Anger Management

The Office

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Danielle felt Johnathan's hand grasp her left butt cheek and without a thought she twirled around and slapped him across the face... hard.

So hard in fact that by the time the stars disappeared from above his head she had already exited the elevator and was halfway to her boss's office.

"Tamara! You won't believe what just happened!" Danielle yelled as she slammed the door closed behind her and walked right up to Tamara's desk.

"Hey Kevin, I'll have to give you a callback..." Tamara said and Danielle noticed for the first time her boss was on the phone. Danielle took a step back at hearing the CEO's name come from Tamara's lips, but the fury raging inside of her did not subside one iota.

Tamara set the handset of the phone down with her perfectly manicured nails and then flashed the million-dollar smile of perfectly white teeth at Danielle before addressing her.

"Now then, what can I do for you, Danielle." Tamara said as she pulled down slightly on her designer power yellow jacket that offset her extremely dark skin tone and fell perfectly in with her unkempt hair.

"It was fucking Johnathan again! This time he grabbed my ass in the elevator!" Danielle nearly yelled, getting some control of herself.

Tamara frowned and shook her head, "The bastard. This isn't the first complaint I've had about him. We'll have to do a formal report to HR, I'm sure there is a surveillance camera in the elevator that will sink him this time for sure."

Danielle was taken aback at the thought of being monitored in the elevator, but it made some kind of sense she guessed. And if it finally got Johnathan fired, well, that was fine with her then. She huffed and nodded her head as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of Tamara's desk while Tamara started typing on her computer.

"I've got your back on this Danielle, 100%. This is unacceptable behaviour in this day and age and it won't go unpunished."

"Thanks Tamara, you're the best. I just can't... I mean... what are those kinds of guys even thinking?"

Tamara nodded as she typed, "Yeah, well, 'those kinds of guys' are all of them. Men are just pigs looking for any excuse to grab some ass..."

Tamara looked over at Danielle and smiled with a half chuckle as she said the next words, "and, well, you can't entirely blame them."

Danielle felt all the stress flow out of her body as she started to laugh a little herself, she'd talked to Tamara about her men problems many times, and this was just Tamara's way of giving her a little friendly jab with an in joke.

Danielle had matured early and been a target due to her curvaceous body as soon as the boys in her school had matured enough to be interested. But that had been only half the problem, the other, more significant problem was the older guys that had hit on her. And not just a few years older, but men that could easily be her father or even grandfather.

She'd learned early to ignore them and deny them any semblance of engagement, which send most of them running to stroke their bruised egos. A few had needed more direct intervention, and that was where she had developed the instinct to slap, hard, those that broke her boundaries.

It could have been worse though, at least she wasn't a blonde, that would have been a disaster. Not just because of the assumption that 'blondes are more fun', but it would have been a real hindrance to her career, as the 'dumb blonde' stereotype was so ingrained in the culture.

"Ok, looks like HR can see us now, let's go." Tamara said and stood up, pushing her chair back and walking out from behind her desk.

Danielle nodded and stood up as well, the two women striding from the office towards HR.

* * *

"What the fuck do you mean I have to go to 'Anger Management Therapy'?" Danielle screamed at Tamara as she sat across from her boss.

It had been three months since they had submitted Danielle's complaint to HR and Johnathan still roamed the hallways of the office like he owned the place. And now, to make it worse, they'd finally received the official report from the investigation.

Tamara frowned and shook her head from side to side, "I know, it doesn't seem fair. But there just wasn't enough evidence to fire Johnathan."

"But what about the video..."

"Out of service. They've repaired it since, but there was no video they could get from the incident. And since no one else was in the elevator... it was your word against his."

"But then why do I have to..."

"Well, it wasn't quite your word against his, he had photos of the bruises you caused when you slapped him... so..."

"But that proves..."

"That you slapped him... yes... but not why you slapped him. That came down to your stories, and since he had *some* evidence backing up his side... but it's not all bad news. I do have two good things to tell you."

