Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Freddy
Normally, being behind the front desk of Marquis soothed Freddy as he let go of the week’s trials and tribulations, but not tonight. Now, he couldn’t be here without thinking about Mistress Camille, also known as Ms. Sinclair, representing Nicholas Alexander III, asshole extraordinaire.
On the one hand, he knew not every lawyer could choose their clients. On the other hand, Donaldson Law Group had a reputation, and in his opinion, it wasn’t a great one. He was sure her client would beg to differ. Freddy hadn’t expected to see her there any more than she’d expected to see him.
He’d seen the way she’d frozen.
He’d also seen the shame in her eyes.
He was having a really hard time reconciling the woman he’d made her out to be in his mind with the woman he’d met today.
Which wasn’t necessarily fair, but he wasn’t feeling very fair right now.
He was still pissed off on Brittany’s behalf and more determined than ever to get her everything she deserved and more.
At least Camille hadn’t let her client’s mouth run for too long. It could have been worse.
As it was, Brittany had been shaking for a good half an hour after the meeting while Freddy took her out for coffee and soothed her. She’d been determined, though, to keep moving forward with getting her fair share from her husband, despite how frightened she’d been.
“Hey. Are you okay? You are a lot less chipper than you were at lunch.” Morgan bumped her hip into Freddy’s.
Since it was Friday night and there was a show—a fire play demonstration by Master Will and his sub Gina—they were extra busy, so he was helping out until the show started.
After that, Morgan should be able to handle anything that came up on her own, though he’d be around. He almost always was on the weekends.
“Yeah, I’m sure I am.” He rubbed his forehead. There was a lull between seating people. For some reason, even though they had plenty of time to stagger in, people tended to arrive in clumps. “I saw Mistress Camille this afternoon. She’s a lawyer, and she’s representing an absolute asshat.”
“Oh, wow. How did she handle it?” Morgan asked, her eyes widening.
He started to say something, then stopped.
How had she handled it?
“Well, she was surprised to see me,” he said slowly. “I don’t think she realized… I didn’t realize. I mean, Camille isn’t that uncommon of a name. Her client started in on mine, and she stopped him in his tracks.” She’d verbally slapped him down hard and fast.
“Okaaaaaay.” Morgan drew out the word, obviously waiting for him to continue.
“That was it, really. I dropped a bunch of evidence of his cheating on the table, which means that he’s not going to be able to get out of the prenup, and basically threatened him with bad press, then got my client out of there.” Leaving Camille to deal with the aftermath.
He was sure Mr. Asshat hadn’t been happy when they’d left, but at that moment, he’d felt like she deserved to have to deal with him since she worked for him.
He was starting to feel a little worse about how he’d reacted to who she worked for. Especially since she’d immediately jumped in when the blowhard started talking out of his ass. It wasn’t as if she’d let him keep going or even attempted to act as though his behavior was acceptable.
Just because she worked for Donaldson didn’t automatically mean anything about her as a person. Sometimes, people couldn’t choose where they worked. It didn’t mean she liked it, and from what he’d seen today, even if she was representing Mr. Alexander, it didn’t mean she thought very highly of him.
“I think I was surprised to see her there because… well, the firm she works for doesn’t have a good reputation, especially when it comes to the kinds of clients they take on.”
“So, you thought she’d be better than that?” Morgan raised her eyebrows.
“Pretty much.”
“But you don’t know how she got the job or why she chose to work there.”
“Yes, I get it.” He gave her a mock-stern look, and she giggled before quickly changing her expression as a couple came up the stairs from the first floor of Marquis. While Morgan seated them, it gave Freddy a few minutes on his own to think.
He came back to attention as a large figure appeared at the top of the stairs, then relaxed when he saw it was Master Connor.
Newer to the club, Master Connor was already getting a reputation as an indulgent Dom with a soft hand and a penchant for cuddling and aftercare.
The subs adored him, even those who thought he was too much of a pushover.
“Hey, Freddy. I was supposed to meet Law here, but he’s not downstairs. I figured I’d check up here.”
“He’s in a meeting with Mistresses Olivia and Julie,” Freddy replied, smiling brightly at the big man.
