Page 5 of Barristers & Bones

I unclenched my hands and tried to reel in my frustration. “I’m not interested in the areas of law you practice, and until Mr. Hudson informed me of the change, I’d never heard of you or your firm. Your offices are beautiful–if a little cold–and I’m sure your firm’s acronym doesn’t reflect your legal philosophy. Anyway, I have other plans.”

Gideon covered up a laugh with a cough, but we both ignored him.

“And what are your plans?” Roman asked mildly.

“I want to go into water law. It’s fairly specialized, and your firm doesn’t practice it. So I’d appreciate it if you’d let Klim Hudson know.”

“Your candor is refreshing. Still, no.”

The bastard was playing with me now. “Okay, how about this for candor? I’d rather eat glass than intern with your firm where I’d have to deal with bitchy Brenna–and you–all day. Mr. Anderson seems decent, so I won’t include him.” I put my hands on my hips and leaned forward. “I plan to practice in another area of law, and we’ve got nothing to offer each other. Why are you forcing this?”

He smirked and took me in. “Ms. Cross, let’s cut to the chase.”

“Let’s,” I muttered.

“Despite your clear annoyance and disappointment about the last-minute change, I am not releasing you.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “Why?”

“Because I don’t have to, and you won’t bore me. Instead, we’ll start with you shadowing me over fall break.”

“Shadowing you?” I repeated, my words coated in annoyed disbelief. “As in, spend my fall break following you around?”

His cold eyes locked onto me. “Exactly. Make the most of this opportunity.”

The room seemed to shrink, and his resolve crumbled my hopes. Pressing my lips together, I contemplated my next move. Silence stretched between us before I exhaled slowly.

“Fine. But don’t expect me to be agreeable or pleasant about it.” This arrogant mother fucker wasn’t going to break me.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” The scar on his neck stretched as he tilted his head, assessing me. “I’ll pick you up at eight on Monday to start our week together.”

I blinked at him. This just kept getting worse. “You’re picking me up?Why?”

“Did I not just make that clear?” Amusement laced his tone.

Deciding on a different tack, I loosened my shoulders. “Listen, I’ll meet you here. You don’t need to chauffeur me around.”

“Consider it a perk of the mentorship, and I’ll let Klim know you’re staying. See you Monday, Ms. Cross.” He turned and walked back into his office. Somehow, my last name sounded like a swear word when he said it.

Dismissed, I turned to Gideon and blew out a breath. “Well, it looks like I’ll see you next week. You appear to be the only sane one in this circus.”

He smiled and patted my shoulder. “Hang in there. He’s a decent man, he’s just good at hiding it.”

“You work with attorneys, Gideon. I think your opinion of what constitutes ‘decent’ is probably low.”

“Fair point, Ms. Cross.”

Chapter 2

Luna

I stomped into the apartment and slammed the door, muttering a few particularly ripe curses I'd learned from the Spade cousins over the years. Carl, our three-legged black and white short-haired cat, greeted me with an aggressive meow. He tolerated a little kissing and cuddling, but he wasn’t above giving us a good swipe if we got too greedy. Scooping him up, I breathed in, letting his soft body soothe my raw nerves.

My phone buzzed, and I saw a text from Alexa pop up. She was a year behind me in law school, and I’d be graduating in the spring.

The thought of my graduation sent bitter frustration through me. I’d planned to leverage my internship with the water law attorney into a job before KlimFuckingHudson and RomanFuckingFowler decided to royally screw up my life.

Alexa: Want to split a pizza while we bitch about our day?

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