” she asked
tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

The faces before her did not look as
convinced that they were ready to party as she had hoped they would
be. Claire and Elizabeth weren’t even eyeing Jack as they had
promised. Jack’s face was ashen with worry for her, but she could
see something else in his eyes. She wasn’t quite sure what he was
feeling at the present moment. And all she wanted to do was get
this night over with so they could crawl into bed together.
Rachelle was the only person who hopped up out of her chair at
Lexi’s announcement. She smiled politely, meeting Lexi’s eye and
winking.

The two girls hustled everyone out of the
apartment and into the awaiting cab. Claire and Elizabeth seemed to
regain their typical bubbly personality, and kept the ride
interesting. Luckily, neither Jack nor Lexi had to participate much
in the conversation to keep them talking. Jack paid the cab as the
girls climbed out of the backseat and onto the sidewalk.

“Miss Lexi,” Bernard, Chyna’s doorman, said
tipping his hat and smiling brightly.

“Hey, Mr. B, it’s good to see you!” she told
him sincerely. “You must be pretty busy tonight.”

He shrugged. “You know how Miss Chyna can be
with her parties.” Lexi nodded. She sure did. “Well, you have a
good time. Try and keep her under control.” He swung the door open
and allowed them to enter Chyna’s building.

They could hear the loud music before the
elevator doors dinged open on the top floor. Chyna had really
outdone herself in celebration of the end of Lexi’s first semester.
All of the lighting had been replaced with black lights. Strobe
stage lighting hung from the ceiling reflecting off the blank walls
and the mass of bodies grinding to the techno beats blaring from
studio speakers. The sunken-in living room had been emptied of
furniture and converted into a dance floor. Lexi couldn’t
differentiate one person from another in the room.

Jack reached out and took Lexi’s hand in his
own. His touch momentarily dispelled her earlier apprehensions. She
led them through the crowded apartment amazed at how few of the
people she actually recognized. A path cleared for them and they
moved forward into the swinging double doors that led to the
kitchen where a full bar was in service for the guests.

When they walked in, they found Chyna seated
at the kitchen table, her head tilted backwards, an upside down
margarita being poured into her mouth. She gulped down the tequila
and stood. The crowd surrounding her cheered and she pumped her
fist in the air in victory. Another girl took her place and Chyna
bounded over to the group.

“Thank goodness you are here!” she cried
wrapping her arms around Lexi. “My Alexa is that much closer to
being a lawyer. Which is fabulous, because you never know when I’ll
need one,” she said wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and bumping
hips with Lexi.

“Lord I hope you never need one,” Lexi
mumbled.

Chyna giggled hysterically, already beyond
wasted for the evening. Lexi smiled letting Chyna’s infectious
personality wash over her. Lexi settled into a corner of the
kitchen with the rest of her entourage taking shots of varying
colors. Rachelle, who never drank, even participated for the
special occasion. After a few rounds, Claire and Elizabeth ran off
to the living room claiming that they needed to get their groove
on. Chyna hadn’t been able to suppress her laughter.

“Are you sure they are in law school with
you?” she asked turning back to face Lexi.

Lexi giggled. “Yeah, my sentiments exactly,”
she yelled over the music.

“They are a bit much,” Jack agreed lounging
back in his chair. He threw an arm over the back of Lexi’s seat and
propped his leg up on his knee.

“They are absu…fucking…lutely ridiculous,”
Rachelle slurred resting her head on the table.

“Are you alright, Ray?” Lexi asked placing
her hand on the girl’s shoulder in concern.

“I don’t understand them. I don’t know how
they got in, and I don’t know how they survived!” she cried leaping
up unexpectedly.

Lexi wasn’t sure how Rachelle had survived
with how high strung she was and the amount of Adderall that passed
through her system. “Who cares, Ray? We made it! That’s what
matters.”

“I’m going to go celebrate,” Rachelle
announced, “with him.” She pointed towards a guy standing against
the wall waiting for his beer. And with that she sauntered off
leaving Lexi, Jack, and Chyna alone.

“That was interesting,” Chyna said, “but I
need more booze. You love birds have fun.” She fluttered her
fingers at them as she disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

“Just you and me,” Lexi said turning towards
Jack and licking her lips seductively.

“Finally,” he murmured capturing his lips
with hers.

She groaned deep in her throat and shifted
from her seat to his lap letting her legs face towards the wall. He
wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her tight to his chest.
He deepened the kiss letting his tongue brush across her lips and
into her mouth. She sighed with pleasure and met his tongue. Her
hands pushed up into his thick dark hair and gripped the strands
causing a moan to escape his mouth. She felt his wandering hands
sneak under her dress, trail across her inner thighs, and tease the
flimsy lace material.

Lexi jerked back from his mouth in surprise.
She couldn’t believe he wanted to do this here, with all these
people around. Not that anyone would really notice. There were
dozens of people filling the rooms and the lights were all but
extinguished. His demanding fingers pushed the thong aside and
began to gently rub from her clit down to her hot, wet opening. A
smirk played across his features as he watched her surprise shift
to desire.

