Still, we all had to play the game. I would sit there and look riveted by the discussion and maybe even ask the odd pertinent question or two. When the talk was done, I would go and shake hands and collect business cards. Maybe one of those attorneys would offer me a job one day. Unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Like sleeping with someone and then finding out they were your boss. And stepbrother.
“I take it you aren’t confident of getting a job offer from Arrington & Hedges at the end of the summer, then?” Bryan asked. “I thought you’d be focusing all your energies on impressing the partners there instead of trying to find a new job.”
“Let’s just say I have reason to believe Arrington & Hedges is not a long-term solution for me. Besides, after what happened at Cooper & Cooper, I’m not taking any chances.”
“Fair enough.”
I still hadn’t told Bryan about my one-night stand with Foster. All Bryan knew was that Foster was making my life hell in the office, which was technically true.
“Looks like they’re about to get started,” Bryan said, motioning towards the table with his plastic glass of cheap wine.
The previously empty table now had four attorneys standing around, together with one familiar face.
“Zach,” I said out loud.
“Who?” Bryan asked. “Do you know the Cooper & Cooper guys?”
“I know one of them,” I replied. I know him far better than I’d like to.
The four lawyers took their seats leaving one empty space at the end. Zach made himself right at home with other lawyers, even though they were all partners and he was just a second-year associate. He’d be absolutely loving this right now. As if his ego needed the extra boost.
One of the career counselors asked everyone to take their seats, which happened surprisingly promptly. A respectful hush descended over the room. Why couldn’t movie theaters be like this?
“We’re one man down,” the counselor said, “but I think we’ll get started anyway. I’ll ask the speakers to give a very brief introduction of themselves and then we can get into more detail later.”
The lawyers took it in turns to give their names and the area of law they practiced in. I shivered the second Zach started talking, and not in a nerve-tingling, ‘what the hell is happening to my body’ kind of way. More like I felt spiders crawling over my skin.
Zach described himself as an M&A attorney at the firm, and emphasized his last name, no doubt hoping people would think he was a partner instead of a junior associate who’d been given the job because of his dad.
I don’t think anyone in the audience was fooled. Zach couldn’t have been any older than twenty-six and he barely looked that. He had a baby face that perhaps some people would describe as cute. I just wanted to punch it.
Even though Zach should have had less to say than everyone else, he insisted on speaking for the longest, and didn’t stop until the fifth and final attorney showed up.
“Sorry I’m late everyone. Where were we.”
Foster. What the hell was he doing here?
“Isn’t that—” Bryan began.
“Yes,” I interrupted. “That’s Foster Arrington. Meet the man who’s made my life at work a living hell.” And sent me home hot and horny on a daily basis. Meet the man who’s responsible for me getting through enough batteries to power the entire law school for a week.
“Hello everyone,” Foster said confidently, not letting Zach resume speaking. “I’m Foster Arrington.”
The atmosphere in the room changed in an instant. All the women were now either sitting in stunned silence, barely breathing, or gossiping to the person next to them like schoolgirls who’d just seen their favorite pop star.
As usual, Foster had the attention of the entire room. Me included.
-*-
Foster talked more than anyone else and most of the questions from the audience were directed at him. He named dropped a few of his major clients, including PorTupe and Jacob’s company, and that captured the attention of the group.
“He’s impressive,” Bryan remarked after the panel. “Foster, I mean. The others were boring as hell, and don’t even get me started on that smug little bastard from Cooper & Cooper.”
“Zach. Yeah, he’s a piece of shit.”
“Good thing you got out of there when you did. I don’t think that’s a good firm to work for.”
I agreed, but apparently Bryan and I were in the minority, because the other law students had all flocked around the lawyers the second the presentation had finished. Foster had a large group around him—mostly women of course—and the attorneys from Cooper & Cooper had a captive audience hanging on their every word.
This evening had been a complete waste of time, and to cap it all off, Foster now knew I had lied about going on a date tonight.
Shit.
“Bryan?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s get out of here. I assume you don’t want to network with any of these people?”
If we left together now, it might look like we were heading out for the evening on a date. Not a particularly romantic one, given that it had started with a networking event in law school, but a date nonetheless.
“Well actually, I wouldn’t mind meeting Foster.”
“I’ll introduce you some other time. Come on, let’s—”
“Hello April,” Zach said, appearing out of nowhere in front of me. “I hope you were paying attention to what I said up there. You might actually learn something about being a lawyer.”
“I don’t intend to learn anything from you,” I snapped back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, my date and I are just leaving.”
Bryan frowned when he realized he was my date, but he was quick enough on the uptake to go along with it.
“How does Foster feel about that?” Zach asked. “Or have you moved on from him? It’s so difficult to keep up with your men. One minute you’re all over me, and the next you’re ditching me for some thug in a suit.”
“I was never ‘all over you,’ Zach. I never showed the slightest bit of interest. I respected you as a professional and that was it.”
