Page 27

I grin. “Yeah, sure. I will. Thanks again for the food. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I wouldn’t mind going on another collection with him. He opens the door, just as Aiden is about to knock. Aiden tilts his head and slightly narrows his eyes at me over Joey’s shoulder, before greeting Joey himself. Aiden needs to pull that fat stick out his ass. It appears all I have to do is breathe, and I irritate him. I can’t understand why he’s upset, seeing as how I met Joey today.

“Hey man,” Aiden says as they do that special handshake that all men do when they greet each other, as if it’s a sacred male ritual. At what age do they learn it, and how is it so universal?

“Hey, you doing good?” Joey asks, patting Aiden’s shoulder. “I know it must be a lot on you right now.”

“Yeah, I’m doing all right. Hopefully this will be over soon, and I can get back to my full duties.” Aiden makes it a point to look at me as he speaks. I roll my eyes at him. Yeah, yeah, I get it. I have to win, or I’m going to Hell.

“Good to hear, man. Well, I will catch up with you both later.” Joey says, closing the door behind him. As soon as we hear the click, Aiden turns to me.

His lips curve downward. “So, you let just anyone into your apartment at eleven at night?”

I smile at him and taunt, “Only the ones I think have potential to be in my bed.”

He scowls at me. His voice hardens as he says, “Now is not the time to find potential fuck-buddies, Ms. Parker. You have a job to do. That’s it.”

I smirk. “I’m just kidding. It’s so easy to annoy you. You take the bait so easily.”

He looks up at the ceiling as if praying for patience. I don’t know who he’s asking, though. Apparently, there’s no one listening.

“Why was he here?” Aiden asks.

I point towards the kitchen. “He brought me food. It’s mushroom soup. Also, isn’t he your friend?”

He glances in that direction. “He’s my friend, not yours. You shouldn’t have time to make friends with you needing to do your job.” He tilts his head in confusion. “And you hate mushrooms.”

I scrunch my eyebrows. “How do you know that?” Better question is why does he know that?

He shrugs. “I just do.” He lifts a bag in his hand that I did not notice until now.

“I brought you some food.” Aiden walks into the kitchen and grabs the plates. Unlike Joey, he already knows where the plates are, even though I haven’t had him over yet.

“How do you know—” I start to ask, but he cuts me off.

“Where are you with my case?” Straight to business as usual, I see. He opens the bag of food and pulls out sushi. I can get down with that.

“I am still looking into things. I am getting familiar with how Eden works, talking to your co-workers, going through paperwork, and other things. I’m really trying to see where we are at.”

“What do you mean where we are?” He doesn’t look up from organizing the food onto the plate in neat rows.

It takes everything in me not to get frustrated. “It’s only my second day as your attorney. So, I meant what I just said—trying to figure out where we are at with your case. There’s two ways to approach this. One, accept that you did it and come up with a reasonable defense. Or two, deny any of it is your fault and prove that it wasn’t.”

Aiden tilts his head. “Is that possible?”

“I’m not sure. You said that you swore you saw the correct name that day. It is possible it could have been a glitch in the system or something.”

He scoffs as he places the plate of food on the table in front of me. “The chances of it being that is like point zero five percent.”

I nod my head. “Exactly. There is point zero five percent of it being a glitch. Which means I am exploring it.”

“I’m not so sure that is the best argument to go with.”

I give him an annoyed look. “Listen, let me break this down for you, since you don't seem to understand the position you are in. But after this bite.” I put a little wasabi on it, dip it into the soy sauce, then take a bite. At the taste, I close my eyes and groan in satisfaction. It is my favorite type—spicy tuna roll. When I am done appreciating my little bite of heaven, I open my eyes and see Aiden staring at me.

“What?”

He blinks a couple of times. “Nothing. I was just daydreaming of when you’ll tell me how you can solve this case and leave.”