Pretrial Settlement Deliberations – Chicago
Both parties have laid their demands on the table, the bulk of this nasty dispute regarding intellectual property and shady business practices having been mostly decided. The finer details continue to be picked apart as the five-day session comes to a close.
Valerie Reach is the real asset to deliberate over on the top floor of the Trigram Building overlooking downtown Chicago. Sleek and beautiful, young and brilliant, Valerie’s brown eyes behind smoky lashes are impossible to ignore.
Zach Nolan is definitely one to have noticed Valerie’s smooth jawline and thin lips with a layer of nearly invisible peach. His blue eyes and calming nature serve as magnets for Valerie’s attention, every one of Zach’s words memorized from his slow and articulate delivery.
Both Valerie and Zach do a magnificent job of acting as if neither of them exists in each other’s eyes, but by the fourth day, it seems as if they are the only person they want to see in this boardroom full of lawyers, plaintiffs, and defendants.
Their business stays in the boardroom as everyone makes their exit, both parties mixing as they linger and wait for the elevators.
Zach slings his bag, adjusting his glasses for the hundredth time today.
Standing next to Zach during the linger, Valerie folds her arms and smirks without looking at him. Zach adjusts his glasses, she has noticed, every time he prepares to speak. Her smirk grows, yet she remains disciplined against his words.
“It almost seems pointless to try and drive at this hour.” Zach sloops closer, a quick glance to her eyes that remain on the closed elevator doors. Ding “It’s probably best if we just dally for a while up here. Seems a better use of your time.”
She shakes her head, the smirk becoming a closed-lip smile as Valerie hardly turns to look at that handsome face. “And I guess you know the best way for me to use my time?”
Zach flashes a white smile, a nervous adjustment of rectangular spectacles. “Well…” he begins, huffing a smile. “Staying up here and talking to me seems like it would be a great use of your evening. I know it would be time well spent.”
“My time?” she asks, shaking her head and returning her attention to the silver doors. “You can’t afford my time, boy. I’m flat rate.”
Their brief shooting match gets an irritated look from Zach’s client, a somewhat frazzled expression from his lawyer flirting with the enemy. Zach shoots a ridiculous expression right back. ‘Mind your own business,’ it says. ‘I’m lawyering here. And I’m not on your time anyways.’
*Ding
Both parties have long since departed, Valerie and Zach standing just as they were an hour ago while waiting for their turn to ride back down to reality.
Valerie likes the way Zach gently rubs her hands in his, his confidence and smooth talk causing her to laugh more from his bold choice of words rather than any convincing tone. When he moves to whisper in her ear, she doesn’t fight the instinctive urge to shy away. Zach steps closer to Valerie. Their bodies touch as she continues her losing bout of playing hard to get. She hasn’t given in to Zach’s calm nature, but she desperately wants to.
Neither of them makes any mention of his toying with her diamond set in platinum or his inset tracks on gold. They noticed. It’s definitely a topic of deliberation, a solid grounds for Valerie to object to Zach’s lips lightly touching her cheek.
‘Stop it, Val. You’ve led him on for long enough. Start walking.’
*Ding
Judge Turpin only catches a glimpse of movement, a rapid space growing between Zach and Valerie.
Valerie clears her throat, snatching up her briefcase and making for the newly vacated elevator after the judge steps out. Pleasantries are exchanged with the passing judge, Zach catching a split second of brown eyes before the elevator doors shut. He exhales, taking up his own bag and slapping the down arrow.
“Stupid,” he murmurs with a shake of his head. He checks to make sure the judge is gone. “You idiot.”
—
The Trigram foyer is a bustling place this Monday morning, Zach finishing up his sidebar conversation when he notices a flustered Valerie making her way through the crowd.
She exhales, slapping her case onto an empty chair before tugging on the ends of her two-piece. Valerie’s hair has been impossible this morning. Her clothes, her apartment front door lock, the quippy little barista on fifth – everything. She puts on a friendly face and pressed smile during a brief exchange of chats, but her flush-stration is impossible to hide.
“Hey,” Zach hardly lets out, knowing to stay out of Valerie’s direct line of questioning.
Her reply is cold, the fake smile thankfully disappearing as soon as it shows. “Hi.”
He can’t seem to retain her gaze. “Here.” Zach extends warm coffee. “They just made it and…you look like you need something strong this morning.”
Valerie refuses at first, but eventually accepts on the grounds that her instincts drive her actions more than pride. “Thank you.”
Zach lets Valerie gather herself for a moment. Time and caffeine do rapid wonders for her mental health, Valerie collecting herself before gathering her things. Zach’s half-empty coffee remains in her hand. “You did great last week,” he comments. He follows her, side by side, knowing Valerie is looking for space away from the crowd as everyone begins making their way up. “I was thinking about you this morning…”
Val quickly finds Zach’s eyes, but there’s something missing. Her beautiful brown eyes are less vibrant, a tormenting secret hidden somewhere inside. “Thinking,” Zach counters, “that it would be good for your team to have you back this morning. You really know your stuff.”
