The pictures were of Nicole. She was completely nude, with the exception of Dr. Knight’s white medical coat, which was precariously pulled open, exposing her breasts and well-manicured lady-parts. She was positioned on top of his desk, legs spread; one leg perched on top of his desk, the other resting in the seat of his leather office chair.
One photo I found particularly interesting was of her straddling the chair against his wall. Nicole was looking shyly over her shoulder at the camera. I cringed knowing that I’d sat in that seat. My bare legs had brushed against the fabric Nicole’s bare genitals had been grinding against.
Ashley pointed at Nicole’s lower back. “Look at that. A tramp stamp. Never would’ve thought she had one of those.”
Shoving the pictures back into the envelope I said, “I can’t believe you got these! Where’d you find them?”
Ashley rested her ass against the desk and carelessly crossed her feet in front of one another. She looked down at the hem of her shirt and pulled a loose string. “In his office.”
“What?” I was astounded. “How did you get in there? When did you get in there?”
“Well, you know, I hate her anyways, but after you texted me last night and I realized you were serious I started thinking about what a complete bitch she is. The way she looked at Mrs. Knight when she met her, the way she feels entitled to everything. She thinks she’s such a fucking gem.” A devious smirk appeared on her face. “Well, I just set my alarm for three forty-five so I could get up here well before anyone else.” She blew a breath of air from her lungs. “You know the cleaning staff gets here at like four o’clock, so I just wandered around until I found someone. You know the guy that’s always hanging out around the service elevator? Super sweet, always talks to you?”
I nodded slowly, terrified of what she was about to confess. “Yeah?”
“Well, I found him. I told him that I needed to get in Dr. Knight’s office, asked him if he’d unlock the door for me.”
“And he did it?”
She inhaled and rubbed her lips together. “Well, it took some coaxing.” Ashley bit her lip and furrowed her brow a little.
I knew she’d done something terrible by the worried expression she wore. “What did you do, Ashley? Oh, my God — what did you do?”
She pulled at the ends of her hair. “I tried to explain everything to him. He told me he could get fired for letting me in his office. I didn’t know what else to do. I knew I could find something if I could just get in there — a letter, something. I’m so sick of her getting away with shit.”
“Ashley, what the hell did you do?”
“I sucked his dick.”
She buried her face in her hands and peeked through her fingers at me, flinching like she expected me to hit her.
“What?” My voice became loud. “No! No, you didn’t! Ashley?”
“I know, I know, I’m horrible.” She slumped down in her chair and pouted.
“What about Colton?” I asked.
“God, don’t do that. I feel horrible. I was in the heat of the moment. You know how I get when I have an idea. I just knew I needed in that office.” She glanced up at me. “It’s not like I did it because I wanted to. It was a means to an end.”
“Oh, my God!” I ran my hands through my hair, grabbing handfuls of it and tugging on it. “You’re like a prostitute, Ashley.” I sighed. “I’m sorry, I just can’t believe you did that. It’s gross.”
“I know, I know. Just when I started to think that it was a really bad idea and that I should stop, he got off. I mean, I only did it for about sixty seconds.” She glared at me. “You better not tell anyone.”
I slapped my hand across my forehead and promised, “I’m not, don’t worry.”
“That includes Gavin. Do not tell him.”
Scooting myself away from the desk, I assured her, “Oh, don’t worry. I’m most definitely not gonna tell him.” I looked down at my hands and pushed my cuticles back. “So how do you know it was Nicole that came in Gavin’s office?”
“Well, who else could it have been? I mean, if it wasn’t Amy? You even told me Nicole stared at you all the time. She got all huffy when she saw the roses. She’s always staying here late to do work. It had to be her, there’s no one else.”
I sat there. I was pretty sure Ashley was right.
Ashley waved her hands around and groaned. “I feel horrible, but at least I found those,” she said, pointing to the envelope on the desk.
I picked the envelope back up, skimming through the photos once more. “So, where were they in his office?”
