Mr. Corporate Law

1.4: L&W Lawyer - Erika Barnett

"I don't have a clue what happened. First, we were fine and dandy, the next, we were arguing and yelling our heads off in the room," I explained on the walk over from Erika's apartment to the building where Lawler & Walsh proudly situated themselves on the top floor.

"At least he bought you the plane ticket."

"Yeah, but that's not what I want," I sighed.

The feeling of defeat had kept me up the night Dominic drove home, and when I got back to LA, I couldn't face him, so I told Mick to drive me to Erika's apartment instead, where I stayed the night before I was scheduled to go make an appearance at the L&W office with my fiancé. We haven't spoken to each other since our fight, although he made attempts to through text and voice messages, the conversation starters were just constant reminders to when and what time we were expected to be at the office.

"I actually wonder why they are desperate to get you in the office, you're not even working there. They must really want you," Erika said as she sipped her morning coffee like the rest of the men and women in suits around the area. "But you did say that Nathaniel and Adrian want Dominic to front the New York office, so maybe they'll try and convince you to move too, since Dominic hasn't said anything without you agreeing to make the move."

"I guess. How can I live without you, Erika?"

"Well duh, I'm the best friend, and we tend to be better than a fiancé." She made a winning grin on her face, as though she felt victorious while waving around her new blond hair that she proudly showed off since her recent haircut.

She really was the greatest, even though I only met her at Harvard, she and I stuck together like two peas in a pod, and most people usually invited us as a whole. Erika kept me stable throughout Harvard and the pressures I got from my Father and Mother, as well as getting out of all the other stresses in life. She was also the shoulder to the woes of my love life, from the guy who dumped me in the first year of law school to the first fight with Dominic. And I was the same for her. We tell each other everything, which made Dominic complain that he's put second when my best friend was around.

Although the other things I kept in the dark from Erika - other than my sex life - was the incident with Nathaniel at the Japanese restaurant.

We got to the front of the building, my head clouded with what could possibly happen inside the walls. I turned to Erika, she took the last sip of her coffee and tossed the cup into the nearest bin before she straightened her black blazer and adjusted her skirt, and she gave me one last smile. Her hands on her hips as she said, "You can do this, Annie."

I took a peek at my watch. "I guess," I mumbled.

A familiar black luxurious car stopped right behind us, we both turned and caught sight of our reflections against the tinted windows, and we both knew who it was behind those dark windows. The back door opened, forcing Erika and I to take a step back, though I didn't take a large step like she did, because I knew that whoever came out, I needed to face either way. I saw Mick hurry out from his driver's seat, but failed to get to the other side in time as my fiancé already took a step out in his fancy black three piece suit and royal blue tie to match. Dominic definitely cleaned up and prepared himself to take a step inside the building, he was clean cut and had his silver work watch strapped on his wrist.

To think about it, Dominic wore the same clothes he wore the first time we met.

And looking down at what I wore, I actually wore the same thing too.

"Well, isn't this a familiar sight," He sarcastically greeted me. The man adjusted the cuffs of his suit and covered the view of his watch, he then stretched out his right hand and placed them on my back - low enough to show that he and I were together, but high enough to not make him look tacky. He leaned down slightly to press his dry lips against my cheek, barely touching my skin to give me a kiss, well if you could call it a kiss that is.