Chapter 2

Shane clasped her hands together and placed her elbows on the desk. She relaxed on her chair and stared at Melissa Coles Smith.

“Why?”, she asked, flatly.

Melissa seemed dumbfounded for a second. She parted her lips and sucked in a half breath, and a thoughtful expression went on her face.

“Are you supposed to ask this kind of questions?”, she retorted with a short chuckle. Despite her apparent politeness, her words couldn’t help but sound a bit defensive.

Shane ducked her head and gave her a lopsided grin and right there, right then in that specific moment, Melissa felt a sting of fear hitting her in the hidden depths of her soul. What if this woman succeeds with Carmen, a voice inside of her asked. She shook her head stubbornly.

“I don’t think my reasons for hiring you are your business”, she insisted.

Shane sighed heavily. She seemed at least partly amused by the whole situation and Melissa didn’t know why she found her so funny. Maybe she didn’t, though.

“Well, Melissa…”, Shane considered, “…The truth is that I don’t need your case. The truth is that, when you’re gone out of that door, someone else will be knocking on it. And someone else will follow. And so on, and on…”.

Melissa straightened her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive posture.

“…Do you know what I mean?”, Shane continued in her low, scratchy voice, “…I mean that I can choose to accept or to decline a case. I don’t have many rules. But one of them implies that I want to know the exact reason why someone is asking me to hit on her girlfriend and, possibly, fuck her”.

Melissa made a face. More or less, like she had been just slapped, and Shane shook her head sympathetically.

“Look, I didn’t mean to be rude or mean. I just want you to understand that I am not accepting every case because, seriously, I don’t even need to. So please, tell me why you’re doubting your girlfriend”.

“I am not doubting her”, Melissa objected weakly.

“I think you are. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here with me”.

Melissa exhaled a long, frustrated breath and pinched the bridge of her nose.