Heartless

by Sophie Stern

  Zander reached out before I could stop him. He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to my feet. I was instantly struck by how weird the situation was, and how this type of gesture, done by the right person, could be so very different. When David was the one touching me, I felt wild and alive. I felt like my entire body was on fire in the best possible way.

  When Zander touched me, I felt like I was going to crumple into a ball and be thrown into the trash. It was a very different feeling, and I hated it. I hated him, too, in that moment, for what he was doing to me. Zander tugged, pulling me, and I didn’t know what he was going to do next, but I stopped caring about propriety or making a scene, and instead I opened my mouth.

  And I screamed.

  Zander was taken back, surprised that I’d dared to do such a thing. His mouth dropped. His jaw practically hit the floor. Maybe he’d thought that I would struggle or try to fight him, but I hadn’t. Instead, I’d yelled. I’d screamed so loudly that I could hear the entire office fall silent, and then we both heard the footsteps that filled the hall.

  “What was that?”

  “Who screamed?”

  “Was it Zoey? Is she okay?”

  “Zoey!”

  Then the knocking on my door started. Zander covered my mouth before I could call out again. He was still holding me by the hair. He hissed the next words at me, and I saw his eyes clearly in that moment. There was a darkness there. There was a stillness that I had never seen before.

  “You’re going to regret that.”

  Suddenly, he threw himself to the floor, knocking a few pictures off of my desk in the process. One of the frames broken, shattering, and he took a piece of the glass and sliced his arm through the shirt.

  “Help!” Zander cried out. “Help me!”

  I ran to the door, yanked it open, and pulled.

  “What happened?” People swarmed around me.

  “Call security,” I said. Then I looked over my shoulder at Zander.

  “She tried to stab me! She cut me!” Zander was lying on the floor, and he was crying out. He was rolling around and I could see the blood. I knew it was going to get all over the carpet. Then I turned back to Annie.

  “And I’m going to need to call my lawyer.”

  17

  David

  When Zoey called, she didn’t have to tell me that it was urgent. I could tell just from her voice. The tension there was thick and wild and horrible. Something was wrong, something bad. She needed me, so I dropped everything else I was doing, and I left the office. I didn’t waste time driving to her office. Having to find parking was going to be a bitch. Instead, I called a ride using an app on my phone, and anxiously tapped my foot as I waited. The driver could tell I was in a hurry because he didn’t bother talking. Instead, he focused on the road, and I was walking into Zoey’s workplace less than ten minutes after she called.

  Apparently, I wasn’t a moment too soon. There were a few police officers there. My phone was ringing like crazy. Zander was trying to get ahold of me, as was one of the seniors at my firm, but I ignored them both because Zoey needed me now. It was all about Zoey.

  When I found her, she was sitting in the lobby with a couple of police officers. There was a medic heading into one of the back offices.

  “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said urgently. One of the cops stepped forward, but I looked at him sharply.

  “I’m her attorney.”

  That seemed to satisfy him because he stepped back and let me talk to her. Zoey filled me in quickly with what had happened. She’d met with a new client, and she’d gotten a bad feeling about him. She’d tried to kick him out. She’d asked him to leave, and he hadn’t. Instead, he’d grabbed her by the hair, he’d pulled her to her feet, and she’d screamed. That had been enough to spook him, apparently, because he’d cut himself and blamed it on her.

  “I didn’t attack him,” she said. She looked tense and scared.

  “I know you didn’t,” I said.

  “How? How could you know? You weren’t here.”

  “How can I know? Because I trust you, princess,” I lowered my voice, not wanting to draw attention to ourselves. There was a part of me that was secretly thrilled she’d called me and not Felix. That meant a lot to me. She could have easily reached out to her brother, but instead, she’d come to me. Zoey really did care about me a lot.

  More than that, she trusted me. That was enough to make me feel like I was on top of the world. Zoey Lane believed in me, and she trusted that I was going to take care of her. No matter what happened, she knew that I had her back above everything else. She understood that I would guard her and keep her safe, and that knowledge made me feel like I was the luckiest damn bastard in the world.

  One of the medics came out then and spoke with the cops.

  “We’re all set here,” he said. “He’s stable, so if you want to take his statement now, you can.”

  “I have nothing else to say!” A voice called from the back of the office, and it was one that I, unfortunately, recognized. “And where is my lawyer? He should be here. I need representation! She attacked me! She should be behind bars! This is an outrage.”

  I turned to Zoey.

  “The man who said you attacked him, what was his name?”

  She didn’t have to tell me though, because I already knew. The man I’d been defending for the past few months, the man who had sworn up and down that he hadn’t attacked, insulted, or bothered women who worked at his company had proven that the entire foundation of our case was based on a lie. I’d asked him time and time again whether any of the allegations were true, but he’d promised me that they weren’t.

  Well, it was time to pay the piper.

  “Zander Reynolds,” Zoey whispered.

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” I said. “Stay here.”

  Stepping away, I went over and spoke to one of the officers. He understood what I needed, and he let me through so I could go talk to Zander. As soon as I saw him, he leapt to his feet.

