Chapter 31
Sasha
Conner walked Sasha all the way to her office. She was glad that Bill wasn”t in yet. She needed a moment to collect herself before she messaged Hillary.
“I’m going to talk to Coach and practice, but you come and get me after you talk to Hillary. I want to be there for you,” he said as he pulled her in for a hug.
She nodded.
“I mean it, Sasha. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
He kissed her and squeezed her hand. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Thank you, Conner,” she said, trying to push down the lump in her throat. “Thank you for everything.”
“Baby, you don’t have to thank me. I”m here for you.” He pressed his forehead to her is a small gesture that almost broke her heart. “I’ll talk to you later.”
As he turned to leave her office she sat down at her desk. She really did need to talk to Hillary. This had gotten out of hand. She opened her laptop and saw Hillary was already signed into their communication app.
Sasha - Hey, do you have time to chat this morning?
Hillary - Yep! Swing on by whenever you are ready.
It was now or never. She dealt with this, or she left town, and that wasn”t an option anymore.
She closed her laptop and made her way to Hillary”s office. She hated that it felt like walking to a fire squad. She had done nothing wrong. She knew that logically, but there was a part of her that wouldn”t shut up that made her feel like she had brought this on herself.
She made it to her office and knocked on the door.
“Sasha, come in! What can I do for you?”
Sasha took a deep breath and stepped into her office. She was a little shaky on her feet and fumbled trying to sit down.
“Sasha, are you okay?”
“Yes, I”m fine.” She was not fine. Her heart was racing. She hated feeling this out of control. Control over her image, over herself and her surroundings, Sasha found comfort in those things. In this moment she felt powerless and worse than that she felt like a burden. The shame and fear stopped all the words from out of her mouth.
“Sasha, what is it?” Concern was beginning to cover Hillary”s face, Sasha just hated this.
Sasha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “So, you know I was an influencer before I got my job here?”
Hillary just nodded waiting for her to continue. “When I started here, I had closed my accounts and said I was looking for a career change, and while all of that is one hundred percent true, it wasn’t the only reason. I had a follower who started crossing lines, started sending things to my house. It was scary and I kept blocking him. One day I came home and found a rose on my doorstep, and I knew he had been there. I left and went to my sister”s house. From there I set my accounts to private and started looking for other jobs.”
Hillary just listened with an unreadable look on her face and every instinct in Sasha was telling her to stop, but she knew she couldn”t do this on her own, and since he was contacting her using the Magic”s social media, she had no other choice.
“When Bill added me to the website, I got a suspicious email. But then nothing for a while. But after the post about me being the social media manager the comments started coming. I was able to block them, but other accounts kept popping up.”
“Oh Sasha, I had no idea. I never would have posted that if I had known.”
“I know! You didn”t do anything wrong.” She closed her eyes, coming to the hard part. Her knuckles were white from how hard she was wringing them. “The night of the gala, the comments got worse. Then they started to be comments only people at the event could know. Then the account received a DM with what I was wearing. Conner McPhee took me home because I was scared. The next morning when we came to get my car there was a note on my windshield.”
“Sasha, that”s terrible.”
“I know, I”m so sorry to have created a headache for the organization. I wish –“
“No, don”t you dare apologize. You did nothing wrong. We’ve dealt with some of the players having overzealous fans before, so we do have a protocol to follow. I don”t know if it has ever been this intense, but I”m glad you came to us.”
Sasha just nodded. That made sense that they had a protocol that made her feel a tiny bit better.
“So, this was a stalker from before, but he found you from my post, and now he is here in Glendale and found you at the gala. Is there anything else?”
Sasha looked down at the phone in her hands.
“What else is there?” Hillary asked with apprehension filling her voice.
Sasha opened the account and pulled up the dm that had a picture of her bedroom and handed her phone to Hillary.
“What is this? Is this your bedroom?” Hillary looked up at her with wide eyes.
Sasha nodded and brushed away the tear that had started to stream down her cheek.
“Oh Sasha,” Hillary stood up from her desk, walked around, and wrapped Sasha into a hug. Part of her wanted to collapse into it, but she knew if she did, she would break down and this was not the time for that. So, she hugged her and then quickly let go.
“What do we do?” she asked, wiping the tears away.
“I’m going to email our security team and we’ll have a meeting. We’ll have to contact the police. Are you okay with that?”
She nodded. She wasn”t okay with that, she wasn”t okay with any of this, but it was either this or run. And as much as she hated to admit it, running was sounding better and better, but she had already done it.
“Do you have a safe place to stay?” Hillary asked as she was typing on her laptop.
“Yeah, I”ve been staying at Conner”s house since Saturday.”
“Conner McPhee?” She asked, looking up with a neutral look on her face. Sasha nodded. “Good, he has a protected home.” She turned her attention back to the computer. When she finished typing, she looked up at Sasha with a concerned expression.
