Chapter 53: The Greatest Threat to a Sexy Outfit…Might Not Be Ketchup After All

A stunned silence swept over the entire group.

Most everyone wore expressions of shock. That is except for Raemon, whose lips had shifted upward at the very edges to accommodate the self-satisfied smirk on his face.

And of course Gracie, who was observing Lila and Lucas with anticipated interest.

Octavia wore something like a grimace as if someone had just thrown a bucket of ice water on her. But everyone else was very clearly shocked.

Sierra’s smudged eyes had widened to dinner plates, and her mouth hung open in stark disbelief.

Lauren’s face wore anxious confusion. Lucas’s oily grin had only slightly given way to his surprise before his features immediately hardened into their current cold state.

But it was Lila’s reaction that took home the blue ribbon.

After the shock had subsided, her eyes narrowed, and her skin became very white. Then it started to get red.

“You’re lying,” she said through clenched teeth. “There’s no way you’re with…with…”

Octavia’s felt Raemon’s arm wrap around her shoulders.

“But there is,” Raemon said with cool self-assurance. “I wanted her, now she’s mine.”

Lucas returned Raemon’s smirk but with an emptiness in his eyes. “Well, well,” he said, “it really is too bad for you, Octavia. I wasn’t able to save you from him.”

“Is that what you thought you were doing?” Raemon said. “You can add ‘delusional’ to the list of your many attributes, Lucas.”

“Octavia has no idea what a person like you, Raemon, would do to her just to benefit—”

“Octavia,” Octavia cut in, “is still here. And getting tired of this. Can we just—”

Octavia was suddenly silenced when a full glass of red wine was splashed in her face. Lila had suddenly stepped forward and flung her drink on Octavia, faster than anyone could have anticipated.

She then stood before Octavia and Raemon with a crazed, triumphant look on her face.

“You stupid little slut,” she said. “You are nothing compared to me, you hear me? Nothing!” The triumph in her voice faded, and the crazed came out full force.

Her beady eyes shot to Raemon. “How dare you insult me like this? How could you choose her?!”

Raemon pulled Octavia to his side with a grim face.

“Control yourself, Miss Scott,” he said. His low, foreboding voice further enforced the command in his words. But Lila wasn’t listening.

“You’re insane,” she said to Raemon, “you’re crazy. No man in their right mind would do something like this to me. And only for…for…her!”

Lila turned her attention back to Octavia, who was still blinking red wine out of her eyes.

“You stupid bitch!” Lila screamed. “You ugly whore! You’re finished! You understand me? I’m going to make you pay!”

At this point, Lucas stepped in. He grabbed Lila by the arm and began forcefully dragging her away.

She kicked and screamed, her golden tresses flying around wildly as she hit against Lucas’s firm grip, but he didn’t stop. Soon, they were gone.

Raemon had turned to Octavia.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I should’ve seen it coming,” Octavia said, looking down at herself. “Something had to spill on me.”

Raemon grasped one of her hands in his. “I’ll get you out of here,” he said.

“Oh no you won’t,” Octavia retorted, snatching her hand out of his. “I think you’ve caused enough trouble for me tonight.”

Raemon’s face was grim. “I didn’t know she’d react like that.”

“Like a crazy bitch?” Octavia said, not bothering to hide her scowl. “Maybe I should spill some wine on you so you won’t forget.”

“Octavia,” Raemon started.

Octavia held a hand up to silence him. “Nope. That’s it. I’m going home.”

She whirled around to rejoin her friends. Then she saw Sierra’s horrified face—her gaping jaw and wide, puffy eyes.

Standing beside the frozen Sierra and quiet Lauren, Gracie gave Octavia a smug, amused look.

“You can’t just leave,” Raemon said.

Octavia turned back to face him. “Why not?”

Raemon gestured to her wine-soaked outfit. “The place is swarming with cameras. If you go out like that, it won’t reflect well on Icarus. Or Curie.

“And who knows that Lila is gone? She might be waiting somewhere for you to come out. She’d want nothing more than to cause a scene.”

Octavia’s shoulders drooped.

“Let me help, Octavia,” Raemon said. “I’ll get you out of here without being noticed.”

“I can’t just abandon my friends,” Octavia said.

“I’ll make sure we all get home all right,” Gracie spoke up.

With her back to her friend, Octavia scowled at Gracie’s helpful suggestion. “No, Gracie. I invited you all, so I should make sure—”

“We’re getting a ride back with Yosef, anyway,” Gracie continued, oblivious to the strain in Octavia’s voice. “We’ll be fine. You go ahead.”

Before Raemon led her away, Octavia caught a glimpse of Gracie’s calm face and the humorous spark in her eyes.

Raemon led her to a secluded elevator.

Octavia was quiet on the way down, even as they walked through empty halls and stepped out into the cool night air at what appeared to be a hidden entrance to the building.

A black Ferrari was parked near the curb. It chirped as Raemon walked toward it. He opened the passenger door for Octavia. She gave him a dark look before sliding into the car.

She stared silently out the window as they drove.

