Acts of Desperation(10)

I walked toward Dee’s desk to collect my messages and smoothed the creases from my silk blouse just as Jax straightened up and turned to me. I took a few more steps hoping to give him a little show then my heel snagged on one of the loops of the industrial, gray Berber carpeting, and I tripped.

I stumbled like a new born calf taking its first steps and grasped at any hope of stability. Finally, when all was lost, I gave up and went down—hard. My hands landed wide, and I was paralyzed for a second trying to figure out what had happened. Jax was quickly at my side and helping me up as a strange sensation crept over my body—I was so hot I almost felt cold. I rationalized that this had to be some new kind of physical reaction to embarrassment since I wasn’t spontaneously combusting on the spot despite my silent prayers.

“Well that was embarrassing,” I said under my breath. You probably could have lit a match off my cheeks. “Thanks.”

Jax looked at me then his eyes drifted down to my chest, and he stifled a laugh before looking down to the floor. “I think you lost something.”

“What?” I said, glancing down. “Oh my God!” I said and frantically grabbed at my shirt. Apparently, when I landed, I’d popped one of my pearl buttons and was displaying all of my assets…and my very sensible nude bra.

He released a subtle chuckle. “I’ll just let you take care of that.” He nodded his head. “Ladies,” he said before walking down the hall.

I waited until he was out of range. “Oh God, Dee…did that just happen?”

“Emm hmm,” she said then released the laughed she’d been suppressing. “Here, I think I have a safety pin in my drawer that you can use to keep your blouse shut for the rest of the day.” She dug through her desk drawer and came up with a pin.

I awkwardly fumbled to close my blouse and thanked Dee then strolled back to my office rolling my eyes. My day carried on without further incident, and when I wrapped everything up, I stayed at my desk and made out my grocery list. By the time I stepped out of my office, only a few lights were still on in the hallway. The sun had set hours before making it feel deceptively late. Except for a phone ringing in an office somewhere down the hall and hearing the faint rumble of Jax’s deep, gravelly voice, the floor was mostly quiet as well. It looked like Jax had taken over the oversized office a few doors down from mine.

I shut my door and started walking down the hall. I got halfway to the elevator when I heard Jax say my name—and there was just something about the sound of it rolling off his tongue.

“Sember,” he repeated a little louder.

I took a deep breath and turned. “Yes?”

He walked up to me and gave me a once over with his eyes, and my heart beat a little faster. “Would you—”

“Jax, Rittger’s office is on the line and they sound pissed,” Evan said leaning out of Jax’s office. Evan was another attorney at the firm. He was tall and slender and everything about him screamed lawyer. His short mousy-brown hair was a bit too poufy but held firmly in place with lots of hairspray. I guessed that he was somewhere in his mid-forties judging by the hint of gray highlighting his temples. His pleated pants always hit at just the top of his black, shiny wingtips, and I often thought he could use just one more inch of length to avoid the “where’s the flood” look. On the several occasions that I’d spoken with him though, he gave me the impression that he was a pretty decent lawyer.

Jax looked back at him. “Give me just a second. I’ll be right there.”

“Sorry man, I don’t think this can wait,” he said. I thought good lawyer or not, his timing was terrible.

He sighed then he turned to me. “Um, have a good night,” he said, and my heart sank.

“You too,” I said. “I hope they’re not too mad.” I nudged my head in Evan’s direction, who was smiling pleasantly at me.

“If I’m doing my job right, they should be.” He smirked. “See you tomorrow.”





Chapter Six


The next morning, I headed out early to beat the traffic and to keep from disturbing Liz. I picked up a café mocha at the coffee shop in my building and grabbed a salad to tuck away till lunch. I couldn’t get Jax out of my mind, and despite repeated trips to the bathroom, the water cooler, and the lounge, trying to bump into him, I never did; it must have been a busy day in court.

Just after lunch, I got a text from Sarah asking me to come to Will’s soccer practice because my parents weren’t able to go. It had become the norm that my parents had to accompany Sarah almost everywhere if Anders was going to be there. He’d become aggressive and used various methods of intimidation to attempt to bully her into calling off the divorce. He’d been bitter about it from the beginning.

In a conversation with my mom in the past months, she’d described to me one scene that she’d witnessed. Anders had cornered Sarah after a soccer practice. He never touched her but backed her up against a video game and screamed in her face. My mom said his face was beet red, inches from Sarah’s, and even when tears were streaming down her cheeks, he didn’t back off. My mom had to take the children to the bathroom so they didn’t see it, and my dad had to pull Anders away from Sarah. Sarah was terrified of Anders, and my parents and I had grown more and more concerned for her safety.