That’s it. Zach is on the verge of losing Valerie. It’s possible that she could lapse in his hands. She’s standing right here, but she might as well be unconscious to the world. Something’s up. He won’t give up on her.
A sense of pressure grows on her chest. “Can you…” she begins, setting her bag down. Valerie hands Zach the coffee, sniffling away her terrible morning. “Can you tell them I’ll be up soon? I forgot something at the office. I can walk. It’s just…” Val touches a knuckle to her nose and hops away.
“Come on,” Zach begins, watching her quickly walk out the front door and down the sidewalk. “Just breathe…”
—
Zach has hardly heard a word from either party this morning. He checks his watch – 9:45. If word gets out that Zach flirted the plaintiff’s attorney into hiding, then he’s toast. Done. The judge noticed them together last week. Social preponderance is enough in these circumstances. No defense statement is necessary.
“I’m back,” Valerie whispers as she enters the boardroom. “Please continue, gentlemen.”
Wow. Valerie is…Wow! Her dark hair sits up in a bun, color having completely returned to her cheeks and eyes. Her step is fresh and bristling, her energy seeming to breathe new life into the room. Valerie is beautiful, dangerous, and alive.
Zach gives a curious shake of his head when her eyes flash up to meet his in a brief exchange. ‘Quiet, you,’ her expression reads although she wants to smile. He listens to Valerie work, his attention having fully returned from the renewed energy in the room. A brisk ten blocks on a Monday morning, Zach figures, can bring a woman like Valerie back to life.
—
*Ding
Departing an hour later than the group, Zach hits a random floor button as he and Valerie descend with a fresh touch of her peachy balm on his lips.
“I gotta know what happened to you,” Zach says, pulling Valerie close as they ride down to the ninth floor.
Valerie shakes her head and rolls her eyes. She embraces Zach’s need to have his hands on her, giving into the easy way that he brings her close. “There’s nothing to tell.” She smiles, closing her eyes as Zach kisses her cheek. A pleased hum escapes Valerie. His body is warm and inviting. His kiss is a terribly overdue gesture on her body, his energy seeming to somehow breathe into her.
Zach’s attention remains solely fixed on Valerie. “You won a case,” he guesses. “You doubled your dose. Someone had to have complimented you after leaving so quickly this morning.” Zach keeps trying to reveal her secret, but at this point, he seems to be talking more to himself than her.
The elevator stops and the two step out, Valerie leading him by the hand. It’s an empty space between endless rows of offices, a hardly traversed place that no one has ever been. Valerie does a turn and a step, finding herself in Zach’s arms again. They kiss. They hold. Both of them finding something that they’ve desperately needed for so long.
Valerie takes in Zach’s beautiful baby blues. Trailing a finger along his hairline, she thinks – a pastime Valerie has told herself she does too much of, often talking herself out from what she really wants. Not this time.
“I want to show you something.”
Zach is mildly curious, a light nod. “Ok.”
Valerie calms her nerves. “Do you trust me?”
“…Yes.”
—
“Jump in?” he asks, a lazy hand pointing to the deep end of the vacated spa pool at Valerie’s firm. Fully dressed in suit tops and tucked shirts, they stand beside the water.
Valerie does her best to contain a smile as she nods. “Mmm, hmm.” Her smile shows when Zach continues staring at her. “No!” she shouts, stopping Zach from undressing. “Just…jump in.”
“Like this?”
“Just as you are now. Just…jump.”
Zach lets out a laugh and shakes his head. “Valerie,” he begins. “You must be drunk if you believe I’m gonna get in the water –”
Valerie snatches Zach’s hand and pulls him with her. “Jump!” she cries, both of them plunging sideways into the cold water.
Zach feels a rush, but it isn’t from the cold. He doesn’t sink – he descends. He doesn’t float – he suspends. Where a ray of light would find him in blue waters, a sense of warmth falls over him like grace, like consciousness slowly returning to him.
Dry shoes touch a warm dock. A setting sun lingers in the distance over an autumn lake of golden trees and red skies. When Zach looks around, he finds Valerie running down the ramp to a boatless dock where Zach stands.
“Hey!” she shouts, her smile beaming. “You made it! You’re here!”
Zach holds himself steady as Valerie sacks herself into him, the warm sun touching his skin as a cool breeze blows. “Valerie,” he begins, feeling Val hauling herself up to his height for a kiss. She repeats her kisses, hiding laughter from the rush of it all. “Valerie…”
She lets the man speak, giving him some room to breathe. Her arms wrap around Zach’s neck, beautiful eyes smiling in the autumn sun.
