FiFty Fifty

Chapter Nine

KATE

On the sidewalk outside Hogan Place, Levy hitched up his pants and said, 'What the hell were you thinking in there, Kate?'
Kate felt the blood rush to her cheeks.
'I do the talking in the DA's office. You're a junior associate. You should know better. You embarrassed me in there, you know that? You undermined me. If you ever do that again, you'll be out on your ass. Do you understand me, little lady? Or do you want me to talk slower?'
The shock of Levy's statement hitting her caused all kinds of emotions to erupt. For a long time Kate had wondered if she simply wasn't good enough for the job. Levy's little digs at her work automatically made her feel inferior. Recently, she was coming around to the view that this wasn't about her performance – at least not all of it. This mouthful though, this had a lot of venom. She looked at Scott, who hung his head and began stepping away. She felt like a child being chastised by a parent, not knowing exactly what they had done wrong. Her mouth opened but no words followed. She blinked rapidly, stuttered and then closed her lips tight when the next feeling flooded her system – anger. She wanted to talk. She wanted to tell Levy exactly what he could do with this job. That he was a condescending, misogynistic a-hole. Her teeth ground together, her mouth went dry. Passers-by on the street could see what was happening, and they rubbernecked as they strode past the three of them, standing silently, with Levy waiting for a reaction.
Kate shook her head.
'If you're going to stay on this case then be more like Scott. We're going back to the office, but I suggest you take the rest of the morning to think things over. Get with the program, Kate. Come in after lunch, prepared, with your head in the game. If you're not up for this then maybe you should transfer departments. Wallace is always looking for junior associates in probate. Come on, Scott, we'll take my car.'
And with that, they walked away. Kate was getting used to this, and the hollow feeling in her chest grew. She wanted to be popular with Levy. He was a good lawyer. He was her boss. He could give her a great career. He also wanted to sleep with her. Of that, Kate was certain. And the more she had rebuffed his
 
advances the more aggressive he became in his dealings with her. In the first month, Levy had offered her a ride back to her apartment and she felt then that she had no choice but to accept. He's the boss. In the car, outside her building, he began an awkward conversation.
'Nice building,' said Levy.
'It was almost condemned last year,' said Kate.
'Really, you could never tell. It looks so ... historic,' he said, struggling to say
something complimentary. 'I used to live in a place like this when I first moved to the city. All these apartments are the same around here. It would be great to take a look, relive my youth,' he said, smiling with his little black eyes.
'It's a mess, Theo, sorry. I can't have visitors to an untidy apartment,' said Kate, gripping the door handle.
'No need to be embarrassed. We know each other. We're colleagues. We should probably get to know one another a lot better.'
Kate pulled the door handle, got out swiftly, turned and said, 'Thanks for the ride,' and shut the car door. She threw her bag on her shoulder and walked into the building as fast as she could, listening for the sound of the engine in Levy's car – willing it to rev and for him to drive away – far away from her. The only sound in her ears was the beating of her heart and the idle chug of Levy's car as it sat there, motionless.
She could feel his eyes on her.
Since that day, Kate had started bringing running shoes to work. At the end of the day, when Levy was going home, she waited at her desk, her shoulders tight and frozen in dread.
'You're working too hard. Come on, I'll give you a ride home. We might even grab a bite on the way. Do you like sushi? Wait, who am I kidding? Everyone likes sushi. I know a great place on—'
'No, it's okay, Theo. Thanks, but I've got my gear. I'm jogging home. Got to find the time to keep in shape these days,' she said, reaching down to pick her running shoes out of her gym bag and then holding them aloft above her head as proof of her intentions.
'You don't need to do that. You look in pretty good shape to me,' he said. That one almost made her puke.
Some nights Levy would persist, asking two or three times. Would she like a
drink, or dinner? Levy said he'd been comped tickets for a Broadway show, or a suite at the Four Seasons for a night – would she like to tag along?
Kate said no. Every time. It didn't seem to matter. He would touch her shoulder, his fingers grazing the side of her neck, then sigh and leave. When he got into the elevator every night, Kate shuddered in pure relief, rolled her