“Sure. I’ll check my email while I wait.”
Addison pointed to the open chairs while she took her seat back at her desk. “Sit wherever.”
I sat off to the right in the corner chair to give Addison space to work and pulled out my phone.
There was a message from my assistant, Derek.
Derek: Another letter came.
I took in a deep breath, counted to five, and exhaled.
Me: What does it say?
Derek: Same as all the others.
Me: Throw it away.
Derek: Are you sure, Little Miss Don’t Ever Get Rid of Evidence?
Me: I’m sure.
Derek: Okay. You’re the boss.
Me: Call me if anything else comes up.
I closed the Messages app and opened my email. I didn’t want to think about Derek’s texts. I had wrongly assumed that when my last case was over, the troubles that went with it would also end.
But I wasn’t going to focus on that right now. I was on vacation. That stuff could wait until I got back to work.
I hoped anyway.
Turning my thoughts to something I could control, I started reading my email. I was a few in when I heard the front door open.
“Addison busy?” It was Maddox’s voice.
I grinned. Even if Maddox was not the type of guy I would ever date, I really liked him and thought of him as a friend and not just the husband of a friend.
But I lost my smile when he walked in and I saw he wasn’t alone.
His friend Tommy—aka Flash—was with him, and I was immediately transported back to the first time I had met him back when I was defending Maddox for assault and attempted murder.
Addison and I were in her office. Addison was behind her desk, and I was sitting in front of her with my feet up on her desk while I watched the news on my laptop. The night before, Maddox and his two friends, Thomas Morelli and Evan Malone, had rescued a mom and son from her ex-husband, who had come back to town and attacked her.
Addison and I were discussing Maddox’s case and this new development when the front door opened. Addison looked up and watched through the doorway. I went back to my computer, half-listening to the conversation in the other room.
“Hey, Serena,” Maddox said.
“Hey, Uncle Maddox.”
“Guys, this is my niece, Serena.”
“Hi,” she said.
“Serena, this is Tommy, and this is Evan. I used to work with them.”
“Nice to meet you,” one of them said.
“The rules that apply to Addison also apply to her. Hands off.” That was Maddox.
I made a noise, and Addison looked over at me.
“Please tell me I’m not representing some caveman,” I said in a low voice.
Addison laughed. “Don’t knock it till you try it,” she whispered back. “Maddox would never boss me around…except in the bedroom.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “There’s something hot about being dragged off to the cave by your hair and being taken from behind.”
I could feel my eyes widen, and I was sure I was looking at her like she was crazy. “No, thank you. I’ll stick to nice, respectable men who treat me like a lady.”
“Your orgasms must suck,” a deep voice said from behind me, “and be super boring.”
I jumped in my seat, and Addison almost spit out the coffee she had just taken a sip of.
I dropped my feet, turned around in my chair, and glared at the man who’d had the balls to say something like that to me. He didn’t even know me.
I had to concentrate on keeping the look on my face and not showing any surprise when I saw the person who had insulted me. He was huge. Taller than an already-tall Maddox and full of muscle with dark brown hair and deep brown eyes.
I swallowed hard but retained my composure.
Piecing together the picture from the news and the info Addison had told me, I knew this guy must be Tommy.
What kind of grown man goes by Tommy?
Unfazed by my anger, he shrugged at me. “If you even have any at all. Excuse me, miss. I’d like to make you come now,” he said in a voice slightly higher than his own. “Okay, but be careful. I can’t ruin my hair or my makeup,” Tommy said, pretending to be me.
If I were a cartoon, smoke would be coming out of my nostrils. “You don’t even know me.”
Tommy laughed. “I’ve met your kind before. Big and bad to the world, but behind closed doors, you need your ass slapped and your pussy pounded.”
I gasped. This guy had some nerve.
“Flash,” Maddox said, coming into the room, “leave my lawyer alone. I want her to defend me, not run away, cursing my name because of my friends.” He stepped around his friend. “Please don’t throw my trial because of one asshole.”
Poor Maddox. He needed to invest in finding new friends.
I patted his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with worse men than him before.” I looked at said asshole. “Nice name,” I said sarcastically.
He snickered. “It’s a nickname, sweetheart.” He raised his eyebrows. “You can ask Addison about it later.”
I threw my hair over my shoulder. “I don’t think so.”
Tommy shrugged. “Like I said, boring.” He laid his head on his shoulder and pretended to snore.
Maddox socked him in the gut. “Knock it off, asswipe.”
Then, he walked over to Addison’s chair and lifted her out of her seat. She squealed.
He sat down in her chair and settled her on his lap. “So, what do you want to go over today?” Maddox asked and nuzzled Addison’s neck.
I had to turn my eyes away as the uncomfortable feeling of jealousy filled my gut.
Thankfully, another man, who had to be Evan, walked into the office, reminding me to answer Maddox’s question.
“Well, first, congratulations are in order for what happened early this morning. This will look very good to any potential jury,” I said.
Tommy scowled. “Mad Dog didn’t do it for the publicity. We did it because someone was in trouble.”
I sighed. “I know that. But it helps our case nonetheless.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t feel bad for the victim—because I did. A lot. It was that I was looking at the big picture. And that meant getting Maddox cleared of all charges or found not guilty in a court of law.
“She’s kind of right,” Evan said. “Everyone was waiting to shake Mad Dog’s hand when we went to get breakfast this morning. Ours, too. But they were looking at Mad Dog like he was a hero.”
Maddox scowled. “Everyone likes me now, I guess.” He said something else that only Addison could hear.
She kissed him on the cheek. “You don’t need them.”
I went over a few more things with Maddox, and then the guys took off.
Addison went through some of her paperwork while I did some work on my computer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop thinking about Tommy telling me to ask Addison about his nickname. I really didn’t want to know. But I did.
Damn my curiosity.
“Ask me,” Addison said, not looking up from her desk.
“What?” I didn’t think I had been that obvious.
She lifted her head. “I know you want to know, Olivia. Ask me.”
I rolled my eyes. “How did Flash get his nickname? And what is his real name? I wasn’t actually introduced.” I did already know, but I didn’t want to admit that I had paid attention to who he was.