Marks, Sanchez & Reed.
As I pull up to the law firm where it seems I’ll be spending the next however many years of my life, I squint at the name on the office building, still not sure how I feel about it. I try to imagine it saying Mark, Sanchez, Reed & Mack.
It’s the “& Mack” part that gives me pause, since I’m the Mack. One half of me feels proud at the potential thought of seeing my name alongside such legal giants at a big posh law firm such as this, while the other half of me wants to throw up for being such a sell out. I guess you could say I have fucking mixed feelings about the whole matter.
I take the elevator up to the fifteenth floor, where a receptionist greets me.
“Mr. Mack?” he asks, standing up and coming around to my side of his desk. “My name is Claude and I’ve been expecting you. It’s very nice to meet you.”
I shake his hand, but I’m thinking, this guy will have to go if I’m to work here.
I already have my own receptionist. And I prefer to have females work for me. When I get bored in between working on cases, it’s also nice to have a flirty conversation with a female assistant, or at least check out her ass as she walks out of my office to bring me another file. I’ve never really understood the point of hiring male assistants.
But then again, I’ve never understood a lot of things that normal law firms do. That’s probably why I’ve never worked at them.
Claude leads me to a conference room where three men are already seated, waiting to meet me. I know that they’re Asher Marks, Cameron “Ron” Sanchez and Jameson “Jim” Reed, the founding partners of the firm.
“Garrett!” Asher says, standing up to shake my hand, as do the other two. We were all in law school together, but it’s been awhile since I’d seen them. When I do see them, it’s often as opposing counsel in court, since I tend to represent “little guy” plaintiffs while they usually represent what I’ve always thought of as big, evil corporations.
“There’s fresh coffee if you need anything,” Claude says, as he retreats towards the door. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Fancy seeing you here,” Cameron says, as they sit back down at their seats and I choose my own.
“I know it is,” I tell them, partly embarrassed that life circumstances have brought me here, while at the same time, grateful for the opportunity. “I made my legal career out of being a rogue independent. But I thought it was time to join society and hook up with a firm.”
They laugh, and I’m glad they don’t press the issue of why I’m here talking to them today. I’m sure they know enough about me— just as I know enough about them— to have weighed the pros and cons and decided to proceed. The real reason I’m here is that my father said the firm, where he’s been a partner for a long time, was looking to expand and that I should join up. Although he’s quite old and half senile, I think he got this one right.
Some good and bad things had happened as the result of my stubborn insistence on owning and running my own law firm. The good thing is that I won some big cases and a hell of a lot of money. If it weren’t for that, I don’t think that these three lawyers would be interested in partnering with me, whether my old man was already a partner at their firm or not.
The bad thing is that I fucked up some other stuff, which I don’t really need to go into detail about, because who likes to recount their losses? Let’s just say that I have the tendency to either win big or lose big. And also the tendency to mix business with pleasure a little too often.
“I know that we’ve already sent over the proposed partnership agreement,” Asher says. “It’s pretty standard stuff and we’re looking to have it start nearly immediately. As you know, our firm has been doing well. We won a large case for a large client— Damien Hudson, the toy company owner, who actually offices here with us and runs his business for at least part of the time out of our offices, so that we can best keep up with his many different legal matters.”
“Yes,” I say, and here I turn to Cameron Sanchez, who is not only Asher’s law partner but his best friend since they were in grade school. “Congratulations on that big win, Cameron.”
“Thank you,” Ron says, and then looks at Asher as if to say, at least someone acknowledges my contribution to our achievements. “It has opened up a lot of opportunities for our firm and in looking into expanding, we were happy to see you were interested.”
“There’s just one little detail we’d like to go over with you before making it official,” Jim says, and I brace myself for what I already suspected would be coming.
What they want to go over with me is the fact that I’m known for sleeping with my subordinates. I decide to make things easier on them.
“Look, guys,” I say, my hands outstretched as if I’m an innocent school boy accused of stealing cookies. “I was used to working on my own, making my own rules, or lack thereof. I had some opportunities to… socially interact with my staff, which I know now isn’t the best idea. Lesson learned.”
They’re still staring at me, as if expecting me to say more, so I repeat, “Lesson learned.”
“Lesson?” Ron asks, intensifying his case. “My understanding is that it has happened repeatedly.”
I tense up, and they must think I’m signaling that the deal might be off. In all reality, I’m just wondering how many they’ve heard about, and trying to count how many there have actually been.
“Look, Garrett,” Ron finally continues. “We don’t want to be killjoys here. We know what it’s like.”
“Believe me,” Asher chimes in. “I know what it’s like. I was just like you before I married my associate.”
“I know,” I tell him, because who hasn’t? Asher was infamous for choosing a new associate to mentor every year, and sleeping with her. But the bombshell had been when he had married one of them.
As if on cue, Madilyn St. Clair— or make that Marks, now, said associate— comes into the conference room, with a baby in each arm. I don’t know much about babies, but they looked about six months old. I’d also heard that Asher and Madilyn had had twins.
“Hey honey,” she says, nodding at Asher. “Sorry I can’t make this meeting. I know I had said I would try, but the nanny still isn’t feeling better so she brought me the twins on her way home, and I’m going to try to finish the Stephenson brief if I can get them to nap in my office and then I’ll head home with them.”
