Avoiding Responsibility (32 page)

She had tried to understand. He had a business to run. Sure she didn't much approve of his job, but what woman would. He was surrounded by gorgeous women all day long. Not to mention they were all too eager to throw themselves at him. These women got naked and turned men on for a living…and she was a million miles away.

But those were her own insecurities talking. If he wanted any of those women, he could have had them when he used to sleep around. He was hers now though, and she trusted him to stay that way. After all, he had asked her to move in with him, and he had never done that before with anyone else...he had never even had another girlfriend.

Then this surprise party really topped it all off. He sure did know how to make up for lost time. "I'll give credit where credit is due," Lexi acknowledged tracking Ramsey's movements until he disappeared upstairs.

"Congratulations!" Parker cried coming up to Lexi from amongst the crowd. "I'm sure you're so proud."

"Whoa!" Chyna yelped. "You two are surreal similar."

"Uh..." Parker murmured awkwardly.

"Chyna!" Lexi gasped staring at her wide-eyed. "Don't be rude."

"You
must
be Parker," Chyna said extending her hand.

"Um...yeah. That's me," Parker said ducking her chin to her chest uncomfortably, and placing her hand lightly in Chyna's grasp.

"Sorry about Chyna," Lexi quickly apologized. The last thing she wanted to do was make Parker feel anything but welcome. Lexi had to admit that even though she had her suspicions and she knew some of their history, Parker had never actually done anything wrong. She had been perfectly nice to her at the beach. And if Ramsey said there was nothing going on, then there was nothing going. Despite the fact that Lexi didn't particularly want to get to know this girl, Lexi just figured she would be around now that she was back in Atlanta.

Parker looked up at her through long black lashes. "No it's fine. We do kind of look similar."

"Yeah. Yeah we do," Lexi agreed hesitantly. "And hey thanks for coming to my surprise party. I see you made it safely back into town," Lexi said deftly changing the subject.

"I did," she said beaming. "I just got back two weeks ago. I'm working the ER at Grady until some other plans I'm working on fall into place."

"Well Grady's a great hospital. I'm sure you're doing great," Lexi told her though she was curious about her rather vague comment about other plans. Hopefully, whatever her plans are take her out of the city. That would be ideal.

"Oh let's not talk about me," she said shaking out her long hair as she started to relax with the group. "Ramsey tells me that you got an associate position at a firm around here."

"He did, did he?" she asked apprehensively. So they had been talking.

"Yeah. You must be thrilled what with such a great opportunity just unfolding at your door like that," Parker said smiling sweetly.

"I know," Lexi couldn't help but gush. "It's almost too good to be true."

"Almost..." she murmured. "I know that these positions are nearly impossible to get lately."

"They really are. I couldn't believe it when I was accepted," Lexi gushed.

"Hello ladies," Ramsey said coming up next to them and interrupting the conversation. Both girls could see that he looked slightly uncomfortable finding them talking to each other, but it was clear that he was trying desperately to hide it.

"Ramsey," Parker said bobbing her head in welcome. "You've done a wonderful job here. I'm sure Lexi is very pleased with the result."

"Yeah I am," Lexi agreed letting her eyes drift to the beautiful party thrown in her honor.

"Good I'm glad and thanks," he said with a boastful grin.

"Ramsey I was just telling Lexi how happy I was for her to get the job at the law firm," Parker said, "and how proud you must be of her."

Lexi couldn't decipher the look that passed between them. She knew Ramsey. She had spent the better part of the year with him, but she just didn't know what he was thinking. Parker had known him their entire lives and it was obvious that something secret was being spoken between them.

"I am very proud," he agreed.

Lexi did notice that his uneasiness only intensified the longer they stood together. Yet, there was nothing about this conversation that should have made him uneasy. He was very very proud of her for securing such a good job for the summer and so wonderfully close to him. The only thing that could be a problem was the fact that it was coming from Parker. Their long lost fling clearly had something to do with the situation. Lexi just didn't have the strength to dig deeper. Even though in the pit of her stomach she knew that she should try to figure out the source of the uneasiness, she just let it slide.

