Serafina

  Staring out the window of the office, Serafina wondered which was more depressing; the sodden mess on Grand River Avenue or the overcrowded, undusted hellhole in which she worked.
 It seemed to her that it didn’t matter which direction she looked, the view made her want to vomit.
 God, I hate this city. I hate this job. I hate my life, Sera thought miserably as she reluctantly turned back toward the too bright workspace, the fluorescent lighting causing her head to pound.
 Every day she asked herself why she would have stayed in Michigan where the winters were deadly, and the summers smelled like pork rinds roasting in the heat.
 I need to be somewhere warm and friendly. Not in a city where getting to work involves either traipsing through mud and slush, or getting on a bus which reeks of cat spray.
 “Sera! What are you doing?”
 Harry appeared at the doorway and she started, although she didn’t know why; he was notorious for his unexpected appearances.
 “Trying to find my will to live,” she muttered, but the senior partner (and only partner) of the law firm stalked inside, his pudgy body popping out of his tweed suit. It seemed impossible to Sera that the buttons had not exploded from his suit and into her morning coffee by now.
 Do they even make tweed anymore? She wondered dully. Harry wore the damned outfit at least three times a week while the other two were reserved for dress pants and Hawaiian shirt ensemble.
 Just because you are the shittiest lawyer in America, doesn’t mean you have to dress like…well, the shittiest lawyer in America, she thought sardonically.
 “You have to get to Henry Ford Hospital right away!” he ordered through a fit of hacking coughs.
 Sera waited impatiently for him to finish his thought.
 When he finally stopped choking, he flashed her a nicotine stained smile.
 “There is a hit and run, a slip and fall and a dog bite in emergency right now!” he declared, pulling a pack of Marlborough’s from his breast pocket and lighting one up.
 Sera eyed him dubiously, wrinkling her nose as the cigarette smoke met her nose.
 “Have you been listening to the police scanner again?” she asked with disgust. “The police warned you – “
 “Of course not!” Harry cried, seeming hurt that she would suggest such a thing. She stared at him pointedly.
 “No?” she demanded. “You just happen to know this how?”
 The middle-aged attorney looked down at his hands.
 “I paid off one of the interns to let me know,” he conceded, and Sera groaned aloud.
 It was not an ethical issue; it was one of survival.
 If Harry lost his license to practice law, she would be without a job, and if there was something Sera could not stomach, it was the thought of being homeless.
 Why did I ever start working here? She bemoaned silently as if it wasn’t something she had asked herself every day for the past two years.
 The answer hadn’t changed; her grades had not been good enough for her to apply at an upscale law firm and even if they had been, no one was going to hire a girl with no experience, no references, and no address.
 Only Harry Winston had been willing to take a chance on her and Sera would be a fool to believe it was for any other reason than that old Harry wanted to get into her pants.
 Luckily for Sera, she was a lot harder worker than her transcripts at Oakland Community College seemed to suggest, because she definitely wasn’t going to give Harry the other thing he wanted from her.
 In any case, Sera had recently graduated with her paralegal diploma and she had hopes that within a year, she would be on a bus heading out of the wretched city she had tried so hard to escape since running away from home at age sixteen.
 “Why are you just standing there?” he demanded. “You have to get going before someone else hears about them!”
 Sera gritted her teeth and reached for her jacket which was hanging off the back of her chair.
 “I’ll be out all day,” she informed him, although she wasn’t sure why she bothered to mention it. She was basically free to come and go as she pleased provided she brought back the clients he craved.
 “I don’t care,” Harry replied flippantly as she had known he would. “Just bring me back at least one of the three.”
 Sera knew her track record was better than that, but she made no comment as she shrugged past him and headed toward the dingy hallway.
 She was grateful to be leaving the headache-inducing atmosphere, even though it was raining, and she was going to be taking a bus to the hospital.
 As she headed toward the elevator, Conrad called out to her, running to her side like the eager dog he seemed to be.
 “Hey Sera!” he breathed, joining her as she jabbed almost violently at the down button.
 Sera rolled her beautiful green eyes as she willed the elevator doors to open quickly. 
