Law and Love

Author’s Note: Thank you so very much for my friend Kathy (kittie8571) who is the Beta of this story!

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Chapter Three: First day at the Magnet

Ennis took a deep breath. Sitting inside of his car, he looked at the sign right in front of him. Del Mar was written in black letters. He was parked in his new, personal spot at the underground parking garage of the firm.

He was nervous and all he could think about was how much he had dreamed about this moment and how he should react now that the dream was coming to fruition. This was real and Ennis was more than frightened.

Picking up his briefcase off the floor on the passenger side, he looked at the car right next to his, a familiar blue BMW. Was it possible? Yes, Jack’s car was right next to him. Elizabeth really thought about everything. Well, probably someone else did it for her, but it was still nice. He smiled as he walked over to the elevator.

Third floor and the second door on the left. Ennis stood looking at the names on the door. “Del Mar and Twist” The firm had wasted no time and Ennis was truly impressed. He'd been informed on Friday about his future partner and on Monday he was entering the office that they would share. Still looking at the name plate, he entered the room.

Jack was sitting at the desk on the left of the door, talking with someone on the phone. The desk on the right was completely empty except for a pile of photocopies and an old book. “The Magnet Rules” he read from the cover of the book. The big red letters on the black cover caught his attention and he stared at the book for a few more minutes. He wondered if he was ever going to read more than ten pages of the colossal thing.

At the back of the office was a big window with a nice view of the city and a few bookcases. The books were the usual ones and Ennis wondered if the Magnet firm still used them, since it was well-known that they were number one in technology. All this information was probably already available on their common database.

Ennis looked around again. He quickly decided the best thing about the office was the fireplace, placed a few feet away from his own desk. Unfortunately, it seemed to be decorative only.

“Sorry, Ennis. I was on the phone with Elizabeth. News about our first case. But, first things first. How do you feel about your first day at the Magnet firm?” Jack said smiling. “Good impression so far?”

“I’m excited and impressed. My name was in the parking lot, on the door… I wasn’t expecting this. It makes you feel very welcome.” Ennis said, attempting to express his feelings.

“I understand. But not everything is this efficient. We still don’t have a secretary. Elizabeth was the one who should have done the interviews yesterday but she couldn’t find the time. So, that'll probably take a few more weeks. You must have noticed the empty desk on the left.” Jack said, searching for something in one of his drawers.

“I didn’t notice. I was too impressed by the look of my name on the door.” They both laughed and then someone knocked on the door.

A tall man looked inside the office. He had black hair and strong blue eyes. Ennis remembered where he had previously met this man. This was the famous Enrique Twist. The owner of the firm. Ennis had had an interview with him a few weeks ago.

“Once again, welcome to the firm, Ennis. It’s a pleasure to have you on the team.” Mr. Twist said, shaking Ennis's hand.

“The pleasure is all mine, sir.” Ennis said as it suddenly dawned on him where he had heard of a Twist before.

“I hope you and my son will get along well. We have a lot of old, well-known names in the firm but just a few young ones.” He said smiling.

“Thank you.” Ennis said, still shocked by his own discovery.

“Well, I must leave both of you with your work. Nice day.” Enrique said, leaving the office with a small goodbye.

Ennis couldn’t believe his ears. Jack Twist was the son of the owner. How could he not see it? He didn’t know what to feel about this. He leaned against his desk, still in shock. How he did not make the connection before, he would never understand.

“I can see you’re surprised. I thought you knew.” Jack said, moving from his desk and stopping right in front of Ennis.

“I didn’t realize. But it makes no difference Jack.” Ennis said, reassuring Jack of how he felt.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Jack said putting his hand on the other man’s shoulder.

Ennis felt a shiver run down his body. The simple touch felt like electricity through his nervous system. He looked to the left, tyring to hide his flushed face and carefully moved away.

Why was he reacting like this? Sure, Jack was an attractive man but he wasn’t even hitting on him. Ennis wasn’t gay and he was terrified by what he was feeling. As quickly as his mind could, Ennis attributed his feelings to the loneliness he was going through.