Danielle brushed back a strand of her long brown hair over her ear and raised a questioning eyebrow in curiosity, "Oh? And what might those be?"

"Well, Johnathan isn't getting off scot-free either. He has to attend a two-week workplace harassment and discrimination seminar... in New Jersey."

Danielle let out a laugh at that and Tamara joined in.

"Ok... ok, that's pretty terrible... but he should still be fired."

Tamara nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but that's just a matter of time. He can't get lucky like he did with you forever."

Danielle gave a hefty sigh, "Ok, hit me with the rest then. What's the other 'good' news?"

Tamara smiled like the wolf that had caught the sheep, "Well it's true that you have to attend anger management therapy, but I've pulled some strings. I think you'll find you're two-week course in Palm Springs at a private spa and resort, all on the company's dime of course, to be, well, not terrible to say the least."

"Really? You're kidding right? I mean..."

"Not kidding, and just say thank you."

"Thank you Tamara, you're the best boss!"

Arrival Day

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Danielle dropped her bags at the front desk and smiled at the woman sitting behind it, "Hi, Danielle Young checking in."

"Oh Miss Young, yes, I've got you right here." the bubbly blonde with the large, if not well hidden, chest replied as she typed on the computer in front of her.

"It says you are going to be with us for 12 days, and you have the platinum package..." the blonde's face fell a little and she leaned forward, whispering the next part, "... and you are registered for the..." the blonde's eyes darted side to side, "...anger management sessions."

Danielle smiled at the poor girl and nodded, "Yes, that's right."

"Great! Let me get you your keys and off to your room."

A few moments later she handed Danielle a keycard and waved a bellboy over to get her bags. Well, bellboy was the wrong description, he was a bell *man* for sure. In his mid-twenties and she could see his toned muscles even under the classic hotel attire he wore. She doubted there was an inch of extra fat on him anywhere.

Danielle gladly followed the young man over to the elevator and up to her room, a smile on her face the entire way.

* * *

Evert, the bellman that had carried her bags up to her room, whom she'd spoken with briefly on their way up, closed the door behind him after depositing her belongings where they were supposed to go.

The room was spacious, a single large queen bed dominated the majority of it, with a small desk near the panoramic window on the far wall. In front of the bed was an equally large TV that hung above a credenza that had a selection of healthy snacks laid out on it.

The bathroom was large and had a separate tub and shower, along with double sinks, a toilet and bidet, and everything else you could ask for.

The entire room was high-end and premium in every aspect.

A large leather binder, embossed with the spa's logo on it caught her eye on the bed and she went over to get it. Inside was a welcome letter, full of platitudes and basic information about the spa. There was also a schedule for the next day:

- 7 am: Pool and spa open

- 8 am: Breakfast

- 9 am: Introduction to Dr. Thompson, you're personal anger management coach

- 10 am: Spa tour

- 11 am: Massage therapy

- Noon: Lunch

- 1 pm: Introduction to the Process

- 2 pm: Hydrotherapy

- 3 pm: Free time

- 6 pm: Dinner

- 8 pm: Pool and spa close

Danielle tossed the binder down onto the bed again and went over to the window, outside was the main pool area, but beyond it was several other areas she couldn't see very well due to the amount of palm trees and shrubs that covered them.

She shrugged her shoulders and checked her watch, it was only 6:30... the pool was open for a while longer so she decided to head down and take a swim.

Day 2

-----

Danielle stepped out of the pool in her black full-body bathing suit and picked up her towel as the sun peaked over the palm trees. The swim the night before had felt so good that she'd decided to get up before breakfast and take another, so she'd set her alarm for 6 am.

Waking up hadn't turned out to be much of a problem though, as her night had been restless, with sleep coming late, and her eyes open well before her alarm had gone off.

She wasn't sure, but she thought she had only gotten, maybe five hours of sleep in total and none of them could have been called restful. Part of that was the mattress and different room, part of it was the disruption of her routine, and well, part of it was just an uneasiness she had felt since arriving.