“They should be finishing up soon.” He was pretty sure they were talking about the next class of newbies and possibly some more advanced classes.
There would probably be a lot more requests for fire play instruction after tonight’s show.
“Ah, gotcha. Let him know I’m downstairs when he comes out?”
Nodding, Freddy waved as the big man turned around and went back downstairs. A moment later, Morgan returned to the desk.
“I think you should text her,” Morgan said forthrightly as she took her place beside him. “It can’t hurt, right?”
Freddy wasn’t sure, but he was surprised at how strong the impulse was to take her suggestion.
Camille
If there was ever a night for comfort food, it was tonight. Camille refused to feel bad about ordering her dinner in. She didn’t have the energy to cook after being chewed out by Donaldson Senior that afternoon.
The giant asshat.
Their job wasn’t to make clients happy, it was to win their cases for them, which she couldn’t do with her hands tied behind her back trying to make Mr. Alexander happy.
She was pretty sure nothing would make him happy.
Nothing ethical anyway. The idiot signed a prenup that left far too many things unclear, but the proof of cheating cleared up most of them.
If he’d had any brains, he would have kept the cheating under cover better.
She shouldn’t have been surprised. He wasn’t the type to be discreet.
Some of the photos had been of him and a woman having sex in a backyard.
Whose backyard, she had no idea, but it hardly mattered.
He’d completely fucked himself over with that.
Well, not completely, there were still a few things they could quibble over, but none of it would be worthwhile monetarily, not really.
He would pay more in legal fees to fight it than he would to just pay her.
She probably shouldn’t feel happy about that, but he was a giant dick getting his just desserts, and it wasn’t easy for her to feel sad about it, either. Mostly she felt sad for herself because Donaldson Sr. wanted her to do the impossible. Again.
She wanted to call someone and talk things out so badly, but she didn’t know who. It was a sad realization that her job had not only sucked out her soul, but it had sucked all her friends away as well. Not that she’d ever had a ton of them.
Introvert, party of one.
She used to have a few really good friends. Her people. Over the years, she’d slowly stopped seeing them. Stopped talking to them. Sure, they might be there if she called now, but they’d also be full of ‘I told you so’s,’ which was not what she needed.
There was really only one person she could call.
Sighing, she picked up the phone while she waited for her food.
“Hello? Camille?” Julie’s warm greeting washed over her like a balm. Julie wouldn’t say ‘I told you so.’ Not about the job, although she’d be perfectly happy to about Camille’s love life.
“Hey, Julie. Sorry to bother you.” Camille hesitated because she didn’t know how to jump to what she wanted to say.
I had an amazing scene with Freddy the other night, and now he probably thinks I’m evil.
Ugh.
“No worries. If you’re calling about your membership application, I can tell you that you got in,” Julie replied. “I’m with Law and Olivia right now, and we’re discussing whether you’d need to take the class. I’m happy to keep standing in as your sponsor if you’d rather jump right back in.”
“Definitely.” The introduction classes were good things, but Camille didn’t need them. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to show her face at the club anytime soon, not after this afternoon. The classes were at Marquis where Freddy worked. He’d be a lot harder to avoid there. “Thank you.”
“No problem. We don’t do the sponsorships too often, but since I knew you from before and I know you have plenty of experience, it’s just about getting you back in the saddle. I want to hear all about the other night when you have the time, but I’ve got to get back to this meeting.”
“Of course… when you’re done, can you give me a call back?” Camille hated the plaintive note that entered her voice, but she couldn’t keep it out entirely. Her emotions were all jumbled.
Yes, she wanted to be a member, and she wanted to get back into kink.
However, she wasn’t sure she could face Freddy again.
If she could erase his knowledge of who she worked for, she’d want to scene with him again, but there was no putting that cat back in the bag.
“Sure, do you need to talk now?”
“No, it can wait if you’re in a meeting.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I’m out— Oh, hey, what’s this?” Julie’s voice changed, filling with confusion, which made Camille sit up. She couldn’t see whatever Julie was seeing, but she wanted to know, too.
“Flower delivery for Julie Kim.” The reply was harder to hear but still audible, and whoever was talking was obviously amused. “Arrived downstairs just a few minutes ago.”
