Simply Beautiful Page 2

  In this mood, both of the brothers were forces to be reckoned with. Tristan was, well…Tristan was always wound up tight as a rope, but he was even more so now with the notion that their little brother was in some kind of trouble. Brandon didn’t anger quickly, but when he did, watch out. He could be just as bad as Tristan. The brothers stood there, breathing deeply, and David knew that they were both trying to rein their tempers in. When he saw Brandon’s body relax, he felt a little better. He could stand there all day and Tristan would still do what Tristan wanted to do.

  Brandon was the first to speak. “You’re right, David. Sorry. And Tristan, if you would stop cutting me off, I’ll tell you everything I know so far.”

  With that, Tristan nodded his head, first at his brother, then at David, as he and David both waited for Brandon to speak.

  “First, Sinjin didn’t say what he needed me for; just that he needed my help. Since Sin is not one to ask for help, I thought I’d better haul my ass out there.”

  “And where exactly is ‘there’?” Tristan asked.

  “New Mexico,” Brandon mumbled.

  Frowning, Tristan asked, “Did I hear you correctly? D-did you say New Mexico?”

  “Yes, you heard right—I said New Mexico.”

  “The hell—what’s he doing in New Mexico?

  “I don’t know yet—he promised to fill me in this evening. He wants me to fly into Albuquerque, where a car will be waiting to take me to a hotel in Santa Fe. I’m to call him once I’m checked into the hotel. I’m booked on the Red Eye.” Sighing deeply, Brandon continued, “I know Sin wouldn’t have me walk into a dangerous situation unawares. Still, I don’t like surprises.”

  “If you don’t like surprises, then you don’t have any business getting involved with whatever Sin has going on. Sin is one big surprise after another. You never know what the hell that dude’s up to. So, if you don’t want a surprise, I suggest you keep your ass at home and stay the hell away from Sinjin. You don’t think he’s over there chasing some woman, do you? He can’t be in some jail because he called you. By the way, you still haven’t said why he called you instead of me,” said Tristan.

  “Like I said, Tris, I don’t know. Trust me, I’m just as curious as you are as to why he would call me and not you. He didn’t sound like he was hurt or in trouble. However, he did sound rushed.”

  “A woman,” both Tristan and David said at once. All three looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Well, whatever the case may be, I’m headed for New Mexico,” Brandon said.

  Tristan didn’t like it, but he had to accept the fact that both his brothers knew how to handle themselves. All the same, he thought he’d be checking on Sin himself. Woman or not, Sin didn’t ask for help unless absolutely necessary. Maybe he’d give Domino a call or better yet email him. Neither of his brothers knew that Tristan helped his friend out from time to time doing investigative work. Domino Longhorn was a former Texas Ranger who had opened up a security and private investigation service. Tristan would call Domino from time to time to help him out with difficult cases and to use his contacts. Domino could get information that neither he nor the Bureau could.

  Tristan wasn’t too happy with Brandon going down there by himself, but what could he do? Short of hog-tying his ass up, he couldn’t stop him from going. When it came to family, honor and obligations, Brandon was just as stubborn as he and just as bad-assed when provoked. He would deal with the problem with Sin later. Now he needed to handle the asshole here so he could get back to Atlanta. He’d gotten his first break in years as to who the mole was in the department that had blown his and Sal’s cover, and he needed to get back to follow up on it.

  He found himself asking Brandon, “So who’s the problem here?”

  Brandon sighed. “James Langston.”

  “I should’ve known,” said Tristan. James Langston was the son of one of the city’s wealthiest business moguls, and rumor had it that they were well-connected. No wonder the young ladies’ claims had gone by the wayside. Nobody wanted to deal with the golden boy. Well, that was just too damned bad—that little shit had to go, thought Tristan.

