Chapter 7
Ever
“It’s bad enough you and I have to share an office together, do we really need to walk to this meeting together, too?” I sighed, locking eyes briefly with Loche, who lumbered next to me on our way to the conference room. “I mean, people may begin to talk and all.”
His smug smile grated on my nerves. Like an itch at the bottom of my foot while driving, he just kept getting more and more irritating, demanding my attention when I refused to give in. “What’s wrong? Don’t want to make the others jealous?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, you’re mid at best. I just don’t want people to think I don’t have standards.”
“Mid?” He snort-laughed. “Keep telling yourself that, Nevermore.”
I gritted my teeth at the nickname—a play on my name he’d given to me shortly after I started at the firm.
“Besides,” he continued, “I see the way you look at me from your desk.”
“How’s that? Disgusted? Like I’m cursing God for thrusting me in the forced proximity trope from hell with the world’s most annoying nepo baby?”
Loche winced the way he always did whenever the topic of nepotism came up in conversation. It was a low blow on my part, but neither of us had ever been particularly fond of taking the high road.
“You know the look I’m referring to. The one you get every time I put my glasses on to read over case law. It’s hot, right?”
Shit. He wasn’t wrong. I don’t know what it was about a man in glasses, but those wire frames just did something to me.
Frankly, I blamed Clark Kent for giving me unrealistic expectations.
Because not one single man in glasses I dated in the past had ever also been a muscle-bound superhero from another planet.
Although plenty of them had been faster than speeding bullets.
“I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a letter opener than ever look at you again. In fact—”
“It’s too early in the morning for you two.” Sylvia appeared next to us, having rounded the corner from her side of the office. “And I have a full schedule today, so I beg of you both, please play nice because I’ve sworn off caffeine, and my patience isn’t in the room with us right now.”
“Yes, Sylvia,” Loche responded. “I’m sure Ever can manage to show a modicum of restraint for one day. Can’t you, Ever?”
I glared at him, wishing I had that letter opener in my hand right now. “Of course, Sylvia. But I do have a question. Does the firm routinely allow its employees to use Porn Hub for research purposes? Because—” Without breaking my stride, I discreetly pointed at Loche walking next to me.
“You two are going to be the reason I increase my dosage of Xanax.” Sylvia eyed both of us, muttering something under her breath as she walked into the conference room.
“The firm is going to be checking my computer now, you do realize that, right?” Loche groaned.
“If there’s nothing on it, then I guess you’ll have nothing to worry about.” I gave him a smartass smile, basking in my petty victory.
When we walked into the conference room, Loche and I parted ways as we always did, with me veering off in the opposite direction from him, taking a seat next to Shelby.
“Why do you look so pleased with yourself?” Shelby asked as I sat in the empty seat next to her.
“Oh, you know. Making Loche’s life a living hell, getting his computer confiscated by the firm. The usual.”
Shelby shook her head, laughing to herself. “You two are probably the reason for this meeting right now.”
“You don’t know what this is about?”
“No. They never tell the receptionist anything.” She eyed Loche, who had taken a seat across the conference room at the end of the table.
If he weren’t such an arrogant prick, I would probably be staring at the man any chance I had, too.
But unlike Shelby, the man had stolen a lucrative position within the firm out from under me, so you could say I was a little salty.
“He works out,” Shelby observed, and she wasn’t wrong.
The slate gray shirt Loche wore fit a hair tighter than his other dress shirts, accentuating the curves of his biceps.
I’d noticed that months ago, and I hated myself for secretly stealing glances at him whenever he wore it.
“You know, I’ve heard he’s tatted up pretty heavily under all that. ”
“What?” I snort-laughed, covering my mouth.
I’d captured the attention of some of our colleagues around the table, Loche included.
He cocked his head, lips curling into that half-smirk he always had.
Without breaking eye contact, I raised my hand to my face, slowly folding in each of my fingers but the one that mattered as I itched a non-existent scratch at the tip of my nose.
“It’s true,” Shelby said. I dropped my hand back down to my lap and turned my attention back to her. “I’ve never seen him with his shirt off, but Caroline saw him at the gym once. She said it looked like he had more ink than skin.”
