The Bitch Boss Blues

As we get out of the car and approach the building, Luck seems just a bit too excited, though if I'm being honest, she always seems a bit too excited if you ask me.

"Iso Insurance..." She reads off of the sign above the door. "So this is where the magic happens..."

"Pfft... I wouldn't exactly call it magic," I reply. "More like this is where a bunch of scam artists try to rip off local idiots."

"Is that what insurance agencies do? To be honest, I don't really know much about that kind of stuff. But hey, if it gives me the chance to make a bunch of annoying office workers loosen up, it works for me," Luck exclaims.

"Good luck with that," I tell her.

"Yeah, I am pretty good, aren't I?" She ask with a smirk.

"That's not what I... ugh, never mind..."

I approach the building with Luck following closely behind. As I step inside, I notice a clock hung up near the door that tells me that I managed to make it with just a few minutes to spare. Thank goodness.

Luck seems totally enamored by everything as we walk through the lobby. The ground floor of the building is set up solely for the front desk and the sales agents. They all appear to be setting up at their stations, preparing for anyone who may come in throughout the day. Seeing as how I don't spend any of my time down here and they rarely bother to venture up to my floor, I don't really know any of the people who work in this area. In fact, I'm pretty sure I only know two or three of their names. Not that there are that many of them to begin with. This branch of the agency is super small, so we only have a handful of salespeople anyway.

The two of us navigate our way through the floor and toward the elevator in the back. A few people give Luck a confused look, but none of them bother to ask any questions, most likely because they don't actually care all that much. Which is fair enough. I don't care to know anything about them, so I don't expect them to do anything more for me.

We ride up the elevator to the second floor, where everyone else works, including me. This floor looks much more like a traditional office space, complete with drab grey walls and unremarkable desks. I work my way to the corner of the building where a small desk is tucked away. There isn't really anything around the desk, making it look a bit lonely off by itself.

"Is this where you work?" Luck asks as we arrive.

"Yep. At least when they don't have me off running pointless errands." I answer. "I'd complain about getting such a crappy space, but at least it means I have some privacy. Pretty much no one even bothers to come over here."

"Ooh, so you're saying this is a good place to fool around a little without the risk of getting caught?" Luck responds with a look that makes me feel incredibly dirty.

"Gross. Do you always have to act like such a pervert?"

"Do you always have to act like such a prude?" She retorts, to which I just roll my eyes as I set my belongings down and get ready for the day.

Almost as soon as I settle into my desk, the phone rings, causing me to jump. I look over at the caller ID and my heart sinks when I read the name displayed: Carmen Montalvo.

"Shit."

"Who's that?" Luck asks as she reads over my shoulder.

"I thought you knew everything about my life," I mention, glancing over at her.

"Not everything. Just the major bullet points. I wanted to go in without too many specifics so I could be surprised. It makes it more fun that way."

Luck sure does love her surprises, which isn't great for me considering that I hate surprises.

"That's my boss," I explain to Luck. "She and I don't exactly get along. She's you're classic heartless businesswoman type, doing whatever she can to get ahead, even if it's at the expense of others."

"And I'm guess the 'others' in most cases is you," Luck notes.

"You got it. She loves to spout whatever bullshit she can to get people to do what she wants. She's the reason I can't just 'be a man' and demand a raise like my fath- I mean second mother so lovingly suggests I do. She knows how badly I need this job and uses that to her advantage."

"Sounds like someone who could use a bit of a personality tweak..." Luck says as I can already see the gears turning in her head. "Alright. I've heard everything I need to. Let's go pay her a visit."

"Absolutely not. The last thing I need is to see her face-to-face right now. Especially with you," I tell her as I pick up the phone. "Yes, Ms. Montalvo?"

"About time you picked up, Evans. Come to my office right now. We need to discuss something," I hear my boss say on the other end before suddenly hanging up.

Well, so much for that. I look over and see a knowing grin on Luck's face that tells me she overheard what I was just told.

"Not a word," I warn her. "And that doesn't mean you can tag along. Stay here and don't touch anything. Or anyone, for that matter. The last thing I need is you trying to turn my boss into a sex **** or whatever messed up idea you've got in your head."

"I wouldn't do something like that. As much as I do love sex slaves, I prefer more... unique alterations," Luck says. "If you want a sex ****, you're going to have to work for it."

"You say that as if that's any better. Also, I don't want a sex ****! How about we just forget about making alterations of any kind, okay?"

"You're such a Negative Nancy, you know that?"

"Wow. How could you possibly have figured that one out?" I ask as I roll my eyes.

Not wanting to get myself into more trouble than I'm probably already in, I make my way across the floor and over to Carmen's office, hopeful that Luck will behave herself while I'm gone. When I make it there, I knock on her door and she tells me to come in.

