Page 8 of Forged in Peril

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Hinton. Anyway, you need to get back to work. I need flights booked for the Tijuana job.”

“Okay, boss,” she said with a wink as she headed for the door. “Whatever you say.”

Cameron picked up a handful of papers from the middle of his desk before setting them down again a couple of inches away, lost in thought.

One thing was clear: if he was going to help Bristol by giving her this job, he was going to need to get a grip.

CHAPTER

FOUR

BRISTOL

“We’re basically dealing with criminal law. Lots of fraud cases, some blackmail and extortion, and the occasional stabbing or shooting to keep things exciting,” the woman was saying, her cool tone betraying no indication of whether or not she was trying to be funny.

For the last several hours, Bristol had been following lawyer Jaclyn Mercier around the small legal office, trying to get a grip on exactly what sort of work her new position at Forge Brothers Security entailed.

Most of what she’d done at Dorling & Porter had been related to corporate and tax law, but Cameron had assured her when he’d offered her the job that her experience was more than adequate, and so far, Jaclyn seemed to be trying to convince her of the same thing.

“I’ve been studying some criminal law material on my own,” Bristol ventured, trying to surreptitiously adjust the waistband of Grace’s sweatpants for the fifteenth time. To her credit, Jaclyn had not commented on her bandaged hands or her attire when she walked in, but unfortunately, the pants were at least one size too tight around the hips and had been digging into her skin all morning. “First-year stuff, mostly, but I’m definitely willing to learn.”

Jaclyn nodded. “Cameron told me that you plan to go to law school in the future. I think FBS will be a good place for you in the interim, you’ll learn a lot here. Anyway, if you can gather up those files off of Melanie’s desk, I’ll show you where the file rooms are located. And yes, there’s more than one, just to keep you on your toes.”

The woman's words were friendly enough, but once again, her tone and facial expression revealed little.

She was in her mid-forties, tall and blonde and pretty in a pale, almost fairylike sort of way. At the moment, she was one of only two current employees in the legal department, the other being a law student named Melanie who worked at FBS part-time as a clerk during the school year.

Despite spending a good chunk of the day mere feet away from her new boss, Bristol had struggled to gather any personal information about her. In fact, Jaclyn had seemed almost angry when she had asked whether she was married or had any children, and Bristol had decided that for the time being, she would stick to talking about the weather or the law.

She had, however, managed to learn that Jaclyn was new to FBS as well, having only arrived about six months prior. Apparently, she had replaced a male lawyer who had gotten married and moved to Alabama.

Once again, Bristol was relieved to be working with another woman, especially considering the small staff and the likelihood that she’d often be alone with her boss.

She couldn’t help but to notice that, so far, Cameron’s presence had not set off any alarm bells, even when he’d been close enough to bandage her hands.

It was strange for her to feel so at ease around any male, but she supposed that the Forge brothers in general were somewhat of a special case. She’d known them all since she was in diapers, and she’d known Cam most of all.

She knew him well enough to be absolutely certain that he was a good guy, and that was half of the problem.

Bristol sighed under her breath as she gathered up the neat files and stray papers from the top of what seemed to be the only desk in the main area of the office - the other two desks were hidden behind closed office doors, one belonging to Jaclyn and the other, she was told, belonging to her.

She could hear nothing but the sound of shuffling paper for several long moments as Jaclyn rifled through several drawers of a nearby file cabinet.

She’d made her choice about Cameron a long time ago, so why did she find herself thinking about the past?

She could have stayed in Silver Grove.

She could have accepted Cameron’s offer.

Instead, she’d told him that she wanted something more, that she wanted to get out of this town and to make something of herself.

It hadn’t taken long for her to discover that what she really wanted was to become a lawyer–ideally, a respected public defense attorney who could pursue justice for those who lacked the means to do it themselves.

She had made it a good part of the way there. And if she could just stick it out at this job and save up some money for law school, she knew that she could make it happen.

So long as she kept her distance from Cameron Forge.

Bristol had planned to stay in her new office over lunch, using some of the time to start setting up her desk, but Grace had other ideas.

---