Page 101 of The Rules Of Attraction
“No!” He held up his hands. “Enough. No more of this. You are going out of your way to find fault and I’m tired of you doing things like this. This is it, Alex. You know no other firm would stand for your craziness. Some of the things you’ve done in the past are so outlandish you would have been fired on the spot. So this is it. If you’re going to mess things up and make us look bad, ruin my friendship with a friend I’ve known and trusted forever, then tell me now.”
Dad was so furious his whole face turned red.
In all my years I’d never seen him look like that, and I had admittedly done a lot of outlandish things.
I’d just never come across a case like this where everything in me screamed don’t do it.
But what choice did I have?
I had to admit too that he was right. All I had were my suspicions. That’s it.
The information I found earlier didn’t say much in regards to my case, but I got the feeling it would tell more if I looked a little deeper.
Was I going to do that?
“I’m being serious, Alex. I want an answer. If you want to be part of the senior partnership this is the way. Are you in?”
“Yes.” I felt my own anger rise within me.
Since I had nothing further to say I walked out, leaving him.
This was the first time in my life that I felt restrained. Normally I’d have some form of control, even minimal.
I hated feeling this way. Hated it like nothing else. But I wanted the damn partnership. Wanted it badly.
I seethed all the way home as I thought about how I was actually going to pull off working this case without feeling like something was wrong.
It wasn’t until I got inside and saw something else that I wanted that my frustration abated.
All thoughts drained out of my mind when I looked at the angel sitting on the sofa watching some chick flick.
Meet Joe black.
My mom loved that film and watched it over and over again. She liked anything like that.
I looked at Summer sitting there wearing, to my surprise, one of my shirts and a pair of sexy as hell denim shorts that showed off her golden legs.
She had that mass of platinum hair up on top of her head in one of those loose buns. It drew my attention to her high exotic cheekbones, but also to the sadness that was evident on her face.
She had the light dimmed while the film played, but I still saw everything.
It wasn’t until I walked up to her that she noticed me.
Summer straightened up, eyes red, face blotchy looking like she’d been crying.
“Hi.” Even her voice sounded shaky.
I kneeled down next to her and reached for her hand.
“Hello angel. Are you okay?” There was no way I couldn’t ask. Just like earlier.
“I’m okay.” She seemed a little shaken, definitely not like herself, for what I’d seen so far.
“You’re in my shirt.” I smiled at her.
“My clothes, um … I left them in the washing machine.” She blinked.
I could have said something flirty, like she didn’t have to wear clothes if she didn’t want to, but held back. She didn’t look like she was in the mood for that tonight, or me being that way with her.
