TEN

Jace: Present Day

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SUBJECT: SEAT 2A & a rental car.  

Mr. Kennedy,

I’m attaching a copy of your flight ticket and the receipt for the rental car you’ll be driving this weekend. (I am also attaching, for your reference, a copy of the employee sexual harassment conduct rules of our firm. Please see: How to handle unwanted kisses from a supervisor. Notice how that this should technically be reported to HR immediately.)

I decided to change my seat and get my own rental car at the last minute.

PS—Thank you for using up all the hot water again.

See you at the airport later this morning,

Courtney Ryan

Walton & Associates

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SUBJECT: RE: SEAT 2A & a rental car.

Miss Ryan,

Thank you for the copies of the flight ticket and the rental car receipt.

Thank you also for letting me know that you changed your seat (so I could change mine to sit next to you once again), and for getting your own rental car. I just canceled my car, so you’ll need to share.  (Where is the clause about the “victim” kissing her aggressor back and not so—subtly rubbing his cock through his pants? Also, please point out the other clause where it discusses your pussy being soaking wet because I know damn well it was...I’m sure HR would want to know that as well)

PS—You’re more than welcome.

Jace Kennedy

Walton & Associates

I set my phone down, watching as Courtney read my words from across the room. Scowling at me, she started typing back.

Travel weekends like this were supposed to be the most stress-free part of any lawyer’s job. However, being forced to travel alongside a woman who forced every fucking man to stare in her direction—the same woman who was still refusing to talk to me since we kissed in the hallway, made me beyond ready to end this trip.

“Can I get you something, sir?” A bartender blushed as I took my seat. “You look like you could use something strong before your flight.”

“A Jameson, neat.”

“Right away.”

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Courtney still typing away on her phone. There were four businessmen across from her—all of them watching her intently as she bit her bottom lip and murmured with each word she typed.

Sighing, I picked up my glass and walked over, taking the seat next to her.

“The utility company knows we have a solid case,” I said. “They know the evidence we’ve been collecting—along with the tampered depositions, will be far more damaging than any of the other cases they’ve had to handle. They’ve upped their offer to five million per family member.’

She immediately stopped typing and looked up at me.

“They called me five minutes ago with that offer, but I think that’s only the starting level. What do you think about that, Miss Ryan?”

She looked as if she was finally going to speak to me for the first time this morning, but she returned to looking at her phone and sent me a text message.

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COURTNEY: I DON’T THINK that’s a fair settlement offer...

I groaned and texted her back.

ME: I’m aware. I’ll be rejecting their offer. I just wanted to hear your thoughts.

COURTNEY: You’ve heard them.

ME: Are you planning to act like this in front of the clients as well?

COURTNEY: No, I’ll speak to you in front of the clients. But that’s it.

I rolled my eyes and put my phone into my pocket. Then I took her phone out of her hands.

“Okay, look,” I said, ignoring the glare she was giving me. “You want to act like you don’t still have feelings for me? Fucking fine. You want to continue playing the hating game? That’s fucking fine, too. But I’m not going to play games when it comes to our work together, and I’m going to need you to talk to me this weekend, whether you like it or not.”

She opened her mouth to interrupt, but I placed a finger against her lips.

“It’s bad enough that you live next door to me and I can’t have you—that you insist on acting like you don’t remember shit about what we had and that I’m not the best friend or lover you’ve ever had—”

“You’re not the best lover I’ve ever had.”

“Your drawer full of broken vibrators says otherwise.”

Her cheeks turned bright red, and she looked as if she was struggling to come up with her next line.

“If you want to live the rest of your life in denial, that’s more than fine with me,” I said, lowering my voice. “But you’re not going to fuck up this case just to be spiteful. And if you think I won’t give Mr. Walton a truthful review of your performance at the end of this case just because we knew each other before, you’re sadly mistaken. Especially since, in your world, what we had before doesn’t mean a goddamn thing.”

She let out a breath and slowly shook her head. “I would never try to fuck up a case just to be spiteful, Jace. Never. I was giving you my honest opinion on the settlement offer.”

