I'm unable to control the flow of words coming out of my mouth at this point, and Carlton is looking at me with a stunned expression. “Did you expect I would just cower when you came at me with these accusations? Because if so, you accused the wrong person. And yes, I did start a relationship with Gryphon James, but that happened before I even started working here, and now both the case, and the relationship are over. We did nothing illegal, nothing wrong, and I will not stand here and be berated like some wayward nun because I had sex with a man who turned out to be a client.”
Carlton snorts his displeasure. “We hardly expected you to be a nun, Odell. We just didn’t want to hire a slut, either.”
My father looks at him sharply, but I hold my finger out to stop him. This is my battle, and I am going to fight it myself. “Lastly,” I continue, “I'd like to say that I'm finished with this. I'm done with the sabotage, the thinly-veiled insults, the misogyny, the sexism. And most of all I'm finished with you, Carlton. You don't have to try to fire me, because I quit. And what's more, when you see what I make of myself on my own, without any help from my father, or this firm, you're going to be very sorry you saw me go.
I start to grab my things, but instead warm to my subject. “Furthermore,” I continue, my voice getting quieter and more vehement. “I can't believe that our firm would be so low as to take on a client only to prefer he lose his case and perhaps even go to jail, rather than to lose money. Sabrina Forbes has been proven to be an irresponsible blackmailer! No matter who she is related to, that is a complete injustice! What happened to you?” I ask. “Did you forget about justice? About honor?” I look at each of their faces in turn, even my father's. He's the only one who is smiling. Is he happy I'm losing my job?
They're all quiet. Whether Carlton and the other partners are dumbfounded or filled with rage, I can't say, but regardless, they don't answer me. I take my finger off the cell phone button, deciding to keep my iPhone evidence against Carlton for myself. If I ever go after him, it won’t be like this. It won’t be vindictive. I’m a lawyer, and I will think it through.
“I'm out of here.” I grab my bag roughly, and walk out of a Smith Williams Smith meeting for the last time, sure of one thing: that I want whatever world my child grows up in to be better than the prejudiced one I've gotten to know here. Once I get to my car, I reach in my bag to look at the pregnancy test I stuffed into it before going to the meeting. That little plastic stick has changed my life. But it's nowhere to be found.
Can this day get any worse?
20
Gryphon
“Yes, coach,” I say. He pretty much always says the same thing, “The team is my number one priority.” It's true. I have to do my best to put Odell out of my mind. I'm clearly not in hers, and football is the one thing that has always been there for me. It's first. Number one. Gotta concentrate on winning some games.
Just then the coach's daughter comes in the room.
“Hey, you're—”
“Meet Gryphon James, Alexa,” Coach says. “This is my daughter. Don't get any ideas.” She's tall, blonde and stunning. Normally I wouldn't be able to stop getting ideas, but now it seems I’d have to force some. A woman like that holds no appeal for me anymore, despite the way she’s looking at me. Now I want more. Now I want Odell.
“Hey there,” I answer, forcing myself to smile that kind of smile that always makes the ladies cream their panties.
“It's nice to finally meet you,” she says, walking right over to me and picking an imaginary piece of lint off my chest before exaggeratedly brushing it away. “You're a superstar. My daddy always talks about you.” She looks up at me with her cornflower-blue eyes wide. “Always! It's Gryphon James this, and Gryphon James that. It seems you're pretty … exceptional.” She looks down my body and up again. “I bet it's true, in many ways.” How on earth is she saying this in front of her father, I wonder? No shame.
“Don't believe everything you hear,” I say, stepping back. This girl seems like trouble, even if she weren’t the coach’s daughter. I wish I could forget that Odell ever walked into my life, and took over my heart. Odell's just got a hold on me, or maybe my dick, and no amount of push-up bras and short shorts are going to change that. I just have to ride it out.
“Oh I don't,” she says coolly. “I’d like to find out for myself.”
“That's enough Alexa,” Coach interjects. “Griff, you're dismissed. Go run some laps.”
