FIC What Jared Wants
Title: What Jared Wants
Characters: Jared Franklin, Meredith Specter, appearances by Peter Bash, Carmen, Pindar, Hailey Church
Fandom: Franklin and Bash
Series:
Written For: N/A
Prompt: N/A
Summary: Jared tends to go after what he wants, even if it’s going to get him into trouble later.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Mentions of naked people and possible sexual situations, but nothing graphic
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me
Author's Note: So this is background to the Suits/Franklin and Bash crossover that I’m working on and is actual a sequel to a Suits fic that I haven’t written yet. I’ve got three stories non-fandom (or non-those fandoms) related that I need to work on next so it’ll probably be a while before I write that one, but what you need to know for this is that Meredith is Harvey’s half-sister. Thanks to illfindmyway who gave me some help with this story and also provided some inspiration for Hailey. She’ll be back from time to time in the other stories in this series…which still needs a name.
Jared Franklin loved women. He didn’t have a problem with this. He pretty much loved all women, but he’d go so far as to say he had a certain type. The type that could look him in the eye (literally) and go toe to toe with him. So when he and Peter walked into the Cave after a day in the office to find a stranger leaning over the bar with Carmen; a short maroon skirt just covering the necessities paired with an ivory top and ankle boots; Jared didn’t have to think twice before hissing, “Dibs,” at Peter and striding forward.
“Carmen,” he said, “hey, who’s your friend?”
The woman spun around, crossing her feet at the ankles, and looking him up and down. “Meredith Specter. And yes, that is my real name.”
Jared offed his hand and his own once over. “Jared Franklin.”
Meredith leaned back against the bar, raising one eyebrow as she slid her hand over his, shaking it firmly. “Nice to meet you, Jared Franklin. Carmen and I were just going over the pictures from the surveillance.”
“For the…?” Jared asked, glancing down at the glossies spread across the counter top.
“Scott versus Scott case,” Carmen broke in.
“The cheating husband and wife duo?” Jared clarified. “I thought you were on top of that?”
“I am,” Carmen responded, “But Meredith takes pictures for a living and I thought she would be better able to get the shots we needed.”
Jared flipped through the pictures, blinking at some of the contortions he saw. He wasn’t even sure some of them were possible. “Please tell me that you didn’t break any privacy laws for these. Cause this? Is pure gold.”
“Not a one,” Meredith answered. “Stayed outside of property lines and used a telephoto. Not my fault they like to screw in front of open windows.”
Jared lifted one up and turned it, sure he’d picked it up upside down. Meredith glanced over his shoulder and turned it back the right way. “Is that even anatomically possible?” he asked.
“Apparently,” she replied. She indicated her laptop. “Everything’s backed up and dated on there. And Carmen has the files on a jump drive.”
Reaching for the laptop, Jared gave her a questioning look. When she nodded, he began searching through the photos she hadn’t printed, asking, “What other types of photography do you do?” as he clicked.
“Commercial shoots; ads, promotional, and the like. Artistic shots and just whatever catches my eye. But artistic shit doesn’t pay the bills so I do this on the side. My older brother’s a lawyer and when I moved out here, he got in touch with a couple of firms he knew and that gets me enough jobs to keep me eating and housed.” She shrugged gracefully. “He might not think what I do is…appropriate, but he’s not gonna let me starve.”
Jared hummed absentmindedly as he looked at the other pictures on her laptop. “Hey, what’s in this folder?” he asked coming across one that was labeled MR-NY.
“No. Don’t.” She reached for his hand, but wasn’t quick enough. Sighing she said, “Never mind,” as the file opened.
Jared’s mouth almost dropped open as he was confronted with a skinny, naked man in his early twenties. “You take…porn.” He blinked, his hand freezing on the mouse pad. “Really good porn. Just guys?”
Meredith glared at him as Peter and Pindar’s heads shot up and Peter scrambled to his feet. “Those are not porn. They are tasteful artistic photographs that I did for a friend. And he does still have clothes on. Kinda. Sorta.”
Jared tilted his head as he attempted to look at the picture from another angle. “He does? Where?”
Meredith attempted to push his hand away so she could close the files, but Jared blocked her. “Can we please go back to the cheating bimbos?” She tried to reach around him. “Please. I promise he’s got clothes on. Or well, underwear. I did not strip my brother’s boy toy.”
