“No. You have it all wrong. The first time was at the beach house.”
Kate turned and stared at her. “That was in May.”
Lexi nodded watching the news dawn on Kate. “That’s what I came here to tell you.”
“No.” Kate murmured falling back down onto the couch. “Ya’ll have been sleeping together since May? Why is he with me then?” Lexi shrugged. Lexi, of all people, did not have an answer for that. “If you’ve been sleeping together since then, why are you just telling me now? Why are you telling me at all?”
“Clark found out, and Jack wasn’t going to tell you. I thought it was right to let you know.”
“I never thought he would do this.”
Lexi rolled her eyes and then felt bad for doing it. Of course, he would do this. Then again, he probably didn’t reveal this side of himself to too many people. Lexi just happened to be on the wrong end of this scenario twice already.
“I mean, I’m a virgin.”
“What?” Lexi squeaked. She steadied herself on the molding to the front entrance. “You’re a what?”
“I just thought that if it was one time, he would get it out of his system since we don’t sleep together. We do everything else, but we don’t have sex. I didn’t think it was that big of deal, but this…this is different.”
Lexi couldn’t do anything more than stare at her. She’s a virgin. Jack had never mentioned that. Not once. The look of despair that passed over Kate seeped into Lexi. How had she done this? It was a question she couldn’t help repeating to herself. She had slept with Jack and Kate hadn’t. Jack and Kate had been together for years and never slept together. Lexi couldn’t process that information. Jack had no self-restraint. He was completely incapable of it around her. Just like she had no control around him. How was he able to go years without sleeping with Kate?
“Get out,” Kate said. “I can’t stand looking at you. You took something that wasn’t yours, and you don’t even seem remorseful. If I ever set eyes on you again, it will be too soon.”
With that Lexi pulled the front door open and rushed out of the house to her car. She was so lost in what had happened that she hadn’t even noticed the very familiar Mazda 3 pulling into the driveway. She tried to dart into her car before he would notice her, but she wasn’t quick enough. Jack hopped out of his car and sprinted to her side.
“What are you doing here?” he asked venomously.
“She is a virgin,” was the only thing Lexi could get out at the sight of him.
“Oh God,” he said running his hands through his hair. “What did you do?”
“She is a virgin.”
“Lexi,” he yelled grabbing her by the shoulders. “What did you do?”
Tears began to form in her eyes again as she looked up at the handsome face. “Why?”
“I came here to tell her.”
“Why?”
“So we could be together.”
“You didn’t want to be with me,” she said feeling her weight sinking in his grasp.
“Lex, I’ve wanted to tell you for so long…that I love you.”
Lexi’s head snapped up. “You what?”
“You’ve known for a long time. You say it to me all the time with your eyes. I came here to straighten things out with Kate. To make things right for us.”
“Did you say you love me?”
“Lex, you know I do.”
“No, no I don’t,” she said pulling herself away from him and slamming into her car door.
“You’re just lying to me.”
“I’ll never lie to you again. I’ve told you that so many times. Just let me straighten things out so we can work this out.”
“I don’t want to work it out,” she said numbly staring at him. She was still shell shocked and saying the first thing that came to her mind. How could he say those things to her? After everything he said, how did he expect her to react? Did he think she was going to roll over for him? She had made a decision in that coffee shop with Clark and she was going to stick by it. He couldn’t just come in here with his sweet talk and think everything would just go back to normal. He wanted her now, maybe, but that wasn’t good enough. He had to want her all the time. He had to need her. He had to put her first. If he loved her, that’s what he would have done from the beginning. But Jack had never put anyone first in his life. “I want to be with Clark. He wants to take me back.”
The look on Jack’s face hurt more than Lexi ever thought would be possible. “Fine. Go be miserable with your little lap dog. Forget what I said. Just forget it,” he said turning away from her, and pushing aside the lone tear that had managed to seep out of his eye. “Forget it all.”
But she would never forget.
CHAPTER 15
PRESENT
The next morning a town car pulled up in front of Ramsey’s place and waited on Lexi with breakfast and coffee. It wasn’t the type of hospitality Lexi had been expecting to receive from Bekah. When they had last parted, it hadn’t exactly been on good terms. So far, everything had officially gone completely opposite of how she had planned. All she had wanted to do was tell Bekah her story and leave Jack behind. By now she was supposed to be sitting on the back porch of her parents’ house sipping on a margarita and enjoying the remaining week at home. Instead, she found herself being whisked off to some boutique to go shopping for Jack’s birthday party.
She sighed and took a long sip of the black coffee hoping the caffeine buzz would kick her brain back to its proper mode of functioning. If she could get out of this situation sooner rather than later that would be better for her rattled nerves. The only problem was that she wasn’t sure what to tell Bekah.
Things with Jack had never been simple enough to put a label on.
For some reason, everything had to be complicated when it came to Jack. If they had just dated and got bored with each other like normal couples, then maybe she could just go to Bekah and tell her a very simple story. But under the circumstances, Lexi thought it did their relationship a disservice to reduce it to such simplicity.
How she felt about Jack crossed lines that she wasn’t sure many other people ever experienced. The way he looked at her, touched her, and seemed to understand her made the whole scenario much more difficult to explain.
And it’s not like she could tell Bekah the entire story. No one had ever heard the entire story. She was all but certain that Jack hadn’t confessed anything. No way was he going to tell anyone else about New York, and Lexi never had the heart to reveal all the details to anyone else.
So that left her back at square one. What should she tell Bekah?
Lexi had expected to pull up in front of some swank boutique. To her surprise Phipp’s Plaza appeared before her eyes. The mall parking lot was already swarming with expensive cars bustling to feed their owner’s shopping desires. Lexi hadn’t been inside since high school and the only reason she hadn’t returned was because she hadn’t been able to spend a dime in the place. It wasn’t a Manhattan boutique, but it wasn’t like Lexi could afford this either.
She pushed her bangs off her forehead as she entered into the overly air conditioned shopping centre. She felt out of place in her loose fitting purple tank and khaki shorts compared to all the fake princesses clicking along the marble in their four inch Manolos and swishing their tiny butts in professional garb.
When Lexi had received the message from Bekah, she had just been about to go out on a morning run. She hadn’t had much time to do anything but change shorts and throw her hair into a slicked back ponytail. Bekah probably wasn’t going to approve of her choice, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She hadn’t let Chyna persuade her into a five hundred dollar t-shirt, and that was her best friend. No way was she going to let this be any different. Lexi dealt with high end, wealthy people every day of her life. She was almost certain that there was nothing Bekah could send her way that would throw her off track.