“Yes, look, I’m about to stop at this coffee shop, but I’ll call you this evening.”
Feeling generous and wanting to make a good impression with the other partner who was on the case, Amy Wong Hart, I grabbed coffee for the whole team. While I waited for the coffee place to make my order, my phone shook. Looking down, I stared at the name.
Rolling my eyes, I was so mad at myself for ever allowing this man to get my personal cellphone number.
Stepping outside, I answered. “Hello, this is Emerald Landry.”
Zane Bishop chuckled on the other end of the line. “Hey, Stank!”
A long deep sigh escaped from between my lips. “Mr. Bishop, how can I help you this morning?”
“You know it’s either Zane or my personal favorite now…”
He paused and I knew he was doing it for dramatic effect.
“Or daddy.”
“Look, I’m on my way to work,” I said stiffly before tucking a loose strand behind my ear.
From the way he was talking on the other end, I could tell that he was grinning. He was enjoying pissing me off at seven thirty in the morning.
“Is there something you wanted?” I asked.
“Yes,” he stated. “You know what I like now.”
“Zane…” he had me seeing red.
“Yes, Stank?”
Taking a breath, I was careful not to let him know he was having too much of an effect on me. “The two of us had a nice time the other night. But I'm not your type and you’re not mine.”
“What’s my type again?”
“Zane, I’m not a stripper. Have a nice day.”
I ended the call before heading back inside of the coffee shop. Paying for my order, I departed the shop and made it to the office with plenty of time to spare.
The rest of the day passed without much incident. With all the trial prep and even some interviewing of witnesses with the office investigator, I knew I was desperately craving a nice glass of wine after work.
Leaning back in my office desk chair, I casually scrolled on Facebook. Diamond had posted the pictures from the welcome home party. The further into the pictures I got, the more of Zane Bishop I saw.
Diamond had tagged him.
Which meant they were friends.
Against my better judgment, I went to his page and found that this man had friended all my siblings, my mother and a bunch of my cousins.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I whispered.
A knock came on my door and Will poked his head inside. “Hey!”
Closing out of Facebook, I offered Will a smile. “Hey, you’re here late."
“I was about to head out,” he came in and closed the door behind him.
“Anything important?”
He shook his head and then sat down on the couch across the way. He seemed like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how.