Page 126 of The Girlfriend Card
Dakota
Ottavia and I held hands as we entered the arena through the player’s entrance with Leo in tow. I knew it wouldn’t take long before a member of the media happened to spot us. Sure enough, one of the Sin beat reporters spotted us rounding the corner, and he sprinted after us with his cell phone at the ready to film us.
“Dakota! Ottavia and Leopold! What are the three of you doing together?” he shouted, quickly catching up to us.
“No comment just yet,” I said as we continued through the tunnel.
But he’d caused a stir, and other members of the media quickly joined the fray, scrambling after us and shouting their questions at us:
“Leopold, does this mean you support their relationship?”
“Ottavia, any comment on the video by Devils Girl yesterday? How do you feel about Dakota’s infidelity?”
“Dakota, do you deny Devils Girl’s claims?”
I waved them off. “No questions yet, guys. We’ll answer questions later.”
Of course, they wouldn’t be reporters if they took no for an answer. The media continued to follow us through the twists and turns of the arena, bombarding us with questions and filming the entire time. We were free of them at last when we reached the locker room. I ushered Ottavia and Leo in and gave the confused media staff a wink before I shut the door behind us.
The banter and booming laughter in the locker room suddenly halted when the three of us stepped in. My teammates lifted their eyebrows, begging the question—what the hell are you doing, Dak?See, we had a team rule that no “civilians” were allowed in the locker room, except under certain circumstances, so it would’ve been strange enough to see me bring any two people in.
But after yesterday’s nonstop news about the three of us?
Let’s just say my teammates knew something was brewing.
I cleared my throat and spoke up. “Guys, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Ottavia Capuano.”
The room cringed and winced at that news, knowing it spelled trouble with Mr. Capuano.
“Oh no …”
“For real?”
“Dak … bro …”
“Don’t be a dick, boys. She’s cool.” I nudged Ottavia and whispered, “Say hi.”
Ottavia gave a shy wave. “Hi guys.”
“Hi, Ottavia,” the team belted back.
“What’s up, Otter?!” Brett neared to give her a high-five and told the others, “Otter worked at BarDown this summer. Dak’s right, she’s cool.”
“It’s not aboutherbeing cool we’re worried about,” Tank said. “It’s the fuckin’ Godfather we’re worried about.”
“Yeah, we’ll get to that in a second,” I grumbled. I clapped Leo on the back. “And this is Ottavia’s childhood friend, Leo Lancaster.”
With all the jacked athletes sitting around in various states of undress, you’d think Leo would be in Guy Heaven right now, but he kept his gaze trained on the floor instead. “Hello.”
“Hey, Leo,”the boys said.
Safe to say, there was an elephant in the room. And before I could address it, a clamor arose from the media as the locker room door cracked open again.
Coach Miller slid into the room. “Do you haveanyidea of the firestorm you’ve created?”
I grinned. “Pretty lit out there, eh Killer?”
“Yeah. It’s reallit.Now I’ve got one pissed-off team owner waiting in my office.” He rolled his eyes and gestured for us to join him. “You three. Come with me. Now.”
