Chapter 8 #2
“Fine, but then let me pay him.”
“Honey…no.”
“Mom! You’re not going to pay several thousand dollars for a lawyer to get out of this ridiculous lawsuit when your daughter’s a lawyer and, as you so graciously pointed out, makes an incredible amount of money.
” Besides, she was almost certain Billy was only pushing hard because he’d read the last name, done some research, and decided he could get one over on Hazel.
Hazel’s father had died when she was a child, and her mother had always been poor.
She had worked herself nearly to death to pay the remaining college expenses, which none of Hazel’s three scholarships had covered.
And even now, she refused to accept any money from Hazel, even though she would gladly repay her for all that blood and sweat.
Her mom had done everything she could to give Hazel a better future.
The thought that she had almost willingly given up on her goal during college still sickened Hazel.
She owed it to her only family to give her best and not a single percent less.
She had owed it to herself to ignore all the mean comments from her classmates, to prove the professors wrong – the ones who told her she wouldn’t graduate – and to give the middle finger to anyone who gave her tattered backpack and threadbare clothes a disparaging glance.
Harvard had worn her out — not because of the classes or the workload, but because of all the privileged rich kids who had judged her with their askance looks and put her down with their words.
But she would have betrayed her mother and her hard work if she let that unsettle her, or let anyone deter her from her goal of graduating at the top of her class.
She had wanted to show the whole world that she had earned respect and success through hard work and intelligence. Alone, without help.
“Honey, I don’t want to burden you. You’re already overworked. I want you to make more time for your personal life, not for my little aches and pains.”
“Little aches and pains?”
“Besides, you said that civil law was never your strong suit. So you wouldn’t be the right person to talk to anyway. Just set me up with another lawyer.”
Hazel pressed her lips together. There was, unfortunately, some truth to what her mother was saying.
Civil law had been the only subject in which Gareth had beaten her every time, and if Kosianos knew she was his opponent, he’d be all the more likely to ruin her mother.
He'd do it just to show Hazel that he still possessed power she could never have because she was a woman and grew up poor. Shit.
“I can google it. I just wanted to know if I really needed to get a lawyer, so…”
“No. I know a very good lawyer who owes me a favor,” Hazel interrupted her mother impatiently. “He’ll help you for free. Would that be okay?”
“Oh, yes. I guess so. If you don’t mind asking him…?”
Oh, she did mind because it would cost her more than just her pride. But she wanted to be there for her mother and show her that all the things she’d given up for her daughter had been worth it.
“I don’t mind,” she croaked. “It’s no problem at all. We’ll be right over, okay?”
“Great. I’ll bake some cookies! See you soon.”
Her mother hung up, leaving Hazel feeling like she was harboring a giant balloon in her stomach that was about to burst. And, God, that would hurt.
She had no choice but to bite the bullet – and that was waiting on the other side of the door.
Groaning inwardly, she hurried into Gareth’s office.
“I have comments,” he called out, sliding the revised set of papers toward her.
She laughed. “I’m shocked. But fine, go ahead.”
“The gummy bear clause is gone. So is the hand kiss. I’m not going to do a dance of shame whenever you win an argument.”
She clicked her tongue. “And here I went ahead and choreographed the whole thing!”
He ignored her. “I’ve included that we can’t fight during third-party contracts, only this one.
Which means you can’t demand ridiculously high premiums for Fox and Devreaux anymore.
In return, I can’t yell at your assistant anymore, which won’t be necessary since you’ll give me your private number. Okay so far?”
She opened her mouth just to object on principle, but then thought better of it. It was better to let him win a few fights so that he’d be more open to…the new clause she’d like to include. “Okay, whatever you say,” was all she said.
Gareth blinked, irritated. Perhaps because he’d never heard her say that before. “Fine,” and he continued. “Then I have one final point: What about contractual penalties?”
“Contractual penalties?”
“Yes. A clause that specifies what happens if we break one of our rules.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know what a penalty clause is!”
“Then why did you ask?”
A raised middle finger wouldn’t soften him up, would it? “Fine. Let’s set penalties!”
A wolfish grin spread across Gareth’s face, which caused the back of Hazel’s neck to tingle strangely. “Oh, I find it more exciting when the other person can spontaneously think of an appropriate punishment. To give them even more incentive to stick to the contract.”
“Appropriate? That means I could, for example, forbid you from eating Milky Ways for a month?” she asked, interested.
Gareth stared at her. “You're heartless, you know that? I said appropriate, not sadistic!”
A smile broke out on her face. Sometimes she forgot he had a sense of humor. It was very dry and subtle, but still...
“It was your idea.”
“Okay.” He nodded and clasped his hands behind his neck, stretching his shirt over his biceps. “Now that I know how merciless your punishments will be, I’ll adjust mine. I’m fine with that.”
Hazel smiled broadly and leaned forward. “I have more imagination than you, Gareth. I have the advantage.”
“When it comes to you, I’ve always found it easy to think of punishments, Hazel,” he replied darkly, his gaze calmly raking her face and then down her body. “I know you. I know what you like…and don’t like.”
She swallowed, goosebumps scurrying down her spine. He was doing this on purpose, dropping suggestive remarks to make her nervous. “You mean at one point, you knew me.”
“Just keep telling yourself that,” he replied evenly.
“Do we have a deal?” He extended his hand across the table.
Hazel sucked her lower lip between her teeth and stared at his large fingers…
“Not quite yet. We should note that we can extend the contract at any time. If we think of anything new. Only with the approval of both parties, of course.”
