Beach Party

Juno couldn't sleep, he tossed and turned in bed, tormented by thoughts he knew he shouldn't have. Why her? Why couldn't he get that insignificant maid out of his head?

He had beautiful women at his feet, famous models, so why the hell couldn't he get Gia out of his mind? That was the only thing he needed, that woman was like a walking curse.

He put his head down on the pillow, trying to erase her image from his mind, the way she moved her hands when she spoke, how she tilted her head when a topic seemed interesting to her, and how she bit her lower lip when... ahhh, his mind continued to torment him.

"Damn!" He growled annoyed, then got out of bed, he needed a drink.

She headed towards the kitchen, but stopped short when she heard voices. Gia was sitting on the island, with a cup of tea in her hands, talking to Lupe the cook.

“The truth is that I'm dying to go to the beach. I've lived in Miami for 18 years and I've never had time to go swimming at the beach.”

“I can't believe it, girl, we're surrounded by water, but that's life, sometimes you don't have time to do what you want. Imagine, Mr. Juno has several beach houses. I hope that one day you'll work in one and in your free time you can take advantage of the opportunity to swim in the sea.”

Juno remained hidden in the shadows, listening, watching Gia who was dressed in simple cotton pajamas, nothing like the lace lingerie her lovers wore.

She shook her head to recover her thoughts. She hated feeling this way about her. An idea began to take shape, an idea she couldn't resist.

The next day, she came down early to have breakfast with Grandma.

“Grandma, I’m organizing a party this weekend at the beach house, I thought maybe Gia would want to come, so we can make up.”

“Excuse me.” Gia almost choked on her coffee upon hearing this.

“Well, after all, you are Grandma’s assistant, we’re off on the wrong foot.” She said, keeping her tone casual.

“What are you up to, Juno?” Grandma looked at her, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Nothing, Grandma, I just realized that my behavior hasn’t been the best, I want to be nice to apologize, isn’t that how you say I should be?”

“Mrs. Herminia, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Gia didn’t believe a single word Juno said.

“Nonsense! Juno is right, this way she can apologize, and you need to distract yourself, and it will be a good opportunity for you to socialize with her circle of friends.”

“Exactly, you'll see that it will be educational.” Juno felt satisfied, she had managed to fool grandma.

The weekend came too soon, Gia looked at herself in the mirror, she felt insecure, grandma had bought her a swimsuit, a small turquoise blue bikini, she felt exposed with that small garment.”

“You look beautiful, you have a wonderful body, go and have fun, dear, and if my grandson misbehaves, just call me.”

The beach house was far from grandma's mansion, it was a modern designer mansion on the beach, when Gia arrived, the party had already started, models in tiny bikinis walked around the place, men who looked like they were taken from some magazine, laughed by the pool.

“Look who arrived! The annoying voice of Odalis Sterling, the same one that had tripped Gia on the yacht, came over the music. “The maid who is now playing at being a lady of society.”

The comment caused laughter from the other guests, Gia did her best to contain herself and not jump on the dyed blonde.

“I'm an assistant, which is different, and thank you for the wonderful welcome, although I really expected more class from a model of your caliber,” she said, not wanting to be left behind.

Odalis came closer, “Listen carefully, fifth-rate country girl, I don't know what you're up to with Juno, but he's out of your league.”

“I'm not up to anything with Mr. Greco, nor am I interested, I'm here as a guest, just like you.”

“Just like me? Ha, ha, ha, darling, look at yourself, and look at me, we're not even close to being equal, don't be confused,”

Juno didn't miss a detail, she watched the scene from the bar, while drinking a whiskey, she was supposed to be enjoying Gia's humiliation, but a strange discomfort didn't allow it.

Odalis finally gave up on bothering Gia and returned to her friends. Gia approached a lounge chair at the edge of the pool, took off her dress to be left in just a bikini. Juno almost spilled her drink, but the damn assistant was full of curves.