If she was forced to choose though, it was the disruption of her routine that was probably the worst. She had for years watched the late-night talk shows and let herself fall asleep to them. When she'd turned on the TV last night though, she'd found only a few channels, and all of them full of claptrap feel-good programs that ran on a loop.

She'd ended up just leaving the TV on at the lowest volume on the most innocuous channel she could find and eventually drifted off.

Towelling herself off, she headed back up to her room for a quick change before heading to breakfast.

* * *

Danielle burst out of her room and walked straight into a brick wall... or at least what felt like one. Bouncing back a bit from it she looked up to see Evert's smiling face looking down at her as he pulled a trolley of luggage behind him.

"Oh Miss Young, sorry, I didn't see you coming out of your room. Are you alright?" Evert said

"Yes... yes, fine." she replied smiling as well, her hand coming to rest on his chest for just a moment before she pulled it back.

She hadn't noticed how tall Evert was, but perhaps that was because she'd been wearing her heels yesterday, or perhaps it was because she'd been staring at his ass all the way up. Either way, she guessed he must be right around 6 feet tall, well above her own 5-foot 4-inch frame.

She managed to take a step back and one to the side to let him by and then she hurried to the elevator for her meeting with Dr. Thompson.

Her room was on the 5th floor, while the spa was on the main level, but the therapy offices were on the second, so she pressed the button for the second floor and waited the few moments it took to travel between them. When the doors opened she stepped out into a small lobby area with a large board indicating which way each of the doctor's offices were.

Dr. Thompson's was to her left and so she walked quickly down the hall until she found his nameplate and knocked gently on the door.

"Come in." the confident voice said from behind the door and she opened it to reveal an older gentleman sitting behind a large desk. He still had his hair, though it had turned snow white, which matched the thin beard than ran across his face.

If she had to guess, she would have said he was in his sixties, but there was something about the way he looked that suggested he might be older than that.

"Ah Miss Young I presume?" he asked as he stood up and extended his hand across the desk.

Danielle stepped up to the desk and took his hand in hers and shook it with confidence, practiced over many years working in corporate offices.

"Yes, and you must be my therapist." she replied with a wry smirk.

"That I am. Please have a seat." he said and waved at the large comfortable chairs in front of his desk.

Danielle chose the one on the right and relaxed into it, "So, what's the plan Doc?"

"Well..." he started to say as he picked up a folder and started reading it, "It says here you have some anger issues at work... a slapping incident, which looks to be completely justified by the notes I have here."

Danielle raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh don't be surprised Miss Young, I get a lot of referrals from corporate HR departments for this kind of thing. They want to look like they're doing the right thing, but aren't all that concerned about if the right thing is actually done."

"Ok, well, that's surprising."

"Not that surprising really, the spa gets paid the same if you change your ways or you don't. Not to say that we can't work on anything you want to while you're here. I just want you to know that we don't *have* to work on anything you don't want to.

Each day you'll have an hour session with me. We can talk about the weather, your job, your personal relationships, or nothing at all. It's completely up to you.

And of course the spa's facilities are completely available to you. Your company is paying all expenses here, including the commissary if you need any supplies or necessities."

Danielle nodded and smiled, "Well, I'm not feeling all that talkative at the moment, could we just relax in silence for a while? I didn't get a very good sleep last night."

"Of course, in fact feel free to lie down on my couch if you like." he said, once more waving his hand, this time to the couch along the far wall that had a chair sitting to the side of it.

* * *

"And so that concludes the tour of the spa." the leggy redhead said as they returned to the starting point of the tour by the pool.

Danielle raised her hand and the woman pointed at her, "Yes?"

"Yeah... what about the areas beyond that gate over there?" Danielle asked as she pointed towards the gate that had an electronic lock on it, and lead towards the areas of the pool that had been obstructed from the view from her room the night before.

"Oh, that leads to the secondary and tertiary pool areas. You'll get access to them as your time at the spa progresses. All of that will be explained at your 1 pm introduction to the process session." the woman said as if that explained everything.