“Oh, Jack,” she whispered not even sure if he
could hear her over the music.

Her eyes fluttered closed, but he leaned
forward and whispered in her ear, “Don’t close your eyes. I want to
see everything.”

Her eyes shot open at his command. His breath
was hot on her neck as he moved his mouth to the soft spot under
her ear. He trailed kisses down her neck as his hands continued to
stroke her until she was trembling. Then, when he didn’t think she
could hold back any longer, he inserted his finger gently inside
her. She gasped clutching on to him as waves of pleasure rushed
over her.

She slumped forward resting her head on his
shoulder. He pulled back from her and reached for a napkin to clean
himself up.

“Let’s get some privacy,” he said gesturing
for them to exit the kitchen. As they stood, Jack paused and fished
around in his pockets. “Hello?” Jack answered the phone pressing it
firmly to his ear to try and drone out the background noise. “Yes
sir, this is Jack Howard.” After a pause, Jack spoke up again. “I
am still interested. I am definitely interested,” he said
enthusiasm creeping into his voice.

Lexi looked up at him, her eyebrows rising in
curiosity. She mouthed, “What?” to him.

He held his hand up a huge smile on his face.
“Sure. Absolutely.” The smile faltered. Lexi really wished that she
could hear what was going on. First, he was ecstatic. Now he looked
a bit hesitant, and she didn’t even know who was calling. “Tonight?
Yeah, no, that won’t be a problem. Yes, sir. I’ll be right
there.”

Jack hung up the phone. His face was
apprehensive as his blue eyes turned to Lexi. “What’s going on?”
she asked smiling brightly.

“I got an interview!” he said leaning down
and kissing her on the mouth.

“That’s awesome,” she cried.

“But I have to go tonight…now,” he muttered
looking away from her.

“What? Why? Isn’t it kind of late for an
interview?” she asked realizing why he had looked anxious.

“Last minute kind of thing.”

“Oh, well, go! Get out of here! Good luck!”
she cried throwing her arms around his neck.

“You aren’t mad?” he asked his brows coming
together.

“Of course not. I want you to do well.”

He looked a little suspicious of how well she
was taking the news, but didn’t want to question her again. “I’ll
make this up to you. We’ll pick up where I left off. I
promise.”

“No need,” she said waving him off.

“Oh, there’s need,” he murmured raising his
eyebrows. “I’ll call you when I know something.”

Jack leaned down and kissed her deeply once
more before rushing out of the room. She exited the kitchen in
search of Chyna. Without Jack, she was missing her source of
sunshine, her ability to forget what had happened earlier that
evening. Her heart was aching from the memories and she needed
someone to fill that void.

“I just saw your hubby leave the building,”
Claire slurred coming up out of nowhere and grabbing onto her arm.
“He was escorting some blonde outside.” She wiggled her eyebrows up
and down suggestively. “She was fucking drunk.”

“I think you’re fucking drunk,” Lexi told her
snatching her arm away from the girl. “And I know he left, because
he has a job interview. They just called him.”

“Whatever you wanna believe,” Claire said
falling backwards into a tall guy who jostled her back in the other
direction. She stumbled a few feet before crashing into another
unsuspecting partier sending a ripple effect through the rest of
the dancers.

Lexi turned from the angry drunken mob to
restart her search for Chyna. She didn’t particularly care what
happened to Claire. She had too much alcohol in her system and
normally got on her nerves without the extra effect. She was
literally grating on her just by being in her presence right
now.

She spun in place scanning Chyna’s penthouse
suite. It was going to take forever to locate her friend who
literally could be anywhere. More people continued to stream in
through the front door while others were devastating the premises.
Lexi searched the apartment as fast as she could unable to locate
her lost friend. Finally, as she was about to step into Chyna’s
bedroom, the door popped open and a fuming beefy man stalked out of
the room. His nose had blood running freely from it and he seemed
to favor his right side. Lexi heard him mutter a string of curses
as he exited.

She staggered backwards out of the man’s way.
He didn’t even seem to realize anyone was in front of him. A peel
of laughter broke free from the bedroom, and Lexi peeked her head
around the corner into the room hoping to find out what was going
on. Chyna readjusted her bra strap which seemed to have been pushed
out of place.

“You okay, C?” Lexi asked concerned that
perhaps the laughter hadn’t been pleasant.

“Yeah, had to get rid of some asshole,” she
commented yanking her skirt back to its appropriate length.

“Did you do that to that guy?” Lexi asked
unable to keep the humor out of her voice. Chyna nodded a smug
smile across her face. “He looked pretty messed up.”

“I’ve been taking self-defense classes for as
long as I can remember. He got too friendly too fast and I didn’t
want it. So I jabbed my palm into his nose. Then rammed my elbows
into his kidneys until he squealed like girl and ran out of here,”
Chyna said grabbing her hair and pulling all to the right side of
her body.

Lexi doubled over with laughter. “That’s
impressive. You’ll have to teach me a thing or two.”

Lexi leaned back against Chyna’s bed. Chyna
eyed her for the first time. “So, where is your man? Aren’t you
supposed to be sexing it up by now?”