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“Roarke, stop it. This isn’t a big deal.”
“Not a big deal? You got this job because yourdaddyis partner. You want partner now, before people who have been here longer and are just as deserving, and for what? You’ve been playing me all this time. Was that your plan? If you slept with me, you’d make partner?”
I blanched, taken aback. How could he say such things? He didn’t know me. He didn’t know how hard I’d worked to get to where I was. He didn’t know hardly anything about me.
“I worked myassoff to get to where I am, Roarke. My father helped me with law school, but after that—”
“After that, he gave you a cushy office in his law firm,” Roarke continued. ”I don't want to spend any more time with a liar like you.”
He nearly spat out the words. He could be so cruel. My heart ached and I slumped, moving so that he could leave. He didn’t, though, just looked down at me with cruel green eyes. There was no angst in them now, just anger. I couldn’t take it.
“You know what? You have some nerve, calling me a liar and a cheat—” I started, thinking of how he hadn’t told me that he was getting back together with his ex. Maybe he already had.
“Isn’t that exactly what you are?” Roarke asked coolly. He’d gone past the point of anger to coldness, and I hated it. It was better to know he was angry at me than that he just didn’t care.
“I just kept my personal relationships from you because it was just that, personal,” I tried, my voice less steady.
“I guess it should have stayed that way,” Roarke muttered. “All this time working together, and it was a joke.”
He wouldn’t look at me so I put my hands on his shoulders. He looked down at me, his brow furrowed.
“Was being with me a joke?” I asked, tears in my voice, and Roarke stared at me for a long moment before taking me by my shoulders.
I hoped, for a fleeting second, that he would kiss me, but instead, he physically picked me up and moved me aside from the door. He walked out and then back into his office. I didn’t follow him, just shut my door again and slid down it onto the floor, beginning to sob.
It wasn’t just that Roarke broke things off. I had seen that coming when he left me a mere note this morning. I’d met with my father for breakfast, hoping that somehow it would make me feel better.
“You look happy,” my father had said, grinning as I walked up to the table.
“I don’t know about happy,” I muttered, but I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I guessed that I had been happier, lately, although I didn’t want to think it was because I’d started sleeping with Roarke.
“You’re doing well on that Martinez case,” he said. “I think you’re going to convince Roarke to vote yes on making you partner any minute now.”
“I don’t know about that, either,” I said with a laugh. “He’s not exactly the easiest person to work with.”
“Neither are you,” my father said fondly, smiling at me. When my mother died, we had only each other, and we’d grown very close.
So close, in fact, that I’d gone to law school just to walk in his footprints. I’d always loved being in my father’s office, hearing him on the phone arguing with people, and I’d always been good at arguing, too.
I just never wanted anyone to find out that I was his daughter. I thought that it would make everyone think I was just daddy’s little girl, ushered into a job she couldn’t handle. That wasn’t how it was at all. My father paid my tuition at law school, yes, but he hadn’t helped me with a single question on the bar exam. I’d done my studying all on my own, and I’d been applying for several jobs around the city when my father asked me to come to Brentwood and Webster.
Breakfast with my father had made me feel better, but at what cost? Now Roarke thought that I was some kind of nepotism baby, and everything we’d done together on this case was a joke to him. It didn’t mean anything.
I finally got myself together but it took quite a while. I unlocked my door, patting my puffy eyes with a handkerchief. I wouldn’t take this lying down. I still wanted to make partner, and in the end, that was what was important. Not Roarke.
I couldn’t help it that my heart felt broken, though, my stomach rolling with upset. The only work I had to do was on the Martinez case, and a lot of it Roarke and I had to do together. I couldn’t face that right now, so I was going to eat my feelings with the cafeteria’s spaghetti and meatballs.
When I arrived, Mark was in line, getting his own serving of spaghetti. I could have groaned, but I just kept it together.
“You okay?” he asked softly. “Seemed like you had a rough morning.”
“It’s fine,” I dismissed him. ”You know how Brentwood can be.”
Mark snorted. “You have no idea.”
I was curious, but I didn’t ask. It didn’t matter what beef Mark and Roarke might have. I was done with Roarke, and I wasn’t going to give in to Mark, either. I didn’t need the added drama.
“Would you like to sit with me?” he asked. “As a friend,” he finished quickly, and I smiled. He was a good friend, regardless, so why not. I could always get up and leave if he started insisting on going out with me again.