“Can you also give me your actual words, from your mouth, for the rest of the weekend and the rest of this case, instead of making me read text messages and emails?”

“Yeah.” She swallowed. “But only if you agree to a few things as well.”

“Name them.”

“No more running up the hot water.”

“Then no more getting my Jaguar towed.”

She smiled. “No more loud music after midnight.”

“Then no more random complaints to the building manager.”

“Okay, and no more guests...” She lowered her voice. “Unless you really are dating or sleeping with them.”

“Fine. And no more moaning loud as fuck in the shower when you’re touching yourself.” I paused. “Actually, you can keep continuing to do that. That’s never been a problem for me.”

She blushed. “Deal.”

“Deal.”

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FIVE HOURS LATER, LONG after we’d landed in Green Lake, we were sitting in one of our clients’ homes. The Masons. Courtney was in the living room with the wife and the son, and I was in the kitchen with the husband and the three-year-old daughter.

Now and then our eyes would meet, and she’d look as if she was about to get up and join me, but she never came closer.  Instead, she continued tempting me by blushing and reminding me exactly why I first fell for her years ago.

“I can’t thank you enough for turning down that five-million-dollar offer, Mr. Kennedy.” He leaned forward in his rocking chair. “That’s horseshit.”

“Horseshit!” His daughter repeated, giggling. “Horseshit!”

I waited for him to tell her not to curse after him, but he didn’t. He gave her a high five instead.

“Yep. Fucking right.” He picked up a can of beer and chugged it. “I bet they make five million in a day.”

“An hour,” I said. “But it was a bad deal. I think we can make this right for you and your family.” I walked him through our strategy for the umpteenth time, but he cut me off halfway through and recited the remainder of it from memory.

A man who’d once wanted to be a lawyer himself, he knew a thing or two about the law, and he’d called our office every week without fail to make sure we were making his case a high priority.

Every now and then, when we spoke, I would pause to make sure I couldn’t hear someone else breathing heavily on the line. That there wasn’t a whispered threat coming in the event of a loss. Then I’d realize that this was a case that actually meant something, that I really wasn’t at my old firm fighting for the scum of the country anymore.

Mr. Owen suddenly sighed and whispered something in his daughter’s ear, making her rush out of the kitchen and into the living room. Then he looked at me. “All bravado aside, I would happily settle for five million each, Mr. Kennedy.”

“What?”

“My daughter has two more surgeries lined up at the end of this month, and that’s just for her heart problems.” He looked as if he was about to cry. “Should she recover, she has three more scheduled months from now for her spine. She’s three years old.” He shook his head. “If you think for one second that they’re going to drag this out and not cover everything that all of us have been through since we moved here just promise me you’ll settle. We’ll take five million.”

I shut my folder. I knew damn well that five million each wouldn’t cover all their health issues long term, but I nodded anyway. “I’ll do that.”

“My wife read about your career in Seattle,” he said, wiping away tears and smiling. “She said they called you the prosecution’s number one enemy.”

“Mr. Kennedy is definitely good at being an enemy,” Courtney said, walking into the room. “And he’s going to win this case for you, Mr. Mason. He’s never lost one a day in his career.”

“Okay.” He looked hopeful all over again. “But you’ll be there every step of the way, too, right? Don’t take this the wrong way but, he always seems to be in a better mood when you’re in the room during our Skype calls.”

“Yes.” She smiled. “I’ll be there every step of the way, too.” She made sure he signed all the paperwork we needed, and—like the class act she was, kissed him on the cheek and assured him that everything was going to be okay.

As we were getting into the rental car, she looked over at me.  “You know, you can be somewhat decent when you want to be. I remember that about you from when we were in high school the most.”

I wasn’t sure what the hell she wanted me to say to that, so I just cranked the engine and sped out of the Masons’ driveway.  Several minutes later, she clasped my hand behind the gear shift and cleared her throat.

“Blue Harbor is about twenty miles away,” she said, her voice soft. “You mind stopping by for a few minutes?”

“Not at all.”