Bad Boy's Honor: An MMA Bad Boy Romance (38 page)

I preferred it when he was a complete jackass; at least then I knew where I stood. I knew enough about office politics to know that he had risked a lot by speaking to Alan like that. Alan might be a dinosaur, better suited to another century, but he was a senior partner. Alan would no doubt mention the incident to Kathleen and then he would be in the shit.  

I considered emailing Kathleen and explaining what had happened, but Foster would hit the roof if I stuck up for him like that. Besides, we were all trying to keep things professional, and if Kathleen weren’t soon to be family there was no way I would have emailed her, so I shouldn’t do so now.  

Foster’s attitude towards the PorTupe case still bugged the crap out me, though. After finishing off the last memo, I’d had some free time, so I’d dug through PorTupe’s client files. I didn’t have to look far before I found more evidence that the three directors running the company were complete shits.  

A lot of the sexism was subtle, but it was there, even in the correspondence between the client and attorneys at the firm. Emails to male attorneys were professional and serious, whereas any email from a female attorney was quickly responded to with a request for confirmation from another attorney who just so happened to be male. That could just be because the male attorney in question was more senior, but given what I knew about this client already I was inclined to believe the worst.  

Arrington & Hedges hadn’t helped PorTupe with the Department of Labor matter, but we had handled many employment disputes. Allegations of harassment against the directors were rife, but it looked like all the cases ended up settling. Foster hadn’t handled those issues, but he still turned a blind eye to them when I tried to convince him that the client wasn’t one we wanted on our books.

Foster insisted that no client was perfect and we couldn’t pick and choose. He was right, but that just made me more frustrated with the whole thing.  

I shouldn’t have been surprised by Foster’s attitude. Large corporate law firms didn’t exactly have glowing reputations as protectors of individual liberties and basic human rights. These expensive offices in D.C. weren’t paid for with the fees from poor clients.  

Unlike Foster, Mom hadn’t been driven entirely by money. She’d done plenty of
pro bono
work, so even if she did collect her paychecks from large corporations, she at least canceled that out by making a positive contribution to the community. Couldn’t I do the same?

I went back through all the introductory emails that had landed in my inbox on the first day, most of which were still unread, and went through them until I found what I was looking for. The firm had a
pro bono
program, and all employees were allowed to participate. The hours worked on
pro bono
cases even counted towards billable hours requirements, so I wouldn’t have to do it all in my spare time. Perfect.  

I requested a meeting with the partner in charge of the program, and looked at the type of projects the firm worked on. I didn’t lack for choice, but I also didn’t appear to be suitable for any of them. I couldn’t help with tenant disputes, because my knowledge of real property law was appalling. I only got a B+ in that class and I would be perfectly happy never touching that subject again.

Defending people on death row certainly sounded exciting, but I knew nothing about criminal procedure other than what I’d seen on television. Unless one of the cops hadn’t read the defendant his Miranda rights I was basically out of ideas.  

Then I found it. The perfect program for me to help with. The notes clearly stated that no prior knowledge was required, and it was certainly something I was passionate about given my family history.  

I could make a positive contribution to people’s lives while I was at the firm. That might not cancel out the harm I was doing by ignoring a fraud happening right in front of my eyes, but it would help me sleep better at night.

-*-

“You want to help with elder law?” Simon asked. He was the partner in charge of the
pro bono
program, and he’d been delighted to see I was interested in being a part of it. By the sounds of it, far too many of the attorneys here were like Foster and ignored their
pro bono
responsibilities in favor of billing more hours and earning fees.

“Yes please,” I said. “I’ve had two grandparents who ended up in nursing homes near the end of their lives. I know how vulnerable people can be at that stage of their lives, and I’d like to help.”

“It’s not one of the sexier areas of law,” Simon said. “But it’s important. You’re right about these people being vulnerable. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve seen. Kids trying to steal from their parents when they get older is surprisingly common unfortunately.”

“I believe you.”  

I’d seen it happen. When I used to visit my grandmother, I saw kids practically forcing their elderly parents to write checks for large amounts when they clearly didn’t understand what was going on. It was disgusting.

“Unfortunately, elder law also requires a lot of court appearances. Nothing difficult from a civil procedure perspective, but it does require an attorney.”

“A law student isn’t enough?”  

“No, I’m afraid not. I would still love for you to do this, but you would need to find an attorney to work with. One who wouldn’t mind doing pro bono work instead of pushing through the latest M&A deal for our illustrious clientèle. Good luck with that.”

Simon gave me a puzzled look as my mouth stretched into a smile that covered most of my face.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I know an attorney who would love to help.”

I’d never been so enthusiastic to review the work of a law student before. Usually any work prepared by a junior attorney went right to the bottom of the pile, to remain there untouched until the issue became urgent.

Projects from April got my immediate attention. The quicker I looked at her work and made my edits, the quicker I could call her back into my office a late-night review session. Those never went according to plan.

I imagined her coming into my office late in the evening, where we would chat and flirt, until she opened a button on her blouse and told me to stop talking and fuck her.  

April had grown in confidence ever since the meeting with Jacob, but I still knew such an upfront demand was a long way off.  

That didn’t stop me from getting hard every time she walked into my office. My cock knew what it wanted, and no amount of sensible thinking on my part could convince it otherwise.  

I’d stand a much better chance of getting her bent over my desk, if I could stop insulting her father, but every time we met, he would somehow end up in the conversation and I couldn’t resist calling him out for chasing after Mom’s money.

Even now, they were both off at some lodge for the week, and you didn’t have to be a genius to guess who was paying for that.  

Money-grubbing bastard.