At a choked sound, they both looked up to see Carmen with her head in her hand, shaking it. “This is not happening to me,” she muttered. “This is not my life now. I am not listening to two reasonably sane people discuss what should or should not be porn. And whether or not someone was stripped.”
Peter had made his way over to them by now and he looked over both their heads at the laptop. “Are there any naked girls on there?”
Meredith made a sound of annoyance and slammed the laptop shut, almost shutting Jared’s fingers in it. “Okay. Leave my pictures alone. Those are not for you. And I’m going to password those before I come over again.”
“Really? You’re going to come over again?” Jared asked.
“Yeah. Try not to sound too eager there, Jared,” Carmen told him dryly. She handed Meredith the backpack that had been sitting on the bar. “Here I’ll walk you out to keep this numbnut away from you.”
“Oh, good. I wanted to talk to you about…” Meredith’s voice trailed off as the two of them headed out of the house.
Carmen frowned when she found Jared still at the bar when she returned a few minutes later. “What?” she demanded.
The lawyer tossed the pictures onto the bar top. “How long have you known her?”
“On and off for about a year. Why?” she asked suspiciously.
He grinned and the look had never meant anything but trouble. “I want that.”
Without even thinking about it, she responded, “No.”
Surprised, Jared replied, “But. But. I want that.”
“NO!” she answered more firmly.
Jared turned his best pout on her. “But why noooot?” he whined, causing Peter and Pindar to look up from their game. When they saw he was just talking to Carmen, they turned their attention back to it.
“Because I like her,” Carmen explained. “She doesn’t look down on me for my past.” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “And it never ends well when you have something.”
“But, Carmen,” Jared whined again.
“No. And I mean it, Jared.” Carmen gathered up the pictures. “No means no.”
F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B
Jared consulted his Blackberry, checking the address Peter had texted him against the one on the building. It wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting; more industrial than office, but the addresses matched so he headed inside. Music poured from somewhere as he stepped through the doorway and he shook his head, bracing against the onslaught.
Following the hallway, he wanted to stop and study the photographs that lined the walls. They varied in size and mountings, even whether they were color or black and white; but none of them looked like the typical advertisement shots.
At the end of the hallway, a lime green door waited for him. Jared grinned at the sight of it. The lurid paint seemed perfect in the light, although other people might flinch at the brightness. A discrete plaque proclaimed this place to be Merry’s Etchings with a small Shooting below it and Jared’s grin widened at the name. Reaching out, he tried the knob, almost surprised when it turned under his hand.
The music crescendoed as he opened the door and he slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. Behind the door was not a series of rooms, but a huge, cavernous room better suited to a warehouse than anything else. Part of it had been partitioned off and blocked out into a smaller room. It looked like it was completely blocked off and no light would leak though so he assumed it functioned as her darkroom. Along the wall next to it were racks of clothing, although of it neatly hanging and in perfect care. He could count three rows from here and he wondered how she’d acquired all of them, but figured it might be donated. Some of it was older, but it was all neat and in good repair. He could see everything from gowns to jeans and sweatshirts and he was curious what she used it all for.
Almost directly opposite the racks and room a set of tables held a desktop, two laptops, and a series of cameras in various states of disarray. Spinning around, Jared finally located Meredith. She was across the room, by the only brightly lit area of the entire space. Two scantily clad girls, in what he could only think of as an Arabian Nights theme from a porno, were twisting to the music as Meredith moved around them. This time the honey-blonde wore jeans and a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo from the band Cheap Trick. She was barefoot and her hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail. A second photographer was also moving around, although her camera wasn’t raised. She was darker haired and slightly darker in skin; with a few inches on the other photographer.
Jared allowed his blue eyes to rake over the other girls, but after a moment his attention returned to Meredith. If he had his choice, there was no contest; his sights were already set on one person.
The music stopped as Meredith lowered her camera and straightened out of the crouch she’d been in. “Okay. I think…” she started.
“Um, hi?” Jared broke in.
Squeaking, Meredith spun around, her camera raised as if she would throw it, although Jared doubted she’d use it as a weapon. “Jare…” she began, but seemed to recover herself, and finished, “Mr. Franklin, what are you doing here?”