“In his center desk drawer. It was locked, so I figured something good was in there. I dumped all of his pens out on his desk and the key fell right out.”
I shook my head as I stared at the photos. “So, what’s your plan for these?”
“Well, I’m gonna send them to Mrs. Knight.” Ashley shot a smirk at me.
“Poor woman.” I sighed and tossed the packet back down on the desk.
“What? It’s not like I’m the one fucking him. Hell, if I were his wife I’d want to know so I could kick his sorry ass to the curb!”
“True.”
I stood up and started to open the door. I couldn’t help but think if someone had done that for my mother she could’ve wasted less of her time with my father.
“I took pictures of them with my phone too. For back up, you know.” Ashley smiled.
“Remind me to never piss you off, okay?” I said, walking out into the hallway.
Ashley called out from her chair, “Hey, you got any gum or something? I have a horrible taste in my mouth.”
I burst out laughing. “Nope. Sorry.”
“Damn,” she said, making a fake vomiting sound.
Passing Dan’s door, I saw him leaned back in his chair.
“You’re late, Brooke,” Dan said.
I turned around. “Oh, sorry, Dan. I was in Ashley’s office.”
“Hmmm. I see. Exchanging juicy details about your love life?” He crossed his short leg over his knee and tugged at the hem of his pants.
I rolled my eyes. “Nope, discussing studies.”
Spinning back around, I pushed my door open. As I was plugging my phone charger into an outlet I heard someone lightly tapping the metal door frame. I looked up and found Dan standing in the doorway. His dingy teeth were holding the dry skin of his bottom lip in.
A perverted look fell over his face. He took a quick glance down the hall and then looked back down at me. “I bet Gavin bends you over like that a lot. You’ve got too nice of an ass to not hit it from behind every once in a while.”
I rose from the floor and glared menacingly at him. “I don’t appreciate you talking to me like that, Dan!”
“What you gonna do? Go tell Gavin?” Dan took a few steps into my office; his fingers were still curled around the door frame. “And what can he do — if he wants to keep his job? You should probably go tell him, that way he can get pissed and come confront me. Then not only will his little fling with you come out, but I’m sure the hospital wouldn’t feel very comfortable leaving a man with violent outlashes on co-workers in a position such as his.” He paused and snarled his lips up. “No one would believe you anyway, it’s your word against mine.” Dan tromped across to his office. “Oh, and go ahead and tell your friend Adam what an ass I’m being. If he steps foot on my property, I’ll shoot him.”
My heart was racing. Angry tears stung my eyes as I walked over to my office door and slammed it shut. Too much had happened in the past week. It felt like everything was imploding and that everyone was out to tear me and Gavin apart.
Later that afternoon Gavin and I met in the stairwell.
Gavin leaned against the metal railing and placed his left foot on the stair in front of him. He pulled his stethoscope off from around his neck, stuffing it into the pocket of his white coat.
“She’s not foolish enough to try somethi
ng again,” he assured me.
I looked at him and threw my hands in the air. “I really wish you’d tell me who the hell it was. I’m so sick of secrets. I’m so tired of having to sneak around with you. You know, I have to worry that I’m gonna slip up and say something damning in front of someone else. I mean, how much longer are we gonna do this, Gavin?”
Gavin sat on the stair next to me and scratched his head. “I know, love.” He sighed. “I really am sorry.
“Somebody’s eventually gonna find out, and then you’ll have an awesome reputation.”
Raising his eyebrows, Gavin leaned back against the stairs. “Yeah, I know.” He nudged me with his shoulder. “Don’t worry about my reputation. If falling in love with a gorgeous woman who works in my office is the worst thing I do, I think I’ll be okay. Honestly, who can blame me? Love doesn’t acknowledge boundaries. We could always just run away,” he teased. His smile faded and he rose from the stair. He dusted his pants off and said, “I’m going back up to my office. How much longer do you have for your break?”
I glanced down at my watch. “About ten minutes.”