“Sounds good.”
Fantastic. “In fact, I’d like to add something right now,” she continued.
“What?”
“I’d like carte blanche.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Why the hell would I give you that?”
“Because I calmed Penny down for you. Because I let you continue doing what you love, which is worth far more than the twenty seconds you spent holding my glass at the wedding. Favors should be returned with favors of equal value.”
He narrowed his eyes. She expected a no, but he surprised her.
“All right. You get carte blanche – which has to be of the same magnitude as getting Penny off my back! – and in return, you send me a new contract for Fox by tomorrow evening. No gummy bear clauses or other nonsense. I want a document that we’ll discuss and sign directly with Penny and Fox on Wednesday, if it’s to everyone’s satisfaction. ”
“Deal,” she said, taking his hand before he could change his mind. His large, surprisingly warm fingers closed tightly around hers, and for a second, their eyes locked, as if they both reading each other’s faces for earnest commitment.
The seconds dragged on, heating up just from their relentless gazes…
Gareth abruptly withdrew his hand and grasped it with his other on the desk. “Good. I’ll send you the documents when I’ve finalized them.”
“Let’s finalize them now,” she suggested. She was in a hurry. “I emailed you the contract. Adjust what you just added, and we’ll sign it immediately.”
“Are you afraid I’ll change my mind?”
“Why put off til tomorrow, Gareth, what can be done today…and it’s only fair that you keep it brief. After all, I spent most of Saturday typing the whole thing on my phone.”
“Only because I couldn’t, you know.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve seen you use a phone. You know how it works.”
“No. I didn’t have my phone at the time.”
“Why?”
“Penny confiscated it so I would have more fun.”
Hazel laughed. Poor guy, being forced to have more joy in life. That must have been tough. “She wanted you to make peace with me and have fun while you did it? That’s asking a bit much, isn’t it?”
“My point exactly.”
Fighting a smile, she quickly lowered her gaze. “Add the new points and just print it, okay?”
Gareth sighed as if it was extremely difficult for him to voluntarily follow any of her instructions, but he did as he was told.
Hazel made sure to look over his shoulder as he made the final edits – just to make sure he didn’t change a single word – before Gareth’s printer sputtered to life and spit out their contract in duplicate.
“To social, hate-free inter-colleague teamwork,” he muttered before signing them both and pushing them toward her.
“We should establish that as a toast,” she replied, signing her name next to his, taking a deep breath, and slipping one of the contracts into her briefcase. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to cash in on my carte blanche...” She glanced at her watch. “…now.”
Gareth opened his mouth, perplexed. “What?”
“Just come with me. My favor is on the other side of town.”
“I repeat: what? You already knew the favor you needed?”
“Yes, and I didn’t want to give you the chance to say no,” she explained, batting her eyelashes.
His expression darkened. “I have appointments, Hazel.”
“Then cancel them.”
“I don’t cancel appointments.”
“Then reschedule them.”
“I don’t reschedule appointments!”
“Then learn to do it, Gareth. A little spontaneity would do you good.”
“Who says?”
“Me! Am I speaking too softly?”
“No, just too much.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’ll only take an hour, really. It’s a…small thing.”
“What kind of small thing?”
“It’s a legal matter.”
“Why the hell do you need me for a legal matter? You're always telling me you’re a better lawyer than I am!”
She gritted her teeth. “Yes, but my mother won’t let me help her!”
Gareth inhaled deeply and rubbed his chin.
“Hazel, can you just be direct?” he asked, his voice surprisingly calm and gentle.
“I owe you the favor. I keep my word and my written agreements even more. But you just signed a clause saying that if I ask you a direct question, you’ll be as honest with me as possible.
And I can’t decide if it’s an equal favor if you don’t tell me what it’s about! ”
He was right. That was perhaps the worst part of all.
She hadn’t been honest with him for seven years and she found it hard to break old habits.
Being honest around him felt like she was opening herself up and making herself vulnerable — and she never wanted to be vulnerable in front of Gareth again.
But what choice did she have? She took a deep breath and forced herself to look into the face of the man to whom she had entrusted her life, her heart, and her entire past years ago.
Even then, he had been cold on the outside, but so infinitely warm on the inside…
“Do you think this is easy for me?” she whispered.
“To ask you, of all people, for help? But my mother has a potential lawsuit on her hands and doesn’t want my help; she wants a recommendation for a colleague.
But she can’t afford any of my colleagues and no one would take her case seriously – or lie to her about it being me who’s actually paying for it.
You, on the other hand, are incapable of not taking anything seriously and have no problem lying. And…” She hesitated.
“And?” Gareth asked quietly.
She clenched her teeth. “And you are – after me – the best lawyer I know.”
One corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “That must have hurt.”
He had no idea.
“Not that I’m not flattered, but for stupid legal questions, you have plenty of other colleagues who are also serious lawyers. Unlike me.”
“No. I…need you, okay?” She swallowed. “You’ll know best how to proceed. The lawyer who wants to sue her is Billy Kosianos.”
There was an abrupt silence.
Gareth stared at her blankly, for one second. Two seconds…
He stood and pulled his suit jacket off the back of his chair. “Give me your mother’s address. We’ll take my car.”
“We can go separately, we…”
“You’ll use the drive to tell me exactly what this is about. I don’t like wasting my time, Hazel. I’ll grant you the favor, but I’ll do it on my terms.”
She sighed, while at the same time feeling terribly relieved. “Fine. If you can stand being in such a cramped space with me for that long.”