by J. J. McAvoy
How could I not?
LEVI
“Ma, I’m fine. Can’t we reschedule for some other day next week? I’m just busy right now.”
“Levi you’re supposed to be on vacation, you shouldn’t be busy doing anything.”
My mother was driving me crazy.
I balanced the phone between my shoulder and my cheek, and allowed my mother to rant at me while I partially listened. Reaching into the fridge for the milk, I noticed that Thea was running out of almost everything. I felt guilty in that moment, because I knew I was the one with the voracious appetite.
“I’m not working Ma,” I replied as she asked me once more what I could possibly be busy with.
“Levi? Have you seen my— Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were on the phone,” Thea said as she came into the kitchen dressed in a pair of shorts and an oversized sweater.
I missed seeing her in my clothes.
“Who are you with?” my mother barked from the other end of the phone.
I covered the speaker with my hand as I looked at her and sighed, “Give me a second?”
She nodded and turned around.
“Mom, I really gotta go,” I said. “Tell dad I’m sorry about the game, and that I’ll make it up to him. Bye.”
I hung up before she could say anything else, but deep down, I knew that that wasn’t the end of this conversation.
“Is everything okay? I’m not keeping you away from anything important am I?” Thea asked, as she grabbed an apple out of the ceramic bowl on her counter and polished it with the sleeve of her sweater.
More important than her? My father and his golfing buddies could wait.
“No, it’s fine, my father’s just been bored out of his mind since he retired.”
“What did he do?” she asked, taking a bite out of her apple.
“He was lawyer.”
“A lawyer? And he retired? That usually only happens for two reasons; he was either kicked out of the firm, or his health got the best of him.”
The moment she said it her eyes went wide and she looked at me— “Shit. I’m so sorry. I have no filter.”
“It’s okay, honestly. Besides, you’re right. He had a heart attack last year, and my mother put her foot down.”
She stood there, staring at the ground, unable to meet my gaze. She was clearly embarrassed by her outburst, and self-conscious about what she should do next. Pulling her into my arms, I kissed her forehead. “It’s fine.” I told her once more. “Besides, I’m more interested in knowing how you could have guessed that.”
“My mother used to be a lawyer. She left her firm because of health reasons too, but believe me, she put up a hell of a fight,” she said as she shook her head.
“What was her name?” I asked, curious now. “Maybe I’ve heard of her.”
“Maybe,” she shrugged, wiggling out of my hands and going over to the fridge.
I noticed there was an invisible line with her. She was willing to talk about herself and her sister, but that was where it ended. She didn’t give me too many details about anything. She was trying to keep me outside of her bubble… after all, we only had three days left. Yet still, I couldn’t help but want to know more about her.
Where had the time gone?
“I was thinking that I’d head down to the farmers’ market really quick, before I headed over to your place. You can hang out—”
“I’ll come with you.” I said
She balked, “That’s okay—”
“Thea,” I stated cupping the side of her face, “give me a minute to throw on a shirt, and then we can both go out together. We have three days left, so no running away from me. I want to make the most of our time.”
“I wasn’t running, I just thought you might want some space or something.”
“If I wanted space, I wouldn’t be coming to your place every other day,” I said softly, pressing against her. “And I sure as hell wouldn’t be this close to you. When we get back change into my shirt.”
“Someone is getting demanding,” she noted, looking at my lips.
“Someone is liking it,” I replied, biting her bottom lip before moving away from her.
Three
Two
One...
“You aren’t paying for anything!” she yelled back at me.
She always had to get the last word in; her pride wouldn’t let it go otherwise.
“Okay,” I called back.
There was just no point in having this fight just yet, but there was no way in hell I was going to let her pay. On the other hand, our fights always left me turned on...
CHAPTER NINE
P R S E N T
THEA
“I’m really sorry about what happened to Esther and Hector. Yes, Esther and I broke up, but we never hated each other. And Hector… Hector was my best friend. No one in the world knew me like he did.
“To his parents, who were always like second parents to me, I…I’m so sorry. I never thought that anything like this could have happened, and if I could go back, I would have never had the party. I’m sorry,” Richard whispered in to my mic before stepping back.
He brushed the back of his hand across his face, wiping away his tears. Then, he crossed his hands over his chest and looked down.
Placing my hand on his shoulder, I smiled, trying my best to comfort him. I didn’t want to mess things up for him. For the first time—well, the second time since last night—I realized that this was someone’s life that we were fighting for. As I sat straight and squared my shoulders, I prepared to give my speech to the media.
“Richard Archibald threw a party, one of eighteen, thrown by students at his high school this year. In fact, Richard had thrown a party one week prior, to the incident in question, but no one attended because there wasn’t enough alcohol or drugs for their liking. And so, he made a mistake, all for the sake of fitting in.
