Friends With Extra Benefits (20 page)

Behind the defense table, Brian and the
not-entirely-conservatively-dressed Victoria Tamer sat with the
other spectators. She wanted to show off her newly abundant
mid-pregnancy cleavage, and the blouse she chose that morning did
the job well.

Josh Roth moved to the front
of the court to deliver his opening statement. He began, "Jillian
Grayson is a bestselling author of fifteen novels. Her latest
novel,
The Leg Thing,
is a breakout success. It's a story of an older woman who
falls in love with a younger man who just happens to be the best
friend of her son. Anyone who reads the book and knows the Grayson
and Nash families can plainly see that the characters in the novel
are based on these real people. And this is fine. What's not fine
is that my client, Miss Natalie Brookhart, is also depicted in the
novel completely and wholly without her knowledge. No attempt was
made to contact my client to obtain her permission, and for this,
she is entitled to damages."

Josh moved closer to the jury as he continued,
"What's more, Natalie is reflected in an extremely unflattering
light. She's been defamed and has suffered emotional distress and
pain as a result of her unauthorized portrayal in this racy and
scandalous work."

Next he moved over to a large flip chart and
revealed a blown-up image of the book cover. The jury stared at the
image of the young, slim, and attractive woman performing that
now-famous and difficult ballet move as Josh added, "This is the
cover of the book, which depicts a woman in the midst of a complex
ballet position. And sure, there are a number of ballerinas who can
perform this move, but the novel isn't based on any of those other
ballerinas, because none of those others ever dated both Ms.
Grayson's son and her new husband. Natalie Brookhart can perform
this move; Natalie Brookhart dated both Josh Grayson and Brian
Nash."

Glancing over to the defense table, he
continued, "We're here to prove that this isn't really a novel at
all; it’s actually a memoir based on the life of the defendant and
those around her. A true accounting of her recent past, with the
lone exception of how Miss Brookhart is portrayed in the story as a
manipulative, lying, conniving, scheming woman of loose morals. Ms.
Grayson was incredibly jealous of Miss Brookhart and—"

Jillian scoffed loudly, and all eyes went to
her. She returned an apologetic nod, and Stanley leaned over to
whisper in her ear.

Josh said, "Ms. Grayson set out in the book to
destroy Miss Brookhart's character. We will prove that this was
done with malice and premeditation, and for these reasons, Miss
Brookhart is entitled to punitive damages."

Josh returned to his seat.

Judge Maxwell said, "Mr. Parrish."

Stanley moved to stand before the jury and
began, "We're here today because of jealousy all right, but not on
the part of Ms. Grayson. We're here because when Miss Brookhart
doesn't get what she wants, she gets mad. So mad that she's here
today in an attempt to destroy a marriage, purely because she was
rejected by Ms. Grayson's husband, Brian Nash, a young man she
tried to manipulate and possess, like she had so many others
before."

Glancing at Natalie, Stanley shook his head
before returning his attention to the jury. "We will prove a
pattern of behavior on Miss Brookhart's part, which clearly shows
the type of spoiled, vindictive, manipulative personality she
embodies."

Natalie glared at him as if she might jump up
and rip his face off. She felt a juror's eyes on her, glanced over,
and painted on a smile.

Stanley continued,
"
The Leg Thing
is
a fictional story, based loosely on actual events in Ms. Grayson's
life. There is no malice here. This is a case of a young woman who
sees her opportunity to simultaneously get revenge and shamelessly
cash in on the success of another."

Stanley nodded to the jury before returning to
his seat.

At Wealth Stone, Carl paced nervously around his
office. The room was a disaster with stacks of papers on the desk,
documents strewn across the floor, and empty soda cans falling out
of the overflowing trashcan. He dropped a folder into a box that
sat on his desk. Pulling a vial of cocaine from his pocket, he
opened it, pushed his pinky inside, and snorted it quickly.

After rubbing both hands over his chin, Carl
lifted a cell phone off the desk to check for any missed calls. He
cursed then checked the battery level and the number of bars. He
shook his head and cursed again.

