Rescued by the Alpha

Lacee had only been in town for a few weeks when her new co-workers had convinced her to come out with them for drinks to celebrate their boss’s birthday. She didn’t normally go out or care about making appearances at social events for people she barely knew, but this job paid better than any other job she’d ever had, and this boss had a lot of power in the office. If spending a half an hour making small talk at some rundown bar outside of town meant not pissing off the boss and making her work life worse, then she could spare the thirty minutes. Plus, she really needed this job and a new town to work for not only her, but also her sister.

As she got out of her car, the lights from the parking lot bounced her image across the next car’s window. She had been in a hurry getting ready and hadn’t put much energy into her look. Her long blonde wavy hair was wildly untamed around her face. In the dark you couldn’t see her green eyes and doll lips, but you could see her tight blue jeans and pink tank top. She’d forgotten her jacket, but it was summertime, and she welcomed the June breeze upon her skin.

“You made it!” Jenn ran over to Lacee as she entered through the front door of the bar. Jenn was around thirty years old, with shoulder length brown hair that framed her round pudgy face. Her plump body may have had some shape, but you could never tell because she wore such baggy clothes and jackets. Lacee tried to like the lady, but the overbearing woman’s need to gossip about everyone’s personal business drove her mad.

“I can’t stay long.” Lacee lied. “My sister needs picked up soon.”

My little sister, Leena, was actually already at home and in for the night. She was seventeen and perfectly capable of caring for herself in my absence, but I had no desire to stay long at this ass kiss party.

“Well, then you have to wish Dan a happy birthday now, before Kerry and Paula get their claws into him. You know Paula used to have an affair with Tim from the second floor. Both of them are married with kids. They’d deny it, but she used to always sneak down to his office during lunch and they’d lock the door. Her husband should have left her, but he was too busy messing around with the school nurse.”

“I’m going to go say hi.” Lacee interrupted the busy-body woman. The sooner she could get this over with, the better.

Dan was handsome, in a smug-know-it way. His sandy blonde hair and soft blue eyes made him appear so approachable and sweet. All the ladies in the office had the hots for him, but he was a real dick, and she couldn’t look past the way he talked down to so many people daily. Lucky for her, she had minimal interaction with the jerk, but she still wanted a bonus that he had control over multiple times a year and he was well known for giving shit work to the ones he least favored.

“Happy Birthday.” Lacee told the boss as she walked up to him and the two ladies. They all looked at her awkwardly, as though they didn’t know who she was. Nervous, she stumbled upon words and practically threw his card at him. “I, I’m Lacee Evans. I work on the third floor, in incoming call. I just started recently.”

“Who?” Kerry asked with a smartass look on her face.

“There’s always so many new hires.” Paula added. “All these young ones can’t handle work nowadays. They quit just as quickly as they hire. It’s hard to recognize them anymore.”

The women were being unkind, and Lacee was biting her tongue from saying something she might regret in front of her boss.

“How could I not recognize this pretty little thing?” Dan moved forward and took the envelope from her, running his fingers across her hand as he did. She had gotten him a measly gift card from the coffee shop on the first floor of our company building. He would most likely put his nose up at it. “I see you around the building all the time, but you’ve always seemed too busy for me to introduce myself.”

“I like to stay busy,” she said.

“If only everyone did.” Dan looked at the other two women with disappointment. “You’ll have to have lunch with me in my lounge.”

The two women gasped, and Lacee was confused of why they had that reaction. Lacee nodded, with no intention of actually taking him up on the offer. She usuallyate lunch in her car, away from all the chatter and drama of the office.

“I’d offer you a drink, but you obviously aren’t twenty-one yet.” Paula handed a shot to Dan and Kerry. These women were so bent on pissing her off, but she could care less about her boss or their dumb drama.

“I’m twenty-one.” Lacee corrected her. “But I’m not drinking tonight. Thanks though.”

The three shot down the whiskey and Lacee stepped up to the bar to order a water. Dan leaned in close to her, his hand pressed against her lower back and seemed to be going down further slowly.

“You know, we do have a good position available near my office. Better pay, better view.” His hand was getting close to her ass, and she fought the urge to punch him in his smug face, but she needed this job. She wouldn’t be groped, but she couldn’t sabotage everything either.

“Excuse me.” Lacee slithered away from his hand and backed up. “I have to use the restroom.”

She held her fist down at her side, afraid to trust herself from hitting the man. Anger had been a problem of hers her whole life, but she was more mature nowadays. She had to be. If she got into trouble, it affected not only her life, but also Leena’s and they were all each other had. Lacee couldn’t risk losing her sister back into the system they had grown up in, or the apartment they had saved up for, or the college dreams her sister was going to be fulfilling in this town the next year. Surely, she wouldn’t risk all that to kick this dickhead’s ass, no matter how satisfying it would be.

The bar bathroom was even more run down than the rest of the place. Jenn told her they had to choose this place because all the bars in their town were going to be crowded with college fans that night because of some game. Apparently, Dan also liked the nachos and burgers from this hole in the wall. None of it mattered, since Lacee was only wasting time in the bathroom until she would make her escape for the front door and get the hell out of the place and away from dickhead Dan.

The bathroom door swung open, and a beautiful woman came in. Her dark hair bounced with her fast motion as she seemed to stomp her way along the floor and her bronzed skin seemed to glow under the flickering bathroom light. She stopped abruptly and her head turned sideways at Lacee in an almost animalistic way. It sounded like a growl that left the woman’s lips as her dark brown eyes glared at Lacee with a look only enemies give. Lacee had one word pop into her head, fight. Her fist readied at her side.

Just as the woman seemed ready to pounce at Lacee, the restroom door opened again and two women from work giggled their way into the room and between the strange woman and Lacee. Within seconds, the bronzed woman was gone, and Lacee sighed a breath of relief, still unsure what the hell had just happened between them.

This place sucked. She’d never return to the bar ever again, that was for sure. And she’d start looking for a new job on Monday, but she knew she wouldn’t quit hers unless she could find a better one, which was highly unlikely.

Lacee checked herself in the mirror and then got up the nerve to make a run for her car, hoping Dan or none of the co-workers would stop her as she went about her way. She opened the bathroom door and began to go for it when someone grabbed her from behind, putting their hand over her mouth and pulling her back. She fought, kicking and scratching. The hands let go and she fell to the floor.

She tried to flee, but now there were three men grabbing at her and yanking her backwards. She could see Dan with his back to her at the bar. Her fingers reached one man’s eyes and she scratched as hard as she could. He yelped and she fell to the floor again.

Lacee tried to scream as she attempted to get up and run, but a blow to the side of her head stunned her long enough for the men to carry her down the hall and into a back room. The door locked behind them and she was thrown to the floor.