“There’s no denying that this was a tragic loss of two young lives, but to lay the blame solely on a sixteen year old boy’s shoulders is not only injustice, but incompetence.
“Since this investigation started, not once has any member of the Boston PD asked for information on the drug dealer, who is, in my opinion, the real killer. He sold a bad batch of drugs to minors, God alone knows how many others fell ill and possibly died because of his distribution. There are still parties being thrown, even now, with kids just like Esther and Hector, who are only one pill away from overdosing. This isn’t a racial issue, this is not about another privileged teen getting away with something. This is about the DA, and the Boston police, trying to make it seem as though they are tough on crime, when in all honesty they are chasing their tails, searching for a scapegoat. That scapegoat will not be Richard Archibald.”
Standing up, I allowed Richard to get ahead of me so that I could whisper to him to ignore all the people and cameras and questions that were being hurled our way. When we entered the house, I took a deep breath as Mrs. Archibald hugged her son, and Levi spoke to his father. Then, I moved into the living room, where Logan and the rest of Levi’s associates were watching the news.
“A little emotional, but not bad,” one of them said.
As I looked around, I noticed Atticus sitting in the corner with his jaw clenched shut.
That was a first.
Looking at me, he shrugged as if to say ‘not bad’. I smiled, knowing he was planning to do everything in his power to regain his lead on me.
“So what happens now?” Mrs. Archibald asked.
Before Levi could answer, one of his associates’ cell phone rang.
“It’s the DA.”
Smirking, he took the phone— “Pete, how are you?” A pause, then, “A three-month stint in rehab? Have you lost your mind? He didn’t even take a pill.”
Everyone was on the edge of their seats, and so was I.
“What do I want? I want all charges dropped and no further action to be taken against my client. That’s the only deal I’
m making, and if not, I will take this matter to court, and you will be forever remembered as the guy who tried to shaft a kid.” He paused once more, and everyone in the room held their breaths.
I was sure that he was deliberately being dramatic, trying to freak us all out and give us heart attacks.
“Yeah Pete, I hear the words coming out of your mouth, I just don’t like them.”
Again with the damn pausing. Part of me knew it was because the district attorney was speaking, but another part of me knew that Levi was doing it on purpose.
“I’ll speak with my clients, and let you know,” he stated before hanging up.
Turning back to Richard he said, “The DA will drop all charges if you give them everything they need to know about the drugs. That means giving up Hector as well.”
“Will anyone else know about Hector?”
“I doubt it, it would only make them look worse, and since the drugs are still being distributed, it would be like putting a Band-Aid on a cracking dam.”
“Okay?” He looked up at his parents, who just nodded.
“Yes!” I squealed.
Suddenly a room full of eyes were focused on me. Realizing my outburst, I shrank back into my seat. “Sorry,” I apologized.
Levi stared at me, shaking his head before taking the rest of the Archibalds into the adjoining room.
“Lame,” Richard grinned at me.
“You wound me with your words, and just when I was beginning to like you.”
Rolling his eyes at me, he turned to walk away and stopped, “I’m not saying thank you or anything, because it’s kind of your job to help me—”
“Just go.”
Little brat… but when I looked at the situation retrospectively, he wasn't half-bad.
When he was gone, Atticus came up beside me, and his baby blue eyes looked me over.
“How did you do it?” he asked
“Do what?”
“Don’t play dumb! How’d you get to do the conference?”
I smiled. “While you were searching for Mr. Archibald, I was upstairs winning over the kid. I did say ‘game on’, remember?”
He popped his jaw and nodded. “It ain’t over yet, Cunning.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I told him.
“Why don’t you both just whip it out already, so we can measure?” Raymond interjected.
Raymond had light brown skin and dark brown eyes. He was one of the first associates Levi hired when he started, making him at least in his late twenties or early thirties.
Atticus and I ceased our spat, and moved to help the other associates pack up the case files that were scattered all over the ground. By the time we were done, a row of taxis were all parked in waiting outside of the house and Levi was already at the door with his jacket on.
“Good work, head home, you all look horrible,” was all he said.
As he looked over to where I was standing, I immediately looked away and raised my hand to signal the driver of our complementary taxi.
The moment the cab stopped at my feet, I threw myself inside of it. I didn’t want to be left alone with him again…I didn’t think I could handle it.
“Hello?” I answered my phone without thinking, as I gave my address to the driver.
Shit.
“You ran.”
“You said to go home.”
He snickered, and for some reason it sounded sexier over the phone. “You did well today.”
“Are you going to call Atticus and tell him the same thing?”
I didn’t want to be treated differently… and yet some small part of me did. I was just confused.
“I didn’t need to call him, because unlike you, he didn’t run away, he actually approached me while you were busy flinging yourself into the cab. After all, we just won a big case without even going to court.”
Of course he did! Kiss-ass.
