Chapter 3
Chapter three
Everly
I walked slower than usual coming back from Karma.
Yes, I was in a pencil skirt and heels, carrying five coffees down a busy sidewalk.
Not exactly easy, though I’d managed before at full speed without spilling a drop.
I needed a minute. Or two. Who was I kidding?
I needed a lot more than that to calm my pulse, not to mention the unfortunate pressure between my thighs.
Of course, I’d run into Office Stafford.
Given our jobs and the size of town, we were bound to cross paths with some frequency, yet somehow, I saw the man far more than statistics alone could explain, and far too often for my own good.
After one too many mojitos with Maddie last summer, I’d accidentally called him Office Studly.
She’d wholeheartedly embraced the nickname, and I lived in fear that I’d say it in everyday conversation, either to someone else or straight to his face.
If he were just insanely attractive, I wouldn’t have a problem. Online dating taught me pretty packages often hold the worst personalities. Case in point Ben/Trent. Unfortunately, Levi Stafford’s appeal went beyond the surface.
Despite only ever speaking to him at length in court or at the station, I knew far too much about the Richmond transplant who lived with his pet pig just outside town.
Ms. Joyce at the station considered him a fine young man, which everyone took as gospel once Ms. Joyce decreed it.
Tristan Jones also spoke highly of his partner, telling anyone who’d listen what a great mentor Levi was.
The rest of the department respected Officer Stafford, even if they kept their distance.
Many were wary of him since Levi had brought down a group of fellow officers in his last department for reselling confiscated drugs.
Despite knowing all this about him, the man remained an enigma. He was always alone whenever I spotted him off duty. A year after moving to town, he remained somewhat apart. Mysterious.
There was just something so intriguing about him. Maybe it was the quiet confidence, or the way he made me feel when we locked eyes. Even in a crowded courtroom, surrounded by people, it was like I was the only person he saw.
Too bad I could never date anyone in the justice system.
No cops. No prosecutors. No judges. It wasn’t one of my personal dating rules; however, it would seriously hurt my career.
Which really made my body’s reaction to Levi even more annoying, and why I spent as little time around the man as possible.
So far, I’d avoided anything other than a passing greeting when we weren’t on opposite sides of a case, but it was getting more difficult. As I climbed the steps to the firm’s office, I took a few deep breaths and did my best to push Officer Studly from my mind.
Hattie ran to open the door, even though I could have managed on my own. Maybe.
“I had no idea your caffeine addiction had gotten so bad,” she said, taking the four-cup carrier I’d balanced in one hand while holding my iced latte in the other.
“Two are for my next clients,” I said, following Hattie to her desk. “The other two are yours and Preston’s.”
Hattie shook her head as she took the cup with her name on it. “I’m awesome and deserve all the free lattes, but why’d you get one for Preston?”
“I didn’t,” I said before savoring the first sip of iced cinnamon toast latte perfection. It’d been torture freezing my hand on the chilly cup without getting to drink it.
“So this isn’t for your mortal enemy?” Hattie asked, holding up the cup with Preston’s name on it.
“We’re fighting for a partner spot, not world dominance,” I said, trying not to laugh.
She shrugged and put Preston’s cup on her desk before rearranging the two remaining drinks to balance the carrier.
That was Hattie. I’d never known anyone who could better anticipate a problem before it happened and fix it.
“So the warm liquid inside a Karma cup with Preston’s name on it isn’t coffee?” she asked.
“It is,” I said. “You asked if I’d gotten him a latte. That’s just drip brew.”
“Lawyers,” Hattie huffed. She leaned against the front of her desk as though our conversation exhausted her too much to stand. “It still doesn’t explain why you bought him sweet Karma nectar.”
“We both asked for the Tillerman account,” I said. “Loser had to buy the other coffee.”
“You should have gotten that account,” Hattie said with a frown. She walked behind her desk and flopped into her rolling chair. “Your courtroom record is better than his.”
“He’s been practicing longer,” I said, repeating what George and Taylor told me after they’d assigned Preston the job.
“It’s like comparing apples to oranges,” Preston said, walking down the hall toward us.
“More like granny smiths to red delicious,” I said, handing him his coffee. If we weren’t vying for the same junior partner position, I could see us working well together. Unfortunately, we were going head-to-head, so we kind of fell into a frenemies relationship that shifted moment by moment.
