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Jeremy
One Week Later
Death had a way of reminding you how important it was to live, not just exist. Flex and I stood in the back of Quentin’s longtime ex-girlfriend’s home. She insisted the repast be held at her place, and Quentin’s parents agreed. Apparently, the couple had broken up after Thanksgiving because Quentin was working like crazy. Heather was taking his death hard, filled with regret over not fighting for them and his time more. I wished she understood there was nothing she could have said or done to change fate. If it was his time, it was his time. I do understand, though, how thoughts of spending the holidays with him instead of him working like crazy may have made this easier for her.
We tried to wait until everyone was gone before we left to make sure Heather wasn’t overwhelmed. Quentin’s family was absorbed in their grief, which was understandable, so we wanted to help in any way we could. Something good over the past week had been Violet asking for help more. She allowed me to partner with her on more things because she was taking Quentin’s death harder than anyone at the firm. Being there with her, helping her, further confirmed what Milli said to be true about how different our styles were.
I wanted to take over and handle everything while Violet took time to grieve. She wanted to be involved and allow me to be her mouthpiece and logic when she felt too overwhelmed. The partnership that she wanted, I felt, could be a permanent thing if she enlisted the help of a co-managing or senior partner, but until she realized that herself, it would never happen.
“Mecca finally accepted,” Flex mentioned out of nowhere before taking a sip of his drink.
When we first made the announcement, Mecca was just as surprised as I was when Violet said she wanted him to take Quentin’s place. I knew, eventually, that he would become a named partner, but for her to bypass him becoming a first-year partner first… that wasn’t like Violet.
We all had a meeting and she explained why she made that decision. She wanted someone in that position that was established in other areas of their life. Mecca was engaged with a baby on the way, and from what I heard, he was considering adopting his unborn cousin as well. There was no way he’d let anything at the firm keep him from being committed to his family. I think that was the point Violet was trying to make.
He said he needed time to think about the timing of it, but he wanted the position from the day he joined the firm, so I wasn’t surprised he accepted.
“Good,” was all I said. Mecca deserved the position no doubt, but I hated that Violet had offered it to Maritza as well. Maritza was an exceptional lawyer, however, there was no way in hell she’d be able to come in and take a position away from an associate who had been there for years—I don’t care how great she was. There was an order, a hierarchy, in the way we did things, and I couldn’t believe Violet had even offered the position.
I questioned Violet about that, and she told me that she promised a named partner position to Maritza with the hopes of adding her name to the wall without having to give her anyone else’s position. She also wasn’t planning to do so until after the sisters had been there for a year. Sakura had no desire to become partner. The courtroom was truly her happy place, and she wanted nothing to stand in the way of her trials.
To make sure Maritza didn’t consider leaving, Violet had tried to set up a meeting with her to explain what was happening, but so far, Maritza hadn’t confirmed the day and time. I planned to talk to her and see where her head was at once everything slightly returned to normal, but as she made her way over to us, I figured I’d have that chance today.
Maritza looked regal.
Her long hair was pulled up and into a high bun. Dark black sunglasses covered her eyes. The black pantsuit she had on seemed to be made just to curve against her body. I was jealous of the black silk shirt clutching her breasts. That should have been my hands.
The black lipstick she wore drew my attention to her plump, bowtie-shaped lips. She pulled her shades off as she neared us, allowing me to see her beautiful honey-brown eyes. Maritza gave us both a polite smile before taking my hand into hers and caressing it with her thumb. The contact, the gesture, made my heart skip a beat. I wanted to lick her peanut butter brown skin and see if it tasted as good as it looked.
This woman was no good for me.
“Can we meet for drinks later and talk?”
I had to keep myself from grinning as I rocked on my heels. It would be unwise to assume this conversation was going to lead to her agreeing to my offer, but I assumed it would.
“Tell me when and where and I’ll be there.”
She gave me that beautiful smile that caused her slanted eyes to tighten and I couldn’t help but smile myself.
“I’ll text you.”
Maritza gave Flex a soft wave before grabbing her sister’s hand and leaving.
“What was that about?” he asked.
I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her round ass until it was out of the door. All I could envision was how the soft mound would jiggle as I smacked it and fucked her from behind. She wasn’t hippy, and her thin, toned frame didn’t allude to the fat ass she was working with. I couldn’t stop myself from eyeing every inch of her frame when she came to me… and especially when she left.
“Huh?”
Flex chuckled and ran his fingers down the corners of his mouth. “I asked what was that about? You like her for real… don’t you?”
With a shrug, I decided to ignore his question by asking, “Have you heard about Parker leaving with Amaru?”
He chuckled again as he nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m not surprised Amaru plans to open his own firm. He wants to do more contract law.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make sense to me. Contract law is extremely time-consuming. He could bring in crazy billable hours. Why is he trying to go to a fee-based system instead?”
“I don’t know. That’ll be your brother-in-law soon. Maybe that’s something you need to talk to him about.”
