12. Back off

JACKSON

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“Kimberly?” I asked to be sure I was seeing right.

I never thought I’d see her again. When I went looking for her, I was told she moved away from New York. Her parents didn’t know where she was and her best friend absolutely refused to reveal her location. I wanted to dig around but if she was taking extra measures to stay away from me, then it meant she didn’t want me in her life anymore so I didn’t bother.

I had accepted the fact that our story had ended and we would never see each other anymore in this lifetime, but here she was, taking on my case.

I had been speaking with Mr. Taylor all this while and he said one of his employees was going to join him on this trip. I never imagined it would be the woman who had been haunting my dreams for the past few years.

Mr. Taylor looked between me and Kimberly. “You know each other?”

That question broke Kimberly out of her trance and she quickly shook her head. “No, we’re meeting for the first time.”

From her reaction, I could tell she hadn’t been expecting to see me as well. Why was she acting like we didn’t know each other? Everyone in New York knew that we knew each other and if she was hiding her past with me from her boss, it would only take a picture of us together for him to find out everything.

Mr. Taylor didn’t look convinced though. “He called you by your first name…”

“He must have seen me on TV or something.” She shrugged as she sat down, not bothering to shake my hand as expected of our supposed first visit. “Right, Mr. Clarke?”

I bit down on my lip. Should I play along with her or just reveal the truth? It had been five years but she probably still hated me. “Yeah, I’ve seen her…”

“Alright then.” He accepted our stupid lie. “Let’s get down to business, Mr. Clarke.”

“Jackson is okay.”

Kimberly pretended she did not just hear me correcting her boss. “Mr. Clarke. Why don’t we place our order first? We can eat while we talk.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kimberly and I had a lot of history together, but right now, we felt like strangers. I didn’t know how to act around her. It was obvious she didn’t want to associate herself with me.

“So you say your company is going through a huge crisis? You got involved with a shady company and they had two different contracts. Am I right?” Kim asked after the waiter took our orders.

So we were going straight to business. I cleared my throat and sat up straighter. “Yeah. The problem is that I can’t find the original contract that I read through.”

Kimberly pursed her lips. I knew exactly what was going through her mind. She was probably wondering how I could make such an expensive mistake. I felt the same way. I felt very stupid for being tricked like this but it had already been done and I needed to find a way to prove myself.

I was getting sued based on the terms of the shady company’s contract. It was not like I couldn’t pay the settlement. It was just that accepting it would ruin my reputation. It would be admitting that I wasn’t honest in business. It would mean losing existing and potential business partners.

Kimberly stayed silent for a few more seconds, then she took a deep breath and looked at her phone screen. “I’m sorry but I have to go, Mr. Clarke. Something came up.”

Mr. Taylor furrowed his eyebrows. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, I have something to attend to urgently. You can continue the meeting with him and let me know the outcome later, okay?” Nothing was wrong. She had nothing to attend to urgently. Her screen didn’t even light up before she announced that she wanted to leave. She was probably just suffocated by my presence. I knew I had no right to hate it but I did.

“Kim…”

“I have to go, George. I’ll meet you in the evening and we can talk about it.”

“Alright then. Meet me in my room by six?” My eyes narrowed at the way he placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. Were they more than colleagues? Were they together? I hoped the fuck not.

“Yeah, I will. Bye.”

Without sparing me a second glance, she packed up her things to leave. Before she could walk past me though, I held her wrist. She froze. “Can you give me your number so we can get in touch?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “For the case.” I quickly added.

She smiled at me but it didn’t reach her eyes. “If you want to keep in touch, you can contact George. He will pass on the message.” She said as he gently removed my hand from her wrist. She didn’t wait for me to respond before she walked away.

I watched her as she left, her shoulder slumping in relief as she finally got away from me. She carried herself so elegantly. She wasn’t the old Kimberly I used to know. She seemed stronger. It seemed as though she had put the past behind her. She had moved on completely, unlike me.

She wasn’t hung up on me anymore like she was five years ago. She was a different woman and that didn’t change the way I felt about her. If anything, it made me want her even more.

Mr. Taylor stared at me suspiciously. “This is a professional meeting. Don’t tell me you’re attracted to my employee.”

I blinked. Was it that obvious? I shrugged, not confirming nor denying it.

“Relationships between attorneys and clients are not advised.”

They’re not advised, but they’re also not illegal. If anything, it made the attorney more passionate. Besides, he only wanted me to back off because he also wanted his worker. I didn’t say anything about it though. My company was in trouble and I needed to sort that out first before I thought about my love life.

“Let’s get back to work.” I prompted. “What else do you need to know about the situation?”

I didn’t think I’d meet Kimberly again, but now that we had crossed paths, it meant that we were meant to meet again. Fate brought us together and I’d be damned if I let her go this time.