Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(15)

“Let me rephrase this for you, city girl. I am going to lunch.” He pointed to himself before pointing to the door. “You will need to leave.”

“Are you saying you close the entire place for your lunch?” I started to collect the piles of paper, knowing the battle was lost and probably shouldn’t have been fought in the first place.

“Today I am.” He shrugged his shoulders, his voice void of the hostility I felt. I couldn’t place what had just changed but something had. We were no longer having a power battle, we were talking. What the hey?

“Why do you make this so difficult for me?” I asked during our new found truce. I had the police reports stacked up nicely and the second pile, which I had yet to open, was ready to go.

“You need to follow rules and be less difficult.” He took the second pile from my outstretched hand. He wasn’t wrong. But to be fair he was just as much of a jackass. I think.

“Sorry.” I meant it. I didn’t know what had turned me into the jerk I accused him of being. “I just really need this to work.”

“What to work?” He leaned against the door frame as if he had all the time in the world, contrary to the get out talk we had had only moments earlier.

“This is my thesis for class, but also my ticket to a scholarship,” I confessed. It was so much more than an assignment. It was everything.

“For?”

“For law school.”

“So you don’t plan to stay here?” It was such an odd question, and he leaned forward slightly as he asked it as if what I said mattered. Small towns were strange.

“No, of course not. Why would I?”

“No reason.” He shrugged while pushing off of the door frame.

“So can I stay and finish?”

“No.” And Liam the jerk was back. He stepped out of the door way before turning around and adding, “But I’m back at one.” So maybe he was only a partial jerk.

“Did we just have a conversation?” I teased before he left completely. Friendly banter could lead to a much better week.

“I think we did. I wasn’t trying to be a jackass.” He meant the words, I could feel it. What an odd little man, and not really little as much as just not tall. I let our initial interactions cloud my view of him. Not that I liked him, but he was less awful than I initially believed.

“And I wasn’t trying to be a bitch. This is just really important to me. If I can get things figured out, I can be out of your hair sooner?” It came out as a question and the two of us both knew what I was really asking: would he give me a hand instead of file-blocking me at every turn.

“Why this case?” He caught my eyes and I knew that if I broke contact, I would lose him. I also knew that I was a craptastic liar under pressure and if I held his eye contact he would likely see my deceit. I kept his gaze and went for a simple lie. They say those work the best.

“No reason. It just caught my attention and I knew most people were picking big cases everyone already knew.” Just enough truth to be semi believable. Or so I hoped. Everyone else was picking big cases and looking over the past recipients of the scholarship cases never won. The no reason part was a ginormous lie though, so I gave myself a twenty-five percent chance of him believing me.

“Five minutes and then you have to go.” Gruff, bossy little man Liam was back. He sensed my dishonesty, darn his perception.

“Weirdest conversation ever,” I mumbled to myself, pretty much trying to buy myself time to think of the best next move. I didn’t need to buy myself time though because he stomped down the hall, as if wanting me to know he was gone and displeased.

Liam seemed to actually kind of not hate me one minute and then wish I would disappear the next. Nothing I could do about it now. I had five minutes to figure out something because if I were a gambling lady I would guess that all of these files would need to be checked back in before I left, meaning I would have to check them out again after I got back, wasting a ton of time.

What was it about Miriam that had me in a quandary? I shuffled through the papers once again, stumped as ever. Liam called out a two minute warning, and I gave up, stacking the papers into their appropriate files. I jotted down the name of each file, hoping to cut down on time once I got back from lunch. Knowing Liam at least had a little bit of a human side made giving them up easier. I wished I hadn’t agreed to the no picture rule because snapping pictures of all the files would give me time to work on them during his break. Boo on rules and turning my phone off and placing it on the shelf as requested.

Before he could call out his final “you need to be out of here” warning, I scampered to the door, the remaining files in hand. He was definitely a honey over vinegar kind of person, sadly he ruffled my feathers and my vinegar tried to come out. He really wasn’t even that bad though. Maybe I just needed more coffee. Like a gallon.

“Here are the files. Do I need to check them all back in or can I leave them with you until I return?” Please say I’ll hold them aside.

“I need to refile them. Rules.” Ah yes, rules seemed to be huge in his world. I should have known. I did know, but a girl can dream.

“Rules.” I gave a hand wave as if brushing the entire thing to the side. “Thanks anyways. I’m going to the diner. Would you like me to bring you something back?” He looked puzzled by my offer. It was more the way I was raised mixed with a whole lotta kissing ass than it was kindness. He should see that, but instead he just stared. “Their cake looked good.”