~call me Beth ~

     Beth's POV

Eighteen year old Beth sat down on a black leather arm chair at Marvel corps reception. Her spine straighter than a new pencil even though anxiety was starting to kick at her from every damn angle known to man.

A sigh slipped out her lips when her stomach grumbled noisily and she patted it gently before allowing her back to fall against the comfort of the chair behind her and then glanced at the wall clock hanging on the yellow painted wall.

She has been waiting for more than an hour already and looked like she will have to wait around a bit much longer.

Beth bite down at her lower lips in subtle frustration when she realized how many more minutes she has to wait for her turn.

This was going to be her fourth job interview in a single week.

Beth was definitely racing against time, trying her possible best to keep up with the rent on her single room apartment in downtown LA.

She was already down with two dead jobs and a flower shop that was starting to carter mostly for funerals and father's day.

And father's day had never being her favorite thing to carter for especially when they remind her of the awful man she is unfortunate to call her father. Getting bumped in a boarding house after her mother died at a tender age of eight wasn't the worst part but not showing up for her final graduation was the height of it.

Throughout her stay at St. Katherine girls college, he never once sent a letter or came to see how she was faring which wasn't exactly surprising given how much love he has shown her over the years which was none.

And now, she was finally out of that hell hole and doing the most she can to survive and stay sane through the storms of life.

She keep taking up odds jobs just to stay out of street because out there isn't safe for anyone and no matter how crappy her little apartment was, it was still better than being homeless at night with no place to go.

Beth knew that a lot had to be done in order to get away from the life she was currently living hence her decision to hunt for a better paying job and even though, time kept proving itself to be tough on her, Betty refused to be broken by it.

The door opposite where she sat cracked open and at the same time pulling her out of her train of thought momentarily. She glanced over and noticed the same young lady who had gone in earlier before her, walked out of the door with a sly smile on her face.

Her once neat and tailored plaid skirt now looked slightly rumpled while her red lipstick was all smeared into the corner of her lips horribly.

Beth couldn't help but stared openly at her as she continued to sashay her way towards the exist.

She wondered what the interview could be all about as she stood up and brushed the edge of her pencil skirt slightly before walking to stand in front of the door.

With her right hand placed against the door knob firmly, she took a deep breath to calm her wrecking nerves slightly before pushing the door open and stepped inside.

**

Beth stepped out of the elevator still cussing under her breath incoherently at exactly twenty minutes later. She couldn't believe all that was required of her to do during the interview in order to pass the stupid test was, just for her to get on her damn knees and suck the bloody CEO dick like a damn hoe.

What was his exact words again? "Welcome miss Lincoln, we are so lucky to have you interviewing with us today. You'd make one fine ass secretary no doubt" he uttered ever so sweetly causing a shiver to snake down her spine not to mention how much the hair at the back of her neck stood at edge when he strolled around his desk to huddle beside her with a flirty smile on his face.

Beth had no doubt he must have said the same words to the girl from earlier as well.

"A fine lady such as yourself deserve all the luxury in the world. First class flight, designer clothes, apartment in LA and a blank cheque to cash out whatever amount you like" he paused midway, his eyes narrowing down at the curve of her dress. "All of the above comes with being my secretary but first thing first, you have to do me a little favor" He said with a little smile.

Beth forced herself to blink just once as she summoned the courage to speak once again. "What favour might that be, Sir?"

His little smile became even wider as he leaned over and whispered those abominable words into her ears causing her in turn to cuss and screamed at the man before running out the door.

"That sick bastard!" she exclaimed even louder recalling the look in his eyes when she finally made it into the crowded street.

What does he take her for? A fucking sex worker? because that would be over her penniless eighteen years of existence of course. 

She'd do anything to earn a living but having sex with a dirty old bag like that man just to land a good paying job in a place like that one, was definitely not going to be part of it.

Hell no!

She'd rather beg on her knees for Mrs. Jonah to rehire her at the flower shop than stoop as low as that. If there was anything she had promised herself in this life was to work with integrity and not let herself be objectify by any man and certainly not by a douchebag like the one she had just encountered a while ago. 

Beth was so engrossed in her troubles that she didn't realized the side walk and street was now filled with people trying to flag down yellow taxi to save themselves from getting drenched from the drizzling rain.

The earlier sunny day had become a dark rainy cloud and throwing everyone into a chaotic mess.

After several unsuccessful attempt to get a taxi, she began to race down the rainy street as fast as her legs could carry her, with her brown leather purse clutched tightly against her chest.

The downpour seemed to be increasing by the minutes as she continued to hurry down the street. Just when it was starting to blur her vision, she darted into the nearest stand post with a relief sigh.

Her raven black hair that was rolled into a curly wave and seating at the nap of her neck a while ago was now looking a total mess. Not to mentioned, her once dried piece of clothing now dripping wet with rain water onto the floor. 

Still cussing under her breath in frustration, she began to squeeze out droplet of water from her skirt over and over again.

Beth couldn't believe what a disaster the day had turned out to be for her. Not only did she not get the job, she also got drenched from top to bottom.

How freaking great!

She continued to tug at the hem of her dress in a bit to get rid of more droplets of water before she could catch a cold but got startled by a male voice.

"You might wanna stop doing that"

She whirled around and finally noticed her companion and took in his appearance carefully.

A young man stood by the corner with his arms folded causally across his chest and staring back at her with a blank expression.

He looked to be older than her and also very handsome. His short sunburn hair was styled in a messy way and some of it tip tousled to the front with dark brown hazel eyes. A lot of mystery seem to be hidden in them as they stare intently at her.

Beth quickly composed herself and even brushed some sticky strains of wet hair away from her face with a scoff.

"How do you mean?" She asked, faking nonchalance with a slightly raised brow at his direction.

Pushing himself off the red metallic painted wall, he buried his hands deep into his leather jacket with a scoff of his own. "You are too pretty to act dumb don't you think?"

"What?" She asked, slightly offended by his words as she was caught off guard.

He replied her with a careless shrug.

"You know exactly what I mean"

"Well, I do not. Care to enlighten me?"

"These streets are filled with perverts and you seemed to be giving them quite a show a while ago"

He pointed towards a group of youngster at the opposite street with his head and her stomach dropped slightly at the realization.

They were all staring at her with a smirk on their faces. One of the kids actually grab at his crotch area while sticking his tongue out at her.

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't realized they was an audience" she told him quite frankly and scooted away from their dirty stares.

"I wouldn't blame them too much though. You are incredibly beautiful and that makes it hard to look away from you"

Beth's cheek turned a shade of red at his word. No one had complimented her body just by looking at her before and he seemed to be handing it out to her pretty easily.

"Thank you"

He answered with a careless shrug and pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to her. "That's my card. Call me and we can hang out and get to know ourselves more"

She took it between her fingers and scanned it over. It's says, Asher Romano Vega. He is an artist.

"You are an artist?"

"Yeah, you got that right" he gave her a wink and she couldn't help but blush sheepishly.

"Okay Asher. I will give you that call because I love art and will also like to hear all about it"

"Alright, um, what's your name?"

"My name is Elizabeth but you can call me Beth" she said simply and he acknowledged her name with a single nod.

"Beautiful name Beth. Just give me a call over the weekend and we can hang out and talk about what kind of art you like and I will tell you the ones am into. Promise you gonna love it"

"Alright cool"