Read A Good Kind of Trouble (A Trouble in Twin Rivers Novel Book 1) for Free Online Page B

of the chair and onto the floor, a fresh convulsion of laugher causing him to roll about on the carpet.  
    “Really? You really needed to share this with Gordo?” Ben asked Dave.
    Dave grinned. “Yes, I really did. The boy has such little joy in his life. He works here, you know.”  
    “Dude,” Gordon gasped. “You got pepper-sprayed on the first date?”
    “What, your dates don’t usually pepper-spray you until the second or third date?” Ben said. “She thought her apartment got broken into and that I was the burglar. I startled her.”
    This set off another round of howling laughter.  
    “You have to admit,” Dave said. “It’s pretty funny.”
    “Yeah, now that my eyes are no longer swollen shut and I got my car out of the impound yard,” Ben said.  
    Gordo pulled himself together and sat in the chair opposite Ben. He wiped the tears from his eyes.  
    “So, someone broke into her apartment?”  
    “The police said no,” Ben said.
    Dave tilted his head. “I kind of believe her.”  
    Until the events of the past few hours, Ben had trusted the police on the matter. But now? “She told the police there was nothing missing.”
    The door flew open again and Ben let out an exasperated breath at the intrusion. What would happen if he started locking his office to avoid intrusions? Wasn’t Sharon supposed to be a gatekeeper for him?  
    Gregory Stanton walked in and Gordo straightened in the chair, all traces of good humor gone. A founding partner of Stanton & Lowe, Stanton had that effect on a room. Like a dark cloud blotting out all hope for humanity.
    “Where the hell have you been? I got back from court hours ago,” Stanton said. His close-set eyes narrowed as he glared at all three men in turn. Ben shifted uncomfortably, as he did whenever the malevolent force that was Gregory Stanton was near. Gordo avoided eye contact and eyed the door as if he were plotting to bolt from the room. Only Dave’s demeanor was unchanged. He still had the same relaxed stance and unperturbed expression.  
    “He was recruiting a new client—the in-house counsel for the newspaper asked him to do some litigation work,” Dave said. It was a stretch, but it had the intended result. Stanton looked at Dave, then at Ben, his pissy expression slowly changing as his greedy reptilian brain did the math. A corporate client? Who wanted litigation counsel? That meant big bucks. Stanton’s lips drew back into an expression he probably thought was a smile.  
    “Good work,” he said. “Did you get my note about the document review?”
    “Yeah, I did,” Ben said.  
    Dave interrupted. “With him courting this new client, Ben doesn’t have time to waste on your medical malpractice case. Get one of the interns to do it.”
    Stanton glared at Dave. After a minute, he nodded. “The client wants a lawyer to do the doc review. But I suppose we could get an associate to do it. Jordan—” He nodded at Gordo. “You have time.”
    It wasn’t a question. Nor was it true. Gordo worked sixty-plus hours a week on tedious projects that more senior lawyers wanted to avoid. Stanton wanted a lawyer to do the review because the firm could charge an astronomical hourly rate for an attorney. The client didn’t care who reviewed the documents. The client probably had no clue what document review was.
    “Keep me in the loop on the new client,” Stanton said, then stalked out of the office. Dave closed the door as Stanton left.  
    “That man scares the shit out of me,” Gordo said, his voice hushed.  
    “Don’t worry,” Dave said. “He can’t even remember your name. And he really only hates one person and that’s me.”  
    “Why does he hate you?” Ben asked. The animosity was well established and neither man made any attempt to hide their disdain for the other. But Dave had never told him the origin of the feud.  
    Dave gave the men a smile. “It’s a story best told over a couple of drinks. Some other time.”