“You don’t understand,” he puts his head in his hands. “I’ve gone up against Kroeger before and lost, badly.”
“You seriously think we’re going to lose this now, don’t you?” I ask.
“No, no,” he shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I’m stressed, there are so many things going on right now, with this case, the others I’m working on, and Briana is having trouble at school. If anyone can figure this out, it’s you Cassie.”
“We won’t give up Harry, this doesn’t matter. We’re still going to fight.” Just not for Vance…
“I’m relying on you, Cassie. You can’t let them win this case, okay.”
He walks out the door and leaves me staring after him as he hurries down the hallway and around a corner. I’ve barely had a chance to get my head around what just happened when my cell phone rings.
I’m not going to answer it, because I need to figure this out. Seeing Eli’s name flashing on the screen makes me pause. I shouldn’t let him distract me, but I can count on one hand how many times Eli has called me.
“Hey, sweetheart, sorry it’s during work hours but we need to talk.”
“I’m a little busy, Eli, can it wait?”
“Not really.”
My head tips back and I close my eyes. “What is it?”
“Don’t get too excited, it’s not a booty call.”
“Jesus,” I groan. And for a second think about it, but there is too much going on. “Did you really just say that?” He laughs and the sound of it has my insides doing a dance I don’t have time for.
It’s not only that it was dark and filled with promise, it’s nice. Hearing him laugh is nice. I’m so caught up in it I miss his next words.
“Wait, what did you say?”
“Try not to get yourself even more flustered, gorgeous. Mace will be there to get you in five minutes. Meet him outside.”
“God damn mother fucker.” I curse at the phone after he hangs up before I can argue back. I can’t walk out of here right now.
“Cassie? What the hell?” Laura looks in at me.
“It’s nothing, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”
“Harry didn’t look fine.”
“No he’s not. I have to go.”
“You have an appointment in an hour. And Vance Roderick called, he wants a meeting today.”
“Put him off till tomorrow.”
“Do you know how difficult that will be? He was pissed.”
“I’ll get you tickets to the next Jersey Devil’s home game. I’m sorry, Laura I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
Laura is a sucker for a hockey match. She gets more excited about the fights than the actual game. She backs down, telling me she wantsup against the glass seats by the goalie, and I add it to the mental list of things I need to do.
Avoiding Vance is at the top of the list.
Mace is waiting for me, like Eli said he would be. I blow out a breath as he straightens up and holds out a helmet with a look that can only be described as possessive.
“I’ll say the same thing to you that I said to Eli,” I take the helmet. “This doesn’t mean anything.”
He eyes my skirt and I look at my car, we could as easily go in that, or I could follow him.