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time—”
“Who said there was going to be a next time?”
“You just said I did a good job.”
“I said you did well today. Tomorrow is a brand new day. Plus, there are still sixteen students left. Prepare yourself for Monday.”
“Prepare myself?”
“Goodnight Thea.”
“Wait…” I almost pleaded into the receiver, but he was already gone, “Urgh!”
“Tough day?” the cabby asked.
“No. Tough professor.”
“Stick it out. I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end.”
“God, I hope so.”
If it wasn’t, I was torturing myself for nothing.
All I wanted to do was get home as quickly as I could and crawl into bed. As I walked up to the front door, I slipped my heels off and relished the feel of the cool floor. I opened the door and was welcomed by Selene’s loud greeting.
“You were badass!” she squealed, as she jumped up from behind the couch.
“Thanks—” I replied.
Before I could utter another word, a shiny glint caught my eye.
“What the hell is that in your nose?” I asked sternly.
“You like it?” she cooed, touching the ring.
I could feel my eyebrow twitch.
“Selene, that better be fake, or so help me God, I will rip it out of your nose.”
“What’s the big deal—?”
“Take it out. Now.”
“Thea!”
“Now.”
“Ah! Why do you always have to do this? You're my sister, not my mother,” she snapped, as she took it out of her nose and handed it to me.
Opening the living room window, I threw it out into the yard. I heard it hit the walkway with a tiny dink, and then, it was lost from sight.
“Whether or not you like it Selene, I’m your legal guardian, and that sort of makes me your mom and your sister. When you turn eighteen, you can pierce whatever body part you like, but until that day, I don’t want to see another piercing or hear about it.”
“You sound more and more like her every day.”
That hurt.
“That was low… even for you,” I muttered.
She made no reply as she threw herself back unto the couch.
“Turn of the lights when you’re done,” I told her as I walked away.
Picking up my things, I dragged myself into my room. Falling onto my bed, I reached into my purse looking at the napkin that Levi had given me during our week together.
One free rant.
LEVI
“Congrats on the win. You didn’t even need me for this one,” Tristan said as he strolled into my office and placed his feet on my desk. He was the only person who could get away with doing that shit.
“For some reason, it almost feels like I didn’t even do anything to earn my win.” I said.
“Well, that makes it even sweeter,” Tristan said. “Work smarter, not harder,” he reminded me.
“I guess.”
“Dude, seriously? You have to get her out of your system man, it’s been two weeks already and you’ve spent more time thinking about the time that you were together, than when you were actually together.”
“I’ve tried! Don’t you think I’ve tried? It’s her damn fault, and she knows it too. She told me she was going to ruin all other women for me, and she fucking meant it! I picked three women up and I couldn’t even bring myself to leave with them.”
“What was wrong with them?”
“They weren’t her!” I shouted at him as though it should have been obvious. “They laughed at all the wrong times, and they couldn’t even hold a conversation.”
“Please remember you’re comparing them to an Ivy League educated female, whose mother was a year away from being nominated to Supreme Court judge.”
“You know?” I asked.
I hadn’t said a word about that to anyone. I wondered who else might have known about Ms. Cunning’s family history.
“Yeah, thanks for keeping that a secret, yo
u prick. I nearly lost my cool when she said that I used to work for her mother.”
She was telling people now? Well at least that was one less thing holding her back. She had a royal flush in her hands, and she wasn’t playing any of her cards. If she wanted to make it, she had to stop treating her advantages as though they were handicaps.
“Is she anything like her mother?” I had never met The Shark, but that wasn’t for lack of trying.
“The world cannot handle another Margaret Cunning. She was a genius… and such a cutthroat bitch, that people’s heads rolled right off their shoulders as she walked by. I don’t even know how to describe that year of my life. If you can make it six months with The Shark—”
“You can make it anywhere,” I finished for him.
He nodded, as he grabbed a Snickers bar out of my desk. “I don’t think she was on good terms with her mother though,” Tristan said, as he tore open the wrapper and took a bite.
“Who?”
“Thea. At the bar I gave her my condolences for her loss, and she told me not to, because her mother was a horrible person. I don’t know what that was all about, but most people tend to not speak ill of the dead, especially if that person is their own mother.”
“Yeah?”
It was all I could think to say.
So what was her story? The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. She was living in her mother’s old house, but she didn’t have any photos of her anywhere. She never brought her up, and the one time I did, she was ready to bite my head off.
Why did Thea hate her mother? And if she hated her so much, why was she following in her footsteps?
No matter how many times I turned the story over in my mind, I couldn’t make sense of it. Thea Cunning was a true woman, and like a true woman, she was an enigma wrapped up in a mystery.
CHAPTER TEN
P A S T
D A Y 5
THEA
“What’s the matter?” I asked, taking a seat on his lap.