She stared at the text for what seemed like an eternity.

Mr. Higgins: I need you to bring the stack of papers I left yesterday to my house.

And along with the text was his address attached to it.

How'd he even get her number? Oh, right. It was required on the form she had filled out before she took the job.

Pursing her lips, she sighed, not sure what to make of any of it. She had just arrived at work when she had received the message out of the blue.

She glanced around the restaurant before her eyes finally landed on Stacey, who was busy taking orders. Once she was done, she finally walked around to the kitchen, walking past her.

"Stacey," Thea stopped her co-worker. "Mr. Higgins wants me to take a couple of papers to his house. Can you cover for me while I'm gone?"

Stacey raised a questioning brow but thankfully didn't ask about it. "Yeah, of course." She quickly said before walking off.

Thea walked around to the back of the counter and found the stack of papers her boss had been talking about.

The situation did seem a bit sketchy, going to her boss' house alone to bring something he could've come himself to get but maybe she was reading too much into things. Her boss wanted her to bring a stack of papers to his house and that was that.

She took off her apron, putting it away before walking out of the restaurant from the back. She pulled the address up in the GPS on her phone before she sat down inside her car.

The drive wasn't far, maybe 15 minutes at most. As she took a turn and drove down into his neighbourhood, she realized that she never thought about how much money her boss actually had. She knew that the restaurant that she worked at wasn't the only one he owned but she hadn't expected him to live in such a rich neighbourhood.

When the GPS said that she had arrived at her destination, she pulled into the driveway. As she parked her car, she couldn't help but stare at the two-story brick building.

The bricks were a nice warm cream grey colour, giving off an almost inviting allure. The large arched windows adorned practically the whole front side of the house, letting light flow through but was slightly tinted to prevent the outside from seeing in.

She sucked in a deep breath as she reached for the papers in the passenger seat. Couldn't he have just gotten the papers himself?

She opened the door and stepped out of the car, walking up the driveway to the front door and then rang the doorbell.

Almost immediately, the door swung open, taking her by surprise. The door opened, revealing the familiar pudgy bald man. She tried to hide the grimace that appeared on her face by forcing a smile as she held out the papers to him.

"Thea!" He exclaimed, a bit too excitedly as he stepped out of the doorway. "Come in, come in."

She plastered a polite smile, hoping he didn't read too much into her reluctance.

"I uh... I have to go, here are your papers." She turned him down, wanting to leave as soon as possible. Mr. Higgins chuckled, shaking his head, clearly not taking rejection well.

"Nonsense! Stay for a drink."

She glanced back at her car, wanting to decline his offer once again. The very last thing she wanted to do was to stay with her boss any longer but she knew she had no choice once she saw the giddy not-so-innocent grin on his face.

She blew out a silent breath of surrender and stepped into the house and he closed the door behind her. Maybe she was being paranoid but her gut feeling was telling her that a drink wasn't going to be the only thing he was going to offer.

Her stomach did a flip as she heard the thud as he closed the front door behind her. Shaking off the feeling, she followed him as he led her through the house. It was a Georgian Colonial-style home and although it was a nice house, it had some... questionable décor.

Walking through the foyer, she saw a nude statue of what seemed like a Greek figure sitting at the corner at full display. Trying her best not to stare at it, she followed him to a sitting room. He gestured for her to sit and she took a seat on the couch before he walked off, leaving her silently waiting in his sitting room.

She glanced around the room, trying not to read too much into the situation. She hadn't failed to miss the large painting of a nude woman's body hanging on the wall across from her. It was hung up in an expensive fancy golden frame, taking up almost half of the wall. Although she appreciated nude art, she didn't exactly feel comfortable sitting right in front of it in her boss's house.

Not soon after, Mr. Higgins came back into the room with two mugs of coffee, setting them down on the coffee table in front of her. She gave him a forced smile before picking up the mug as he took a seat on the armchair next to the couch she was sitting on.

"How have you been doing?" He asked as he took a sip from his mug. "How's the job been treating you?"

"I've been getting by. The job's been pretty good." She lied through her teeth.

Another silence.

"So I've been thinking. You've been a great employee, maybe even one of our best and I've been thinking about giving you a raise..."

He had immediately gained her attention and she raised her gaze. For once, she was actually interested in what he had to say.

"T-that would be great." She stuttered out, still shocked by the too good to be true news. And maybe that was why she still felt suspicious about his intentions. There had to be a hitch or a catch he was holding back.

"Yes, that would be." He agreed, setting down the mug. He slowly stood up before beginning to walk over to her. "But there's something you have to do for me."

