Pride & Precedents (The Park Brothers #2)

22. Camila

Chapter twenty-two

Camila

H enry charges down the hall and points at me on his way into his office.

"Camila, I need you. Now ." His tone is too lethal to argue, or to point out he called me Camila where anyone could hear. I scurry into his office and quickly close the door behind us.

"Henry, what's wrong?" I've never seen him like this.

Instead of sitting at his desk, he walks to his sideboard and pours a generous glass of whiskey from the fine crystal decanter. In all the years I've worked for him, I've never seen him drink in his office. I assumed it was purely decorative.

"Naomi fuckin' kissed me is what's wrong," he growls, sinking down into a chair in his seating area.

"What?!" I gasp. I drop into a chair across from him, mouth agape. Henry nods.

"Yup! I told her about Tanner's hidden properties and she snapped. She said he made a fool out of her and even cheated on her before. Then she starts talking about how she wishes we'd stayed together and before I know what's happening, she stands up and kisses me."

So, Little Miss Lawyer Barbie thinks she can come in here and shoot her shot! She gets to waltz in here with her perfect hair, and her perfect body, and her perfect wardrobe and just pick up where things left off back in the day? I bite back all the colorful language running through my head and take a breath.

"Oh my God! I should have known she might pull something like this after her little, private meeting to 'talk about us'," I say, making air quotations with my hands. Henry looks at me, confused.

"You heard that?" I wince. Busted .

"You may have forgotten to turn the intercom off when she came that day. And I may have accidentally heard your entire conversation." I try for an innocent smile, but Henry frowns in response.

"So, how did she react when you pushed her off?" I ask, hoping for a subject change. Instead, Henry's frown deepens, and a knot settles in the pit of my stomach.

"I…may have… very briefly reciprocated the kiss." My shoulders slump, and he rushes to defend himself. "It was practically a reflex, Camila," he says pleadingly. "As soon as the shock wore off, I pushed her away. It didn't mean anything."

I can see the remorse in his face. He's truly sorry. I shouldn't be mad at him. We never made any promises to each other. So why does my chest feel tight?

I do my best to hide my disappointment and summon all my powers of professionalism.

"So…What does this mean? What's the protocol for this situation?"

Henry clearly wants to keep talking about the kiss, but he must be able to tell from my voice, from my rigid posture, that the topic is closed. He clears his throat and sets down his glass.

"First, I'll have to report what happened to the other partners and HR." He anxiously scratches the back of his neck. "Assuming they believe I wasn't the one to initiate the kiss, in light of our history, I'll be removed from the case. I don't know what happens after that."

I hate Naomi. No, he shouldn't have kissed her back, and I'll deal with my feelings about that at home over a pint of Ben brittle and close to shattering. How could I have been so wrong? What I felt between us was electric, like something finally locking into place after years of tinkering. I thought we were ready to take the next step, and he's worried about someone else taking his dictation.

I keep my face neutral and stand with my back straight.

"I understand. You're probably right." Henry stands to meet me, uncertainty etched in his features.

"I was going to wait until later today to tell you, but I'll be taking a leave of absence to finish studying for the bar."

"Of course," he reassures me, though he doesn't smile.

"I had planned to give you three weeks' notice, but given what just happened, I think I should go now. Let the dust settle and then see where things are with us." I start towards the door and he grabs my hand.

"Camila. I wasn't saying… I still want to be with you."

I gently pull my hand from his and open the door.

"No, you're right. We weren't anything serious. There's no sense making things more complicated when the Naomi situation is about to blow up. You've got a conference call in," I look at my watch, "ten minutes. I'll let you get prepped and get the soonest available meeting with Bannister and Banks."

I pull the door closed on his protests and almost run into Vanessa. She must have been standing right outside the door. From the grim look on her face, she heard more than she should have.

"Is that how you took my job? You slept with him?"

I push past her to my desk.

"I don't know what you think you heard, but I worked for everything I got." She rolls her eyes.

"I always knew something was off. I'm gone for three weeks, come back and I'm out of a job?"

"Didn't you move to support Jonathan?"

"Don't remind me," she spits angrily. "You know I had to take a pay cut when I moved to him?"

"I didn't know that, actually."

"Well, I did. And now I find out you wormed your way into a spot with Sub Zero by sleeping with him?" She looks disgusted.

All these years, I never realized. I barely even thought about her. I guess when Jonathan started hating me, I should've assumed she would, too.

"You can think what you want, Vanessa. Henry asked me to stay on because you were doing shit work and I could tell when you were training me that I was going to take your job someday soon."

She steps back like I've slapped her, then a nasty smile stretches across her face.

"Oh really? Well, how did you even get Henry to sleep with you, huh? Everyone sees the kind of women he dates. Models. Executives. Why would he waste his time with a fat paralegal like you? Be serious."

I smile to myself at her callousness. I will not miss this place. I won't miss this place or anyone in it.

"You're right, Vanessa. I am a fat paralegal, soon-to-be fat lawyer . I didn't use my uncle or my college roommate to get my spot here. I fuckin' worked for it. And I kept working, going to law school while you were planning weddings and honeymoons and girls' trips to Spain. And as soon as I get my bar card, I will leave here and I will never have to see or even think of you again."

I leave her gaping and head to HR to fill out the necessary paperwork for my leave. There's nothing keeping me here now. Maybe there never was.