26. Octavia
OCTAVIA
The day had started so promisingly. Slow kisses along her back before Nathan had rolled her over and buried his face between her legs, waking her with his tongue and fingers and his name on her lips.
Then he’d fucked her against the wall in his massive shower.
She couldn’t think of a better way to start a day.
Then he’d told her to quit and move in with him and being told to do that made something snap.
She wanted to quit. She hated her job, and to her surprise, the idea of waking up next to Nathan every morning didn’t scare her the way it would have even a couple weeks earlier.
But still, something about those things in tandem made her freak out and instead of addressing it, she’d taken off.
Things continued on a downhill trajectory when she was pushed into a barrier by a late commuter in the subway and ripped her skirt. Something that wouldn’t have happened if she had let Nathan drive her in.
She’d been so preoccupied with holding her skirt together when she walked into her office she barely noticed her boss was standing in front of the window blocking the daylight. A dark, unwanted presence.
“Daniel?” she said, setting her bag on her desk and preparing herself for a reaming out while being hyper aware of her state of dress.
“Heard things didn’t go too well in court yesterday,” he said, not bothering to look at her.
Nathan’s voice echoed in her mind. Quit.
“It wasn’t great.” She sighed, leaning back against her desk. “Mr. Gentry wasn’t exactly in the mood to keep his mouth shut.”
“Well, he certainly didn’t keep it shut after,” Daniel grumbled as he turned to face her, brows furrowed in disappointment. “You’re off his file.”
“Dan—” He stopped her with a glare, and she was fine with it. She didn’t want to be on his file anymore, but she knew she had to pretend she wasn’t happy about it.
He tapped his knuckle on the back of the armchair her clients sat in for meetings.
“Morgan is going to be working on this from now on. Gentry asked, no, demanded I fire you.” Octavia’s stomach flipped.
There was no way he was going to fire her just because the whiny bastard wanted it.
She hadn’t done anything wrong. The case should have been closed by the time they walked out of court.
Daniel crossed his arms, his gaze hardening further, and she steeled herself for the telling off she was about to receive.
“I’m not going to do that, though,” he said.
“I’m sorry?” Octavia asked, convinced she’d heard him wrong.
“I don’t like being told what to do, and quite frankly, the man is an ass. That being said, I’m going to have you stay in the shadows a bit more until this shit with his appeal is done. I assume if we don’t win the appeal, he’ll be taking his business elsewhere.”
She relaxed against her desk, more at ease knowing she wasn’t about to be walked out of the building by security.
Octavia sucked her teeth, trying to decide if she should say anything else. “You won’t win unless he learns to keep his mouth shut,” she revealed after a minute of silence.
“He’ll keep it shut,” Daniel stated with more confidence than Octavia thought he should have. “He’ll listen to Morgan.”
The look he gave her left nothing to interpretation. He’d listen to Morgan because Morgan had a penis.
“Anyway, Joanne is working on putting together some new files for you. Should have them to you by lunch.”
“Sounds good,” she said, rounding her desk to take a seat.
“Oh, one more thing.” He stopped, his hand catching on the doorframe. “Ronald was looking for you.”
Fucking Ronald.
Octavia waited until she heard the click of the door and then let out a groan before rushing to lock the door and pulling her backup skirt from the narrow armoire in the corner.
After she made herself presentable, she rushed to get coffee and promptly burned her hand because someone cackled a little too loudly in the hall.
“No seriously, what fucking else do you have universe?” she grumbled while running her hand under cold water.
Ten minutes later, with half a mug full of coffee and a hand that still stung a little, she made her way back to her office as murmurs travelled through the office like wildfire, getting clearer as they reached her.
“Seven players apparently.”
“And one woman?”
“Vee.” Amanda grabbed Octavia’s arm and dragged her to her office, making her happy she hadn’t poured a full mug. “Don’t freak out.”
Octavia rolled her eyes. “Literally the worst thing to say if you don’t want me to freak out.” She huffed.
