You could feel the tension in the air whenever she emerged from her office. Claire was the "hatchet lady" at the firm. If there was something distasteful that needed doing, Claire was your woman. Like the rest of the cubicle dwelling peons I worked next to, my first instinct was to hide whenever I saw her. The last thing any of us wanted was to draw the attention of her cold unfeeling gaze.
Everyone tried to exist below the Claire's radar. Everyone, that is, except for me. I didn't have a choice as I lived with Claire. Not in a sexual way mind you. I mean that I lived downstairs in her house. You know, as a renter. When I first started with the firm I was grateful when she looked me up and asked whether I needed a place to live. Being a junior associate with Claire's firm meant one did not make very much money. So initially Claire's offer seemed perfect. I got a cheap furnished suite plus a free ride to and from work everyday.
However it didn't take long for me to find out what a mistake I had made. My relationship with Claire, no matter how innocent, petrified most of my co-workers. They didn't want anything to do with me. I couldn't blame them though. Claire was the single worst boss I have ever known. Not a day went by when she wouldn't single out some poor schmuck at random and cruelly fuck with their brain. Sometimes she would rip into people over trivial work related issues. Other times she would publicly humiliate her victims by bringing up personal shit she had no reason divulging. Yes, some did fight back. But they were invariably fired. Claire liked her charges meek and compliant.
I was a special case though. She mostly left me alone at work. Of course that only made my co-workers even more suspicious of me. What they didn't know was that Claire had turned me into an unpaid slave around her house. She would threaten to give me the worst possible assignment at work β a real ball buster. Then offer me a reprieve if I would do some menial chore for her. What choice did I have? Jobs in my field were scarce. Pretty soon I was cutting the grass, cleaning her pool and washing her car. I even took charge of taking her horrible little dog out for walks twice a day.
I don't see myself as someone who was particularly meek, but Claire had a way of bringing that out in a person. So while I hated being her pool boy, I didn't complain and was actually a little relieved she didn't ask me for any sexual favors. It was obvious there was no guy in her life and I was afraid she might attempt to dragoon me into that role. Not that Claire was bad looking. She was in her early 40's and in pretty good shape. She worked out every day. Not that you could tell. She always wore dumpy grey skirts and high collared matronly blouses that effectively obscured her figure. The one time I did glimpse her in shorts and a t-shirt coming home from the gym I couldn't help but be impressed. Sure, her face was as cold and plain as ever. But she was quite slim with high round breasts that filled out the cotton of her t-shirt quite nicely. And as a bonus she had the ass of a 20 year old. No, it wasn't the thought of her body that made me fear the possibility of sex with her. It was the knowledge that making love to a woman like this would only put me further under her control. And that was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.
After I had been living like this for about 7 months, Claire's teenage niece - Dana - came to spend a few weeks with her. Sweet girl, basically everything her Aunt wasn't. Claire had bought tickets for some pop concert in the city and had promised to take Dana. Claire then decided at the last moment that she didn't want to go. So by way of escape she volunteered my services as chaperone. Of course I wasn't informed of this until the last possible moment. To make things worse I had a date planned that very evening. Lets just say that I was choked enough at this request to briefly consider refusing Claire. However the look on Claire's face as I took some time considering her request quickly brought me to my senses. I would cancel my date and instead take Claire's niece to the concert. What choice did I have?
So there I was at a concert for a band I hated while the noise from 10,000 screaming teenaged girls drowned out their amateurish attempts at music. The concert couldn't have ended soon enough for me. In the pouring rain we made our way back to the car. I turned the key and nothing happened. The battery was dead. Lacking a cell phone, I had to get out and walk back to the concert arena (in the rain) in order to find a pay phone. I called AAA for a jump and then phoned Claire and left a message on her machine detailing what had happened.
By the time we waited for the tow truck, we were about 2 hours late getting home. I wasn't worried about Claire's reaction at this point. It was hardly my fault that her alternator wasn't working properly and drained the battery. And I did leave Claire a message. I came upstairs with Dana to make sure everything was fine. I didn't see Claire at first. But when I did I knew something was terribly wrong. The moment Claire saw Dana she lit into her:
"You arrogant little brat. You think you can come into my house and just come and go as you please. You're a disgrace Dana. I know that and so does the rest of your family. Have you ever considered that you are the reason your father divorced my sister. He wasn't leaving his wife, he was getting away from you. Well, have you? You can't be trusted and I don't know if I even want you staying here any more."
I couldn't believe what I just heard. What the hell was this about? Dana didn't do anything wrong. Claire was bullying Dana the way she bullied people at work β the problem was that Dana wasn't at work. She was just an innocent 14 year old girl who had come home from a concert. Everything Claire had said was meant to hurt Dana. The extent of Claire's cruelty knew no bounds.
Dana burst into tears and ran upstairs to her bedroom. Incredibly I felt myself getting angry. Uncharacteristically, I spoke up:
"What was that for Claire? It wasn't her fault that the battery died."
Claire looked over at me disdainfully and replied:
"I suggest you crawl back into your hole little man. This is none of your business. Unless, of course, you want reassignment to the Johnson portfolio first thing Monday morning.
This was my cue to shut up and leave it alone. But I didn't feel like shutting up. Everything just boiled over for me at that point. I was tired of living here, I was weary of working for this bitch, I was lonely at work, I was pissed off that I missed my date, I hated having to go to the stupid concert and now I felt guilty because of how Claire had just treated Dana. I was angry. In fact I was really fucking angry. Before I could stop myself I heard these words coming out of my mouth:
"You bitch! You ignorant harpy! Why the hell would you yell at Dana of all people. She didn't do anything wrong. You must sit around all day figuring out ways to make everyone around you feel like a piece of shit. You act like a spoiled child who can't stand anyone having fun around you. Somebody somewhere needs to teach you a lesson β the kind of lesson you won't forget for a long time."
Claire's gaze narrowed menacingly. She had never heard me speak up to her before and obviously she didn't like it at all:
"Teach me a lesson?" she asked sarcastically. "You think I need a lesson? That would require a man and I don't see any men around here. Do you?"