Page 2 of Forced By the Bratva Beast

I listen as she reels off the list of tasks, but all the reoccurring loop in my head is saying is— she said yes. Other than that, I’m too overwhelmed to digest the rest.

By the time Dr. Perri wraps up what she wants me to do, I end up leaving her office, practically floating and with clammy hands.

What did I sign up for? Can I really do it? I fast walk from her office, calling Ava, who’s in the same classes as me, and an aspiring lawyer. We’ve held each together like glue over the lasttwo years. Meeting her at orientation was the best thing that ever happened to me.

“Ava. Can you meet me in the cafeteria?”

“Yeah, I can. I’m so bored. I’ve got this stupid assignment I’m stumped on anyway. I could use a break,” she drones, missing my hyper-enthusiasm.

“Oh, you won’t be bored when I tell you the news I have,” I tell her excitedly. “Hurry up! I’m bursting to tell someone,” I gush, heading to the University of Chicago Law’s campus cafeteria.

“Alright, alright. Calm down, you.” She chuckles. “It must be good. I’m coming as soon as I can.”

“Oh, it is. See you there.”

I arrive before Ava, parking myself in the sun, near the back corner. It’s our college hot spot for people watching. Her light brown hair bounces on her shoulders as she walks briskly toward me before sitting down, her cheeks flushed.

“What’s so urgent?”

“You will never believe what just happened!”

“Ah, I will if you calm down and tell me.”

“Okay. Okay. You are now looking at Dr. Perri’s new research assistant for her resurgence on organized crime paper. It’s such a huge deal,” I explain, adding hand movements. “I’m going to be interviewing bad guys and everything.”

“Wow! What? That is game-changing. Dr. Perri…. She is kick-ass as a professor.”

“She sure is. She told me all the stuff I’d be working on, but I forgot half of what she said. It was all a blur because I couldn’t believe she agreed to take me on,” I explain.

“Slow down.” Ava giggles, making me laugh at how caught up I am.

“Phew. I’m sorry. I just can’t believe she’s interested in hiring me as her research assistant.”

Ava frowns slightly, skepticism painted on her face. “You know I’m happy for you, alright. Don’t think I’m not, but it’s kind of uh—why wouldn’t she hire you? It’s unpaid labor, and she’s getting everything out of the deal.”

I shake my head with a smug smile. “No, that’s where you’re wrong, Ava.”

“Hold that thought and let me get us some drinks so you can tell me how wrong I am,” she replies with faint amusement.

“Okay, holding,” I quip, smoothing my hands out over the table. Ava heads off to get drinks, returning with a puzzled expression.

“So?”

“Right. Right. So, it might look like unpaid labor, but there’s a method to my madness.”

“Which is?” Ava asks, sipping her water.

Snickering, I raise a finger. “Dr. Perri’s brother runs a successful law firm in New York, and she’s recommended a few of her favorites in the past who have done incredibly well under his tutelage. If I’m in her good books and I do a good job, then hopefully I get stuck in her head and she recommends me too.”

Ava stares at me in awe, one eyebrow cocked. “You are so effortlessly sly.”

“Hmm.” I tilt my head, swallowing down water. “Calculating might be a better word for it.”

“Pfft. Semantics. Sly. But hey, I’m not against it. High five.” Ava holds up her palm and I lightly slap it, riding a euphoric high.

“If I want to be a successful lawyer, I’ve got to set up my future early. It’s how I’m going to beat out any competition. Especially these pesky, little arrogant, second-year twerps with Daddy’s hedge-fund accounts.”

Ava laughs, covering her mouth. “That deserves another high five because you are so right.” I high-five her again, in a great mood. “You know what this means, right?” Ava wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

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