Into You

Chapter 3

Her first day as an Athena employee had been, well, interesting to say the least. She'd gone from a 'washed up, fucked up ex-squaddie' to a respectable member of society, with a platinum company credit card and a very nice car, in what seemed like a matter of hours.

It was a better experience than an assessment day or having to do one of those vocational courses the careers advisor has told her that were 'oh so necessary' to land a decent job. Well now, she had a decent job, and one she was well-trained for. Something told her that this role would be challenging and possibly a little dangerous. Basically, it was going to be fun!

Normani had called Ally whilst she showed her how to get to the flat and she had made arrangements to pick Ally up to go shopping. She needed a crap load of clothes, make-up and other essentials and she had no clue what to get. You don't have to look smart and presentable in a combat zone, how you should look in uniform, or dress uniform is pretty much taught to you and she had no idea what was acceptable in the "real" world of business; She doubted her usual off-duty attire of jeans, shorts, T-Shirts and Vans would be suitable for a business meeting, nor would combat fatigues and body armour.

She realized that she'd been as good as 'bottle fed' by Ally and the salon staff for her first meeting; She'd been like a child having to be dressed up. So, realizing she was stuck like a rabbit in headlights, she'd braved up, done the scary thing and asked for help. Fortunately for her, Ally was only too happy to oblige. Personally, she'd found the 'extreme makeover Ally style' a little over the top, so she was desperately hoping the girl would slow down, listen to her, and help her find her own style as they shopped.

They'd spent hours in the huge shopping center, trawling around shop after shop. Her new credit card had been sadly abused, but she'd tried to keep her purchases reasonable and hadn't gone anywhere near the 5K golden handshake she'd been given. Most of the things she'd bought she wouldn't be paying for anyway; Ally had made it clear that all Athena's employees got their work-wear paid for and Ally's definition of work wear was pretty loose. She'd lectured her for ages. By the end of the trip, she had pretty much everything she needed to get her started and she'd barely touched her 'own' money.

Her one success for the evening, the one thing that made her feel happy was convincing Ally and Normani to let her take them for a meal; it seemed only fair after all their help. They'd spent a nice couple of hours in their favorite curry house, eating the traditional menu that consisted of far too many poppadoms, far too many chapatis and far too much of the hottest curry on the menu. 

After she paid the bill, and they walked back to the parked cars, they'd said their farewells. After she'd got a hug from Ally and a handshake and a 'good luck for the morning' from Normani, she headed back to the Beemer and sat in the luxurious leather seat. She spent a happy moment considering the fact that, if she fell asleep right now, it would be the second most comfortable place she'd slept all year. She has to admit meeting Normani on that street that night had been a serious result; She shudders to think what might have happened to her if she hadn't bothered to return her call when she did.

Sitting back and letting the cool leather envelop her body, she gave a quick prayer of thanks to whomever it was that had been watching over her and punched the destination 'home' into the car's sat-nav. She worked her way through the streets ironically passing her old 'home' on the way. As she passed under the bridge, she could see her old boxes, she could also see a figure sleeping in them. Well, they could have them and good luck; she was well out of that situation.

She pressed on, guided by the relentless voice of the 'bird in the box' as she'd decided to call her, and ended up at the place that Athena had allowed her to stay in. The place was stunning and she loved it. Well actually, the flat itself was nothing special; just a plain one bedroom apartment; it had a small kitchen diner tagged onto the end of the living area and a laidback en-suite bathroom with just a shower to compliment the main bathroom with a tub. But the complex itself had everything the busy executive would want in their Miami pad before they fucked off to their country home for the weekend. It came equipped with secure parking, 24-hour security all mod cons and even a gym tagged on. Best of all, the flats had access to their own small pool; and it was here she found herself at 23:20hrs when really she should have been in bed.