Body of Law (Volume 2) Read online

She nodded and pulled up the strap of her designer bag. “I hear you’re working with Sebastian Scott…lots of late hours.” It was the same suggestive tone Morgan had used the other night, and yet I wasn’t the least bit intimidated. In fact, a surge of anger inflated in my chest and I found myself standing less defensively, ready to let my claws out.

  “And I hear you’re a troublemaking bitch.”

  Unfortunately, Madison wasn’t nearly as offended as I hoped. Instead her smirk grew, and if I didn’t know any better I would have thought she’d took it as a compliment. “Defensive of your little office romance, huh? Yeah, I was defensive of him, too once upon a time.”

  And just like that, the little balloon of anger deflated.

  “Y—you were with him, too?”

  “Oh, honey.” She smiled coolly and leaned in enough so that I could smell her perfume. “You really didn’t think you were the only one, did you?”

  Chapter 8

  Violet

  Madison’s words struck right at the heart of me, so much so that I actually felt a pain in my chest that made me dizzy.

  “I—well, I—”

  Though the rolling of her eyes was subtle, her distain was obvious. “Honey, he’s had every other piece of first year and intern ass within a hundred-mile radius. It’s one of his…tricks.”

  Sebastian had never made any promises to me—at least he trusted my intelligence enough for that. But still, over the last few days I had begun to believe he cared about me—and not just because of who my father was to him. Had I misinterpreted his small tokens of affection?

  The pained expression on my face must have been more obvious than I thought, because Madison pouted her lips together and patted my shoulder with her hand. “There, there, honey, think of it as a compliment. If you weren’t any good, he wouldn’t have looked at you twice.”

  And then it occurred to me, by sleeping with female attorneys, these lawyers might recuse themselves if they were ever his opposing council, simply to avoid the embarrassment and awkwardness of being near him Was that why he had been with me? Maybe he did have respect for me—or at least my father—but had set it aside in order to assure he’d never have to go against me in the future. And though he knew I didn’t have much interest in criminal law, it was completely possible he would want to have all his bases covered—just in case. While I felt a strange sense of admiration I didn’t expect, I mostly felt disgust. Certainly there was less reason to believe this woman than Sebastian, but still, everything she was saying made complete sense. I knew Sebastian would do anything and everything for a client—disrespecting women and using them was hardly out of his comfort zone.

  “Who else?” My lips were so tight I was slightly surprised I could get the words out. I crossed my arms over myself and prepared for the worst. Without hesitation, Madison smiled and began listing off the names. Most of them were not familiar to me, but the mere quantity of them was just north of alarming. The names I did recognize had, of course, been ones featured in The American Lawyer or the ABA journal. And though I wasn’t entire sure, I thought I remembered one of the names from the teaching assistants my father had over the years. With every syllable Madison listed, I became more enraged, easily picturing all the young women—not unlike myself—who had been fooled by a charming smile and an attractive body.

  I thought I had been wise in avoiding men like Sebastian when I was an undergrad. By focusing on my work and putting off serious dating, I was being the practical woman my father wanted me to be. To think that all it took to be deceived was Sebastian playing up the bad-boy routine and throwing a few kind words my way…well, I knew that I was madder at myself than anything else. Maybe men like Sebastian didn’t know any better; maybe they were born with that instinct to use woman’s vanity against them, or maybe they just had some inbred need to spread their seed around as much as possible.

  I, however, should have known better.

  By the time Madison was done, I fumed with anger. But there was still one more name left on her register.

  “Then, of course there’s Jessica Sahni. She—”

  “Wait.” My hands were practically shaking with rage. How could I have been so stupid? “One of the other interns here this summer?”

  Madison nodded. “She’s already joined our suit. You should consider doing the same.”

  Once again, I considered that Madison was a liar. That she and maybe the other women involved in the suit were just scorned or jealous. But then how did she know so much about our relationship? The entire premise it was built on?

  Taking my silence as an answer, Madison pulled a business card and a pen from her little bag. Smiling sympathetically, she wrote something down and whispered low enough so that no passersby would hear.

  “Take the night to think about it before you make up your mind. He had no right to sleep with you while being your boss—and I’m sure the firm knew about it.” She handed me her card and patted me on the shoulder one more time. “They knew about us, to,” she added for good measure. Instantly, I thought about Nicky and her not so inconspicuous relationship with Roger. If she knew, the odds were that he and everyone else did, too.

  “Thanks.” Without thinking any more about it, I took her card and quickly stuffed it into my pocket. Anger fumed in and out throughout my body, creating a rage that settled in the air all around me.

  No. I wasn’t going to be one of Sebastian Scott’s throw-aways.

  I was going to be the biggest regret of his entire life.

  And, just maybe, his career.

  Chapter 9

  Sebastian

  Not having written a note by hand in nearly ten years, I checked both my handwriting and my spelling before I including the note with the Bluetooth I was giving her.

  “For our next conversation”

  —S

  I finished the arrangement of the delivery before glancing at the clock. Though it wasn’t even 6 in the evening, I was already looking forward to the moment when I knew Violet would be available. As an intern, she would be the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave. The anticipation of spending another night with her moans kept me in a state of fever I had never been in before.

