Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dylan
“Wait just a fucking minute, Colt.” Barrett Adler, my oldest and most annoying friend, spits those words out with a laugh. “Let me get this straight. You want me to drop everything so I can go home and search for a yearbook from high school?”
Glancing at my phone, I scrub my hand over the back of my neck. “I need it. Just do it.”
“Find your own goddamn yearbook. I’ve got an afternoon of meetings ahead of me.”
I fall into the chair behind my desk. “Jesus, Barrett. Did you forget that I tossed mine in the trash? I need you to courier your copy to me.”
I take the phone off speaker and raise it to my ear.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asks as the sound of traffic seeps in.
He’s left his office at Garent Industries in downtown Chicago. He’s on the move.
“Eden Conrad,” I say her name because I know. I fucking know that’s all I need to say and he’ll clue in.
“I don’t know where the hell my yearbook is.” He mutters something under his breath I can’t make out. “I’ll head home and search for it. It’s in a box somewhere. I’ll find it.”
I close my eyes. “Listen, Barrett. Thanks.”
“No need to thank me. You’ll have it in your hands by tomorrow morning.”
Ending the call, I drop my phone on my desk.
A quick knock at my office door lures my gaze up, but before I can tell whoever is on the other side to go away, I’m looking at my partner, Griffin Kent.
I point out the obvious to him. “You’re supposed to wait until I say ‘come in’ before you open the door, asshole.”
Griffin breaks into a smile. “It’s nice to see you too.”
“Close the door,” I spit out.
He slams the door shut with a push of his foot.
The dark gray suit on his back and designer tie around his neck is expected. The ever-present grin on his face is new. It was planted there by his fiancée, Piper Ellis when she walked into the reception area of our offices and his life last year.
He scratches the side of his nose. “Are you sick?”
I know where he’s going with this so I skip past the list of annoying questions that he’s about to ask and I get to the meat of the matter. “Do I need to be ill for my partner to lend me a helping hand?”
I had Gunner direct all my work-related calls to Griffin this afternoon. I also instructed him to send a drop-in appointment Griffin’s way even though it was with a prospective client that I’ve been trying to charm for the past month.
Griffin and I met in college. We propped each other up through law school,
It’s been hard work to get to the point we are at today, but we did it side-by-side through the good times and the bullshit.
I trust Griffin almost as much as I trust Barrett. The big difference is that Griffin knows the bare basics about my past with Eden. Barrett lived through it with me.
“I’ll always pitch in when you need me to.” He settles on one of the leather guest chairs in front of my desk. “Seeing as how this is the first time you’ve ever had Gunner send a prospective client my way, I’m curious. What’s going on?”
I can tell him about Eden now or wait until he looks over the Alcester case file and spots her name himself.
We back each other at every turn. It’s not uncommon for me to cover a call or a meeting on one of his cases if he’s tied up. He’s done the same for me.
“Kurt Sufford is having heart surgery.”
I start there because it’s a far cry from confessing that I’m going head-to-head with Eden in the courtroom.
“You’re pushing your work at me because of him?” His blue eyes study my face. “I had no idea that you two were close.”
My lips curve into a smile. “You’re an ass.”
He shoots me a toothy grin. “You’re hiding something. Spit it out, Dylan. What’s happening with the Alcester case? Do you need my help?”
Handing the case over to him would be the easy way out, but I don’t do easy, or simple. Challenge is what gets me out of bed in the morning.
I can handle the case. Shit, I can even handle Eden in the courtroom.
What I can’t handle is that I fucked her last night, and I felt something more than a satisfying orgasm.
“Kurt brought his co-counsel to court this morning.” I lean back in my chair. “You’re not going to believe who it is.”
“It’s not Darren Macon, is it? That guy is a weasel. I swear to God he lied to the judge’s face during the Campbell trial. I almost lost that case because of his bullshit.”
“It’s Eden Conrad.”
His eyes narrow. “Say again.”
“Eden Conrad is representing Troy Alcester from here on.” I tap my fingers on my desk.
“The Eden Conrad you went to high school with?” he questions. “How the fuck is that even possible?”
“You tell me,” I say jokingly with an exaggerated chuckle. “Apparently, she’s a lawyer and Troy Alcester is her client.”
Griffin bolts to his feet. “I’m taking over the case.”
I follow suit, rising from my chair. “Like hell you are. I’ve got this.”
His arms cross his chest. “I know enough about your past with this woman to see that this is a disaster in the making. We owe it to Trudy Alcester to give her our best.”
“I am our best,” I point out. “I’ll see this through to the end.”
“When’s your next court date?” He glances down at his watch. “I’ll get Joyce to work her magic so I’m available for that.”
Joyce, Griffin’s assistant, is a miracle worker, but her time is better spent keeping his current cases in order.
“I’ve got this, Griffin,” I stress again.
He rakes a hand through his brown hair, anxiety dictating his movements. “Have you two talked outside of the courtroom?”
Telling Griffin that I took Eden to bed last night serves no purpose, so I keep that information to myself.
“You need to put the past to rest with this woman.” He drops into responsible partner mode. “It’s best for the Alcester case.”
I’ll win the case regardless of what is happening between Eden and me.
“I’m down the hall if you need anything.” He manages a half-smile. Worry is knitting his brow.
I offer the only words I can think of to reassure him that I won’t let my past with Eden impact the firm’s reputation. “I have a solid case. Trudy Alcester is going to come out of this a very wealthy and happy woman.”
“That’s the end goal,” he says with conviction. “Get the job done and I’ll buy you a beer to celebrate.”
I toss him a curt nod.
I’ll get the job done. Eden Conrad may have owned me last night, but she doesn’t stand a chance against me in the courtroom.