Chapter 19 #3
Loche snickered, his golden brown eyes vibrant like honey in the sunlight.
Being undeniably physically attracted to him while also pissed off at him somehow managed to piss me off even more.
“That’s a lot of questions there, Nevermore.
How about yes, yes, and if needed. As to your last question, would it be so bad to be my girlfriend? ”
I hesitated, because would it be? At least Loche was willing to put an identifier on something, whereas V didn’t seem to be in any hurry.
“Oh, yeah,” Loche added, “the boyfriend, right?”
“Yeah. I guess.” Loche cocked his head, appearing as confused as I felt. “Why are you even down here, anyway? I thought you were working on outlining Conrad’s closing and calling the witnesses who are appearing tomorrow?”
“Damn, slave driver. Can’t a guy take a break?” Loche nodded at the bartender, who came over to take his order. “Whiskey. Neat.”
“Calm down, Hozier, it’s a little late on a school night for straight-up whiskey, isn’t it?”
“I’ve had to be around Conrad all day and most of this evening. I deserve this drink.”
“You and half the trial team who were down here earlier, it would appear.”
He glanced down at my drink before meeting my eyes again. “Rough day for you, too, then?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I normally have a drink in my hand at eleven at night.”
The bartender set Loche’s whiskey down in front of him. He lifted the glass to his lips, taking a swig and setting it back down on the bar. “You know, there are meetings for that, right?”
“How’d we get on the topic of your weekend plans?” I picked up my glass, draining the last of the vodka cranberry in one satisfying gulp.
Loche inspected me the way he usually did—right before asking me something I might not know how to answer. “What is this dance we keep doing with each other?”
There it was.
“I didn’t think we were dancing. In fact, our butts seem to be firmly planted on these sticky barstools.” I moved my leg, only to find my pant leg stuck to the wood. “Most likely for the rest of our lives, it would seem.”
“You know what I mean. We bantered back and forth to combat the sexual tension between us, then we got to know each other, maybe even developed feelings for each other, only to go back to bantering back and forth again. It’s a continuous loop, and I have to believe you’re just as tired as I am.”
My mouth fell open, trying to form words my brain hadn’t settled on yet.
Under normal circumstances, Loche would be balls deep inside of me right now, preferably with him taking me from behind in front of the full-length mirror in my room—not that that scenario had crossed my mind every time I happened to catch him bending over in the courtroom, or sharing knowing glances with me during trial, or just being in his general orbit, or anything.
“I know that you may not be in a position to give yourself to anyone, or maybe just to me right now. All I’m asking is that you consider giving me a chance and choose me.”
“That whiskey must be stronger than I thought.” My heart beat so fiercely in my chest I thought it was going to burst out of my body, which both excited me and riddled me with guilt at the thought that there was a very real possibility I may want Loche even more than I wanted V.
“Deflection.” The corners of Loche’s lips curved into a small smile. “A classic Ever move whenever you don’t want to answer a hard question or are trying to lighten the mood in an awkward situation. It’s your way of escaping when you can’t physically escape, but I’m not keeping you here, am I?”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. Loche had always seemed like a consummate observer. I just hadn’t realized how well he’d been observing me. It was unnerving, yet somehow hot at the same time, that he knew so much about me and had cared to retain it.
Loche leaned in closer to me, which did nothing for my heart rate. “Do you want to run away from me, Ever?”
I gasped involuntarily as though in that very second my entire body was succumbing to Loche. Speechless, I shook my head.
Satisfied with my nonverbal answer, he leaned close enough that I could taste the whiskey on his breath when he spoke. “Good.” He crooked his head to the side, drawing in closer. I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to surrender to Loche Greene right here in the middle of a hotel bar.
“Loche.” The sharp-tongued voice of Conrad broke both of our trances.
Reflexively, I pulled away from Loche, sitting up straighter on the stool while debating whether to throw my empty drink glass across the room for good measure.
Loche, on the other hand, rolled his eyes, grumbling, “Goddamnit” under his breath before he turned around to address his needy as fuck uncle.
“Yes, Conrad?”
“We’re in the middle of the trial of the firm’s history, and I find you down here canoodling with Ever?”
“Well, Uncle, it’s very nearly midnight, and I didn’t realize I was still on the clock. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Not now. I have Kim working on it since you weren’t in your room or answering your phone. But keep in mind that, yes, you are always on the clock during trial. You’re getting paid to work, not fraternize with your coworkers.”
“Yes, Uncle. I apologize. I silenced my phone during trial and must have forgotten to turn the volume back up after court ended today.”
The audacity of that man enraged me, so I could only imagine what Loche must be thinking as Conrad nodded with vitriol still in his eyes, which moved from Loche to me as he stood, staring me down for several seconds before finally walking out of the bar.
“Your restraint is impressive.”
“So is yours.” Loche turned back to face me. As hard as he tried to hide the fury on his face from Conrad, I could still see it burning in his eyes. I’d hate to see him lose control.
“No, it’s not. Which is why I need to call it a night.” I threw down enough to cover my drink and leave a generous enough tip for the bartender and climbed off the stool. “Meet you downstairs tomorrow morning?”
Loche nodded. “You got it, Nevermore.”
Guilt-ridden, I opened my text messages on my way back to my room, opening up my messages to V and sending him a text.
Were you at my house today, by chance?
His quick response threw me off guard, even though I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised that a man who showed up in the middle of the night to change a headlight in my vehicle would still be up at nearly midnight.
No. Why do you ask?
My camera picked up someone walking on the sidewalk in front of my house.