“Your friends. Um, they’re. Wait. What were you…?” Jared made a motion at where the two girls were still lounging on the pillows within the silk draped area.
“Talia? Nadia? Why don’t you take a break?” Meredith tossed over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off of Jared. “Hailey, you too.”
“I wanna hear this,” the brunette answered, not moving from her spot. “If this is that Jared.”
Meredith rolled her green eyes. “Hailey. Break time.”
The two models grabbed robes and shrugged them on, quickly exiting the area. For a moment, Jared wasn’t sure that the girl Meredith called Hailey was going to vacate, but she finally gathered up both cameras and a phone before glaring at Jared. “You be nice to Merry,” she ordered. “Or I’ll have Rocky Mountain Oysters for dinner.”
Jared’s eyes widened at her words and he swallowed heavily. “I just need to talk to Meredith. There’s no call for threats. Speaking of which…you just threatened a lawyer. Is that really wise?”
Hailey crossed her arms and looked down at him. “Meredith is my best friend. If not for her, I’d probably be dead. Do I look like I care?”
Jared held his hand out to her. “I admire loyalty like that. I have a friend who’s that close to me.”
She accepted the gesture before turning to Meredith. “If you need me…”
“I’m sure I can manage to kick Jared before you’ll get here, but thank you. Now go on. We’re still paying the bimbo twins for their time. Could you go check on them for me and check the card memories?”
They both watched Hailey walk over to the table and plug the cameras into the desktop. “So can she hear us from over there?” Jared asked.
Meredith raised an eyebrow at his question, but asked one of her own instead of answering, “Did you need something, Mr. Franklin, or did you just come here to cost me money?”
“Jared,” he corrected. “Mr. Franklin is my father or when I’m in court. And yes, I need something.” When he didn’t elaborate any farther, she sighed and crossed her arms, tapping a foot. It wasn’t very intimidating since she hadn’t put any shoes on. “Okay, so um, the pictures you brought over the other day? I need new copies.”
Meredith sighed. “I don’t want to ask why, do I?”
“There was an…incident,” Jared admitted.
“I really don’t want to know,” Meredith answered. She sighed before adding, “Yes. I can get you more copies. It’ll be a day or so though.”
“That’ll work. Let me do something to make it up to you.” He snapped his fingers. “I know. I’ll buy you dinner.”
“That’s not necessary,” Meredith replied.
Jared grinned at her. “I insist. It’s the least I can do.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “You caused the incident, didn’t you?”
“Um. I plead the fifth. But dinner?”
“You should go!” Hailey called over to her.
“Butt out, Church!” Meredith responded without turning towards her. She looked Jared over again. “Not to plump your ego any since I’m sure it doesn’t need it…you are cute, but I don’t do lawyers. Or Ivy Leaguers. Or trust fund babies.”
“Well, I can’t argue the lawyer part, but I didn’t attend an Ivy League school, and I might have a trust fund, but I never touch it,” Jared responded.
Hailey joined them, handing a memory stick to Jared. “You need to eat, Merry,” she pointed out.
“Don’t you have work you need to do?” Meredith responded.
Hailey paused like she was considering it. “Nope. So where would you take her, Jared?”
“Well, since I don’t use my trust fund, it won’t be five star,” Jared answered with a flirty grin, “but I’m sure we could find something that we both agree on.”
“She likes Italian and Chinese, but hates Sushi,” Hailey replied. “And she’s very particular about the type of pizza she eats.”
“Excuse me. Standing right here,” Meredith pointed out.
Hailey patted her on the arm. “Oh, I know, bebe. But I need to make sure he takes care of you.”
“I’m not going out with him,” Meredith growled.
“Excuse us for one minute, okay?” Hailey asked.
Jared shrugged. He’d been rather amused by the women’s byplay. While he didn’t berate a woman into a date, there was something about Meredith that made him want to spend more time with her. He watched as Hailey took the blonde by the arm and pulled her towards the set where they’d been shooting when he’d walked in.
“Hails, I am not going to dinner with him,” Meredith said as soon as they were out of earshot.
