Brittany Hadel leaned over Rick's service counter, chatting with the only other customer service employee at Tray's Hardware. Despite being a fairly large hardware supply store, the service department was quiet again, and both of its service employees got plenty of time to relax. Since she'd left the dealership and moved away, she had a handful of other jobs, but for the last year, she'd been settling in nicely in her new job.
Rick, a tall, sharp-eyed man with black hair and a five o-clock shadow, couldn't help but glance down her shirt every time she looked at her phone, or looked across the service area to her boss's office -- it was like she was showing them off considering how much of their weight she was resting against his service counter.
"Not much warranty work today, huh?" Rick asked. It was easy to see he was trying hard to be nonchalant.
Brittany looked up from her phone. "Nope. It's been pretty slow lately," she shrugged, and her shirt collar dipped low as she relaxed back into the counter. Her bright blond hair framed her face and fell over her chest, but it wasn't hiding the generous pressure her tits put against her bra. She looked back at her phone and Rick glanced down her shirt again. Brittany smirked.
"Oh. Yeah, I think it's supposed to pick up next month, though. Something something summer projects, something something school being out for summer," Rick said with a grin. There was silence as Rick continued to take poorly-hidden looks down the girl's low-cut blouse. Her bra was pink. He wondered what shade of pink her nipples were.
Finally, she looked up from her phone and said, "Wow. Finally time to go! Have a good night, Rick." Brittany made eye contact, and Rick took one last look down her shirt. She smiled coyly and left for the front the building, more than one pair of eyes following her. Rick scoffed. "Damn, I don't know if I like the view better coming or going."
"You're telling me," said a voice behind Rick. He scrambled and almost fell out of his chair. John, his boss, stood up from where he was hovering over Rick and walked away laughing. "That girl's going to get us all in a lot of trouble."
Rick took one more look down the aisle leading to the front of the store and started putting away his workstation. John started toward his office. "I'm leaving, too, Rick. Do you mind closing the service department?"
It wasn't really a question, but Rick acquiesced anyway. "Sure, boss."
Brittany made her way out to the parking lot and slowed down as she approached her car. The smell of the asphalt from yesterday's rain made her nauseous, and the idea of how she would spend her evening left little knots in her stomach.
She reached clammy hands for the door handle. Numb fingertips pulled open her car door, and the wave of heat that followed the made her dizzy. She dropped into the car feeling like a ten-ton weight. With shaky hands, she grabbed her phone from her purse and sent a text to her boyfriend, Hal.
She eventually got up the courage to dump Drake a few weeks before she left town. She and Hal had hooked up almost the same day she moved. She sent the message, 'Going to swing by the grocery store on the way home. Want anything?'
A reply came seconds later: 'Just you, babe ;)' Brittany took a deep, calming breath. Hal sent a follow up text right after. 'I know I said 6, but I might run a little late. Boss promised a rush on this old Coupe de Ville.' She paused, took a deep breath, and responded: 'That sucks. Don't be long!'
She put her phone down and rolled down the window. At 5pm, it was the perfect temperature for the short drive to Berry's Supermarket.
May is always a good month of the year,
assured herself. She took another deep breath and pulled off her blouse and threw it in the back seat. Underneath, she was left wearing a black tank top to feel the wind on her skin.
The wind batted her platinum blond hair, and she was lost in nervous excitement. The low buzz in her chest, the small tremor in her hands as she reached over to turn up the volume on the radio. Every inch of her trembled.
I know I said I wasn't going to do stuff like this anymore. But it's worth making exceptions for something like a raise, or maybe as a special favor,
she rationalized. She pulled up at the supermarket moments later.
By 5:24, she was back in her car, and leaving the parking lot. She practiced taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. She left the parking lot going the opposite direction to home. It wasn't far anyway, and she took another deep breath as she pulled into the local Motel 6. She made sure that John Mariway's black SUV was parked there, too, and found it parked towards the back of the lot.
Brittany parked a few spaces away from her boss and got out of her car. She pressed down her tank top, straightened out a seam on her jeans, and walked towards the corner of the motel. She passed John's car on the walk over and grabbed a door key sitting on his passenger-side tire as she went. A sticky note was stuck to it. It read '208' in permanent marker.
Hands shaking, Brittany headed for the staircase on the corner of the building, rather than walking through the lobby.
***
John's heart pounded in his chest as he swiped the door card for room 208 and pulled open the hotel door. As the youngest manager at the hardware store, he felt like he had more power than needed, but with only two employees, the pressure was more to do with customer surveys than employee management.
And now he was "meeting" one of his employees at the motel. He could hardly believe she had shyly agreed to the meeting when he'd nervously requested a "more intimate work review for a much deserved pay raise." It wasn't something he'd ever consider doing without the way she interacted with him on a daily basis since starting work at the hardware chain.
He remembered the long pause as she connected the dots in his office, then slowly nodded as a deep blush colored her cheeks. It made him wonder if she wasn't unfamiliar propositions for
special favors.
In front of him was a standard motel bedroom, and to the left, the bathroom. He pocketed his door key and walked into the bedroom. Ivory pillows and blankets covered the beds, and the floor was carpeted in a worn navy blue. The shades were open to the parking lot behind the building, and a small TV sat on a desk in the corner.
It was quiet. Quiet enough for him to imagine his heartbeat rattling the mirror hanging over the bed. He closed his eyes and exhaled, running both hands through his dirty blonde hair. "This is a terrible idea." He walked back to the bathroom and leaned over the sink. He splashed cold water on his face. He was too young for lines, but a few marked the corners of his eyes anyway, and his hair might have hidden a secret gray hair or two if he looked long enough.
His hands shook from the nerves, and he leaned into the counter. The only sound came from the stream of water splashing into the white porcelain sink. A minute later, the door snapped open as a key card unlocked it from the outside. John hurried to dry his hands and face and leaned against the sink counter, adopting his best "relaxed and cool" look.
