Chapter 1

Lucia was sweating. She was usually quite intense in the gym, and today she needed to let out more steam than usual. Her boss was getting her out of her nerves.

She had worked at BioChem for 3 years already, but the new manager she had been assigned to just a few weeks ago was, by far, the worst he had ever had. As a matter of fact, he was probably one of the worst people she had ever met, and she had known some very nasty human beings. Working as an executive assistant for one of the vice-presidents was never easy. This was not her first experience in the position and she was unfortunately used to bosses not respecting her job. It made her mad.

She needed the money though, so she just hid her feelings. Sooner or later, she would find a better job than that, one where her wits and her education were respected, and then she would not need to stand some behaviors anymore. She was much better than everyone considered her, and she would soon show it to the world.

Her new boss was doing something that none of the previous ones had done. He was harassing her. It had started very soon, in the first day. He looked at her chest and not at her. It bothered her, but she said nothing. Then, he started shooting glances at her legs and ass, as well. Despite dressing with pretty formal business attire, Lucia’s body was fit and voluptuous, and she did not see a reason to hide it with baggy clothes, so her chest and ass ended up being noticed. She did not mind a furtive glance from time to time. She even enjoyed them, somehow reminiscing of her times in high school and college, where being the center of attention had been most of what she had cared about.

But her new boss was making her crazy. He did not move his eyes from her different assets and despite having a pretty face with large deep brown eyes, he did not look up at all.

As the weeks advanced, he started getting more and more annoying. First, there were “funny” comments. Then, he started looking for physical contact. And today he had touched her ass. He had not even tried to find an excuse. He just passed next to her and touched it. When she looked at him, he just smiled.

She left early and shot an icy glance to two men that were at the coffee machine and who she overheard talking about her good looks. And she had been in the gym for an hour and a half already. Indoor cycling had not been enough. Fitness and weights had not been enough either. So she ended up fighting a punching bag as if it were her worst enemy. Finally, when she was as exhausted as relaxed, she left for home.

Traffic was heavy, as usual. It did not help to improve her mood. She decided she needed to talk to someone as her car was crawling at snail’s pace in the ramp that would lead her to the highway, so she took an earlier exit and parked by the Fire Station where Carl worked.

Carl was the only positive thing that had happened to her over the last months. They had been going out for a short while, but she really fancied him. Of course, his firefighter body, his biceps and his abs had contributed to her opinion. He was hardly the first hot guy she had gone out with, though. Back in college, hot guys lined up to get into her panties.

“Hi Mike,” she smiled at the firefighter in the reception desk. She had met most of Carl’s colleagues and she had soon become a favorite in the fire station, much to her delight.

“Hey Lucia,” the man replied warmly. “What’s up?” he asked. He looked quite surprised.

“Nothing. I just came by, to see if I could take Carl out for a coffee around the corner,” Lucia said.

Mike’s face showed even more surprise and Lucia knew that something was wrong.

“Eh… Carl’s not here at the moment,” he said.

“But he was on call,” Lucia replied, now surprised herself.

Lucia had been sleeping more and more often at Carl’s apartment since they started going out, but this week she had had to make other plans since he was on call at the station for three days.

“Well…” Mike started.

Lucia looked to a wall in the distance and saw one of the multiple posters of centerfolds that decorated the place. She had laughed at them first, finding them funny, especially when some of Carl’s colleagues had compared her to them. Now, the sight of one made a very cold shiver run down her spine.

“Is he on call?” she asked, her face suddenly very serious.

Mike was having a very hard time, that much was obvious. He finally replied:

“Not… not right now,”

Lucia did not even bother the reply. She just turned and stomped her way to the car. The fact that traffic made the five-minute drive last twenty just managed to make her mood worse, and it was pretty damn bad to start with.

One of Carl’s neighbors got out of her way as she stomped her way again, this time from the car to the front door of the building where he lived. She kicked the door, getting a somewhat scared glanced from the neighbor, when the key refused to turn for the first time. Then, she opened and hurriedly walked the path towards the elevator. It left her in the 24th floor, right by the door of Carl’s apartment.

She looked at the key holder again and tried to identify which was the one to the apartment’s door. She had had them for a short time and she did not know them that well, yet. They key just turned once before the door opened, indicating that Carl was in, since he had not used the security lock. She kicked the door in and it slammed hard on the opposite wall.

Lucia had a moment of doubt then. What if everything was a massive misunderstanding? How would she justify her behavior to Carl? She would certainly look like a mad woman…

The thought died the moment she saw the skirt and panties on the floor. Lucia felt her blood boiling. Taken by madness, Lucia stomped to Carl’s bedroom and kicked yet another door open. There he was. And so was she. The “she” was a blonde woman, sitting by Carl’s side in the bed and completely naked. Lucia could not prevent noticing that she was really hot. The woman yelled as Carl looked as embarrassed as he looked surprised.