She was so wrapped up in her own angry thoughts that it was only when the car pulled up to a high-rise building that Octavia realized she didn’t know where she was.

“Where are we?” Octavia asked.

“My penthouse,” Raemon said. “I keep a place here for when I need to stay in the city.”

“How very efficient of you,” Octavia answered. “But this isn’t my apartment. Take me home.”

Raemon sighed, putting the car in park. “Octavia, it might not be safe.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “Why? Because of Lila? What do you think she’ll do? Break down my apartment door and strangle me? Don’t worry about it. She wouldn’t risk ruining her manicure.”

“It’s not just Lila you should worry about,” Raemon said. “Lucas is a dangerous man.”

“Let me worry about that,” Octavia said.

Raemon regarded her in silence.

“You’re mad at me,” he said.

“You think?”

“I’m sorry about Lila,” he said gently.

“This isn’t about her,” Octavia said. The anger that she’d been stifling rose up.

“Why would you go and say…those things? I thought we were in agreement—no one was supposed to know. Especially not the woman who's been chasing after you for weeks!”

“I won’t let Lila hurt you,” Raemon said, “or Lucas.”

“The only person I need to watch out for is you, Raemon,” Octavia said. “You can’t just do what you want and expect me to play along with it.”

She settled back in the car seat and adjusted her crossed arms. “I’m not going anywhere except home. To MY home.”

She’d sit there all night if she had to. She was NOT going up to his stupid penthouse.

Then she felt a distinct urge of her bladder. She regretted all the cocktails she’d had before the evening’s fateful encounter.

Octavia sighed and her scowl deepened. “Damn it. I need a bathroom.”

The lights in Raemon’s penthouse gradually brightened as they walked through the private elevator and into the foyer.

Octavia merely glanced at the curved wall made of glass on one side of the house where gray couches and chairs were arranged around a fireplace of shale bricks

Like most of Raemon’s spaces, it was a place furnished with modern, luxurious, and well-crafted items.

“Where’s the bathroom?” Octavia asked.

“There’s one through there,” Raemon said, pointing Octavia toward a door off to one side. “I’ll call Indira and let her know… that we had to leave.”

Octavia nodded but with a scowl still in place.

She walked through the door and found herself in a large bedroom with a bathroom to the left of the room.

Once she was finished in the bathroom, she observed her reflection in the wide mirror that covered the entire wall above the sink.

She could feel the stickiness of the wine on her face and shoulders. The front of her jumpsuit was still damp. She splashed water on her face to wash it away.

Octavia hated the feeling of the damp cloth on her skin. She reached behind her for the fabric at her back, trying to find the zipper.

She tugged at the zipper, which was high up between her shoulder blades. It came down about an inch, then got stuck.

She mouthed silent curses and tried again. Immediately, a sharp pain darted over the skin on her back like a tiny bug with metal pincers was digging them into her back.

She’d got her own skin caught in the blasted zipper.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Octavia cried, hopping around on one foot from the pain. Immediately, she burst back into the bedroom, yelling Raemon’s name. Raemon appeared almost instantly, rushing to Octavia.

“What is it?” he asked sharply.

“This fucking zipper!” Octavia said, turning her back to him. “Get it off! Get it off!”

His face relaxed, and he put a hand to the zipper on Octavia’s outfit.

“Ow!” Octavia yowled. “Gently, dammit! That’s my skin stuck in those metal teeth, you know.”

“I’m trying. Just hold still.”

“You try holding still when there’s cold metal digging into your skin!” Octavia whined. “I don’t do well with pain.”

“I won’t hurt you,” Raemon said, “but you need to stop hopping around for me to fix this.”

“I can’t, I can’t!” Octavia continued to wail. “It HURTS. Oh my god, I’m gonna die! This is it, it’s over, this is the end— I just know it. I’m going to die from a fucking zipper. It’s so tragic!”

Raemon’s hand clamped down on one of her shoulders, forcing her still. She felt his other hand on her zipper and, in a flash, heard a snapping sound. The pain of her pinched skin faded, then vanished.

“There,” Raemon said, tossing the broken zipper on the floor. “You really don’t handle pain well.”

“You have no idea,” Octavia said with a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Without thinking, she pulled the suit open at the back, forgetting that Raemon was still standing behind her.

When she remembered this, Octavia quickly whirled, hiding her exposed back from his view. But now she was facing him.

He was looking down at her with his immovable face. Octavia could practically feel the heat radiating from his eyes. She became aware of the quietness of the penthouse.

The numerous wide windows in the bedroom overlooked the city and let in a romantic starlike view. The lights were low in the room, casting a warm glow on the large bed behind the two of them.

But what Octavia was most aware of was a tightening of her muscles, a yearning between her legs, and a tingling on her fingertips. She wanted to feel his body on her fingertips.

Fuck that, she wanted him inside her.

Octavia’s gaze traveled down his body, taking in the swell of muscle pulling the sleeves of his shirt taut, the broad chest that she already knew was chiseled to match his biceps.

She looked back up into his face and uttered a single, resolute sentence.

“Take your clothes off,” Octavia commanded.