Chapter 7

If Damien thought that his day would be even halfway normal, he was dead wrong, of course. Tara having gotten busy reviewing her material for her article about the mall Santa, Damien expected that he would be mostly left alone to do his editing, but that just wasn’t to be. Almost immediately, there was a knock at the door of the Volunteer’s office building, which with the Chief and other seniors still absent, resulted in an irate visitor showing his face, and he wasn’t alone. Lauren stood with her husband of just six months, Lewis Harris, attorney representing one Stanley Forrester, who just happened to be Cassidy’s ex-fiance. From the agitated and nervous facial expressions, Damien surmised that she would rather be anywhere but here.

“Alright, sir, where the fuck is Amos Clark and why hasn’t that stupid ... boy listened to reason? I warned his sorry ass that there will be consequences if he doesn’t leave us alone! I will not have it, do you hear me? This is a new day and we don’t have to put up with his kind much longer, not once Barry leaves office!” Lewis clearly tried for intimidation, but just as clearly censored himself from being an obvious racist jackass as he had been on the phone.

“Amos Clark is a highly respected member of our team, sir, so I strongly urge you cease and desist harassing him, or else our own legal counsel might have to respond in kind,” Damien warned Lewis, confident that the Chief would back him up in that.

Lewis became livid and he pointed the finger directly at Damien, who currently served as the face of the Volunteer in the Chief’s and seniors’ absence, “You’re going to be sorry. Isn’t that right, Lauren?”

“Actually, it’s I that am sorry, Lewis ... Damien. I’m sorry that I dealt and put up with this crap for so long. Lewis, bullying the press doesn’t work like harassing and intimidating your staff does. My apologies, Damien. I thought that perhaps he would try a more sensible approach. Clearly, he hasn’t caught on that the Fourth Estate can still hold their own and still have jobs to do, even in Trump’s America. I sometimes wonder how Lewis passed his bar exam or even graduated law school. Did you bully the administration into that? Perhaps you’re in the wrong line of work, honey. The incoming Justice Department could probably use a man like you, who is into pushing people around.

“As far as lawyers are concerned, get yourself one, because I’m so fucking done with this marriage! You have embarrassed me for the last time! In front of my ex-boyfriend, no less, too! Here, take back your damn wedding band, too! I want a divorce!” Lauren told her husband, right in front of Damien, much to the astonishment of both of them.

Lewis surprisingly became much more conciliatory now, “That won’t be necessary, babe. I’ll behave. I just got a bit ... upset, that’s all, and I overreacted. My apologies, Mr. Martin. It won’t happen again. I promise you that. Lauren, please be reasonable! I’m trying to build our future for our family and all that!”

Clearly, it had occurred to the lawyerly side of Lewis, Damien thought with amusement, that if divorced from him, Lauren could be required to testify against him in court. That, far more than any other reason, sexual, financial, romantic, or whatever, judging from the man’s panic, was behind his attempt to mollify and placate the missus. Then again, if Lauren was as good in bed as she had been in the past, perhaps even better, her sexual talents would be very hard to replace. It was one thing for a lawyer to find bedfellows ... those leeches always could impress a young woman with ambitions and dollar signs in her eyes. It was quite another to replace a woman who not only knew her way around a man’s body, but also gave herself to a man with as much passion as she had with Damien (it never occurred to Damien that Lauren would give anything less than her best to any man that she was with, so he didn’t realize that much of her enthusiasm in the bedroom was due to her strong attachment to him).

Lewis could be loathe to lose a lover with that much ardor, Damien thought to himself, not even noticing the way that Lauren looked at him, nor the way that her lump formed in her throat from being in his presence. However, once he broke himself away from his internal reflections, he saw some real steel forming in his ex-girlfriend’s jaw and exasperation in her eyes. She was so fucking done with Lewis, he could just tell. That was good for those seeking to implicate Lewis in his client’s organized crime activities and very bad news for Lewis himself. Amos Clark, Damien himself, the Volunteer editorial board and staff, and the authorities would all want a piece of Lewis’s hide to nail to the wall, and it was likely that whatever they didn’t get, Lauren would plunder in her divorce.