Elizabeth O'Roark

There’s a devil on my shoulder, and every Monday morning she announces herself. She’s this delicious flame in my chest, a flurry of whispered suggestions in my ear. Suggestions I ignore…because every single one of them is about Ben Tate.

Ben—Stealer of Clients, Evicter of Homeless Women, Nemesis. Sitting across from me every damn Monday with his lovely, smug smile and his too-perfect teeth, the living symbol of everything I hate.

It’s been my policy to avoid him, but when a case comes into the firm—one that could change his career and mine—I make an exception. It means weekends and evenings by his side. It means enduring his smirk and his smart mouth and never taking the bait.

Until the night Ben says “Beg"...and that devil on my shoulder decides to make a few demands of her own.

The Devil You Know

“But men expect you to be more thoughtful than they are-softer, more accommodating. And when you are paid less than your peers, or assaulted on a date, or lose a promo-tion, they'll tell you it was your fault- you were too soft, too accommodating.”

They think it's a slur when they refer to me as a castrating bitch, but all it says to me is that they've finally realized I'm not someone to fuck with. I was someone who was fucked with a lot, once upon a time. It won't happen again.

I want to argue that I don't hate all men, but I don't think I could swear to it under oath. I hate more men than I don't, I suppose.

being exactly the kind of attorney my father hired-the kind who's willing to destroy anyone and worry about the damage later. Today, though, he is evenly matched because I'm that kind of attorney too.

Someone has to be, to make sure women like my mother aren't absolutely screwed by men who promise not to turn on them, and do it anyway.

a jury will label a distressed female as shrill or hysterical for the exact same behaviors they'd term righteous indignation in a man.

I wince. I'm not sure how my mother is so big-hearted, but it's a quality I did not inherit.. and I'm glad.

Seeing the best in people and forgiving the worst has never gotten a female anywhere, as far as I can tell.

But I'm so goddamned tired of staying silent just to get the things I deserve.

And that's precisely the problem: men in power keep the circle closed by making it uncomfortable for women to step inside, which leads to a conference room full of men in gray suits making more decisions that only benefit them.

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