The first thing I see as I enter is Carmen standing in front of her desk with a concerning grin on her face. Usually, if she's happy about something, it usually means I won't be. As I told Luck, Carmen Montalvo is heartless when it comes to business. If she finds a way to safe the company a few dollars, she's going to take it, especially if it can make her look good to corporate. Apparently, she was born and raised in Mexico before immigrating to the States to start her career. As much as I can't stand her, I do have to admire her work ethic. She came her with nothing, and now she's the branch manager here at Iso Insurance. Clearly, she's an intelligent woman. Probably a little too intelligent considering how she's always trying to manipulate people like me.

"Take a seat," She tells me as she walks around her desk to sit down herself.

As much as it irks me to do what she says, she is still my boss, so I reluctantly obey her command. Once she's behind her desk, she looks over at me before looking over my shoulder and making a face.

"Uh... can I help you?" She ask.

Confused, I look over my shoulder and immediately tense up in frustration as I see Luck standing behind me. She must have slipped in after me when no one was looking. Or maybe she just teleported in since that's apparently just a thing she can do.

"Luck!" I call out in an accusatory tone.

"Kyle? Do you know this woman?" My boss asks.

As soon as I hear that question, I start to panic a little. What am I suppose to say? That this is some superpowered being beyond our comprehension who's decided to follow me around? She's gonna think I'm crazy if I say that. Assuming she doesn't already. At least this proves definitively that this isn't all just in my head. I mean, someone else sees Luck, when means that she's 100% real. I don't know if that puts me at ease or stress me out even more.

Wait! Shit! I still haven't answered her question! I have to say something. She's get suspicious if I just stay quiet. But what do I say? I can't just-

"My name's Luck. I'm Kyle's personal assistant. I'm going to be helping him for the foreseeable future," Luck suddenly chimes in for me.

What? Personal assistant? How does that make any sense? I guess I don't exactly have a better way to put it, but still. Unsure of how Carmen will react to that explanation, I stare at her face as she processes what she just heard.

"You're his... personal assistant?" She repeats before turning to me. "Kyle? Is this true?"

"Um... I guess so," I mumble.

"You have to be kidding me. Kyle, you do realize that you're an assistant here, right? Are you really that bad at your job that you can't manage to complete your tasks on your own?" Carmen asks me with a irritated expression of her own. "You can't just go around hiring people to do work for you. Especially when I've already told you that we don't have any room in the budget to increase your salary, much less hire another new staff member."

She's such a liar. This may be a small agency, but I know we're not doing that bad. She could totally pay me more if she wanted to. Still, I will admit that she does bring up a good point. Showing up to work with a woman who claims to be my assistant when I'm already an assistant isn't the best look. Just as I'm starting to scramble to give another explanation, Luck walk up and stands beside.

"Actually, I'm not-" she starts.

"Did I look like I was talking to you? No? Then shut your mouth and let me finish my discussion with my actual employee," Carmen interrupts in a nasty tone.

For the first time ever, when I look over at Luck, she has an agitated look on her face. She even balls her fists up slightly. It seems my boss's attitude was enough to put a damper on her chipper attitude. However, the expression only lasts for a moment, as she soon takes a breath and recovers. Meanwhile, Carmen turns her attention back to me.

"You've been a mediocre employee for the entire time you've worked here, but this is just insulting. Perhaps I've spent too much time putting up with you." Wait... she's not saying... is she? "If you're going to come into this office and make a mockery of everything I've worked so hard to achieve, then perhaps we have to let you go."

NO! I... I can't lose this job! If I get fired, my parents will kick me out and disown me for sure! My life will be ruined! What do I do?! I... I...

In that moment, it feels like my heart completely stops. As if everything inside me goes cold. I always knew I was walking a thin line, but to see it all get destroyed just like that... I don't think I can handle it. I start to feel the world around me fade away as I barely hold on to my sense of reality. My eyes glaze over as I faintly hear my boss's voice.

"Pack up your things and be out of here by-"

"Boop."

Suddenly, everything goes quiet. It takes me a second or two to even realize that Carmen never actually finished her sentence. As I slowly start to regain awareness of my surroundings, I notice that Luck is leaned over the table with a finger on Carmen's forehead. After a moment, she removes her finger, and the second she does, Carmen's head drops down like a rock as her eyes quickly shut. She's still sitting up in her chair, but otherwise looks completely asleep. If it weren't for her chest slowly rising and falling with each breath, I might have thought that she was dead. I stare at her for a minute, waiting to see if something will happen, but nothing ever does. My eyes remain glued to the sight in front of me as I hear Luck's voice off to my side.

"There. That should shut her up for a little bit," she says confidently.

It takes me awhile to find my voice, and even when I do, I only manage to get out one thing.

"Wh-what did you do to her?"