There was a knock at the door. Turning quickly
toward it, he ran his hand over his face to wipe away the
sweat.

He cleared his throat as he tried to compose
himself. "Yes."

Carl's secretary opened the door. "Carl, the
staff meeting's in five minutes. You wanted me to—"

"Call it off," he fired back gruffly. "Actually,
cancel everything I have today."

The secretary didn't bat an eyelash, since his
erratic behavior was commonplace, and replied, "Yes sir."

After she closed the door, he rushed over,
locked it, and then sat in front of the desk. He opened a drawer,
moved a gun aside, pulled out a vial of cocaine, and took another
hit. The cell phone rang. Rubbing his nose, he sniffed, glanced at
the phone display, and took a deep breath. He pushed the button
before putting the phone to his ear and said, "Mr. Sampson."

"Rodgers."

"I've been trying to reach you all night."

"What is it?"

"I need to move the gold today." Carl waited for
a response and after a few seconds of silence added, "Sampson, I
need you to take it today."

"I can't do that. We're all set for Friday. I
don't even have—"

"It must be today. There's no deal if we don’t
do it today."

Sampson sighed loudly, and Carl could hear his
breathing as he again waited for a response. Finally he replied,
"Let me get back to you... but Carl, if we do this today, I can't
pay twelve hundred."

"Come on Sampson. We had a deal."

"Hold on."

Carl struggled to listen as inaudible dialog
spilled through the phone while Sampson apparently conferred with
an associate. He waited and after hearing a few seconds of silence
on the other end, Carl began, "Sampson, do we—"

"A thousand an ounce."

"What? It's worth over seventeen hundred."

"A thousand," Sampson shot back loudly.

Carl stared out the window, thinking.

"Rodgers, do we have a deal?"

"Fuck it. Okay. But it's got to be today."

"Call you back."

After tossing the phone onto his desk, he
reached once more for the vial of cocaine.

In the courtroom, Natalie was seated on the
witness stand as Josh approached the jury.

Josh began, "Miss Brookhart, how did you learn
about this book?"

"I was walking past a bookstore, and something
caught my eye in the widow. I noticed the cover, since it was very
unique and had a picture of the ballet move that was very familiar
to me."

She smiled sweetly at the jury. "I went into the
store and read the jacket. I knew that Rob's mother wrote as Jaclyn
West, that's her pen name, and then I read the book
description."

The men in the jury were studying the cute
little Natalie as she testified. They wore distant smiles,
completely captivated as they hung on her every word.

"When did you realize that this Rebecca
character in the book was based on you?"

"Still in the store, I read the chapter where
Brice meets Rebecca for the first time. He was watching her do this
ballet move, and it was exactly the same as how I met Brian for the
very first time."

"You're referring to Brian Nash, who is now
Jillian Grayson's husband?"

"Yes."

"Go on."

"So at that point, I realized the Rebecca
character seemed to be based on me. I scanned through the book and
looked for references to this Rebecca character, and what I found
horrified me..." She stopped, covered her mouth with one hand, and
looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Do you need a minute?" Josh asked.

In the otherwise silent courtroom, Jillian
scoffed, and all eyes went to her. She slumped down in her
seat.

"No, I think I can continue." Natalie took a
calming breath and then added softly, "Next I, um, read a part
where Rebecca said she was a 'technical virgin' and I had no idea
what that was so I read more, and the character went on to explain
that she only had a certain kind of sex, a kind, uh, which I find
to be utterly appalling."

"What kind of sex?" Josh asked in an innocent
voice.

"Natalie glanced at the jury and then hesitantly
over to the judge. Her eyes went back to Josh. She paused and then
whispered, "Anal."

Everyone in the room leaned in and all eyes
narrowed as they struggled to hear. The court reporter raised her
hand and blurted, "Sorry, Your Honor, but I did not get that."

The judge said, "Please repeat that Miss
Brookhart."

Natalie curled her lip and then took a deep
breath. Giving her a sympathetic look, the judge said, "Take your
time. Just begin again when you're ready."