Danielle rolled her eyes and was about to ask a follow-up question when the woman pointed to another member of the group to ask a question. Danielle let out a little sigh and just let it be, she could always ask more questions at the 1 o'clock session after all.

Instead, noticing that it was almost 11 am, she left the group and headed towards the spa once more, to the massage therapy area. She'd been looking forward to this since she'd seen the schedule the night before.

She arrived at the check-in counter where a stack of towels and house coats were laid out with a sign, "Take one of each and feel free to get changed in the change rooms before coming into the main massage area." it read. Below the text were two arrows, the one pointing to the left was labelled change rooms, while the one on the right was labelled massage area.

Shrugging her shoulders she grabbed one of each and headed to one of the small room to change. Above each was a light, three were green and one was red. Assuming that green meant available she approached one of the doors and turned the handle. It was locked but had the same kind of swipe card as her room and so she waved her room key over it and was greeted by a thunk and the door opening slightly.

Inside was another digital sign that read "Room reserved for Danielle Young". She closed the door behind her and saw another small sign above the door handle, "Please press the reset button when you are finished with the room, thank you."

She quickly stripped out of her light top and shorts, placed them all on the bench and then wrapped herself in the housecoat before leaving the room and heading into the main massage area.

She only just stopped herself from gasping aloud when she walked in to see three attendants, two men and a woman standing around a small table in the center of the room. There we four more doors, two along each wall that she assumed lead to the private massage rooms, three of the doors were open and one was closed, confirming her thought that there was already someone taking advantage of the massage services.

As for the attendants, all three of them were drop-dead gorgeous. The one man was blonde, with shoulder-length hair, clean-shaven, and at least a six-pack of abs. The second man had curly brown hair and a full beard and looked like he'd just walked down from mount Olympus. The woman had jet black hair down to her ass and was so toned she could have won any body-building competition she entered easily.

"Ah, are you Miss Young?" the blonde man said with a smile.

Danielle jerked her head over to look at him and gave a nervous smile in response, "Yes."

"Great! My name is David and I'll be your massage therapist for your stay here. Why don't we go into my room and get started."

Danielle just nodded and tried not to blush too much as David lead her away from the others.

Soon enough she was laying face down on the massage table, a towel draped over her bum and David's hands working their magic on her shoulders.

* * *

"Welcome to the Process!" the man said as he stood in front of the small group of guests seated for his presentation.

"We here at the spa are proud to have developed a custom program that guarantees results, as long as you engage in it fully.

The first stage of the process will get you relaxed and open to learning new things. In this stage, you'll have full access to the main spa, as well as the therapists, and other amenities in the main building.

The second stage or the process will start your journey to improving your life for the better. Once you have graduated to this level you'll receive one of these." the man said holding up his left wrist where a blue plastic band was.

"This will give you access to the secondary pool area as well as the additional services and learning opportunities provided there.

Then, when you are ready, you'll get one of these." the man said and held up his right wrist where a pink plastic band was.

"Which will open up the tertiary pool area as well as the advanced services and learning opportunities hosted there."

Danielle was only half paying attention as he continued on his spiel and a few minutes later she was mostly daydreaming about the fantastic hands... and other body parts... of David.

She had to admit that she'd been so focused on her career over the last few years that she hadn't really had much time for her personal life, but something about the chiselled bodies of pretty much everyone that worked for the spa had sparked something to life in her.

Hell, even this guy, who she couldn't remember the name of, looked like he'd been an underwear model at some point in his life, even if now he was in his thirties. Thinking about it, even Dr. Thompson had been in great shape for his age.

"Ok, any questions?" he finally asked after he finished. Danielle was going to leave, but she'd foolishly sat near the front and before she could get up one of the other guests raised their hand.

"So who determines when you're ready for the next phase?" A petite blonde asked, who looked too young to be here and wore a very plain white outfit that covered her head to toe. She looked as pale as a ghost with her hair pulled back into a bun.