Chapter Twenty Kingston
Untitled
Chapter Twenty
Kingston
My adrenaline is still at an all-time high as we make our way back to my apartment.
I’m grateful that we got Elisabetta checked into a luxury hotel so that she can relax and wind down.
I’m also grateful that Skye had decided to come back with me.
I could tell that the whole ordeal had really worked her up and I want to make sure she was okay.
I quite liked being her protector and I felt like a knight in shining armor when she looked to me to decide what to do.
She even backed me up when I gave Elisabetta a small lecture about doing drugs and inviting strange men back to her place.
I’d been angry at the thought of how badly the night could have ended.
She not only put herself at risk, but Skye as well since he now knows where they live.
"So, I just want to say before we go into your apartment that I'm not here necessarily for the arrangement that you have offered me," Skye says, her eyes shining brightly.
My lips twitch, and I raise an eyebrow. “Okay. So, we will conveniently forget I just rescued your best friend and whisked you away in the night.”
She squeezes my hand. “I am grateful for that, but we both know the other conversations we’ve had.”
“We do.” I nod, though all I really want to do is pull her into my arms and devour her.
"I'm here because you said you were going to help me with these files, and I don't want to go to work at five o’clock in the morning to finish them, so I took you up on your offer.
I have been weighing the pros and cons of whether or not I would like to enter a friends-with-benefits or enemies-with-benefits arrangement, but… "
"Hold up a minute," I say as I open the door to my apartment. "Enemies with benefits?"
"I mean, are we really friends? You're my boss and I don't know if one night of eating pizza and drinking wine makes us friends."
"True," I say. "When we get into the apartment, you don't want me to show you the one hundred and one ways my tongue can make you come?"
She laughs lightly and shakes her head. "No, I don't need to learn or know the one hundred and one ways that you can do that," she says. "That's also quite impossible, I believe."
"Oh, trust me when I say it's not." I grin. "But come on. Let's go inside, and we can do some work.'
"Okay." She looks at me cautiously. "And that's okay?"
"Is what okay?" I ask.
"Just working and not, you know, hooking up."
"I didn't invite you here just to hook up," I say seriously.
"Sure. We had fun the other night, and I would love to repeat it, but that's not what this is about.
I didn't hire you, nor did I invite you over tonight, for the sole purpose of us making love or doing whatever.
These files are very important. We have a lot of cases that we need to get to summary judgment and—"
"Okay, okay," she says. "Remember, I'm not a lawyer. I don't even know what you're talking about."
"I know. Come on. Let's take a seat at the dining room table and go through this stuff. Once we're done, we can chat about the other stuff."
"Okay." She nods.
I close the door behind her and place the files on the dining room table. I watch as Skye takes a seat and looks at me.
"Would you like something to drink? Water, wine, coffee?"
"I think I'll have a cappuccino if you are able to make it. I feel like it's going to be a long night going through all of these."
"I do have an espresso machine. Two cappuccinos coming up," I say as I head to the kitchen.
She grabs the folder at the top of the pile and I watch as she pulls out a yellow legal pad and pen from the small satchel she's carrying.
"What's this about anyway?" she asks as she starts scribbling notes on the pad. "Who are all these people?"
"You want to know what the case is about?" I ask, very surprised. She hadn't really shown much interest in anything before. Just did the work.
"Yeah. There are a lot of people that we're suing, and I'm just curious why."
I pull out two small cups and saucers and turn on the espresso machine. I listen as it grinds the beans and turn toward her.
"Well, we are representing a bank."
"A bank in New Jersey, right?" she says.
I nod. "Yeah, and that bank was the financier for several car dealerships in the area."
"Oh, okay." She nods.
"And one of the car dealerships was a Toyota car dealership and they went out of business. Do you want sugar and milk?" I ask.
"It's a cappuccino. Doesn't it already have milk?" She frowns.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Would you like sugar?"
"Yes, please. Brown if you have it."
"I believe I do," I say, opening a cupboard.
"Okay, so we're representing a bank that represents a car dealership?" she repeats what I told her. "Sorry, I'm confused."
"No, we're representing a bank that lent money to a car dealership, and the people we're suing are customers from the car dealership."
"Oh, okay. Like, they didn't pay their car loan?"
