Page 5 of Double Standards
“Firstly, this bullshit about attorney client privilege?—”
“It’s not?—”
My eyes narrow on her and I lift a finger in the air, immediately silencing her. “Don’t give me a reason to dismiss you.” I don’t need to explain why she wouldn’t want that. Judging by the look in her eyes, she understands perfectly that representing one of The Five isn’t negotiable. The message behind my curbed warning is enough for her to simmer, her jaw flickering with agitation.
“And secondly?” she asks impatiently.
My eyes tour her body appreciatively. “If you’re working for me, you don’t work for anyone else.”
“I can’t do that, Mr. Bonanno.”
“Axel.”
She shoots up from her seat, snatching her coat and bag from the table. “This isn’t going to work, Mr. Bonanno,” she snaps.
“Axel,” I repeat.And fuck, do I hate repeating myself.
Huffing out an annoyed sigh, she starts for the door, but I’m quick to intercept her, stepping towards her as she counters backwards. “You can’t demand that I only work for you. That’s not what this is.”
“Isn’t it?” I muse.
She shakes her head, though the uncertainty in the movement has me closing the distance between us until she’s perched on the edge of the metal table, her body fighting the tremble I can see wracking through her.
Damn.For someone of her caliber, her nerves seem to begiving out. I’d like to think it was because of my proximity, but I’m smarter than that.
“You work for me now, Cassidy. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” she finally whispers, dropping her gaze to her feet.
“See?” I smirk, edging around the table to retake my seat. I drop into the chair, crossing an ankle over my knee and gesturing back to Cassidy’s chair across the table. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
The muscle in her jaw flickers stubbornly as she glances at the chair, then back to me. With an annoyed roll of her eyes, she steps back towards her seat, but I don’t miss the angry glare directed at me as she sits down and clicks the recorder back on.
“Mr. Bonanno, do you want to talk me through the events that led you to your arrest?” she repeats firmly, palming her thighs.
I continue to observe her. There’s something about Cassidy Caruthers that intrigues me. I can’t seem to figure her out. I shouldn’t be so invested in someone who is getting paid to get me out of jail, but she’s like a goddamn puzzle I want to solve.
“Not particularly.”
“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me,” she huffs. Her meager outburst makes no difference to me though, I’m still trying to figure out what it is about her that is calling to me.
Five minutes pass before she starts to grow impatient. Call it a test, but I want to see what makes her so ruthless. I need to know what makes her tick; find out her weaknesses, see if she’s really got what it takes to represent me. Because that’s the one thing I cannot afford.Weakness.
When she loses her patience and starts to gather her belongings, I realize it’s the silence that pisses her off the most. Or maybe it’s the fact I requested her specifically, yet I’ve given her nothing.
“Where are you going?”
She raises an eyebrow, like the answer to my question isobvious. “This was a mistake, Mr. Bonanno.” Her voice grows hesitant as my eyes move with her body. “I should go.”
Cassidy stands and makes her way toward the door, but as she pushes down on the handle and it doesn’t budge, she starts to grow visibly nervous.
“It won’t open until I tell them to,” I state. I still have the power here despite my predicament, and having this conversation unsupervised was not only a test for my new lawyer, but for the force themselves.
I close the distance between us, the tension hanging thick in the air. She backs away from me, pressing so hard against the door that she might become it.
“Then ask them to open it.” Her voice is like a strangled growl, one that has my cock thickening beneath my zipper again. If only she was whimpering my name, the sounds of pleasure leaving her lips…
Fuck! This woman.