“No problem,” Asher says, waving a hand at his wife. “They’re more important. Good luck.”
“Thanks honey,” Madilyn says, and then nods to me. “Mr. Mack, I’m sorry I can’t stay longer but it’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” I tell her, getting out of my seat to escort her back to the door of the conference room. “I’d shake your hand but I can see they’re both full.”
She laughs on her way out and then I return to the table.
“Madilyn was just going to talk a little bit about HR,” Asher explains. “She and I had a hell of a time of it after we got together. We were going to say that having fun at work really isn’t worth…”
“…the costs,” I tell him, nodding. “I understand.”
It’s rather hypocritical for him to be telling me this, but I decided before I arrived to just say what I needed to say to make this partnership go through. Once I make up my mind to do something, I’m determined to complete the goal.
“And you may know that I ended up marrying an assistant here at the firm,” Ron says next, to which I also nod my head.
Everyone knows that, too. There isn’t much that happens in the legal world that doesn’t spread like wildfire.
“Don’t worry,” Asher says, in a hurry to clear the firm’s name. “Jim here didn’t marry his assistant. Or anyone’s.”
Everyone laughs, but Jim’s cheeks look a bit flushed. He’s staring down at his notepad, looking uncomfortable.
He’s no doubt hiding something, even from his own partners no doubt. But I’ve realized that’s the nature of human beings, and it’s not my place to judge. God knows I’ve made my own share of mistakes. And I’m determined to find a fresh start here, rather than to keep repeating them.
“We know it sounds wrong of us to be telling you not to do what we did,” Asher says, and I agree with him, but I shake my head anyway, part of my goal to tell them— even silently— what they want to hear. “But the firm has been through a lot and we just don’t want any more drama. We have to ask that you please…”
He trails off, obviously not sure how to say it, so I help him out.
“You want me to stop my philandering ways,” I tell them. “To be a good boy and leave my hands off any woman I work with.”
“Well, we, uh…” Jim starts to say, but I jump in to make things easier on him too.
“Don’t worry about it,” I assure them. “I get what you’re trying to say. I understand.”
“That’s great,” Asher says, looking relieved. “I guess everything is good to go then.”
“I guess so,” I agree.
Just then, a very pregnant woman with purple streaks in her blonde hair walks into the room.
“Garrett, this is my wife, Ruby,” Cameron says, and I get up to shake her hand.
It really is something, them telling me to behave myself while trotting out their pregnant or child-carrying wives as living proof that they did not do the same. But I just smile and say, “Nice to meet you,” as Ruby says the same.
“Ruby is our most organized assistant, with extensive organization systems she’s helped the firm put into place,” Asher says. “She even has an app she’s developed, to schedule the assistants’ calendars and tasks. Because another app that she made took off so well, she only works here part time as a supervisor of the staff, and we’re grateful that she still does. She’s going to talk to you about your staff needs and how we can best fulfill them.”
“All right,” I say, trying hard not to laugh like an immature middle school boy at the phrase “staff needs.”
What I used to need from my staff was for them to bend over so I could spank their ass. I needed them to let me tie them up. And to not sue me.
But that last need of mine didn’t always get met. Thus, I know it’s important to do what these future law partners of mine say and be a good little boy— something that is very, very hard for me to do.
“As you may know,” I tell Ruby, “I have a few associates I’m bringing with me, as well as some staff members.”
“Yes,” Ruby says, nodding. “I think we will need two receptionists to handle the call volume now, as well as a full staff if you’re not bringing enough to cover your own and your associates’.”
“Can I hire my own?” I ask her.
She looks hesitantly at Ron and the other partners.
“That’s fine,” Ron nods. “As long as you behave yourself.”
I see Ruby crack a smile, but she returns to her professional demeanor. This chick is pretty cool; I can see why Ron married her. Not that I’m the marrying type. And there are so many babies around here, there must be something in the water. It’s a good thing I just vowed to never have sex with anyone who works for the firm, so that I don’t have to worry about knocking anyone up.
“We’ll leave you to the job of discussing specifics,” the partners say, standing up and looking eager to return to their work. “It was great having this meeting and we look forward to expanding the firm with you.”
“Yes,” I tell them, still unable to believe I’m giving up my autonomy. But there’s safety in larger numbers and I know that here I’ll have more money and more security. “I look forward to beginning to work with you. I’ll sign the documents and send them your way.”
“Great,” Jim says, and leaves the room, with Asher following beside him.
Cameron bends over to kiss Ruby, and pats her baby bump on his way out.
“See you two later,” he says, presumably to Ruby and her unborn child.
“He can’t see yet,” Ruby says, confirming my suspicions. “And you can’t technically see him either. At least not without dragging an ultrasound machine in here.”
Cameron laughs as he leaves. Those two are sickeningly sweet.
With that, it’s settled. I’ll be the fourth named partner of the firm— not only because my father insisted but also because I’ve settled and won enough plaintiff’s cases to bring a sizeable contribution to the firm.
I’ll be a good boy, so that they won’t regret partnering up with me. At least I’ll try to be. I have to admit that all of this is very new to me. But there’s a fucking first time for everything.