Practice Makes Perfect - By Julie James Page 0,100
look. “Nice speech.”
“Thanks. I worked on it while you were on the phone.”
J.D. cocked his head in the direction of the hallway behind them. “Shall we?”
“Yes.” Unable to help herself, Payton’s eyes went to the pocket of Ben’s jacket where he had stashed the envelope.
J.D. laughed and held out his hand. “Come on, cupcake—let’s go.”
Payton threw him a look. “I can’t believe you just called me that in front of the entire office.”
She took his hand, and side by side they walked through the office corridor, past their offices, to the elevators and the exit.
J.D. smiled. “I told you, it’s endearing.”
“No, it’s paternalistic and quasi-sexist. I can’t think of one comparable name a woman can call a man.”
“I know. That’s what makes it so great.”
Et cetera.
AS SOON AS the doors shut, the office broke into complete pandemonium. Of primary concern, of course, was the betting pool, and how to address the issue of the double forfeiture.
The Kendall camp, led by Laney, duly noted that Payton’s statement to Ben had been “I resign, too,” evidencing that J.D. had, in fact, resigned first, thus making Payton the de facto winner, even if only for a few brief moments.
The Jameson faction, however—headed by Tyler and relying upon secretly procured hearsay testimony from one of the members of the Partnership Committee who had been inside Ben’s office—argued that although J.D. had attempted to resign first, Payton had demanded that said withdrawal of employment not be accepted, thus her statement to Ben of “I resign, too” was, in fact, the first and only official resignation, making J.D. the winner.
In the midst of the chaos, Marie, Ben’s secretary, walked up to him and whispered that he had a phone call.
“Take a message,” Ben barked. Whoever it was, it could wait.
Marie looked uncertain. “He insisted on speaking with you immediately.”
Ben wasn’t in the mood. “Deal with it, whoever it is,” he said, brushing past her.
“It’s Jasper Conroy.”
Ben stopped in his tracks.
They couldn’t have.
He nodded to Marie. “I’ll take it.” Not wanting to waste another minute, he headed into his office. He saw the blinking light on his phone and immediately picked up the receiver.
“Jasper! Good to hear from you. How are things down in Palm Beach?”
Jasper’s drawl came over the other end of the line. “Ben—glad I caught ya. Listen, I’ve been thinking lately about doing a little restructuring of Gibson’s trial team . . . I’m concerned that we’re leveraged a little too heavily on the lawyer side. So I’ve decided to take my business elsewhere, to a smaller firm.”
Ben looked up at the ceiling. “And who might that be?”
“A new outfit, actually. Just got the call today, sayin’ that they’re open for business.”
“Jasper, you can’t seriously be con—”
“Loyalty, Ben—I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today without it. That’s something you might want to look into.”
“Don’t be an idiot just to prove a point, Jasper. You can’t hand them over a two-hundred-million-dollar case.”
“Oh, I think I can,” Jasper said. “I told you, I’ve got a feelin’ about those two. I think you’re gonna be seeing big, big things from them.” He chuckled. “Catch you around, Ben. Oh, yeah—and thanks for the introduction.”
Ben heard the click as Jasper hung up. He set the phone back in its cradle and stared at it.
They really did it.
Son of a bitch.
AS SOON AS the elevator doors shut behind them, Payton faced J.D., rubbing her hands together eagerly. “So. We’re going to have to hire associates right away. How many do you think we need to start? Five?”
“Ten.”
“Hmm . . . you’re probably right,” she mused. “I certainly don’t plan for Jasper to be our only client for long. As soon as we file a motion to substitute counsel for Gibson’s, people will want to know who we are.”
J.D. leaned back against the elevator railing. “We can release a short press statement with our contact information.”
“Which means we also need office space and an administrative staff,” Payton noted.
“I’m sure we can get Irma and Kathy to come over—they’ll be enough to cover us for the short term.”
Payton nodded. “Yes. Good. Okay.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
J.D. raised an eyebrow. “Any second thoughts?”
Payton shook her head definitively. “None.” A lot had happened in the last few minutes and she was still trying to process it all. She reached up and tugged the lapels of J.D.’s suit. “You’re so calm.”
“And I plan to stay that way, at least for the next few weeks. Not