“Okay, so when I hear back from this, we’ll have a meeting with our security team and the police. We”ll get this figured out.”
“I’m so sorry to cause such a mess right before playoffs. I know this is not what people want to be dealing with,” she said looking down at her hands tightly grasped in her lap.
“Sasha, I”m the one who”s sorry. I shouldn”t have posted that. I thought I was doing something nice, but it clearly backfired. That”s what I get for trying to do a job when you are the expert,” she said with a kind smile. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, I think I”m just going to clear my head. I”ll be around, just let me know when the meeting is.”
“Okay, do you have all the older account information from the first time?” asked Hillary.
“Yeah, it”s all on my laptop and my phone.”
“Okay, they’ll probably have a cyber forensic detective. I know that can feel invasive, but your safety is our top concern.”
“Yeah, I appreciate that. I”m just going to take a walk and clear my head.”
“Okay, but please stay in the building. It”s safe here.”
She nodded before taking her bag and leaving. How had things gotten so messed up? She knew it wasn”t her fault, but now there were going to be people pouring over her social media from the organizations accounts to the ones she made as an influencer. She didn”t feel any shame about the pictures she posted in swimsuits or lingerie, but she didn”t want them here at her current job. She didn”t want the police telling her she had asked for it because of what she posted. That’s why she didn”t go back to the police in the first place.
She started to walk to her office, but Bill was in there, so she just kept going, ending up by the ice. She didn”t want to interrupt Conner, but she did want to be near him.
Once she opened the door, the cool air that immediately hit her in the face felt good. The sound of the players calling to each other and their skates on the ice were a welcome distraction.
As quietly as she could she made her way to one of the seats in the back, watching the players skating and running plays. Conner was calling out plays while he and Sven tried to solidify some of the plays that him and Wes had been able to do like it was second nature. It had been hard changing that line mid-season with Wes out, but Conner could do it. Sasha was fairly convinced he could do anything. As she sat watching Conner on the ice, she tried to push away all the thoughts. Here with him near she felt safe, but it didn”t do anything to stop the dread of the meeting that was coming.
Last year at this time, she was dealing with this same problem. She had cut and run, but this time she wasn’t going to do that. She wouldn”t do that because she liked her job, she enjoyed working for this organization.
But as she watched Conner skate, call out plays, encourage those around him, and take the puck to the net, she knew another reason she didn”t want to leave. Her life seemed to be moving in slow motion ever since the gala, but her and Conner were moving at warp speed. Only four days ago he had asked her to dance at the gala, they”d had that perfect moment on the dance floor. She could feel the spark and the magic dancing between them, she knew that moment was important.
She wanted to believe that what she and Conner had was real. It felt real, but how could she be sure? She was clinging to him as a protector, and from everything she knew about him, the role of protector was a role he could get lost in. He was just so damn good. The honorable Connor McPhee would protect anyone, and while she didn”t think that protection would come with some of the amazing perks that hers had, being a protector was just who he was. Could she trust what was between them to be something sustainable outside of this extraordinary circumstance? Another thought she tried to push away.
She lost track of time as she watched the practice. Her phone went off and she had a message from Hillary.
Hillary - Are you available for a meeting in conference room D at 1:30?
She checked the time. It was noon. She could do this. At that moment Conner happened to look up and see her sitting there. He skated over boards and motioned her down.
He skated over to the door and got off the ice. He was so much taller than she was with his skates on. Paired with his pads, he really did look like her knight on hockey skates, but she knew even he couldn”t save her from what was about to happen.
“Did you talk to Hillary?”
She nodded.
“How did it go?”
“As good as can be expected, I guess.”
“What”s happening next?”
“At one thirty there’s a meeting with the security team, maybe the police and I”m not sure who else. There will be a cyber forensic detective there to look at all the accounts.”
“What time is it now?”
“Just after noon.”
“Okay, I”m going to go shower, then I”ll be ready to go with you. Have you eaten anything?”
“No, I”m not hungry. But Conner, you guys are busy here. I can do this.”
“No, I want to be there. For you and for me. Knowing what is going on will help with my peace of mind. So, if you’re going to make it hard to be there for you, then I will be there for me,” he said as he slipped his hand out of his glove and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“You don”t fool me, Conner McPhee,” she said looking up at him through her eyelashes.
“I’m going to hit the showers and tell Coach. Do you want me to meet you in your office?”
“No, I think I”m just going to hang out here.”
“Okay. Why don”t you meet me in the lounge next to the weight room? We can get a bite to eat before we head up.”
She nodded, “Okay, see you there.”
She wanted to kiss him, even though he was a sweaty mess, but she still wasn”t sure exactly what was going on between them. She just craved being next to him for the safety he gave her.
She watched the ice for a few more minutes after he left. Then she turned and made her way into the lounge. She didn”t want to face this, but having Conner there with her would help.