His hands tangle in my shirt as he works underneath to get to my lace covered tits. Those calloused hands of his running against my soft skin, making me scream. I grip his hair, pulling on it hard as I feel myself starting to let go.
“Yes, grip it, tug it, pull it - do whatever the fuck you have to do,” he encourages me, getting louder.
I lean back, giving him a little more room. He takes the opportunity to sneak his hand between us, rubbing against where we’re joined. Before I know it, I’m over the edge and he’s grunting his release.
In the aftermath we grin at one another as we try to clean up.
When we leave, there’s only one person in the hallway.
Laura.
I’m usually not petty, but I can’t help but look her in the eye and make a production out of wiping my mouth.
One thing I know for sure, she better never come near Dalton again.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mandy
I’m sore in the best of ways as I cross my legs at my desk, going through some of the briefs Charity’s asked me to check up on.
One in particular catches my eye. It’s one we took over for another attorney we help out sometimes. The name rings a bell. Owen Fitzpatrick.
I can’t remember where I know it from. Pulling out my cell phone, I fire off a text to Dalton.
M: Where do I know the name Owen Fitzpatrick from?
D: That bitch from Wet Wanda’s - that’s her boyfriend.
M: Interesting. We have a file on him.
D: Really? Let me get back to you, babe.
“Hey, Charity,” I yell from the front area. “Do you know where these legal briefs came from? The ones we took over?”
She comes out of her office, a t-shirt on, which causes me to look twice.
“Fucking milk leaked. Dude I am too old for this.”
I laugh, laugh so hard I can’t speak. Eventually she joins in, and before we’re done, we both have tears streaming down our faces.
“That felt good.” I smile at her, still giggling slightly.
“It did. We haven’t laughed like that in too long, Mandy.” She reaches over. “Let’s not make it a habit. I love to laugh with you.”
“I love to laugh with you too, sorry about your milk.”
She snorts. “Don’t even know why I’m killing myself to try and breast feed. This kid doesn’t even take it half the time, but every book I read said this is what we should be doing now. Do you know the amount of shit that’s changed since we had our first babies? It’s a whole new world, I don’t know how Addy’s going to handle it.”
Addy? What? “Addy’s pregnant?” I sit up straighter in my chair. “Does Tyler know?”
She giggles again. “Yes, and yes. I don’t think they’ve shared it much, but I found out when she asked me a few questions. She was trying to beat around the bush, but there’s only one reason why you’re asking another woman about hemorrhoids after birth. Am I right, or am I right?”
“Little does she know, that will be the least of her worries.” I whistle.
“Exactly.”
The two of us are quiet for a few minutes.
“This feels good,” I tell her. “Like nothing ever changed between us. I’m sorry if I made things awkward.”
“No,” she argues. “I think I made things awkward by not wanting to make them awkward. Which is stupid all the way around. We’re friends and grown-ups. There’s no reason for us to have to tiptoe around one another. I’m just glad you’re back.” She stops, licking her lips. “I worried you wouldn’t want to come back to work here. Not because you’re not amazing at what you do. You are, but because I was worried you wouldn’t ever feel comfortable here again. It tore me up. I was afraid I’d lost my friend.”
Both of us are crying now, and before I know it, I’m up and around the desk, putting my arms around her. She’s doing the same. We hug long enough that we both stop crying.
“You’re never gonna lose me.” I wipe away the tears again. “Sometimes it just takes me a little longer to get my shit together.”
“There are a lot of times I don’t feel like I’ll ever have it together.” She wipes at her eyes. “So we’re a perfect pair.”
My phone interrupts us.
D: Find out everything you can about that file and give the info to Caelin. Thanks for lookin’ out, babe.
M: No problem. See you later.
“Dalton wants us to find out everything we can about this file. Which is what I was originally going to ask you when you came in here. Do you know who this came from? It’s one we’ve taken on pro bono. Looks like Tatum didn’t make notes, unless she did it in the shared drive.”
Instead of accusing my little sister of not doing her job properly, I pull up the drive I’m talking about and take a look around in the information. After looking in every place it might be, I’m ready to rip her a new one. “She didn’t put it in the shared drive either. She knows how important it is to keep a chain of custody.”
“I haven’t been as strict on her as I shoulda been,” Charity sighs. “I’m barely keeping my head above water with Will and the girls. This is my fault and I’ll take total responsibility for it.”
“It’s my fault too, she shoulda been trained better and she would’ve been if you hadn’t needed help so quickly. Do you want to discuss it with her, or should I?”
“I will, there’s nothing worse than getting in trouble from your sister.”
“Okay, so we need to look and see where we took pro bono work from in the last…”
