Page 18 of Choices

"Hi! I'm Matty Richardson, esquire."

I can practically hear Santiago's eyes rolling.

Hannah gets in, and shakes my hand, looking at me almost perplexed.

"Matty...Matthew...Richardson." She says, letting my name roll off of her tongue. "Matty!" She says, her eyes alight.

My girl remembers me.

I try not to preen too hard.

"We went to school together!"

I nod and give her my best panty-melting grin. Hannah takes her time, dragging her eyes up and down my body. "Well, you've certainly grown up."

I was scrawny in High School, and short. I didn't get my lastgrowth spurt until halfway through college, which is also when I started working out with some of the jocks I'd made friends with. I feel like they took pity on me and adopted the nerd. It worked out in the end, though, when I helped them get out of some legal issues as adults.

But right now, the blush on Hannah's pretty face lets me know my girl likes what she sees. I know I look good in a suit, tailored to hug my biceps and ass, but I might have to arrange to show off more. Maybe I could point her in a few directions while flexing. Yeah. Solid plan.

"Hi, Santiago! Thanks for picking me up." She says with a sweet smile and a hand on his shoulder.

"So you're a lawyer now?" She asks as he pulls out onto the highway. Diego's place is only forty-five minutes from the city.

"I am. Followed in my old man's footsteps." That was before I'd had the balls to get out from under my old man's thumb. I hated him with a passion, but when you're a kid who's been told his entire life he'll be a lawyer, you don't know that you're allowed to question those things.

But by the time I woke up and realized I could beat the old man up if I needed to, I had already passed the bar. I passed the bar and immediately applied to work for his competitor. I laugh to myself. That had been a fun phone call.

"That's very impressive."

Yes. I know.

"And you work with Rico now?"

"ForRico," Rico growls from the passenger seat. Hannah nudges my shoulder and giggles a little, conspiratorially. I smile. I like that sound.

"Yes, for Rico."

"How did you..."

"Rico hired me to defend him against some trumped-up drug trafficking charges."

She looks between Rico and me with a look like 'but he does traffic drugs'. I laugh.

"The DA got greedy, though, and instead of just charging him with drug trafficking, they tried to throw everything in the book at him, and their evidence was fake as hell, sloppy, amateur. It took me less than an afternoon to get it all thrown out of court."

I smack Rico on the shoulder. "Half of me thinks you paid the DA to do it, knowing you can't be tried twice for the same crime."

Rico remains silent.

I shrug, before turning my attention back to Hannah. I stretch my arm out across the back of the seat, my fingers itching to be closer to her.

"By that point, I'd gotten so sour at the entire system, that I asked Rico if he needed a full-time lawyer. Between contracts, real estate dealings, and digging up dirt on his competition, it's a full-time job.

Rico snorts.

"Okay, almost full-time. I also manage the club for him."

"Club?"

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