Guilty Pleasure by Justus Roux

to,
it’s part of my job. I have to assist Michael. Though I hope I
don’t have to talk with that detective anymore.”
    “ What
detective?”
    “ His name is Tim Dane and I
guess he was the one who helped catch Johnny. The things he was
saying about Michael was just pissing me off.”
    “ Like what?”
    “ Michael is cold and
unemotional even when dealing with the harder parts of his job. Tim
told me about the serial child killer that Michael defended and how
Michael’s lack of emotions bothered Tim.”
    “ What did you
say?”
    “ I said Michael probably
has to shut emotionally down to deal with the horrible things he
has to hear.”
    “ That makes sense,
but…”
    “ But what?”
    “ I did say Michael comes
across chilly. Why would he have to shut his emotions off around
me? I don’t give off a freaky vibe do I?”
    “ No.”
    Monica could see Nicole was starting to get
upset and that was the last thing she wanted to do to her. “I’m
sure he will defrost once he gets to know me. And I think you are
right he would have to shut down emotionally to deal with the crap
he has to hear from his clients. Maybe he is just stuck in that
mode. I’m sure you will turn him around.”
    Nicole smiled at her.
    “ So, when do you have to
come face to face with that killer?”
    “ I don’t know. I know
Michael will be talking to that woman who got away from Johnny. I
think that might even be tomorrow. The prosecutor wants to hurry
this case along.”
    “ That poor woman will have
to relive everything.”
    “ I know. I don’t know if I
would have the strength to do something like that. I’m going to
turn in earlier I’m kind of drain from today.”
    “ Okay. If you want to talk
you know where to find me.”
    Monica watched Nicole head to her room. She
grabbed her cellphone and went into her bedroom. She turned on some
soft music to drown out her voice then she dialed her phone.
    “ Hey Monica, what’s
up?”
    “ Hey Adam. I just wanted to
let you know Nicole handled today well.”
    “ I know. I just got done
talking to Michael. He said he kept Nicole from going into the room
with that killer.”
    “ Michael called you? When
did he do that?”
    “ I just got off the phone
with him. He wanted to make sure I was doing alright.”
    “ That’s sweet of
him.”
    “ Isn’t he in your apartment
with Nicole?”
    “ No, he dropped her off and
went home. Did he say he was here?”
    “ No, I just assumed that he
would be. I would be, just to make sure she was alright. Nicole was
probably shocked to see how innocent that killer
looked.”
    “ Oh she was. She seemed
more rattled by what a detective Dane had to say.” Monica told Adam
what Tim had said.
    “ Michael does come off a
bit chilly at times. But look at all the good he has done too. He
takes on cases pro bono. Look at what he has done for me and I’m
sure I’m not the only one who has benefited from his firm’s
foundation.”
    “ Michael has done some
good. That saying, beware a wolf in sheep’s clothing, keeps popping
into my head.”
    “ Nicole cares about him, so
there must be something there we don’t see.”
    “ Yeah, maybe, but remember
Nicole just got out of a really emotionally abusive relationship. I
think she tries to see good where there is none, which is normally
a good thing…”
    “ Look, I see what you are
saying, but I have known Michael for a couple of years now. Yeah,
he is a bit standoffish, but we don’t know what kind of shit he has
been through in his life.”
    “ There is something not
right about him. I mean the guy is smoking hot, whew is he hot,
but…I don’t know maybe I’m just being overly protective of my new
BFF. Look at you, you are smoking hot and you give off a nice warm
vibe, so it’s not the intimidating hot thing.”
    Adam chuckled. “Well, thank you for the
compliment. I think. The important thing here is that we be
supportive of little Nicole. Talk about being thrown into the deep
end of things. She