C'mere (Paul Banks fanfic)

The Client

Rhiannon looked daggers at the idiotic cyclist who almost ran her over. Not only was she late to meet a client, but her immaculately white dress had now been stained with some droplets that had flown from the paper cup of coffee she still precariously held in her right hand. Hanging from her arm was still her handbag and in her left hand, she juggled her sunglasses, her mobile and her access card.

- Sorry! - The guy called before disappearing around the corner of 5th Ave.

She shook her head, fuming and started walking again, her red-soled stilettos loudly resonating on the dirty Manhattan pavement. It was late May and the weather was exquisite.

- Cunt... - She murmured as she entered the building. It was a tall glass tower in the Flatiron District. - I bloody swear if the client is already here...

She got picked on a lot because, even when she had lived in America for almost 10 years now, she couldn't leave her Brit accent and expressions behind. Her mum was from New York and her dad, from Essex, but she had been raised in a posh Catholic school in London and had studied pre and post grad Law school in Oxford, so she had a Brit mentality through and through.

- Is my client...? - She started as soon as she exited the lift.

- Nope. - Lydia, her assistant interrupted her. - He's a rockstar, rockstars are never on time, they don't wake up early to meet commoners like us...

They had only worked together for a year and a half, but they got along so nicely and Lydia always anticipated Rhiannon's reactions so well, that even with her being so demanding, she loved her assistant and wouldn't trade her for the world. Lydia was from DC, and was studying a post-grad in criminal law in NYU.

- Brilliant, I have to go get cleaned up seeing as some imbecile decided my dress was too white for the NYC streets... - Rhi said the last 3 words in a terribly fake American accent.

Lydia giggled, she knew better than to tell her boss to calm down, she knew she wouldn't feel better till she cleaned up her clothes. She even remembered once she had had to run and buy another dress for her because of an ink stain she had got signing some divorce papers between a musician and a model.

That's what they excelled at in this firm: sorting out stars' legal life. Yeatts & Baczkowski directly represented almost every big name you could drop in New York City. Family problems, contract breaking, copyright issues. Y&B was the place to call if you were somebody in NYC and happened to need a lawyer.

Rhiannon had started working here to cover her deceased father's position in the firm. Callum Yeatts used to own one third of the company, along with the Baczkowski brothers. Now Rhi did, and with just 28 years, she was the youngest partner, but she made damn sure everyone knew what she said was done and whichever decisions they were to make, they would need her approval.

She dropped her bag in the waiting room and ran to the bathroom. She kept a Tide bar for occurrences like this, she couldn't stand the thought of walking around in any attire that had the slightest sign of dirt on it, let alone meet clients like that. She shuddered at the thought of a coffee stain in her dress being noticed by a client. She searched, and searched, drawer after drawer, but the bar was nowhere to be seen.

Lydia had gone and picked up Rhi's things to place them in her office and as she returned to her cubicle, she heard her boss scream in anger.

- I was sure it was here!

- The Tide bar? - Lydia suggested. - I threw it away, it was empty. I'm buying another one today if you want.

- True! Fucking hell! Yes, please, buy a new one asap! - Rhi answered, emerging from the bathroom while frenetically brushing the already almost invisible brown droplets in her chest. - I'm glad this bloke is late, water makes the fabric transparent and...

She trailed off as the lift lit up and opened. The client was here.

-

Paul was let down by someone who he used to consider one of his best friends. He had been with them from the beginning, introduced them to bar owners to set up gigs, they still exchanged birthday and Christmas wishes. To say Paul was surprised when he received a notification from Aiden's attorney telling him he would sue him for using his songs without permission would be a terrible understatement. He felt sad and estranged from this old, dear friend, he felt betrayed and hurt.

- Don't worry, Paulie. - His assistant had told him. - I know exactly the lawyer for this job.

- I don't want a lawyer... - He had sadly answered.

- Well you're gonna need one! Don't worry, I'll take care of this mess...

- No. I will take care of it.

-

Lydia watched wide-eyed as an elegantly-dressed man entered the waiting room, and immediately put her pro smile on. Rhi couldn't see him from where she was standing and quickly ran back to her office, unsuccessfully trying to fan the water off her dress with her hands.

- Mr. Banks, right? - Lydia asked politely.

- Call me Paul. - A deep voice answered.