“What happened? Where are we?”
Valerie gives Zach a moment to take it all in. There’s a lake house just up the hill, no other signs of civilization seen around the dense forest of changing colors. The sun seems eager to set, but refuses to budge. She touches a gentle, warm kiss to his lips before holding his eyes hostage. “I’ll try to explain. Just come with me.”
Once inside the great house, Valerie steps toward the sliding door to let the world in. “I had the worst day of my life,” she begins, folding her arms and doing a little turn. Zach watches as Val struggles, doing his best to stay focused. “I hated my job and my boss. My life was going to absolute shit. Everything around me seemed wrong. I hated myself for not going after the things I really wanted.” Valerie thinks, folding her arms before flicking a manicured nail against her teeth as a form of habit. “I was quitting. Giving up, I think.” She finds Zach’s eyes before going to him, taking his hands in hers. “I remember it being late at night. I drank too much, finished off the pills, and found myself alone at the pool, staring at the deep end in the dark.” Valerie fights back the urge remain quiet, but she won’t do that anymore. “So…I jumped in.”
Zach feels Valerie’s hand grace his cheek, toying with the collar of his shirt. He notices Valerie begin to smile when she looks into his eyes. “And after you jumped in,” he leads on, “then what happened?”
With her hand on his face, Valerie looks around and searches for the answer. Her brow hardly presses together. “I don’t know.” She thinks before looking to Zach. “I came here.”
“So where is this place?”
Valerie shakes her head. “I don’t know. I created it, I guess. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to be and, when it all becomes too much, I come back from time to time.”
“You jump.”
“I jump.”
This place doesn’t exist, Zach tells himself, but the touch to Valerie’s lips is real. He never knew this person in his hands could be a prim and proper woman presented with such stern confidence in a board room. It’s unbelievable. If Zach had done what Valerie did on the night that she jumped, he would think himself to have died.
Valerie’s kiss consumes Zach, the force at which she pulls his lips to hers more determined than he’s ever felt in a woman. She nearly leaps into his arms as she squeezes their faces together.
“I have to go back,” Zach attempts to say, holding Val’s weight in his arms.
Valerie changes the angle of her kiss, shaking her head with a, “Nuh, uh.” She loves the way Zach touches her. “It doesn’t work like that. Time never passes. Just…stay with me. Don’t give up on me.”
Stay with me. These are the most beautiful words Zach has ever heard a woman speak.
There’s little objection with complete understanding as clothes begin disappearing. It’s obvious that Valerie has completely abandoned any thought that this is a bad idea. She’s possessive of Zach, franticly hauling his white undershirt up and over before running her hands over his body. Her hands cup his chest, sliding around to his back as he lays her on the couch.
The sun hangs yellow-orange in the sky, passing through the windows to illuminate the ends of Valerie’s hair and skin, soft breasts shaking after giving her bra a toss.
With slender fingers in his hair, Valerie lets out a pent-up breath she wasn’t aware that she was holding while feeling Zach trail kisses down her exposed body. With his face pressed into the softness of her chest, his eager suck on one nipple after the other drives a renewed tingle down Valerie’s body that ends at the tips of her toes. Zach sucks and pulls at the same time, the pressure on Valerie’s nipples releasing a suppressed desire within her. She reaches between Zach’s legs, grabbing onto his stiff cock before using it to play with herself. “I’m wet,” she huffs out, feeling Zach trail his tongue up along her chest and neck. “Please fuck me. I want it. Please, Zach.”
There’s no need to reply. Zach easily slides into Valerie, both of them surprised from how tight she grips around his thickness. Her mouth is open, desperately wanting to tell him how perfect he feels while Zach expresses a bit of determination to fit more of himself inside of her.
Valerie reaches for the couch cushions, holding herself sturdy as Zach wraps his arms around her legs. Both of them remain in an awkward position, they do the only thing they want to do right now. Fuck – hard.
Passionate lovemaking will have to wait. This is about pure instinct, driven by a desire that can only be built up over months of frustration coupled with prolonged denial from others and oneself.
Valerie is gorgeous as she shakes beneath Zach, soft tits bouncing as she is pressed further and further up the couch. Her head is back. Her eyes are closed. Everything within her screams ‘Fucking CUM!’ though she desperately tries to make it last. Her toes are curled, Zach’s muscles flexing as he takes on her weight in his arms. Unbelievably, Zach fucks her harder and faster than before, the sound of their bodies slapping against one another drowning out Valerie’s moans and Zach’s stern determination. Valerie lets out an inaudible squeal, signaling Zach to cum while he fucks, eventually pressing himself all the way into Valerie, both of them hip to hip as her legs squeeze Zach. Holding steady, they twitch and breathe, beyond surprised that someone could make them cum that hard.