“Who the hell even knew you were here?”
“Calm down, Law. I’m sure plenty of people do.”
“You can’t tell me this isn’t a little creepy.”
“It’s a little weird that whoever keeps sending these things knows when I’m here, but it’s not that creepy. There are a lot of people who work here. It’s not like I’m invisible when I go in and out. It’d be a lot creepier if things started showing up at my home address.”
Ah, yes. Camille relaxed back against the couch.
She’d heard about Julie’s secret admirer.
Julie occasionally got a delivery at Marquis, usually food or flowers, and a note that contained a compliment but no signature.
It sounded sweet, but she could also see why Master Law, who taught classes at Marquis with Julie, thought it was creepy.
She remembered lots of kids and teenagers being into secret admirer stuff when she was younger, but most of them had left that behind when they hit adulthood.
Now, it seemed more like a stalker thing, but Julie was right when she pointed out that everything was coming to her at Marquis, not at home, which might have felt like an invasion of privacy.
The masculine voice muttered something she couldn’t quite hear.
“Camille? Sorry, got a flower delivery.” There was a little note in Julie’s voice that made Camille think her friend was happy to get another delivery, and that made Camille happy for her.
She remembered Julie as having a reputation as a hard nut to crack when it came to relationships.
Whoever was wooing her was doing a damn fine job so far.
“I’ll call you when we’re done with the meeting? ”
Camille’s doorbell rang.
“That sounds good. My food just arrived, so it’s perfect timing.”
“Great, I’ll talk to you in a bit!”
That would give Camille more time to figure out exactly what to say. She wasn’t great with being vulnerable, and right now, she felt more vulnerable than she had in a long, long time.
Freddy
“I think you should text her.”
Morgan was just full of opinions this evening. He wanted to encourage her voicing her opinions, he just wished she was having opinions about something else.
“Text her and tell her what?”
“That you wished you’d seen her under different circumstances, but it was still nice seeing her today?”
Had it been nice seeing her today? He wasn’t sure. His first reaction had been excitement until his brain had caught up and reminded him of why he was there.
While he was mulling that over, another duo came up the stairs. Morgan squealed with happiness, waving at her friends, Carolyn and Marissa, obviously having a night out with each other. Freddy pasted his smile onto his face.
“Hey, guys! Where’s Amy?” Morgan asked, her brow wrinkling in concern. “I thought she was coming tonight.”
“She’s at the gym.” Carolyn waved her hand. “Still having trouble keeping the weight off.”
“Not for lack of trying. She told me she has a doctor’s appointment next week,” Marissa said. Something in her tone indicated she wasn’t happy with Carolyn’s attitude, which was a first. Usually, it was the two of them teaming up and Amy’s opinion either being ignored or beaten down.
“Oh, well, I hope everything’s okay. Here I’ll show you to your booth.” Thankfully, Morgan was on top of things, so Freddy didn’t have to interact with the Diva Duo. He really didn’t know how Morgan and Amy managed to be friends with them, but to each their own.
Morgan had gotten him thinking, though.
Was he really going to let where Camille worked get in the way of the spark they’d felt?
Would she be comfortable being the one to reach out after the way things had gone down today?
Maybe he should text her.
Getting out his phone, he rested it on the desk in front of him. For all that he was supposed to be good with words, he was struggling to come up with a good opening line.
Just start with the truth.
Glancing up to make sure no one was coming up the stairs, Freddy unlocked his screen and opened his texting app.
Freddy: Hello, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about how today went down.
Staring at it, he deleted the message. That wasn’t the truth. He wasn’t sorry about how things had gone with the Alexanders. He was just sorry she was the one representing Brittany’s husband.
Freddy: Hello, I just wanted to check in with you and see how you are after today.
Okay, that was better.
A moment later, another group was coming up to the top of the stairs. Morgan wasn’t back yet, so he got them seated before returning to check on his phone. Nothing back so far. Maybe she hadn’t seen it.
Or maybe she didn’t want to talk to him after today.
The disappointment that filled him at that thought let him know that he wasn’t ready to be done with her yet. No matter where she worked.