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Shit
. I'd completely forgotten about that. A few times a year, our company threw a party for all of its long standing clients. A kind of thank-you-please-keep-giving-us-buckets-of-money type deal. It seemed to work because our profits just kept climbing, but I hated those evenings. There was only so much corporate asskissery I could stomach. Unfortunately, we were all expected to be there if we could make it. We didn't actually do anything; the puppet masters just liked showing us off. A flexing of the company's considerable legal muscle. I usually made it tolerable by taking abundant advantage of the open bar, but with the memory of the morning's hangover still fresh in my mind, I wasn't sure I'd even be doing that.

"I kind of wish you hadn't reminded me. I could have slept through it and not felt guilty."

Elle chuckled again. "Oh come on, it won't be that bad. Do your bit, brown nose a few CEOs. Who knows, you might impress someone."

"And you'll be doing the same?"

"Hell no. I'll be drinking in a corner."

"That sounds like a better plan," I agreed.

A tiny smile appeared on her face. "So did you hear?"

"About what?"

"The Wrights case is a go."

My eyes widened. "No way. That's awesome!"

"I know right? It's going to be kind of novel actually doing something worthwhile, instead of just helping companies shit on one another day after day."

I nodded. It was exactly the kind of case I'd always wanted to work on. A David and Goliath class action suit between a group of Average Joes and a pharmaceutical giant. It felt like our own little Erin Brockovich moment.

The situation was horrible. Wrights had hidden the side effects of one of their antidepressants from the general public. The drugs worked fine on most people, with one notable exception. Pregnant women. It was only after several years that someone began joining the dots between the drug in question and the spate of juvenile health problems that followed. Now there were thousands of affected children out there, suffering everything from physical abnormalities to heart conditions. More than a few had died from their complications. It made me angry just thinking about it.

Beyond the chance to do something good, the case was also great publicity for the company, which meant it had the attention of the suits upstairs. There had never been a better opportunity to prove myself.

"Anyway, I have to run these to Freidburg," Elle said, gesturing to the pages in her hand, "but I'll catch you later, okay? Don't even think about sneaking home. I'm not sure I can sit through this one alone."

I raised my hands in defeat. "Okay, okay."

The day chugged along at an agonising crawl. Law isn't nearly as glamorous as it appears on television. Behind every dramatic hour in court there are hundreds of hours of paperwork.

At six o'clock, an office wide email went out calling everyone to the upstairs boardroom. We always hosted our gatherings in-house. For a company the size of Little Bell, appearances were everything, and we'd spent a lot of money making sure we could entertain with the best of them. With the tables cleared away, the band in place, and the bar and canapés laid out, the whole place had the classy but vaguely sterile feel of an expensive wedding reception.

Most of my colleagues were already there when I arrived. Seeing everyone standing together in one place really emphasised the gender imbalance in the company. There were jackets and ties as far as the eye could see. We had a few women on every floor, and a couple had even made it to the lofty ranks of Partner, but the firm was still very much entrenched in the old way of doing things.

Despite my earlier reservations, I decided I couldn't get through the evening without a least one drink, so I snagged a glass of champagne on its way past and then set out in search of a friendly face.

"You made it!" Elle said, as I found her at the other end of the bar. She was chatting to one of the new junior associates, a friendly young guy named Miles.

"You sound surprised," I replied.

"Well, this morning you did look a little like you might keel over at your desk."

"What, and miss all this?" I asked, gesturing dramatically to the room.

"It does have a certain... unique charm," Miles said, wearing a bemused smile.

"First time?" I asked.

He nodded.

"You're working under Alan right?"

He nodded again.

Elle and I shared an eye roll. "Has he taken you to run the executive gauntlet yet?" she asked

"I don't think so," he replied.

"Well, don't worry, he will," I said. "He likes to start grooming his flock early."

He gave a nervous little laugh. "I'm not sure I like the idea of being groomed."

"Me either," I replied. "Certainly helps if you want an actual career though."

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

I gazed at him for several seconds, my tongue poised on my lips, before shaking my head. I didn't have the energy for a rant right now. Besides, he'd see soon enough. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"No, hang on," he persisted, "you can't make a comment like that and then just let it go."

Elle had been watching the exchange with a mixture of amusement and resignation. She understood. She was in the same boat as me. "What she means is, this place is very cliquey. You get in with the right people early, you're set."

He filled in the obvious blank. "And if you don't?"

Elle shot me a glance and raised her eyebrows.

I sighed. "Then expect to be shovelling shit for quite a few years."

He chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "How long have you two been here?"

"Six years for me, five for Elle," I replied.

"And you're both still juniors?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Fuck. I take it that's not normal?"

I shrugged. "Depends on your definition of normal. If you don't kiss the right asses then yeah, that's pretty much the way it goes."

"Speaking of ass kissing, have you met the office's resident brown nosing queen yet, Miles?" Elle asked, nodding to the woman who was approaching us from across the room.

"Can't say that I've had the pleasure," he replied.

I grimaced. "Well it looks like you're about to get your chance."

There was nobody in the office I disliked more than Jennifer Smart. The two of us had started at Little Bell around the same time, and from day one, we'd seemed destined to be rivals. Everything about her rubbed me the wrong way, and although she was as sweet as honey to my face, I knew the feeling was mutual. I'd assumed my eighty hour weeks and pristine work would trump her grovelling, but apparently I'd been mistaken. Two years ago she'd made Senior Associate, while I was still stuck shuffling paper. It was a victory she savoured to this day.

