Sophie slid in behind the wheel of her Nissan Leaf. It still smelled like new car and it made her happy every time she got into it.
"God dammit!" she swore. It was already six o'clock and she just realized she was going to have to run back up to her office. Sophie was currently working on a case for a client charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was accused of stabbing his roommate in the leg with a kitchen knife. She had been researching similar cases since two o'clock and she still didn't have the right information. Now she had forgotten the case file in her office!
"I must have left it sitting on my desk." She said aloud. What really irked her was that she had grabbed her notebooks, which were filled with her research notes, but not the case file.
How is that even possible? They were all together!
She thought seriously for a moment about going home without it. She could probably find the time to look up the statutes and similar cases tomorrow.
"No, I can't!" She whispered. "I have court most of the day. Ugh! This sucks!" She looked up and to the left, surveying the garage to see if anyone was around. She could only imagine what she looked like sitting half inside and half outside of her little electric car talking to herself. She decided there was no way around it; she would have to go back upstairs and grab the file.
Sophie depressed the lock button on the car door and stood up. She put her keys in her front slacks pocket and put her purse back inside the car on the driver's side floorboard. No reason to take it with her, she would be right back. She shut the car door and made her way back to the building's employee entrance. The blue doors reserved for those who worked anywhere in the twenty-story office building were to the left of the third floor spot where Sophie had parked. The doors opened onto a hallway that could have belonged to any office building in corporate America. She made a right at the end of the hallway and walked fifteen feet to the bank of elevators.
When Sophie stepped off the elevator on the tenth floor she could hear a vacuum whirring somewhere up ahead. She silently prayed she could grab the file and get back to her car without seeing anybody. There were only a couple lights onโmore for security than anythingโand she narrowly avoided the fronds of a bamboo palm sitting just inside the large reception and waiting area as she half-walked, half-jogged toward her office.
"Holy shit!" she cried out. "Somebody should really move that!" She slowed down a bit as she passed the restrooms and turned right walking past the cubicles that sat on the right and the offices and research area on the left. The firm's floor was situated in a semi-circle and her office was the last one on this side. Next to it was a large conference room and then across the hall was the staff room, where she had recently been fucked into submission. If you kept walking past the conference room you came out on the main hallway where reception and further down, the elevators were at. Just the thought of Trevor pressing her into the staff room counter made her knees weak.
"Mmmm", she moaned. "I've been horny all day! I am taking a bath when I get home. Hopefully the batteries are still good in my... What the hell?"
She stopped just before her hand settled on the door handle to her office. Had she left her lamp on when she left this afternoon? She really didn't think so; it was the middle of August. Even now, at a little after six, she wouldn't have really needed a light. Her office had a huge window that looked out onto the Greater Chicago area and being so high up she hadn't needed blinds to keep out prying eyes. Another reason she was quite sure she hadn't been using the lamp was that she couldn't remember
ever
using it. When Sophie needed to she had always used the fluorescent overheads not her desk lamp. The only explanation was that the janitor had left it on, although the office doors weren't locked at night so it really could have been anyone. The thought of someone rummaging around in her office definitely creeped her out so she stood there, hesitant to go in, standing with her right hand stretched out toward the door.
"There's no time for this," Sophie told herself and grasped the commercial-style lever handle and pushed down swinging the door open as she did. She was so focused on the lamp that at first she didn't see him. She pushed the door open and advanced toward the front of her desk eyeing the stack of papers next to her computer.
"Ah, there it is," she half-whispered.
As she reached out for the file she saw him.
"
Gah!
Oh my god, Trevor! What the hell are you doing in here? You almost gave me a goddamn heart attack!" He was sitting at Sophie's desk facing the door. At that moment he looked like a child who'd been caught decorating the living room wall with Magic Markers.
"I asked you a question!" Sophie demanded.
"Well, I, uh," he stammered. Sophie started around the desk. Just as she rounded the corner she saw what he was up to. At first he made no attempt to stand up and Sophie didn't know whether to be completely pissed off or amused.
"Sophie, come on. Please don't be mad!" He was leaning over scrambling for his slacks while trying to stay as close to the desk as he could. He continued stammering, searching for the words to explain why he was in her office and more importantly what he was doing. His intention was to stand and pull up his pants and boxer briefsโwhich Sophie smiled to see were patterned after the American flagโin one fail swoop.
"Sit down!" Sophie all but shouted it. Trevor was bent over trying to unhook his belt buckle from where it had gotten hung up on his shoelace. He was jerking on it, trying fruitlessly to get the hook to come free; hoping to regain some modicum of dignity.
"Leave it, Trevor! And sit down."