Running in Circles - Lexie Grey x OC

All Eyes On Me

Lexie reacted before she could think.

The moment she saw Mark standing outside the elevator, she tore her hand from Eric's and shoved him away from her.

Eric stumbled half a step, more startled than hurt.

The warmth of her hand vanished.

So did the relief that had settled over him only seconds earlier.

Mark stood directly outside the elevator, one hand braced against the door to keep it from closing.

His eyes remained fixed on Lexie.

Not confused.

Not surprised.

Accusing.

As though she owed him an explanation for being inside an elevator with Eric. As though Eric had no right to be standing beside her in the first place.

Every few seconds, Mark's gaze shifted toward him, carrying the same possessive contempt Eric had seen countless times before.

It was aggravating.

Painfully so.

Eric looked away and let out a low, exasperated breath rather than giving in to the sudden urge to put his fist through Mark's smug face.

His jaw tightened.

His fingers curled against his palm.

He understood what Lexie was doing.

They had agreed that morning to keep whatever this was between them quiet until she had spoken to Meredith. Mark had simply caught them at the wrong moment.

That should have been the end of it.

It wasn't.

Because she hadn't merely released his hand.

She had shoved him away.

And she had done it the instant she saw Mark.

"Mark..." Lexie murmured.

Eric glanced at her.

She was already stumbling toward an explanation, guilt written plainly across her face.

That unsettled him more than Mark's glare did.

When Lexie had asked him to slip out of the house unnoticed that morning, Eric had assumed Meredith was the only complication.

Clearly, he had been mistaken.

He knew Lexie and Mark's history.

He knew she had spent months insisting she was over him while watching every move he made. He knew Mark still looked at her like she belonged to him, despite everything that had happened between them.

And now Lexie was standing beside Eric as though she had been caught doing something wrong.

Maybe that was why it bothered him.

Because it was Mark.

Had anyone else stepped out of the elevator, Lexie's reaction might have annoyed him, but he would have understood it.

Mark was different.

Mark was the man she had loved.

The man she had spent months trying to get over.

The man currently glaring at Eric like he had stolen something.

Eric nearly grimaced at his own thoughts.

Stolen something?

Good God.

This was not like him.