Insufferable Proximity

by Z. Stefani

  “I will.” he said, hating the way that his father made him feel like he was oblivious to what was going on around him. Maybe he was, he was too busy having sex and working, to pay attention to anything else.

  “No more sex on the grounds.”

  “It won’t happen again.”

  “It better not.” Ayden scolded him, obviously disgusted with him yet again.

  Julian walked out of his father’s office and took a good look around the firm, realizing that someone here could very well be out to get him, trying to sabotage his career. But who was it?

  Scorned lovers? He had plenty of those, in the firm alone there was Lila Strain, one of the two female attorneys. He had slept with her the first week he had come to the firm. She was a wild cat in bed and he might have even prolonged the sexual escapades for a few more sessions if his brother had not of found out.

  He had to end it. He explained to her that his brother knew and if his father found out he would fire them both, but she had not taken kindly to the news at first and vowed revenge. He laughed at her attempt at coercion, which had enraged her further. By the next week, after realizing her threats were ineffective, she was back to trying to win him over. It had been suggestive comments and overt invitations from her ever since, always welcoming him back whenever he was ready. Julian had never been the forgiving type and had no qualms about eliminating someone from his life.

  Then there was Sampson Gold, three company Christmas parties ago his beloved wife had gotten drunk and propositioned Julian in the break room. Julian had turned her down, he was unwilling to have an affair with his co-workers wife, especially a top-notch lawyer like Sampson. Neither one of them had known that Sampson was right outside the door listening until she stormed out and exposed his cover. The tears in Sampson’s eyes spoke volumes and he had been standoffish at best ever since that night.

  On the other hand, maybe it was his brother’s secretary, Juliette West, her obsession with him seemed to extreme to be real. On occasion, he had wondered if she was working an undercover mission to obtain knowledge from him. Of course, that mission would be funded and led by his brother.

  Then of course, there was Ian, Julian knew beyond a shadow a doubt that if anyone at the firm hated him enough to sabotage his life, it was his own brother.

  Then there was Gavin Grant, another fellow attorney. His whole lips to ass, good-guy persona could be a clever charade, although his underlining cowardice made him the least suspicious.

  Then there was Miss Lake, the woman he had been busted having sex with in the elevator. That whole situation had backfired on him, he had only had sex with her to get back at Ms. Deville for sending his secretary across town on a false errand on a day he needed her. After learning of the sexual escapades in the elevator, Ms. Deville had promptly fired the girl. At that point, Miss Lake ran to Julian’s office in tears, begging him to force Ms. Deville to reconsider. He explained that there was nothing he could do and Miss Lake vowed revenge before being escorted from the firm.

  That brought him directly to the most suspicious of them all-

  Ms. Heaven S. Deville.

  She was a top-notch attorney and at only 26, a veritable force to be reckoned with in the courtroom. The woman had a way with closing arguments that made most lawyers look incompetent by comparison. She also had a cunning demeanor so slick, she could persuade the devil himself to believe whatever lie she chose to tell.

  However, despite her golden reputation, she also happened to be the biggest bitch he had ever had the displeasure to meet. She was overly competitive, aggressive and unfeminine in a way he could not personally comprehend. She also hated him as much as he despised her and they had been battling over case after case since she came to the firm. She was dangerously driven and ambitious enough to destroy anyone who stood in her way

  He had reason to believe it was Ms. Deville.

  ***

  Sugar and Spice And Anything But Nice

  Gloria Gray walked over to her fellow secretaries, who were using the hallway to stalk Julian King. In the pecking order of the secretaries at the firm, Gloria considered herself the head bitch in charge. The only one who dared to compete with her title was Juliette, who was under the false belief that working for Ian King made her the big fish in the secretarial pond. Gloria laughed at her feeble attempts to be queen bee, despite Juliette’s over-confident demeanor, she was riddled with self-doubt.

  “Well look who finally decided to show up for work today.” Juliette sneered as Gloria stood beside her.

  “And look who only shows up for work to stalk her boss’s brother.” Gloria retorted.

  “Here she comes.” Adele’s warning stopped the women’s bickering as they all looked up to see Ms. Heaven Deville walking down the hall, straight towards them.

  “Why it’s the wicked bitch of the west.” Juliette whispered and Adele giggled, always amused with the demeaning comments about Ms. Deville. Adele had always been intimidated by Heaven, but when her good friend Miss Lake was fired, her fear had turned into resentment.

  Gloria on the other hand did not think Juliette’s comment was funny, but then again, she felt Juliette’s whole personality was un-humorous and lacking character. From the sour look permanently engraved on her face to the condescending tone in her voice, Juliette was unpleasant at best.

  “We’re in the East” Gloria corrected her.

  “So!” Juliette snapped in irritation, “You get the point.”

  “You’re just jealous because he pays more attention to her than you.” Gloria antagonized her.

