Page 8 of Tequila Tuesdays

He studied me. “Jaime has gang symbol tattoos.”

I studied my feet. “Huh.”

“And you think I hurt his feelings,” he said slowly.

I paused and thought about it. “He wouldn’t tell me if you did, but maybe. His wife works at Walmart.”

“Huh,” he mimicked.

He was too perceptive. I decided to end the conversation. “You can talk crap to me all you want. And you can make fun of my teammates’ shitty volleyball skills because God knows it wouldn’t hurt them to practice a little. But leave their other issues alone.”

He kept staring at me but didn’t say anything,

I started backing away. “I’m going to find Laurel. Have a nice evening.”

He nodded slowly. “I’ll see you in a few weeks then, Harley Emerson.”

Sheila looked up when I walked back to the bar. “Do you want another cosmopolitan?”

She eyed my half-full glass and then looked at Damien. I could almost feel his stare burning into my back.

I sighed. “Do you happen to have the ingredients for a margarita?”

She smirked. “Coming right up.” She reached for a bottle and poured me a shot. “And in the meantime, here’s a shot of tequila.”

Taking the glass, I threw the shot back. The earthy flavor hit my tongue, and the alcohol burned down my throat. “Thanks. I needed that.”

Chapter 4

ThatFriday,Laurelcameto our law office for our weekly Friday potluck lunch. My two office mates and I had opened our law firm almost a year after I’d moved to Palm Springs.

We were all busy with our own lives and practices, so we held a potluck lunch almost every Friday so we could catch up a little and decompress.

Laurel brought double chocolate caramel brownies, and my partners instantly loved her.

I introduced everyone. “This is Yun and Sariah, my fellow office partners.”

We ended up talking and laughing for over two hours. Laurel told us about her aunt, and the house in the Deepwell neighborhood she’d inherited. Yun and Sariah also knew the law office where Laurel would be working.

Sariah grinned. “I adore Ramone and Jonathan.”

“I refer clients to them all the time,” Yun added.

I smirked. “I don’t. My clients are criminals, juveniles, or both. Not their typical clientele.”

Sariah told Laurel about how we became office mates when we’d left the law firm where we used to work.

“The firm specialized in commercial contracts and real estate law, with a little criminal law on the side.” Sariah shook her head. “A few months after Harley started, I got passed over for a partnership position.”

“She got screwed,” Yun added. “The partnership went to a younger, less competent male attorney who also happened to be related to one of the partners.”

Sariah bit into her brownie. “It still ticks me off every time I think about it. Even though it worked out for the best.”

Yun nodded. “And not long after that I approached the partners, all middle-aged men with children of their own, about working from home a couple of days a week so my husband and I could start our family.”

She leaned over and pointed her fork at Laurel. “I’d been working there for six years, and I was one of the most productive and profitable attorneys they had on staff. Those assholes turned me down.”

I remembered that day well. Yun had found Sariah and me and herded us into one of the conference rooms. Then she told us if we left the firm, she wanted in.

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