“Alyssa...” He was begging.
I was seconds away from coming, seconds away from screaming “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
“Promise me you’ll let me fuck you in two weeks...”
As if my mouth was under his command, it freed my bottom lip and prepared to say yes, but I hung up.
Keeping my eyes shut, I lay in bed and let the waves of an orgasm roll through me as I screamed the three yeses he couldn’t hear. When I finally stopped shaking, I rolled over and grabbed a pillow, pulling it to my chest.
Before I could force myself to sleep, I heard my phone ringing beneath me.
It was a text from Thoreau. “I’ll take that as a yes. Fourteen days.”
Burden of Proof (n.):
The obligation to prove or disprove a disputed fact.
Andrew
“Did I tell you that I landed the leading role for that ballet I auditioned for?” Alyssa said to me the next morning.
I’d been talking to her since I arrived at work, but I’d made no mention of the fact that she’d hung up in my face last night; I was going to punish her for that later. Severely.
Thirteen days...
“Did I tell you about it?” she asked again.
“No, and if you’re not going to tell me when and where the show is, then I don’t care.”
“Oh, wow.” She laughed. “You’re mad about last night, aren’t you?”
“Furious.”
“Because I hung up?”
“Because I know you screamed yes when you came, and you hung up because you didn’t want me to hear it.”
She was silent, and I was about to say something else, but Jessica suddenly stepped into my office, smiling at me.
“Hold on one second.” I put my phone against my chest. “Yes, Jessica?”
“The final interviews are going to start in twenty minutes. They need you in the conference room now.”
“I’ll get there when I get there.” I acted as if the kiss she was now blowing me wasn’t happening, and waited until she closed the door. “I’ll have to call you back later, Alyssa. I have a meeting.”
“Must be bad timing for both of us. I have a meeting, too.”
“Your doomed gunshot client?”
“No, something much worse. An intern interview.”
“Must be in the air then.” I sighed as I slipped into my jacket. “I have to sit through a few of them myself, unfortunately.”
“Any advice you want to share?”
“Try to look like you’re actually paying attention while they answer the questions, and make sure your cell phone is fully charged so you can get on the internet.”
“Not for me.” She laughed. “For the interns. Something I should say if one of them is nervous.”
“Oh.” I shrugged. “Tell them my motto.”
“And what motto would that be?”
“It is what it is.”
“Why do I ever ask you anything?”
“Because I always tell you the truth.” I hung up.
“Mr. Hamilton?” Jessica stepped into my office again. “They want you to look over the files before they begin.”
“I’m right behind you.” I followed her into the conference room, where Will Greenwood and George Bach were waiting, and I sat next to them.
“Good to see you out of your office today, Andrew.” Will laughed.
“Yeah,” George added. “Thank you for bestowing your presence upon us this afternoon. We know how much you love being sociable.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why do the three of us need to conduct intern interviews? What’s the purpose of having an HR department if the partners do their job for them?”
“This is a family, Andrew.” Mr. Greenwood spoke sternly. “Whether it’s an intern, the secretary, or the young man who stays overnight and cleans this office, I want everyone to feel like they’re a part of a huge family. Don’t you?”
“I’m not answering that,” I said. “How many are we picking this year?”
“Not too many.” Will slid me a folder. “We have our top five picks. We just need to narrow it down to three. Two from law school, one from pre-law. We’ll add two more next semester.”
“Hmmm.” I pulled out the applications and pretended to pay attention as the two of them went over each applicant’s achievements.
“Okay, Jessica!” Will pressed the intercom button. “You can send in the first applicant!”
When the door opened, I expected to see the usual plainly dressed stiff with a wooden smile, but the woman who stepped inside was far from that. Dressed in a light grey dress that clung to her hips and a pair of nude high heels, she was one of the sexiest women I’d ever seen; I couldn’t take my eyes off her.