Jillian scanned the crowd with dismay. Everyone
was staring at Natalie as if they wanted to either comfort her,
have sex with her, or both. Jillian's mouth was wide open as she
wore an expression, which screamed, "Can you freaking believe
this?"

"Okay, sorry this is just so..." Natalie moved
closer to the microphone and said loud and clear as day, "ANAL
SEX." The words reverberated around the courtroom and were
punctuated by loud screeching feedback from the microphone. Then
the room fell silent as the men grinned, and the women inaudibly
gasped. A moment later, the only sound heard was both Jillian and
Victoria chuckling. All eyes went to Jillian; she covered her smile
before catching the judge's disapproving glare.

After shooting Jillian a dirty look, Natalie
returned her sad, pouting face to Josh.

"Please continue, Miss Brookhart."

"I went on to read more, and the book made this
Rebecca character out to be a horrible girl who manipulated men and
treated them terribly. She's portrayed basically as a slut, and,
um, but mainly what struck me over and over through the entire
story was that it seemed to follow exactly my relationship to
Jillian Grayson's son, Rob, and her boyfriend back then,
Brian."

Jillian stared at the jurors who still appeared
to be completely captivated by the loveable Natalie. Shaking her
head, she exhaled, defeated, before returning her eyes to the
witness.

Natalie continued, "I've had
calls from people who've read the book... I mean even the title
screams that it's about me. I practically invented the term,
'
The Leg
Thing
.'
That's
what everyone called it at school. She even stole the title from
me."

Natalie squeezed the bridge of her nose as her
eyes became weepy. She sniffled, and her gaze slowly traveled to
Jillian as she curled her lip, fighting back tears. She glanced
back to the jury with a puppy dog look. They were all with her,
shaking their heads, frowning and glaring at Jillian.

"You poor thing," one female juror
whispered.

Josh said, "Okay, Natalie, are you aware of
anyone else that either Rob Grayson or Brian Nash know who can
perform this ballet move shown on the cover?"

"No. There are very few people who can," Natalie
announced smugly.

Nodding, Josh turned to the judge. "Your Honor,
if it may please the court, we would like to demonstrate how Miss
Brookhart can perform this ballet move and how it is identical to
the book cover image."

Maxwell pondered this for a moment. "Yes, Mr.
Roth. I believe that we would all like to see this."

The men in the jury all sat up just a little
straighter.

"Miss Brookhart needs to change into a leotard,
if that's okay. It'll just take a minute."

Nearly every man in the courtroom moved to the
edge of his seat with his eyes glimmering.

Maxwell said, "Certainly. She may use the
restroom attached to the courtroom."

Natalie stood and made her way to meet Josh at
the plaintiff's table. He pulled a bag from his briefcase and
handed it to her. She headed off to the restroom as Jillian
whispered something into Stanley's ear.

Two minutes later, Natalie appeared wearing a
black leotard and looking absolutely drop dead spectacular. Slowly
she waltzed her perfect rock hard body in her bright pink
sock-covered feet toward the front of the courtroom. The men's
pulses quickened as they all stared at her. All women (well, except
for two) looked on jealously.

Glancing up at the judge, Natalie said softly,
"I just need a minute to warm up."

He nodded while wearing an awestruck smile.

Natalie brought one leg up halfway and held it
for a few seconds and then returned it to the floor. Next, she
repeated the identical stretch with the other leg. After taking a
deep breath, she slipped down quickly into a perfect split. There
was an audible gasp from the jury. After languidly stretching her
body out along one leg, holding it briefly and then the other, she
moved her torso back to the center and quickly popped up. The
jurors looked on, impressed.

She smiled. "I'm ready."

Maxwell said, "Proceed."

She glanced at Josh, and he returned an
approving nod. All eyes were on her, and no one made a sound.
Natalie stood perfectly still, took another deep breath, and slowly
and gracefully lifted her right leg until it was pointed straight
at the ceiling, while the other remained firmly planted on the
floor but up on the ball of her foot. She held her leg there with
one hand, almost effortlessly, as nearly everyone looked on,
completely blown away, their jaws slacking.