Mixing Business With Pleasure

Chapter 1.

[MATURE]

Charlene's POV:

8.00pm

I heard the front door slam shut.
Ryan is home, he finished work 2 hours ago which means he's been out for drinks. Great.

"Charlene! I'm home.. is my dinner done?" He slurred.
I rolled my eyes, "yeah, it's on the counter" I shouted back at him.

He walked up to me, pecked me on the lips and walked into the kitchen, the strong smell of liquor from his breath gave me an instant headache.
I heard him angrily mutter the words 'fuck sake" and I gulped.
He walked into the room with his dinner plate in his hand, "do you think this is going to heat itself up?"
He said angrily. "Huh? Do you?"
My heart beat rapidly increased, I hate when he's like this, I don't get angry when I drink so why does he?
"No... Sorry, I'll go heat it up" I said quietly as I got up from the chair, he threw the plate to the floor smashing it and instantly came over towards me, cornering me against the wall with a tight grip around the top of my arms.
"How could you be so stupid? You can't do anything right"
I clenched my eyes shut, preparing for a punch, he hasn't before, but it always scares me, just in case he does. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as they could go as I cowered in the corner.
"Open your eyes!" He shouted in my face.
I opened them and looked him in the eyes, generally terrified.
He looked me up and down, "waste"
He said to me in a resentful tone. He walked away, assuming up to bed.
I let out a heavy shaky sigh of relief.

I got down on my knees and began picking up the pieces of broken glass from the floor.
I need a drink. I thought to myself.
I looked through the wine cabinet. Nothing.
Half past eight at night, on a Sunday.. I'm still dressed suitably from earlier.. Why not go out? I mean, I could highly regret it considering I start my first day at my new job tomorrow. Not really new job, but more of a practice to see if I'm suitable for the job. It's quite intimidating as its for this massive film editing business. The first few days will probably be running around making tea's and bringing people stuff but at least I'll get the insight into it. Which is so exciting and a massive opportunity for me.

I grabbed my bag, my coat and my keys and tried to prepare myself for a decent night.

----------------------------------------------

Of course I walk into the club and there's only a few seats left at the bar,
I took a seat. "Single Jack Daniels please." I asked the bartender.
The guy next to me started giving me a flirtatious look. "Make it a double" I said.

I watched my drinks being poured and could feel this guy staring at me from the corner of my eye. My drinks arrived and I took a sip.
"That's a big drink for a small girl. Impressive" the guy spoke up.
I let out an awkward laugh.
"Can I get you one of those?"
He asked, getting quite close to me now. Strange.
"No it's fine thanks, I have plenty" I said with another awkward laugh. He moved closer again.
"You can have plenty more" he said and winked. He put his hand on my leg and I picked up one of my Jack Daniels and downed it. Over the last few years a males touch has began to feel weird to me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see a blonde woman standing next to me. She looked at the strange man and back at me again.
"Hi babe, sorry I was a while.. I bumped into Connor and he wouldn't stop talking, you know what he's like." The woman said to me.
I was confused for several seconds then I clicked that she was trying to help me get away from this strange guy. What a life saver!
I smiled. "It's okay, but don't do it again please, I was beginning to think you'd left me forever" I replied with a fake sad pout on my face.
"Oh I could never do that babe." Her hand remained near my hair and she started using her hand to play with it a bit. I'm assuming to fit the role play we were doing. Whatever it was she was doing was for sure making my knees feel like the worlds biggest supply of jelly. Damn. "So.. You ready to go home?" She asked.
"Oh yes, definitely. I'm exhausted"
She held her hand out for me to take as she helped me out from the chair. Her grip was surprisingly very strong.
"Am I invited back home too?" The weird guy said as we began to walk away. The blonde woman looked over her shoulder and glared at him. If looks could kill that would have been his funeral. For sure.