Empire of Desire(Empire #1)(37)

And she’s looming over my desk, even though her height doesn’t really give her that luxury. Her aura does, though. It’s dark, like pitch-black. And her poker face doesn’t help.

“You called for me?” I ask.

“Yes. Follow me.”

“To where?”

“Less talking and more working, would you?”

I want to ask her who she is, but she’s already walking away and I have no choice but to go after her. What’s with people telling me to follow them today?

We take the elevator to the IT department. I squint, absolutely clueless about all the machines and things lying around. Jeez. If I get lost in this place, I’ll never find my way out.

There are a few guys typing away and staring at a million screens. I guess a big firm like W&S does need this much protection. I’m kind of impressed by their support work. The lawyers get all the credit, but without the IT techs, the firm will crumble.

The short girl leads me to a computer off to the side and sits in front of it, then motions at a chair beside her. “Sit down.”

I do, still unsure about what’s going on. Now that I study her closer, she looks younger than I thought. Maybe a few years older than me, but she’s definitely in her twenties.

She retrieves a log and drops it on the table in front of me. Despite her outside demeanor, she has a very soft, feminine voice. “Help me sort through those case dates. I’m creating a chart.”

“Uh, I think you got the wrong person. I’m interning for—”

She types away at rapid speed, her full attention on the screen. “I don’t care who you intern for. You’re interning, and that means you can help instead of daydreaming.”

She saw me daydreaming. Yikes. That must be why she picked me.

“I’m a pre-law, though. I really don’t know how I can help with IT.”

“They teach you how to read in college, right? The time you’ve spent complaining could’ve been used to get some work done.”

“Fine, you don’t have to be so snarky.” I open the log. “I’m Gwen. What’s your name?”

“Jane. Now, work.”

It’s actually a lot more fun than I thought. I help her in making lists of cases by year and she makes charts for them that can be sorted alphabetically, by lawyer, by nature, by docket number, and even by judge.

And she does it so fast that I’m a little ashamed it took me hours to go through the files Nate gave me. It was the hostile looks from the other interns, maybe. Jane, however, makes me motivated to work.

“That is so beautiful.” I motion at the result on the screen, but Jane doesn’t even crack a smile, just continues on as if her fingers are fluid and all they know is the colorful keyboard.

“Doing needless things again, Plain Jane?” a guy with frameless glasses asks as he stands beside us. He’s one of the techs who were sitting in front of the screens earlier.

His friend, who’s wearing a tacky flannel shirt, joins him, laughing.

“I get bored when I finish my tasks earlier than you, boys,” she says without looking at them, and I can tell it pisses them off, because they’re not smiling anymore.

“Screw you,” the flannel shirt guy says.

“You might want to pick your dignity up off the floor before you say that,” I say. Standing up for injustice is instinct for me. No clue who I take after for that. It sure as hell isn’t my dad, though, because he only believes in merciless justice. He thinks normal justice is weak and useless.

“And who the fuck are you?” frameless glasses guy asks.

I guess no one in IT really knows what’s going on in the rest of W&S. Because all the junior associates and interns recognized me. Or, at least, most of them did.

I lift my chin. “Jane’s friend.”

“Whatever.” He rolls his eyes and leaves.

“Assholes.” I punch the air after them.

Jane’s manic tapping stops for a second and she tilts her head to stare at me. It’s a bit creepy with how her hair drops to one side as well. “Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

“That I’m your friend.”

“Because they were being jerks. I’m allergic to those.” Even though I married one.

“I don’t need you to stand up for me.”

“Sorry, but I can’t stay quiet when things like that happen.”

“If you keep it up, you’ll end up getting hurt one day.”

“One day isn’t today.” I stand and twist my neck, then move my legs to get the blood circulating to my toes. “Let’s go get lunch.”

She opens a drawer and retrieves one of those sandwiches you get from the convenience store. “I have my lunch right here.”

“That’s not called lunch. Let’s get a real one.” I reach for it and she catches my hand so fast, I flinch.

“Don’t touch my computer.”

“I was going for the sandwich.”

Her hold slowly eases from around my wrist. I massage the skin as it quickly turns red.

“Wow, you guys are super possessive of your computers, huh?”

She pushes her glasses back with the heel of her palm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”