Avoiding Responsibility Read online

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  This book was automatically created by FLAG on June 21st, 2012, based on content retrieved from http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2836944/.

  The content in this book is copyrighted by craziebabe45 or their authorised agent(s). All rights are reserved except where explicitly stated otherwise.

  This story was first published on August 10th, 2010, and was last updated on May 12th, 2012.

  Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated - please email any bugs, problems, feature requests etc. to [email protected].

  Table of Contents

  Summary

  1. Wake Up, I Want You

  2. Drugged

  3. Best News

  4. Appearances

  5. No Reason

  6. Exclusive

  7. Persistence

  8. Whores

  9. Upside Down

  10. That Moment

  11. Weeping Willow

  12. Balconies

  13. Blame

  14. Karaoke and Cigarettes

  15. Rules of the Game

  16. Surprise, Surprise

  17. Fake

  18. Interview with the Mistress Pt III

  19. Mental Breakdown

  20. Rashomon

  21. Truth

  22. Unintentional Lying

  23. Epic Baggage

  24. Revelations

  25. Hope

  26. Author's Note

  Summary

  COMPLETE! Sequel: Lexi has moved on to better things, namely Ramsey, But things are amiss and she learns things about him that would make any girl turn away. Now he's trying to make amends and does what she least expects: invites her to Jack's wedding.

  Wake Up, I Want You

  SEQUEL WARNING: STOP BEFORE CONTINUING READING THE CHAPTER! If you have not read the first book Avoiding Commitment, then this chapter will not only NOT make sense to you, but also will RUIN the plot for the first book. Please stop what you are doing, go to my profile, and select the first book in this series if you have not already done so...unless for some reason you like to have the plot ruined before you read a book...TURN BACK NOW :)

  Note: The characters, places, situations and events of this story are developed materializations of my imagination and therefore belong entirely to me. Distribution of this story is only permitted with my written consent, and any use of the aforementioned factors must be approved of also. Please do not steal; I shouldn't be punished for your lack of originality and dedication.

  Disclaimer: I don't own any of the name brands i.e. Nike, Coach, etc. that might appear in the story.

  ***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Avoiding Commitment won a SKOW award for best villain! For those you that don't know, the Some Kind of Wonderful awards are romance based awards for online fiction. They are kind of big deal.

  * * *

  Avoiding Responsibility

  By: K.A. Linde

  * * *

  Wake me up, I've been dreaming

  Feels just like any other day

  I'd sit you down, here goes nothing

  But you're not gonna like what I say

  -Cartel "The Perfect Mistake"

  * * *

  Chapter 1: Present

  A sing-song tune echoed from a distant location far removed from the king-sized bed where Lexi Walsh lay curled up amongst the sheets. The muffled chorus of a popular radio song hit her ears causing her to roll over and bury herself farther into the depths of the bed. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and the warmth of a body pressing itself against her skin. The man trailed his fingers gently against her stomach, down the curves of her side, and over her toned thighs. She giggled as the touches turned a bit more demanding and rocked her body back and forth.

  "Mmm," she groaned. "It's too early."

  "I know," he agreed moving his hands back to her flat tanned stomach. "Too early for your phone to be going off," he whispered into her ear.

  Lexi sighed heavily and nuzzled into his chest. "Agreed," she mumbled lacing their fingers together

  "Are you going to answer that?" he questioned, his breath hot against her earlobe.

  Lexi lazily shook her head and shifted ever so slightly imploring his lips to touch the sensitive skin around her ear. "Mmm, no," she said breathily.

  "You sure?" he asked further succumbing to her wish.

  She angled her body allowing herself a look into his hazel eyes and smiled. "Do I look like I want to get out of bed?"

  A confident smirk crossed his face. "Not in the slightest."

  "There's your answer," she muttered nuzzling further into his chest and yanking the sheet up around her bare shoulders.

  He responded by holding her tight against him as his other hand swooped up and ran through the long thick strands of chocolate brown hair. He splayed the curls out across the creamy white pillow and brushed her bangs off her forehead. Leaning forward in bed and being careful not to adjust her easy slumber, he planted a light kiss on her forehead.

  "That feels nice," she murmured into him.

  "I thought you'd fallen back asleep already."

  Lexi kissed his chest and held onto him a little tighter. "Not quite."

  "So who could be calling you so early in the morning?" he implored conversationally.

  Instantly, Lexi's heart sped up to an outrageous speed. She knew the reaction was entirely irrational. The last time she had been awoken at an early hour on a Saturday morning Jack had called her. That fateful conversation nearly a year earlier had led to an outrageous week where she had not only traveled to Atlanta to see Jack and his new girlfriend, Bekah, but had been suckered into attempting to convince said girlfriend that Jack was ready for marriage. What a sham that had been!

  She had been set-up by Bekah and, inevitably, after a few rather inappropriate experiences with Jack, had convinced him that he was, in fact, ready to marry Bekah. And he had proposed. After six years of trying to work things out between her and Jack, he had proposed to another woman with a duplicate of the ring he had promised only belonged to Lexi. She had walked away with the closure she had desired from Jack, but returned to New York with a whole new world of heartache she hadn't exactly been prepared for.