"Obviously he's proud. He threw me this whole party," Lexi said as if it were commonplace.

"Obviously," Parker repeated, her words hollow.

"How about we get you to cut the cake," Ramsey diverted quickly. Parker smiled sweetly at the two of them and then quickly excused herself. She had only been able to get away from the hospital for a short while and she was sure that they would be needing her again. Lexi waved her off happy that she was gone and would no longer muddle her party, but also curious as to where their strange friendship might take them. After all, she had seemed truly happy for her and it had taken a lot of guts to come out to her party.

Or maybe Lexi was looking at it all wrong. She conceded the point that she might just be imagining the whole thing. Ramsey had been up front about them sleeping together. There was no need for Parker to feel any discomfort around Lexi since she had never been in her position. She had just been a thing of the past, and Lexi was going about this all wrong.

More comforted by this new train of thought, Lexi followed Ramsey over to the cake. She felt almost like it was her birthday, and the only thing she was missing was the candles. She took a small piece for herself, and then began to mingle with the rest of the group. Somehow Lexi got dragged into a conversation with Brad and Jason about the varying aesthetics of the female rear end. She should have known better than to ask what they were talking about. The conversation was beginning to go a direction she hadn't dreamed of them discussing in front of her. Once they started talking about the extra shape and structure of her own butt, she had had enough. She needed to get out of there.

She smiled anxiously at Ramsey's two roommates as she tried to insert an excuse to leave into the conversation. She finally squeezed in the remark, and quickly scurried away from them and out the back door. Closing the door behind her, she took a deep breath of fresh air and checked her watch. She was stunned. How had the time gone by so fast? The party had been going on for hours, and she hadn't even realized it because up until the conversation with Brad and Jason she had been having an incredible time.

"Well this doesn't look like much of a party," someone said following Lexi out onto the balcony and closing the door and the noise behind him.

Lexi turned quickly and found herself face to face with the guy who Jessie had come with. She hadn't recognized him before, but now that he was facing her she realized she did in fact know him. Both times she had ventured into Bridges Enterprise she had run into him, and after her experiences with Jack and Ramsey, she stopped believing these occurrences were purely coincidence. People just gravitated to her at times and she was never quite sure why it happened, but here he was: Brandon Calloway.

"I think it's a fine party," she responded letting herself relax back into the railing. The afternoon heat hadn't quite subsided as night took over, but still it was better than being surrounded by people right now.

"It would be fine if the guest of honor was inside, but since you're out here I have to disagree, respectfully of course," he said with a charming smile. "So, I came to find the party."

She remembered his easy flirtations the last time she had been around him. He teased every girl in his vicinity and had likely been with just as many. His easy words were nothing to her, but she smiled nonetheless. Every girl enjoys a compliment. "Thank you. Thought I came out here for peace and quiet which I don't think is what you have to offer."

"I can be quiet," he said pushing his lips together with his fingers and leaning his body against the railing beside her. Instead of turning his head out to the lingering sunset, he kept his gaze strictly on her face.

"You're missing it," she said gesturing to the skyline. She feared his answer would be predictable and she couldn't keep from smiling bigger the longer his eyes bore into her.

He shook his head as if to show that he would still remain silent as she had asked. His hand came up and tapped her lightly on the nose. She turned her face back to him in surprise and she watched his eyes roam her face. She knew what he was saying without a word spoken from him. She was the view…not the sunset.

Suddenly, she couldn't hold back any longer and she giggled uncontrollably. His eyebrows knitted together as he attempted to understand the joke.

"You think that's going to work on me? Does that work on other women?" she asked incapable of keeping her giggles to herself.

Brandon gasped and clenched his chest as if wounded. "Of course it works," he said after a minute his cocky smile returning.

"Well not on me," Lexi said rolling her eyes.

"Perhaps," he conceded, "But I almost had you."

"Not a chance," she countered. "Anyway aren't you here with Jessie?"