  “I know what you’re thinking, Tris, and believe me, I would like nothing more than to toss the little shit out on his ass, but that asshole is one of the best litigators around, and if we fire him without proof, it can get real messy. That’s why I called you here. I need you to handle the situation by doing what you do best—investigating the little creep without him knowing it. I’m sure if two women have already come forward, there are more. As far as I’m concerned, his days of intimidation are over. I never liked the little prick, but this is beyond ridiculous. When he leaves this firm, I want him gone—with the stench that he created following him, and him only. As of now, I’ve heard that he assigned one of the junior associates to help him work on an appeal. I didn’t think anything of it until I found out who the associate was.”

  “Who is it?” Tristan asked.

  Tristan heard David clearing his throat and looked over at him, curious as to why David appeared to be trying to cover a smile. Tristan knew the man well enough to know he was smirking, which had him even more curious. Puzzled, he turned away from David to look at his brother, who wasn’t even trying to hide his smile. As a matter of fact, Tristan could probably count most of Brandon’s teeth, his smile was so broad. “What? And what the hell’s got you two grinning like Cheshire cats?” Tristan asked, clearly puzzled as to why his question would garner such a reaction from his brother and David. “Well, who is it?” Tristan asked, losing patience with both Brandon and David. Brandon, unfazed by Tristan’s scowl, replied, “Alisha Carrington.”

  Chapter Two

  After parking her car in the garage, Alisha hurried into the office building, hoping that she wouldn’t run into anyone before making it to her office—particularly that slime ball, James Langston. The man was a creep. Why she would be working on an appeal with James was beyond her. James had given her the appeal yesterday, as she was gathering her things to leave for the day. Alisha knew that James expected her to work on the appeal over the weekend, since today was Friday and the appeal had to be filed next week. If James thought that she would be in an office alone with him, though, especially after hours, he had another think coming. She had no intentions of being alone with the man for any reason.

  There were rumors going around the office about James being accused of sexual harassment by two former employees of Cameron, et al., a secretary and a law intern. If the rumors were true, James was either an idiot or he thought himself to be untouchable. “Mr. I-think-I’m-God’s-Gift-To-Women.” PuLEEZE! As if. More like “I’m gonna get my ass kicked by the Cameron men,” if the rumors were true, and that wouldn’t surprise her one bit. Especially knowing Tristan Cameron was crazy as all get out. Nah, ain’t happening here. No way would those dudes tolerate something like that.

  Alisha wasn’t the only African-American attorney with the firm, but she was the only African-American female attorney here. Alisha knew that she was damned good at her job. A graduate of St. John’s Law School in Queens, New York, she’d started her career as a lawyer in a small firm in the suburbs of Long Island, but after five years had decided she needed a change and had applied for and been hired on at Cameron, Cameron & LaSalle, P.C. three years ago. And they hadn’t hesitated to hire her.

  Alisha opened the door and began to walk through the reception area. She noticed that Brandon’s door was closed, and could hear him and his partners yelling. A few attorneys were standing around looking rather anxious. Alisha waved at Lorna, the receptionist, stopping to talk to her for a minute. “Hi, Lorna. What’s going on?” Lorna, a petite Hispanic woman, attended paralegal school at night. Not many people knew that about her, often assuming her to be just another pretty face looking for a husband, which was far from the truth. Lorna had just gotten out of a bad relationship and wasn’t looking to get into any relationship right now. The two women would sometimes meet aft
er work on Fridays for dinner and drinks. Sometimes, Alisha’s sister Asia would join them if she was in town.

  “Hey, chica! I don’t rightly know what’s going on. All of the partners are in there, and you can hear the two brothers screaming their heads off,” Lorna said.

  “Hmmm. Well, I’m sure it’s nothing that has to do with us. Maybe it’s a sibling thing—you know, too much testosterone and all,” Alisha replied and proceeded to walk towards her office, nodding at the other employees as she passed them. Alisha always pasted a smile on her face before facing anyone in the office. She never entertained office gossip, like most of the other attorneys and secretaries did. Every time she went into the break room there were always two or three of the secretaries there dishing dirt on each other or some other office personnel. Alisha only ever went into the break room to heat her lunch or to get an occasional cup of coffee when she was working on a case. Many of Alisha’s cases settled before going to court. When she did have to appear in court, she liked to be well-prepared. Several of the other attorneys preferred having the paralegals do their research. Not her; she preferred hands-on information, wanting to make sure all of her t’s were crossed and i’s dotted.

