2 - Hit & Run

She was blacked with fury. All she wanted to do was stomp out of the office without looking back. Yet, she didn't want to leave with a bad reputation. She ambled to the door and locked it.

"Good," he purred.

"So?" She was eager to leave the shit of a man's office. Mr Hayes has always given her a scare from day one but she has successfully avoided him by leaving no loopholes in her line of work. Yet it seemed that no matter how much one tried to avoid trouble, it always came knocking on her door. Interestingly, it wasn't the first time she was faced with such shameless he-goats.

"Don't be in a rush. Aren't you a lady?" He tried to pull her close but she was faster and swerved at him. Her best friend Griffin had done a good job in teaching her how to develop thorns. Like he always said, 'beautiful girls must develop thorns to scare predators away. If roses didn't have thorns, they would be wasted by undeserving people.'

Mr Hayes was displeased but covered it very well with a blooming smile. As a man in his early forties, he was quite attractive. "It's simple. You will never work overtime and you get double pay."

"Just that?" Mercedes was no fool. There was nothing like a free lunch so negative intents must be undeniably present.

"Don't be stupid. Of course, you have to do something in return, don't you think?" He shamelessly confessed, his eyes raking her body.

Mercedes' chest rose three beats to the tune of her last heart rate but she did not relent. Aside from being graced with beauty, she also had a sharp tongue glued to a sassy and fiesta personality. "Mr Hayes, if you want me in your bed, then that will never happen."

Mr Hayes was done being nice. He had to change tactics. "Then you are fired and all those three weeks worked for, will go in vain because you violated a clause in your contract."

Mercedes raged with anger. She needed the income badly. "You are so evil," she gritted her teeth and said.

"I presented you with a good opportunity and you spat in my face." Mr Hayes's good mood had returned, seeing Mercedes so vulnerable but what he didn't expect, was her next words,

"Now you listen and listen good. I will rather endure a night in a pit full of snakes and scorpions than spend it with a devious bastard like you," she blurted out. Mr Hayes's smile froze on his face as he snarled,

"You have a sharp tongue."

"So you better watch it before I cut off that small thing between your thighs," Mercedes raged, her face red with fury.

But she wasn't the only angry one. She had also awoken the beast in the man who was trying to be nice to her. "Get out of my office!" He yelled but Mercedes wasn't moved. She sat back in the chair with her legs crossed,

"Not until you pay me what I deserve. I invested my time, energy, money and sweat for three weeks and I'm not leaving without my pay," she shot back at him.

Mr Hayes marvelled. He never expected her to be savage but he wasn't going to let her leave with a smile. "You already know the answer to that."

"You will burn in hell Hayes, you filthy old man." Mercedes had lost her patience and roared, standing from the chair.

"I'm not older than your father, pretty. I'm just forty," be taunted to her dismay, making matters worse. Instead of unlocking the door, she kicked it open. 

"Hey, you are going to pay for the damages," Mr Hayes screamed after Mercedes when she stormed out of his office.

Mercedes stopped abruptly and turned around, "yeah right, deduct it from my pay." With that, she strode back into his office, lifted his expensive Mac laptop and smashed it on the floor, together with his latest iPhone. Her cold glare met his. "Now, my payment is redeemed. Goodbye." She calmly said and walked away.

The noise seemed to have attracted some of her colleagues who rushed to her. "Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Did you piss him off?"

She ignored them with a cold shoulder, quickening her pace to her office.

She cleaned the table with her hand, sending every document to the floor. Satisfied with her conduct, she picked her handbag and went into the elevator. 

She had reached the underground car park,  in the safety of her Chevrolet Cruz. Life's realities began to tease her - pending bills, her brother's medical bills. Her upkeep and that of her best friend Griffin. Even though he was a jerk sometimes, she still loved him because he was always there for her before his girlfriend Penelope showed up a few months ago.

As if hit by a ray of light, she redialed Mr Shaw's number. "Have you made a consideration yet, Miss Winters?" He asked as soon as he answered the call.

"Yes but I have a condition." Mercedes directly responded.

"Let me hear it, Miss Winters." Vincent was patient.

"I need a salary advance."

He chuckled, "No, you don't. Your job switch allowance is three times what you are currently earning. It will be paid into your account as soon as you resume work."

This news was like cream in her coffee. She was about to say thank you when she observed a call waiting. It was her best friend Griffin. She ignored it and continued, "thank you, Mr Shaw."

"The pleasure is mine. See you on Monday."

When the line disconnected, Griffin kept calling so she answered it. "Are you free from her arms now?" Her tone aired with jealousy and Griffin, being her best friend for ten years, detected it.

"Don't tell me you are jealous. Penelope is my girlfriend but you will always be my best friend," he coaxed her.

"Cut it, Griff, no matter what, don't let her answer the phone when I call."

Griffin chuckled, "Oh that, she insisted because she was equally jealous. I'm very sorry, so how do I make it up to you?" Griffin had a tactical way of soothing her bad mood.

"I feel like having a fun night. Care to join me?"

"Send the location," he instantly agreed.

"And please, come alone." Mercedes couldn't stand his girlfriend. Its been weeks since they had some alone time to catch up on whatever was going on in their lives.

She was going to have a fun night because she wouldn't have time anymore if she began her new job. She felt like she would explode if she didn't let herself out. The pressure on her was just too much. Instead of driving straight home, she stopped by the boutique to pick some corporate wear with her credit card. She picked a few for Griffin as well. He has been job hunting and has to look good.

She saw a nice black party dress and picked it too. She wore it and realized it was getting dark. She stopped by a restaurant to have some soup because she hadn't eaten since morning. From there she drove to the club. On her way, the traffic light showed red making the car in front of her, a Lamborghini Sian, stop abruptly but her speed was a little over the mark and she hit the bumper of the car in front of her.

The driver seemed to be on a call and didn't react immediately. Looking at the car, there was a little scratch but she knew it would cost her thousands of dollars to repair it. Her car suffered the worst damage but repairing it would still be cheaper. Without thinking twice, she reversed a little since there were no cars behind her and just when the traffic light showed green, she overtook the car and drove off at top speed.

The driver of the Lamborghini, Nathan Legend ended his call and got down to check his car. There was evidence of a bump and he knew the culprit was the driver of the red Chevrolet Cruz. Unfortunately, he didn't catch the face of the driver. A frown dissipated his handsome face as he sat back in his car and drove off. He went back to his garage to change the car because he couldn't allow himself to be seen with that scratch on his car even though it was almost unnoticeable.

He was supposed to meet his best friend, Lanre at the club but he called at the last minute that he couldn't make it because his wife needed him. Exasperated, Nathan decided to cool off in the club.

Mercedes arrived at the car park of the exclusive nightclub. She was met with the buzzing sound of music that took away her worries for a while. She ordered her favourite martini and sipped after settling down while she waited patiently for Griffin. 

She rejected the advances of men trying to get her to the dance floor. She would never dance in the club if Griffin wasn't around. He was the only one who got her back. Ten minutes passed and she picked up her phone to send him a reminder when she saw a silhouette appear at the entrance, joined by another.

Rage boiled through her as she saw Griffin walk to her table with Penelope tailing behind him. "Which part of alone did you not understand, Griffin?" 

Mercedes yelled, trying to gain dominance from the loud music and picked her purse to leave, only for Griffin to hold her by the wrist, halting her movement. "Please Merce, we need to talk."

*******

Nathan Legend arrived at the club car park. While he was parking his car, another one caught his attention. It was the Chevrolet Cruze owned by the hit and run driver. He knew that the driver was somewhere but he didn't have a face to the car. He took his phone and snapped the car number, then made his way into the club.