Page 1

CHAPTER 1

“YOU LOOK PRETTY glum for someone who just aced Sabatino’s evidence class,” Jasmine said, taking the seat across the café table from Ari.

Sipping her latte, Ari furrowed her dark, thick brows. She wasn’t looking at Jasmine. Her eyes were glued to the tall woman laughing with her friends at the other end of the co ee shop. Sloane the Loathsome. With her perfect teeth and perennially wavy, beach blonde hair, she was the bane of Ari’s law school existence.

“I got the A minus.”

Jasmine’s bright blue eyes followed Ari’s gaze. “Wild guess here. Sloane got the A.”

Ari clenched her jaw, mirroring the clench in her stomach. She only hated that grades were posted publicly, albeit without names attached, when she wasn’t killing it on the bell curve. “No way I’m moving out of my rank now. I’m forever blocked from the top five thanks to her.”

Taking a sip of her iced co ee, Jasmine rolled her eyes so dramatically she must have wanted Ari to notice. “Girl, who gives a shit? As if graduating number six in our class rather

than number five is some great shame. In a few weeks you’ll never have to compete with her again.”

It was no secret that Sloane landed a coveted spot in one of the largest multinational law firms in Manhattan. She’d been a summer intern there all through law school and had been obnoxiously vocal about becoming the next big thing in civil litigation. She’d thrown it in Ari’s face at the national mock trial competition. As if keeping rich people rich by screwing over the little guy was some laudable goal. At least New York was over a thousand miles away from Miami.

“Hello, Earth to Ari.” Jasmine waved her hand in Ari’s face, bringing her back to the present.

“Sorry.” She shook her head as if clearing a mysterious fog. “Did you get your Appellate Advocacy grade yet?”

Jasmine frowned. “Ugh, no. Yamashita takes forever. The deadline for posting them isn’t for another few days. I bet she’s going to wait until the very end.”

As Jasmine talked about her big move to Seattle at the end of the month, Ari tried and failed not to watch Sloane out of the corner of her eye. Her friends clung to her every word as she told some involved story that required a lot of hand gestures. Every few minutes, Ari’s ears would be assaulted by some shriek of laughter or exaggerated clapping. She couldn’t decide if Sloane was a trained seal or if her friends were fake ass-kissers. Probably both.

“I already have access to the Washington bar review course.” Jasmine grabbed her bag o the floor, knocking into Ari’s leg and snatching back her attention. “Have you started looking at Florida?”

Embarrassed to admit she’d been studying for the bar exam since the start of the semester, Ari shrugged and hoped her energy was nonchalant. “Barbie gave me her old books since we don’t get ours until the Monday after graduation.

I’ve leafed through them.”

Jasmine pretended to stop herself from doing a spit-take.

“Oh sure, because you’ve ever done anything casually in your life,” she said sarcastically.

Ari’s olive skin flushed with heat as she tucked a loose strand of shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear. “Okay, I may have been reviewing it a little more closely than that.”

Sloane’s husky voice rose above the ambient chatter, drawing Ari’s attention to the back of the café. “I bet she’s not even going to study for the bar.”

Jasmine quirked a blonde eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure nobody just strolls into the New York bar exam and passes.

Didn’t JFK Jr. fail like five times?”

Despite knowing she should stop thinking about it, Ari couldn’t let it go. Every moment she stared at Sloane, her body temperature rose another degree. “It must be so nice not to have to worry about anything in life thanks to a gleaming silver spoon in your gullet.”

“Why do you care? You’ve got your dream job at the prosecutor’s o ce. What she does has no e ect on you.

Literally zero.” She made an O with her fingers.

“You’re right,” Ari conceded before taking a deep breath.

Sloane had been the obstacle in her path all three years of law school, but school was about to be over. Ari was staying in Miami, and Sloane was going to torment someone else several states away.

“Looks like Marco is planning a party tonight,” Jasmine said, looking down at her phone. “Want me to pick you up on my way? Parking at his place is a nightmare.”

Ari frowned, exposing her deep dimples. “I can’t. I work tonight.”

“So come after,” she replied as if the solution was obvious.