“He is not Tyler. Or Harvey. Who granted while I’m sure your brother loves you, he’s an ass. Very good at his job, but an ass.” Hailey spun Meredith around so she could see Jared who was poking at something on his phone. “And look at him! He’s hot! It’s dinner. He’s not asking you to elope with him. He’s asking you to dinner. And if things go well, maybe you’ll get laid.”
“You are entirely too concerned with my sex life,” Meredith informed her.
“If you go out with him,” Hailey bargained, “I’ll pick ten shots of mine for the gallery show at the end of the month.”
“The one I’ve been bugging you to show in?” Meredith questioned.
“Yes,” Hailey confirmed. “But. You have to go to dinner. And you cannot bail before two hours are up.”
Meredith weighed her options before spinning on her heel and calling to Jared, “You can take me to dinner on Friday. I’ll have the prints of those pictures when you pick me up at seven pm. Now get out. I’ve got work to finish.”
“Wait what?” Jared’s head shot up and he fumbled his phone almost dropping it.
“Dinner. Friday. Seven.” She made a shooing motion at him. “Now out. You aren’t going to ogle my models if you’re going to take me out.”
“Where…” Jared started, but yelped as Hailey grabbed his ear.
“Come on, Casanova,” she ordered. “Quit while you’re ahead.” Tugging on him, she pulled him towards the entrance.
“Can you not take off my ear before Friday?” Jared asked.
Hailey eased off, but didn’t let go completely. “Jared, I convinced her to go to dinner with you because she needs to get out more, but if you hurt her…well, I’m not afraid of lawyers. And I do enjoy my Rocky Mountain Oysters. Now you want a little advice?”
“Um, sure?” Jared rubbed his ear since she’d released it. “Does she have a favorite restaurant or something?”
“I’d suggest Chinese for Friday. Maybe a Dim Sum? That’ll give you a wide variety and will let you linger. Now,” she opened the door. “We have work to do.” Giving him a gentle push, she shoved him through it, before shutting the door in his face.
Jared blinked when he found himself staring at the lime green door, but then smiled broadly. He wasn’t sure precisely how it had happened, but he had a dinner date with Meredith and he was already looking forward to it. Sticking his phone and the memory stick in his pocket, he turned to go, whistling cheerfully. His day was looking up.
Characters: Jared Franklin, Meredith Specter, appearances by Peter Bash, Carmen, Pindar, Hailey Church
Fandom: Franklin and Bash
Series:
Written For: N/A
Prompt: N/A
Summary: Jared tends to go after what he wants, even if it’s going to get him into trouble later.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Mentions of naked people and possible sexual situations, but nothing graphic
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me
Author's Note: So this is background to the Suits/Franklin and Bash crossover that I’m working on and is actual a sequel to a Suits fic that I haven’t written yet. I’ve got three stories non-fandom (or non-those fandoms) related that I need to work on next so it’ll probably be a while before I write that one, but what you need to know for this is that Meredith is Harvey’s half-sister. Thanks to illfindmyway who gave me some help with this story and also provided some inspiration for Hailey. She’ll be back from time to time in the other stories in this series…which still needs a name.
Jared Franklin loved women. He didn’t have a problem with this. He pretty much loved all women, but he’d go so far as to say he had a certain type. The type that could look him in the eye (literally) and go toe to toe with him. So when he and Peter walked into the Cave after a day in the office to find a stranger leaning over the bar with Carmen; a short maroon skirt just covering the necessities paired with an ivory top and ankle boots; Jared didn’t have to think twice before hissing, “Dibs,” at Peter and striding forward.
“Carmen,” he said, “hey, who’s your friend?”
The woman spun around, crossing her feet at the ankles, and looking him up and down. “Meredith Specter. And yes, that is my real name.”
Jared offed his hand and his own once over. “Jared Franklin.”
Meredith leaned back against the bar, raising one eyebrow as she slid her hand over his, shaking it firmly. “Nice to meet you, Jared Franklin. Carmen and I were just going over the pictures from the surveillance.”
“For the…?” Jared asked, glancing down at the glossies spread across the counter top.
“Scott versus Scott case,” Carmen broke in.
“The cheating husband and wife duo?” Jared clarified. “I thought you were on top of that?”
“I am,” Carmen responded, “But Meredith takes pictures for a living and I thought she would be better able to get the shots we needed.”