  Even working on a custody case for some single mother at the woman’s shelter couldn’t take my mind off her. And while I should have been soothing Roger and answering Burke’s frantic text messages about the settlement conference—from what I gathered, it had been a complete disaster—I had no desire to do so. Violet Donovan had completely and successfully drained my motivation from me. And while I doubted he ambition to do so, I no longer doubted her complete and total power over me.

  Still when the doorman phoned me and announced a ‘pretty young lady’ wanted permission to come up, I felt a palpitation in my chest that I didn’t understand. Was I having a heart attack? No, no. I was being ridiculous. As a first-year I had experienced more than one anxiety attack, and though the tightness in my chest was uncomfortable, I quickly identified it as a feeling related to anticipation.

  What in the hell was wrong with me? First this woman was all I could think about and now I was pacing around my penthouse, trying to make sure everything was just the right way? I had to get a grip. No woman in the world was worth making a fool out of myself.

  Even as I told myself this though, I took another quick look at myself in the mirror to make sure I was presentable. Sure enough, there wasn’t so much as a hair out of place. Still, when I heard the soft knock on my door, I felt my heart flutter like a schoolgirl.

  Too bad it wasn’t Violet standing there.

  “You.”

  I didn’t get another word in before Madison pushed her mouth to mine, sticky with some kind of lipstick and with enough slurping to make a sea creature jealous. Now normally, this wouldn’t have been a bad thing—just the opposite. Yet, I had already spent the day counting down the minutes until I could see and/or talk to Violet again, and I wasn’t looking for anything to interrupt that. By
itself, that revelation was disturbing, but it still didn’t take the focus off my task. I pulled away from Madison as gingerly as I could and wiped the taste of her lipstick off my mouth. There was something vile about the double standard that a woman could just push herself on a man without any consequences. Unaware of this, it seemed, Madison just continued to smile.

  “I’m not supposed to be talking to you without council.”

  “Oh, please.” Swaying her hips, she walked in like she owned the joint. “We are council.”

  I sighed but did nothing to make her leave. Knowing her, if I so much as brushed up against her the wrong way, she would claim I tried to assault her. So I left the door open and followed her inside—with any luck, she would take a hint and leave on her own.

  “What do you want, Madison?”

  The click of her heels echoed as she walked from room to room. “This place hasn’t changed much—”

  Looking back behind her, she smiled and paused briefly to stare out the massive window in the dining area. “—I’m glad to see you haven’t, either.”

  I smiled sarcastically and reached for the bar. At this rate there was little likelihood I was going to get out of this without a drink or two.

  “Are you still running three miles a day?” Sauntering back over to me, Madison stared at me like I was something to eat. Again, this normally wouldn’t have been a bad thing, but considering how vindictive she was, she might have literally tried to take a bite out of me. “Of course you are.”

  I dropped my smile and quickly downed the contents of my glass. I could practically feel the heat radiating off of Madison. For all my experience with women, I had just as much with people who were mentally unbalanced—clients mostly—and I knew better than to start an argument I couldn’t win.

  “What’s the matter, Bastian? Cat got your tongue? Maybe I could get it back for you.” She smiled wickedly, but I just turned my back on her and poured myself another. “What do you want, Madison?”

  “Well, you, of course. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

  Admittedly, it was becoming more difficult to concentrate as Madison began running her hands up and down my back. Though I knew better than to tell her, she looked even better than she did three years ago. With her hair a little longer, it was easy to imagine it was just long enough to cover her breasts if she was naked in front of me. Always a hellcat in bed, I knew it wouldn’t take much to convince her to take off all her clothes and do just that. But it didn’t matter—the only one I wanted was Violet.

  “No.”

  “No?” She scoffed like she genuinely didn’t understand.

  “You’re suing me, Madison. I have enough problems without adding any more of you into the mix.”

  “Don’t act like you aren’t guilty of taking advantage of your authority in the workplace, Bastian. Still, I forgive you for it.” I turned just in time to see her pout as she grabbed a glass for herself. “But your other problem wouldn’t happen to be that assault charge, would it?” Assessing my bar selection, she wrinkled her nose before deciding to help herself to a very expensive gin. “I would have thought by now you would have heard it’s been dropped.”

  “How do you—?”

  “Quinn is testifying on our behalf—you know, about what a vindictive person you are? He was the one who convinced this year’s summer intern to join us.”

  I couldn’t stop my entire body from stiffening. Violet? My Violet was joining the suit to ruin my name? “Intern?”

  She nodded, clearly trying to look seductive as she reached her hand to touch my chest. “Un-huh, Jessica something…”

  My strange sense of relief was instantly mixed with anger. Out of all the women listed as plaintiffs, this was the one I couldn’t make myself remember. And it was only when I did a quick search about her did I realize she was another intern with the firm for the summer. Why she was suing me for sexual harassment, however, I didn’t have a clue. After all, I hadn’t even looked at her once—then again, maybe that was the problem. “I never touched her.”