 “What do you want, Conrad?” she asked, trying to be patient with the intern.
 “I just wanted to tell you I’m ordering pizza for the office today. My treat. What can I get on yours?”
 Ordering for the office? She thought, shaking her head and sighing internally. The three of them made up the office whole office.
 Looks like you and Harry have a date today then, she thought, knowing that Conrad was half in love with her, but frustrated because she had never given him any encouragement whatsoever, yet he continued to try to engage with her.
 “Nothing, Conrad,” she replied flatly as the light flashed to announce the elevator’s arrival. “I’m gone for the day.”
 Stepping into the car, she noted the crestfallen look on his face and she wondered why he tried so hard.
 Can’t you see that I’m only here until I can scrape together enough to leave this place? I won’t take anything with me, either. Not even my memories, she vowed. Especially my memories.
 Instead she continued to stare coldly at him until he balked and stepped back. “Fine then,” he said snidely, maybe finally getting the hint?
 Wow, am I a sadist?
 The idea made her wonder, especially when she realized she was horny. 
 Yep. I am a sadist. Jeez, I need to get laid or something. How bad is my sex life?
 Stepping into the wet air, she made her way to the bus stop, digging for her pass and mentally rifling through the rolodex of fuck friends she had stored in her phone.
 The current lot was growing tiresome but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t settle eventually.
 But work came first.
 Without a paycheck, she couldn’t make her way to Florida where she had been dreaming of going since she could remember her dreams.
 To her surprise, the bus rolled up a minute later and Sera was surprised by her luck.
 Under normal circumstances, she would find herself waiting in inclement weather for half an hour before she could board an overcrowded vehicle.
 She settled into a seat easily, another unusual occurrence. What the hell? Since when is the bus not crowded at this time of day? She asked herself. Wow, either her luck was changing, or something very ominous was about to happen.
 The bus driver smiled at her and Sera gaped.
 She was sure she had never seen a driver grin at her in her entire life.
 Am I in the Twilight Zone?

  Walking into the hospital always made Sera nervous and today was no different. It was a Monday morning; the emergency room at Henry Ford was overflowing, people in various throes of pain or discomfort.
 Despite the mishmash of human misery before her, it was not hard for Sera to spot the people whom she sought.
 The slip and fall victim was moaning loudly, the hit and run rubbing his neck and the small child who had been bitten by the dog had a loud-mouthed mother demanding justice to a police officer.
 Sera examined the situation, wondering which one would be the most money.
 Dog bite makes the most sympathetic victim, she decided. But the hit and run has insurance companies behind it…unless the slip and fall was on city property.
 It was clear to see that none of the afflicted were suffering life threatening injuries. 
 That’s a shame. Harry will be disappointed. He’s going to have to do some work for these ones to make any money.
 Sera was sure that the car accident and fall were both milking the attention for a payout anyway. The little girl who had been bitten by the dog was already stitched and bandaged, but that did not stop her mother from screaming bloody murder, as the five-year-old sat appearing dazed.
 For a moment, Sera wished she had thought to bring Conrad along with her. At least they could divide and conquer in that case.
 But then I would have to share credit with that puppy. No, I can do this, she decided. I will start with the -
 Her mossy eyes rested on a large, stoic figure perched on a stretcher in the middle of the action, his grey eyes gazing serenely about as if he was trying to figure out where he was.
 And what do we have here? Brain injury? She wondered with interest, noting the gauze on his temple and the slight swelling showing around it. How did that happen? Police brutality maybe? She wondered, eyeing the cops who seemed to be standing guard not far away.
 In spite of his injury, it was clear he was remarkably good looking, his sooty eyes seeming to hold the wisdom of the world in their depth.
 His hair was as black as sin, shiny and with a slight wave as it fell over his left eye. Sera wanted to run her fingers through it.
 Although he was sitting, she could tell he was tall and muscled, but there was something beyond that which intrigued her, something elusive and dark.
 Sera had not realized that she had stepped toward him, examining his face for telltale signs of trauma. She could sense nothing but an almost eerie peace radiating from him.
 Slowly, his eyes rested on her and Sera felt her heart stop.
