"Among others," he said nodding.
"How many others?" she breathed.
"A dozen or so."
Lexi's mouth dropped open as her eyes took in the scene below her. Everything in that room he owned. The building itself was massive and must have cost a fortune. Not to mention the location directly downtown along with property taxes and a sea of other concerns. The lawyer side of her brain was taking over, and she was quickly measuring up the building from a different perspective.
"About what Bekah said," he murmured reluctantly.
Stopping her endless calculations, Lexi was transported back to reality. She had completely forgotten Bekah. Yet, there must be something else to the story. Bekah had mentioned whores, and Lexi wasn't putting two and two together. Was this how he had met women previously? Was this why everyone had been so surprised that he had a girlfriend? Was he really just a player and all his employees his whores? So many more questions floated through her subconscious as she waited for him to further explain.
"It's just that not all of them aren't this type of club," he managed to get out.
"What do you mean? What type of club are they?" she asked turning away from the window to face him.
He looked at her expectantly as if she was just magically going to come up with the answer on her own. When she just stared at him blankly, he reluctantly continued, "What other kind of clubs exist?"
Lexi stared at him for a minute longer before realization dawned on her. She gasped in surprise just as her cheeks flushed red. "Do you mean strip clubs? You own strip clubs?"
"Yeah see this is why I never have a girlfriend," he said miserably.
After taking a second to let the concept sink in, Lexi reached out and touched his arm. "Ramsey, I don't care. I still like you. Though, I'll be honest, I don't much like that you spend a good deal of your time with strippers," she said unable to keep the angst out of her voice. "Especially because I've been oblivious to the fact the whole time."
The thing she hated most about the entire situation was that he had kept it from her. He had hid a huge part of himself from her for nearly six months. She had no idea the entire time what he did or who he spent his time with. The fact that he worked with women who were paid to take their clothes off was obviously not ideal, but she wasn't going to change that. What was infuriating was his deception. He had so easily hid something so endemic in his life from her, and apparently only her.
All of his friends knew where he worked. Bekah and the rest of his family knew where he worked. Jack even probably knew what he did for a living. After all, he had been one of the first to warn her off of Ramsey. It had to have been for good reason…or at least for some reason. With all this in consideration, all she could wonder about was what else he was hiding from her.
Again, as always, thank you so much to all the people who review my work. It makes me want to write so much more (and faster) knowing there are people out there reading and enjoying my work. Awesome reviewers: Cupid's Psyche (as always, you rock), WyldeLoneStar, helena33139, Kelly Rogala, ssolomon08, Ms. Vengeance, sunbeam07, jennalizing, and LoveAlways03.
K.A. Linde
Upside Down
Maybe this is wishful thinking
Probably mindless dreaming
If we loved again I swear I'd love you right
I'd go back in time and change it but I can't
So if the chain is on your door, I understand
But this is me swallowing my pride,
Standing in front of you saying I'm sorry for that night
-Taylor Swift "Back to December"
Chapter 9: Present
As much as Lexi wanted to follow Ramsey's advice, it was damn near impossible. Jack had cold feet. It hardly made sense for him to be unsure about this wedding. He had made his choice. He had chosen Bekah. It was that simple.
Or at least, she had been telling herself that for a year now to keep from really thinking about him. Time and time again she had let him choose someone else over her. She had always been second best. She had constantly been behind another woman, a job, a fling, whatever. She had been behind everything. Only in their brief stint in New York City had they had anything resembling a relationship, and even then he had been preoccupied in starting his career and had ended up cheating on her with his roommate nonetheless. The thought stung, as it normally did, but it was dull compared to what he had done just a year ago.
He had proposed to a woman with a fake of her wedding ring and only because she had found the ring in the first place. But maybe that was even a lie. Maybe she hadn't even seen the ring. Maybe he had wanted to do it all along. Maybe he had just wanted to hurt her.
No.
She shook her head. Jack was many things, but he wasn't a liar at least not outright. Not to her. They had been through too much where he could have lied to her and he had chosen against that option. He had decided to be honest with her even to his detriment. Thus, there was no reason in this situation to lie to her about Bekah.
Yet here he was one week before the big day and he was chickening out. Sure Ramsey had talked him down somehow convincing him that it was just customary jitters, but how long would that last? Jack was pretty well known for rash decisions. But would he do anything that drastic a week before his wedding?
She couldn't even process all of this. He had claimed to love her once, but had walked out of the door when things changed. So obviously he was capable of leaving Bekah at the alter, but she wasn't sure if he would do it. He had been with Bekah for a year and a half before proposing. Then he had managed to stick it out for an entire year engagement with the witch. Why turn back now?
A smirk crossed her lips. He was terrified of commitment. The idea of being tied down to one woman for the rest of his life had always made him do crazy things. When his parents had divorced, he had been devastated and hadn't been the same since. Though he had always been in relatively long-term relationships, he had never been faithful to a single person in his life. Danielle. Kate. Lexi. Bekah. Bekah was just one person in a line of deception and infidelity. In fact, she was nothing special when taken from an aggregate perspective.
He had still slept with Lexi the day he had proposed. The fact that he managed to stay with any one person for a substantial length of time had more to do with the fact that he never got caught rather than his utter devotion to being committed. In fact, Lexi wasn't sure he even knew what the term meant. How could he be committed to anyone when he had always had someone on the backburner?