Suits (My Worst Partner-Enemy)

The Tough Parker

"Excuse me, who are you?" I immediately asked in my best polite tone. The woman crossed her arms sassily. "Let me retract that question. Who are you?" She repeated. I fake laughed and slowly walked up. This girl did not just sass me at this moment. She's lucky we're in a public place. "Sweetie, I'm not the topic of conversation. I saw your rounded ass daydreaming and wondered who could that be. Answer this question cause I don't repeat myself twice. Unless we could settle this when somebody could be a witness." I spoke through gritted teeth. She glared until I motioned her not to speak. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know exactly who she is. Donna and I had quite the conversation during happy hour last time. I shoved my hand in one pocket and fake smiled. "Dana Scott, is it? Or should I say Scottie?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Scottie returned the gesture. "Correct. Now answer my question." She answered. A confident smile popped across my lips. "Elizabeth Parker. I'm a—I was cut off when a certain person entered the room. Harvey. Clearly the view before him was making this highly awkward for him. He looked between me and her until clearing his throat. "Scottie, meet...Elizabeth. Scottie, meet....my Elizabeth." He introduced awkwardly. From the corner of my eye, I knew Scottie was looking me up and down like a cheetah examining its next prey. I side-eyed her and smiled innocently. "We already met. It's very nice to meet you." I spoke sarcastically. Scottie angrily glared. "If you don't mind, the adults would like to have a private conversation." She said in a condescending tone. "Scottie!" Harvey spoke horrifiedly while glaring toward her. Me? I still remained calm and ignored her comment. "Hon, you're not the one to speak about being an adult. You can't even act like one in a relationship or I guess in public. I merely saw you in here and sensed some bad news already. To finish what I said, I'm a senior associate for this loyal boss here. If there's anything I love about working with him and being with him, is that he values the importance of loyalty and trust. Perhaps you'd like to learn that with your partner." I said calmly but tough. The whole time she hadn't wiped off her angering glare. Harvey suppressed a laugh and looked down. I let out a relaxed breath. "Anyways, I'll see you later babe." I said, touching his thumb lightly. He had on a small warming smile as I left the room. Guess my morning's got a whole lot better.

My mindset turned back to work. Parkville, the important matter of this case. Mike and I entered another conference room and not to my surprise, Katrina already sat with two boxes of files. All this while my boyfriend will go unfortunately across the sea with the homewrecking hoe. Yes, I contemplated a little about that. But I completely trust Harvey. He isn't the one who'd do that to someone he cares about, knowing the history with his mother. Katrina looked up. "Good. You're here. I'm taking the personnel files, you go through the corporate minutes, and—I cut her off. "Excuse me?" I asked weirdly. "Bakersfield. We don't have all day." She said in an obvious tone. Mike scoffed. "I'm—I'm sorry. I didn't know you were on Bakersfield." He said, setting the file box down. It's a good thing he spoke because I would've said a thousand words. Katrina backed her chair and got up. "Well I am. Let's go. The minutes are over there, and they're not going to read themselves." She ordered. I furrowed my eyebrows in shock. Who does this porcelain think she is? "Well, you may be on Bakersfield, but we're the lead on Bakersfield, and we're not going to do any of that stuff until we get Harvey some up-to-date statistics." Mike told her. "And that means take that ordering tone off your voice or you'll pay a visit to Bakersfield." I threatened. She lightly flinched but looked down. "4.7% female executives—up to date." She said, opening the file box. We glanced at each other humorlessly. "That's a number. We need the probability of that ratio being chance across twenty two divisions in forty-five states, which is one—I cut him off. "One in 8.3 billion." Katrina and I said in unison. Mike looked between me and her in disbelief. "How did you know that?" He asked. "I'm good with numbers." I replied. "I checked with the statistician." She added. He nodded in disagreement. "Yeah, well, he's wrong, because he didn't—She cut him off. "Adjust for outliers, which takes it to—He cut her off. "One in 6.4 billion." I finished. She looked at me in shock. "How did you know that?" She asked. "I did it in my head. It's what I do. It's why we're lead, and if you don't know porcelain, you better ask somebody." I sassed while taking the files off her hand and throwing them back in the box. "I don't need to ask anybody to know that if we use the 8.3 billion number, it's defensible, and it skews the results in our favor." She told me. "Oh, what a shock. You want to skew the results at the expense of our credibility. We're not doing it." Mike disagreed. She went around him and grabbed her file box. "I am a fifth year, Mike." She said. "And we work for Harvey." He said. I hummed in response. "And I'm a third year, clerked as senior associate in one of the biggest law firms in Los Angeles, now here in New York. Your point?" I sassed. She went past him and fake smiled. "Well, Jessica assigned me. And if you don't like that, why don't you go talk to her?" She said. I rolled my eyes and walked out. He followed behind.

******

Serving myself Starbucks was all it took to keep my mind off, probably everything. Even Scottie. She is literally the chip on my shoulder I'm trying to shake. Maya unfortunately caught the stomach flu and called a friend to help. I pulled out my phone and texted her.

BlueQueen👑🩵: are u feeling better?🥺

It took quite a minute for her to reply as I strolled in the hallway. Jessica already informed me about finding information about Hansley since she'll be deposing him. Finally, she replied back.

Twin Sis👯‍♀️❤️: still resting in bed. Going to the doctor tomorrow. Are u ok?

BlueQueen👑🩵: dealing with a homewrecking ex and your porcelain doll on the case.🙄

She texted back almost quickly.

Twin Sis👯‍♀️❤️: if I know u, u can handle things on your own pace. This ex of Harvey's got nothing on u. Like all cheaters and liars, they like to come back in your life when it suits them.😌😉

I chuckled and giggled. She was actually right. William came back as if he'd still had space in my life after I was more than clear I was done. Scottie only did the same. But my brain returned to the case matter. I texted back.

BlueQueen👑🩵: Thanks M! Feel better, gotta go!❤️

I noticed Mike and Katrina in the conference room. They seemed to be arguing. I rubbed my temple annoyedly. Now what? I walked and opened the door. "Harvey offered me a job, and I thought it was because I'd impressed him. Then you showed up, ready to break privilege, and I knew the real reason. He was hiring me to protect you." She admitted. The whole world immediately flashed before me. My heart raced as if I just ran like Flash. My brain clicked, remembering Donna and Harvey's conversation one night. 'Katrina Bennett called. The deal's done.' That is how she got here. Mike indeed was ready to break privilege and if he did, himself and Ms. Colson's son would be in jail. Harvey made a deal to protect him. I snapped out of my thoughts. "She's right." I agreed. Mike whipped his head toward me. "What?" He spoke in shock. "What?" Katrina blurted. "Harvey did that to protect you, Mike. Think of what could've happened to you if you had almost done what you suggested. That was his client's son. You may not like it but it is what it is in corporate law. She is only the reason you didn't end up in jail instead of being hired for her hard work. Ok? Enough." I snapped sternly. He looked at Katrina for a moment before walking past me. We made eye contact in a moment's silence. "Thanks." She muttered softly. I simply scoffed. "I wasn't taking sides. It was getting the truth across. Don't try to order me around again, ok?" I growled and walked out. Maya's right. Handle things on my own pace is what I do. And I'll keep doing it.