“That’s because you’re a fool, and you messed up,” Parker said with such conviction that it sounded like it had to be the truth. “I wish you would just believe me.”
“I can’t. I can’t be over it…”
Lexi’s breath caught, and she took a step away from the door. She couldn’t hear any more of that. He wasn’t over it.
Did he mean Parker or what had happened to them or just the abortion-miscarriage fiasco? In any case…it wasn’t an appropriate thing for him to say…not with Lexi right in the other room. Sure, he didn’t know that, but there shouldn’t be any secrets between them. Wasn’t that what she had said from the beginning?
She stumbled back a few more steps, wanting to distance herself from what she had just heard. It made her chest tighten and her throat close up. After almost three years together, he still wasn’t over Parker.
No.
Okay, he hadn’t said that.
He just wasn’t over the fact that Parker had had an abortion. Sure, he didn’t have proof and that made it more difficult, but Lexi didn’t have proof about whether or not he had slept with Elisa, and she believed him. She had put it behind her. And she hadn’t needed years to get over it.
Sure, it still aggravated her. It still made her cringe to think of the bitch, but Lexi wasn’t hung up on it. She hadn’t left him over it. Why couldn’t Ramsey move past what had happened with Parker? Didn’t he love Lexi enough to move on?
Dwelling on it just allowed it to eat Ramsey alive.
What the hell was she supposed to do with that information? If he wasn’t over that, then maybe he wasn’t over Parker. It had been years, but they had opened the medical wing together. What had Jack said to her all those years ago?
On some small level, you don’t think that working in close proximity together every day is going to rekindle something that was once there? Imagine if we had to work together every day. What would it be like?
She had told Jack then not to try to make her doubt Ramsey. But maybe she always had. From the first day that she had found out about Parker, she had just reasoned that if she could get over Jack and become friends with Jack, then it only made sense that Ramsey would be over Parker. That was why Ramsey was with Lexi now after all. Right?
Was she just an idiot to not see it happening?
Lexi ground her teeth together. Fuck that! She didn’t have to deal with what was happening on the other side of that door.
She wrenched open the door to the bathroom and rushed out. She slammed the door shut behind her, and it was loud enough that she was sure Ramsey and Parker would hear it. All she wanted to do was turn back around and keep running down the beach like she had wanted to from the beginning. If she had done that, then she would have avoided this moment. Maybe it wasn’t for the best in the long run, but right now, it sounded like a better idea than being anywhere near them.
Her feet stilled in the middle of the hallway, and she took a breath. Chyna had always said that she ran feet first in the opposite direction of her problems. Maybe she was overreacting. It took a lot of willpower to get her to stop and consider that maybe she had just walked into a bad conversation. Maybe he was over Parker. Maybe she was wrong.
Just as she turned around and started to walk back down the hallway to face Ramsey and Parker, the door popped open, and Ramsey hurried out of the room. He came up short when he saw that Lexi was walking toward him and not away.
“Lexi,” he said. He looked guilty.
Was he wondering how much she had heard? Was he deciding how to twist this? Would he lie? Was he going to try to cover it up?
God, she hated herself for thinking it.
Lexi just stared at him. She couldn’t open her mouth. She didn’t trust what would come out of it.
“I didn’t know you were back from your run,” he said hesitantly. “Were you in the bathroom?”
Without saying a word, she let him stand there. He shifted from one foot to the other. Man, way to look guilty.
“Do you want to talk?” he finally asked.
“With Parker still in our room?” she asked, her eyes accusing him.
“So…you were in the bathroom.”
Duh! She just wanted to yell at him, but she couldn’t let loose her anger. It had been a slow buildup from the very beginning. If she let loose now, then she couldn’t guarantee that Ramsey would get a word in edgewise…or if they would end up together in the end. It was better to remain silent and wait.
“I think we should talk.”
Lexi just gritted her teeth further. Her hands were in fists at her sides. She felt foolish for putting all of this stock into their relationship and then seeing the seams unravel in the course of one afternoon.
“Are you going to say anything?” he asked.
“Are you sure you want me to say anything?” she managed to get out.
“Yes. Yes, of course, I do. I don’t, uh…I don’t know what you heard, but it’s not whatever you’re thinking.”
Lexi arched an eyebrow. Oh really?
Parker appeared in the doorway. Her face was so pallid in that moment that her freckles stood out in sharp contrast. She looked shaken and maybe even a little bit scared but definitely a little bit guilty. It was clear she hadn’t wanted Lexi to hear anything that she had said.
Well, he probably shouldn’t have said things that he didn’t want anyone else to hear!
“Lexi, I’m sorry,” Parker whispered. “I didn’t know you were standing there.”
Hold it together. Lexi took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You should go back in there,” she said, snapping her fingers and pointing toward the bedroom.
“Lexi, I—”
“Now.”
Parker’s eyes narrowed, but Ramsey put his hand on her shoulder, and Parker held back whatever retort was on the tip of her tongue.
“Fine,” she said, turning and walking back into the room.
“It’s not her fault. It’s mine, so be angry with me.”
“Oh, I am,” Lexi said.
He ran his hand back through his hair, just like she had expected him to do when she had been listening in on their conversation. He was flustered. She was sure he was about to start rambling to try to get his thoughts together. She used to think that was cute, but if he did it right now, she was going to shut that shit down.
“We were just talking about work, and then the conversation took a turn for the worse. It doesn’t mean anything. I don’t want you to overreact or think it’s more than it is. It’s just Parker. We’ve known each other for a long time, so sometimes, we end up talking about things that—”
“Please stop talking,” she said, holding her hand up. “I really don’t need to hear it.”
“Lexi, come on.”
“You said you weren’t over it!” she yelled.
That stopped him. He just stared at her with his palms up. There wasn’t anything he could do because he couldn’t take it back.
“So, don’t come to me and say that you were just talking about something…that it doesn’t mean anything. If it didn’t mean anything, then you would be over it. You would just be friends…coworkers. You wouldn’t be having a hushed conversation in our fucking bedroom.”
“We weren’t having a hushed conversation in the bedroom. Christ, that’s not what this was, Lexi,” he said, walking toward her.
She took a step back. “The door was closed. You were talking about your relationship with Parker. She brought up marriage and told you not to forget that. Have you so easily forgotten that, Ramsey? She did just tell you not to.”
“That was years ago! I’m nowhere close to marrying Parker.”