Page 51 of Want You

“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.”