Beautiful Girls

"Um, I was," I admitted, smiling. "I have no intention of ever going back with Nat. She lied to me and cheated on me for a long time, and only stopped because she got caught. I don't need to punish her, but I'm never going to be with her again. So we don't need any revenge against her."

"I was never talking about revenge against Natalie, either," he said. "I don't handle a lot of divorces but, when I do, the person who gets cheated on usually wants revenge against the person who took their spouse away. Are you telling me that you don't want to see Gunner get a little comeuppance?"

"I would love that," I confessed.

"Penny, did you get everything?" he asked.

"Yes I did," she smiled. "I got names, signatures and everything."

"I'll meet you back at the office later," he said. "I'm going to have a last lunch with Jill to go over our plans." Penny got into her car and drove off, waving at me as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"Do you mind TRH again?" asked Mason. "Your dress really warrants a fancier place, but I do need to get back and put the papers together. I want to start the process as quickly as possible but, truthfully, I really am becoming addicted to those steaks. It's been five years since my wife died and I really haven't gotten out at all since then. I may overdose on Texas Roadhouse before very long. Maybe someone will take you out to a place worthy of that dress, though, after you've had time to properly get over Nat."

"Oh, any place you want to take me is fine with me," I said. I immediately wished I'd phrased it a different way, but thinking back on it, I'd said what I meant.

"How are we going to get revenge on Gunner?" I asked. "He's a pretty slippery bastard and he's connected to some movers and shakers. You do know that he's just using the law as a stepping stone to politics don't you."

"Stepping stones can become slippery. If you slip off of one, you can fall on your ass and end up hurt very badly," said Mason. "Gunner was right. I did do a little research on him. He hurt one of my favorite people – well, two, actually – so he deserves what's coming to him."

"Who did he hurt?" I asked.

"Growing up, you and Nat were my daughter's best friends," he began. "I felt almost as if I had three daughters instead of one." He lowered his head to his plate then as if he was about to say something difficult.

"I really missed YOU, when you guys grew apart," he said quietly. I got so nervous that I began to wonder if he could hear my heart beating. Suddenly I didn't care about revenge on Gunner or anything else.

"So are you up for it?" he asked.

"Any time, any place," I gushed.

"Good," he said. "We're going to hit him on three different fronts at the same time. We're going to take everything he has. "We're going to take his job with the firm. We're going to take his license and we're going to take his marriage and with it his chances of going into politics."

I blushed as I realized that he was still talking about Gunner and not about us.

* * * * * *

Natalie

A week had passed since the meeting with Jill and her lawyer. I hadn't realized at first who her lawyer was. It took a couple of days for it to finally sink in: Jill's lawyer was our old friend Melanie's father. Jill had come into the office looking literally good enough to eat. I didn't know where she had gotten that blue dress, but it was incredible. The blue set off her beautiful eyes so well that it just made me feel like a fool. Every man in the building was talking about her after she'd left, as well as half of the women. It was all I could do not to think about rubbing and sucking those big soft breasts of hers. I couldn't believe that I'd risked losing her for Gunner. The worst part of it all was that Gunner was still forcing me to have sex with him and he seemed to take pleasure in making me do things that I didn't enjoy. I realized that Gunner reveled in lording it over people. He had a major superiority complex and hated losing at anything.

Since the meeting, he'd been especially pissed because he hadn't won a single point during our sit-down. He'd had to concede on every God damned demand. They weren't forced into counseling. There wasn't going to be any chance of Jill and me getting together until after the divorce. The thing that pissed him off the most was that Jill wasn't coming back to work with us. I really believe after seeing her in that dress that he was the most disappointed that he wouldn't have another crack at her.

He'd been increasingly demanding at work, too, always reminding me that if he'd charged me for handling my divorce, I'd probably end up paying him back for years. He kept reminding me that I owed him and that, when he was ready to collect, I'd need to agree to whatever he wanted without question. I was to the point that I really didn't care anymore. What could he do to me that was worse than what I'd already gone through? When you're used to going home to a woman who loves you with her entire being and who would do anything to make you happy, losing her is hard. Losing her because you were stupid and greedy is even harder. I kicked myself every day. Seeing her in that dress just made me kick myself harder.

