Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
M ax
"Should I fire Lila Haversham?" I stare at the thick black ink at the top of the yellow legal pad. I've created a list of pros and cons for whether or not I should rid myself of this unnecessary distraction. The pro list consists of: 1. Win the bet 2. She's fun to flirt with and fluster 3. She's extremely sexy.
Though her being extremely sexy was also on the con list as well. I tap the pen against the pad as my mind wanders and my head jolts up when I realize someone has been rapping on the door.
"Hey, Max, can we talk?" There's another loud knock on the door and I see Kingston is standing there with a smirk on his face. Remy is behind him with an amused expression on his face as well. I fold over the pages on the legal pad and drop the pen onto the desk. The last thing I need is for these two to realize how conflicted I feel about hiring Lila.
"Sure. What is it?" I ask, ushering them in. I watch as Kingston looks around the room as if searching for something or someone and roll my eyes. "Is there something you're looking for?" I already know the answer.
"Yeah. Your new sexy smartass assistant." Kingston winks as he looks over at Remington. "Dude, Max has lost the bet. He hired the most kooky?—"
"She's not kooky," I say, defending Lila even though she most certainly is the kookiest woman I've ever met in my life. "And you shouldn't be calling her sexy." I glare at him for being unprofessional. It requires some mental gymnastics to convince myself that I’m not being hypocritical, but I pull it off.
"Hey, I suppose you’re right there. I don't know her like you do," Kingston says, shrugging, a glint in his eyes as he smirks, that knowing look annoying the shit out of me. "I mean, you certainly know her well enough to know she’s not as kooky as a one-eyed flamingo, right?”
“What’s your point, Kingston?”
“I’m just checking to see if you’re sure she's the right assistant for you." He grins. “Wouldn’t want her filing all your cases to the Court of Appeals or anything.”
"What do you mean, am I sure she's the right assistant for me?" I ignore the latter part of his comment. He’s trying to rile me up, but I won’t let him.
Kingston doesn’t take the bait. He and I were both on the debate team in college and he knows better than to let banal side chatter derail him from his path. "Just checking if you think she's going to last a month." He grins again in that cocky way that would have a lesser man ready to fight. "Remember, she can't quit and you can't fire her or you lose." He counts off the pertinent clauses of the bet on his fingers and I rue the day I ever let him convince me to go along with his immaturity. We were far too old to be caught up in workplace shenanigans.
"She will last a lot longer than a month." I say dryly, though the thud in the back of my head makes me nervous. I wonder how much extra work I’m giving myself just to win this bet. I wonder if I can hire a second assistant to take up the slack, but I know that would not be in the spirit of the bet.
"Guess that means you don't want to bang her then?"
"Really, Kingston?" I glare at him with narrowed eyes. Is he interested in Lila? Is he checking to see if I’m interested in order to figure out if he can try and date her? The thought irritates me. "I'm a professional."
"You are a professional player. I also know it's been a long time since you've dipped your quill into any ink."
"Since I've what?" I stand up, adjust my tie, then tap my fingers against my upper thigh. I ignore Remy's laughter. Of course he’s loving the exchange. He’s probably hoping we’ll create a makeshift ring and start throwing punches. The man lives for drama. “What quill and ink? Did I go back in time and not know it? Am I the reincarnation of William Shakespeare? Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
"You know what I'm saying, Macbeth."
"If you're trying to imply that it's been a long time since I've had sex, you're very mistaken." I run my fingers through my hair nonchalantly and sneer. Marie would say that we were facing off like roosters, trying to show our dominance over each other. She's too young to understand that sometimes men rile each other up without there being animosity or competition. Kingston is my best friend and I know he loves to tease me.
"No, I'm not trying to imply that it's been a long time since you've had sex. I'm trying to imply that it's been a long time since you've had sex with someone that you've known for more than forty-eight hours."
I stare at him. "And your point is what, exactly?"
"My point being; you fuck for the night and then you leave. You don't have any sort of lasting relationships. So if you fuck your new assistant, I don't see her staying in the job very long." He snorts. "And then I win. So I'm just saying I see several paths to a win for me."