  But Jack hadn't called her since she had left him standing alone at the airport in Atlanta, and she knew he wouldn't be calling her now.

  That didn't lessen the thumping of her heart though.

  "I…I dunno," she told him turning back to face the open loft so that he couldn't see the dejected look on her face.

  She had a list of people who could be calling her this early in the morning, but, regardless, she did not want to be forced from her tranquil environment to face the realities of the real world. And if she was honest with herself, a part of her was afraid that one day Jack would come crashing back into her existence.

  Jack. The man who had taken her from a brilliant, confident, controlled woman to a love sick, low self-esteem, uncontrollable girl at the first glance from his blue eyes. Together they had ruined relationships, friendships, and families with their heated desire and relentless passion. She never thought the day would come where she dreaded the sight of her former lover, but he had forced it upon her by sleeping with her only hours before proposing to his girlfriend, now fiancé.

  The familiar lyrics began playing again, and this time Lexi could pinpoint the location of her purse amongst his impeccably clean décor. She sighed heavily wishing the noise would stop allowing her the peace she so desired.

  "Perhaps you should attend to that," he muttered into her ear, "while I go fix you some breakfast."

  Lexi groaned as he shifted next to her hauling his tight ass across the bed and over to the enormous closet stocked with expensive suits. He threw o
n a pair of black boxer-briefs and took the stairs two at a time down to the landing. He returned a second later with her designer purse and placed it gently on the bed. She smiled up in his angular face and was rewarded with a kiss on the lips full of promises.

  "Answer that," he commanded pointing at the phone that was still lit up from the previous phone call. "Come down when you're finished."

  She watched his backside retreat down the stairs and out of sight before picking up her purse and fishing out her new cell phone. Up until a couple months ago, she had had the same old, dinged-up, flip phone since college. The thing had lasted nearly seven years much longer than modern technology afforded. They had had their rough spots along the way when she had lost all the numbers after dropping it in the toilet once, but it had been good to her nonetheless. Chyna, her best friend, had finally convinced her to get something a bit flashier. The day Lexi had been on the way to the store, Chyna had surprised her with the phone claiming it was a graduation present since Lexi absolutely abhorred the thought of mooching off of her best friend's exorbitant wealth.

  Her new touch screen came to life at the tips of her fingers and she grumbled at the early hour. Her night had been pretty insane, and the only way she compensated was by sleeping through much of the day. The last thing Lexi wanted to do was be awake at that moment. She groggily clicked on the message that claimed she had two missed calls.

  Lexi cursed under her breath as the name filled the screen: Ramsey Bridges.

  She could think of a million and a half reasons for him to be calling her. None of which she wanted to deal with at this moment in time. The only good thing about him calling was that it wasn't Jack.

  Lexi threw her head back roughly against the incredibly soft down pillow and bit the inside of her lip to keep from cursing aloud. Just as she was about to swing her legs over the side of the bed and trek downstairs, the phone lit up one more time. This time it was a text message and a preprogrammed ding filled the empty bedroom.

  Reluctantly, Lexi clicked on the message and read it to herself. "Sorry it's early and for everything else. Call me. Please. Miss you."

  Lexi banged her head back and against the pillow case several more times in frustration. This could not be happening to her right now. She knew that she should wait to make the phone call. She had an incredibly attractive male making her breakfast downstairs and the last person, well second to last person if you counted Jack, she needed to talk to in that moment was Ramsey. But she couldn't just ignore him. Something was up or else he wouldn't be calling her. She couldn't just leave him hanging like that and despite her better judgment, she phoned him.

  "Lexi," he breathed into the other line.

  His voice sent chills up her spine and the intense way he said her name only made it worse…or better depending on how you looked at it. A wave of peppermint seemed to overtake her at the sound of her voice. She couldn't believe that the taste of him could be so alive in her mind when he was thousands of miles away in Atlanta. She shook her head from her imagination and answered him, "That's right."

  "Hey," he muttered surprisingly at a loss of words.

  "Hey," she said back.

  "Uh, how have you been?" he asked obviously fishing for information.

  "I've been great Ramsey. Did you need something?" she asked cutting the conversation as short as she could.

  "Yeah, we have a lot to talk about."

  Lexi shook her head. No. She could not do this right now. "I don't think we do."

  "Come on. You know we do," he told her.

  "Well now isn't a great time," she said glancing around the loft.

  "Oh, yeah, it's early. Sorry about that," he said. She could almost feel him scratching him head at that statement.

  "It's fine. Did you need something or were you just calling this early to chat?" she asked being as rude as she ever had been with Ramsey. Depending on the day he could bring that side out of her better than anyone else she had ever met.

  "No I have something to ask you," he stated hesitantly.

  "Ok," she said curiously. She knew that it would be better if she got off the line with him. She was at some other man's house, and it was too early in the morning for this kind of conversation. The last thing she wanted to do was be reminded of her past right now.