The door to the office opened and the phone rang at the same time. I picked up the phone and recognized the voice of Gunner's wife, Arlene. She was very angry and demanded to speak to him. I connected her with his private line and – okay, so I'm nosy – I left the connection open.

"Gunner, get your ass home right now," the words were precise and clipped, betraying her anger.

"Honey, no matter how bad the emergency is, I can't just leave work," replied Gunner.

"The only emergency is your well-being, asshole," she said. "There was a woman here to serve you some papers a little while ago. All she said was that it was a personal matter. You're being sued. I want to know why and by whom, and it had better not be what I think it is. If you've been cheating on me, we're done and I want your ass out of my house. I couldn't get the woman to tell me what the case was about. She babbled about not being able to reveal the details, but I will find out. I was able to get the name of the law firm she represents off of the card she left for you. I'm sure that one of my dad's friends knows someone there who'll tell me. So you'd better get your ass home and come clean before I find out."

I looked through the glass partition and saw that Gunner's usually tanned, smug face was as white as a sheet. A call came in on another line. It was one of the partners in our firm. He sounded pissed as well and wanted Gunner upstairs immediately. I promised to relay the call. I looked up and noticed that the same bored looking woman who'd served me my divorce papers was standing in front of me. I'd heard the door open but in the excitement of the two phone calls it had slipped my mind.

"She stood there chewing a wad of gum and smiled at me. I shivered, wondering what she wanted from me this time.

"Relax, Honey, I'm not here for you," she said. "Is there a Gunner Sterling here?"

I breathed a sigh of relief and pointed at his inner office door. Through the glass partition that separated our work spaces I could see Gunner hurriedly packing his briefcase to go home.

"You'd better catch him quickly," I said. "He's having a rough day."

"It's about to get a whole lot worse," she smirked. She walked to the door and opened it. She left the door open.

"Gunny Highway?" she asked. Gunner was pissed.

"Didn't you see my name on that door," he screamed. "I'm Gunner Sterling. That's Gunner, not Gunny, and Sterling, not Highway. My name is right on the fucking door."

"I just needed for you to identify yourself," she said, handing him a lot of folders. There had to be at least five. She'd only given me one and it had pretty much ruined my life. Then she turned on her heel and walked away. "Don't bother having a nice day," she said to him over her shoulder.

Gunner started tearing open the folders and he got redder and angrier as he opened each one. He screamed for me to come into his office.

"You little bitch!" he screamed. "You've fucked up my entire life. That fucking cunt you were married to is trying to kill me. You need to call her off and have her make all of this shit go away. Fucking you wasn't worth any of this. You aren't even the pretty one of the two of you...." Before he could say anything else, we were interrupted.

"Sterling!" the name was barked with what sounded like utter contempt. I turned and recoiled at the sight of Wilton Moss, one of the founders and senior partners of our law firm. Moss was a very short man with a receding hairline and an expanding belly. He walked past me as if I wasn't there and stepped right up to Gunner, who towered over him. Gunner started backing away.

"Sterling, what kind of shit have you gotten this firm involved in?" he asked. Gunner didn't say anything. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Don't even say anything, asshole," continued Moss. "I already know. Do you have any idea who Mason Wright is?"

"Um, he's the lawyer who represented my client's spouse in a divorce case about a week ago," said Gunner quietly.

"He's also one of our former partners," Moss informed us both. "He's an old friend of mine, and because of that, he's giving the firm a chance to avoid a very messy and very public ass kicking. His client is considering bringing about a multimillion dollar lawsuit against us. Can you guess what for?"

Gunner started to say something but Moss stepped up even closer to him and said, "Shut the fuck up. I told you not to talk." Gunner visibly shrank, quailing before the smaller man's anger.