Jared flipped through the pictures, blinking at some of the contortions he saw. He wasn’t even sure some of them were possible. “Please tell me that you didn’t break any privacy laws for these. Cause this? Is pure gold.”
“Not a one,” Meredith answered. “Stayed outside of property lines and used a telephoto. Not my fault they like to screw in front of open windows.”
Jared lifted one up and turned it, sure he’d picked it up upside down. Meredith glanced over his shoulder and turned it back the right way. “Is that even anatomically possible?” he asked.
“Apparently,” she replied. She indicated her laptop. “Everything’s backed up and dated on there. And Carmen has the files on a jump drive.”
Reaching for the laptop, Jared gave her a questioning look. When she nodded, he began searching through the photos she hadn’t printed, asking, “What other types of photography do you do?” as he clicked.
“Commercial shoots; ads, promotional, and the like. Artistic shots and just whatever catches my eye. But artistic shit doesn’t pay the bills so I do this on the side. My older brother’s a lawyer and when I moved out here, he got in touch with a couple of firms he knew and that gets me enough jobs to keep me eating and housed.” She shrugged gracefully. “He might not think what I do is…appropriate, but he’s not gonna let me starve.”
Jared hummed absentmindedly as he looked at the other pictures on her laptop. “Hey, what’s in this folder?” he asked coming across one that was labeled MR-NY.
“No. Don’t.” She reached for his hand, but wasn’t quick enough. Sighing she said, “Never mind,” as the file opened.
Jared’s mouth almost dropped open as he was confronted with a skinny, naked man in his early twenties. “You take…porn.” He blinked, his hand freezing on the mouse pad. “Really good porn. Just guys?”
Meredith glared at him as Peter and Pindar’s heads shot up and Peter scrambled to his feet. “Those are not porn. They are tasteful artistic photographs that I did for a friend. And he does still have clothes on. Kinda. Sorta.”
Jared tilted his head as he attempted to look at the picture from another angle. “He does? Where?”
Meredith attempted to push his hand away so she could close the files, but Jared blocked her. “Can we please go back to the cheating bimbos?” She tried to reach around him. “Please. I promise he’s got clothes on. Or well, underwear. I did not strip my brother’s boy toy.”
At a choked sound, they both looked up to see Carmen with her head in her hand, shaking it. “This is not happening to me,” she muttered. “This is not my life now. I am not listening to two reasonably sane people discuss what should or should not be porn. And whether or not someone was stripped.”
Peter had made his way over to them by now and he looked over both their heads at the laptop. “Are there any naked girls on there?”
Meredith made a sound of annoyance and slammed the laptop shut, almost shutting Jared’s fingers in it. “Okay. Leave my pictures alone. Those are not for you. And I’m going to password those before I come over again.”
“Really? You’re going to come over again?” Jared asked.
“Yeah. Try not to sound too eager there, Jared,” Carmen told him dryly. She handed Meredith the backpack that had been sitting on the bar. “Here I’ll walk you out to keep this numbnut away from you.”
“Oh, good. I wanted to talk to you about…” Meredith’s voice trailed off as the two of them headed out of the house.
Carmen frowned when she found Jared still at the bar when she returned a few minutes later. “What?” she demanded.
The lawyer tossed the pictures onto the bar top. “How long have you known her?”
“On and off for about a year. Why?” she asked suspiciously.
He grinned and the look had never meant anything but trouble. “I want that.”
Without even thinking about it, she responded, “No.”
Surprised, Jared replied, “But. But. I want that.”
“NO!” she answered more firmly.
Jared turned his best pout on her. “But why noooot?” he whined, causing Peter and Pindar to look up from their game. When they saw he was just talking to Carmen, they turned their attention back to it.
“Because I like her,” Carmen explained. “She doesn’t look down on me for my past.” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “And it never ends well when you have something.”
“But, Carmen,” Jared whined again.
“No. And I mean it, Jared.” Carmen gathered up the pictures. “No means no.”
F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B F&B
Jared consulted his Blackberry, checking the address Peter had texted him against the one on the building. It wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting; more industrial than office, but the addresses matched so he headed inside. Music poured from somewhere as he stepped through the doorway and he shook his head, bracing against the onslaught.