  “But you did touch me—and goddamn do I miss it.” Wiggling her fingers, she moved her hand south from my chest until it rested on my belt. At this point, I took a step back but was still unable to escape the sweet smell of her perfume or the sight of the nipples that stiffened beneath her tight dress.

  “Stop it, Madison. I’m not interested.”

  Faster than I anticipated, she reached for me again, prompting my semi hard-on to rise to full mass. “You may not be, but little Bastian is.”

  I was proud of myself for only hesitating for a second before pushing her hand away. “Knock it off.”

  Unfortunately for little Sebastian, Madison wasn’t finished throwing herself at me. Backed into a wall, I had nowhere to go when she pushed her chest into mine. “You were the best I ever had, baby, you know that? It hasn’t been half as good with anybody else.” Smiling, she began running her fingers along the outside of my thigh. “Maybe if we make some kind of recreational arrangement, I can help make this suit go away. Hell, it wasn’t hard to get Morgan to drop those charges.”

  “I’m with someone else.”

  “Who, that mousey brunette?” Smiling once again, I could see something sinister in her that I hadn’t before.

  I scolded myself. Maybe I should have been paying more attention to the sort of person she was instead of her lack of a gag reflex. “You won’t have to worry about dumping her, baby. You should have seen the look on her face when I told her about us—about you and all the others.”

  “You shouldn’t have—”

  She tried to kiss me again, her lips even more eager and determined than before. But unlike her first attempt, I let her and grabbed on to her tightly. Even with my eyes closed it was easy to guide her to the front door—especially when she was too interested in me to realize I that I was lining her up to throw her out of it. I smiled, biting her hard enough to regain her attention. I felt her smile back as her hands let go of my ass and reached for the bottom of my shirt. As I took her wrists in my hands it was the perfect time to shove her out the door and close it behind her.

  The only problem was that Violet Donovan was already standing there.

  Chapter 10

  Sebastian

  Vanishing before I could say a word, I considered the likelihood of Violet still being in a catchable distance. As I expected, however, the doorman said she had already run from the building, declining his offer to fetch her a taxi.

  In the meantime, Madison laughed like the mad cow she was, giggling so profoundly she brought tears to her own eyes. “Remember that look on her face I told you about? That was even better.”

  I fumed silently in the doorway, resisting the urge to slap her silly, knowing I couldn’t if I walked back inside. Luckily, just as she got a hold of herself, two apologetic security guards arrived. I pointed Madison out to them, and threatened their jobs if she was ever allowed in the building again. If nothing else, it was good to know that I had witnesses to her manic behavior.

  “You can’t just toss me aside like this!” Squirming from the one guard’s hold on her elbow, I watched from the corner of my eye while she tried to dodge the other one. “You need me just as much as I need you! We’re meant for each other, don’t you see that?”

  There was no need to fuel the fire. I glanced at the larger security guard and gestured to the door. “Get this crazy bitch out of here.”

  She was like a rabid dog, screaming obscenities and snarling as she tried to kick me.

  I didn’t bother to watch them drag her down the hall—didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing my curiosity. Instead, I shut the door behind them and searched for my phone under the massive amount of paperwork. To my credit, I waited all of ten minutes before I tried to call Violet. No matter how much I cared for her, or how annoyed I was at this misunderstanding, I was unwilling to appear weak or desperate in any way. Being casual about emotional situations and playing it cool had
been the foundation of my career and I had no desire to betray a method that had always worked in my favor.

  When she didn’t pick up I waited twenty more minutes before trying her again. This time I was sent straight to her voicemail.

  And for the first time in my life, I had no idea what to say.

  Two more days passed before I tried calling her again. I even called Nicky to see if she knew anything about Violet’s emotional wellbeing, all with no results. But despite my frustration, I would not allow myself to go to her directly. In my mind, I would be an instant loser in the game we were playing—by admitting I even had the desire to explain myself to her, I was admitting I cared about her more than my pride—and I wasn’t anywhere near ready for that.

  But I was willing to acknowledge the fact that I missed her. It was why after the official week mark past since seeing her last, I made my way to the cemetery just outside of the city. It had been years since I had been to Professor Donovan’s gravesite, but somehow being closer to his burial site made me feel closer to Violet—as though I could cultivate the essence of her just by being near this dead man. Either that or maybe I had the instinctual feeling that she would be there.

  Strangely enough, I saw her lurking just behind a tree that shaded the headstone her parents shared. And even through it went against my nature, I was inclined to give her a moment or two alone. Unfortunately, this additional time gave me a minute to think about my current situation. I had never gone to a woman before—just the opposite, actually. Usually I had to restrain myself from running away screaming. Why was it that Violet still had me interested after I’d taken her to bed? She was beautiful, certainly, but I had been with beautiful women before—beautiful women were a dime a dozen when you made as much money as I did. Regardless, she had completely taken over my mind these last several weeks, and despite my attempts to do otherwise, she was first and foremost in my thoughts. Maybe that was why my hands were shaking as I finally worked up the nerve to approach her.