"You apparently fucked your secretary in your office," Moss raged. "You banged some tramp in my fucking building like it was some lice-riddled, fleabag motel and her spouse – who, I might add, is a former employee of ours – is bringing suit. They want to sue us for not enforcing our morals clause. That doesn't mean much. We can probably tie it up in court until we get the right judge who'll agree that consenting adults do what they do. Wright knows that. He's very smart. So what he did was tie this case to some former secretaries of yours and suddenly things look more serious.

Maybe we can kiss his ass and get him to settle out of court, but it will cost us a fuck of a lot more money than you're worth to us. And even then there's the real danger that when Mason Wright gets pissed, he believes in a scorched-earth policy. That's why we always used him for those cases when some little housewife was injured on the job or something. He has a knack for using the press to turn everyone against the big company and in this case we're the big company. Our only hope is to get him to calm down."

"I'm working on it," whined Gunner. "If you give me a chance, I can make this all go away."

"You can't do shit," spat Moss. "That's only the tip of the iceberg. Did you know that Wright also served on a committee for the local Bar Association? He's filed several ethics violation cases against you. It seems that you were screwing your client during a case. Is that true?"

Gunner just nodded.

"You were also representing a client in a case that you were involved in. Is that true?" asked Moss. Gunner nodded again.

"But..." he interjected.

"Haven't I already told you to shut the fuck up, twice?" spat Moss. "There won't be a third time."

Gunner gulped so loudly that I could hear him in the other room.

"Did you pursue relations with employees on company time and attempt to pressure them by holding their jobs or advancement over their heads?" Moss asked. Gunner hesitated and Moss glared at him even harder. Gunner nodded.

"I have a friend who works for another firm who has just told me that your legal problems are growing," continued Moss. "Apparently, Congressman Dennings, your wife's father, has heard about this and a member of his former law firm has been dispatched to your house only a few minutes ago. He's a specialist in high profile divorces. I believe that your wife is about to divorce you. We've also received a communication from the Bar Association.

Because of the investigation into your alleged ethics violations, your license to practice law has been suspended pending the outcome of your cases."

"No..." whispered Gunner, in surprise.

"Haven't I told you three times to shut the fuck up?" asked Moss. "You simply refuse to do what I've asked of you. That's gross insubordination. My hands are tied. I've tried to support you through this crisis but you just won't let me work with you. You're fired. Get the fuck out of my building."

"But..." said Gunner.

"See, I told you," snapped Moss. "There's just no working with you." He turned and walked out of Gunner's office. I couldn't help it as my lips formed a tiny smile. Gunner was getting what he deserved.

"You're fired, too," said Moss as he passed by my desk. I heard him mumbling under his breath as he left the office. "We don't need any tattooed sluts around here."

I wondered then how Mr. Wright had managed to pull all of these things together so quickly and so totally. His timing had been perfect. He had utterly destroyed Gunner. I stood up and started packing my personal things.

I wondered then if he'd meant to ruin my life too, or was I only collateral damage. Had he meant to cost me my livelihood? Or was this just a case where when someone stepped on a wet turd and the things next to them got splashed, too. In a way, though, he had helped me: I'd been wondering what I'd have to do to get free of Gunner's clutches. Gunner had so much else to worry about right now that he'd have no time to torture me. I'd be free to start up with Jill again with a clear conscience in just a few weeks, when our divorce was final. All my freedom had cost me was my job and I could find another job.

* * * * * *

Jill

Over the next few weeks, my life changed. I guess some would say that things had changed for the better. The law firm I used to work for settled out of court with me for almost a half a million dollars. Gunner's wife was afraid of the publicity and embarrassment to her family's name so she and her father paid me a hundred thousand dollars to drop the suit against him for ending my marriage. Mason told me that if the suit had gone to court I probably wouldn't have gotten anything anyway, so taking the money was just smart. I also got to see that asshole, Gunner, reduced to a shell of the man that he used to be. He ended up with next to nothing in the divorce from his wife. He was also disbarred and his case was referred to the national Bar Association, so there was very little chance that he'd practice law again anywhere in the country. He eventually slunk out of town quietly and was never heard from again.

