Spillover (1 of 3)

“You seem distracted, Ellen,” said Shigeto. “Are you regretting last night?”

I looked up from my plate of eggs at the man across the table from me. What I saw made me smile and gave me a nervous rush of desire. I leaned across the table — took his hand in mine. “Not in the least; it’s been coming for a while, don’t you think?”

He smirked, raised an eyebrow as I said the word ‘coming’. I gave him a poke. “Don’t be crass,” I said primly.

“I said nothing.” He protested with a laugh, and a bit of a blush. Neither of us had been particularly quiet the previous night, and I think, rather pleasantly surprised at how well our chemistry had translated to the bedroom.

But then that gorgeous grin faded. “But if not that then, what? Or is there something about the case? Or is it that this is just one night?”

I took a breath. “It’s not the case, and I would prefer that it were more than one night,” I said.

He gave me that smile again, and I felt the stirrings of something more than desire as I looked at him - a feeling that had influenced my suggestion on where we were having breakfast.

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “Then what — are you worried about your professional ethics? The case is over successfully thanks to your brilliant litigation. It can’t really violate attorney-client at this point, can it? I mean professionally speaking, I’m no longer a client.”

“Pfft,” I said dismissively, “whatever, it’s not like I’d be the only lawyer in my firm that fucked a client, I just chose to do it in the flesh rather than with excessive fees.”

“Ellen!” laughed Shigeto.

I grinned. Shigeto still found it surprising when I let the earthier side of my personality show. One of the things that had drawn us together was our rather straight-laced professional personas… and an instinctive understanding that they were just that, personas.

I took a breath. “I think that there’s something special between us.”

Shigeto looked cautious. “But…”

“There’s something you should know about me.”

He slapped the table. Some of the others in the breakfast place looked over. “I knew it; you’re a serial killer.” There were a few eye-rolls from the young crowd around the restaurant, and they went back to their own conversations. Just another young man given to histrionics.

I sighed, “Almost as bad… I’ve been doing magic.”

He looked over at me, a bit of genuine shock on his face. “What, you mean like that new-age stuff? Crystals and meditation?”

“No,” I said, lowering my voice, “Magic, magic. Craft.”

Shigeto lowered his own voice, a little incredulous. “What? Really? It's that even legal?”

I gave him a little glare. “The laws against magic are over a hundred years old, and not one of them would withstand a constitutional challenge.” My tone was probably sterner than it needed to be, but it was a pet peeve of mine  — outdated legislation.

“Still,” he said, “what would the Law Society say about that? - it’s not exactly…”

“Respectable?”

He shrugged; he had a look about him.

“Dangerous.”

“There are stories.”

“Most are exaggerated stories told by the big religions to scare people.”

“Not all of them.”

“Well, no, but people have done stupid things that hurt people throughout history. You get one asshole casting a hex, and it’s like it’s worse than a serial killer.”

Shigeto shrugged. “People fear things they can’t see and don’t understand - even if a gun can cause more damage, at least people get it.”

“Exactly,” I said, feeling vindicated. “Guns have killed and injured thousands. No, millions, but one story of a man with an impotence hex because he was unfaithful and people treat it like it was the apocalypse.”

Again the shrug, “I can’t argue that, but it still doesn’t make it right.”

“And infidelity is?”

“C’mon, Ellen, that’s not my point, and you know it.”

I leaned back in my chair. “Anyway, I thought you should know.”

He looked at me for a moment, thinking, “Well, I’m assuming that you’re not planning on plaguing me with impotence quite yet.”

“No, definitely not,” I smiled.

“So can I ask you why you do it?” He asked.

My turn to shrug. “It’s complicated. It’s a tradition in my family; and ever since my mom died…” I swallowed a pang of guilt and regret. “I kinda feel like I have an obligation. And it’s a bit of a fuck you to the establishment or whatever. And you know, magic has traditionally been a woman’s craft, so…”

Shigeto grinned. “A feminist project?”

I grinned back. “I like the idea, but no, I just find it… gratifying. It has all the same skills that I use in preparing a legal case, along with something like chemistry.”

“Alchemy.”

“Yes, that combination is fascinating, and when it all comes together, it’s exhilarating.” I could feel my excitement growing when I spoke about it, and I hoped that he could understand, but I also knew that I wasn’t about to give it up. Not even for someone as charming as Shigeto.

“If you’re not inflicting the unjust, what do you do?”

“I can show you if you like,” I said.

Shigeto game me a considering gaze. “That’s why we’re having breakfast here.”

“One of them, I always like KOS on a Saturday morning, watching everyone trickle in, looking a bit worse for wear, laughing at each other's stories, I’m just kinda glad that I could be here having had one of my own for a change, not just needing a solid breakfast after working on a case till 4:00 am.”

“So you’d work late…”

“Then go over to one of the maker spaces here.”

“One that lets you do magic.”

“Yeah.”

Shigeto gave me a blank, hard look, then his face broke into a smile. “That’s so cool!” he said. He looked around conspiratorially, then leaned forward. “That means I just fucked a witch!” He said in a low voice.

I looked at him, shocked, and then at his grin. “Asshole!” I said, laughing, and gave him a whack.