A charcoal-gray suit strutted past the glass wall.Baz followed the trail of white pinstripes up past the ridiculous shoulder pads to the smirking face of—oh, hell no.Ian Terell.The biggest dick to ever make partner at Hoffman & Cobb, nay, in the whole city of Chicago, and the competition was not sparse.
The lines on his White, aged face had turned to trenches since the last time their paths had crossed.His mud-colored hair had gained the odd gray streak, but it was him all right.Baz’s nails bit into his palm.
“Sebastian!My old friend,” Ian proclaimed, his arms wide in greeting.As if they were old drinking buddies.As if he hadn’t tried to humiliate Baz at court.
“Ian.”Go to hell.Baz managed to cut himself off before that slipped out too.He squared his shoulders, crossed his arms in front of his chest.He had easily two inches on Ian, a height advantage he would not relinquish by offering him a seat.
“Congratulations on the gig.I was hoping for a challenge, but you’ll do too.”Ian buried his hands in his pockets.Some stubble shimmered on his chin where he had failed to shave.Cute, playing hardball when he couldn’t perform the easiest of tasks.
“You’re not representing Captain Green.”His law firm did, but Baz hadn’t recognized the opposing counsel’s name on the paperwork.
“I am now.When I heard that good old Grash is finally retiring, I figured it’s worth taking a look to make sure everything’s in order.Imagine my surprise when I heard who’s taking over.”
Bullshit.This was personal.
The last—and only—time they had gone toe to toe, on Baz’s first solo case no less, Ian might have successfully distracted him with a barely legal red herring but Baz (well, Aya, but Ian didn’t need to know that) had caught onto it just in time to cut his losses and settle on acceptable terms.
Not his finest hour, but neither had it been Ian’s.Baz had the excuse of having been a rookie finding his feet in big law; Ian and his twenty years of experience didn’t have that luxury.This had payback written all over it.
“So, how’ve you been?Lost any cases recently?”Ian asked.
“Like the Harrison case three months ago,” Sami supplied, migrating to Ian’s side, one step behind.The muscle in Baz’s forearm grew taut.A shame that someone with such a pretty face was so full of shit.
“And who are you, his lapdog?”
“You have no idea,” Ian said.“We’re gonna have fun together.Isn’t that right, Sammy?”
Sami’s right nostril twitched when Ian butchered the, on second thought, barely passable melody of his name with a short, nasal ‘a.’
“I can barely hold onto myself.”Sami’s tone was dryer than the Sahara desert.“And here I was thinking we were past amateur hour.”
Who the hell was he calling an amateur?Oh, Baz hoped they really were Captain Green’s new rep so he could wipe the arrogance off their faces with his impending victory.
“This double act is cute and all, but I have important work to attend to.So.Go away.”
“Actually,” droplets of spit flew from Ian’s mouth, “we’re here on business.”
“Then you should have made an appointment.”
Ian stepped closer.Not leaving.Dick.
“You see, I’ve been reviewing the evidence, and I think this agreement our colleagues struck overstates the gravity of the damage done.”
Baz scoffed.“By ‘damage,’ do you mean your client’s product giving forty people cancer and putting two in an early grave?”
“Did it?Because last time I checked, there’s no research that definitively proves my client’s product could even cause this tragic epidemic.What’s to say it wasn’t the asbestos in the walls?”
“The club house was built in 1947.Very common back then,” Sami added.
“Or the toxic paint they used on the remodel five years ago.That might have something to do with it.”
Sami nodded.“Trichloroethylene takes forever to break down.So difficult to air out.”
“Uh huh,” Baz said.“And how exactly does asbestos or paint pollute the groundwater?”
“Who’s to say it wasn’t polluted before?No one checked until these dramatized allegations surfaced.So hard to prove these things beyond reasonable doubt.”Ian shook his head with awhat-to-dosigh.
Of course he would say that.Ian Terell was the literal, biblical devil.He would snatch candy from a baby if it got him ahead.In fact, he would take the baby’s blanket too and leave it to die of hypothermia just to see the heartbreak on the parents’ faces.Well, not on Baz’s watch.