“Who the hell is this bitch?” the woman yelled.

“Bitch?” Lucia asked.

It was as much as she could take. Taken by madness, Lucia rushed towards the bed, took the woman by the armpits and shoved her out of bed with unnatural strength, fueled by her uncontrolled anger.

The blonde was suddenly scared and balled into the corner where Lucia had sent her. Lucia’s dark eyes had a killer look as she moved towards her and then kicked her with all her strength. She got her in the stomach first. Had the woman not protected herself with her arms she could have done some serious harm there. Her second kick got her partially in the face. She could see blood trickling from the woman’s lip and a quick look down showed Lucia that part of it had stained her new high-heeled shoes. This made her even madder, so she got ready for a third kick as the woman yelled like crazy.

She could never connect it. Her right foot kicked thin air as she was grabbed from behind and pulled back. It was, of course, Carl.

Being prevented from her retribution made Lucia madder. She fought and kicked, but Carl was way stronger than she was. Then, she tried to pry her strong arms open, but it was to no avail. Out of rage, Lucia bit Carl’s right hand. She did not hold back and soon Carl let out a pained scream.

She felt herself flying an instant later. Carl had shoved her. The impact with the bureau was hard on her kidneys. Lucia let out a groan and fought against the pain, barely managing to stay afoot.

Her adrenaline was still asking her for more, but when she managed to look up all she saw was Carl’s body blocking her path to the blonde bitch. He was protecting her. This only managed to make Lucia’s rage increase. A certain amount of rational thinking took over her in that moment though. Carl was a full foot taller than her, and naked as he was, it was easy enough to see that he was also way stronger than her.

She was not getting through him. So instead, she just took hold of a vase and threw it at Carl, aiming for the head. He ducked in the last second, the vase crashing against the wall behind her and shattering into pieces.

Lucia wanted more, but a small shred of conscience was already trying to tell her that she had gone way over the top. The blonde woman moaned in pain and she saw her crawling behind Carl, blood still dripping from her very swollen lip. In front of her she saw Carl, his expression as he looked towards her showing a mix of panic and disdain. She remained motionless for a second. Then, she turned and ran towards the door, throwing everything she found in her way. As she opened the door, she yelled:

“You will regret this, you fucking bastard!” and slammed the door behind her.

She drove way faster than the speed limit; she wanted to reach her apartment as quickly as possible. And, of course, her day got worse. As she was driving down I-377, she saw the blue and red lights of the police, asking her to pull over. She did, punched the steering wheel a few times and waited, incredibly angry, for the policeman to exit his car and approach the window.

She felt as if the Gods were looking at her and having a good time making her life miserable just for the sake of a few laughs.

“Ma’am, can I have your driving license, please?” the cop said as he reached her window and looked in, not trying to hide too much the glance he took down her cleavage.

Lucia took a deep breath, reached for her purse, took her driving license and passed it to the cop.

“Do you know how fast you were driving, Miss Torres?” the cop said.

“No, not really,” she answered, in a not very nice tone.

“You were 30 mph over the speed limit,” he said.

“There was no one on the road… I did not realize… it’s been an incredibly hard day, you know?” she said, trying to calm down a little.

“We all have hard days, Miss Torres. This does not entitle you to do anything you want” the cop replied, patronizing her. She hated it when people did this to her. She really, really hated it.

“I realize about that, officer, and I promise that I will be more careful and I won’t do that again. But, just for this time, couldn’t we just let it pass?” she asked, making a huge effort to sound nice despite what she really thought about the man.

“Not a chance, miss. Who do you think I am?” he said. Oh, God, Lucia thought. Not a speech! Please, not today! The cop went on: “You were endangering other people’s lives and it is my duty to make sure that you learn your mistake and that the law is applied with all its weight”

She looked at him coldly and said:

“Ok. Then, tell me how much the fine is and let’s get done with this, then”

The cop smiled. She instantly hated that smile.

“Oh, the fine for speeding is $600” she felt a stab in her stomach. This was way more than what she had expected and would be a serious hit to her very battered personal finances. But the worse was still to come. The cop said: “And now, we should take care about the broken back light”

Lucia said instinctively: “What?”

“One of your back lights is not working” the cop said.

She knew about that. It had been broken for a couple of weeks, but she had not had the time to change it. She lied, though:

“I had not realized. It must have happened today”

The cop chuckled:

“Do you expect me to believe that, Miss?”

Lucia was getting very pissed off with him, which accumulated to the frustration and anger of the day was making her to very seriously consider assaulting him.

