WAKING UP WITH THE CEO

It was one of those days that everything that could go wrong had, it seemed like Los Angeles was determined to chew her up and spit her out.” But when is that anything different?” Anna grumbled as she gripped the grocery bags tighter to her chest.

“Of course” she muttered with a curse as one of the bags split. She pushed a strand of long red hair back behind an ear and tried to juggle the grocery bags. She really needed to sneak past her landlord’s apartment.

“Holy Sh87!” She hissed quietly as the other bag ripped. She sighed, her blue eyes watchful as she stepped around a pile of trash bags. She did not have the money to pay her rent and she knew her landlord liked to collect in other ways.

“Anna,” a cold snakelike voice wheezed from the shadows, “can we talk?”

“Mr. Droshky! She said with a gasp barely holding onto her bags as he stepped from underneath the burned out bulb “Can it wait till tomorrow? “I just worked a double and I am dead tired.”

“Mr. Droshky was my father,” he said with a tisk as he fingered a lock of her red hair, “Call me Nico. We need to talk about the rent.”

“I can have it by the end of this week when I get paid.” Anna cringed, knowing she was lying. She plastered on a fake smile and held the seams of her bags together.

“Why worry about getting paid?” he laughed softly as he stepped closer. She could smell the sweat coming off him mixing with his imitation Stetson cologne. Anna shivered in revulsion. “Maybe,” he said slowly as his eyes examined her breasts “we can make some other kind of arrangement.”

“I don’t think so” she said as she pulled her hair out of his slimy grasp.

“Aww come on,” he huffed “I can be real gentle.” Anna doubted that seriously.

“I think I’ll stick to paying my bills the old fashioned way.” She said as she pushed past him and approached the stairs quickly.

“Your loss” he hollered after her, licking his lips and rubbing his belly as he walked back toward his apartment “Let me know if you change your mind, I’ll be waiting.” Anna shivered and hurried up the stairs still feeling his eyes on her.

“What a hell hole” she thought to herself as she tried to ignore the roach that scuttled off as the light came on. She put her bags down and opened the fridge putting her meager groceries inside. She wiped her hands on her jeans and sat down heavily letting her head slap into her hands.