Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
COOPER
My phone buzzes incessantly in my pocket as Austin Maguire drones on about something I absolutely could not care less about.
Shifting in the very uncomfortable conference room chair, I pull out my phone and hold it under the table as I unlock the screen to my group chat with my older brothers and their girls.
Wyles Bros and Hoes
Hannah has changed the name of the chat to Wyles Bros and Hoes
Amelia
GIRL YES!
Jo
Obviously I am extremely obsessed with this.
Hannah
I knew you would be.
Elliot
Did we really need a group chat name?
Jordan
And did it need to be this particular group chat name?
Noah
My wife named it, which means it’s the best group chat name ever.
I chuckle quietly at Noah’s extremely on brand response. He accidentally married his wife Hannah in Vegas this past summer, and then they fell in love, and literally no one has ever been more obsessed with anyone than he is with her.
Me
But why Wyles Bros and Hoes?
Jo
Because you’re the Wyles Bros.
Amelia
And we’re the Hoes, obviously. Keep up, Coop.
Me
I love a good rhyme but hoes?
Hannah
We’re reclaiming the term.
Jo
And I just love a good group chat name. I have enough chaos in my life. Names help keep the chats straight.
Jordan
Wife, I just love your chaos.
Noah
Fuck, I forgot I’m not the only one with a wife anymore. I kind of liked it when I was.
Jo
Sorry, Noah, I am so completely wifed up and we love that for me.
Jordan
I, particularly, love that for you. And for me.
It was Jordan and Jo’s wedding I was at when Evan finished the brief we kind of, sort of argued about that night in the conference room weeks ago.
The sort of argument that ended with me fucking her against a window with her skirt around her waist, her underwear still on, and my pants around my thighs.
The night we haven’t spoken about since but that I can’t think about without getting hard.
I can barely look at her without getting hard, and that is really inconvenient for me since I still can’t stand her, but my body doesn’t seem to be getting the message. Focusing on my phone so I don’t look up at where she’s sitting right across from me, I watch the chats roll in.
Noah
How much do you all love me?
Hannah
Husband, I love you the most.
Noah
Shit, Han. You can’t call me that when I’m at work for the next eight hours. You know what that word does to me.
Elliot
I really don’t know how to answer that question. Not as much as I love Amelia.
Amelia
Aw, El. I love when you profess your love in the group chat.
Elliot
Mystery Girl, I’ll profess my love for you anytime, anywhere. Loving you out loud is my favorite thing.
Amelia
*fans self*
Noah
Okay, this is nice and all, but back to me.
Jordan
Okay but seriously, are you sure Mom didn’t accidentally fuck up the birth order? You really do give youngest child energy.
Me
You want to be the one to ask Pamela Wyles if she forgot what order she birthed her children in?
Elliot
Let me know when you do that. I would really like to be there.
Jo
I actually think Noah gives more middle child energy. When there’re four kids in a family, who’s considered the middle child?
Hannah
See, now there’s a hard-hitting question.
Noah
Okay, but let’s ask it later. Right now, I have a question of my own.
Me
We love you a lot.
Noah
Cooper is my favorite today. For that and also because you’re participating in the group chat at a regular time of day. Usually we don’t hear from you until some ungodly hour of the night.
He’s not wrong. For the last year, I’ve been working insane hours as partnership decisions get closer.
Making partner wasn’t ever something I thought all that much about, but then Evan joined the firm and made it clear that she would be earning the open partnership spot in our group, and for reasons passing understanding, I got sucked into this competitive battle with her and, well, here we are.
But I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired, and I miss hanging out with my family, and I’ve spent the last six months wondering what the fuck I’m doing and why I care so much about a partnership in the first place.
Which is why I’m texting my family at two in the afternoon instead of paying attention to this meeting.
Me
I love being the favorite.
Noah
I know how you do. Anyway, what would you say if I told you I just scored us all tickets behind the Strikers’ dugout to game one of the World Series on Tuesday?
Elliot
FUCK YES.
Jo
I would say you’re my favorite now and I need to go buy a jersey immediately. I love the lightning bolt logo. It’s so fucking cute.
Amelia
Shopping trip?
Hannah
Definitely yes.