  “It’s about fucking time!”

  “Sit down.”

  “I was attacked!” Zander acted as though he hadn’t heard me. “I came for a consult about my business and I was attacked! I didn’t do anything!” I stared at Zander as he continued squawking like a baby chicken. That’s what he looked like. He looked like a little infant who hadn’t gotten his way, and it was both disgusting and strange.

  “I said sit down,” I repeated myself, and this time, there must have been something in my tone of voice that let Zander know I wasn’t playing. This time, he sat, staring up at me.

  “I was attacked.”

  “No, you attacked yourself,” I said. “Which means that you’re going to be facing a lot of different charges today, Zander, and none of them are things I’m going to be helping you with.”

  “You’re my attorney. You have to help me.”

  “Not anymore,” I told him. “You need to find yourself new representation. I will not be seeing you again. You lied to me repeatedly about your case, which is likely why the case has dragged on as long as it has. You’ve misled me to believe your innocence to the point of providing false and fabricated evidence to me.” I thought about all of the emails and texts he’d shown me to prove his innocence. Obviously, they were all as fake as the opposing counsel accused them of being.

  “You can’t quit,” Zander sputtered. He was obviously not expecting things to go this way.

  “I can, and I am,” I told him. “I’ll be letting the senior partners at my firm know about this. Whether one of the other attorneys would like to represent you or not will be at their discretion.”

  I turned to leave, and I didn’t look back. I went to Zoey, and I sat with her through the rest of the process. The cops took everyone’s statement, let us know there would be an investigation, and all of the usual, routine tasks they had to do when there was a situation like this. Annie, Zoey’s boss, was wildly protective of Z
oey, and she was also incredibly supportive.

  “Don’t you worry. He won’t be allowed back in here ever again,” Annie squeezed Zoey’s hand when she whispered to her.

  “Thanks,” Zoey said. “I’m really sorry about all of the trouble.”

  “Don’t you be sorry,” Annie said before I could. “Don’t you be sorry, Zoey. This wasn’t your fault.”

  It was what I’d been telling her all afternoon. Zoey was exhausted by the time we finally left her office. I didn’t even ask if she wanted to come home with me. I just went to the parking garage with her, took her keys out of her hand, and drove her car back to my place. I’d get my own car the next day.

  When we got inside, I set her up with a hot bath. Then I called my boss, explained everything, and let him know what I thought our firm’s next steps should be. Luckily for me, my law office was fantastic. I’d touched base with my boss earlier, but calling him again let me update him on the situation. He agreed that our legal team would do better without a client like Zander Reynolds.

  By the time I finally got off of the phone, Zoey was done with her bath, and she was waiting in the doorway for me. She was wrapped only in a towel, and her hair was damp.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “There’s nothing to thank me for,” I told her. I was still upset that I hadn’t been able to protect her. That was what really bothered me. I’d been working for months to defend Zander. I hated the fact that because of me, he’d walked free for so long without consequences while other women experienced the same things that Zoey had today. They’d been scared, just as she was, and thanks to me, he was still a free man.

  Hopefully that would all change. Zoey had even offered to testify for the opposing counsel as to Zander’s behavior at her office, so they were going to call her as a witness if they needed to. It was a brave step, to be sure, and I was lucky to have her.

  “I love you,” Zoey said. She was still in the doorway. My head swiveled around, shocked as I stared at her. Had I heard her wrong? She licked her lips as she looked at me. No, I hadn’t heard her wrong. She’d just had the worst day of her life, and she’d told me that she loved me for the very first time.

  Instantly, I was on my feet, and I strode across the room until I was right in front of her.

  “Say that again.”

  “I love you, David Walker.”

  I grabbed her and tugged her close, kissing her. Then I pulled back and smiled at her.

  “I love you, too, Zoey Lane.”

  “Well then,” she smirked. “Since we both love each other so much, why don’t we continue this little love fest in the bedroom?”

  “I can’t think of a better way to spend the evening,” I grinned. I took her hand and led her to my room. Percy saw us coming and meowed and ran off, obviously not interested in sticking around for anything that was going to come next. That was fine with me. I didn’t need an audience for what we were about to do.

  “I love you,” she whispered again, kissing me. Her towel dropped to the floor, and she was naked. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and she kissed me over and over and over.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  Zoey Lane was the best woman I’d ever met in my life. She was charming and sweet and compassionate. She was smart and clever, and she was wild in all the most wonderful ways. I loved her more than I could have ever thought possible, and as we made love under the cover of moonlight, I knew that I was the luckiest bastard in the damn world.

  Epilogue

  Zoey

  ONE YEAR LATER

  “Do you want to hold the baby?” Lauren held out the wiggling little baby who had captured all of our hearts. I had quickly learned that an offer to allow me to hold the baby was actually her way of asking me to help her. She was trying to be polite, but she didn’t need to try. I was her sister-in-law now, and I was more than happy to help her and Felix out when it came to taking care of little Susie.

  “She’s getting heavy,” I said, accepting the little kiddo.

  “I know,” Lauren nodded. “Can you believe I actually grew her?” Lauren gestured, moving her hand up and down, obviously trying to demonstrate just how big the baby had gotten.