"She's my assistant . I'm a professional. I have no interest in her like that. And I will very much prove to you that I can take anyone and make them great assistants. Even so-called kooky women." I cross my arms. "Which she is not." I hope.
"This I have to see."
"You will see, and then you will eat your words."
"I suppose I was wrong in assuming that you had the hots for her. I hope that you don't want to hook up with her, because I'm pretty sure she won't be able to continue working with you if you subject her to your weekend special."
"Ah, the infamous Max Spector Special." Remy laughs as if he's at the greatest comedy show he's ever been to. Dickhead.
"I'm not going to hook up with my assistant," I say, my tone sharp with irritation, which only serves to make the two men grin even harder. I stare down at my watch, then back at them. "Is that all you guys came in here for? Because I have work to do." I snap my fingers. "I have money to make, billables to exceed. The associates want to see their partners working as hard as them."
"Because we don't work hard." Kingston rolls his steely gray-blue eyes and tousles his dark hair. The man could have been a model and he knows it.
"Look, I don't even know what's going on right now," Remy holds his hands up. "Kingston told me that we all needed to have a conversation about something."
"So what's the conversation about, Kingston? I have a call. Actually, I have several calls and I have to file a motion to?—"
"There's a point for us all being here. Remember Jack Whittington?" Kingston says, his tone suddenly serious.
I stare at him for a couple of seconds, trying to place the name. "Not really."
"I’m sure you do. He owns Jack's Shacks."
"It sounds vaguely familiar," I say as Remington nods. "Oh, wait, he's the guy that owns all those hotels, right? Isn't he like a billionaire?"
"Yeah, that's him. Well, Jack of Jack's Shacks is going through a divorce right now."
"And what's that got to do with us?" I ask, sighing as I pick up my phone. "I told you I have a call."
"He has a prenup in place," Kingston continues.
"Okay, and?"
"He doesn't think he should have to pay her the ten million that she is entitled to for the five years they were married because she cheated."
"Okay, and?"
"And if we get him a good deal with the wife, we get his Jack’s Shacks business. That's a ten million dollar retainer off the bat. Big money."
I stare at him for a couple of seconds and nod. "Okay, we’ll take the case and?—"
"Here's the thing: he wants you ."
I stare at him for a couple of seconds. "What do you mean he wants me?"
"He's heard you're a shark in the courtroom."
"But we don't want this to go to court. I'm sure if he has a prenup in place, he can resolve this before then and?—"
"Exactly," Kingston cuts me off.
"Exactly what?"
"He wants you to resolve it." Kingston shrugs. "There's a complication but he wouldn't tell me over the phone. He says he wants to tell you in person."
"So you're telling me that you want me to take this case?"
Kingston nods. "He'd be a big client, Max."
"We've got plenty of big clients already. I don't know this guy. You know how I feel about handling clients that I do not know the backstory on."
"I'm telling you that he's a good guy to get into business with."
I stare at him for a couple of seconds. "Who's going to be in charge of the Jack’s Shacks deals?" Because if there's one thing I know about Kingston, it’s that he doesn't give away big clients.
"We can figure that out later," he says, and I grin.
"Fine. I'll do it, but you owe me. Has anyone heard from Gabriel?" I ask, talking about our fourth partner. He wasn’t a named partner yet, but he didn’t seem to care. In fact, Gabe seemed to prefer not having his name on the office door, so to speak. He hadn't been in the office for three weeks now.
"He's still in the Caribbean somewhere, sailing." Kingston shakes his head. "He should be back next week. He's going to need a new assistant as well."
I chuckle. "Good luck to him. Have you found your new assistant yet?" I ask Kingston, and he shakes his head.
"I was in HR a little bit ago and they said they're going to set up an interview for me in half an hour with some hopeful named Skye."
"Oh," I say, nodding, trying to withhold a grin.
"What? You know her?" His eyes narrow. "How do you know her?"
"I don't know her know her, but if it's the same Skye I'm thinking of, she came in with Lila."
"Lila, your new assistant?" He raises an eyebrow and shakes his head as he grimaces. "I might as well call HR right now because she is not about to get the job."
"You don't even know her."