Jordan
I think we’re losing the plot here. How did you get those tickets? You can’t even buy them on the secondary market. Boston hasn’t been in a World Series in like fifty years.
Noah
Their second baseman took a line drive to the face in game one of the ALCS and fractured his jaw. They didn’t think he would heal in time for the World Series, but because of my mad surgical skills he did, and he asked me if I wanted tickets.
Me
You were Ace Wilson’s surgeon?
Noah
Sure as shit was.
Elliot
Dude, the entire city is talking about his miraculous recovery.
Noah
I know. Because I’m amazing.
Hannah
My man is a badass.
Noah
Takes one to know one, Han.
Jordan
Did you forget HIPAA is a thing?
Noah
Nah, he said I could tell you when he gave me the tickets and I told him my brothers were a bunch of nosy fuckers who would want to know how I came upon tickets to the hottest show in town.
Noah is a maxillofacial surgeon, and he has a track record of getting all kinds of random shit from his patients after he operates on them.
It’s not like he asks for it—he’s a fun-loving, personable guy, and people are just drawn to him.
And now we all get to go to the World Series, so, wins all around.
Jordan
You did good, little brother.
Noah
Fuck yeah, I did.
Elliot
Should we all go together?
Jo
Yeah we should!
Amelia
Let’s get a limo. Then we can drink all the beer we want and no one has to drive.
Hannah
GENIUS GIRL.
Elliot
My girl is the smart girl. I’ll take care of the details. Cooper, you coming with us in the car or are you meeting us at the stadium?
I wince inwardly at the question, even though it’s reasonable. Anything we’ve done in the past year or so, if I’ve shown up at all, I’ve come straight from work. But I hate that I’ve missed so much, and I don’t want to miss this.
Me
Definitely coming with.
Noah
Fuck yeah. Wyles Bros and Hoes night at the baseball game.
“Cooper and I can handle that, right Cooper?”
The sound of my name and the feel of a swift kick to my shin with the pointy toe of a high heeled shoe has my head shooting up and my eyes landing right on Evan, who’s looking at me expectantly.
When our gazes meet, she raises an eyebrow in challenge, like she knows I wasn’t paying any attention and have no clue what I’m about to agree to.
“Sure, that’s no problem.” In this moment, I don’t care what I’m agreeing to because I’m too busy wondering whether I’m currently gushing blood from my leg.
Fuck, those heels Evan wears are deadly weapons.
Thinking of her heels has a memory of those same ones digging into my ass while I pounded into her against the window in this very conference room flashing through my head.
I shift in my chair as all my blood rushes to my dick.
Like she can tell exactly what I’m thinking, she smirks and glances down, jotting something in the pink spiral notebook she always carries with her, then pops a Jolly Rancher in her mouth and turns her attention back to Austin who is, unbelievably, still talking.
“Thanks, Evangeline, but I think I’d prefer Cooper to take this one on himself.”
Evan’s jaw hardens, her eyes turning to ice as she stares Austin down. “But I’m always a part of witness prep.”
Austin shakes his head. “Not this time. We’re prepping Milo Pierre for his deposition with Branch Pharma, and I think Cooper is better equipped to handle it.”
Evan opens her mouth like she’s going to protest, then seems to reconsider, lips curving into a tight smile as she speaks through gritted teeth. “Sure, whatever you think is best.”
Austin doesn’t seem to care that Evan looks like she’s about to commit murder right in this conference room because he just gives her a pleased smile and a nod.
“Wonderful. I knew you would see it my way. Now, Milo and his team will be coming in for a pre-prep meeting on Friday. Evangeline, I expect you to be a part of that meeting, and then you can spend the weekend helping Cooper get ready for his witness prep.”
Now it’s my turn to open my mouth to interrupt Austin.
To tell him he’s making a mistake. I might not like Evan very much, but of the two of us, she is definitely better at witness prep.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, clients love her, and she has this way of communicating with them that makes them want to please her, and that, in turn, brings out their very best. It’s a skill that is particularly well-suited to preparing clients for tricky depositions.
Not to mention the fact that she has worked just as hard on this case as I have, so cutting her out is wrong, especially because I know he’s doing it because she’s a woman and he's a sexist asshole.
But once again, Evan seems to read my mind because she gives me a cutting glare, and I hear Don’t you fucking dare as clearly as if she spoke the words out loud.