I’ll check into it.
It’s no big deal. People have a right to walk on a sidewalk. It’s just never gone off like that before.
Still checking into it.
That was reassuring, I guess. Even though the person was long gone by now, trying to look for them would most likely be nothing more than a wild goose chase.
Still, it was nice having someone who was literally watching my back, which did nothing to make me feel any less guilty for the feelings I had for Loche.
“Ever.”
Fuck my life.
“Yes, Mr. Harrison,” I answered the bellowing voice of Conrad, trying to keep a friendly, professional composure as I turned around and watched him walking down the hall in my direction, not unlike a mob boss without the entourage.
“I just wanted to tell you what a good job you’ve been doing during the trial so far.”
Had I died on my walk back to the room? If so, would that make this heaven or hell? I mean, it was hell-shaped, but the acoustics were all wrong.
“Thanks. It’s the first day, so hopefully I’ll keep it up.”
Brilliant, Ever. Just fucking brilliant.
“You and my nephew seemed to have gotten quite close.” Conrad took a couple of steps closer to me, and I found myself taking a step backward closer to my door while digging in the pocket of my pants for my keycard.
“He is quite an extraordinary human being.” My fingers gripped the plastic card, discreetly removing it.
“You two used to hate each other, right? At least, that’s the impression Sylvia gave me.”
“It was, um, just a misunderstanding. We’ve gotten past that.”
“Clearly. At least from the looks of things in the bar.”
A lead weight sank to the bottom of my stomach. That’s it. I was going to be let go because I was horny for the boss’s nephew. “It’s not what you think. Loche and I aren’t together.”
At least half of that was the truth.
“I’m not here to discipline you, Ever. My nephew can be charming when he has to be. I just want to warn you because—”
“I already know about his father,” I said, hoping that would end the conversation as Conrad’s wandering eyes had begun to make me feel uncomfortable, and I wished I had brought my purse knife with me to clutch in my free hand right now.
But alas, the court frowned on bringing weapons into the courtroom, so I’d left it at home to avoid a pat-down by the court’s octogenarian security team.
“He told you he murdered his father? You must be more special to him than you think. That’s something he always keeps close to the vest.”
I nodded. “Yeah, he told me. It was self-defense. He saved his mom. He’s a hero.”
Conrad snickered. “Hero isn’t necessarily the word I would have used.
” He took a step closer to me, clearly taking notice of me matching his step with a step of my own in the opposite direction.
Except, unlike Conrad, my back struck the door to my room, effectively meaning I had nowhere else to go.
“Loche has violent tendencies. His anger gets the best of him at times. I just wanted to make sure you’re aware of that. ”
“He’s never been violent with me. I don’t believe he ever would be.”
Conrad held eye contact with me. He shared the same intensity in his gaze as his nephew, but where there was a kind of softness in Loche’s eyes, there was nothing but emptiness in Conrad’s stare.
It was the same kind of emptiness profilers pointed to in serial killers.
A hollow, soulless gaze. “My nephew holds none of the family money, if that means anything to you.”
My blood boiled with Conrad’s insinuation that I was only interested in Loche for monetary gain, both for Loche and for myself. “How much or how little of a balance Loche has in his bank account doesn’t matter to me in any way.”
Conrad smirked as though he thought I was full of shit, most likely because the only type of woman who had ever been interested in him had been in it for the money.
“You’re a rare breed, then. I can see what Loche sees in you.
” Another step forward brought him within a foot of me.
I pressed my back against the door to my room, heart racing.
With the keycard hidden in my hand behind my back, I moved to quietly unlock it, turning the knob and pushing it open slightly so as to allow myself the ability to run inside.
“You act like you’re afraid of me. Are you afraid of me, Ever? ”
“No, Mr. Harrison,” I lied, my eyes scanning the hall, wishing someone would step out of their room.
“Good.” He placed his hand against the wall next to my door, leaning in closer. “I want us to have a better working relationship in the firm. I see potential in you that I wish Loche had. You have more drive than he does.”
“You see, I don’t think so. Because to get to where he is right now in life takes a lot more drive than you may think.”
“That may be true, but there’s something about you, Ever. A spark. After trial, why don’t you let me start mentoring you, raise your position in the firm, maybe become my own personal assistant.”
Was this how it all started with Kim? Empty promises in exchange for trysts behind closed doors?
Perhaps, she had seen an opportunity with someone in a position of power to move up the food chain, or maybe there had been feelings with the human tree stump that was Conrad Harrison.
I, however, was not going to sell my soul for the table scraps he threw at Kim, shuddering at the thought of his hands anywhere near any part of my body.
“What does your wife think of you mentoring the young women in your firm, Mr. Harrison?”
“This has nothing to do with my wife.” All attempts at pleasantries left his face. He furrowed his brow, his gaze becoming more of a glare.
“Or Kim? Did you mentor Kim, too?” I pushed the door open a hair further.
“Don’t answer that. It was more of a rhetorical question, because we already know how you, Conrad Harrison, define mentoring.
So, Mr. Harrison, I respectfully decline your indecent proposal at advancement within the firm and will gladly stay a lowly peon in the ranks for the sake of my self-respect. ”
Without breaking eye contact, I threw the door behind me open and rushed inside, allowing it to slam shut in his face, locking it for good measure as soon as I heard the telltale click of the latch.
My days at the firm may be numbered, but at least I would be able to look myself in the mirror tomorrow, knowing that I’d verbally castrated Conrad before Sylvia called me into her office for the last time, and I was forced to throw another dart at a map and pick up my life to start all over again somewhere else.