He couldn’t remember the last time he went on a date. With all the work and the pressure of achieving his goals, he simply forgot to take care of his personal life. Women seemed like a cage to a man like him. They all seemed to want either his money or his sperm. Ennis was tired of being an object so he simply put aside that part of his life. Not one of his previous girlfriends could understand him and all of them inevitably left him, complaining about how lonely they felt and how silent and cold Ennis had been. Nevertheless, he was now starting to believe that he needed to get a life, before he couldn’t even be around decent guys.

“We’re going to work together, Jack. We'll figure everything out in time.” Ennis said, trying to look calm and thinking that Jack probably thought he was crazy because of his reaction.

“You’re right, Ennis. He may be my father but he never gave me any special treatment. We will need to work hard to get to the top.” He said, carefully moving away but still looking at Ennis.

“So, what about the news that Elizabeth gave you.” He said, organizing his belongings on the desk.

“It’s a big case. The famous Mr. Santos of the oil industry is going to sue another company for duplicating a new machine they’ve been developing.” Jack took a few files from a drawer. “Mr. Santos has many important scientists working for him. This machine was developed by his team in Spain and the plans were believed to have been stolen a few months ago.”

“I see.” Ennis said, still feeling uncomfortable around Jack.

“The details are all on your desk. We leave next Monday. I hope we can arrive in Madrid that evening.”

“We’re going to Madrid?” Ennis's eyes widened in surprise.

“This client is very important to the firm. We need to show our total commitment. Orders from the boss!” Jack said smiling. “That includes a trip, as soon as possible, to Madrid.”

“Incredible!” Ennis replied starting to read the first pages of the documents about the case.

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By lunch time, Jack and Ennis were already eagerly discussing the details of their first case. Eating a chicken sandwich, Ennis was thinking about his first business trip. It was a part of his job he had never experienced before. Jack told him it was usual in the Magnet firm to travel all over the world working on different cases. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Hi guys! How’s my favorite team doing? Jack hasn’t already drawn you into work, has he?” Elizabeth said looking at Ennis.

“No, Mrs. Noris. We’ve been working slowly on the Santos case.” Ennis said, taking another bite of the sandwich.

“He’s a clever man. Mr. Santos likes to know the facts and the probabilities. He’s going to like you, Ennis.”

“Dad said he was pleased to work with young lawyers. We have a lot of evidence to sustain the case, so there’s no huge difficulty in finding the right deal.” Jack showed a few pages of the process to Elizabeth.

“I know. I admit, I gave you an easy first one. The big problem is making Mr. Santos accept the deal. That’s your part, Jack.” She answered without taking her eyes from the pages Jack had given her.

Ennis smiled. Elizabeth had thought of everything. This was the perfect first case for Team Twist-Del Mar. It gave them a chance to work on their best skills and learn to work together. He involuntary glanced at Jack. He was laughing as he talked with Elizabeth. The way his mouth moved seemed to have him under some kind of spell. Ennis thought maybe this trip wasn’t going to be as easy for him as everybody seemed to think.

He was thinking about it when something in Elizabeth and Jack’s conversation caught his attention.

“You know, Frederic asked me for your phone number. He seemed interested.” Elizabeth said looking discreetly at Ennis.

“I hope you didn’t give him my number.” Was Jack's only reply.

Jack didn't feel right about having this talk in front of Ennis but then again, his colleague needed to know that he was gay. Maybe this was the easiest way to let him in on that fact. Maybe Elizabeth was helping him. He just wasn’t much convinced.

Ennis heard the exchange between the two friends pretending he didn’t care. A small part of him already knew Jack was gay. Something about the way Jack looked at him the first time they met. The other part was surprised by the masculinity Jack radiated. There was none of the "gay" signs he would have expected from a gay man. Culture stereotypes, Ennis thought. He should have known better than that.