  Alisha walked into her office and placed her coffee on her desk so she could remove her coat. She then straightened out the jacket of her Jones New York navy suit. The skirt reached about an inch above her knees, and Alisha found herself pulling at it a little bit, looking down at herself to see if maybe she was showing a little too much leg. After examining her appearance, she found that all was in order. Standing at 5 feet 6 inches, Alisha was considered average height—neither short nor tall. She often wore three-inch heels that made her appear much taller. Although she was often complimented on her looks and her appearance, she never took advantage of it. At 33, she wanted to be known for her brains as well as her beauty. People often thought she was of mixed heritage because of the texture of her hair and her coloring. She had long curly hair—when she didn’t blow dry it to straighten it out—and her skin was about a half a shade darker than caramel. She wasn’t of mixed heritage, nor was she from the Caribbean. Though she didn’t consider herself beautiful, many did and that bothered the hell out of her, as men often acted the damn fool in her presence. Like women couldn’t have beauty as well as brains. They just want a beautiful dummy—yeah, right. Not bloody likely.

  As Alisha sat behind her desk and booted up her computer, a knock sounded on her door. Her secretary, Betty, stuck her head in the door, asking, “Can I come in?”

  “Of course, don’t be silly. Come on in,” Alisha said. The only time Betty used the intercom system to buzz Alisha was if she had someone in her office, which was hardly ever, since they had four large conference rooms to meet with clients.

  Betty walked into Alisha’s office and stood in front of her desk. “You’ve been summoned by James to see him as soon as you get in.”

  “What the hell could that a—? Sorry, Betty. What could Langston want with me this early?” Alisha tried to hide her annoyance.

  “Don’t know. He told me to advise him as soon as you got in. I just wanted to prepare you, since he was acting as though it was a matter of life and death.”

  “Oh, all right. Let’s get this over with,” Alisha said, and pushed her chair back.

  “Alisha, you know I love you like a daughter, right?” Betty said, and at Alisha’s nod continued, “Don’t get too close to Langston, and don’t go behind closed doors with him. I know you’ve heard the rumors about him. Well, let me tell you, I’ve been around for a while and I know a lot of people here. The rumors that are floating around here about him are kids’ play compared to some of the things his father and his money have gotten him out of. Be careful, is all I’m saying.” With that, Betty turned and walked out of Alisha’s office, with Alisha close behind.

  “Thanks, Betty. Duly noted.”

  * * *

  Tristan looked at his brother and his friend, confused. “Who’s Alisha Carrington? And is there something I should know about her?”

  “Ah…no, not that I’m aware of. We can set up a meeting with her, if you want.”

  “Should I have a meeting with her?” Tristan asked.

  “Maybe, since she’ll be working closely with Langston.”

  “Is she capable of getting the job done?”

  “Not sure—it’s a big case; that’s why Langston has it, he’s a good litigator and this is a very big case. Alisha’s good at her job—just not sure if she can handle this appeal. There have been several attorney changes. Most are using trial attorneys. This case is big and messy. ”

  “Then why let her? You have the authority to go over Langston’s head,” Tristan said.

  “You know I don’t like to throw my weight around. Besides, we have to let Langston keep thinking that he’s in for the partnership if we want to catch his slimy ass.”

  “I agree,” David said. “If we start taking cases and people away from him, he’s going to start getting suspicious. If we let him think that we don’t care and don’t listen to office gossip, he’s bound to slip up.”

  Brandon added, “Better keep a close eye on him with Alisha. She’s single, attractive, a nice girl and a very good worker. Haven’t had any complaints about her since we hired her three years ago.”

  “Which one’s Alisha, anyway? I’ve been in this office several times over the past few years, and I don’t think I’ve run into an Alisha.”

  “Tristan, who do you know? Other than David and me, you don’t socialize with the other employees at all. Hell, you barely acknowledge that they work here. With you being all pissy and whatnot, everybody in the office is afraid to get within ten feet of you.”

