Page 60 of Cocky Counsel

A few train stops later, we were being seated in the back of Tia Rosa’s Cantina. I tried to keep my frustration under control when I saw Gabi and Brittany already at the table, drinking margaritas and eating chips and salsa.

“There better be chips and salsa left for us,” I warned somewhat playfully before I plopped down in the decorative metal chair and hung my purse off the back of it. At that moment, a waiter came by and set a new basket of chips and salsa on the table in front of me. I smiled and looked up to order a margarita when someone caught my eye.

I leaned forward and looked past the waiter, unable to process what I was seeing. I could hear the girls talking around me, but everything sounded muted as the blood rushed through my head. There was no fucking way this was happening. I grabbed my phone and opened the camera, taking as many pictures as I could, praying that at least one of them would be in focus.

Sitting on the other side of the restaurant was Cora, cuddled up in a booth with Kate. They were completely oblivious to me being there as Cora pulled her in closer to her and planted a long kiss on her lips. I switched the camera to video, knowing that this would be concrete evidence to pass along to Regina and our legal team. After our meeting this morning, I had a gut feeling that there was more to the story than what we had been told. It didn’t make sense how or why Kate would randomly end up in our office after what we had done. I had spent the day trying to figure out what had given us away and why she would think to snoop around my office the second I walked out.

“Ma’am?” a man’s deep voice interrupted my thoughts. I lowered my phone and looked up to see the waiter standing beside me, impatiently tapping his foot as his hand hovered over the notepad he was using to collect our orders.

“I’m sorry, what?” I croaked; my throat suddenly dry.

“May I have your drink order, ma’am?”

“Oh, yes. I’ll have a house margarita. Please.” I felt like a blubbering idiot, unable to focus on anything other than Kate and Cora sitting snuggled up close together across the room. He walked away and my attention went back to getting more video as the girls talked around me as if I wasn’t there. Which, to be honest, I wasn’t.

I pinched my fingers on the screen of my phone, zooming it in as far as it would go without distorting the image. Kate said something that got a laugh out of Cora, her blonde hair spilling down her back as she tilted her head back to laugh. They were both young, beautiful women, and I was stumped trying to figure out why they would go after Ethan for sexual harassment when obviously neither of them were interested in him. Any onlooker could easily see how obsessed they were with each other as they leaned in for another kiss, not giving a damn about anyone else in the room.

I took a few more pictures then lowered my phone before someone caught me and turned me in for being some sort of creeper. Part of me wanted to forward the pictures and video immediately to Ethan, but the other part of me was still upset over everything that had happened today. I knew that I didn’t have any reason to be mad or upset with him, but that didn’t stop me from avoiding him like the plague. I was embarrassed for getting caught and having to admit that I had broken a handful of rules that could have easily cost me my job. Even though don’t fuck your coworker in his office wasn’t explicitly written in the handbook, I’m sure it was assumed that it didn’t need to be said. I had officially become one of those people who were responsible for the absurd and ridiculous rules that were added in because common sense was lacking.

“So, what do you think?” Gabi asked, staring at me with such intensity that I was sure she could read my mind at that moment.

“I’m sorry, about what?” I leaned back as the waiter slid my margarita in front of me and walked away. Perfect timing.

“Lucy and your fuck buddy,” Gabi sighed. “What do you think of them together?”

I pulled my brows in together as I took a sip, trying to figure out what in the hell she was talking about.

“Stop calling him that, it grosses me out,” Lucy complained, smacking Gabi’s arm. “I don’t want to think about him that way when I start my first day on Monday.”

“I wouldn’t mind thinking about him that way,” Brittany giggled. “He. Is. HOTTT!”

I rolled my eyes playfully and took another drink, allowing the alcohol to crawl through my veins and bring me the numbness that I needed.

“I haven’t seen him yet. Or met him.” Lucy’s eyes widened as she continued. “Oh my God, what if he hates me? What if he fires me on my first day?”

“He’s not going to fire you, calm down,” I laughed, trying to reassure her as the alcohol played with my head. I looked across the restaurant, keeping an eye on Cora and Kate to make sure they hadn’t spotted me. “Just stay focused and do your job, you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, and maybe don’t sleep with him like your sister did?” Brittany joked, earning a kick under the table from me.

“Ouch!” Gabi yelped and lowered her hand under the table to rub her leg.

“Sorry,” I pulled my lips into a tight smile and shrugged. “I was aiming for Brit.”

“I’m not going to sleep with him,” Lucy sighed. “I’m not that kind of girl, and you know that.”

I felt the heat flush across my face with embarrassment as they all turned to look at me.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean anything by that—”

“It’s fine,” I said, putting my hand up to stop her. “But if it’s all the same, can we please talk about something other than Ethan? ANYTHING other than Ethan.”

Brittany changed the subject and started talking about her trip to Miami and all of the gorgeously tanned guys that she had met. The waiter came to take our orders, putting a halt to her overly risqué story about the one-night stand she had before she left. I tried to focus and pay attention, but I was still distracted by everything that had happened. When I looked over at Kate and Cora’s table, they were gone, and an elderly couple was now in their place. With a deep breath, I opened my phone and sent a text message to Ethan, asking if we could talk.

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