He looked at me, and our eyes met, and that seemed to snap him out of it. “Noah,” I said. “Please, stop. Just stop. It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”
His breath was coming in ragged gasps, but I could tell he was coming back, he was calming down. I kept my eyes on his, my hand on his arm. I wanted to pull him close, to wrap my arms around him, to tell him everything was going to be okay, but I didn’t dare do that in front of Professor Worthington. From down by the barriers, the policemen had turned to see what the commotion was.
“It’s fine!” Professor Worthington yelled down to them. “Everything’s fine.” The police shook their heads and went back to guarding the barrier. A couple of police cars were pulling up on the other side, two men in suits climbing out of them. They must have been the detectives who were going to be cataloging the crime scene.
“Took them long enough,” Professor Worthington grumbled. He turned to Josh. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Josh said, a track of his cockiness back, now that he could see there was no immediate threat. “I’m fine.”
Professor Worthington looked at Noah and shook his head. “I don’t have to tell you how ridiculously stupid it was to show up at a murder scene when you know you’re going to be a person of interest. And beyond that, it was even more stupid to get into a physical altercation with a member of your defense team. In front of cops.”
“I told you I didn’t want him working on my case,” Noah said. “And I stand by that.”
“He’s not going to be working directly with you,” Professor Worthington explained.
“Mr. Cutler,” I said, hoping my voice sounded professional. “I can assure you that Josh will behave with the upmost professionalism.” I gave Noah a warning look. The last thing I wanted was Josh on this case. He was my competition, not to mention a complete and total pervert. But it was already clear that something inappropriate was going on with Noah and I, and it was going to look even worse for me, and for Noah, if Josh got thrown off the case – Professor Worthington would be even more annoyed than he was when I suggested I could handle everything myself. He might even fire me.
Noah’s jaw set in a straight line, and a vein pulsed in his neck. I could tell it was taking every last ounce of his self-control not to insist Josh be thrown off the case. Finally, he shook his head.
“Whatever,” he said. He turned and started walking away.
I stared after him as he retreated, fighting the urge to follow.
“Charlotte,” Worthington said. “Go with him.” He gave me that knowing look again, the one he’d given me at the police station when Noah had called me into his limo. He knew there was something going on between me and Noah, probably not exactly what it was, but he knew there was something. And he didn’t care. I thought about telling him no, about saying it wasn’t my job to babysit our client. But of course it was my job, at least to some extent.
I was a law student. I was lucky to even be working on this case, and even though I would have preferred to be working on it in some other aspect, if Professor Worthington wanted me to go after Noah, then I had to go after Noah.
You want to go after him.
I raced down the path toward Noah, who was striding through the trees, taking a short cut back toward the main road. There were sirens in the distance now, and I could hear the voices of the detectives turning up at the crime scene.
“Noah!” I called, but he just kept walking, not even turning around to acknowledge me. “Noah! I know you can hear me,” I grumbled as I struggled to keep up with him.
Finally, when we got onto the sidewalk, he turned around. “What the fuck was that?” he demanded.
“What the fuck was what?”
“The whole ‘Josh will behave professionally’ bullshit.”
I shook my head. “I had to say that! This is my job, Noah. I can’t look bad in front of Professor Worthington.”
“Well, maybe I’ll fire him, too, then,” Noah seethed. He turned and started walking down the sidewalk, dodging in and out of the Sunday walkers, who weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere. They were strolling along, bags full of things from the farmer’s market, coffees in hand, enjoying the day. Noah almost ran into a man holding a box of doughnuts.
“Noah!” I yelled. “Noah, stop!”
He slowed down, but just barely.
“Noah,” I said. “I understand you’re upset. I would be, too. Katie just died, which I’m sure has been traumatic. And then you had to come and see Josh there. But firing Professor Worthington isn’t the answer. You’re going to need him, now more than ever.”