Caroline, Conrad Harrison’s legal assistant at the firm, sat near the middle of the table.
I hadn’t spoken to her much since I’d started, but from the interactions I’d had with her, she didn’t strike me as the type who would embellish information for attention.
Then again, gossiping about her boss’s nephew wasn’t something I thought she would do, either.
“So, did you ever find out who that guy at the party was?”
I glanced back at Shelby. “No, but I ran into him at a concert, and he gave me a ride home.”
Shelby’s eyes widened. “Whoa! Then you at least know what he looks like.”
Her face fell when I shook my head. “Nope. Can’t say as I do, actually.
He wore the mask the entire time.” I purposely neglected to include the part about V stalking me since I moved here, as that was information I didn’t want the entire firm to know.
A normal person would have turned V into the police.
A normal person wouldn’t be turned on by the fact that he’d been watching me, or that he refused to show his face to me.
What I was doing didn’t exactly scream top-notch judgment in a profession where such a trait was a necessity.
Shelby opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced by Conrad Harrison, Esquire, himself walking into the room—purposely late as always.
“We’re going to revisit all of this later,” she whispered, almost certainly already coming up with a mental bullet point of questions with subparts she was going to ask me.
“Sorry I’m late,” Conrad said, even though we all knew he wasn’t at all sorry.
From across the table, I caught a glimpse of Loche rolling his eyes.
If I hadn’t known Loche and Conrad were related, I probably never would have guessed it.
Where Conrad was of average height for a man, Loche was a good six inches taller.
About the only thing that was even somewhat similar between the two was their dark hair, which, for Conrad, showed signs of his age.
“The reason I asked for us to meet today is because, as most of you know, the largest case this firm has ever taken on is going to trial in a few short weeks. The Sawyer matter has the potential to bring millions to the firm as well as a sense of justice to the surviving family members of Roger and Peggy Sawyer. It’s going to be a team effort prepping this case for trial.
At some point, everyone here will be asked to contribute to the trial team.
Whether it be typing up a pleading or simply making copies.
A few of you will be selected to accompany us to court and stay in a hotel while trial is ongoing.
This task was assigned to Loche, who I’m informed has assembled his team. ”
Well, well, well. Loche was leaving and wouldn’t be in the office for at least a good week or two. I threw my own mental party at the prospect of having the office to myself. I guess there was a god after all.
“Loche, care to share the names of the people you think you want for your team?”
“Sure. For IT issues, I’ve asked Jason to join us, along with Caroline, of course, for administrative support. And although I haven’t asked this person yet, I did clear it with Jack.”
Wait. Jack? As in Jack Haak? As in my boss? My stomach fell to the floor. No. No, this can’t be happening.
“It’s my thought that Ever would be of great assistance to me.”
It was happening. Stunned, all I could do was gape at Loche in disbelief, waiting for him to say this was all some kind of joke. It was bad enough that I had to be crammed into an office with him; I was now going to be spending the night under the same roof as him, too.
“No,” I blurted out, much to the disbelief of nearly everyone at the table who stared at me, eyebrows raised. “I mean, thank you for putting so much faith in me, Loche, but I have a healthy caseload of my own. My clients may not like not being able to get in touch with me while I’m gone.”
“Jana and Kim are more than capable of divvying up your workload while you’re gone, Ever,” Mr. Haak said from his spot next to where Conrad was standing. “I appreciate your concern for our clients, but the wheels on this bus will continue to turn in your absence.”
I nodded, clenching my jaw so tightly I was beginning to think it would lock in place permanently. “Well, then, I guess the choice has been made for me. I’ll start packing my bags.”
Loche smiled at me, a smile that told me he knew he’d won and was basking in the glow of his victory.
“Are you sure, Loche?” Conrad interceded. “No offense to Ever. She does good work, but I’ve personally witnessed Kim handle the intense pressures of trial fabulously.”
Shelby and I shared a glance at each other.
It was no secret among the firm that Kim and Conrad were having an affair, which was why I didn’t take as much offense as I should have to his blunt proclamation.
Still, it was frustrating that my skills weren’t being assessed by my work product but by the fact that I wasn’t the one being bent over Conrad Harrison’s desk.