“Shame you’re never going to become an attorney,” Zach remarked. “All that hard work for nothing.”
“I’m sure I’ll be just fine. Come on, Bryan. Let’s leave.”
“You’re screwed, April,” Zach shouted loudly after us.
A few nearby students turned to look in our direction. I could have just carried on walking, but I didn’t want him to keep shouting out comments about me as I left. Zach always had to get the last word in, but not this time.
“What are you babbling about?” I asked. “Just because I can’t work at Cooper & Cooper, doesn’t mean I’m never going to be a lawyer. I already have a new job at Arrington & Hedges.”
“Yes, I know, and you’ve been working closely with Foster Arrington.”
“So what?”
“You’ve fucked up, April. You’ve fucked up big time. I’m going to enjoy taking you down.”
“Stop being so fucking cryptic and—”
“Is everything okay here?” Foster asked, appearing by my side just as he had done that night nine months ago.
“Everything’s fine,” I insisted. “We’re just leaving.”
“I was just telling your girlfriend that her career is never going to get off the ground,” Zach said smugly. “She’s fucked.”
Given what happened the last time Zach had met Foster, he had a surprising amount of confidence, almost as if he had been drinking. He was certainly talking louder than I would have liked and now at least a third of the room was looking in our direction, having noticed that two of the lawyers were glaring at each other.
“I suggest you leave,” Foster said quietly, but firmly, to Zach. “No one wants you here anyway.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zach replied.
“Do you remember what happened last time you didn’t leave April alone? I’m happy to provide a reminder.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Zach yelled.
With every second that went passed, more and more people turned to look at us. These were my colleagues. The people I had to spend another year of law school with. I didn’t want to spend the third year of law school as the girl two lawyers had a fight over at a public event.
Foster took a step forward towards Zach, narrowing the distance between them to just a foot.
“Please,” I said, as I tried pointlessly to pull Foster back by the arm. I might as well have tried to pull down a brick wall.
“Go home, little man,” Foster snarled.
At least he was keeping his voice down, but it didn’t do a lot of good when everyone was crowding around us. Most people weren’t even being subtle about it now. They were flat-out staring at us. At me.
“Tell your gorilla to step down, April,” Zach said confidently, although I noticed that he took a step back to increase the distance between them.
Foster didn’t move. He just stood there staring at Zach. I knew how powerful Foster’s stare could be. Looking into those eyes had practically hypnotized me. If Foster could use those eyes to illicit fear as much as he could illicit desire, then Zach would be terrified right now.
Zach didn’t seem perturbed by the audience. In fact, he was thriving off it, even though one of the partners from his law firm was in the same room. Clearly Zach felt he was invincible because of his father. He was probably right.
Zach looked around at the bemused law students surrounding him, and found a burst of confidence. Or stupidity. He lunged forward and thrust his hands into Foster’s chest.
Foster barely flinched, but Zach stumbled back a few steps. Foster smiled and slowly walked right up to Zach and returned the favor. He planted his hands on Zach’s chest and gave what looked like a completely effortless shove.
Zach went flying back. He managed to stay on his feet initially, but he couldn’t regain his balance and ended up tumbling back into one of the tables containing what was left of the cheap buffet food. The table went crashing to the floor, and so did Zach, taking all the food with him.
There was no glass to break, but all the metal plates crashed to the floor, making a deafening noise in the process. A hundred people were now looking at me, whispering to each other and laughing.
The career counselor came over and tried to calm everyone down, but that just made the scene even more dramatic.
Foster tried to grab my arm, but I shook him off and fled the room. It was too late. Enough people had seen me at the center of the fight. By the time I started my third year of law school in August, everyone would know what had happened here tonight. I’d be a laughing stock.
“April, wait,” Foster’s yell followed me out of the room, echoing off the walls as I ran down the stairs and out into the yard at the front of the school.
As usual, there was nothing fresh about the air in D.C., even at night, but at least no one out here was laughing at me.
Maybe Zach was right. My law career would be over before I even knew it. I’d failed. All I’d wanted to do was follow in Mom’s footsteps, so that she would be proud of me.
If she could see me now, she’d be embarrassed. Ashamed of what I’d become and how I’d made a mess of every opportunity that had come my way.
Sorry Mom. I tried, I really did.
Tried and failed.
~Nineteen~
FOSTER
I couldn’t win. Even when I behaved myself I managed to mess everything up.
It had taken every ounce of willpower in me to not punch that guy. When he’d been talking during the panel, I’d wanted to strangle him just so that I wouldn’t have to hear him speak.
I’d kept an eye on him after the panel, and sure enough he went over and spoke to April. She clearly didn’t want to speak to him, but I let her deal with it. I was there to keep an eye on her, not fight all her battles for her.
But then something changed. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he clearly threatened her and she looked distressed. The guy she was with didn’t look too pleased with what he’d heard either.
