AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He doesn't take it as a come-on. He smiles in thatwhat a silly friendsort of way. "You're as bad as Cassie is with music."
He loves that about Cassie.
But Cassie is his sister.
No. I need to get a fucking grip. Jackson is a friend. That's all. We're here as friends. Period. The end.
I make eye contact—only the eyes—and I shrug as if I don't even notice I keep bringing up sex. "We all have our interests."
"Obsessions."
"Maybe you should try it," I say. "Keep bringing it back to murder."
He lets out a low chuckle. "Why does everyone think I represent murders?"
"Law and Order," I say.
"I'm a civil attorney."
"A what?" I ask.
Again, he laughs. "Mostly, I work on lawsuits."
"So you represent big, evil corporations?" I ask.
"Sometimes." He nods. "Other times, we take a case on contingency."
"On what?" I ask.
He explains briefly. Firms often take civil cases on contingency, meaning the clients don't pay anything until they win. Then, the firm takes about a third.
He's not exactly Atticus Finch. He doesn't fight solely for forces of good. And he's rarely the lawyer cross-examining a witness in court. He usually assists. And mostly, that happens in depositions, in boring conference rooms.
The law isn't as exciting as it is on TV, but he loves it all the same. He doesn't say that, but he wears his passion in his expression.
It's subtle on him. The curve of his lips. The line of his brow. The energy in his voice.
There's something steady about the law. The rules make sense. They give him a structure. Order from the chaos of the world.
He doesn't have to ask if something is good or bad, right or wrong.
It's the law.
That's his north star.
It doesn't quite make sense to me, but it does too. I don't ask myself about morality very often. I want to understand the world because the quest for knowledge excites me. Because I feel some primal urge to learn about sex and love and passion.
I don't ask myself if it's the best, most moral path.
I know it's the right one for me.
"And medicine?" He shifts to a joke. "Is it likeGrey's Anatomy?"
"You've never seenGrey's Anatomy," I say.
"I used to watch with you and Cassie."
Right. Mom would always walk by and shake her headthat is so unrealistic. "It's true medical students are socially awkward and bad at taking care of themselves." The long hours mean we don't develop social or self-care skills. Thankfully, I had to learn mine young. So I do okay.
