Joseph Ch. 02

"Put on your big girl panties and deal with it," she grumbled as she turned her attention back to the books in front of her. Before long she was reading about a controversial case and was lost in deciding how she felt about it.

****

Robert was dressed and out of the door before Lucinda was out of the shower. He left the house and went to his favorite place to think- the bar. It was relatively early. The after work crowd hadn't started to come in yet. He looked around and chose a table far in the back. He didn't want to be disturbed while he thought about what he was going to do. The one thing that he had learned to do well was to plan. He had learned his lesson well after the debacle with Lainie's family. The anger and humiliation that he had felt then rose as if it had just happened.

He tamped it down. He had to think logically if he had any chance of getting back in to Lainie's good graces. As he began to plan, something occurred to Elliot Robert Mitchum. He was and had been to some degree in love with Lainie. He hated her, but he loved her too. He hated her family and what they could give her, but he wanted it too. For the briefest of moments, he felt guilty for what he wanted to do. The guilt disappeared as soon as Lucinda walked into the bar looking for him.

First thing, he decided was that he had to clean his shit up. That meant no more spending the days and evenings at the bar. It meant that he had to get a job and hold on to it. It also meant that he had to get out of Lucinda's house but not before he used her money to buy a new wardrobe and he had saved enough money to get his own place.

The only thing that would blow him out of the water was if Lainie had gotten married. The other thing he realized was that her father would never allow him within a hundred feet of her. He had some major bridges to repair there. He cursed the stupidity of his youth and continued to plan.

Lucinda sat at the table and glared at him.

"What the fuck was that?" she demanded angrily.

"Sorry babe," Robert said sounding contrite. "I had something on my mind, but I promise to make it up to you."

He meant it as much as he could mean anything and reminded himself to keep his eyes on the big picture. If he made her come enough, she would give him her credit card no questions asked. Suddenly he was hard. It was time to go to work.

******

Joseph remained perplexed as to why he was so annoyed that the intern had changed her mind. He took the time to research her and was doubly annoyed when he saw that she would have been a good fit for the firm. He looked at her picture taking in her small features and the exotic look the Asian part of her gave her.

"Beautiful," he murmured and then caught himself. He considered all women regardless of their size, shape, color or age beautiful. They were to be protected and not harmed as his male relatives had done. It came to him that maybe it was that thought that was the crux of the matter. Why he remained so angry with his family. He looked at Lainie's picture once more and logged off of the computer. A thought began to niggle at the back of his mind and unbeknownst to him, he did the same thing Ethan did when he raped Katrina; he ignored it.

He turned his attention to Winston's party. The trial was now over and plans were fully underway. So far no one had let the secret out although Joseph was sure that Winston knew that something was up. As is summoned, Winston appeared in his doorway.

"I want to talk to you about something," he said as he took a seat.

Joseph looked at the tall, dark skinned vampire and nodded. In many ways, Winston reminded him of Eustace Matthews in that he was very direct in what he wanted and didn't mince words.

"What's on your mind?" Joseph asked hoping it wasn't about his attitude.

"I want to run the criminal law department full time," Winston said without hesitation.

"Agreed," Joseph replied relieved that he wasn't the topic of conversation. "It's yours. Hire whatever staff that you need."

"You know," Winston said after a shorty pause, "I really hate surprises."

"Is there a surprise being planned?" Joseph asked innocently.

"Joseph Richardson," Winston said firmly. "You don't lie any better than you pretend to be happy. I know you. We practically grew up together."

"I'm fine," Joseph replied. "Alright, I was going to have a surprise party announcing that I'm making you a full partner. It's something that I should have done a long time ago. The party is this weekend and your mate already knows. Now can you at least pretend to be surprised?"

"I can do that," Winston replied and then hesitated.

"What?" Joseph asked bracing himself. So far Winston had been the only one that hadn't said anything to him about his anger issues. He had a feeling that was about to change.

"You know that I consider you a brother don't you?" Winston asked.

"I know that and I consider you my brother as well," Joseph replied warily.

"I know that there have been...issues and I haven't asked about it," Winston continued. "I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything at any time."

Joseph waited for more and was relieved when Winston fell silent.

"Thank you for that and thank you for not joining the 'you got issues' club.