My instincts had taken over at that point, but all I’d done was joined in the conversation and asked if everything was okay. If Zach had half a brain in his head he would have walked away and that would have been that.
The public often had a misconception that lawyers were intelligent, in addition to being money-sucking bastards. The truth was that lawyers came in all shapes and sizes. Graduating law school wasn’t a challenge in itself, and some states’ bar exams were laughably easy.
The hard bit was getting a job, and that process usually weeded out the morons. Unless daddy owned a law firm, of course. I still didn’t count myself in that category, despite working for Mom’s firm. I got head-hunted on a weekly basis. I was still at Arrington & Hedges in spite of Mom, not because of her.
April had run off after Zach had gone tumbling over the table and made a complete fool of himself. I’d hardly touched him. The push was supposed to be ironic. I’d only wanted to push him as pathetically as he’d pushed me, which I’d barely felt. I didn’t know my own strength sometimes.
April probably wasn’t mad at seeing Zach go flying. She just didn’t like making a scene. April liked to blend into the background; she had no idea that was impossible for someone with her beauty.
It spoke to her modesty that she genuinely thought she was unremarkable. In reality, people stared at her whenever she entered a room, and in my case I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Now I had to make it up to her. Just when things between us had been heating up, I’d gone and put us back to square one.
April’s friend had tried to run after her, but I’d stopped him and told him I would find her. He seemed like a nice guy, and just didn’t like the idea of her walking around on her own late at night. That made two of us.
Her apartment was at least a fifteen minute walk away, but I knew D.C. better than most, and there were plenty of shortcuts back to her place for people who were prepared to walk through the less desirable parts of town. Right now I’d walk over broken glass, so a few drug dealers hanging out on the corner, didn’t pose a huge threat.
I made it to her apartment in just over ten minutes, although I was out of breath, and dripping in sweat. Fuck this humidity.
I waited outside her apartment and sure enough, five minutes later she walked up the street towards me. She kept touching her hand to her face, which I initially thought was her tucking her hair behind her ears, but as she got closer I noticed she was just trying to wipe away tears before entering the apartment building.
April didn’t notice me until she almost walked into me while digging her keys out of her purse.
“What are you doing here?” she snarled.
Safe to say I wasn’t in her good books right now, then.
“I wanted to make sure you made it home okay,” I replied.
“Yeah, you’re my knight in shining armor. I’m home now. Mission accomplished.”
“Do I sense some animosity towards me?” I asked.
April opened the front door, but only made a half-hearted attempt to close the door in my face. I took that as an invitation to follow her inside.
“I guess there are some brain cells under all that muscle and testosterone,” she replied as she called for the elevator.
“No one’s ever accused me of being stupid.”
April wouldn’t look in my direction, but I could still tell she had been crying from the redness around her eyes, and the way she kept dabbing her face.
I’d never seen her like this. She’d been pretty cut up after the thing with Zach nine months ago, but she hadn’t cried, and even though I’d made her mad a few times, she’d always kept her emotions in check.
Tonight I’d fucked up. Big time.
“Zach had it coming,” I insisted.
The elevator arrived and we both stepped in.
“That’s not the point. You humilia
ted me in front of my friends and colleagues. All because you could resist the urge to hit someone.”
“I didn’t hit him; I pushed him. He just happened to go down like a sack of shit.”
“You still made a scene. As usual, you made tonight all about you. Why were you even there?”
“Your school invited me.”
“So? You must get invited to loads of those events. I’m guessing you usually turn them down because you’re too busy earning money.”
“I saw Zach was on the list of speakers. I figured it would be a good idea to go in case—”
“In case what? I needed protecting? Get over yourself Foster. I don’t need you to look after me.”
We stepped off the elevator and I followed April to her room. She didn’t want a scene, but if she thought I was just going to let her go without a fight then she had another thing coming.
“You looked like you were in trouble,” I said, lowering my voice so that it didn’t echo down the hall.
“I was handling it.”
April turned, putting her back to the door, and finally facing me head on. She’d stopped crying now, but her eyes were still pools of sadness.
“Can I come in?” I asked. The words sounded foreign on my tongue. I didn’t usually have to ask. Women would typically open the door and drag me through it.
“You need to leave,” she said quietly.
“I don’t want to leave you like this.”
“You don’t have a choice in the matter. There’s nothing you can say or do—”
I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her towards me. Our lips clashed together awkwardly, but we quickly fell into the rhythm we’d found nine months ago.
My tongue parted her lips and found its way inside her mouth, where it met with the soft embrace of her own.
She was clearly still mad with me, even though she didn’t resist the kiss. Her tongue pushed against mine as if she were trying to get it out of her mouth, however her arms remained down by her side, neither embracing me nor pushing me away, as I kept kissing her with all the pent-up frustration of the last few weeks finally coming to the surface.
Bad Boy's Honor: An MMA Bad Boy Romance Page 28