I shut my eyes and lay back against the cushion, wishing I could fall asleep.
“Aubrey?” Someone shook my shoulder just as I was drifting away.
“Yes?” I opened my eyes. It was Jessica.
“I’ve been looking for you forever. Mr. Hamilton wants to speak with you.”
I raised my eyebrow. “More coffee?”
“Probably.” She shrugged. “He’s been a bit off lately. Just come on, you don’t want to make him angry.” She held the door open and I stood up, making my way past her.
I debated whether I should even go to his office. Then again, seeing the look on his face as I said, “Fuck you. I quit.” was too good of an experience to pass up. I forced a smile and knocked on his door.
“Come in.” His voice was stern.
I slipped inside, expecting to see him holding an empty coffee cup, but he was sitting at his desk–glaring at me.
“Have a seat,” he said.
I sat in front of his desk, waiting for him to scold me about something, to unleash more of his seemingly bipolar tendencies, but he didn’t. He just kept staring at me.
I hated the effect he was having on my body right now, and as much as I wanted to ask him what the hell he wanted, I couldn’t get my mouth to say a thing.
Without addressing me, he suddenly stood up and walked around his desk, sitting on the edge of it, letting his knees touch mine.
“Lawyers are supposed to be people with integrity, are they not?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“Do you think you have integrity, Miss Everhart?” He emphasized every syllable of my name.
“Yes.”
“Hmmm.” He leaned forward. “So, would you ever willingly withhold the truth from someone you supposedly cared about?”
“It depends...” My breath hitched in my throat; my heart was racing a mile a minute.
“It depends?” He sat back a bit. “It depends on what?”
“If the truth would damage anything or hurt someone unnecessarily, then I believe I have a right to withhold it.”
“But what if someone blatantly asked you for the truth, several times? What if he said, I want you to tell me the truth no matter how much it hurts, or how angry it may make me?”
Where is he going with this? “Are you referring to a potential witness changing his testimony on the stand, Mr. Hamilton?”
“No...” He trailed his fingers across my collarbone, setting my nerves on fire. “This is a personal inquiry. I’m just in need of an outside opinion. Answer the question.”
“Well, I think—” I sucked in a breath as he placed his hand on my thigh and strummed his fingers against my skirt. “I think certain lies have to be told, and certain truths have to be withheld. The ultimate conviction is up to those who can discern which is which.”
“So, you believe in reasonable doubt?”
“In certain cases, yes...”
“What about in our case?” His hand was slowly slipping underneath my skirt, traveling further and further up my thigh.
“Our case?”
“Yes,” he said. “I believe you and I are currently in an unfortunate web of deceit.”
“No...” I said, breathless and confused. “We’re not in a web of deceit...”
“We definitely are, Alyssa—" He pulled me forward by the strand of pearls around my neck. "It’s the case of a woman who befriended me online, but she turned out to be someone completely different than who she told me she was. So, in this case—our case, how do you feel about reasonable doubt?”
Gasping, I could feel all the color draining from my face. My heart wasn’t racing anymore; it was flailing around wildly—ready to jump out of my chest, and my eyes were as wide as they could go.
“You were very good at covering your tracks for such a long time, so I’ll give you that,” he said. “But I thought we thoroughly discussed how I felt about liars. Did we not?”
I murmured as he tightened his grip on my pearls, as he pulled me so close that we were lip to lip.
"Do you plan on answering me, Aubrey? Are you tired of this fucking charade?"
“I never thought that...” I was stuttering, trying to look away from him, but his grip prevented me from moving. "I am so sorry..."
He didn't say anything further. He stared into my eyes, searching for something that wasn't there. Then he lowered his voice, and leaned back. "Once someone lies to me they're dead to me forever. Do you remember me saying that?"
"Yes..."
"So, you’ve always been willing to lose our friendship over lies?"
"I never wanted to meet you in person...”