My eyes are locked on hers, and I can’t look away.
She’s doing her best to appear perfectly fine with what just happened, but I catalogue all the ways she is the opposite of that.
Lips pressed tightly together. Eyes just a touch too bright.
Hands clenched onto fists where they rest on the table on either side of the legal pad she’s been taking notes on for the last two hours.
I have the uncomfortable feeling that I’m seeing the real Evan for the first time. I think back to the other day when I came in early and saw her sitting at her desk in what looked like her pajamas and slippers, unrestrained smile on her face and eyes somehow both determined and joyful.
Seeing her at the office early isn’t unusual—she’s made a fucking career out of getting to work before me for the last year.
But seeing her like that was new. And the way she let out that little yelp and slammed the door, somehow transforming herself into lawyer mode and then pretending I didn’t see what I saw?
It was weird, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it once or twice or approximately three hundred times in the last two days.
Between this and our late night fuckfest three weeks ago, Evan Rhodes is occupying way more of my brain than usual, and I don’t love it.
“Okay, that will be all,” Austin says, clapping his hands together.
“I don’t think I need to remind anyone sitting in this room that Pierre Pharma is a very important client.
This litigation is going to bring in millions in billables over the next two quarters, and I need everyone working at top capacity. ”
I just barely restrain myself from rolling my eyes. While we’re all working our asses off, Austin will be playing his umpteenth round of golf and then he’ll swoop in and take all the credit when we win and end up with a thrilled client.
I wonder, yet again, why I decided BigLaw was what I wanted. I love the law. But this is nothing like I imagined it would be.
As the other associates and paralegals on the Pierre case file out of the conference room, I stay where I am, suddenly exhausted down to my bones.
“Do you need help out of your chair or something?”
I glance up at Evan, standing on the other side of the table. Her suit today is a burgundy color that hugs all her curves. She’s wearing it with a silky white tank that skims over her breasts, and I get a quick flash of the way her rosy nipples pebbled when I rubbed my fingers over them.
I really need to get a grip.
“What?”
Evan rolls her eyes. “You’re just sitting there like we don’t have a million hours of work ahead of us.
You’re prepping the client on Monday. It’s already Thursday, and he’s coming in tomorrow for a pre-prep meeting.
” She picks up her mug and takes a sip, making a face when she swallows like she doesn’t like the taste. Interesting.
No. Not interesting. Nothing about this woman is interesting. Infuriating? Definitely. But not interesting. Not at all.
“You don’t have to let him talk to you like that you know.”
“Fucking what?” Her eyebrows slam together, her face settling into a mutinous expression.
I must have a death wish or something because I keep talking. “Austin. You deserve to be in the deposition prep with the client. It was wrong of him to cut you out. You could have told him that.”
Evan lets out a harsh laugh. “Could I have? Really, Cooper? You want me to tell the king of the Women Don’t Belong in Law Club that I deserve to prepare our biggest client for a deposition that could win or lose a litigation that’s going to make this firm fifty million dollars over the next six months? ”
I shrug. “You do deserve it. It’s not fair of him to cut you out.”
Evan makes a strangled sound of frustration.
“Of course I deserve it. It’s definitely not fair, and yet, this is how it is.
This is how it always is. I have undergraduate degrees in clinical pharmacology and molecular biology.
I graduated summa cum laude from Yale Law School.
And I’ve been a BigLaw intellectual property law associate for almost seven years.
I am well acquainted with the concept of clawing my way to the top while less qualified men stroll in there like it’s a walk in the fucking park.
I don’t need you to remind me about the concept of fairness. ”
My usual response to one of Evan’s tirades is to shoot back, but for some reason, now that I know what she sounds like when she comes, what she looks like with joy on her face and pink fuzzy slippers on her feet, our little feud has lost some of its luster.
My brain is too addled to try and figure out what that means, so instead I try something new and go for friendly.
“I just want you to know that I see how hard you work. It should be you instead of me.”
Evan narrows her eyes at me, fire shooting from her gaze. “Fuck off, Cooper.”
Scooping up her stuff, she sails out of the conference room, hips swinging and blonde hair flying.
I lean back in my chair and blow out a heavy breath because I screwed that one right up, and I can’t figure why that suddenly bothers me so much.