Chapter 4

As Courtney's mother led her in through the doorway, a man—much younger than she'd been expecting—rose from the leather couch. Back straight and head held ridiculously high, he smiled. His teeth shone pearly white in the dim lighting. He extended a hand in greeting, but Courtney, still rather disoriented, just looked dumbly back and forth for a moment between his overly-friendly smile and the outstretched appendage. She tried not to squint. Hesitantly, she shook his hand. It was soft, with no trace of callouses. She guessed he had a manicure every Sunday.

She fought back a snort at the thought.

From behind her, Courtney could feel her mother's reproachful gaze. She had waited too long. The woman folded her hands primly in front of her as she cleared her throat. "Courtney," she began, addressing her daughter but smiling graciously at their guest, "This is Jacob. Jacob Caldwell." Staring meaningfully at her daughter, she went on. "One of the youngest and most promising defense attorneys at our firm, Jacob is son to Harrison Caldwell, who, as you likely recall, is co-founder of Markson & Caldwell Law Co. Jacob, this is my daughter, Courtney."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Courtney said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at the man and giving his hand a little squeeze, but on the inside she rolled her eyes. Typical. It was just like her mother to set her up with the son of some high-up, ridiculously wealthy businessman for the sole purpose of promoting herself in the world of law. Granted, it would give Courtney some solid connections for when she got older, but she was pretty definite that that was not her mother's main intention. Just a lucky consequence. Her mother cared about one thing only: herself.

Courtney had to struggle to keep a sneer off her face when the young man bent down and kissed the back of her hand. The tips of his blonde hair brushed her forearm lightly, and his hazel eyes looked deeply into her own. Though she tried not to, she couldn't help thinking his stare was nothing compared to that of the pale stranger from the parking lot. She nearly shivered at the memory.

Completely oblivious to the thoughts running through her mind, Jacob smiled winningly as he straightened and released Courtney's hand. "No, Miss Mann, the pleasure's all mine."

If her mother hadn't been watching her like a hawk, Courtney would've gagged. So cheesy. But because she was, Courtney forced a blush and averted her eyes as if flattered by the statement. She saw her mother's lips quirk up in approval from the corner of her eye.

Jacob (or Mr. Caldwell, as Courtney supposed she should refer to him) retook his seat on the sofa, motioning for Courtney to do the same. Grudgingly, she did. Her mother snapped her fingers and immediately excused herself, just as her daughter had expected her to, to "gather some refreshments" from the kitchen. In reality, she was probably planning on spying from another room to see how Courtney behaved while not being monitored. She felt like rolling her eyes at the predictability. She scurried away with a smirk only the younger of the two could see, leaving them in a considerably awkward silence.

Courtney fidgeted to get more comfortable. The furniture was stiff and uncomfortable from years of unuse, and she sensed Jacob's eyes on her again. She pressed her lips firmly together. She despised small talk. Honestly, what could she say to someone she'd met little more than 90 seconds ago?

The young man next to her apparently didn't share her mindset. And she had an ominous feeling she wasn't going to like what he had to say.

There was a pause before he spoke. "Your mother tells me you want to be a lawyer." Courtney turned her head to him. After considering his expression thoughtfully for a moment, she nodded affirmatively. A polite smile rested on her lips.

"Yes, that's correct."

Jacob smiled as well. But this time seemed far more condescending, smugger than his earlier charming grin. He looked her up and down critically and quirked a golden eyebrow in a haughty way that made her blood boil. And not in a good way. "Well, do you think you have what it takes?"

Courtney pursed her lips. "I don't know what you mean."

That was a lie of course. She wasn't stupid; she knew exactly what he meant.

But Jacob wasn't ignorant either. He went on baiting her. "Oh, I think you do." His grin widened, forming one of those pretentious, I'm-better-than-you'll-ever-be kind of expressions. She wanted nothing more than to punch it off his face as he crossed his arms across his chest and continued patronizingly, "Your mother is a very influential person at the company. But just because you're her daughter doesn't mean you'll automatically get a position. You're aware of that, right?"

A low growl rumbled in the back of the girl's throat. She bit her tongue to prevent it slipping out. However, she was unsuccessful in keeping a look of pure indignation from taking the place of her previous smile, nor stop her hands balling into fists at her sides. "Excuse me?" Her nails bit into the skin of her palms and she tried her best to keep her voice level. "Are you insinuating what I think you are?" She ignored his mouth opening to respond, cutting him off before he even got a word out. It had been a rhetorical question, after all. "I'll have you know, I am one of the hardest-working, most independent people I have ever met! Even if my mother didn't work at the firm, I'd get hired in a heartbeat. I don't need an advantage to compete...and win." As she glared at the young man, Courtney realized too late she might have just blown her mother's entire scheme to bits.

A moment later, she decided she didn't really care.

The blond, surprisingly enough, didn't flinch at her aggressive tone. He actually appeared rather amused. He replied to her accusation calmly, "Oh, I'm sure you would. I'm simply making a point. We can't go around giving out favors all the time; it wouldn't be right." His tone oozed scrupulousness, but the effect was ruined by the smirk on his lips and mischievous gleam in his eye.

Courtney narrowed her eyes at him. She wanted to point out how he wasn't one to judge, given he almost certainly got the job because of his father, but figured keeping her mouth shut would do less damage. Furious, unfounded allegations wouldn't bode well later on. She settled instead for huffing loudly and crossing her arms.

