Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 52699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“Oh, no,” she said, her voice flat. “How clumsy of me, sir.”
“Start picking it all up right now.”
“I can’t.” She stepped back. I have to go watch a building for the rest of the day, my partner insists.
“Miss Tanner.” I gritted my teeth. “I need those files for a hearing next week, so I highly suggest—”
“That you start picking them all up.” She looked at her watch. “Time is ticking.”
“Pick up those files,” I said, watching her step backward until she was out of my sight.
I remained seated, waiting for her to return and repent.
She never did.
OBJECT (V.)
TO ASK THE COURT NOT TO ALLOW A PARTICULAR QUESTION ASKED OF A WITNESS ON THE BASIS THAT IT IS EITHER LEGALLY NOT PERMITTED, CONFUSING IN ITS WORDING OR IMPROPER IN ITS "FORM"
ELIZABETH
Ireclined the front seat of my car, munching on hours-old French fries and a burnt grilled cheese sandwich.
Nothing, and I do mean nothing, had happened over the past three hours while I sat outside this “important” building.
To salvage my sanity, I snapped pictures of its brick exterior, stepped out to stretch, and plucked a few weeds from the overgrown bushes.
The only person who entered and left during my stakeout was a pest-control guy.
On the one hand, this was hands-down the easiest work I’d ever gotten paid for. On the other hand, the more I languished outside the office, the less time I had to slip away and use the firm’s resources to work on a case that was dear to my heart.
The case that made me give up my theater dreams in the first place.
An elderly man with a cane suddenly walked past my car, and he headed up the condo’s steps.
How riveting. I snapped a picture.
While I was saving his description to my notes, Mr. Carter sent me a text.
Mr. Carter
You can return to the firm now. We have work to do.
It’s three in the morning and I’m wearing pajamas.
I thought I was going home after this.
Mr. Carter
Thank you for confirming you know how to tell time. You have twenty minutes to get back.
You thought wrong.
“Fuckkkkk thisssss shitttt!” The pent-up scream I’d been holding in for far too many nights finally escaped my throat.
I tossed my phone to the backseat and pulled onto the street.
I’m using every second of this time to get back.
“Law school makes you very good at memorizing things, Miss Tanner.” Mr. Carter didn’t look up at me when I walked into his office. “But now you have to learn how to apply them.”
“Hello to you, too, Mr. Carter.”
“It’s one thing to be book smart, but this is the real world, and there are no grades out here.” He pushed a stack of briefs across his desk. “Only consequences. You need to rewrite these first five before the hearings, and if you’re going to continue to be my partner—”
“I’m no longer interested in being your partner,” I said. “Until you give me the respect and the apology I deserve.”
“Come again?” He finally looked at me.
“I didn’t take my issues to Human Resources for shits and giggles.”
“It wasn’t for free wine and flowers?”
“I received an invitation to work here because I graduated at the top of my class,” I said. “And you made me an offer because I was the best.”
“There was another reason as well,” he muttered.
“Either way,” I said, “I’ve put up with enough disrespect from my ex-boyfriend, my foster parents, and plenty of other people who will never deserve mentions. I refuse to take it day in and day out from you.”
“Whenever you’re ready to accept me as you’re equal, which I am, and you have a real apology about the way you’ve been treating me, we can be partners again.”
He stared at me, and I waited for him to say something dismissive, but he didn’t.
Instead, he stood up from his desk and straightened his tie. Then he walked over to me.
“Okay, Elizabeth,” he said, holding his up his hands in a slight surrender. “I’m sorry. Is that good enough?”
“It’s a start.”
“Allow me to try it again, then,” he said, stepping closer. “I’m sincerely sorry. Better?”
“The condescension isn’t helping.”
“I’m sincerely sorry that your ex-boyfriend never got down on his knees and devoured your pussy every night like I would’ve.”
I sucked in a breath.
“I’m sorry he never gave you a single orgasm after you slept with him for years, and you had to write him a damn letter just to tell him you weren’t satisfied.”
He stepped forward and I stepped back.
“Sorry he never told you to get down on all fours, face-down, ass-up so he could fill you with his cock and fuck you until you couldn’t talk anymore.” He stepped forward until my back hit a wall. “Because if he’d ever done that, you wouldn’t feel the need to spew so much sarcasm from your smart-ass mouth, and you might be capable of talking like a real lawyer.”