Exhibit Laws - JB

Chapter 12 - The Punishment

A gasp left my mouth and I quickly covered it with my hands, trying to swallow any other sound that wanted to escape. I didn't want them to know that I was standing here, I was already trembling with fear knowing that this wasn't something I was supposed to hear and I couldn't even begin to imagine how awkward it would be if they found out.

But I had now figured out that they were talking about me. It was about the date we shared last night. Alex lied to Justin. My blood began to boil and I felt my fist clench together but I forced myself to stand still. I think my job, working as a sexual assault lawyer, only increased my reaction in times like this. I know what's right and wrong and hearing him say that sentence instantly gave me the chills, he had no right to make up lies like that. Lying about having intercourse with someone, who definitely does not want it, was actually part of a sexual harassment behaviour. Alex should know that by now judging by how much he hangs in my office instead of working on his own stupid shit. 

I took a deep breath to allow myself to calm down before Justin's words were heard again.

"Fuck off," He muttered and I narrowed my eyes at his weak reply, if anything, Justin didn't know how to argue with someone. Whenever he ran out of words to say, all he did was try to insult the person. I had hoped he would stand up for myself, tell Alex that he couldn't talk about me like that but all he did was repeat his words, "Fuck off, Alex, fuck off, fuck off."

The last time, it was louder. It made my heart stop. I should really move, I shouldn't be standing here. If anyone walked out now, I would be so caught. But, whenever I looked, all I saw was glass and I had put myself in a situation where I was surrounded by it. They would see me if I moved too. There's no way I could make it out of this without being seen.

When the conversation began to seem like an end in there, I started to panic slightly. But I had no chance of figuring out what to do before the door was thrown open and an angry-looking Justin showed up in front of me. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me, probably realising that the door he just opened was never really shut, which also made his face go a little embarrassing. 

"How long have you been standing there?" His voice was harsh, not at all what I had imagined a person who would ask that question to sound like. It was made out of disgust and I knew that the lies he had been told by Alex had made him hate me.

I gulped, probably a bit too loud, "Uh- I- I just got here, sir."

"Well, you're coming with me."

Justin's hand went around my upper arm and I could feel the pressure he put on it. It was a tight grip that I had felt once before when he dragged me into his office before to push me onto his desk, I remember how nervous I was then. How wrong yet right it had felt. Only this time, I knew I had screwed up even more. I went out with his brother, who he is clearly in a fight with since before.

I had that lawyer voice screaming in my head, though, saying that I had done nothing wrong and that these two men in my office are the ones who should be ashamed. They are clearly not catching up with all of our sexual harassment laws and I know that if I wanted to, I could take them both down in court. Only, I wasn't interested in it. I didn't want to put them through that, especially not Justin. Something about him intrigued me.

As quickly as we entered his office, he shut and locked the door (despite the fact that we were basically, apart from Alex, alone in this whole building) and I found myself in the same position as before. Only this time, I had a much angrier and stronger Justin pushing me down harshly with all his strength. I tried to get up but the force of his hand was stronger than all my muscles in my entire body combined.