  "Look I don't really know how to ask this of you so I guess I'll just spit it out. Will you go to my sister's wedding with me?" Ramsey asked in a rush.

  Lexi sat there in silence unable to believe what she had just heard. She couldn't honestly believe that Ramsey would be asking her to go to the wedding. She had been doing everything she could not to have any knowledge of the wedding at all. She didn't know any of the specifics regarding the happenings, and it hadn't exactly been easy to keep her head down and out of the news. She hadn't received an invitation, which hadn't surprised her all that much. On one level, she had been surprised Bekah's vindictive side hadn't surfaced and invited her out of her spite. Another part of her was even more surprised that Jack hadn't been begging her to come back again. After all, another year had rolled around, and it was about time for him to try to ruin her life.

  She hated having to think about Jack that way. Even though she had let him go back in the Atlanta airport, she couldn't help but reminisce back to the good times of their so-called relationship. Apparently, he hadn't been thinking about that or else her comments when leaving him behind had struck home.

  Either way, she hadn't received the invitation to which she had been silently praying against. Thus, she had no idea of the date, time, or place of the wedding. She told herself this was more for her sanity's sake, but she wasn't sure if that was the only reason. She didn't trust herself enough to not to go, and she knew that she would only make a fool of herself if she made the mistake of attending.

  That brought her back to reality. Ramsey had just asked her to attend the wedding she had been pointedly avoiding at all costs for the past year. He wanted her to go with him to see Jack and Bekah say their vows and become legally tied to each other. He wanted her to go to a wedding that he didn't even want to attend.

  There was only one explanation. Ramsey had lost his mind. There was no other way to describe it. He must think she was completely crazy or possibly even a different person to suggest this course of action to her. He had to know, if anyone knew, that there was no way she was going to be in attendance.

  "Lexi, are you still there?" Ramsey questioned anxiously into the phone.

  She snapped out of her trance. "Yes."

  "Yeah?" he asked excitement evident in his voice.

  "Yes, I'm still here," she mumbled.

  "Oh," he said sullenly, "I thought you meant yes you would go with me."

  "Oh, no," she replied shaking her head side to side even though he couldn't see her.

  "Lexi, please."

  "Ramsey, are you out of your mind?" she asked running her fingers through her long brown hair as she tried to keep her voice level and under control. The feat was proving rather difficult to accomplish. How dare he ask her such a ridiculous request!

  "Probably a little bit," he admitted his voice wavering.

  "You'd have to be crazy to think that I would go with you," she said pinching herself to keep from yelling at him over the phone.

  "Is this about me or Jack?"

  Lexi huffed out an angry breath. "Do you really have to ask that?" she grumbled.

  "You're right. You're right," he quickly amended. "Sorry for asking."

  "Whatever. Ramsey, I'm not going to that wedding with you or with anyone," she told him firmly.

  "Lexi what happened a couple weeks ago…"

  "Please don't," she whispered into the phone laying her forehead into her hand and wishing she had gone with her first instinct and ignored the call.

  "I am sorry about…everything," he murmured his voice filled with emotion.

  "I know. You said that."

  "I just…I don't want to go with anyone else," he told her.

&
nbsp; Lexi could feel the tears beginning to well in her eyes at the admission. She really did not need this right now. She quickly swiped at her eyes hoping the effect of his words wouldn't show through on her face.

  Stepping off of the bed and wandering towards the closet, Lexi stood before the full-length mirror and took a good long look at herself. Her eyes were rimmed pink, but as long as she held it together, the coloring would go away fast enough. Her cheeks were flushed, but it was a nice look with her tanned skin. Her tangled mess of hair fell down just past her shoulders a whopping ten inches shorter than she typically wore it because she had donated the hair to Locks of Love at a charity fundraiser Chyna had dragged her to. She was getting better at controlling her emotions. She hadn't let one tear trickle down her face.

  "You can't ask that of me Ramsey. You know it isn't fair."

  "Can I just give you the date and you let me know if you're available?" he pleaded.

  "What?" she shrieked. "No, don't give me the date." Pulling the phone promptly from her ear, Lexi glanced around the room and over the balcony to see if she had caused a disturbance. She hadn't intended on losing control, but the thought that after all her hard work Ramsey was going to spoil everything just made her act impulsively. After reassuring herself that her explosion hadn't drawn any unnecessary attention, Lexi placed the phone back on her ear.

  "Lexi? Hello, are you there?" Ramsey asked concerned his voice coming out faster than normal out of panic.

  "Yes, I'm here. Sorry, I didn't mean to yell," she said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear out of habit.

  "It's fine. Look I won't tell you the date, if you don't want to know, but will you just think on it? I really don't want to be there without you."

  "Did you ever think that maybe I don't want to be there at all?" she whispered into the phone ducking into the bathroom.

  "I know you don't want to be there, but I have to be. It's my sister's wedding and I have to be there. But since I have to, I'd like to be as happy as possible when I am there. The only way that could be possible is with you," he told her using his easy charm to let the words fall husky and persuasive off of his tongue.