Chapter 1
Stella
My team consisted mostly of women, and I was grateful for that, but the wider office had an equal mix of both sexes. My past hadn’t followed me into this job yet, and that’s the way I wanted to keep it.
Yes, Stella. Keep your head down and work—no work nights out or Christmas parties.
I was sure my manager thought I was an antisocial bitch. But seriously, all that team-building for morale and sales… pfft.
Give me a quiet night in and no witnesses, and I could survive.
Instead of graduating from university, I was stuck in sales, selling life insurance and pension plans in a call centre. I didn’t need to constantly remind myself of my failures because my parents did a grand job of that.
They were far too polite to say it outright, but the constant disappointment in their eyes over the last six years was plain to see.
I was stuck.
With my‘condition’.
My low-paid job.
And my general inability to escape.
Myself?
My parents?
Or the entire country?
Who knew.
I picked up my herbal tea bag, tore the paper wrapper off, and placed it into my company mug, letting the string dangle over the rim. Caffeine was too stimulating for me, so this was the only hot drink I allowed myself.
Today it was organic blackberry and blueberry infusion.
With a sigh, I stood up to go to the vending machine for some hot water.
Another day to get through.
???
The tube rumbled as it began to pick up speed. I swayed in time with the carriage. The movement made me tighten my thighs together, but that only made it worse.
I raised my head.
It was busy.
Bodies crammed together.
My eyes lingered on a man’s butt.
They weren’t bad.
I closed my eyes and tugged on the strap of my bag, slipping my hand into the side pocket for my phone. Most of my apps were deleted, and my accounts lay dormant. Accusations had been made. The backlash had followed.
The angry horde had dragged my friends and family into it.
I learned the hard way that the internet was forever.
