Page 55 of Barristers & Bones

Klim set his coffee down. “He said Ivan is taking over.”

I rolled my eyes. “Klim, I like you. In fact, you’ve done more for me than my own parents ever did. If you hadn’t reached out about that scholarship, I don’t know what I would’ve done.” I looked at my feet and blinked a few times. “Anyway, thank you. But let’s get real here. Ivan isn’t even a practicing attorney. He’s more like their NSA, or central intelligence.”

Klim smiled briefly. “That's an interesting analogy and more on-point than you know. I’ll make a deal with you. Let’s give it a week with Ivan, and if you still can’t stomach interning there, I’ll give you credit for the time you’ve spent there and call Arthur myself to help smooth your way. Alright?”

The man was trying to drag it out, and I didn’t know why. “You don’t need to smooth anything over with Arthur. Why are you stalling?”

“I’ll help you in one week, but not before then. And I don’t know what you mean.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Sure you don’t. One week, but you call Gideon and tell him I drive myself from now on.”

Mondays were always busy, and they seemed to go by quickly. But not today. By the time I walked out of the law school, I had a pounding stress headache I’d barely been able to touch with two ibuprofen and an energy drink.

On Tuesday morning, I got to the offices just before eight.

Gideon sat at his desk, and he looked up when I walked in. “Good morning. How was your weekend?”

“I think you already know. I’ve been dumped onto Ivan, so where do you want me? It’ll only be for a few days, then Klim promised I could mentor with Arthur Thorgeson starting next week.”

Gideon pointed to the small office I’d already been using. “The same spot. I don’t think much has changed.” He studied me for a few seconds. “May I give you some advice?”

“Please.”

He looked at me placidly. “Don’t poke the bear today.” I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but his phone rang.

I’d beat the partners to work this morning. Roman’s office was still dark, so I shut the connecting door, put on my noise-canceling headphones, and worked on a few motions. When I looked up again, the connecting door was open and Roman stood in the doorway, watching me. “Hello, Luna. Are you done pouting?”

I pulled off my headphones, sucked in a breath, and exhaled on the count of five. “My weekend was fine and no, I’m not done pouting. Are you done being an asshole?”

His eyes lit and he straightened. “I told you that mouth would get you in trouble one day.”

I stood. “But not today. Oh, look at the time. I need to get to class.” I drank him in as he stood there with that strand of hair hanging over his forehead and his dark, piercing gaze. Why was I so drawn tohimof all people? I shoved my computer and pens into my backpack.

“Your class doesn’t start for almost two hours, and we want to discuss our latest project with you.”

My head came up. “What latest project?” My stupid curiosity.

“Come find out.” He nodded his head toward his office.

Ivan sat in one of Roman’s client chairs, and he gave me an obnoxious finger wave. I slowly put my backpack and phone back down on my desk and entered his office. Roman shut the connecting door behind me.

Ivan studied me, and this time his face remained serious. No smirks, annoying grins, or little digs. “I hear you met Silas Strack the other night. Be careful, the Stracks aren’t playing with a full deck.”

Roman leaned against his desk. “He’s right. Don’t go anywhere alone, and if you see anything out of the ordinary or something doesn’t feel right, get out.”

“I don’t know why they’d come after me, but I’ll be careful.” I squinted at them. “What do you know that I don’t?”

Ivan’s lip tipped up. “A lot of things, and most of them would make you blush.” Strangely, his comment made me relax a little. This was the Ivan I knew and mostly disliked.

Roman gazed at me, his eyes drifting down to my clenched hands. Then he held out a bowl of… cinnamon bears?

I automatically took one and bit its legs off. “Why do you have cinnamon bears on your desk?”

Ivan chuckled and Roman shrugged. “Let’s discuss our latest development. Ivan is your official interim mentor, but you’ll be assigned another one shortly. We’ll also be expanding our legal practice over the next month to include another area of law.”

My mind started sifting through the possibilities. “Criminal law? You could represent each other that way. It would save you a lot of money.” I popped the rest of the candy in my mouth.

Ivan stared at me. “That’s not a bad idea.”

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