None of this was April’s fault, and I didn’t directly blame her, but she clearly didn’t like me talking shit about her father. She’d need to develop a thicker skin if she was to become an attorney. No one sugarcoated anything in this profession. If you fucked up, you paid the price. Fortunately, I never fucked up.  

At least Mom’s mini vacation meant she hadn’t had the opportunity to lay into me for the way I’d treated Alan at the client meeting. I’d ignored all her calls until she finally sent an email tearing me a new one, but emails were easy to ignore, and that’s exactly what I did.  

I pinged April an email telling her to come to my office. She’d be along as soon as she’d gathered up her trusty pen and paper, so I used the minute of free time to scan my unread emails.  

I didn’t like what I saw.  

The first was an invitation to a networking event at April’s law school. The school wanted lawyers to show up and talk about their careers. I’d been to plenty of those before. It was just a bullshit excuse for law students to network with lawyers in the faint hope we might offer them a job after graduation.  

I didn’t have time for that shit right now, but the sponsor for this event was none other than Cooper & Cooper. They were sending a few partners along, together with a junior associate. No need to guess which one.  

Could I really sit on a panel with Zach and treat him with respect? Probably not. But if April was going… I opened her calendar and saw that she had blocked out a few hours for the event. I couldn’t risk her bumping into Zach again without being there to keep an eye on things.  

I replied to let the career counselor know I would be there to talk about M&A transactions for twenty minutes and answer a few questions. Not exactly my idea of an exciting evening, but what choice did I have?

The second email that caught my eye held even worse news.

April knocked on the door and walked straight into my office without waiting for me to respond.

“What the fuck is this?” I yelled, scanning an email from Simon about doing
pro bono
work at some old folk’s home.

“Something the matter?” April asked, with a butter wouldn’t melt expression on her face. She knew.  

“Why do I have an email with information about doing
pro bono
work with old people? You know what
pro bono
means, right?”

“It means for the public good, I think?” April replied.

“It means it’s a waste of my fucking time, that’s what it means.”

“I don’t think that’s the literal translation.”  

“Is this your doing?” I asked.

“I signed up for the
pro bono
program, yes. And I requested working on elder law because I believe it’s an important and underserved area.”  

“That’s lovely. I’m sure you’ll get a medal for your efforts. But why the fuck am I getting emails about it?”

“Because I can’t appear in court by myself and need to work with a licensed attorney.”

“Again, why me?”

“Because I love spending time with you, and I think we make a great team.”

“Oh.”  

Well that was a kick in the nuts. I’d been thinking much the same thing recently, but this was the first time she’d said anything to that effect.  

I didn’t want us to “make a great team.” I wanted us to fuck. A lot. But I suppose being a great team meant April had recognized the chemistry between us. I’d picked up on it the first time she’d looked at me. I could always pick up on the signs. It stopped me wasting time chatting up the few women in this city who weren’t interested in having me fuck their brains out.  

“And also you’re obsessed with money, and I think this will make a nice change,” April added. “It’s about time you realized the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Way to knock the wind out of my sails, April.

“Sounds like you just want to spend more time with me,” I teased. “If that’s the case, all you had to do was say so. I’ve got a nice bottle of wine back home, and enough condoms to get us through the night. We don’t need to spend time with old people. That’s not exactly my idea of foreplay.”

“I wasn’t aware you knew what foreplay was?”

“Foreplay is when I spend so long kissing the insides of a woman’s thighs that she screams and begs me to fuck her.”

April pursed her lips to fight back a smile. She didn’t get angry at my references to our night together any more. That had to be a good sign.

If I had to do some shitty
pro bono
project just to get back between her legs then so be it.

We spent some time going through the brief I’d redlined. April still took my criticism on board, but she now fought back on certain points, insisting that her sentence was grammatically correct, or that we should be citing a case against us because the opposition would find it easily enough anyway.

I’d created a monster.

As April left my office, I opened the blinds and watched her as she wandered over to get some coffee. She stopped by Paul’s office on the way back and stood in the doorway for five minutes laughing and joking with him. Her back always straightened as she laughed, which pushed her breasts up into the air. I couldn’t have been the only one in the office who’d noticed that.

I always relished the challenge of taking a woman off another man, or taking on the competition of another admirer, but this time it was different. I would rather no other men in the office spoke to her at all, as ridiculous as that sounded.  

April didn’t belong to me.  

Not yet.  

But soon that would all change. I could sense it in the way she was looking at me. Her attitude towards me was warming. It wouldn’t be long now. I looked down at my cock, making itself known in my pants. I looked away from April before my dick exploded in my pants.

“Not long now,” I said out loud to my penis. “Not long at all.”

“You know I’m only doing this to get in your pants?” Foster said, as he parked his BMW in front of the nursing home.  

“I don’t believe that for a second,” I replied. “First, you know full well that this isn’t going to get you into my pants. Second, I saw you reading up on elder law yesterday evening, so you’re taking this seriously.”

“I’m a lawyer. I take all my work seriously, even when the clients can’t pay me. That doesn’t mean I want to be here.”  

He was lying. Simon had told me that he’d offered Foster a chance to back out after finding out that Paul would like to do the work, but Foster insisted on going through with it. That heart of his did have some warm blood pumping through it after all.

I introduced myself to the receptionist, who then led us down the hall to Mrs. Andrews room for our meeting. Foster had insisted that I take the lead with the client, and this time he wasn’t joking.  

After Jacob, I didn’t think Mrs. Andrews would prove all that intimidating. The important thing was not to give away how little I knew about issues surrounding elder law and wills and trusts.  

“Remember,” Foster said before we entered the room, “you need to get the client’s confidence. Don’t worry about giving them the answers right now. We can always do the research back at the office, or call in the expertise of another lawyer. God only knows we have enough of them at the firm.”