"I know that if she's in any way affiliated or associated with Lila, she's not going to be a good assistant and I think with my brain and not my balls," he winks at me.
"I've never thought with my balls."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I do think with my dick sometimes, but never my balls." I chuckle then and we all laugh. There's a knock at the door and I look up and I see that Lila is standing there with wide eyes, a coffee in one hand and a brown bag in the other. I can tell by the expression on her face that she's heard the joke I just told about thinking with my dick. "Yes, Lila, come in," I say, not sounding regretful or sorrowful at what she's heard, even though I don't want her to think I hired her because she makes my cock hard.
"Um, I have your coffee and your bagel here," she says, blinking as she walks in. "Do you want me to bring them in or should I wait or…?" She looks at Kingston and juts her chin out. "By the way, you'd be lucky to work with Skye. She's really great and smart, but if I'm being honest, I hope that you don't hire her because she deserves to be with someone who is a good boss, not someone who would judge her just because she knows me. Also, I am going to be a really great assistant," she mumbles, and I feel her eyes on me again.
"He was just joking around, Lila, weren't you, Kingston?" I look over at him.
"No," he says bluntly and smirks. "I don't know exactly what's going on between you and Lila, but I'm not going to be hiring Skye, whoever she is. I'm not looking for a mouthy, disrespectful, and frankly, from what I can tell, not even qualified for the job."
"I am qualified. I have a bachelor's degree." Lila says stiffly. "You don't know me."
Kingston smirks and looks at me. "I'll send you the information on the Jack Whittington case."
"Yeah, send his files through," I say. "I'll have a look and see what I can do."
"Good," he says. "Because he wants to see you this afternoon before this all gets messy."
"What do you mean messy?"
"She's talking about going to the media."
"But why would she be going to the media if she's the one cheating?"
"Hell if I know, maybe because she knows that Jack’s Shacks is a family vacation spot and any bad press is not going to look good." He shrugs.
I stare at him. "Fine, I'll have a look this afternoon."
"Good," he nods. "Let me head to HR now." He stares at Lila. "I really do hope that you are a great employee because Max here has a grand riding on your competency."
"Kingston," I chastise him.
"What?" He grins.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," she says, snarling at him. "I'll be the best assistant he's ever seen in his life."
"Will you now?" Kingston looks her over and I start to feel annoyed. Is he flirting with her? Is he trying to make a move on my assistant?
"That's enough, Kingston," I say.
He looks up at me and smirks. "Yes, boss," he chuckles as he leaves the office and I can see that Lila is staring after him. "Anything else you want to discuss, Remington?" I ask.
"No, but I thought you would introduce me to your new assistant."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot you haven't met. Remington, this is Lila Haversham. Lila, this is my other partner, Remington."
"Nice to meet you," he says, shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you as well," she says, smiling, and I can see her fluttering her eyelashes. "Are you looking for an assistant as well?" she asks, and I wonder if that's hope in her voice. Is she really trying to get a job with my partner right in front of me? For some reason, I feel infuriated.
"Oh, no. I have an assistant," he grins. "Juniper and I have a great working relationship."
"Oh." Lila presses her lips together. "Well, I guess that's good." She looks like she doesn't know what to say and he just chuckles.
"I am rather happy that I don't have the distraction of having a hot assistant in my office day in, day out." He looks at me and chuckles. "I know it's going to be pretty hard for you, Max."
"Very funny," I say. "Is there anything else Remy?"
"No, but HR did tell me to let you know that the meeting for the new hires is going to be this afternoon."
"Okay, I will make sure that Lila is there."
"Awesome," he says. Nice to meet you Miss Haversham."
"Nice to meet you too."
We stand there in silence as Remington leaves the office before she hands me my coffee and bagel. "Here you go. And don't blame me if the coffee is cold. I had to walk like, five blocks and my feet are absolutely killing me."
"Excuse me," I stare at her.
"Excuse you for what?"
"You're really complaining to me about walking five blocks?"
"I'm just saying these shoes are not the most comfortable. Have you seen how high these heels are?"
"Then maybe you don't wear high heels if you can't walk in them for very long."
