Bittersweet

Georgie nervously drummed her fingers on the wooden desk, her heart pounding in her small chest hoping that it would subside. Her nerves were getting the best of her. She knew it. Why else would it be difficult to start her brief for the next case that was bestowed upon her?

Gritting her teeth, she stared at the blank page of her computer. Muttering a few strings of curses under her breath she fought the urge of banging her head against the table to get rid of the thoughts that were curling around her mind.

How could she sleep with Jesse?

Why did her body and mind instantly reached out for him to console her? It didn’t make any sense as to why she would even consider Jesse, one of her closest friends as an outlet. Georgie felt a small twinge in her heart just thinking about the night they shared.

She hoped there was nothing that came of it; that Jesse didn’t have feelings for her. Yes, that would further complicate things. Her eyes refused to meet his when they were intimate and she could feel the immediate rush of guilt seeping through her veins.

Georgie had the urge to bang her head on the table for trying to be that girl that reached out to be consoled in any typical way. She didn’t even wake him up before she left! Instead she raced out of her room hoping that he wouldn’t wake up to catch her. It was a ridiculous notion since when would she rush out of Jesse’s house?

Jesse was her confidant, her sanctuary, her go to friend whenever she needed the advice that not even Adam could give her and she had to fuck it all up because she was feeling in need of skin on skin contact.

“Georgie, your needed in the conference room.” A head poked inside her office.

“But I thought I had a couple more hours left?” Georgie cursed under her breath when her handy dandy assistant sheepishly told her that it was bumped up due to schedule conflicts. Rolling her eyes, she slammed the folder closed before picking it up and following her assistant down the hall.

It’s time to put her skills to the test.

Taking a deep breath in, she opened the door and instantly sat on the opposite side of her opponent after a brief greeting. “Let’s get started shall we?”

_ _ _

Storming out of the conference room while the other smugly bid goodbye, her assistant instantly trailed behind her like a duckling hoping not to get her head bitten off. “M-Miss Cortez?” Georgie continued to mutter darkly under her breath as she zeroed in on her office.

She rather not talk to anyone at the moment after losing the hearing; it was clear that if her client did not drop the case then he will surely lose his kids. There was no denying that he struck his wife and hiding that small piece of information really cornered her. Georgie felt out of breath when she heard the sudden news and the filed report that happened not too long ago.

Now she had the pain of telling her client of what was bound to happen.

“Miss Cortez?”

“I rather not talk right now. I have an important phone call to make.” Instantly she felt her assistant inch away from her before complying with her wishes. “I’ll call you if I need anything.”

“Y-Yes ma’am.”

Georgie sighed heavily as she kicked the door shut to relieve some of the frustration that was pumping through her veins. All of her struggles and conflictions were all coming at her at once. Out of breath, she leaned into her desk for support.

Her hand opened one of her desk to scour through her drawers to find what she was looking for. Finding the helpful orange bottle, she twisted the impossibly tight cap open and popped two pills into her mouth. Swallowing them, she sat at her desk with her eyes closed hoping the effects will soon kick in.

Inhaling and exhaling slowly, Georgie finally started to calm down. Her heart rate was declining into a steady beat. While she picked up the phone, she continued those slow easy breaths and kept reminding herself that it wasn’t her fault that this case was lost. It was all his fault. It was all his.

“Miss Cortez, just the woman I wanted to hear from. How did the brief go?”

“Not so well considering that you were unable to be present at the given time due to conflict of schedules?” Georgie’s nostrils flared, screw patience. She had the right to be pissed off. Even though the medicine hasn’t fully kicked in yet, she could still feel the slight pressure on her chest. “When were you going to tell me that you inflicted injuries on your ex-wife?”

A small sigh breathed through the phone, she could picture him pinching his nose in annoyance. “I didn’t think it was irrelevant since the bitch keeps touching my kids, Miss Cortez.”

“It doesn’t matter! Every single report filed against you is important! Did you know that you can possibly lose your children now because of this?”

“How in the hell does that happen?! I barely touched her!”

Anger crackled in the air, the grip on the phone tightened. “It doesn’t matter. All the jury will see is a man that hit a defenseless woman all because she declined to give him her kids. They will overlook her molesting the kids all because you hit her, Mr. Lineberry.”

