Good Pet

While I’m not sure how in the hell that’s going to happen, a place like Sadie’s — which mostly serves comfort food — something about it feels like the right place to go. Almost like God is guiding me there to meet someone or do something important.

So I followed my intuition, start the car, put it in drive, and head toward my predetermined destination.

Sadie’s is one of the swankiest bars in all of Manhattan that also doubles as a daytime restaurant and lounge. Somehow, I know there’s going to be something there for us beyond good food and good drinks.

Dragging Tommy out of the car and across the parking lot in front of Sadie’s, the more steps I take toward the front door, the more I’m sure that this is going to be our salvation. Not only in terms of being a distraction from what’s just happened at work, but in terms of being another answer to our problems.

As soon as we step into the cool, trendy atmosphere of Sadie’s and are greeted by our waiter, we are waved down by someone it takes me a minute or two to recognize. He keeps calling over to me, waving, and finally, the waiter asks if we’d like to sit with him when he offers. It’s only when I get close to the table, see the old fashioned he has sitting in front of him, that I recognize who’s just waved us down.

It’s Jake Davies, one of Kane’s personal lawyers and the brother of one of my coworkers. While I don’t typically have many friendships with any people outside of work, Jake and I have gotten to know each other over time — over successive moments of bumping into each other just like this.

With his brown, honey-tipped hair, gray-green eyes, and serious features, Jake is the quintessential fastidious type. Always clean, always orderly, he holds himself to high standards of conduct. Not just himself but others around him. He looks at me now, already trying to read between the lines between Tommy and me.

He mouths, “New boyfriend?” and points at Tommy.

I nod, but whisper to him, “Now is not the time, Jake. I will tell you more about that later. For now, I really, really need to talk to you.” I tap Tommy on the shoulder, pull him close to me. “We need to talk to you.” I pause, seeing how ghostly pale Tommy looks and how shaky he feels to the touch, even though his hands aren’t visibly shaking.

Jake reads the distress on my face, the whiteness on Tommy’s, and says, “What’s the trouble?” His voice is tense, clipped, as if he’s already starting to figure something out, even though I haven’t told him anything yet. If this is one of Jake’s “superpowers”— reading people’s body language and decoding secrets — I can understand why Davies and Sons is one of the best law firms in the city.

If there’s one thing lawyers need almost as much as an intimate, well-rounded understanding of the law, it’s the ability to read and understand the lines between deception and truth, and what they can reveal. And I suspect that Jake is a regular wizard at reading and decoding these lines.

“It’s in regards to a Joan Vanacore,” I say, quietly, very aware that our waiter is going to walk over here any minute and start trying to take our order. “She just started as the head of the new legal department at McKenzie Tech.”

“Yes, I know about her,” he says. “Another of the more recent mergers.”

“Well, she—”

“She sexually harassed me,” says Tommy, suddenly jumping into the conversation. As if he’s just been brought to life by the name of his tormentor, Tommy goes from being almost lifeless to on fire.

To Jake’s look, what I can only interpret as, oh no, here’s another so-called sexual harassment charge, that’s going to end up not being one, after all, Tommy bares his teeth and lunges in further. “She’s been doing it ever since she hired me as her associate lawyer a few weeks ago. She thinks that just because I’m her ‘protégé’ that I’m going to be okay with whatever she wants, and that I’m just hers to play with since she hired me.” Here, Tommy’s voice begins to crack and quake. “Over the last few weeks, I’ve decided to try to gather evidence on her. Proof that she is a true-blue predator to any younger guy that works for her, so I played along with her little game. But today she did something that is no game, and isn’t something I can play around with.”

I blush, watching Jake’s face get all kinds of fucked-up. He’s not sure how in the hell he’s supposed to feel, that much is obvious. He looks equal parts horrified, irritated, and downright confused. Sprinkled in here is a little bit of pride and shock at what Tommy’s just told him he’s been trying to do. But all of that clears the way in the next moment, being replaced by seriousness again. Severe lines and shadows dot his face as he looks at Tommy and says, “And what did she do today, Tommy? What did she do today that was so different than any other day that you were playing along with her, as you put it?”