Preston held up his cup to me and took a sip. He immediately made a face that had Hattie and me fighting not to laugh.
“Something wrong?” I asked, knowing full well he’s gulped black coffee when he’d asked for enough sweeteners to change the viscosity.
“Nothing,” he said, taking another gulp and grimacing again.
I reached into my suit pocket, grabbed the handful of sugar packets I’d taken from Karma, and tossed them to Preston.
“You’ve got a meeting with Theo Markis this afternoon, right?” he asked, setting his cup on Hattie’s desk, despite her eye roll, and ripping into a sugar packet.
“Yeah,” I said, taking a sip of my drink while I waited for him to say more. Preston had taken an interest in Theo’s case, and I wasn’t about to let our rivalry stand in the way of any insights he could offer.
“Did you look over the file I sent from my DUI case a couple years ago?” Preston asked, dumping the sugar into his cup.
“I did, thanks,” I said. “That list of comparable trials was really helpful too.”
“I figured it might save you some hours. You’re handling his case pro bono, aren’t you?”
“He wanted to pay, but it’s personal,” I said.
Preston nodded. Everyone in Peace Falls knew about the accident that killed my older brother.
Either they’d lived through the aftermath or heard about it countless times from everyone else in town.
Theo had a blood alcohol level of .04, far too little to have affected his ability to drive, but enough under Virginia’s zero tolerance law to make the crash a felony offense.
Had he been twenty-one, his BAC likely wouldn’t have been considered a factor.
As an eighteen-year-old, he was given a mandatory felony conviction and served a year in state prison.
My family and I have always maintained that Logan’s death was a tragic accident, a combination of a deer darting into the road at the moment he’d unbuckled his seatbelt to reach over and buckle Aiden’s.
Losing Logan was difficult enough. Watching the brutal aftermath of Theo’s trial and incarceration was the reason I’d become a lawyer.
“I remembered Forrest v. Virginia had a similar BAC component after I sent the email,” Preston said as he tore into another sugar packet. “I’ll look back at my written notes and find the case number.”
“I really appreciate the help,” I said.
Preston shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, though I’d heard enough from my law school friends to know his willingness to help his direct competition wasn’t the norm.
“Preston’s just trying to make himself feel better for passing on all the pro-bono cases you end up taking,” Hattie said.
“I take cases,” Preston said, giving her a hard look.
“Because it’s firm policy,” she said, folding her arms over her chest. “When was the last time you went over the minimum suggested hours?”
“I have to keep up my billable hours since I’m trying to make partner,” he said. “Which reminds me, I have a meeting with Taylor and George, but they’re not here.”
“Guess they had better things to do than listen to you kiss their asses,” Hattie said with a smile that looked slightly terrifying.
“Seriously, Hattie. That’s not—” Preston started.
I shouted my greeting to Theo and Poppy as they opened the door, and my coworkers fell silent.
Ever observant, Theo took in the tension between Hattie and Preston and placed his hand on Poppy’s waist to stop her from walking closer to the reception desk.
No doubt his tiny spitfire wife could handle anything thrown her way.
It didn’t matter. Theo, like all my brother’s friends, had a tendency to be overprotective.
“Everything OK?” Theo asked, looking at me before locking eyes with Preston. Theo was the most physically intimidating person I knew, though without question the sweetest. It didn’t stop him from making grown men wither with a single glare when warranted.
“Ignore them,” I said, handing Theo the drink carrier since I was still clutching my iced latte like a portable IV drip. “Let’s head to my office.”
Preston had the good sense to take his coffee into his and close the door before we started down the hall.
“Is that the asshole you’re fighting for partner?” Poppy asked, pointing at Preston’s door as we passed.
“He’s not an asshole,” I said, gesturing them into my office, which was all the way at the end of the hall, a subtle indication of just how much closer to partner Preston was than me. “He actually helped with Theo’s case. Hattie and Preston are a Lauren and Aiden waiting to happen.”
“Got it,” Poppy said as Theo handed her the cup with her name on it. Our mutual friends had a classic enemies-to-lovers story that led to baby Logan and his parent’s upcoming wedding.
“We should buy you coffee,” Theo said as he took his drink from the carrier with a frown. “Especially since you won’t let me pay you.”