  “Fuck you, Brandon. Anyway, I don’t have time to babysit.”

  “Tris, half the people in the office go the other way when you come into the office. You don’t talk, you growl, and you stay holed up in your office the entire time you’re here. You don’t allow the other attorneys, or clients, in your office unless absolutely necessary—which is almost never.”

  “I’ve had people in my office,” Tristan said with a smile, remembering the last time he was in town. He had hooked up with a good-looking attorney from another firm—hey, a man has needs—and although he wasn’t looking for any long-term commitments, he did enjoy sex—enjoyed it a lot.

  “I’m not talking about banging your flavor of the month after working hours, Tris. By the way, that shit is just nasty. Why couldn’t you take her back to your condo?”

  “Hell, no! You know I don’t take women back to my place. She offered and I took her up on it. We both got what we wanted. End of story.”

  “Apparently, you have a lot of ‘end of stories’,” Brandon said.

  “As if you don’t,” Tristan replied with a sarcastic smile.

  “He’s got you there, Brandon,” David said. “You’re just as bad as Tristan. You were dangling so many women at one point I thought you’d opened up an escort service behind my back.”

  Tristan’s lips twitched at the scowl on his brother’s face.

  “I wasn’t that bad,” Brandon said.

  “Of course you were,” David said. “And by the way, you’ve only slowed down; you haven’t stopped.”

  “That’s because I’m not dead,” Brandon said, under his breath.

  This had Tristan and David doubled over in laughter.

  “Man! And you talk about me,” Tristan said. “At least I can name mine.

  “No, I believe that I said that you are one mean asshole, bro.”

  “Prick,” Tristan fired back at his brother.

  Before Brandon could say anything, David was holding up his hand, “Children, children, let’s not start.”

  “Fine. When can I meet Ms. Carrington?” Tristan asked.

  Brandon and David looked at each other. “Nothing like the present time,” Brandon said.

  Tristan looked from one to other with a raised brow and asked, “What?”

&n
bsp; Both Brandon and David shook their heads and simultaneously said, “Nothing.”

  Brandon buzzed Alisha’s secretary. “Good morning, Betty. Can you send Alisha down to my office?”

  “Sure, Brandon. She was just on her way down to Mr. Langston’s office,” she said with distaste evident in her voice.

  “Can you catch her before she reaches James’ office and ask her to stop by my office?” Brandon asked.

  “Sure. She just left so she shouldn’t be too far. I’ll go and grab her now.”

  “Thanks, Betty,” Brandon said, and disconnected the call.

  Chapter Three

  Alisha was rounding the corner on her way to James’ office when she heard Betty calling her. Alisha stopped to acknowledge her. “Yes, Betty? What is it?”

  “Brandon wants you to stop by his office before you go in to see James,” Betty said.

  “Oh, okay,” Alisha said. “Did he say what he wanted, Betty?”

  “No, he just asked that you stop by his office.”

  “Okaaay,” Alisha said as she turned and headed towards Brandon’s office, wondering what in the world he could want with her. She liked Brandon—he was a good boss to work for, as far as bosses went. He never gave the impression that he was better than the other attorneys. Neither did David, the other partner. Both were nice guys…and both were ladies’ men. Well, David had been, until he got married about two years ago. Most of the attorneys had been invited to the wedding, but Alisha had not gone because her father had suffered a minor heart attack. David’s wife, Nadia, was of mixed heritage, African-American and Native American. Alisha had met Nadia at one of the office’s Christmas parties before she and David had married. Nadia was beautiful inside and out. Alisha was happy for David and even happier that they would welcome the birth of their first child any day now.

  Alisha approached Brandon’s office with trepidation. She had never been asked to see him on such short notice. Other than a quick hello or goodbye, Alisha’s only other conversations with Brandon were at meetings or occasionally, when he wanted to run case law by her. Alisha had such a heavy caseload that neither Brandon nor David bothered her much. That’s why she was completely surprised when James had asked her to do his appeal. Alisha was a defense negligence attorney and would do some plaintiff’s work on occasion, but most of her time was spent defending insurance companies and their clients.