Sustained (3 page)

“Her ass is off-limits,” Stanton replies, scanning the menu.

Stanton Shaw is a good old boy—in every sense of the term. Originally a Mississippi farm boy, he’s honest, loyal, has a low tolerance for bullshit, and exudes an easy, genuine charm that women find irresistible—as do juries. We met in law school and became roommates shortly after that. He’s a heavy hitter around the firm—his record is as impressive as my
own—and he’s got his eye on a partnership. But, unlike me, Stanton has baggage. Cool, sweet baggage, sure, but baggage all the same.

I don’t like kids—too needy, too whiny. Stanton’s daughter, Presley, is the sole exception. She lives back in Mississippi with her mother, Stanton’s ex, but she comes to DC often enough that my friend has more than earned his
Daddy
moniker. And he relishes it. If sunshine took human form, like some Greek myth, she would be Presley Shaw. She’s just a great fucking kid.

After we order, talk turns to our latest cases, the goings-on at the firm. Who’s stepping on whose toes, who has a figurative knife ready to perform a good backstabbing. This isn’t gossip; it’s intel. Ears to the ground to gather the information we need to know to make our next move.

Our food arrives and the conversation shifts to politics. DC may be a large city, but when it comes to strategy and alliances, it resembles an episode of
Survivor
. And everyone’s salivating to vote someone off the island.

But I’m only listening to them with one ear. My other ear is still ringing with the revelation of my unexpected visitor. Lainey. Not likely to forget her name again. I try to stay calm about it, but my sweaty palms betray me. And unless I’m hitting the bag at the gym or running my seven miles a day, I don’t fucking sweat. I consider the odds that I’m actually infected and what that means for me. I think about how I came to this point—the choices I should have made differently to avoid the sick feeling in my stomach that makes me leave my meal untouched.

Brent’s voice pulls me out of my head. “What’s wrong with you today?”

I meet his inquisitive stare with a bland one. “Why would you think something’s wrong?”

He shrugs. “You’ve gone way beyond the strong silent type and are approaching selective mutism. What gives?”

Brent is a talker. A sharer. He comes from a family of extreme wealth going back several generations. But his parents aren’t the cold,
silent aristocrats you’d imagine. Sure, they’re kind of eccentric, which I find entertaining as hell, but they’re also warm, funny, giving people and they passed those qualities on to their son. Because they don’t actually work, Brent’s family members have way too much time on their hands—so they’re also way too involved in each other’s personal lives. There are no secrets in the Mason clan. Last month his cousin Carolyn emailed the family newsletter with her ovulation date attached, so everyone could keep their fingers crossed for her.

And I’m not even kidding. They’d make a fucking hysterical reality show.

When he was a kid Brent was in an accident, hit by a speeding car. He survived, minus the lower half of one leg. But he’s good with it—
self-pity
is not in his vocabulary. His pretty face probably helps in that regard—and the fact that women practically beg for him to screw them doesn’t hurt, either. He’s also a big believer in therapy. I suspect he’s dished out more cash to therapists over the years than he paid for his house.

I am not a sharer or a talker. But we still get along—a yin-and-yang kind of thing. Brent has a knack for dragging me out of my shell in a way that doesn’t make me want to punch him.

But not today.

“I don’t want talk about it.”

His eyes lock on me like a fighter pilot on a target. Or an annoying younger sibling. “Well, now you
have
to talk about it.”

“Not really,” I say flatly.

“Come on—spill. Tell us. Tell us. You know you want to. Tell us.”

Stanton chuckles. “You might as well just come out with it, Jake. He’s not gonna stop until you do.”

I offer an alternative. “I could break his jaw. Having it wired shut would stop him.”

Brent strokes his newly grown, manicured beard. “Like you’d do anything to mar this priceless work of art. That would be a crime. Just tell us.
Teeeeeell us.
”

I open my mouth . . . then pause . . . staring hesitantly at Sofia.

She reads me loud and clear, and rolls her hazel eyes. “I grew up with three older brothers. And I live with him.” She points at Stanton. “There’s literally nothing you could say that I haven’t heard before.”

O-kay. I take a breath and force the words from my lungs. “Turns out a woman I nailed last month has syphilis. I have to get tested.”