Following the hallway, he wanted to stop and study the photographs that lined the walls. They varied in size and mountings, even whether they were color or black and white; but none of them looked like the typical advertisement shots.
At the end of the hallway, a lime green door waited for him. Jared grinned at the sight of it. The lurid paint seemed perfect in the light, although other people might flinch at the brightness. A discrete plaque proclaimed this place to be Merry’s Etchings with a small Shooting below it and Jared’s grin widened at the name. Reaching out, he tried the knob, almost surprised when it turned under his hand.
The music crescendoed as he opened the door and he slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. Behind the door was not a series of rooms, but a huge, cavernous room better suited to a warehouse than anything else. Part of it had been partitioned off and blocked out into a smaller room. It looked like it was completely blocked off and no light would leak though so he assumed it functioned as her darkroom. Along the wall next to it were racks of clothing, although of it neatly hanging and in perfect care. He could count three rows from here and he wondered how she’d acquired all of them, but figured it might be donated. Some of it was older, but it was all neat and in good repair. He could see everything from gowns to jeans and sweatshirts and he was curious what she used it all for.
Almost directly opposite the racks and room a set of tables held a desktop, two laptops, and a series of cameras in various states of disarray. Spinning around, Jared finally located Meredith. She was across the room, by the only brightly lit area of the entire space. Two scantily clad girls, in what he could only think of as an Arabian Nights theme from a porno, were twisting to the music as Meredith moved around them. This time the honey-blonde wore jeans and a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo from the band Cheap Trick. She was barefoot and her hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail. A second photographer was also moving around, although her camera wasn’t raised. She was darker haired and slightly darker in skin; with a few inches on the other photographer.
Jared allowed his blue eyes to rake over the other girls, but after a moment his attention returned to Meredith. If he had his choice, there was no contest; his sights were already set on one person.
The music stopped as Meredith lowered her camera and straightened out of the crouch she’d been in. “Okay. I think…” she started.
“Um, hi?” Jared broke in.
Squeaking, Meredith spun around, her camera raised as if she would throw it, although Jared doubted she’d use it as a weapon. “Jare…” she began, but seemed to recover herself, and finished, “Mr. Franklin, what are you doing here?”
“Your friends. Um, they’re. Wait. What were you…?” Jared made a motion at where the two girls were still lounging on the pillows within the silk draped area.
“Talia? Nadia? Why don’t you take a break?” Meredith tossed over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off of Jared. “Hailey, you too.”
“I wanna hear this,” the brunette answered, not moving from her spot. “If this is that Jared.”
Meredith rolled her green eyes. “Hailey. Break time.”
The two models grabbed robes and shrugged them on, quickly exiting the area. For a moment, Jared wasn’t sure that the girl Meredith called Hailey was going to vacate, but she finally gathered up both cameras and a phone before glaring at Jared. “You be nice to Merry,” she ordered. “Or I’ll have Rocky Mountain Oysters for dinner.”
Jared’s eyes widened at her words and he swallowed heavily. “I just need to talk to Meredith. There’s no call for threats. Speaking of which…you just threatened a lawyer. Is that really wise?”
Hailey crossed her arms and looked down at him. “Meredith is my best friend. If not for her, I’d probably be dead. Do I look like I care?”
Jared held his hand out to her. “I admire loyalty like that. I have a friend who’s that close to me.”
She accepted the gesture before turning to Meredith. “If you need me…”
“I’m sure I can manage to kick Jared before you’ll get here, but thank you. Now go on. We’re still paying the bimbo twins for their time. Could you go check on them for me and check the card memories?”
They both watched Hailey walk over to the table and plug the cameras into the desktop. “So can she hear us from over there?” Jared asked.
Meredith raised an eyebrow at his question, but asked one of her own instead of answering, “Did you need something, Mr. Franklin, or did you just come here to cost me money?”
“Jared,” he corrected. “Mr. Franklin is my father or when I’m in court. And yes, I need something.” When he didn’t elaborate any farther, she sighed and crossed her arms, tapping a foot. It wasn’t very intimidating since she hadn’t put any shoes on. “Okay, so um, the pictures you brought over the other day? I need new copies.”
Meredith sighed. “I don’t want to ask why, do I?”
“There was an…incident,” Jared admitted.
