Page 1 of Falling for the Bosshole

1

The prison door slammed shut.The sound was like a gong hitting a brick wall with her ear pressed against it. The girl flinched. She was conscious of the jingling keys in the deputy’s hand as he walked away. Another massive door closed behind him, the sound reverberating within the closed confines. Numb from fear, she tried to still the mad beating in her chest.

Ana Garcia stood in the middle of the 5-by-10 enclosure. Graffiti pocked the surface of the brick walls. Gum wrappers littered the floor, and an empty water bottle was strewn against a bench. A suspicious dried-up yellow substance marred one corner of the cell.

She was aware of everything around her, even if her brain felt detached from her body. Her knees gave, and she dropped to the floor. Shock turned to despair as she began to cry. Her shoulders shook from sobbing. No one knew she was here. She never felt more helpless and vulnerable.

The evening wasn’t supposed to end this way, with her locked up in a seedy jail somewhere in the city of Barcelona. All she wanted was to talk to Lucio, her boyfriend.

“Ex-boyfriend,” she muttered sullenly despite the gnawing possibility that she could be here for a long time. Ana wondered what the penalty was for what she did. She had never been arrested before.

Ana knew she was doing the right thing by asking to see him at the restaurant. It was better than avoiding his calls and ignoring his text messages. Besides, telling him that it was over between them would give her some closure. It was the mature thing to do.

Lucio promised to be there by 6 p.m., but he was an hour late to their appointment. With every passing minute, Ana became more and more agitated as she sat by the bar nursing her drink. She considered leaving when she caught sight of him entering the bar.

Lucio Mendes was one of those men who regarded himself as macho - God’s gift to women. Tight jeans hugged his ass and crotch, even as a tighter shirt revealed the outlines of his abs. He loved displaying the tattoos on his muscular arms by rolling his sleeves as high as they would go. Medium-length black hair was slicked back with Brylcreem. He once admitted he applied wax to tame his bushy brows.

Ana found all of his quirks endearing when they first met, even the lopsided smile he reserved for when he was flirting with her. But seeing him tonight, she wanted to kick herself for ever thinking he was her everything. She controlled the urge to puke. How could she have been so blind? She needed to stop the revulsion she directed at herself for being so stupid.

“Ana, my little pussycat…” Lucio greeted in Spanish.

“You’re late,” Ana replied coldly.

Lucio shrugged. “My boss wanted to speak to me after work, sweetheart.”

Ana checked him out and noticed the lipstick mark on the collar of his shirt. The bile rose in her throat. “Hell yeah,” she thought, “he probably screwed one of the secretaries at the construction site before he came to see me.”

Lucio signaled the bartender. “Cerveza por favor,” he ordered. He took a swig and emptied its contents then wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. Ana’s skin crawled as she wondered what she ever saw in him. She sighed deeply regretting the months she spent with this loser.

“I’m breaking up with you, Lucio,” she announced straight away.

“Huh, why?” Lucio asked, baffled.

“I’m leaving for New York to try my luck as a dancer there,” Ana replied simply.

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You’re not a dancer. I have never even seen you dance,” Lucio replied sarcastically.

“Just because you’ve never seen me doesn’t mean I don’t. I have sent tapes and received an invitation to audition,” Ana lied.

“You’ll probably end up in a strip club somewhere showing your tits,” Lucio retorted.

Ana felt the hackles rise at the back of her neck. Tact didn’t exist in Lucio’s vocabulary. She should have kept her mouth shut. She reined in her irritation. It wouldn’t help the situation if she allowed her temper to get the best of her.

“You can think anything you like. Besides, it’s really none of your business. We’re here only because I want to tell you to your face that we’re done,” Ana replied with a calmness she didn’t feel.

Lucio gulped. “Ana… querida, I know you’re probably jealous, thinking I was with another woman. That’s why I am late. But you know you’re the only woman for me,” he wheedled.

“I know you were with another woman, you jerk. There’s a lipstick mark on your collar,” Ana shot back.

Lucio examined his collar and saw the incriminating evidence. “I-I uh…” he sputtered.

Ana knew what was coming next. He would lay it all on her and try to make her feel guilty.

“Can you blame me?” he asked. “You’ve been very elusive these past few weeks. I missed having sex with you.” The lopsided smile appeared on his face. An arm slid across her shoulder, pulling her close. “You haven’t forgotten, have you querida,” he whispered in her ear. “How you purr like my own little alley cat. How you shout my name over and over each time I make you come?”

Disgust swept over Ana’s body. Sweet-talking her about sex was revolting and humiliating and showed how low he could go. She struggled out of his embrace. Some of the bar patrons looked their way. “Let me go, Lucio,” Ana said.

Lucio shrugged casually and grinned as he noticed the attention they were getting. Then he announced for all to hear. “My girlfriend wants to break up with me because she’s jealous. But just look at us. Don’t we look good together?”