Sofia coughs on her drink. “I stand corrected.”

Brent laughs, the bastard. “Man, that’s awful.”

“Thanks, asshole.” I glare at him. “You sound real broken up about it.”

Brent reins in his hilarity. “Don’t get me wrong, it sucks, but syphilis is cured with a shot—it could’ve been worse.” His voice lowers. “You wanna play, sometimes you have to pay. It happens to the best of us. I had a bad case of seafood critters once myself.”

“Seafood?” Sofia asks.

Stanton fills her in. “Crabs, baby.”

Her face scrunches up. “Ewww.”

Stanton wags his finger at me. “I told you one day that revolving pussy door was gonna pinch you.”

“Thanks for not saying I told you so.”

“Anytime.”

When he was single, Stanton wasn’t a monk. But his hookups were more of a slow burn. He
dated
. Had a solid stable of women he felt comfortable calling when he wanted to get laid.

I don’t roll that way. It takes too much energy, too much time. A woman’s mind and personality don’t turn me on. It’s her other parts that hold my attention.

I feel the need to defend myself. “It’s not like you two are so discriminating. I’ve seen some of the women you’ve fucked. Those were some pretty low bars.”

“I resent that,” Brent tells me. But his grin says he kind of doesn’t.

“At least I knew their names,” Stanton counters. “A little bit of their background, tastes, history . . .”

“Sure,” I argue, “ ’cause right after ‘Nice weather we’re having,’ a chick is gonna throw out, ‘Oh, FYI—I have syphilis.’ ”

Stanton thinks on that a moment, then shrugs. “She might, actually. You’d be surprised what you could learn if you took the time to talk to women. And even if she didn’t tell you, when you get to know a woman, you get a feel for what kind of person she is. That goes a long way in deciding who you don’t want to stick your dick into.”

I hate to admit he has a point, but he does. And I resolve in this moment—if my tests come back clean—to get to know the next woman I intend to stick my dick into. At least a little. So I’ll never—ever—have to deal with this shit again.

Sofia leans forward, bracing her elbows on the table. “Did you call your doctor?”

“Yeah. I have an appointment tonight.”

I avoid doctors like the bubonic plague. On some level I know it’s ignorant, but I think the stress of knowing you have a fatal disease kills faster than the disease itself. I’d rather not know.

Give me a sudden heart attack in the middle of a fantastic lay or argument in the middle of a courtroom any day. That’s how I want to go. Many,
many
years from now.

“You know what the worst part’s gonna be, don’t you?” Brent asks. The bastard is still grinning.

“This isn’t the fucking worst part?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. The celibacy, my good man. No fun times for you for probably about two weeks. Until the test results come back.”

“Two weeks? Are you screwing with me?” My dick aches at the idea; it might as well be two years.

He nudges my shoulder and I want to hit him. “Afraid not. You and Hanna are going to be monogamous for a while.”

My eyes squint, ’cause I have no idea what he’s saying. “Hanna who?”

He waves his palm. “Hanna Hand.”

B
rent was right. It’s been two of the longest, slowest weeks of my life. I’ve worked out so much I busted my weight bench. Hanna and I have been spending way too much time together. The sex is stale and she’s starting to get clingy. Time to kick her to the fucking curb.

I’m not a nympho, I don’t need to hump every night, but two weeks is a major dry spell. It hasn’t been pleasant—and neither has my mood. With every day that’s passed, I’ve become exponentially more unbearable. I’m tense. Short-tempered. On edge.

Essentially, really goddamn horny.

Stanton has taken to avoiding being in the office with me. The afternoon I threatened to rip his tongue out while he was getting frisky on the phone with Sofia may have had something to do with that.

And even though today is the day I’m hoping to end the fast, anxiety about my test results has me even
more
stressed out. Which is really bad news for the client who just stepped into my office.

Milton I-Can’t-Follow-a-Simple-Motherfucking-Direction Bradley.

Milton I-Got-Arrested-Because-I-Was-in-a-Car-That-Got-Pulled-Over-with-Ten-Bags-of-Heroin-in-the-Glove-Compartment Bradley.

The door rattles on its hinges as I throw it closed behind him and
level my darkest glare at him. He puts his hands in his pockets and walks to a chair like he’s strolling through the park, not a care in the world.