“I really don’t want to know,” Meredith answered. She sighed before adding, “Yes. I can get you more copies. It’ll be a day or so though.”
“That’ll work. Let me do something to make it up to you.” He snapped his fingers. “I know. I’ll buy you dinner.”
“That’s not necessary,” Meredith replied.
Jared grinned at her. “I insist. It’s the least I can do.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “You caused the incident, didn’t you?”
“Um. I plead the fifth. But dinner?”
“You should go!” Hailey called over to her.
“Butt out, Church!” Meredith responded without turning towards her. She looked Jared over again. “Not to plump your ego any since I’m sure it doesn’t need it…you are cute, but I don’t do lawyers. Or Ivy Leaguers. Or trust fund babies.”
“Well, I can’t argue the lawyer part, but I didn’t attend an Ivy League school, and I might have a trust fund, but I never touch it,” Jared responded.
Hailey joined them, handing a memory stick to Jared. “You need to eat, Merry,” she pointed out.
“Don’t you have work you need to do?” Meredith responded.
Hailey paused like she was considering it. “Nope. So where would you take her, Jared?”
“Well, since I don’t use my trust fund, it won’t be five star,” Jared answered with a flirty grin, “but I’m sure we could find something that we both agree on.”
“She likes Italian and Chinese, but hates Sushi,” Hailey replied. “And she’s very particular about the type of pizza she eats.”
“Excuse me. Standing right here,” Meredith pointed out.
Hailey patted her on the arm. “Oh, I know, bebe. But I need to make sure he takes care of you.”
“I’m not going out with him,” Meredith growled.
“Excuse us for one minute, okay?” Hailey asked.
Jared shrugged. He’d been rather amused by the women’s byplay. While he didn’t berate a woman into a date, there was something about Meredith that made him want to spend more time with her. He watched as Hailey took the blonde by the arm and pulled her towards the set where they’d been shooting when he’d walked in.
“Hails, I am not going to dinner with him,” Meredith said as soon as they were out of earshot.
“He is not Tyler. Or Harvey. Who granted while I’m sure your brother loves you, he’s an ass. Very good at his job, but an ass.” Hailey spun Meredith around so she could see Jared who was poking at something on his phone. “And look at him! He’s hot! It’s dinner. He’s not asking you to elope with him. He’s asking you to dinner. And if things go well, maybe you’ll get laid.”
“You are entirely too concerned with my sex life,” Meredith informed her.
“If you go out with him,” Hailey bargained, “I’ll pick ten shots of mine for the gallery show at the end of the month.”
“The one I’ve been bugging you to show in?” Meredith questioned.
“Yes,” Hailey confirmed. “But. You have to go to dinner. And you cannot bail before two hours are up.”
Meredith weighed her options before spinning on her heel and calling to Jared, “You can take me to dinner on Friday. I’ll have the prints of those pictures when you pick me up at seven pm. Now get out. I’ve got work to finish.”
“Wait what?” Jared’s head shot up and he fumbled his phone almost dropping it.
“Dinner. Friday. Seven.” She made a shooing motion at him. “Now out. You aren’t going to ogle my models if you’re going to take me out.”
“Where…” Jared started, but yelped as Hailey grabbed his ear.
“Come on, Casanova,” she ordered. “Quit while you’re ahead.” Tugging on him, she pulled him towards the entrance.
“Can you not take off my ear before Friday?” Jared asked.
Hailey eased off, but didn’t let go completely. “Jared, I convinced her to go to dinner with you because she needs to get out more, but if you hurt her…well, I’m not afraid of lawyers. And I do enjoy my Rocky Mountain Oysters. Now you want a little advice?”
“Um, sure?” Jared rubbed his ear since she’d released it. “Does she have a favorite restaurant or something?”
“I’d suggest Chinese for Friday. Maybe a Dim Sum? That’ll give you a wide variety and will let you linger. Now,” she opened the door. “We have work to do.” Giving him a gentle push, she shoved him through it, before shutting the door in his face.
Jared blinked when he found himself staring at the lime green door, but then smiled broadly. He wasn’t sure precisely how it had happened, but he had a dinner date with Meredith and he was already looking forward to it. Sticking his phone and the memory stick in his pocket, he turned to go, whistling cheerfully. His day was looking up.