He checked the stairwell and then quickly leaned down, pressing his lips against mine.
“Don’t worry, love. All’s well.” Grabbing the rail, he took large strides up the stairs.
I sat there, tracing my fingers along the grooves in the steps. The fine particles of dirt rubbed against my fingertips. I was contemplating on how many more times I should let Dan run his mouth before I told Gavin. I couldn’t go to HR; that was out of the question if I didn’t want to get Gavin in trouble. I knew Dan was right. Gavin would get angry and would confront him. I could just imagine Dan making a smart ass comment, because Dan’s superiority complex had given him the delusion that he was untouchable. I just knew Gavin would punch him right in the face and lay his ass out, and how would that look?
If I told Gavin about Dan, I’d have to be very careful about when I did it. I decided I’d wait until Friday; that way Gavin would have the entire weekend to cool off before he saw Dan, and if he decided to go confront him at least it wouldn’t be at work.
Chapter Forty
Brooke
August 29, 2014
The next Friday rolled around and everything had been extremely calm considering what was going on.
I had steered clear of Nicole for fear I would accidentally rip her hair out of her head, Dan had left me alone, a week had gone by and Ashley hadn’t developed any type of strange rash in her mouth, and it didn’t seem that anyone else had a clue about what Nicole had done.
Ashley and I were walking back to the office after lunch. It was overcast and unusually cool out. I pulled my thin cardigan closed as we stopped at the crosswalk on the opposite side of the street from our office. The wind howled through the tall concrete tunnels created by the buildings and blew my hair across my face. I brushed the strands from my cheeks as the crosswalk lit up.
Ashley and I took a step off the curb and sirens wailed passed us. The police car screeched to a halt in front of our building. I watched as two police men jumped out of the car and jogged toward the building.
Ashley’s eyes lit up and grew wide with excitement. “How many days does it take mail to get somewhere?” She bit her lip and placed one hand over her mouth.
Realizing what she was thinking, I replied, “Three days.”
Ashley shook her head. “Oh, well Mrs. Knight should’ve gotten the letter today then.”
We both darted across the street and into the building. As we got to the sidewalk leading into the large glass atrium I saw the elevators open and the policemen hop on.
“Oh, shit!” Ashley exclaimed as we ran into the lobby. She furiously pressed the up button. “Come on, come on,” she yelled at the elevator.
I was in disbelief. “You don’t really think —” I glanced up at the numbers above the elevator the police had gotten onto. It stopped on sixteen. “Well, all right then.”
Ashley’s eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of her head at any minute. The doors to the other elevator opened and we scurried on. Ashley slammed her fist down on the sixteenth floor button. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this!” She anxiously tapped her foot on the floor of the elevator.
The doors opened and we ran out and down the hallway. We could hear screaming as soon as we approached the door to the hallway leading back to the offices.
Ashley fumbled with her keys and unintentionally dropped them onto the floor. We both bent down to pick them up. I grabbed them and stuck them into the lock. Ashley jerked the handle and flung herself into the hall.
I could see the back of the two policemen, but no one else. I saw one of them struggling to hold onto someone while the other one reached for his handcuffs.
A shrill and angry female voice echoed through the hallway. “You stupid son of a bitch! How dare you do this to me? That girl’s half your age, you disgusting piece of shit.”
“Ma’am,” the policeman with the cuffs said, “I’m gonna need you to calm down now. If you don’t stop trying to break his hold on you I’m gonna have to say you were resistin’ arrest.”
“And you,” the woman’s voice snarled, hatred oozed with each word she spoke. “You slut, do you think he gives a damn about you? All he wants you for is something to bend over his fucking desk and stick his dick in. Who knows who else he’s done it with?” She paused and broke down into sobs.
The officer reached over and grabbed the woman’s wrists. I could see auburn hair peeping out from in front of his navy blue uniform.
“Ma’am,” he said sternly, “please put your hands behind your back. Don’t make this worse than it has to be.”