"I didn't expect to be walking in them for very long. I ended up getting off the train earlier than I should have this morning because there was this creepy guy that was staring at me and I didn't want to be a statistic." And then she pauses. "Well, I'm guessing you don't really want to know."
"No, please do tell me. I'm so interested in hearing the story as to why you got off the train early and had to walk many blocks in uncomfortable shoes. It's not like I have anything else going on today. I'm not a named partner at a top law firm. I don't have millions of dollars worth of lawsuits to figure out. And?—"
"There's no need to be sarcastic," she says. "What do you want me to do?"
"What do you mean, what do I want you to?—"
"Work-wise, what do you want me to do? I mean, you're paying me for a job and I assume it's not just to get you coffee and bagels."
"You know what, Lila?"
"Yes, Max."
"You can call me Mr. Spector by the way."
"I'm not calling you Mr. Spector. You're not my dad’s friend."
"I'm your boss though."
"And because you're my boss, I should call you Mr. Spector?"
"It's respectful."
"Okay. Then call me Miss Haversham."
"I don't think so, Lila."
"But I am your employee, and as such, I deserve the same courtesy that you do."
"Are you always going to be like this?"
"What do you mean am I always going to be like this? This is my first day. This is my personality. Are you telling me you don't like my personality?" Her lower lip trembles.
"Don't even bother with the water works, Ms. Wanna-be Actress."
"What?" She grins. "I was just going to see if I could cry. I told you I've been having a problem crying on cue these days, so it was unlikely to happen."
"You're not practicing your acting while you're at work."
"When else am I supposed to practice my acting?" She grins. "When I'm not being paid? What fun is that?" She tilts her head to the side, and for a moment I think she's flirting with me.
"Do you want me to fire you?"
"I literally just started this job. I don't think you want to fire me." She licks her lower lip and plays with her hair. I frown at the movement.
"And why do you think I don't want to fire you?"
"Let's be real here. Any regular, smart, intelligent attorney would never have hired me in the first place."
I stare at her for a couple of seconds, my lips twitching slightly. "Are you saying that I'm not intelligent?"
"I'm saying you're intelligent, but maybe not super intelligent."
"So you're calling me dumb?"
"You're either dumb or you are incredibly attracted to me." She steps forward. She's definitely flirting with me. And I don't hate it.
"You think I'm incredibly attracted to you?"
"I think so," she says. "Maybe it's my heels. Maybe it's my short skirt. Maybe it's even my tight top with the buttons undone." She undoes another button and my eyes widen. I'm not sure what is going on here, but I'm starting to feel turned on.
"I think…" she says as she takes another step towards me. "That I intrigue you. I think that you think I'm hot. Am I right?" She presses her palm against my chest and I know she can feel my heart beating. I stare at her for a couple of seconds, still not saying anything else. I can tell from the look in her eyes that she's not as brave as she's making it seem. She might be acting confident, but she's not. "I think," she says as she runs her finger down my chest. "That you?—"
"I think it's time for you to get to work, Miss Haversham," I say, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. "I don't really know what your game is, but you’re here to do a job, be an assistant, remember? I really don't think you want a job on your back, am I correct?"
"What?" she says, her jaw dropping, and I grin at the wild look in her eyes.
"I'm saying that you came for an honest-day’s-work job, not one where you spend all your time on your back. Am I correct?"
"Yes. What are you talking about on my back?"
"I mean, it seems to me that's where you want to be right now." I lick my lips slowly. "And don't get me wrong, I could slide that skirt up within five seconds and be in you so hard and fast that I'd have you calling out my name so the entire office could hear. But right now I have work to do, and that work doesn't include fucking you. No matter how badly you want it." I step away from her and sit down. Her face is beet red and I'm sure she's embarrassed, but as much as I want to push this and see how far she's willing to go, I really shouldn’t. Not yet. Not like this. And for some reason, I don't think it's just because of the bet. For some reason, I actually want to see if I can figure out Lila and all of her intricacies.
I pull the top page off of the legal pad and rip it into pieces. I don't care about the pros and cons list anymore. I'm not about to fire Lila Haversham anytime soon. I want to see exactly where this is going to go.