Not today, dipshit.

As he slouches in the chair, I sit behind my desk and fold my hands to keep from punching him.

“What did I tell you?” I ask him.

“It wasn’t mine.”

My voice gets lower. Sharper. “What. Did I. Tell you?”

His eyes drop, like he’s a submissive dog. “You told me to stay home, but—”

I hold up my finger. “There is no
but
. I told you to keep your sorry ass home, and you’re too much of a fucking idiot to listen.”

He stands up, his face turning from white to an angry pink. “You can’t talk to me like that! My father pays your salary.”

I stand too—and I’m a lot scarier at it than he is. “Sit.
Down.
”

He does. I stay standing. “I
did
just talk to you like that, asshole. And lightning didn’t strike me, so get over yourself. As for your father, no, he doesn’t pay my salary. But even if he did, I wouldn’t hesitate to call you the stupid, dickless moron you are.”

He gets more flushed with every word.

I sit back down, my tone turning more philosophical. “Do you know what happens to boys like you in prison, Milton? Wealthy, pretty, sweet-smelling boys?”

And he goes from pink to pale in no time flat.

“Unless you have a secret fantasy about getting your ass torn apart, you need to get it through your thick skull that the only thing standing between you and a cellmate named Chewbacca is me.”

He finally looks frightened.

“And because it’s my job, I’m going to keep your undeserving ass out of prison whether you want to cooperate or not. Got it?”

He nods and smartly keeps his mouth shut.

“Now—are your fingerprints on any of the heroin bags?”

He shakes his head. “No. I never touched them.”

Perfect. Chances are I’ll be able to work around his latest arrest.

I take out a business card from my top drawer. “When you leave my office, go straight to this address.”

He examines the card. “What is it?”

“It’s a monitoring company. They’ll fit you with an ankle monitor that will tell them if you leave your house. If you do, they’ll notify me.”

He opens his mouth to argue.

“Not a fucking word, Milton. This is your last chance—you screw this up, it’s plan B all the way.”

“What’s plan B?” he asks, like it’s an option he’d rather consider.

“I beat the ever-loving shit out of you. You can’t get into trouble if you’re in traction.”

He swallows so hard, I hear it. “O-okay,” he stutters. “For real this time, I’ll listen.”

My expression remains stony; I’m not giving an inch. “For your sake, you damn well better.”

•  •  •

Two hours later, I’m in an exam room at my doctor’s office, sitting on the table with that stupid paper crinkling under my beige slacks. I check my watch. He’s late. As if my mood wasn’t black enough, I really hate to be kept waiting.

With nothing better to do, I glance around the walls of the room. Framed medical certificates from Yale, a poster on proper hand-washing technique, an advertisement for the flu shot, and a reminder to get your prostate exam.

Just shoot me now. Put me out of my misery.

And for the thousandth time in two weeks, I swear I’ll never find myself in this position again. No more nameless hookups. No more jilted girlfriends with self-esteem issues looking to lose themselves in
a stranger fuck. From here on out, it’s dating only. I’ll get to know them. I’ll become goddamn
choosy
, no matter how unappetizing it sounds.

Finally the door to the room opens, and in walks an unfamiliar face in a white coat. Light brown hair, tiny dark eyes, a smooth chin that appears to have never met a razor.

He looks fucking twelve.

“Can I help you?” I ask.

He glances up from the file in his hands, smiling. “Good morning, Mr. Becker, I’m Dr. Grey.”

I fleetingly look at the door, expecting his father to walk in behind him. “You sure?”

Good-natured teeth flash. “Yes, I’m sure I’m a doctor. I’m new to the practice. Dr. Sauer had a family emergency so I’m covering for him today.” He turns a page in the file, scanning the contents. “Before we discuss your test results, let’s go over the recommended protocols for safe sexual intercourse, including condoms, spermicidal lubricants, birth control—”

I hold up my hand. “Let’s not. I’m good with all that. Just give it to me straight—are my results good or bad?”

•  •  •

I raise my bottle of beer, clinking it against the three raised glasses. “Clean as a whistle.” I haven’t smiled this much since I won my first case. I’m practically giddy, for Christ’s sake. My cheeks are getting sore.

“Congratulations,” Sofia tells me happily.