“No, I didn’t need to.”
But, I should have. If I had listened and looked her up, I wouldn’t have been dumbfounded by her beauty, impressed by her intelligence and then thrown-off when she told me off. I would have been better prepared with a witty come back when she referred to me as anignorant fool, which, in all honesty, cut a little. Or I could've countered her claim that I didn’t know what a female wanted or needed.
“El, you're right a lot of the time, but this time, you are dead ass wrong. You were disrespectful and rude to a potential ally. You need to fix this, man. I’m serious.”
“Did our roles reverse? Is it The Belle Law Group now?”
Xavier cocked his head to the side and examined me for a minute before he said, “Morris, can you excuse us?”
Without speaking, Morris got up and left the room.
As soon as the door to the conference room closed, Xavier said, “I don’t give a fuck about whose name is on the door. Right is right, and you were wrong. Don’t you ever, come at me in front of my associate again. I don’t disrespect you so don’t you ever disrespect me. I don’t care about your long-standing rule about not working with other firms and lawyers, and I definitely don’t give a fuck about your trust issues. If you don’t fix this with Ms. Patterson, you are going to lose, and lose badly. Do you know who will suffer when you lose due to your stubbornness and inflexibility? FAMILY!”
I knew I had gone too far when Xavier started using expletives. He never cursed. He never allowed me to get under his skin, but today, I did. I went too far. I wasn’t as unaware as Ms. Patterson accused me of being.
“Fix this shit, El.”
He walked out of the room.
Xavier Belle was one of the only people on this earth that could correct me when I was wrong. I was wrong, I knew I was wrong. The last time I heard him curse was when he found out the guy his sister was dating was actually gay, and the lover confronted his sister and tried to fight her. He was livid! I had to physically restrain him when we saw the guy out in public. He made sure to make that guy’s life hell before the guy finally resigned from his position in Saint Louis and moved away. Last I heard he was managing a small pro bono firm in Montana.
I left the conference room and went back to my office.
“Gretchen, call Raymond for me and hold my calls for the rest of the morning.”
“Raymond is already in your office. You were supposed to be in your morning meeting for at least another hour, so you don’t have any calls until this afternoon.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. She apparently knew the meeting didn’t go well.
I walked into my office and found Raymond sitting on one of my brown leather sofas situated in the sitting area.
“Ray, I need you to look up…”
He passed me a tablet.
Raymond was my personal assistant. I met him through my friend, mentor and Uncle of Xavier, JD. I met Julian DeLucas through my father. JD would come to Pineville and conduct gospel services once a month. He and my Dad became so close he would visit my dad even when he wasn’t holding services. When Roc’s mother went away, JD would bring Roc to Pineville to see my dad. He was the first man who spoke to me about God in a way I understood and could relate. I didn’t attend church services as much as I would have liked to due to my schedule, but I kept in constant contact with JD.
Raymond started attending The Encounter Worship Center, JD’s church. JD was concerned that if Raymond didn’t find consistent legal work, he would revert back to the street life he’d just vacated. I met Ray and connected with him immediately. He reminded me a lot of myself at his age. His drive and ambition were through the roof. I decided to keep him close and mentor him. He watched me long enough to know my habits and routines. I gave him the personal assistant title, and he had been my right hand ever since.
“It’s already there. She graduated from Harvard. She clerked for two of the three sitting female justices; Sotomayor and Kagan. She was hired by Chapman, Olson, Norman, and Lamb after her clerkships. She received the same honor you did, theForty Lawyers under Fortyaward. Several years after you, of course.”
I looked over the information as he spoke. I saw her win percentage was as high as she said it was. She left the prestigious law firm and started her own firm with three other lawyers. Since her law firm began, she and her colleagues were winning large settlements for their clients, getting acquittals and had several cases dismissed based on bias.
I spent the rest of the morning researching Ms. Patterson. I even went to her social media accounts, all of which were private, but I did see her profile onLinkedIn.
“Chambers,” Countee said into the phone.
“I need some information on someone.”
“What do you have on them?”
“I have her name and where she works.”
“Shoot.”
“Averie Patterson. She works at the Patterson Law Firm.”
“Give me a few. I will hit you back.”