Was he uncomfortable about this? He had always been tolerant about homosexual relationships. He even considered himself to be open-mind about it.

The problem in this situation was that for the first time in his life, he was experiencing an attraction to a gay man. The bigger question was what was he supposed to do about it?

He really didn’t know how to handle this situation.

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“Let’s call it a day. We have a lot to do tomorrow, so I say it’s time to go home.” Jack said rubbing his eyes.

“Fine with me.” Ennis looked at the clock on the wall of the office. 7 pm. The time was flying by, he thought. But he was happy with the work they had both done. Jack was an excellent partner.

They packed up all the important papers and went to the elevators. Jack started a nice conversation about his favorite golf player, Tiger Woods. On the second floor a tall blond man entered and Ennis could feel the uneasiness in Jack’s demeanor. The blond man give a disapproving glance to Ennis and focused on Jack, smiling easily.

“Hi Jack. Finally I get to see you. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’ve been avoiding me.” The man said with a charming smile that made Ennis feel the need to punch him in the face.

“Actually, I’ve been really busy. This is my new partner, Ennis Del Mar.” Jack said, ignoring the previous remarks. “Ennis, this is Frederic Dawson, an expert in divorces.”

If Ennis had any doubts about the identity of the man standing in front of him, they all vanished by the time Jack said Frederic. Ennis tried to hide all the complex feelings he was dealing with at the moment. Three days ago he didn’t know about the existence of Jack Twist, and now here he was feeling jealously about him. Which was ridiculous, because Jack wasn’t even interested in the blond guy. As far as he knew, Jack may even have a boyfriend!

“Actually, Jack,” Frederic said smiling at him, “It’s the number one expert in divorces. The members of the board and your father recently told me so.”

If Jack was a woman, Ennis would have thought he was falling hard for Jack. But Ennis was too confused to make up his mind about what was happening. Meanwhile, he had decided to dislike this Frederic Dawson, who sounded just as cocky as he looked.

“Nice to meet you,” Ennis said coldly as he shook the other man’s hand with a little bit more strength than he really needed to.

“Nice to meet you too” Frederic replied with the fakest of all smiles.

Finally the three men arrived at the underground garage. Fredric bid his goodbyes with a few more charming remarks for Jack, leaving Jack blushing strongly and Ennis furious with the persistence of the annoying man.

Ennis couldn’t stand it any longer. He was confused and more than slightly angry. Angry with himself or with Frederic, he wasn’t quite sure. He said a cold goodbye to Jack and drove quickly home.

A few minutes later, parked in front of his apartment building, alone inside of the car, Ennis murmured to himself.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Ennis Del Mar?”

Jack stood next to his car, thinking about his partner’s reaction. Ennis didn’t seem to deal well with the fact that he was gay. Who could blame him? One moment he doesn’t know about it, the next he sees me flirting with another man, he thought. He was furious with Frederic. The blond man usually made a sport of flirting with him but everything has limits.

Well, not actually flirting, but it was still a strange and awkward situation. Jack thought it didn’t help that he was feeling more and more attracted to Ennis. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this way. That morning when he involuntary touched Ennis's shoulder, he could feel his body reacting like never before. Even then, Ennis seemed constrained. Perhaps he didn’t deal well with gay men.

Jack wondered if he was going to lose the best partner possible because he was gay. It wasn’t the first time. He passed a hand through his hair and climbed into the blue BMW. Ennis was still in his mind. Yesterday they were new pals drinking beer together, and now he was the boss’s gay son working with Ennis.

Jack hoped that maybe he was overreacting.
Author: I didn’t want to waste time. So I gave Ennis the first signs to what was about to came in this chapter. Also, one of my favourite characters, Frederic Dawson, makes his first appearance. I still have hope, that Frederic will surprises in the future, I just don’t know yet how. The scene where Ennis suddenly drove away is one of my favourites.

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On the next chapter: Ennis and Jack fly to Madrid to work on their first big case. All is well until the sexual tension between our two lawyers reaches unstoppable levels.