Her eyes narrowed, subconsciously moving further down the couch as he moved closer. She continued moving as further away from him as it was possible but eventually she reached the end of the couch, unable to move any further.

He smiled as he sat down next to her, his perverted grin enough to make her retch. She leaned away from him as much as possible, hoping he would get a hint but unfortunately, he seemed completely oblivious to her reaction.

Was he truly that oblivious?

"What do you need me to do?" She forced out, feeling his disgusting breath on her skin as he leaned closer to her and she shut her eyes in revulsion. He reached out and touched her arm causing her to recoil. What the hell was he doing?

She wanted to slap him and immediately get the hell out of that house but if she lost this job, she would be completely screwed and possibly even end up homeless with the lack of money in her bank account.

"Take off your clothes."

She almost choked on her breath as her eyes immediately snapped open at his words, her face scrunching up in abhorrence.

"W-what?" She choked out, as she tried to lean further away from her creep of a boss. His face disgusted her more than she thought it was possible, especially when a sleazy, almost sexually suggestive look passed his chubby face that she had come to loathe.

"If you want the raise you have to take off your clothes." He explained, condescending, finally leaning back.

She scoffed, silently praying to God that this was just some sick joke or some dream that she was going to wake up from.

"That's not going to happen, Mr. Higgins." She replied as calmly as possible instead of what she wanted to do; kick him in the balls and get the hell out of this shithole.

"No pain no gain. If the clothes aren't coming off, then there is no raise."

She glared at him for a long moment, steam coming out of her ears not so figuratively.

"You are so fucking disgusting." She spat, unable to hold back her disgust any longer. "I'm not giving you a strip show for a fucking raise."

For a split second, he seemed surprised by her response, as if he hadn't expected her to react this way but he quickly recollected himself. He stood up, his face now becoming grim.

"I am your boss." He gritted out, his face becoming red as he shook with anger. He reached out, grabbing her wrist. Thea immediately tried to pull away but his grip tightened. Leaning down closer to her face, she could feel his repulsive breath against her skin.

"You will respect me."

Spit on his face, a voice from the back of her head suddenly said.

She wanted to, she really did, but she knew that being impulsive right now would be her downfall.

Instead, she remained silent and glowered back at the balding man.

How old was he? 50s? 60s even? Whatever age he was, he was still the same pathetic man who was still, unfortunately, her boss.

"Apologize." He demanded. She snorted, retracting her hand out of his grip. Everything about him seemed to repulse her to the core.

"I've done nothing wrong." She gritted out.

"It's your job at stake, not mine."

She continued glaring at the man, the angry fire inside her eyes too obvious to miss.

"I'm sorry." She finally muttered in defeat. A smile grew on her boss's face, satisfied with her apology.

She was already beginning to regret not spitting in his face.

"Now that's over with, let's get back to where we left off." He paused, sitting back down. She could only glare at him in disgust as he continued. "Kindly remove your clothes."

This fucking perv.

"I don't want the raise anymore if this is what I have to do to get it." She announced, standing up, finally having enough personal space to be able to even breathe properly. She turned around and began to walk off, hoping he would just let her go and forget this ever happened but alas, she was not that lucky.

"Take another step and you're fired."

She froze at his words, immediately pausing in her steps. She took a deep breath before turning around.

"I don't care. Fire me. The last thing I need is a perverted sicko who wants me to take off my clothes to keep my job as my boss." She seethed, giving him the deadliest glare she could muster.

His baffled expression only fed to her satisfaction as she turned a heel, walking out of the wretched place.

...

"You got... fired? What is that? The second time in the past two weeks?" Jasper pointed out.

"Technically, he didn't fire me. I quit." Thea corrected him. After she had finally left her now ex-boss' place, she had immediately gone home and called Jasper, hoping that he would make her feel better. Sitting in her living room, he stared at her in disbelief, genuinely surprised how his usually put together friend was now not so put together.

"Your life has gone downhill and the year has hardly started."

"Don't you think I know that? It's not my fault my boss happened to be a pervert." She leaned back on the couch she was sitting on, running a hand down her face in frustration.

Her life had quite literally all gone to shit and there was nothing she could do about it. She had already put up with her boss' bullshit as long as she could endure but it was still not enough.

She was usually the one who had the reins of her life, controlling it however she wanted to, but now it was as if the reins had ripped apart and all hell was loose.

It was ironic, truly. She was a psychologist; she was supposed to be good at these things. Good at handling situations and good at keeping herself in line but that did not seem to be the case.

"So are you going to find another job or something?" He asked, picking the TV remote off the coffee table and turning on the TV.

"I've tried but no one wants a mediocre twenty-six-year-old with a degree in psychology." She sighed, staring at the TV screen as he changed channels, her mind at a completely different place.