“Will do.” I get up slowly. My body's a little stiff after the last game, but my cock definitely isn’t from looking at this little cheesecake Alexa. It’s weird, since I just think of Odell for two seconds, and I am hard as a rock. Harder.
“Later, Coach,” I say.
“Bye Griffy!” his daughter adds in a singsong. What a little mess she is. Now I can see at least one reason Coach is so stressed all the time. Maybe I should mention her to Drake, if the guy’s so hard up.
Ah well maybe in a few months I'll be in the mood to give her what she wants. Once I'm over this Odell thing.
But I doubt it.
Anyway. From now on I have to listen to Coach. I need to win. And that's all. Train hard, be smart, call the right plays, and build my team. Eye on the prize.
So why does my heart keep telling me the prize is Odell?
21
Odell
Sandra hands me a beer, but I decline, claiming I’m on a diet. She looks at me strangely. “I wish you had’ve told me before—now I have to drink them both!”
“Like that's such a problem for you, Sandra!” I laugh at her. “You can double-fist some beers with the best of them.”
Sandra keeps her mouth shut, but she's still looking at me. Lizzie elbows her.
“No worries, we can share,” Lizzie says. But Sandra keeps her eye on me.
We're in the stands at the stadium. It's a lot different than being in the luxury box—more fun since we can hear the crowd all around us going crazy for Griff and the rest of the team. The buzz in the air is electric, and a smile grows on my face when I hear people praise the quarterback, knowing that his child is growing in my belly. There's something about that feeling that lets me know that everything is going to be okay somehow, and it's not because of what’s going to happen to me. It’s because I am going to make it okay. There is no way that I won't fight like hell for this little girl or boy to have the best life, whether Griff wants to be part of it or not. I also know that with our genes, the little one will be a champ in whatever he or she chooses to do. I’m also determined to make his or her upbringing better than the one I had myself.
“This is a blast!” Liz says happily, obliviously. “Thanks for inviting me!” She's munching nachos and passing them around, and I take a couple.
“So you’ll take nachos, but no beer, huh,” Sandra says. “That’s an odd... diet,” she says knowingly.
“You missed your calling, girl. You should be a detective, not a lawyer.” I say softly enough that Lizzie won’t hear.
“I knew it!” she whispers, her voice excited. Her smile is radiant. “When are you due?”
“I don't know yet.” My eyes are trained on the field now.
“What are you guys going on about?” Lizzie asks, crunching away at her plate of nachos.
“Oh, Odell thinks she might go on vacation,” says Sandra. “I was just asking her when.”
“Ooh, where are you going to go?” Lizzie's interested now.
“Not sure,” I improvise. “Someplace warm, with a lot of hot men?”
“Well seems to me that's where we are now!” She gestures to the players. “There are tons of hotties here! Just look around the field! I don’t know about you guys, but I think that Gryphon James is one of the sexiest men alive. That body, that face, he’s perfect! Too bad I’m taken or I’d hit that shit—if I could get near it!”
“Well, that's interesting you say that Liz,” I admit. “Because I was dating him for a bit. We’re kind of on and off, I guess.”
“No way!' She's genuinely impressed. “You have to tell us—what’s he like in bed?” she leans toward me.
“Potent,” Sandra answers matter-of-factly. “Extremely potent.”
I snort as Liz leans back and nods to herself. “Just as I would expect. A hot dude like that, I bet he is.”
“Aren't you married, with a kid, Lizzie?” Sandra teases her.
“Married, not buried!” She grins.
“So you're not still dating?” Sandra asks me.
“I don't know, honestly,” I admit. “It's gotten complicated. And what with quitting my new job—”
“You quit!?” Lizzie exclaims. “What? Didn’t you just get this job? How come I miss everything?” We laugh.
“Yeah, I did quit, but I have a different dream now,” I explain.
“What is it?” Sandra asks.
“I’ve decided I’m going to start my own firm,” I say firmly. “And its mission will be to make lives better for girls and women in my profession, and maybe one day, all professions. The sky’s the limit. Anyway, I have a lot on the go that I want to make work, and I can’t concentrate on dating when I’ve got that on my mind.”