—
Zach completely trusts Valerie as they remain in this place. He listens to her, truly listens, doing his best to be supportive when she pours herself out to her stranger-friend, never hesitating to say the things she’s desperately needed to say in the throes of hot sex.
His oiled hands slide along her back as Valerie lies on the massage table by the open door. A smile comes to her face when Zach gently teases the tips of his fingers into the towel covering her soft ass.
“I can feel you moving around down there,” she moans with a smile and closed eyes.
“Yeah?” Slick fingers work lower into the towel, gently pushing it out of the way. “I’ll do my best not to offend you, love.”
Valerie breathes deep, turning her head with the flip of her hair as Zach’s hands cover every inch of her ass.
With the towel absent, Zach stands in front of Valerie and leans as far over as he can to resume massaging her ass.
Valerie doesn’t need to open her eyes to know that Zach’s hard cock is resting on her cheek. She gently opens her mouth, her tongue teasing as she turns her head. A wet mouth finds the familiar cock that she’s tasted for days, allowing Zach in as she spreads her legs. She sucks harder when Zach toys with her ass, a little pressure being applied before playing with a soaked pussy. His stiff cock slips out of her mouth.
Valerie slides off of the table, spreads her legs and bends over, giving Zach exactly what he wants. She loves the way his strong hands push up along her body and take hold of her shoulders. Oil and skin mix, Zach fucking Valerie just the way she needs it this afternoon.
It’s been like this for days, both of them having at each other in completely shameless ways.
‘Do whatever you want,’ she told him after their first night. ‘Do things to me my husband would never do.’
Zach fucks her from behind. “Push back against me,” he tells her. He grabs a fist-full of her hair. “Enjoy it while it lasts,” he says with a smack to each cheek. “Because here in a minute it’s going in your ass.”
Valerie moans from his complete control of her, knowing he means every word. She is no longer a cautious anal virgin after their second night together. Valerie hasn’t been shy about asking for it again. The oil is a perfect aid for Zach to pop the head of his cock into her ass.
—
Morning. The dawn greets Val as she stands alone and content in the kitchen. Hot coffee warms her hands as Zach sleeps. With as adamant as he has been with her, Val figures, he could use the rest.
Valerie told herself that she would return two days ago, then yesterday, though now she doubts if she’ll return today. Or tomorrow. She wonders if Zach will do the same. Has she ruined him for his better half?
Liminal: A space, physical or psychological, that creates boundaries for a transition for things such as a decision, a life event, or phase. One is considered to be in a liminal space when passing through a doorway, for example, being at a transition point by existing in two rooms at once. A metaphysical space is also liminal, a psychological creation serving as a defense mechanism to cope with a life-altering event that is about to take place or, in Valerie’s case, has already occurred.
Valerie watches the sunrise as she wills it into existence. The night only passes on her time. This world only turns when she decides to release it. Her control is absolute in this liminal space she has created, everything about it coming into being when she, and only she, is ready.
Valerie reluctantly makes the decision that enough is enough. There’s a creeping sense that she may linger in this place for too long. Is it possible to slip further into madness by staying in such a place for too long? Can Valerie lose her grip on reality in this deep recess with a man who is possibly too perfect? Either way, Valerie seems to rapidly cave to the pressures of the real world just as soon as she returns.
Having lost another case in court, again, Valerie holds back the urge to climb onto the judge’s desk and scream at the top of her lungs. Since she transferred to this firm, Valerie has met her foolish husband, lost her chance at a promotion, and has never won a case – NEVER. The rage in her is real when she hits the sidewalk in high heels and runs for the firm. Into the stairwell and up to the spa, Valerie breaks through the doors and screams out loud as she leaps back into the deep end.
The cold water shocks her senses, a cool mix of green and blue as she feels herself linger in the water.
Instead of feeling the calming rays of warm sun on a lakeside dock, Valerie feels the rush of water as she rapidly rises. A hard surface hits her on the back as pressure punches into her chest. Over and over, the pressure builds on her chest.
One-two-three. One-two-three.
“COME ON!” a man shouts as he administers CPR on the wet lady in a business suit lying next to a dark pool. “LET’S GO, GIRL!”
One-two-three-blow. One-two-three-BLOW!
Valerie could have been declared legally dead by now, but Zach is one of Chicago’s finest paramedics. Zach never gives up on a patient – never.
Valerie coughs up chlorine, pills, and a mix of whatever booze was found in the fridge.
“Breathe, lady! That’s it!”
She gasps for air, Zach helping her sit up and get the rest out. Onto the stretcher and into the ambulance, Zach hops in and sits next to Valerie. He feels her take his hand, brown eyes wide as she comes back to life.
“Just hang in there, ma’am,” he tells her, the ambulance rolling away with sirens blaring. “You’re gonna be ok.” Zach grips her hand in return, his eyes on hers. “Everything’s gonna be ok. Stay with me.”
