When he pulled over, Lexi leaned across her seat and kissed Brad gently on the cheek. "Thanks so much."
"Just remember...I was not in the Maserati."
"What Maserati?" she asked coyly.
"Thanks. I'll take your stuff to the apartment. See your hot ass later."
Lexi rolled her eyes and slammed the door in his face. She watched him zoom down the street and through the winding traffic. Lexi made her way across the street and into the large glass building. She took a deep breath as she crossed the threshold, memories of the last time she had entered the premises clouding her vision.
It had been nearly five months since she had found out about Jack's engagement to Bekah in this very building. Five months since she had discovered Bekah's evil plot to destroy whatever she had with Jack. In the grand scheme of things, that wasn't that long to get over everything that had happened with Jack. It wasn't long enough to erase her aching, and it wasn't long enough to erase her anger.
Yet, she put one foot in front of the other and held her head high as she walked into the place that had tore out her heart, stomped on it until it was in pieces, and then placed it back in her chest as if nothing had happened. She could do this. She knew it. Her life had changed and now she had Ramsey, her gorgeous boyfriend, who she was here to see. She couldn't feel anymore or any less for him based on his connection to a building. The building wasn't changing and it wasn't the building that had hurt her.
And beyond that, he wasn't Bekah. He wasn't anything like her. He was kind, caring, and compassionate. Where she was just pure evil. She might appear beautiful with her shoulder-length blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and Barbie-esk features, but underneath she was as plastic as the doll. If she was a Mean Girls character, she would have been Regina George. No doubt. How they had been raised in the same household and turned out to be complete opposites Lexi would never be able to figure out.
Sighing despite herself, Lexi meandered through the busy foyer and walked up to the first available representative. Lexi cringed as she noticed the tiny Asian woman that was standing in front of her. She had managed to get the same woman who had been absolutely useless to her when she had been here looking for Jack.
"Hello ma'am. How may I help you?" the woman asked politely
Deciding she might as well attempt to get some information out of the woman, even if it was going to prove to be fruitless, Lexi cleared her throat and said, "I'm here to see Mr. Bridges."
The woman nearly dropped the pen she was holding, she was taken so off guard. "Excuse me?"
"I'm here to see Mr. Bridges. Can you direct me to his office?"
The woman glanced over at the man who was working at the other computer and then back to Lexi. "Mr. Bridges does not take clients, unfortunately. What concerns are you having? Perhaps I can place you with another associate."
Lexi tried to keep from rolling her eyes. "Ramsey's here. I just need to see him. So if you would be so kind to tell me where he is, that would be fantastic," she stated dryly.
"Ramsey? Oh Ramsey! Mr. Bridges," she muttered putting the pieces together. "He does not take clients either ma'am."
"I'm not a client. I'm his girlfriend."
This seemed to send her for an even bigger loop. She sputtered clicking on her screen a few times more out of habit than anything. "I…uh…I'm not authorized…"
She was cut off mid-sentence, "Perhaps I can direct you."
Lexi swiveled around and found herself face to face with a familiar face though she couldn't exactly place where she knew him from.
"Mr. Calloway…" the woman sighed breathily leaning forward against the desk.
"I can take it from here Tiff, thanks," he said charmingly adding a wink in her direction. Lexi could tell that the woman was melting behind her. And with good reason. The man before her was handsome with classic, boy-next-door, good looks. He was nearly six feet tall with short, cropped brown hair stylishly spiked in the front and chocolate brown eyes. His teeth were perfectly straight and white, and the smile he sent her way was nothing less than friendly. He had a square jaw line with light stubble across it. He wore a crisp navy suit with charcoal pinstripes over a light grey button-up and red tie. She couldn't help but think that he could have been a politician. "Lexi right?"
"Right…you said Calloway?" Lexi asked following him to the elevators surprised that he knew her name.
"You don't remember me?" he asked hurt coming into his eyes.
"Should I?"
"Brandon Calloway. We met in the elevator. I gave you my business card," he said trying to bring back the memories.
Lexi gasped and reached into her purse pulling out a wallet filled with various cards. She rifled through them until she came across what she was searching for. "Brandon Calloway," she murmured softly. "You were so helpful. Thank you. Sorry I didn't remember you."
"No problem. I mean we only met once for all of five seconds," he said smiling at her charmingly again.
"Well I appreciate you taking me to see Ramsey," she told him stepping into the elevator.
"Why do I always seem to be taking you to see other men?" he questioned her leaning against the metal railing in the elevator.
Lexi blushed pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. She hated that someone else had knowledge of the last time that she was in the building, but she couldn't take it back. She wasn't certain how fast gossip passed through the building, but if it was anything like any of the other offices she had worked in, then he probably knew exactly what her visit to see Jack had been about. Nonetheless she held her head high, just like she promised herself she would, and smiled back into his endearing face. "I'm a popular woman," she teased.
"As you should be," he agreed his eyes flashing from her face to her bust to her hips and back. The elevator abruptly stopped and several people entered. Just as the doors were about to ding closed someone shot their hand out and stopped it.
"Calloway, you have those reports ready?" a man in his late forties asked.
"Uh yeah, they're on my desk," Brandon answered.
"Well go get them and take them to Mr. Bridges. He needs them today…now," he added hastily.
"Fuck," he muttered angrily under his breath.
"Now, Calloway!"
"Yeah yeah," he said reaching forward and pressing the number 24 on the elevator. "Pit stop?"
Lexi followed Brandon off of the elevator and down the hallway. She had no other tour guide, so the only thing she could do was to follow him to his office. She entered the office and couldn't help but to compare it to the only other office she had ever seen in the building. It was much smaller, but still had a series of glass panes behind the desk overlooking the city. The view wasn't quite as spectacular and the room was sparsely decorated, but Lexi kind of liked it. A medium-sized desk sat in the center of the room in front of two cushioned chairs. Lexi moved forward cautiously and took a seat as she waited for Brandon to finish what he had to get.
"So what do you do here?" she asked surveying the artwork on the walls.
"I'm an accountant. It's all a little technical. I'll save you from the boredom, but I crunch numbers for the big guy," he muttered rummaging through a stack of papers.
"Oh nice."
"Don't kid yourself. It's a job," he said stuffing the papers into a clear binder and clipping everything together. Lexi didn't really know what to say to that so she remained silent as Brandon finished up with his paperwork. "Sorry," he finally muttered standing up straight and stuffing the binder under his arm. "Ready to go."