41

"Thanks for the reminder," J.D. said dryly. As if he needed Tyler to mention it. As if he didn't already know that fact himself, as if this hadn't been the very thing he'd been thinking since the moment he'd left Payton's apartment the other night.

It was the worst possible circumstances. She was the only one standing in the way of his making partner. He needed to crush her. But that desire had ended the moment he had found out how she'd helped him with the deposition.

He wished they had more time.

Tyler was right—he and Payton were speeding toward the end of their eight-year race and there was nothing he could do to change that. Which meant that if there was anything to be done, he had to do it fast.

So the question was: Was there anything to be done?

A few weeks ago, J.D. never would've believed he'd be having these thoughts. But things had changed. And not just for him, for Payton, too. Unless he was really, really reading her wrong, that is.

So again, if he wanted something to happen, the time was now.

For what might've been the first time in his adult life, J.D. didn't know what to do. He cleared his throat. "I need your advice, Tyler."

His friend did not seem particularly surprised by this lead-in. "Lay it on me. But first—shall we?" Tyler pulled a black leather cigar case from the inner pocket of his corduroy jacket and offered one of the cigars, a Padron Millennium 1964 Series, to J.D. It was part of their Father's Day tradition, an homage to the time when they were kids and had discovered J.D.'s father's premium cigar collection in a locked cabinet in the den. It had been a Padron that they had smoked that day, out on the verandah, thinking they were hotshots, not realizing that shortly thereafter both of them were going to be violently ill for the next twenty-four hours for amateurishly inhaling the smoke.

J.D. took one of the cigars out of the case. Tyler pulled out a matchbook, lit his cigar, then he handed the matches to J.D. After lighting his own cigar, J.D. eased back in his chair, puffing and rotating and tasting—not inhaling—the smoke.

After they sat in silence for a few moments, Tyler glanced over. "I can start you off, if you'd like."

"Oh, this should be good—by all means." J.D. gestured for him to proceed.

Tyler raked his hand through his hair to get it mussed just right. He casually leaned back in his chair, then raised one eyebrow in an over-the-top smirk. "Tyler—I've been thinking about a few things—"

J.D. held up his hand, offended. "Hold on. Is that supposed to be me?"

"Don't interrupt. It takes me out of character." Tyler went back to his impersonation. This time, instead of the sly eyebrow and smirk, he folded his arms across his chest, held his cigar aloft, and sighed melodramatically.

"Tyler—I've led quite the charmed life, haven't I? I drive the right car, I wear the right clothes, and I'm fantastic—if I do say so myself—at every sport I play, and well, let's be honest here"—he winked ever-so-proudly—"women love me."

J.D. was not amused. "Your life has hardly been any less char—"

"But, Tyler," Tyler went on, talking over J.D., "lately I've begun to suspect that something's missing from my perfect existence, that perhaps there's something more I want, a certain female, perhaps, who, shall we say . . . intrigues me."

Tyler paused here and looked at J.D. expectantly.

"Oh, is that my cue?" J.D. asked sarcastically. "Now am I supposed to be me or you?"

"I could keep going if you like."

"Thanks, I think I can take it from here," J.D. retorted. "You're worse than she is," he grumbled under his breath.

"Admit it, you love it," Tyler said. "You subconsciously feel guilty about your overprivileged upbringing, so you purposely hang around people who castigate you for exactly that as a form of self-flagellation."

Now that J.D. laughed at. "I didn't realize you were still TiVo'ing Dr. Phil."

"Ha. Try Psych 101. Your ego is trying to balance the desires of your id while not upsetting the goals of your superego."

J.D. rolled his eyes. "Speaking of superegos, if we could get back to the subject of Payton—"

"Please—you'd just love for your id to be all over that superego."

J.D. paused. He wouldn't have put it that way, but come to think of it . . .

"Help me out here," he said to Tyler. "Give me your honest opinion. Do you think it would be totally crazy if I—"

"No f**king way!"

The shout, resonating through the bar, came from behind Tyler. Recognizing the voice as that of their friend Trey, J.D. glanced over and saw him shaking hands with some other guy—whose back was to them—whom Trey was obviously excited to see. Momentarily tabling his conversation with Tyler, J.D. watched as Trey gestured in his direction. The mystery guy turned around.

Surprised to see a face he hadn't seen since law school, J.D. stood up, grinning, as the man walked over.

"Chase Bellamy . . ." J.D. said, extending his hand in greeting. "What are you doing here?"

Chase slapped him on the shoulder. "J. D. Jameson. It's good to see you." He pointed to Trey, explaining. "I ran into Trey the other day when I was coming out of court. He told me about this place and said I should stop by tonight." He looked J.D. over. "I haven't seen you since graduation. You wished me luck and said something sarcastic about saving the world."