"Exactly," I say with a smile.
"Wow. There are so many of them." She flips through the files. "That's kind of sad. The economy sucks."
"Yeah, the economy is pretty bad right now, but many of them are not happy that they are being sued by the bank."
"Why not? If you don't pay, you don't get your car."
"Well, the fact of the matter is they didn't receive a car."
"What?" She looks at me in confusion.
"Many of these customers purchased cars from the dealership and were supposed to come and pick up their cars. Either they were in transport, or the car was being serviced and being prepared."
"Okay."
"The car dealership went bankrupt. However, they had all signed contracts taking on the loan of the car, so the bank did transfer the money to the dealership."
"Wait, hold on a minute. But they never got the car, you said."
"And that's correct. However, when they signed the contract with the bank, they agreed to pay back the loan, and the loan was given to the car dealership."
"But they never got the car from the car dealership," she said.
"Unfortunately, they shouldn't have signed the loan until they took possession of the car."
"You're joking, right? That doesn't sound horrible to you? I couldn't imagine buying a car thinking I was picking it up on Monday, then the car dealership goes bankrupt, I don't get the car, and then the bank's suing me for the money. Shouldn't the bank sue the car dealership?"
"The contract was with the customer. It wasn't with the car dealership," I say, shrugging as I head to her with her cappuccino. "Would you like some biscotti or something with it?"
She shakes her head. "It just feels wrong. It feels really wrong. I feel for those people."
"Unfortunately, when it comes to the law, there are many things that may make you feel like it's not fair, but the black letter of the law is what it is. The Constitution and the laws of the land apply to everyone, and without them we…"
"Oh my gosh. You're not lecturing me about the law of the land," she says, rolling her eyes. "Give me a break. It's just not right."
"I'm just saying." I take a seat and grab a file from her.
"You're telling me it doesn't make you feel bad whatsoever?"
There's passion in her eyes as she looks at me incredulously.
I want to tell her that I'm not paid to care whether or not I think something is right.
I'm not paid to act on my emotions. I'm paid to argue the law.
I'm paid to get my clients what they're due.
Yet, somehow, it doesn't feel like enough.
Somehow, I don't want to disappoint her.
"I'm just saying that you work for a corporate law firm, not legal aid." I take a sip of my own cappuccino.
"Maybe I should get a job at legal aid," she says, rolling her eyes.
"Maybe then I'll meet people that actually care about other people and what's right and…
" She stops. "Anyway, I guess this is why I never wanted to be an attorney because I think that actual human beings and their stories should matter more than what some arbitrary law says. "
"The laws are important, but if you want to change them, maybe you should think about getting into the House of Representatives or Congress or…"
"Yeah, why don't I just run for senator or governor while I'm at it," she says, rolling her eyes. "Maybe I can become the next President of the United States of America." She holds her hand up high. "I feel like I'd be great at the job."
"Well, if you decide to run, you've got my vote."
"Well, thank you. I just need a couple million more." She grins. "You know, when I was in school, I really did like history and the government classes we had to take."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. I can even still remember some facts I learned."
"Oh, why don't you tell me a couple?"
"Do you know how many senators there are?"
"Um, I believe there are two senators in each state, and there are fifty states, so one hundred senators?"
"Yeah," she says, nodding admirably at me. "Okay. That was an easy one. Do you know who would become president if the president was no longer fit for the job?"
"The vice president," I say, grinning.
"And you know who would become president if it wasn't the vice president?"
"The speaker of the house," I say quickly, and she rolls her eyes.
"You know everything."
"I am an attorney. I also like to keep up with politics." I shrug. "Ask me a couple more questions."
"Okay," she says. "Do you know who wrote the Constitution?"
"I believe that was Thomas Jefferson." I grin at her.
"Okay. Do you know who freed the slaves?"
"Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves."
"So you're a history buff too, huh?"
"I did enjoy history, and I'm a bit of a trivia buff."
"Huh," she says. "There has to be something I know that you don't."
"Try a couple more questions, and let's see."
"Okay, um…" She taps her finger against her legal pad. "Man, I'm trying to remember what I know that you might not know."
"Okay."
"Okay. I've got one for you. Can you name some of the original colonies?"