Page 111 of Contention

“You got it,” the woman says, her eyes flickering back to Dietrich with a hint of yearning.Good grief.

Silence falls over the table. Dietrich leans back in his seat, his left arm hanging over the empty chair next to him. His watch glitters in the sunlight, the same light that makes his hair seem ablaze. He’s waiting for Kara to speak it seems, as he’s in no rush to ease the awkward silence that Kara is painfully aware of.

Looking out the window, biting her lower lip, Kara comments, “You once told me that…you were the sort of friend people needed. Am I right in assuming you’ll help in return for something that benefits you?”

Without flinching, he adds more hot sauce to his bloody. With the calm of a lion watching its prey, he slowly pulls a pepper off the skewer of his drink and bites into it, swallowing. He chases it with his espresso.

He frowns as he sits back in his chair, catching the expression on her face. “Why do you look so scandalized? You look like I just performed some demonic ritual.”

The thing with the pepper and the espresso may have put a weird expression on her face. “Did you hear anything I said to you?”

“Are you asking for my help?” He asks it with a certain amount of glee, barely concealed in his glittering eyes. He leans forward, cupping his hand around his ear. “I can’t hear you.”

The rat bastard. Always enjoying her discomfort. She’s not sure if it would have been easier to speak to him about this if he didn’t look like such a treat all the damn time. Embarrassment colors her next words.

“My father is being investigated for embezzlement.”

One elegant eyebrow arches, translating into an expression of ‘so what?’. “My condolences. That’s an unglamorous thorn in anyone’s ass. Do you need a shoulder to cry on? I can imagine Nick is out for the count on that note, he’s not sympathetic of tears. Not that I am either, but I canpretend.”

Gritting her teeth, Kara leans forward to whisper towards him, not wanting all the neighboring tables to hear what she’s about to say. “The thing is,Dieter, my father never had good credit. My mother is dead, has been dead for a decade.”

The arch to his eyebrow smooths as his eyelids go half-lidded. Kara has come to know this as his expression of calculation. That smooth tone of his goes flat, “You’re kidding. You didn’t.”

Grimly, Kara grabs at her coffee and sips from it. “I did.”

Dietrich’s peridot eyes harden in disbelief. “Never co-sign with someone who has bad credit! Has no one taught you anything? God, someone needs to take you in hand and save you.” He considers thoughtfully. “Is that a tax write off, do you think? Saving people from themselves? It’s like charity, I’m sure.”

He’s unbelievable and Kara wants to shake him until he starts taking her seriously. “I needed him out of my life and signing on his mortgage and a few of his other expenditures seemed worth the price.Originally.”

Dietrich sneers, somehow still looking painfully handsome. Kara occasionally sees people seated around them looking at him, their eyes catching on his baby soft hair and his stunning eyes. He stands out wherever he is and Kara’s just not used to that. “No good deed goes unpunished, chickadee.” He’s all business now, the flat, empty expression settling into his gaze firmly. “What is it you are looking to ask me?”

Here it is. The moment she sells herself to him. Signs her damn death warrant. “He asked for me to represent him, pro bono. I can’t. Ican’t affordto do that. Not only that, I’m not experienced enough to mitigate the outcome.”

“Did he do it?” A low, dark utterance. Almost cruelly amused at her dilemma.

Laughing bitterly, Kara sniffs, staring down at the table. “I have no doubt.”

“Shame. I’m surprised he’d commit such an act, knowing his daughter could be on the hook for his debts. It’s almost like he doesn’t care about you.” He says it mockingly, with no small amount of laughter in his tone.

Kara feels ill. Her stomach turns and a vague feeling of sadness crawls over her like a tarantula.

Dietrich leans forward, frowning. His voice goes empty. “He doesn’t care about you.”

Glaring, Kara hisses, “Want to say that any louder?”

His head tilts slightly as he studies her. “I think I get it now.”

“You getwhat? Stop circling me with your fucking words.”

The corner of Dietrich’s mouth twitches slightly. “The ‘Nick’ thing.”

Face hardening, Kara says darkly, “I don’t want to talk about him right now. Can you help me or not?”

“Of course, I can. But, by the end of this, you’re going to start getting your ass logged on my account. I grow bored with Gale lining her bank account with my money. You’re new, interesting. You can be trained to be exactly as I want you and eventually you’ll be able to quit your fucking job working for that…ignoramus Benson.”

She wants to tell him not to insult her boss, but it doesn’t seem worth it. Kara feels like throwing herself in a hole and never returning to the surface. Like wallowing in her despair. “You got what you wanted after all. Me, under your thumb. Though, I don’t understand why.”

Now he laughs, though not nicely. “You think I want to control you? Chickadee, I controleverything. I don’t need to hire you to have you under my thumb. Don’t delude yourself, it’s undignified. No, I want you on my account mostly to watch Nicholas squirm.”

---