"Oh I am a member of the club," Winston said with a small smile. "I'm just a silent member. At least I was until now. I don't plan on saying anything more about it unless you come to me or I see that it's affecting you and the firm in a negative way. To be honest, there were a couple of times that I was about to approach you but then you pulled it together. But I meant what I said. I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to or even just to kick back with. How long has it been since we did that?"

"Too long," Joseph agreed and then grinned. "Why don't we plan a guy's night at my place? We can play cards, watch ESPN... pretend to get drunk... what do you think?"

"I like it," Winston replied. "Just say when.

"Sometime after your surprise party," Joseph replied for once feeling truly happy.

They talked for a few more minutes before Winston excused himself. Joseph leaned back in his chair and smiled. He logged on to his laptop and began to send an email to Nathan. Then he added several more names to the email not realizing that as he typed the names, the usual anger that he felt didn't rise.

*****

Robert kissed Lucinda and thanked her for the use of her credit cards although he didn't mean it. As far as he was concerned, it was payment for services rendered. In some ways he was going to miss the free ride that he had, but it was time to move on to fresher pastures. Lucinda had wanted to go shopping with him but he had persuaded her to go out with her friends. The reality of it was that he didn't want her to see what he bought.

The next step was to start looking for a job. Any money that he made would be his and if he found a good enough paying job, he could be in his own place in a few months.

"A few months," he grumbled under his breath. And then he had to be able to maintain it. Suddenly, things didn't seem so cut and dried. The idea of actually going to work grated on his nerves. Something inside of him told him that he should stay where he was living high on the hog on Lucinda's money. All he had to do was fuck her whenever she wanted him to and go places with her. It wasn't a hard life. It was a life that his father had dreamed of but had never achieved.

But... he wanted Lainie. He told himself that it was only because of what he thought that she could do for him. It was exactly what Lucinda was doing for him but in his mind it was different. He took a mental step back and reevaluated his plan. There was no rush. If his calculations were right, Lainie had another year of school unless she graduated early which could be a good thing. Still though, he had to make contact and he couldn't look like a bum. Lucinda made sure that he was dressed, but this was going to be for that bitch Lainie.

From that moment on, that was how he would refer to her- the bitch. It seemed to help him focus on what he wanted and not how he really felt about her. Instead of using the laptop at the house, Robert went to an internet café to do his research on Lainie. He couldn't prove it, but he was sure that Lucinda had the laptops at the house monitored. It wouldn't do for her to find out that he was looking up an old girlfriend if Lainie could be considered a girlfriend.

He found a booth in a corner and logged in. He checked his email for anything of consequence and then Googled Lainie's name. There wasn't much, but then he hadn't expected there to be. He was right about when she would graduate so he did have time. Next he typed in her parent's name. His hope was that her father would dead. Her mother he could tolerate but her father...

"Damn," he swore as he read the articles about Lainie's parents.

They were even more loaded than they were before. They were writing books! Lainie's father hadn't liked him before and he wouldn't like him now unless he presented himself differently. He had to get Lainie to accept him first. It then occurred to him that if that happened, he didn't need the approval from her father. The Lainie that he remembered was stubborn and once she had an idea in her head; it was difficult to change it. He still had to get a job-preferably a professional one, but Lucinda could help with that. She had contacts all over the place. He logged off and instead of going shopping as he had originally planned; he went to the bar. Sobriety could wait. He had time.

****

By the time Lainie's parents were gone, she had a new wardrobe for work, a manicure and a white 2013 Nissan Versa. She balked at the purchase of a new car arguing that all she needed was something to get her from point A to point B.

"You are getting a new car," her father said with her mother's full support. "If you want to consider it a loan you may but I will tell you now that we will accept no money from you."

Lainie started to argue but gave up. She knew that tone and look on her father's face all too well.

"Thank you papa," she said hugging him and then her mother.

"You are welcome, now shall we drive your car home?"

As she drove home with her mother in the front seat, Lainie again thanked god that he had given her such wonderful people for parents. Again, Robert's name came to mind but this time there was a feeling of dread that came with the memory. Somehow- she knew that she would see him again. She looked back at her father who sat in the back seat smiling at her. Lainie returned the smile ignoring the feeling of nausea that was settling in the pit of her stomach. She had had that feeling before and she both feared and abhorred it. She looked over at her mother and the feeling dissipated but only slightly.

"Please god," she silently prayed. "Please- not them."