Brandon rolled his gorgeous blue eyes to the ceiling at that. "That girl is harder to shake off than anyone I've met. Stage five clinger," he muttered reverting to language from Wedding Crashers. "She invited me here yes, but I came more out of spite than anything."

"Ah yes, your dislike of my boyfriend," she said remembering their earlier conversation at Bridges Enterprise.

"And now people actually know you have this claimed boyfriend," he said reminding her of the painfully humiliating day when she had stormed through Bridges as Ramsey's girlfriend who no one knew or acknowledged. "And anyway he dislikes me not the other way around," he said with a nonchalant shrug as if he had the world at his feet.

"Perhaps you deserve it," she said quickly uncertain of the history between them. She wanted to just ask what happened, but she wasn't sure she wanted the answer.

Brandon laughed boisterously at her reply. "He's got you wrapped around his little finger doesn't he? Ramsey Bridges can do no wrong," he said mockingly. "The Golden Boy. I don't know how he does it so easily…and with brilliant women no less."

"What are you talking about?" Lexi snapped quickly becoming serious.

"Oh nothing," he said patting her head like a child. "Don't fret your pretty little head over me. I deserve everything I get right?"

"Brandon what are you going on about?" she demanded more firmly this time.

"I'm afraid love, you'll find out with time. No need for me to spoil your fun."

He clearly knew he had done just that by the look on her face. He laughed again at her anger. "Has anyone ever told you that you're sexy when angry?" he asked leaning forward into her charmingly.

Immediately all emotion lapsed from her face. She had been told more times than she could count just that. A chill went down her spine at the similarities between Brandon and Jack. Yet she didn't feel for Brandon what she had ever felt around Jack. Brandon was just a charmer out for one thing and he seemed pretty successful.

The difference was he wasn't going to succeed with her.

"Have you been with every woman at this party?" she asked abruptly changing the subject.

"You're still up for grabs," he said smirking.

"Besides me!" she cried.

"Enough. The ones that interest me," he allowed.

"And what interests you? Boobs? Butt? Do you even need that?" she asked insulting his good taste.

"That hurts. I'm hitting on you and you have both," he said merrily.

"Well stop hitting on me. You're getting nowhere. Go hit on someone easier because I'm a lost cause," she told him up front.

"But you interest me," he confessed.

"Well I'm spoken for."

"How medieval!" he cried. "Soon you'll be betrothed and all that."

Lexi reflexively gagged at the idea. Not that she was necessarily against it, but all engagements meant to her were heartache, heartbreak, and disappointment. She didn't even want to think about that.

"Ahh…even more interesting. A woman gagging at the thought of marriage," he said intrigued. "That's a new one for me."

Lexi shrugged not wanting to go down that road. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything doll," he agreed immediately his face brightening.

"Well one don't call me doll," she told him.

"Fine you're honey to me now," he cooed.

She rolled her eyes, but knew a lost cause when she saw one. "And two pookie can you not chase me?" she pleaded.

He kept his face neutral as if he had been prepared for rejection. "But hoooooooney…"

"Now pookie I just got into town, I'm moving in with my boyfriend, and my best friend is going to Milan for the summer. I need a…a friend."

"A friend?" he asked warily as if he had heard of the dreaded friend zone and was terrified of even the word.

"Yes a friend. Someone I can hang out with and confide in and do stuff with without thinking they're going to jump me at the first chance. And I think you're it."

"I don't do the friend thing," he told her.

"Well there's a first for everything," she told him a big smile crossing her face.

"You're not going to let this go are you?" he asked grudgingly.

"Nope…pookie…"

"Fine," he grumbled. "Honey."

The back door swung open unexpectedly. "There you are," Ramsey called as he opened the door. "I've been looking all over for you." He eyed Brandon warily. It was clear by his clenched fists and stiff body that he didn't trust or like him. He looked prepared to pounce at a moments notice.

"Sorry I just needed some air," she said walking up to him and touching his arm reassuringly. No need for him to freak out about their alone time. She wasn't that girl anymore and anyways Brandon Calloway was no Jack Howard.