Free Struck from the Record by K.A. Linde

you want to believe,” she said.
    “Are you going to be here when I get back?”
    She raised her eyebrows. “What do you take me for? A kept woman? I have business in town.”
    Clay’s face darkened. “With whom?”
    She patted his cheek. “An art dealer. Don’t wait up.”
    “Are you meeting…Asher again?” he asked as she walked toward the door.
    She sighed. “No, Clay. You know I haven’t had contact with him.”
    And then she left.
    He hated to admit that the tension had left his chest with her answer. He wasn’t…jealous. He was still just…just really irritated about the whole thing, and he didn’t want her seeing the douche again.
    Clay took his Porsche into the city, grumbling all the while about the traffic. He never could understand why drivers were so horrible here. Back home in Chapel Hill, there wasn’t nearly this much traffic or congestion. He missed being there sometimes. He missed his cabin on the north side of town and his parents’ mansion outside of Durham. He missed Southern hospitality and fashion and cooking. He’d been out of the South for too long, but it would always be home.
    He pulled into the parking garage for Cooper & Nielson, sliding the pass that they had given him over the sensor. The bar jerked up, and he entered the subterranean enclosure. For once, he felt like he was with his people. Every car he passed was exceedingly luxurious, polished to perfection, and practically dripping with wealth. It was clear; status and money spoke volumes. His Porsche glided into a vacant spot right between a Mercedes and a Lexus. It was like sinking his dick into expensive pussy.
    He took the elevator up to the top floor where he was supposed to meet his new boss Ted Cooper, cofounder of Cooper & Nielson.
    “You must be Mr. Maxwell,” Cooper’s secretary said when he walked into the office. She was a redheaded woman in her late forties with a stiff smile. She looked like she didn’t leave the desk often.
    “That’s right.”
    She typed something on the computer keyboard and then wrote something down in small illegible hand on a giant desk calendar. “Good. Mr. Cooper will be finished in just a moment.”
    “Excellent.”
    She glanced back up at him. “You wouldn’t happen to know Congressman Maxwell?”
    Clay sighed. Of course…Brady. “Yes, Brady is my brother,” he said immediately.
    She furrowed her brow. “Oh, I meant Senator Maxwell. I met him when he was still in the House of Representatives. Can’t get a handle on him being a senator.”
    His father had been a senator for nearly two decades. At least this wasn’t about Brady. “Yes, that’s my father.”
    “Great man,” she said with a genuine smile.
    “Clay Maxwell,” a voice called from the doorway of an office.
    “Mr. Cooper.” Clay walked forward and shook hands with the wizened old white dude who was a legend in D.C. law.
    “Excellent to have you on board, son.”
    “I’m honored to be here, sir.”
    Clay was thankful that he’d gone through all of his introductory materials for the job earlier in the week. He had already been prepped, and he was ready to go. All he needed was to get set up in his own office and be handed cases. He knew what to do from there.
    “I just wanted to say, welcome aboard, and introduce you to your colleagues who will be around to answer any questions. You’ll, of course, have your own team in place, but there’s always a learning curve.” Ted patted Clay’s back. “I’m sure it’ll be less with someone from your background.”
    Clay smiled graciously. He hadn’t put those two years into clerking for nothing.
    Ted directed him back to the elevator, and they took it down two floors. He walked with Clay down the hallway, making polite conversation. Clay was surprised that he was having this chat with the top dog at a mega firm. That signing bonus must have really meant something. And, to think, all of this was just one big stepping-stone to the real prize.
    “Here we