She could probably manage for a month at most but she doubted she could go any longer without a job.

Her last resort would be to give her landlord a handjob just to stay off the streets but she definitely didn't want to have to stoop that low. She snorted at the thought.

"Thea, I can lend you some money for the time being if you need it. All you have to do is ask." Jasper offered, turning away from the TV to give her a look.

"No, it's fine." She quickly replied, hoping he didn't sense her perturbation. Although she was in a state of distress, she wasn't going to let her friend pity her or take any money from him. "I'll work it out. Until then, I'm sure I can manage fine."

Call it pride but she had always preferred solving her own problems by herself, no matter how bad they were.

He gave her one last look, skeptical of her reply. She gave a lopsided smile, hoping that it would convince him and that he would buy her act. He raised an eyebrow, suspicious still but he diverted his gaze back on the TV, letting her off the hook for now.

"Where's Sab?" He asked. "Isn't she living with you?"

"Yeah, I think she went running some errands an hour ago."

He nodded slowly, pressing his lips together, clearly having something to say.

"Has she tried anything so far?" He suddenly asked. "Because I think we both know how... reckless she can be sometimes."

His words immediately reminded her of last night's activities and she held back a smile that threatened to show on her face.

He took a sip from his canned soda, raising a knowing brow and she couldn't help but reveal the guilty look on her face.

"I think reckless would be an understatement." She snorted. The three had been close friends since high school and she doubted Sabrina would mind if she told Jasper about what went down yesterday night.

"She fucked a guy in my guest room last night." She grimaced as she uttered the words, her moans still ringing loud and clear in her head. If anything she was glad that her friend was getting laid but she didn't exactly want to hear every sound she made when she was having wild sex.

Jasper choked on his soda before quickly wiping his mouth desperately trying to hold back his fits of laughter.

"W-what?" He sputtered out. "How long has it been since you moved in with you? A week?"

"Five days but close enough."

"God damn." He shook his head in disbelief but he wasn't surprised. They both knew that their friend Sabrina was always the wilder one of the group, unbothered by anyone's opinion.

Thea had known the consequences beforehand when she had offered to let Sabrina live with her but she had still allowed her to.

If Sabrina wanted to have sex in her guest room, Thea wasn't going to stand in the way of her pleasure and satisfaction.

"You know what I'm going to do?" Thea piped up as she suddenly shot up from her seat. Jasper drifted his gaze to her, giving her a quizzical look.

"Hm?"

"Actually, I'm not going to tell you." She said, walking out of the room to grab her car keys off the table.

Before he could even say another word, she had already left the house and drove away.

...

"Please?" Thea pleaded, beginning to drop to her knees. "I'll do anything you want me to."

Now on her knees, she looked up and pouted her lips, making the best puppy doll eyes she could manage.

"Stand up, Thea, you look ridiculous right now." Her former supervisor said, chuckling as she walked behind her desk to sit down in her seat.

Thea sighed in despair before standing back up on her feet and turning to face her supervisor.

She was never one to beg but after talking to Jasper and finally becoming aware of her very limited amount of options, she realized that begging for her old job back was her best option. She was practically throwing away her pride but she knew that her pride would have to be the last thing she needed to worry about if she wanted to pay her bills on time.

"Savannah, please. I need the job." She insisted, walking up to her desk and taking a seat in the chair across from her.

Savannah leaned back in her seat, giving her employee a hard look. Thea smiled back, hoping to convince her but she only frowned in response.

"This job isn't going anywhere. It'll be right here when the time for your temporary discharge is up."

The distressed woman groaned at her supervisor's response.

"I don't think you understand, Sav. This job is my passion; it's what I'm best at."

"And I agree. You're amazing at your job but right now, you need to focus on your mental health and your..." Savannah pursed her lips, unsure whether or not to bring it up.

"My addiction? It's gone. I already got over it." Thea reassured her, smiling once again. Her supervisor gave her a look, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not lying." She chided, hoping to change Savannah's mind. "I'm clean, I promise."

Savannah kept silent for a long moment, watching Thea smile once again.

"You do understand that you could've fired instead of generously given you this break instead, right?"

"Yes, I understand completely, Savannah." Savannah narrowed her eyes, still skeptical of her unusually polite tone.

"It was my prescribed medicine for my ADHD," Thea added, the smile on her face too wide to be genuine. It was a blatant lie and anyone with half a brain could tell it wasn't prescribed medicine.

"You don't crush medicine unless you're planning on snorting or injecting it."

She bit down on her bottom lip before lowering her gaze in shame. There was no point in lying. She didn't know why she even tried to fool her supervisor in the first place, especially when she first got caught.

