"Anastasia."
"Christian," the name is out of my mouth without a single thought and I watch as his brow furrows, a little crease forming in between his eyebrows. My mind soon catches up to me and the reason why it's been so long since I've seen him hits me like a freight train and I know I need to get out of there, fast. I pull my arms back a little to forcefully, thinking he has a tighter grip than I had originally thought. I stare down at the floor, knowing that if I stare at his face any longer my resolve will falter. I open my mouth to try and apologise, explain, say anything but the words get stuck in my throat so I give up and just turn and walk away. I can hear a commotion behind me and what sounds like Christian calling after me so I speed up, breaking into an awkward slow jog, not quite sure if my legs are up to the job of running. I don't look back afraid of what I'll see if I do, a small part of me hopes he's chasing after me if not to at least see if I'm ok after all this time, unfortunately I know there's no chance of that happening and I gave up on that sort of wishful thinking a long time ago. Christian stopped caring about me months ago and I have the divorce papers to prove it.
I arrive at work, late and out of breath, the shop is open with a few tables already occupied. Marty,the owner of the little coffee shop and my boss, is busy dealing with a counter full of customers, for which I'm glad as this means he doesn't have time to fire my ass. I quickly throw my coat in the back and grab an apron before making my way back to the counter, throwing Marty an apologetic stare whilst ignoring the look of anger that gets thrown my way. For once I'm hoping for a hectic, non stop day so that I can avoid what I know for sure is going to be a severe telling off.
The day passes much to quickly and I've been lucky to avoid being alone with Marty long enough to do anything other than exchange a few short words. But I can't avoid it for long and I've just said thank you to the last customer of the day. I set about clearing the table of its two cups giving it a quick wipe with the damp cloth I carry in my apron pocket. I then proceed to carry the cups into the small washer room located at the back of the shop, it's a narrow room consisting of a dishwasher and a kitchen sink. I place the cups in the sink ready to rinse them off before they go in the dishwasher when a shiver runs down my spine. I spin round and find Marty leaning against the door frame.
"Anastasia," the way he says my name makes me feel dirty and uncomfortable, I resist the urge to shudder with disgust. "You wanna tell me why you were late, again?" He asks while his eyes slowly run down then back up the length of my body, I think I actually throw up a little in my mouth.
"I'm sorry," I start "I had no money for the bus, I walked as fast as I could but I knocked right…" Marty cuts me off by raising his hand.
"You know what Anastasia, I've had enough of your bullshit excuses. You're always late and when you do eventually stroll in you have your fucking head in the clouds, I don't have time to be picking up the slack of my lazy employees." My mouth falls open slightly, I can't believe what I'm hearing, this coming from the laziest man I have ever met, I'm left picking up his slack while he stands at the end of the counter perving on all our female customers. Marty takes a step towards me, his expression changing from one of anger to one of fake compassion and I instantly know where this conversation is heading. He's been making sly passes as me since I started here, I've always been polite enough to laugh it off as a joke but deep down he makes my skin crawl. If I wasn't so desperate for the money I'd have quit weeks ago and thrown a sexual harassment case his way.
"Ana, ana, ana," he says as he takes yet another step towards me, invading my personal space and making me feel very uncomfortable. "I took a big risk employing you, if anyone ever found out that I'd employed you, off the books, as they say, I could end up in very big trouble with the tax man. But I'm not jus worried about me, oh no Anastasia, if I get caught so do you I'm afraid, and let's face it no proof of ID, no proof you are allowed work in the states and avoiding the taxman, you sure are gunna be in a lot of trouble." He's now standing right in front of me effectively blocking the only way out. My eyes roam his body taking in his balding head, his too small white t-shirt, yellowed in various places from what can only be described as the worst body odour I've ever smelt. I was completely desperate when I took this job, no one would even look twice at me as soon as I asked to be paid cash in hand. He must mistake my look of disgust for something completely off because when I look back at his face he's smirking at me.
"Now I know just how much you need this job Anastasia," his tongue darts out as he licks his lower lip, eyeing me like I'm some piece of meat. "I'm sure we can come up with some way you can make this worth my trouble." He reaches down and adjusts his crotch and this time there's no holding back the shudder my whole body does at his actions. I straighten my spine and try to appear as confident as I can, there's no way I'm going to be blackmailed into sleeping with my sleazy boss over some less than minimum wage job.
"So are you saying that if I want to keep my job, I have to sleep with you." I'm unable to keep the disgust out of my voice at thought of doing anything for him. He reaches out and runs a finger across my shoulder and up the side of my neck, the only bit of skin that I have on show.
"I'm just saying, I'm taking all this risk and getting nothing in return, that's hardly fair now is it?" He removes his hand from my neck and places it on my hip, pulling me towards him so I'm flush against his chest. I take a deep breath in and release it slowly, thinking very carefully about what my next move needs to be knowing one wrong move mean big trouble for me, Marty is a big man and could very quickly overpower me if he tried. I place my hands on his shoulders, flattening my palms, as I smile sweetly at him and at the same time I bring my right knee up hard and fast. My knee collides directly with his manhood and the noise that comes from his mouth is like nothing I've ever heard a person make. His face scrunches up in agony and he slowly sinks to the floor, groaning all the way down. I seize my opportunity to escape and jump over him using the kitchen top as leverage.
"Don't ever touch me again!" I say over my shoulder as I make my way out the door, I can see he's managed to stand and is making a move to follow me, I'm not too worried though, the speed my knee hit his junk he's not going to be catching me anytime soon. I snatch my coat up from where I'd carelessly thrown it earlier that morning. I make my way through past the counter, throwing my apron on a nearby table. There's a youngish gentleman in a suit waiting at the counter
"Excuse me ma'am."
"Sorry I don't work here." I reply without stopping.
"You fucking bitch." I hear Marty shout after me. "You're finished here you prick teasing whore." I don't get to hear whatever else he has to say as I swing the door open and hit the street running.