"Sophia!" she said, flashing me a perfect beauty pageant smile. She had her fake nice act down to a fine art, but truth be told, I still didn't understand why so many people were fooled. There was something inherently unpleasant behind those angular features, a callousness that no amount of phony warmth could hide.

"I was wondering if you'd be here," she continued. "I know you don't much care for these little gatherings."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Jennifer," I replied, forcing myself to sound vaguely polite.

"Well good. It's good to keep in touch with our clients, don't you think? Speaking of which," she nodded at the older gentleman standing next to her, "this is Mr Chardy. He's the head of development at Marvin Lemac. We've been handling their fraud case."

I gritted my teeth. She had the most frustrating habit of making out that nobody else knew what was going on around the office except her. "I know who you are," I said to him, holding out my hand. "I'm Sophia Pearce. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

The others introduced themselves.

"Sophia, Elle, and Miles here are all part of our junior associate team," Jennifer continued. "I know when you meet with us it might seem like it's just me or Alan handling your case, but we really couldn't do what we do without these guys. They're the ones doing all the grunt work."

"Well you've done an excellent job so far," Chardy said.

I nodded in thanks, not trusting myself to speak. Backhanded compliments were Jennifer's speciality.

She glanced around the room. "Well anyway, it's been lovely chatting to you, but I want to introduce Joseph here to a few more people. You know how it is; so many Partners, so little time. Have a good night."

Taking his arm she led him off into the crowd.

"Well, she didn't seem that bad," Miles said, when she was out of earshot.

"Are you kidding?" Elle replied. "That smile was so sweet I think I threw up a little in my mouth."

"Have either of you actually done any work on the Marvin Lemac case?" I asked. They both shook their heads. "Exactly. She didn't need to introduce him at all. It was just another excuse to gloat." I threw back the rest of my champagne in a single long sip. "Fucking 'grunt work' indeed. I could strangle that bitch."

"It sounded like a compliment to me," Miles said quietly.

Elle and I looked at one another before bursting out laughing. "You have a lot to learn about this place," I told him. "Anyway, after that, I think I could use another drink. Back in a sec."

I could see my plans for a dry night evaporating before my eyes, but if that meeting was a sign of things to come, I'd need all the help I could get. Little did I know things were about to get even worse.

"What can I get you?" said the guy behind the bar.

And for the second time in as many days, someone answered for me. "She'll have a Cosmo. And get me another beer."

I rolled my eyes. "Actually, I'll have a glass of Shiraz," I said, turning to frown at my new companion. Taylor had started on my floor a year earlier, and since day one, he'd been trying to lure me into bed. I might have taken it as a compliment, if he hadn't done the same thing to every woman in the office. Sadly, many of them fell for it.

Objectively, I guess he was good looking, in that blonde, bulky, frat boy kind of way, but he was such a gigantic ass that I found it impossible to see anything else. His daddy was some big hedge fund type who was friends with everybody, so Taylor spent his entire life coasting around on his enormous sense of entitlement. I think it annoyed him that I was so resistant to his 'charms', although he'd never say it.

"If you're going to order for a girl, at least pay attention to what she's drinking, genius."

He gave a little laugh. "Hey, I was just trying to be friendly. Do you always bite guys' heads off when they try to buy you drinks?"

"This is the company bar, so you're not buying me anything."

He flashed a smile that he probably thought was seductive. "Not here I'm not."

I exhaled sharply. "Not anywhere."

"Come on Sophia, at least hear me out. It's no secret you hate these things, so what say you and I get out of here? My dad owns this sweet little wine bar just a block from my apartment. We could drink whatever we want, on the house. No Cosmos there, I promise."

I had to give him points for persistence, but at that moment I really just wished he'd disappear.

I looked him straight in the eyes and grazed my teeth slowly across my bottom lip in that way that guys seem to love. "Close to your apartment, hey?"

His face lit up. "That's right."

"What about your dad? Does he live nearby too?"

He blinked several times in confusion. "My dad?"

"Yeah. I mean if we're drinking on the house, that would mean it's really him buying me drinks. It'd feel kind of rude going home with someone else after that."

His expression crumbled, and I gave myself a little internal high five.

"Well, we could go somewhere else if you like..." he said lamely.

And then someone else spoke from behind me. "I don't think she's going anywhere with you." My heart turned a cartwheel in my chest.

Even before I looked, I recognised the voice; low and strong and smooth as caramel. For a moment I was overcome by a powerful sense of deja vu, but it passed as the reality of the situation came crashing into me.

"Hello Sophia," Sebastian said, sliding in next to me. "It's lovely to see you again."

I stared at him with wide eyes, my tongue frozen in shock. He was the last person in the world I'd ever expected to see again. But there he was in front of me, smiling like he hadn't caught me huddled in his office cupboard just a day earlier.

Taylor wasn't so easily rattled. He rocked back on his heels, an incredulous smile blooming on his face. "Hey buddy, we're having a conversation here."

Sebastian's eyes flicked to him. There was no anger there. If anything, he looked vaguely amused. "No, you're harassing a girl who quite clearly wants to be left alone."

Taylor bristled. "And I suppose she'd rather be talking to you?"

"She'd rather be doing a lot of things."