“You can believe whatever you want. This is what I said” she said in an angry tone.

“No need to get nervous, Miss. I may overlook the fine for the light, as long as you can replace it”

“What, now?” she asked, incredulous.

“Of course” the cop said, coldly.

“How do you want me to replace it?” she asked.

“Don’t you have any spare bulbs? It is compulsory” the cop said.

Lucia knew she did not have any spare bulbs. She had asked the mechanic to use them the last time she brought the car to the garage, in order to save some money in the total repair. She looked up, frustrated, and said:

“No, I don’t have any spare bulbs”

A trace of a smile could be seen in the cop’s face:

“Then, I’m afraid that I will need to immobilize your car.”

“What?” she asked

“You cannot drive without all the lights. Either you replace them now or your car will be towed.” he said.

“I do not have bulbs. But, listen, I only need to take the next exit and I will be home. There is no need to make all this mess for a bulb, is there?” she said.

“Again, I am the one who decides what’s legal and what’s not, and I’m afraid that I cannot let you drive your car under those conditions. I will call, asking for your car to be towed. I suggest you get someone to pick you up” he said, and she could see, once more, a trace of a smile in his face. He was having a good time with that. She wanted to get out of the car and slap him, kick him, punch him. She hated him. But she controlled herself. The last thing she needed on that day was to end up arrested in the precinct.

She looked up at him, with real hate in her eyes, and said:

“Will I be towed with the car or will I be left here?”

“Oh, you cannot walk in the Highway, Miss” he said. “Anyway, here you have your receipt for the car and the fine for speeding and for the bulb. I’ll wait in my car until the patrol arrives. Have a nice evening, Miss”

As he turned and moved away, she rolled the window up and muttered: “Have a nice evening too, fucking bastard”

Then, she picked her cell phone and thought on who to call. The list was really short. With Carl out of it for obvious reasons, the only option was Sharon, her best and only friend in Kingston.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Two hours later, Sharon left Lucia at her apartment.

“Thanks again, Sharon”

“No problem at all. That’s what friends are for,” she said.

“But, living in the outskirts, this was a long drive for you. And now you have to drive back” Lucia said

“Look, this is not your fault but the cop’s, so stop apologizing, ok?”

“Ok, thanks again. I should really leave. It’s getting late for you”

Then, Sharon said:

“There is something else, apart from what that cop did to you.”

“What?”

“Come on. It’s plain enough to see.”

Lucia looked back at her and said:

“I don’t want to bore you with my problems. It’s really very late.”

“I don’t care about the time. What is it?”

Lucia broke: “My life. It sucked already, and the little I had just shattered into pieces today.”

Sharon raised an eyebrow. She had not expected it to be so bad, even if Lucia really looked like shit.

“So… why don’t you invite me to a cup of coffee and you tell me about it?” she said

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Half an hour later, Lucia was sobbing as she told Sharon about her boss Phil and his harassment. They had already gone over Carl. Sharon had a hard time to decide which of the two men made her sicker.

“Everything in my life is a failure, Sharon!” Lucia finally said.

“What the hell are you saying?”

“Look at me! I’m 27 and I only have a shitty job where my boss only wants me for my tits and ass, and no matter how much I tell myself that it is temporary, until I get something better, I know that it is not.”

“Come on, Lucia, you are prepared for much better jobs than that,” Sharon said.

“I know, but no one will ever give me the chance. All they see in me is a hot Latina chick that dresses slutty enough to treat their eyes,” she said. “And apparently, Carl only saw the same!”

“Oh, come on Lucia, that is so untrue!”

But Lucia was just talking without paying too much attention to what Sharon was saying.

“When did my life become a failure?” Lucia asked.

“What?” Sharon asked back.

“You know… it was not always like this. I was someone, back in college. Boys chased me, girls looked up to me…” Lucia started, a trace of a smile in her sobbing face. Then, she stopped and said: “When did it all go to hell?”

“Lucia, it has not gone to hell. Life changes, but you are a wonderful person,” Sharon tried to say.

“I’m a piece of shit,” Lucia said. Sharon was about to say something, but Lucia was not looking at her. She was looking at an indeterminate point in the wall, talking almost to herself. “But I will turn this around. I will show the world that I’m cut for something better. And then, those idiots at BioChem and that fucking bastard of Carl will realize what they missed!” she finished with a weird-looking grin.

Sharon stayed for a while more. When Lucia was calm enough to go to bed, she hugged her and headed for the door.

“Thanks Sharon. You are really a good friend,” Lucia said with a soft voice as she was opening the door.

“It was not such a big deal,” Sharon said, shrugging

“Oh, it was. You are the only decent person in my life.”

Sharon smiled at her and left.