Page 48 of Dirty Judge

And I was going to use it SOON.

I made it to the courthouse with Mara’s coffee with five seconds to spare before clock-in.

“Good morning, Miss Spencer!” She smiled at me as I walked into the office.

“Good morning.”

“Heads up on today’s arraignments,” she said. “Judge Ashton is going to be working out of the anteroom for most of the day, so you won’t see him much outside of court.”

“Thank you so much, God.”

“Huh?”

“I said, Oh, that’s such a shock.”

“It really is.” She frowned. “I prefer seeing him as much as possible so I can soak up all his legal wisdom, you know?”

You can’t possibly be this big of a fan…

“Here you go.” I held out her special coffee. “Hope you enjoy it.”

“What is it?”

“Your triple foam cappuccino with extra vanilla and toffee crunch,” I said. “Judge Ashton said it’s your favorite thing to drink.”

“It was until it made me sick last month.” She shook her head. “He knows I don’t drink that anymore. Plus, I prefer to get my coffee from the café here, remember?”

WHAT THE FUCK?

“Thank you so much for letting me know.” I tried not to show any emotion. “I’ll see if any other early bird wants it.”

“Can you also run these down to the library?” She pointed at a huge stack of dockets. “Preferably before lunch?”

“Will do.” I carried her unwanted coffee away, ready to take it down to the interns, but I stopped myself.

I was exhausted as hell, extremely unappreciated, and I had the feeling this man was only going to suck every ounce of energy from me until I collapsed.

My pulse quickened and all I saw was red. I suddenly felt the same way I did when I “allegedly” ruined his cars.

Walk away, Liv. Walk away.

I shoved every sane thought aside.

Before I knew it, I was walking straight to his office and locking myself inside.

I carried the unnecessary coffee behind his desk. Then I uncapped it and flipped it over—right above his chair, letting every single drop soak his designer-level cushion.

When the last drop fell, I quickly slipped out and threw away the evidence.

I highlighted another strange fact in the Grant Jenkins case and scribbled a note. I also made a mental note to look into why he was so obsessed with it later.

I don’t get it…

“The FUCK!” His shout brought the entire office to a halt. “Who the hell did this?”

Every staff member froze and exchanged glances. One by one, they slowly made their way toward the exit.

I held back a laugh and worked on my research.