Legally Not Yours

The Double Game

POV: Leah

At first, I was relieved when Jared ignored me.

After everything that happened the day before—the chair, the tie, the handkerchief, the begging—I expected him to storm into campus and try to take his power back with another twisted task.

But instead? Nothing. He didn’t speak to me, didn’t look at me, like he didn’t even acknowledge my existence. He walked into class late, sat on the other side of the room and kept his eyes glued to his laptop like it held the meaning of life.

I watched him. I told myself I wasn’t, but I did. He looked too calm, too clean and no trace of tension in his posture.

Like he’d gotten a full night’s sleep and didn’t spend it thinking about how I left him aching and tied up in a meeting chair. But then his hand curled slightly into a fist on the desk when I laughed at something the TA said.

It was small, subtle either, but I saw it. He was watching me and just wouldn’t let me see it, so by the end of class, I felt… restless.

It was the fact that his silence hurt more than his insults ever did. I don’t know why I’m feeling like this, but somehow being ignored by him makes me feel invisible.

And I hated being invisible, it reminded me too much of how my mom treated me like I didn’t exist.

I shoved my notes into my bag and left the room early, my heart pounding with frustration I didn’t want to name. Outside, the sun was too bright, the air was too quiet and I needed to breathe.

That’s when I heard him. “Hey.”

I turned to see Carlson, leaning against the low brick wall outside the lecture hall, smiling like he’d been waiting just for me.

“Rough class?” he asked.

“You could say that.”

He offered his hand for my bag. “Need a ride?”

I blinked. “To the office?”

“Yep. First day on the job.”

“You’re serious.”

“I told you. I’m your new coworker now.”

I stared at him. “No warning. No onboarding email.”

“Surprise?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I guess I’ll have a friend at work now.”

“I like the sound of that,” he said. And I liked the sound of it too.

Friend. Someone who didn’t breathe fire and chaos. Someone who didn’t undress me with their eyes just to punish me with silence the next day.

The ride was quiet at first, the good kind.

Carlson drove with one hand on the wheel, music low. We talked about coffee preferences and weird professors and how his dad was easing him into firm politics through HR and strategy. But about halfway there, he glanced over at me.

“You know,” he said, “you don’t have to pretend around me.”

I looked at him. “Pretend what?”

“That this thing with my brother doesn’t bother you.”

I swallowed. “People talk, huh?”

“People whisper,” he said. “You two are like a live drama on the office floor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really fun to see you and him fighting all the time. You both looked like you want to kill each other.”

I turned to the window. “Yeah. It’s complicated between us.”

Carlson smiled softly. “I know that right.”

When we stepped out of the car into the Connors Legal parking garage, I smoothed my skirt, adjusted my bag strap.

Carlson held the elevator door open. “After you.”

We rode up together. I caught our reflection in the mirrored wall, two people who looked like they fit. Calm. Clean. No fire.

The elevator opened to the quiet hum of office activity. And standing at the front desk, flipping through case notes, was Jared.

He didn’t look up. Didn’t even flinch when I passed him, but the receptionist, sweet, always too observant, glanced from him to me and back again. Somehow trying to communicate or signaling him about my presence.

She could feel it too. Jared was silent, but it wasn’t peace. It was a punishment.

* * *

I walked into the meeting room because it’s the only place that I can be alone to gather my thoughts about work and about Jared who is acting weird.

Trying to drown myself in reading all of the case studies that I need to analyze, somehow no matter how many times I read them, I cannot seem to remember. Decided that I need a coffee so bad, I need to focus and caffeine will certainly help. I walked past Jared’s office and the door was wide open.

That’s when I saw her.

Sitting at the edge of Jared’s desk, legs crossed blonde girl, perfect red nails draped casually over his shoulder. Lip-glossed, laughing at something that definitely wasn’t funny. And Jared leaned back in his chair like a king. Relaxed and silent, his eyes flicked casually toward me the second I was near his door.

He didn’t smile, or didn’t even wink. He just looked right at me. And then, he reached up and brushed something off her thigh. Casual. Intimate. Designed for me to see.

I blinked once but didn’t react. Didn’t let my face crack yet my stomach turned. Because she didn’t know what he sounded like when he begged.

And I did.

I bumped into Carlson accidentally. He managed to catch me by holding both of my shoulders, “Are you okay? I was about to give you this.”

Carlson handed me a folder, brushing my hand as he did. “Leah, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just need coffee.” I lied.