Page 83 of For the Boys
Berkley felt there was a difference between her kind of corruption and Lexie’s, and she was unwilling to submit poor, sweet Reece to Lexie’s brand of a good time.
Berkley loved her, but Lexie was crazy.
“What part exactly ispreposterous?” Berkley asked, mocking his accent. Harper giggled but quickly shut up when Reece glared at her.
“The entire thing, honestly,” he said. “You can’t actually be dating Brent Jean.”
“And why the hell not?” she asked, a flush spreading up her neck as her anger spiked.
“Well, you’re like…nobody.”
“Gee, thanks, Reece,” Berkley said. “That’s awfully nice of you.”
“Reece, shut the fuck up,” Harper said to him. Sufficiently scolded, he closed his mouth on a reply. “But he’s kind of right, Berk.”
Berkley whirled on Harper. “Not you too!”
“I mean, he’s Brent freaking Jean!”
Berkley sighed and rolled her eyes. She’d known this conversation would be difficult, but she hadn’t expected her friends to outright accuse her of lying about her relationship.
“Fine,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through her camera roll and pulled up photos of her and Brent from a loft party, photos in which his face was clearly shown, arms wrapped around Berkley, hamming it up for Mitch, who had been snapping the shots.
“Holy fuck,” Reece said. “You’re dating Brent Jean.”
Berkley nodded. “I am, yes.”
“You could’ve led with the pictures!” Harper said, snatching Berkley’s phone from her hand and zooming in on one of the photos until Brent’s face took up the whole screen. Harper sighed. “God, he’s so hot.”
Berkley laughed. “Don’t I know it,” she said. “You should see him without a shirt on.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“Oh my God,” Harper said. “Have you guys…you know?”
Berkley blushed. “Not yet. We’ve really only been on one official date. Between the Warriors and law school, neither of us have a lot of free time.”
With that statement, there was a commotion near the front of the room, and the students still milling around hurried to their seats.
Professor Davis Lippett strode in, and a hush fell across the rows of seats. Contract Drafting was a notoriously difficult course, for good reason. Language in contracts could easily be misinterpreted and loopholes wiggled through if the parties involved weren’t careful.
“Welcome back, third years!” His voice boomed across the room. “How are we all feeling? Refreshed and ready to kick this last semester’s ass?”
The class laughed, and Berkley relaxed a bit. Lippett had a reputation for being tough but fair, his classes difficult but informative.
“I know I sent you all some assigned reading to prepare you for the first day of class, but we’re going to table that for today. One of my partners at the firm just had an interesting contract dispute come across his desk last week, and seeing as how this is Contract Drafting, let’s start things off with a real and current case.”
Berkley opened a blank document on her laptop and set her fingers on the keyboard, ready to take notes.
“Okay,” Lippett said. “Here are the parameters: our client is a professional athlete who recently started his own activewear company, catering to both men and women. He entered into a written contract with a female athlete who would serve as the face of the women’s side of said company. He is now attempting to terminate the contract due to a breach.” Lippett stepped to his desk and shuffled through his open briefcase, coming away with a single sheet of paper. He scanned it for a moment, then said, “Miss Daniels?”
Berkley raised her hand, sitting up straighter.
“If you’re reviewing the contract our client presented to the female, what would you look for to help him terminate? Or, look at it this way: if you’re drafting this particular contract, what kinds of things are you including to handle this type of situation should it ever arise?”
“For starters,” Berkley said, her voice ringing out clear across the room, “we want to include a clause stating the client can terminate without cause. If the contract has that, the case is a slam dunk.”
“And if not?” Lippett prompted.
Berkley smiled. “If we’re not including that particular language in the contract, then we need to include language that states the client must provide cause to terminate, in which case we would add clauses that allow the client to do so.”