Sensing she wasn't going to talk anytime soon, Jacob chuckled and leaned in, unfolding his arms to brace his hands on his knees. Her lip curled slightly in disdain as she did her best not to lean away from him as his face neared hers. The guy may have been an ass, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least try to pleasant.

"So...now that that's out of the way," he flashed another blinding smile, "Tell me about yourself."

Courtney grimaced. Try was the key word.

As much as she hated it, she had to admit the man in front of her reminded her disgustingly of Alejandro. Ignore the contrasting skin colors, the two or three year age difference, and the fact that this dude was probably worth ten times as much, and they were practically the same person! Handsome, confident, manipulative, conceited little pricks. Courtney's eye twitched.

Good lord, this was going much worse than she'd hoped.

She cleared her throat, stalling for a moment, before asking reluctantly, "What would you like to know?"

Jacob only grinned wider at her curt response. He pretended to contemplate it. "Hmm... Well, your age, first of all. Perhaps your activities, interests? Your school, maybe? Just the basic things."

Holding back an irritated sigh, Courtney conceded. "Oh. Okay. I'm seventeen years old, a junior at Fraser College Prep, and-"

"Fraser? That's where I went for my freshman year of high school."

A tight smile took over her lips. "Really? How nice. Anyways, as I was saying-"

"But my father took me out after the first year. Said the academic standard was far too low for a boy of my standing, not to mention most of the other students were complete invalids. He sent me to Meyers instead. Have you heard of it? Surely you have. It's one of the top in the country."

Heat filled her face. Despite that she often thought the same of her fellow classmates, it angered her to hear the words coming from another. Especially when it insinuated her among the moronic ones. "That's...unfortunate. For me, though, Fraser seems to fit just fine. And, yes, I have heard of Meyers before," she quickly added before he could interrupt once more. "A very prestigious school indeed." And snobby as hell.

He gave a contemptuous little "hmph". She could tell he was about to say something—more than likely offensive—back to her, but her mother strolled in before he could, carrying a plate of biscuits and a coffee pot in her hands. As terrible as it sounded, Courtney couldn't think of a time she had ever felt so glad to see the woman.

On the downside, her mother looked anything but happy to see her. "Jacob," she addressed the blond warmly, setting the items down on the coffee table, "Why don't you help yourself to some coffee and treats? Enjoy them while they're still warm." Pleasant tone never faltering, she turned to her daughter. Only the fire in her eyes betrayed her true anger. "And Courtney. I need to speak to you for a moment please."

Obediently, Courtney stood from the couch and followed her mother out of the room into the kitchen. On the outside she rolled her eyes, but inside, her stomach turned with apprehension. She was in for it now.

"Close the door please." Her mother didn't turn around, but Courtney did as she was told anyways; she could detect the woman's pent up anger lurking beneath the calm, controlled tenor of her voice. As the wooden door swung back into its frame with a dull thud, she mentally prepared herself for the verbal abuse that she was sure was to come.

Seconds ticked by as she waited for her to speak. "What was all that about?" The question was spoken quietly, but the young girl shivered as it echoed in the empty room. Her throat felt dry as she replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play ignorant with me, Courtney." The woman made a slow turn to face her daughter, lips pursed much the same as Courtney's earlier. Her brows lowered above slanted eyes. The volume of her voice rose slightly. "What caused you to act so inappropriately around our guest?"

Courtney couldn't bring herself to meet her mother's gaze. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"You don't know?" She let out a mocking laugh that chilled her daughter to the bone. "You don't know what? What you did, or why you did it? Or both?" Courtney didn't speak. "Well, you might as well forget about your dreams of becoming a lawyer then. I'm sure it will take quite the apology to make up for that sort of behavior. You might have just ruined your prospects out there, you do realize that?" The silence was deafening. "Don't you?"

Almost imperceptibly, the girl nodded. She didn't trust herself not to say something she'd regret.

Her mother wasn't satisfied. Slamming her fist down on the counter, she practically yelled at her, "Well, then why on earth did you do it?!" She glared at her daughter. "I risk everything to get you these kinds of opportunities! I could get fired for this kind of thing! Fired! And this is how you repay me? By making me clean up the messes you made? You ungrateful little bitch!"

The words stung, but Courtney was used to it. Concealing her true emotions was an art she had mastered long ago. With a carefully crafted look of indifference, she watched her mother as she breathed in and out, running her fingers through her dark hair and the red gradually receding from her face. Her breaths evened out until the woman felt calm enough to spare another scornful glance at her daughter. She opened her mouth as if to continue her rant, but abruptly closed it again.

"You know what? I'm not even going to waste my time." Then she turned on her heel and walked away.

Courtney made no move to go after her. She watched until the door fell shut on her mother's retreating form.

She felt numb, as she always did after she and her mother had a fight, but not sad; she was too exhausted to feel sad. As she sunk down onto one of the high-backed black lacquer chairs surrounding the kitchen table, she let out a deep sigh that filled the empty room. This morning the idea of someone following her every move had her thoroughly freaked, but now she'd give anything not to feel so alone.

Closing her eyes, she imagined herself anywhere but home.

A/N:

I'm fairly certain some of you hate me for taking so long to update, and I'm really sorry, I'm just so busy with school and all that it's been hard to find time to write. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll have the next one out around Christmas! No promises though. :P

BTW, huge thank you to all of you who have reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this story so far! If it weren't for you guys, I probably wouldn't still be doing this. :)

Thanks for reading!

-Scraps