AVOIDING COMMITMENT
K.A. Linde
SMASHWORDS
Published by
K.A. Linde at Smashwords
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Avoiding Commitment
Copyright © 2012 K.A. Linde
All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Edited by Jenny Aspinall, Rebecca Kimmerling, and Lori Francis
Cover photo © iStockphoto.com/Nuno Silva
Cover Design by Sarah Hansen
--December 9th
CHAPTER 1
PRESENT
Vibrations reverberated throughout the miniscule apartment. The sound dulled and then died, not even registering on the tiny figure wrapped in a heap of hand-me-down quilts. Again, the electronic noise pierced the early morning silence. Lexi groaned, nearly rolling off the twin sized bed. Her hand fumbled clumsily for the alarm clock, slamming on the snooze button several times before realizing that it wasn’t even plugged in, let alone set for an early Saturday morning wake-up call.
She peeled her eyes open searching desperately for the obnoxious noise before zeroing in on her crummy old cell phone. It was situated between a box of photographs, last night’s cup of coffee, and her laptop, which had turned itself off when she hadn’t been kind enough to plug it in for the night. She stared across the room, debating whether the call was worth getting out of her cozy nook so early on a Saturday morning, just as the third ring blared through the apartment. Shoving the covers off of her bare legs, she stumbled out of bed, immediately stubbing her big toe on her nightstand. She swore profusely and barely kept from falling over as pain shot through her toe. Reaching out for the cell phone, she extended her arm and barely saved it before it vibrated over the side of the cluttered desk.
“Mmm hmm?” she mumbled groggily into her phone. She succumbed to the throbbing pressure in her foot and collapsed on the grey area rug she had indefinitely borrowed from her college roommate.
“Lexi.” It was a statement not a question. The voice was familiar, but it was so ridiculously early, she wasn’t going to blame herself for not immediately recognizing the deep masculine tone.
Lexi pulled the phone from her ear and looked at the time. She groaned when she saw it was only six; four hours before she needed to be awake. The number glaring blindly from the screen wasn’t programmed into her phone, but this came as no surprise. She had accidentally dropped her phone into a toilet two months earlier in a nightclub. The phone had miraculously survived, but she had lost all of her numbers.
What perplexed her was that it wasn’t an area code local to New York, where she had been residing the last two years for law school. Strangely enough, it was an Atlanta area code, and the only people she still talked to from home were her parents. When she had replaced the numbers in her phone, she hadn’t retained any other Atlanta phone numbers. Since moving to New York City, she had tried to let go of her past and move on to her bright future.
“Lexi, are you there?” the unidentified voice repeated into the phone. “I know…”
“Who is speaking?” she asked cutting him off abruptly. “Do you realize it’s six o’clock in the morning on Saturday?” she questioned him further. “Some people do like to sleep in,” she spoke sharply into the cell phone, adjusting her seat so as to assess the extent of her injury.
“Yeah, look, I’m sorry,” he implored her. “I would have never called if I didn’t absolutely have to.”
Her brain was trying to signal to her that she knew that voice. It sounded so familiar, but there was no way it could be that voice. Lexi rubbed her tired eyes before allowing herself to speak again. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “Who did you say this was again?” The person on the other end didn’t say a word. Lexi knew that wasn’t good.
The silence prolonged as neither person seemed willing to speak up. Finally, he emitted a tiny sigh and said, “Lex, it’s Jack.”
Chill bumps broke out across her arms and neck as his name registered and she was able to finally place the voice…that voice. It was him. Oh God! Why was he calling her?
The sound of her heart palpitating inside her chest could be heard out the door, down the hall and quite possibly outside in the nearby construction zone through the jackhammer slamming against the concrete…not to mention through the phone. Her mouth felt like she had been chewing on chalk all night. Butterflies whacking their tiny wings violently against her insides suddenly assaulted her stomach. All she could do was cough in disbelief. Her mind was whirling with indescribable possibilities for the purpose of his phone call, each new idea seemingly more ridiculous than the last.
She wasn’t sure if she was overreacting. So she hadn’t heard a word from him since their last encounter over a year and a half ago, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t randomly drop her a line at six o’clock in the morning. After all, they had been friends, of sorts, for nearly six years now.
“Look, I know I shouldn’t have called so early. I didn’t mean to intrude,” he said quickly.
She was terrified that he might hang up after only a few short minutes of his time. “What? No. Of course you’re not intruding. I just wasn’t expecting…well you. I wasn’t expecting you,” she could hear how breathy and uneven her voice had gotten and wanted to kick herself with her hurt toe for being such a girl.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I know it’s been awhile since we last spoke.” That was an understatement.
“Yeah, well, I lost all of the numbers in my phone.” Not that she would have called him. Anyways, he likely didn’t have the same excuse.
He didn’t say anything for a second. She figured he just didn’t have a response to that. “I guess I’ll just cut to the point,” he finally stated. “I need you.”
Lexi froze, not able to comprehend what she had just heard. Her mind poured over the countless interpretations of that statement. “You what?”
“I mean, I need you here.”
Her eyes bulged out. She could feel them drying out, but somehow couldn’t bring herself to blink. She couldn’t process what he was saying. He needed her? Not just needed her, but needed her there with him. Needed her home. She shook her head realizing she must be misunderstanding him. There was no way, after everything that had happened between them, he would ever call her like this. “I’m sorry…what?”
“I’m not getting this out right. It’s kind of hard to explain. Do you have a minute?”
She glanced around her tiny room, as specks of light began to filter in through the window. She visualized her planner, filled to the brim with meetings and appointments weekdays, and then her lame Saturday with only a haircut on the schedule. All she had was time. “It’s six in the morning. Go ahead, Jack,” she said letting his name roll off her tongue the same way he had…she stopped herself. No point in letting her mind venture there.