I guess the reason why I wasn't overjoyed was because I was alone. After all of the legal matters were settled, Mason just disappeared from my life. What was worse was that Natalie had gotten my new phone number from my parents, of all people, and had tried calling me again. She reminded me that I owed her a meeting, but I put her off by reminding her that we still had almost a month to go before the divorce was final. She whined about having to wait that long and started telling me about her financial difficulties. She tried to make it seem like it was my fault that she'd lost her job and was having a tough time getting another one. I just told her that I'd call her after the divorce was final and hung the phone up.

Finally a ray of sunshine broke through the gloom from the most unlikely of sources. I picked up the phone thinking it was Nat calling again. "I told you, I'd call you after the divorce was final," I yelled.

"Boy, you must be pissed at Nat," said a voice.

"I'm sorry," I thought you were her," I said.

"Jill, this is Melanie and I'm kind of pissed at you," she said. "Can I meet you for lunch somewhere, tomorrow?"

"You're coming into town?" I asked.

"I don't have a choice," she said. "Pick a place."

"How about the Texas Roadhouse here in town," I said.

"You would pick that place," I could almost hear the smirk Melanie's voice. "I'll be there at two. That way we'll have a little privacy and won't have to worry about the lunch crowd. Don't dress up."

I wondered what Mel could be pissed at me about. I hadn't seen her in the nearly ten years since she'd started dating boys and I'd started with Nat. The next afternoon I walked into the restaurant. It was nearly empty and the serving staff was busy cleaning up after the lunch crowd. I spotted Melanie easily and walked over to her. The anxiety on her face dropped away for a moment and we were like those two teen aged girls again.

"Holy shit those things are huge," she said. "What a waste." Suddenly, she was angry again.

"You know when we were growing up, I loved you and Nat," she said angrily, "and I know I fucked up, Jill. I know that I was wrong, but that was ten God damned years ago. I was only seventeen. I've thought about it a lot since then. You can blame it on hormones, or peer pressure, or whatever, but I'm really sorry. I should have handled it differently..."

"Mel, what the Hell are you talking about?" I asked.

"Can I finish?" she asked. I nodded and she continued to rant.

"Anyway, I made a lot of mistakes but I never expected this from you," she hissed. "The funny thing about this is that, even when we were young, Natalie was a cunt. But Jill, you were like family. I loved Nat, too, even though she was a cunt, because she taught me a lot of things, like how to go after what you want. But you were like my sister. My parents were always buying extra stuff just in case you wanted or needed something. They loved you, Jill. So which one of us is it?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I'm not..."

"Well either you want to get back at me for what I did and you're trying to do it through my dad or you're just trying to hurt him for some reason," she snapped. "Let me guess, you're not happy with the amount of money he got you in your court case, right?"

"I didn't expect any money at all," I said. "He got me far more money than I'd even thought of. I really don't even know what I'm...where is he?"

She just looked at me strangely. "He's at my house spending time with his grandkids. I never should have let him take your case. Do you realize that it took me over two years to get him to leave his fucking house after my mom died? For the past three years he's only left the house to go to work and occasionally to visit me. Then, out of the blue he called me and canceled a visit because you showed up at his office. For weeks I heard about Jill this and Jill that. Jill is doing fine. Jill smiled today. Jill wore some fucking blue dress that he won't stop talking about." I smiled hearing about it.

"One weekend we needed him to watch the kids so we could go to a dinner at my husband's job. We were watching TV and they showed Angelina Jolie all done up for one of those awards shows. My husband said some stupid thing about her being the most beautiful dark haired woman in the world. Before I could even smack him, my dad said, 'You should see Jill in that blue dress. You'd change your mind'. I thought it was innocent and I was happy that he was getting back to normal, but now...." she said.

"Now what?" I asked. She just looked at me again. "What's wrong?" I asked. "He's okay, isn't he?" without realizing it, the volume of my voice was getting louder and I was almost yelling at her.

"Um, Jill, calm down," she said. She moved her head left and right and I followed her glance and noticed that everyone was staring at us.