Her voice became softer and the hurt was evident in her next statement. “You had the audacity to come up to me and talk to me. You complimented me, you stood there and spoke to me knowing that I was his wife. You mocked my marriage in front of my face!”
I saw Dr. Knight step out into the hallway. “Miranda —” He reached over to touch her arm and she violently yanked away from him.
“Don’t you fucking touch me!”
I heard the click of the handcuffs as the officer slid them onto her wrists. They turned her around, her face was streaked with mascara from the black tears rolling down her face. She looked defeated as they paraded her past me and Ashley.
Peering down the hall, I saw Nicole standing up against the wall crying. A large, red whelp in the shape of a hand was rising on her cheek.
Dr. Knight placed his hand to his forehead, shaking his head, as he retreated into his office. The door shut quietly behind him.
I stood completely still, frozen in the hallway.
Gavin was standing in his doorway holding onto a bottle of water. His mouth was held slightly open, and his eyes were fixed at the end of the hall. I looked at him as Ashley forced me down the hallway, finally reaching her door and shoving me into her office.
“Holy shit!” Ashley exclaimed as she put her purse down on her desk. “I can’t believe that!”
“Well, did you expect that she’d be calm about it?”
“No, but damn… I didn’t expect the woman to come up here!” She pulled her phone out of her purse and started running her finger across the screen. A grin slowly formed on her lips and she cast her dark, brown eyes over at me.
I sighed because I knew she was up to something. “What now, Ashley?”
“Oh, just to make sure that everyone knows what a conniving whore Nicole really is,” she fiddled with her phone and then set it down in her lap. “I’ve taken the liberty of tweeting the pictures.”
“What? Ashley, that’s a little much, don’t you think?” I reached for her phone and she quickly yanked it away.
Ashley stared at me. “Need I remind you that this is the same slut that tried to get Gavin to fuck her a few days ago? She’s getting what she had coming. Gotta learn that sometimes you just mess
with the wrong people. Plus, you shouldn’t do anything you would be ashamed of, right?” She took a satisfied breath as she secured her phone back inside her purse.
I sat in the empty chair by her door and slunk down. Taking my hand, I pushed off the wall, spinning the chair around. The chair slowly came to a stop and I rubbed my hands down my face and neck, and nervously pulled at the collar of my lavender dress shirt. I felt horrible, even though I hadn’t actually done anything other than tell Ashley that someone had come into Gavin’s office and come on to him.
I let out an agitated groan and allowed my hands to fall to my sides. Slouching down in the chair, I mumbled, “Why is this place so crazy?” Shaking my head, I looked at Ashley. “Everybody here is nuts!”
Ashley puckered her lips out and then drew them in under her teeth, rolling her eyes at me. “I don’t know. Reality TV?” She sighed and then gave me a hurt look. “You think I’m crazy?”
I raised my eyebrows at her, opening my mouth and running my tongue back and forth across the edge of my teeth as I thought. “Yeah, just a little.”
“Come on, I’m not crazy.”
I craned my neck out toward her and raised my hands to my temples. “Really? You gave a complete stranger a blow job to get keys to an office that may or may not have had ‘evidence’ in it. Then you got naked pictures of Nicole, sent them to the wife of the man she’s screwing, and now you’ve uploaded them to social media — and she didn’t even do anything to you!”
Ashley’s eyes watered up. I’d never seen her cry before. Guilt overcame me as I watched her run her fingers along her lash line to keep the mascara from running.
I threw my head back and it banged against the wall behind me. “I’m sorry. I know you did it because of what she did to Gavin.” I cut myself off because I really wasn’t one-hundred percent sure it had been Nicole that had come into his office.
“I’m just still in shock about everything. You’re not crazy.”
Ashley glared at me. “No, that’s not the only reason. I hate her… hate her, Brooke!”
My shoulder’s dropped. “Why do you hate her so much? I get that she’s a bitch, but you despise her.”
Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) Page 34