  “Are you daft Gloria? Julian hates Ms. Deville and you know it.”

  “True, but it’s still an emotion, which is more than he has for you.” she grinned smugly, “We’re just different I guess, I’d rather have him spend his time hating me than not noticing me. It must suck to be so insignificant.” she finished, having the last word, as Heaven was to close for them to say anything else, without her overhearing. As Heaven drew near, Juliette turned the corners of her mouth up into the fakest smile she could muster.

  “Good morning Ms. Deville” Juliette smiled, watching Heaven curtly nod her head as she passed by the secretaries, not bothering to slow her pace.

  If Juliette had to pick whom she hated the most in the firm, even above that bitch Gloria, it would have to be Ms. Deville. Gloria was nothing more than an insecure, jealous bitch in Juliette’s eyes, so it was easy to dismiss her as an uneducated tramp. However, Ms. Deville, she single handedly upped the ante on being a true-blooded bitch.

  Ms. Deville had come to the firm with a bang and had been ricocheting verbal bullets through the office ever since. She was the boss’s favorite and everyone knew it. She was being geared to be the best, Ayden himself had spent the first year advising her and stood by like a proud poppa as she won case after case. It could have been the perfect arrangement if not for one little problem- the bosses son and the bosses protégé despised each other. They hated each other in every sense of the word, hatred so deep that it managed to make everyone at the firm nervous. All of the employees were on pins and needles when a new case came in, they knew that Heaven and Julian would turn the firm into their personal battleground. Heaven was known for sending his secretary on false errands, shutting off his office phone, and removing ink cartridges from his printer. Julian on the other hand, pulled typical Julian King moves and had sex with her last three secretaries in retaliation. That was why Juliette was so relieved when Heaven’s new secretary had arrived, she was happily married with children and was obviously not the type to commit adultery.

  “Where is she going in such a hurry?” Adele asked watching Ms. Deville leave the office.

  “She has the day off today.” Juliette said, knowing most of the employee’s schedules. “She has no life of course,” she grinned smugly, “that’s why she is always here, even on her days off.”

  “You don’t know that.” Gloria protested, not to defend Ms. Deville, but to argue with Jul
iette.

  “I don’t have to know that for a fact, just look at her,” Juliette frowned, “she’s homely.”

  “Ms. Deville is not homely and you know it.” Gloria said, this time she was defending Ms. Deville. Sure, she was a super-bitch with a venomous tongue, but she was far from homely, no matter how hard she tried to be.

  “I meant she dresses homely.” Juliette shook her head, “You can tell just by the way she dresses that she is probably on her way to her lonely house to feed her multiple cats.”

  “What the hell do cats have to do with anything?” Gloria asked.

  “Don’t you have a few cats Juliette?” Adele asked with feigned innocence, knowing damn well Juliette had one.

  “No, unlike you Adele, I do not hoard felines, I only have one.”

  “Juliette has a picture of that mangy feline in her locker.” Gloria‘s snide comment ignited Juliette’s temper.

  “It’s better than the picture of that little hell-hound you have in your locker.” Juliette barked at Gloria, despite her comment about the cats, Juliette adored her cat Felix.

  “No you did not just call my precious little Pierre a hell hound.” Gloria said defensively, her miniature Doberman pincher was like her child, “At least I don’t have a picture of a man who doesn’t even know I exist hidden in the back of my locker.”

  “I do not!” Juliette protested, wondering how Gloria, the big snoop, had found it, “you sound pathetic and jealous when you make false accusations like that Miss Grant.” Juliette said then turned on her heel and stormed away.

  “Does she really?” Adele’s eye lit up.

  “She sure does.” Gloria answered before leaving Adele to stand in the hall alone with a vindictive smile on her face.

  ***

  Heaven stepped out of her red car and exhaled the air she had been holding in her lungs. She was not in the mood for the festivities, but her mother and aunt were going away on vacation and this was the last chance she would have to see them for a while. She slowly walked up the grey stone steps, looking at the well-kept red rose bushes aligned on either side. The color red was the only thing that she and her mother had ever agreed on. Although her mother loved the color red, her favorite color was pink, but to Heaven, pink was nothing more than a weak version of red which made it inferior by design and unacceptable.

  Heaven walked up to the frosted glass doors and paused for a moment. She always had mixed feelings when it came to this house. She hated what it represented, the house itself had been her sanctuary as well as her own personal hell. This particular place had been her residence since her ninth birthday, when she had stumbled upon a full-blown orgy at its most perverse stage.

  After that unfortunate incident, her mother had packed everything they owned and moved everyone to a bigger house in NYC. Sybille, Heaven’s mother, had hoped that the change of scenery would help her daughter forget, but nothing could erase the lewd image from Heaven’s mind. It was just one of those things that she would never forget, it was an irreparable incident that had created a major impact on her adult life. After that, her mother tried harder to shield her from the inner workings of the brothel, but it had been an impossible task, considering their home had been the headquarters where she conducted all of her business. Growing up in a brothel, Heaven had been witness to a few other unsavory acts over the years, but that particular incident had been the most damaging to her impressionable young mind.