  “I believe it,” I laughed. Lauren and Felix had, as expected, officially announced her pregnancy shortly after the wedding. Then everything had been all about pregnancy and childbirth and whether or not she’d get an epidural, and then the big day came, and the baby arrived, and life as we knew it officially changed. Felix and Lauren were awesome parents so far, and they were already planning when they would add another little kid to their family.

  “You look a bit tired,” David said, coming up beside me. “Why don’t you go take a bath? We’ll watch Susie for you.”

  “Are you sure?” Lauren asked, eyes widening.

  “Yeah,” David said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Lauren was already gone.

  “That was fast,” I laughed.

  “She’s not about to turn down free time. Not anymore.”

  Since Susie had come along, they’d been busier than they ever thought possible, but they were also happy. That was the best thing about Lauren and Felix. They were happy. They were raising little Susie, who had been named after my mother, and they were balancing work with their careers and their relationship.

  “What about you?” David asked, smiling at me.

  “I have plenty of free time,” I laughed. Together, we sat down on the couch. Susie wiggled, letting me know that she wanted to be set down, and I obliged. She sat at my feet and I handed her one of the soft squishy blocks her parents had bought her, and she accepted the offering from me with a toothless grin.

  “Do you ever think about having babies?”

  “Someday, maybe,” I nodded.

  “Do you think about having them with me?” David wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Yes,” I laughed, shaking my head. “To be fair, though, I’m not sure how well I’d be able to handle a miniature David running around. Between the two of you, I’d go nuts.”

  “Who knows? We might end up with a little Zoey.”

  “That would be just as wild. I was very energetic as a child,” I smiled innocently.

  David and I had been together for a year. We’d moved in together officially last week. My lease had ended, and it seemed appropriate. We were both ready to take our relationship to the next step, and besides, I loved the idea of getting to live with him and Percy. They were both awesome. Percy was still a wild little cat who was always exploring and getting into trouble, and David was...

  Well, he was David.

  He was awesome.

  Together, we’d been through a lot. After we’d both let Zander Reynolds go from our respective firms, we’d discovered that he’d caused even more chaos than we’d given him credit for. David’s firm refused to represent him at all, and Annie had taken a stand and banned both him and his employees from seeking services from our office. I was lucky to have a boss who stood up for me, and I was wildly happy to have a boyfriend who was by my side.

  Life was looking up for me now. David and I had spent the entire year enjoying one another and spending as much time together as we possibly could. I couldn’t imagine my life without him, and I couldn’t quite believe that we’d managed to get together when we did.

  “Zoey?” David asked suddenly. He reached for my hand and gave it a little squeeze. Baby Susie cooed from where she was playing with her little block.

  “David?”

  “You know, we’ve been together a long time,” he said.

  “It’s true,” I agreed. “And we’ve had a lot of fun together.”

  “Zoey, I’d like to have even more fun with you.”

  “Why, David?” I pressed a hand to my chest and gasped. “Are you inviting me to a special event at Classified? And in front of the baby, no less.” I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

  “I’m inviting you to marry me,” he said quietly.

>   My heart stopped beating. My breathing stopped. The entire world started crashing around me. Was he serious? David Walker wanted to marry me?

  “What?” I whispered.

  “Marry me, Zoey. Make me the happiest man alive.”

  There was no way I’d say anything but yes. There was not a chance in the world that I’d turn him down. Finally, once I realized that this was actually, really happening, I nodded.

  “Yeah,” I whispered, grinning. “Yes, David, I’ll marry you.”

  I leapt forward and wrapped my arms around him, kissing him. I couldn’t believe this was happening. He had just proposed to me in my brother’s house while we were babysitting my niece, and I didn’t care. I didn’t care that it wasn’t at a restaurant or that it wasn’t some crazy surprising place. I loved that he proposed on a whim, when it felt right in his heart, because that’s the kind of person David was. He kissed me over and over, and then he pulsed back and smiled at me.

  “You’re perfect,” he said.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  “I love you, too.”

  He held me on the couch for a long time, and then he tilted my chin up toward him.

  “I didn’t get you a ring,” he said.

  “I don’t need one,” I hastily told him. I didn’t, either. I didn’t like to wear jewelry at work, and a ring would be wasted on me.

  “I was thinking that instead of buying a ring, we could donate the money to the animal shelter where I adopted Percy. They can always use funds for food and veterinary care and that sort of thing.”

  My heart tightened a little bit. Could this man get any sweeter? Hell, yes, I wanted him to give the money to an animal shelter. He knew me so damn well.

  “Yes,” I whispered, kissing him again. “That’s perfect. It’s all perfect.”

  Everything about this was perfect.

  Some mornings I woke up and couldn’t believe that I’d gotten lucky enough to date a man like David Walker, and now I was going to marry him. I knew that our journey would be long. I knew we’d have ups and downs. I knew that sometimes, we might want to walk away, but that we’d have to struggle through the journey together. I got all of that, and I didn’t care because it was David, and it was us, and we had a beautiful path ahead of us.