Page 42 of Pleading Innocence

“Your girlfriend, that’s what,” he said.

My brows dropped. Tiffany? A protective urge came over me because I didn’t like his tone and the fact that he looked like he wanted to break something. “Tread carefully, man,” I said.

His head shot up at the warning in my voice. “What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t like what you’re implying. I’d never hurt her or anything. I’d never hurt a woman.” He looked at me in disgust.

“I never said that,” I responded, though his aggression did startle me and I wasn’t averse to tackling him and knocking some sense into him if I needed to. But he was right, he wasn’t a violent person.

“What’s your problem with Tiffany?” I asked, still defensive.

He looked up at me, agony in his eyes. “You know what, you’re probably not the best person to vent to. I probably shouldn’t have come in here,” he said, moving to stand.

A pang of guilt racked my chest. He’d never physically harm her, so I didn’t know why I’d jumped to that conclusion. It was just his tone that brought out my animal. But he was my best friend too and he was clearly upset. He came to me for a reason.

“Hey, come on. Sit down,” I said to him. “Let's try to not be disrespectful toward Tiffany and you can tell me why she’s got your veins bulging from the back of your hands.”

He sank back down and slouched against the back of the chair, trying to straighten his tie. “I showed up to court today to win a simple landlord-tenant case and you’d never guess who I saw sitting with the opposing counsel,” he said. “Tiffany Levine,” he growled.

Lowering my brows, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, she’s clearly upset that I…I don’t know…That I…,” he stuttered.

“That you what? Turned her down? Dude, get over yourself,” I said.

“Why else would she have left and gone to work for the opposing counsel’s team?” he said.

Okay, somebody needed to fill me in here, because I was confused. I knew she was working at Bronkers & Associates since I was the one who recommended the firm to her. The fact that she got hired was completely by chance, so I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

“Bronkers & Associates is the opposing counsel for a landlord-tenant case you’re working on?” I asked.

“So you knew too?” he said, his eyes shooting up at the fact that I knew the firm she was working at. According to him, she was my girlfriend, so why was that surprising?

“Knew what?” I asked for clarification.

“That she was working against Crawford & Beam?” He raised his voice.

“Calm down,” I said. “Don’t be so dramatic. She’s not working AGAINST Crawford & Beam. I’m sure she’s just doing her job. And no, she didn’t tell me about it,” I said.

I didn’t know which case he was working on. It wasn’t like I knew every single case that came into Crawford & Beam. I focused on my billable clients and the cases that I got put on. So the fact that Bronkers & Associates was the opposing counsel on one of our cases led by Jared wouldn’t stand out to me, but what should that matter? Of course, if she was leaving our firm, she was bound to work at another law firm who would inevitably represent a client that was opposing at least one of our clients if not many. Why was he losing his shit over this?

“So she didn’t tell you? Why would she hide it if there was nothing to hide?” he asked.

“Bro, you’re starting to sound paranoid as fuck. I think the bigger question is, why does it bother you so much that she left, that she’s moving on in another job, and that she just happened to be sitting with the opposing counsel?” I stared at him, and he looked away.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Wait, you didn’t go barking at her in front of her new colleagues like an overgrown child, did you?” I asked.

He flashed me a look. “If you’re asking me if Iconfrontedher, yes, I did—outside of the room.”

“Why?!” I looked at him like he was a dumbass because, well, he was being a dumbass.

“What do you mean, why?” He glared at me.

I groaned. “Okay, let me get this straight. You think that after one moment with you in the file room, Tiffany was just so heads over heels in love with you that when you rejected her she turned into this backstabbing, petty creep who thought the best way to get back at you was to get a job at a start-up law firm so that she could work on a simple landlord-tenant case in hopes of beating you and ruining you?

“Really? With a simple landlord-tenant case that doesn’t bring much income to the company anyway but only gives you bragging rights? Don’t you think that if she was the villain you think she is, with her brains, she’d have gone after clients that could actually ruin Crawford & Beam and bring us crashing down? Dude, get over yourself, man. You’re acting like a spoiled, narcissistic brat and you’re trying to find any reason to hate Tiffany because you’re not man enough to deal with your true feelings for her,” I said.

He started sputtering, looking at me in shock.

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