Despite the fact that my cheating rat of an ex-boyfriend was going to be at the Halloween office party, I still wanted to go. I’d been working particularly hard the past four months to prove to Mr. Dentone that I was worth of a promotion from Junior Marketing Assistant to Senior Marketing Assistant. The promotion meant a significant raise, my own assistant, and an office on one of the upper levels. An office with walls, with room for plants and decorations, was far more desirable than the sad gray excuse for the cubicle that I worked in now. I’d attended a meeting with Mr. Dentone yesterday—Thursday—and was promised a second interview next Thursday.
I truly believed that I earned a bit of party time. Good music and food was a given with parties in my office, so I was sure it would be an interesting time.
The only problem was Chase. The rat ex-boyfriend was going to be there with that slut from Accounting. I don’t just call her a slut because she knowingly slept with my boyfriend, but because I’d caught her giving blowjobs on more than one occasion to many different men on my floor.
The problem only stopped me for about two hours at the mall, while I let my mind wander looking for my costume. As soon as my eyes clapped onto myself in one of them in the mirror in the dressing room, the problem didn’t seem half as bad.
I didn’t know what the technical term for the costume was, but as I checked myself in the bathroom mirror at home, I knew it was sexy as hell and that Chase would be reduced to a Neanderthal slumped over in a puddle of his own drool. My nearly black hair fell in gentle waves down my back, lightly gelled to create a cold sheen. My 36B breasts were contained in a black corset with red stitching and lacing on either side. I had somehow squeezed into a pair of very tight black pants with slits up to the outer thighs and held together by crisscrossed red string. My feet had met my three inch heeled leather boots that came to just above my knee. I had thrown on several chain necklaces and bracelets, my nails a bright blood red to match my lips and my eyes smoky charcoal black. On a whim, I grabbed my red eyeliner and drew swirling designs down my left arm, accenting them with black body glitter.
I was ready.
I threw on my black leather coat to avoid giving my neighbor a stroke, and rushed out the door.
****
It was eleven thirty when I arrived; the party had been going on for a couple hours. I made my appearance and hung my coat up in the closet and I noticed male eyes on me. Eyes of doctors, werewolves, bees, giant staplers, and police officers swept up and down my body, pausing at my breasts and shapely rear.
I went to the bar to order a glass of rum and Coke, crossing my long legs in front of me as I sat on the barstool. The bartender gave me an approving wink as he set my drink down in front of me. I gave a silent toast to open bars and took a sip.
About fifteen minutes went by before I was spotted by Chase the Problem. He was dressed as a caveman, a costume that suited him surprisingly well. His faux leopard skin costume made him look like the idiot that I had built him up to be in my mind. His glassy-looking brown eyes gazed into mine unsteadily. He had a half drunk glass in his hand while the other hand steadied him against the bar.
“Hey sexy girl,” he slurred.
I decided to ignore him.
“Why are you being so cold to me? You look like you want attention.”
I rolled my eyes, “Where’s your new girlfriend? I doubt she’d like to hear you’ve been hitting on your ex.”
“No clue where she is and I don’t give a fuck. You were one sexy piece of ass, and still are from the looks of it,” he checked me out, nearly falling over in the process.
My eyes scanned the crowd, and I found her, dressed in a white nurse’s outfit so short, her ass was plainly visible. She wore no tights with her white hooker heels. Her blond hair was pulled into a bun and her brown eyes met mine angrily.
Chase put a hand on my shoulder, which I slapped off. “You cheated on me repeatedly and treated me like shit. Take a good look at what you missed out on by being a jack ass. Crawl back to that slut and leave me alone, jackass.” I left my drink at the bar and went into the women’s restroom.
As annoyed as I was with Chase, I was proud of myself for denying him. For being able to say what I wanted to say three weeks ago when I caught him in our bed with her. I fixed my makeup in the mirror, relieved that the bathroom was empty.
The emptiness didn’t last long. Mr. Dentone stumbled in, clutching a beer.
Mr. Robert Dentone was twenty-five, three years older than me. His athletic body was not entirely disguised by his James Bond costume. His eyes found me in front of the mirror. “ Victoria ! Good to see you looking so...much less conservative than you normally do.” His words were not as slurred as Chase’s, and he seemed to have better balance.
“Mr. Dentone? This is the women’s restroom.”
He moved toward me, smiling warmly, “Please, call me Rob.” He was entirely too close; I had pressed myself against the wall to maintain some sort of distance. He closed the distance. “I’ve been thinking of the promotion you interviewed for yesterday. I’ve got a proposition for you as a condition to you getting the job.”
I blinked at him, “What do you mean, proposition?”
“You’ve got quite lovely assets, Victoria. I’m a hands on sort of guy,” he set the beer on the sink next to us and ran his fingertips down my bare shoulder, tracing the red and black designs.