“Well, don’t,” Amanda said as she sat and immediately stood back up and began pacing.
“Amanda,” Octavia snapped, bringing Amanda’s pacing to an immediate halt.
“There’s a case.”
Octavia blinked, waiting for her to continue. “Yeah, this is a law firm, there is always a case.”
Amanda shook her head and held her hands out. “For the sexual assault case. Rumour is one of the players has retained Kevin Sherman.”
One of the players? Octavia had no idea what she was talking about. “One of what players? What the fuck is going on? Is this about what’s being talked about out there?” She pointed toward the door.
“Oh shit, how do you not know?”
“There was a coffee incident.” She held up her blotchy hand. “Please, start from the beginning.” She sat, crossing her legs and waiting for Amanda to get to the point.
Amanda sat across from her and took a deep breath. “There’s a case being brought forward involving seven active pro hockey players and a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by all of them.”
Octavia stared back, letting what she’d just said sink in. “Is…” She couldn’t even say his name. “Is he one of them?”
“Oh, god no.” Amanda gasped. “No, Nathan isn’t one of the guys named. He wasn’t even on that team.”
He may not have been named, but he no doubt would know about it. Fuck. This was just one of the reasons she had refused to get involved with a goddamn hockey player. They were trouble. And if they weren’t actively participating in trouble, they were staying quiet about it.
Octavia picked her phone up from her desk and flipped it over. She had twenty-two notifications. Six of them were texts and calls from Nathan.
She swiped up, reading messages that got progressively more frantic.
Something happened. I need to talk to you.
Octavia, please call me as soon as you get this.
Don’t freak out when you see the news, please.
It’s not what you think, I swear.
Octavia, I need you to call me.
I had no idea.
“Bullshit,” she mumbled as she grabbed her bag and began stuffing files inside.
“What did he say?” Amanda asked, leaning across the desk.
Octavia stood, grabbed her coat and then her phone, and marched to the door. “He didn’t know.” She whirled around. “Do you believe that?”
Amanda looked off to the side, refusing to make eye contact. “I don’t,” she said quietly.
“If anyone asks about me, I’m taking a personal day. I need to sort some shit out.”
By the time Octavia arrived home, she’d missed three more calls.
“Leave me alone.” She hissed at her phone before turning it off and leaving it in the kitchen.
On the subway she’d heard more about the case.
She recognized one of the player’s names.
He was a backup goalie for Nathan’s team.
“Women throw themselves at players. I mean can you blame them?” “They’ll never be convicted.
” “Good for her for coming forward.” “It obviously happened. They’re all fucking dogs. ” “The things I’d let them do to me.”
Octavia had cursed herself the entire commute for losing her headphones. She’d left work to avoid the topic and then got stuck in a tin can where all people could talk about was the case.
She’d heard the stories too. Knew too many of them and still she fell for a hockey player.
Nathan seemed different. The kind of guy who took care of his brother and cared about the well-being of his sister.
A vet the rookies looked up to. A well-spoken, well-read man who, if not actively involved in such behaviour, certainly fucking knew about it.
In her opinion, he was almost as complicit as the guys involved. They all were.
She felt dirty. The way he’d touched her… She ran to the bathroom and turned the knobs in the shower. Steam filled the room, clouding the mirror, so she lost sight of her reflection. Fitting, she thought. Losing sight of herself.
In the shower, she let the hot water wash over her before picking up a loofah and scrubbing harder than she knew was good for her skin. And then she was sitting in the corner, knees drawn up to her chest and sobbing.
Did dating a hockey player make her a terrible feminist? Was she a bad person for falling for him?
Rationally, she knew neither was true. Nothing that had happened with Nathan had been because he was a hockey player. Everything had happened despite that fact. Fallen for him in a month…less than that if she was being really honest with herself.
The worst part was he was the only person she actually wanted to talk to right now because she needed to see him say he didn’t know. She just didn’t know what she’d do if she saw the ugly truth in person.