J.D. grinned. Say something sarcastic? Who, him? While he and Chase hadn't hung out regularly in law school, he liked the guy well enough. He could sum up Chase Bellamy in one word: harmless. A bit of a liberal do-gooder, and maybe too agreeably passive in J.D.'s mind, but harmless. He remembered a strident debate he and Chase had once gotten into in their Constitutional Law class, over the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. What he recalled most distinctly about that debate was that Chase had given up far too easily.

"So the last I heard, you were in D.C. working on a campaign," J.D. said. "Are you living in Chicago now?"

Chase nodded. "I just moved here a few months ago—I'm doing pro bono work with the Chicago Legal Clinic."

J.D. smiled. Of course he was. He introduced Tyler, who had been in the law school class below them. The three of them quickly fell into talk about work.

"So what about you? Where did you end up?" Chase asked.

"Ripley and Davis," J.D. told him.

A look of recognition crossed Chase's face. J.D. assumed this to be an acknowledgment of the prestige of his firm, until Chase remarked, "Oh, I know someone else who works there. Are you in corporate or litigation?"

"Litigation."

"Then you probably know her—Payton Kendall?"

"Sure, I know Payton." J.D. grinned. Funny. Small world. "How do you know her?" he asked. Strange, he hadn't meant for his tone to sound so proprietary.

Now Chase grinned. "Actually . . . we're dating."

J.D. probably would've been less stunned if Chase had hauled off and punched him straight in the gut. He cocked his head. "Wait—Payton Kendall?" As if there were just too many Paytons floating around the litigation group to keep track of.

"Yes, Payton Kendall." Chase looked him over curiously. "You seem a bit surprised."

It didn't matter, J.D. told himself. Really. He was fine with it.

He shook off Chase's question. "No, not at all. Why would I be surprised? You and Payton have a lot in common. Good. Yes. That's great. Tyler, did you hear that? Chase here is dating Payton Kendall. You know Payton, don't you?"

Tyler gave J.D. a look that said he quickly needed to shut up.

Too late. Chase seemed to suspect something. "Wait a second . . . I just realized what's going on here. You're the competition."

"The competition?" J.D. asked loudly. "Why, whatever do you mean?" Christ, now he sounded like he was doing bad dinner theater. He needed to pull his shit together.

"Payton didn't mention any names, but she told me there was stiff competition in her bid to make partner," Chase said.

J.D. blinked. Oh . . . competition for the partnership. Of course.

"You're in the same class as her," Chase continued. "It's you she's talking about, isn't it?"

A few weeks ago, J.D. would've been pleased to hear Payton describe him as "stiff competition." But now he had thought things were different.

But why was Chase asking him about this, anyway? This was his personal business with Payton. No one else's.

"Payton and I are both up for partner this year, yes," was all J.D. said.

But then he wondered just how much Chase knew about recent events. He could only imagine how Payton might have described certain situations—in particular, certain situations involving, say, a shoe and perhaps a couple of peeky-cheeks—to outside third parties. And if Chase did know about said certain situations, well . . .

J.D. did a quick assessment. Chase appeared to be about five-ten, maybe one-sixty, one-sixty-five pounds. No problem. If the little tree-hugger started swinging, coming in at a lean six-two, J.D. was quite certain he could hold his own.

But Chase, being Chase, merely grinned good-naturedly. "Well, Jameson, I'd love to wish you luck in making partner, but I guess I have a conflict of interest." With that, he stuck out his hand. "It was good seeing you, J.D."

Harmless, easygoing Chase Bellamy. He really was the kind of guy no one could find fault with. The kind of guy who never got angry or annoyed. The kind of guy who preferred to amiably let things roll off his back rather than stick it out and fight. The kind of guy that Payton liked, apparently.

And J.D. knew that he was not that kind of guy.

Furthermore, he would never be that kind of guy. Frankly, he didn't want to be that kind of guy. He just wasn't wired that way.

So with that in mind, he shook Chase's hand firmly.

"It was good seeing you, too, Chase," J.D. said. "And good luck. With everything." He even managed a polite smile.

After all, while he might not be the kind of guy Chase was, he could at least still be a gentleman.

J.D. AND TYLER waited outside the bar, trying to catch a cab. In addition to being unseasonably cool that evening, it had begun to rain, and finding an available taxi was proving to be a challenge.

Tyler hadn't brought up the subject of Payton since their conversation with Chase and for that, J.D. was grateful. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about her right then. He needed to sort through his thoughts, to process this new development that she was dating someone, and figure out exactly what that meant. If it meant anything.

An open cab finally pulled around the corner, and J.D. and Tyler agreed to share it. As the cab pulled away from the curb, J.D. glanced out the window and saw everyone running in the rain with their collars turned up and purses over their heads. The weatherman had predicted a cool and clear evening, so now people were scrambling.