  It was no wonder that she had grown to become sexually repressed as well cold hearted, she had been trained to fear, distrust and avoid men. She also happened to be disgusted with her own attraction for the opposite sex, and nixed the thought before it even formed.

  Heaven took a deep breath before finally walking into the house, vowing to show her face, say a quick hello and then leave. Her mother was having a big going away party and demanded that her daughter came. She tried to refuse, but her mother had a way of convincing her that border lined on blackmail and specialized in guilt trips. They would be gone for a month and even though Heaven was reluctant to admit it, she always missed her mother and her aunt when they went away.

  Heaven walked through her mother’s house and straight to the backdoor. She knew what to expect, nudity, sex, tons of great food and top shelf liquor, the same things she had seen most of her life. Since Heaven did not drink, eat high calorie foods or have sex, she did not feel the need to be there. She swung the large back doors open to find the party was in full effect, and she took another deep breath before walking outside.

  She headed directly to her mother’s secluded spot off to the left of the pool area, her lip twitching in irritation as a group of scantily clad women tried to crowd around her and say hello. Deciding today was not the day to break tradition, Heaven did as she always did, she continued past them without saying a word.

  “Sevigne!” she heard Maude’s voice and could not help but stop as the tiny platinum haired pixie sprinted over to her, wearing a scandalous black and white zebra print bikini. As soon as Maude was close, she grabbed Heaven in a tight bear hug. Maude knew that Heaven was not the type who appreciated hugs, but ignored her stiffening body and hugged her anyway. “How have you been, we haven’t seen you all week.” she exclaimed, “You know your mother gets frantic when you’re away too long.” her brilliant smile filled with the warmth she naturally exuded.

  “I’ve been working.”

  “Always the busy bee.” she stopped the waiter walking by and grabbed a glass of champagne for Heaven. Maude knew she would not drink it, but she in return would never stop offering, hoping one day she would accept it. “I hope you came to have a good time and forget about work for a little while.” she said although she knew there was no chance of Heaven not dwelling about work, even in a party atmosphere.

  “My darling daughter!” Heaven heard her mother calling her and she headed towards her direction. Her mother had wanted something more private to get away from the partying when she was ready and had set up a beautiful lounge area under a large white wrought iron gazebo. There were several oversized, white-velvet chaise loungers with chocolate-brown, leopard-print pillows, cylinder shaped pearl-top end tables and a personalized buffet.

  “Hello mother.” she watched her mother stand up from the chaise lounge with the regality of a queen.

  “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you all week!” she hugged Heaven as if she had not seen her in over ten years before pulling back to look at her, “Are you purposely trying to give your mother a heart attack, darling?”

  “I’ve just been so preoccupied with work.” Heaven explained, although she knew mentioning her job would irritate her mother.

  “Ugh, work, it’s always about work. Wait, isn’t today your day off?” Sybille scoffed.

  “Yes.”

  “Then why were you at work in the first place?”

  “Sybille.” Heaven needed to stop her mother before she got started, because once Sybille began, it was hard to get her to stop. She was tired of her mother’s opinion about her job and the strenuous hours she worked.

  “Stop calling me Sybille.” She frowned.

  “Then stop harassing me about how I earn a living.”

  “But that job is killing you!” Sybille put her ringed hand over her heart dramatically

  “Mother.”

  “Yes dear?” she feigned innocence.

  “Don’t start.”

  “Start? Moi?” Sybille bated her eyelashes innocently.

  “Yes you.” Coco said as she came up from behind, and then hugged her niece. “Hi sweetie, I’m glad you could make it.” Coco had been a second mother to Heaven all of her life and had taught her about the things her mother refused to be bothered with.

  “My darling daughter was just asking me to not mention how much of her life is taken up by that- that job!” she exclaimed, unable to keep her mouth closed on the subject. “I mean really, you work 21 hours a day and 7 days a week, you never take a day off.”

  “I don�
��t need a day off.”

  “Everyone needs time off!” Sybille objected.

  “Actually with this position open, I need more time.”

  Heaven was quite confident about getting the position, she had analyzed her competition and in truth, there was none. The only one who managed to bring her Confidence to a pause was Julian. The position should have been his as it was, but he was too busy screwing off to obtain it. Now, for some crazy reason he wanted the position, which did not settle well with her. He alone could stand in her way, he was very intelligent after all, despite his shortcomings and his adolescent sex drive. Really, the man was a freak of nature, and a freak by nature, he was constantly being caught with his pants down and not only did he not seem to care, he was still able to be one of the best attorneys she knew.

  “How is everything going with that?” Coco asked in excitement, she was beyond proud of Heaven and her accomplishments.