The small pause had her relaxed. With the small break in between intervals she was able to recollect her thoughts. Her mind completely racing at the thought of what could be possibly done now.

“What can we do now?” Anger disappeared in his voice as it was replaced with a sense of loss. Georgie lingered for a moment before answering.

“They offered a deal. Your ex-wife will drop the charges if you do.”

“No. There is no way in hell I would do that to my kids. Work something out Miss Cortez. I’m paying you good money for this. Don’t call me until something is figured out.” The indefinite slam rang through her ear along with the dial tone.

Georgie felt the drug kick in as her body finally relaxed under these circumstances. Instead of taking the deal like most people; he decided to be a caring father after all. Smoothing out her hair, she opened the file once again to see if there was anything missed.

After a long day at work, Georgie once again fell into autopilot as she scurried towards her car. Sliding in, she felt her back tense at the cushion of the seat. She definitely needed a new chair for her office the kinks in her back have done a number on her body. With a long drive ahead of her, she tried to mentally prepare herself as she turned her set of music.

A dry smile appeared on her lips when she heard Adam’s voice surrounding her like a warm embrace. That bastard always had a way of weaseling his way back into her life without her consent. The familiar sting vibrated through her chest as she changed to the next song.

Finally settling on a song that she could relax to, she cursed again when she hit traffic. The grueling hour and a half getting home really made her mood shitty. All Georgie could think about was the soothing sound of her body hitting bed and letting her body sink into the softness of her bed. That’s all she asked for.

But Georgie never got her way. There was never one day of total relaxation because this was her life. Nothing in the world could go right and to be proven the familiar tatted man sitting on her porch was proven.

His head lifted up when headlights passed through the driveway. When they lightly dimmed before turning off, he immediately stood up ready to chase her if needed. Georgie begrudgingly stepped out of the car and slammed it shut to vocalize how frustrated she was at the moment.

Would Adam take the hint? No. Why you ask? Because he’s like not most people; he doesn’t go apologize asking if he came at the wrong time. He would linger and demand to know what’s wrong because he needed to know. He wanted to know why Georgie was so pissed off even if it had nothing to do with him.

“What do you want Levine?” She scowled.

“I wanna talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Pushing the door open, she attempted to slam it in his face. Georgie wanted him to know that now was not that time to talk.

He didn’t listen.

Adam quickly put his hand out to stop the door before stepping inside. “There’s a ton to talk about. You just refuse to talk to me about it. Now spill, G. What’s up?”

Tiny hands clenched tightly before throwing her briefcase and purse across the room with sheer force. “There’s nothing to talk about! Nothing!” She roared. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she tried to clear out her frustration on something. Anything. And since Adam was there, he would have to endure it.

“Its people like you that I despise so much! It’s people like you that I hate because no matter what I do you always find a way to worm back into my life! I never asked you to come back. I never asked you to be my friend again and yet you keep coming back like nothing is wrong. Everything is wrong, Adam!”

“I know.” He whispered. He let her vent, pulling her hair, stomping her feet, yelling for the pure sake of her actually letting out all of what she kept bottled inside.

“You fucked me over. You promised from day one that you would never leave me and you did. You son of a bitch fucking did and I hate you for that! One of the only people that I trust, the one that I can depend on, the one that I fucking love so much and you do this shit.” Tears already spilled down her cheeks, furiously rubbing her eyes not caring if she smeared her make-up around her face.

“You promised.” She pointed a black tipped finger at him. “Y-You broke your promise. You fuckin-” Georgie broke down into tears. Adam took no time to take those final steps and scoop her up into his arms.

Pulling her closer into his chest, he smoothed out her back as he whispered, “I know. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry I did that. It was such an asshole move; something I promised that I would never do to my best friend and I did it anyways. But from here on out I want to be there for you. I need you as much as you need me, maybe a little bit more than you do.”

“Don’t say promises you can’t keep.”

“I swear. I swear that I will always be here for you. You come first; you should always come first, Georgie.” Adam’s chest completely caved as the vanilla scent instantly filled his senses again. He felt like home and he couldn’t be more content having her in his arms again. “Bros before hoes, right?”

A small chuckle echoed around the room. “Bros before hoes.” She repeated.