“Wow, wow.” Frederic, one of Juno’s oldest friends, whistled. “Who is that beauty?”

“She’s nobody.” Juno growled, “She’s just my grandmother’s assistant.” She said and then looked away.

Frederic wasn’t the only one who noticed Gia’s beauty. Several of the guests began to circle around her like flies. Gia didn’t seem to notice them, she answered sharply when they tried to talk to her. Odalis and her friends were furious, because the attention was on the assistant.

“Oops!” One of the models exclaimed as she passed Gia who was sitting at the edge of the pool. “How clumsy I am!” She falsely apologized after spilling her drink on her head.

“Don’t worry, friend, she must be used to it, she was serving drinks not long ago.”

Gia tried to contain herself, she wouldn’t give them the pleasure of being pointed out for making a fuss.

The humiliations continued throughout the afternoon, she had to continue to endure biting comments, poorly concealed giggles, and accidents with drinks that even threw them in her face.

At dusk, Gia tried to call a taxi to leave, but discovered that her bag, her clothes, everything had disappeared.

“Oh, did you lose something?” Odalis asked with false concern when she saw her searching. “What a pity, and we are so far from the city.”

“I’m leaving.” Gia answered, turning to Juno. “Could you lend me a phone?”

“I ran out of battery, and all the drivers are busy.” She answered, avoiding her gaze. “You will have to spend the night here, there are plenty of rooms.”

Gia had no choice, she went up the stairs, defeated, entered the first empty room she found, immediately took a bath, taking off her wet bikini and putting on a bathrobe she found in the closet, she was distracted, she did not hear the door when it opened.

“Wow, look, nothing but a pleasant surprise,” Frederic's voice startled her, he was visibly drunk, Gia was uncomfortable to notice that he was looking at her.

“Get out of here, go away!” Gia stepped back, uncomfortable.

“Come on, don't be shy, pretty, I've seen how you look at Juno, but he's busy with Odalis, I can keep you company.” He said as he approached her staggering.

“No! Get away!” Gia tried to go around him to run away, but he grabbed her by the waist.

“Let me go!” She screamed as she tried to defend herself.

In the next room, Juno was kissing Odalis, heard noises, and decided to see what was going on.

"What's wrong?" Odalis complained.

But Juno was already leaving, heading to the next room, when she opened the door, she froze at what she was seeing, Gia with her robe half open, and Frederic was kissing her.

She felt immense fury at that scene, she approached Frederic, taking him by the neck and slamming him against the wall with force.

“What the hell are you doing?” She asked as she slammed her fist against Frederic’s jaw.

“Hey, calm down! We’re just having fun.” He stammered. “She’s just a bitch who…”

Another blow interrupted him, Juno continued hitting him, until Tiago, who had just arrived at the party, managed to calm him down.

“Juni! What are you doing? Is he your friend!” said Odalis, who at that moment approached the door.

Juno turned to Gia, the poor girl was sheltered in a corner, trembling.

“What the hell were you doing here alone with him? Is that what you wanted? Seducing my friends?” He shouted, furious.

“What? He came in here without permission! He tried to…!

“Shut up! You’re just like everyone else, no, you know, you’re worse, at least they’re honest about what they want.”

“You’re a monster.” Gía shouted, her face transformed by rage and pain. “A cruel and miserable monster.”

She ran out of the room, Tiago offered her his phone so she could call and come get her, she called her grandmother, who immediately sent her driver to pick her up.

When she arrived at the mansion, her grandmother was waiting for her in the living room, just by seeing her, Herminia realized that something terrible had happened.

“My girl!” She hugged her, Gía broke down sobbing, as she told her everything.

The next morning, Juno woke up with a terrible hangover, Odalis was by his side, he had a feeling of guilt that he couldn't shake, a couple of hours later, when he arrived at his grandmother's mansion, Herminia was waiting for him.

“Good morning, grandma…”

Herminia didn't let him finish the sentence, she slapped him hard across the face.