“You sat here, in my office, and swore up and down you would handle this case professionally and delicately.And yet, I just got off the phone with a seething Ian Terell who said you have been trying to get access to sensitive information by screwing his assistantandyouaggressively antagonized him after the hearing!”
Baz antagonizedhim?Hewasn’t the one who had verbally assaulted Sami!
“That is a gross misconstruction of what happened.”He owned up to his poor performance, but he wouldn’t let Ian play the victim.
“But it did happen?”
“Sami and I never discussed the case, and Ian is the one who—”
“So, you admit you’ve been screwing his employee.”
Baz pressed his lips together.Shit.
“Do I really have to explain the ethical stipulations to you?What this looks like?Half the state is watching this trial and you’ve turned it into a soap opera!”
Exactly why he didn’t want anyone to find out!And Ian wouldn’t have if Baz had been smarter today, and that load, what it did to Sami, he had no idea how to live with.But thisoh-so-upsetphone call had hissy fit written all over it, and if Erika didn’t see that, she was not the cunning lawyer Baz had thought she was.
“Ian Terell is the actual devil, who cares what he thinks happened?”
“He threatened to report you to the bar, Sebastian!Do you know how much ass I had to kiss to get him to calm down?”
“That would never go through.He has no proof of his accusations because they aren’t true.I promise you, I have broken no official rules.”
“Be that as it may.You are off the case.”
Baz’s heart stopped.
“What?”It came out as a whisper.No no no no no.He couldn’t lose his last connection to Sami.
Erika pressed the button on her intercom, connecting to her secretary.“Find Collin Jenkins and have the Captain Green files transferred to him.”
“You’re replacing me withCollin?”
That was a spit in the face.
“Go home, Sebastian.I don’t want to see you for the rest of the week while I fix the damage you’ve caused.”
He didn’t even get the chance to redeem himself?What the hell would keep him from losing his mind this week?
“Erika, please, I beg you—”
Her outstretched finger silenced him.“Be glad if you still have a job next week.”
A bitter laugh escaped him.Great.Fucking wonderful!Why should he have it all if he could just as well have nothing instead?Why hadn’t he thought of that?!Whatever god was out there had a fucking sense of humor after all.
He got as far as the staircase until he choked on his laugh.He clung to the metal handrail.Tears burned in his eyes.
He focused on his breathing, somehow found the way to his office on muscle memory alone.There, he hunched over his desk.
Suspended.A failure.A selfish prick who hurt people.
Sami’s voice rang in his ear:Can’t you see you’re making it worse?!
Fuck.Baz dropped his head into his neck to blink the tears away.He needed to pour a gallon of bleach over his brain so he would never have a thought again in his life.
The messenger bag was heavy on his shoulder.He regarded the photo of Joel, Eevee, and him, an artifact of a happier time when Baz had just gotten into law school and thought the world was his to take.He stored it in his bag, right next to the box with his rotting hopes and dreams.This office had always been a pit stop.If only Baz had rememberedupwasn’t the only way to go.
The bangs against the glass wall thundered in his ears.Collin stood in his door frame, his freakishly long arms extended over his head, palms pressing against the glass above the door.Any other day Baz would have been mad about the handprints his oily fingers would leave, but that wasn’t his problem anymore.