"But I'm clean now and I can come back to work."

She snorted in response. "You don't get over a methamphetaine addiction in such a short amount of time." She said as she stood up from her chair.

"Just say meth. Methamphetamine is such a mouthful." Thea groaned, earning a dirty glare from Savannah. She groaned, sinking into her seat.

This was her job, dammit. She didn't know how much longer she could stand taking care of ungrateful customers without snapping.

"This isn't my decision to make. HR insisted to fire you completely but I had convinced them to... reduce the level of punishment."

Thea remained silent, pressing his lips together tightly. She had no words to say, knowing that she was lucky that she didn't get fired.

"I'll tell you what," Her supervisor began, walking around the table over to her. "Next week I can take you to get a tox screening and if you pass, I can try to convince HR to let you come back to work the following day."

A breathless but ecstatic sound escaped from the back of Thea's throat. Her eyes lit up as a large smile spread on her lips. Was this a chance to get her old job back?

"Thank you so much, Savannah!" She exclaimed happily as she hopped out of her chair, giving her supervisor a hug.

"But," Savannah began and Thea slowly began to pull away, waiting for her to continue.

"If you don't pass, I will be extending your break until May."

...

As Thea walked through the sliding glass front doors of the clinic, the wide smile on her face was so wide it was almost contagious. After all, she had passed her drug test and got her old job back. And today was her first day back.

Walking down the lobby entrance to the front desk, she waved to the lady whose name she could never seem to remember in which she only received a confused look. She didn't let her reaction bother her, going past the front desk to the elevator.

The elevator doors slid closed and rose to the second floor. Not long after, the doors slid open to reveal the second floor of the building. Clutching the bag she had brought to hold the papers and documentation she needed, she smiled even wider—if that was even possible— before stepping out of the elevator.

Walking down the hallway, she was just now beginning to realize that she had missed it here much more than she had originally thought.

"Good morning, Max." She addressed her former coworker as walked past his office, whose door happened to be wide open. He glanced up, his eyes lighting up in surprise.

"Thea?" Max called out, astounded. "Is that you?"

He immediately got out of the chair behind his office desk and walked out to the hallway to see her stop walking and slowly turn around, the wide grin on both her face undeniable.

"Yeah, it's me." She confirmed as the same smile grew on his face too. She held open her arms, waiting for her long-awaited hug in which he immediately walked up to her and gave her.

"I can't believe you're back." He chuckled as she returned the hug, wrapping her hands around him, patting him on the back. She pulled away, taking a step back.

"Yeah, I managed to convince Savannah after I passed my drug tests." She chuckled, scratching the back of her neck. She had told Max about the whole situation before she left so he wouldn't get too worried.

"Well, that's good to hear."

Thea nodded, agreeing.

Getting her job meant that she would be able to finally make her bills and further pursue what she loved. And this time she wasn't going to mess up again.

Max's office was right next to hers and so as anticipated, the two had become close.

Unlike Thea, he was a psychiatrist instead of a psychologist. He focused more on prescribing medication and diagnosing illnesses while Thea couldn't. Compared to him her job seemed like a simple job; listening to her patients' problems while Max worked on bigger things.

"Alright, I'm going to set my stuff back up." She excused herself and he nodded, going back into his office.

She reached into her purse, fumbling her key in her purse. She found it and unlocked the door to her office, opening the door.

Although it hadn't even been two weeks since she had last seen her office, she could feel the nostalgia all wash away as she stood in front of the office she had grown too attached to for her own good.

Placing her bag down on her desk, she began setting everything up back again. She didn't have much set up since she knew that she would be coming back here eventually beforehand.

After some time, she was finally done. She began to straighten the papers on her desk when there was a knock on her door. She turned around to see her supervisor, Savannah walk in.

"How's everything been going?" She asked, walking up to her, glancing at the stack of papers on her desk before looking back up at Thea.

"Pretty good actually," She replied. "Is there something you need?"

"Yeah, there is actually. There's a patient that's been specifically requesting you."

"What?" Specifically, requesting her?

Her mind immediately wandered to Cleo but a gut feeling told her that it wasn't her. She doubted that the young girl even knew that she was back yet.

"He's right outside the door." Savannah turned her head towards the door. He? Almost on cue, the man swaggered right on in.

His menacing height was hard to miss. So was his soft brown curls.

"Good morning, ladies." He greeted them, as a dangerously attractive smirk appeared on his lips.

Thea slowly raised her gaze to meet the man's eyes, her eyes widening as she immediately recognized the familiar face. Her jaw dropped in shock.

"What the hell are you doing here?"