 Their stares met, and she inexplicably could not form words either with her mouth, nor in her mind, as if the man had wiped her thoughts and motor skills with a single look.
 Then his eyes moved past her and Sera found herself turning to look over her own shoulder.
 Just behind her, the two uniformed cops stood, casting suspicious looks at the man as they chatted with an abused looking doctor.
 Sera casually moved toward them, honing her ears to hear what was being said.
 “…I can’t discuss his condition with you!” the resident snapped. “You know the rules as well as I do, Sanders. Now if you’ll stop wasting my time, I have a full ER, in case you haven’t noticed.”
 “Wait!” Sanders yelled after her retreating back. “How long before he’s being released?”
 “We are waiting for his CT scans to come back. I would like to keep him here overnight to be sure,” she called back. “You can come back tomorrow and speak with him. If I see you in here before that, Sanders, I will have you escorted from the hospital.”
 She didn’t wait for an answer as she disappeared among the maze of patients.
 The cops exchanged a look and Sera watched as they ensured the resident was not coming back before turning toward the man.
 “Mr. Smith,” the one called Sanders said as he neared. “I have a couple questions for you.”
 Sera shook her auburn waves and grimaced.
 Typical cops, she thought, watching for a moment to see how he handled the scenario.
 “I have already told you everything I can,” he replied, and Sera was stunned at the mellifluous quality of his voice.
 It sent shivers though her.
 I want him, she realized. I want him badly.
 Licking her lips, she drew nearer, and he looked up at her, causing her pulse to race again.
 “I don’t think you’ve told me everything,” Sanders growled. “I think you had some drug deal that went wrong by the river and that’s why we’re here. Is that what happened?”
 The man they called Smith shook his head.
 “No,” he answered simply, and Sera could read the frustration on the policemen’s faces.
 “If you tell us now before we find out the truth for ourselves, it will make it much easier on you,” the nameless cop offered. “We’re giving you a way to save yourself.”
 “I fear I can offer you nothing else,” he told them and even Sera believed him.
 “You’re only making things worse for yourself – “
 “Excuse me,” Sera interrupted, stepping up toward the law enforcement officers. They turned to look at her.
 “Yes?” Sanders asked, seeming annoyed.
 “Didn’t I just hear the doctor tell you that this man is off limits today?” she asked.
 Sander’s face grew crimson.
 “Lady, mind your own business!” he snapped. “This doesn’t concern you!”
 “I would say that my boss would beg to differ,” Sera replied easily, digging one of Harry’s cards from her purse and thrusting it at the cop. “Serafina Kennedy, agent for Harry Winston.”
 The men looked down at the card, scowls forming on their faces in unison.
 “Goddamn shysters,” the nameless cop snapped. “How did Winston even know he was here?”
 “What is your name and badge number, officer?” Sera asked, flipping open her notebook. “I want to make sure I have it down properly for the lawsuit.”
 He gaped.
 “Come on, Lopez,” Sanders muttered. “Let’s go.”
 He glared at Sera.
 “We’ll be back tomorrow,” he assured her, and she shrugged.
 “I don’t care,” she replied, and she meant it. The cops did not intimidate her the way they had when she was a child and was told often by her abusive parents that the cops would take her away forever if she ever talked to them. 
 She was a grown woman now, but for some reason, she had the overwhelming urge to protect this man from them.
 She watched as they skulked away before turning to the stranger, a feeling of both calm and excitement flowing through her.
 “If they come back tomorrow, you should probably hire a real lawyer,” she told him. He didn’t immediately answer, studying her face closely.
 “Okay?” she asked, suddenly very self-conscious. 
 “I will not be here tomorrow,” he told her.
 “No?” she asked but she wasn’t sure why she was so interested.
 He shook his head.
 “No. I will be with you.”
 A shiver pierced through Sera and she wasn’t sure if she was nervous or aroused by his words.
 He feels the attraction between us too, she realized. But then she mentally shook her head. But if he thinks this is going to be anything more than sex, he’s sorely mistaken.
 “You are?” she replied teasingly, glancing about. “How do you know that?”
 He smiled.
 “Because you are the one for whom I have been searching.”