Chapter 2

“I am very glad you said that Miss Moore. I was not looking forward to the alternative.” He pulled out the gym bag that contained the chains and padlock. He took her over to her desk and wrapped the chain around the base of her chair, locking it securely.

“Please sit,” he said and Crystal sat down in her chair. He put a leather cuff around one leg and then locked the end of the chain to the cuff.

“The leather cuff will keep the chain from snagging your beautiful stockings, Miss Moore. This padlock will release using either my cell phone or this cell phone which will stay right here on my desk. Should you have to use the ladies’ room or need to step away from your desk you will have to ask my permission. Then you will be given a set amount of time to do whatever it is and return to lock yourself back to your desk.”

“Yes Sir,” she said, sounding even more despondent than before.

“Miss Moore, I know this situation looks bleak and that you feel humiliated and degraded, treated like a child who has been put in ‘time-out’, but that is not the case, my dear.

“I understand that having ADHD is not your fault and that you really are trying to be a good employee.

“I am trying to help you succeed, even if it doesn’t appear that way. I want you to stay with me and with this company – more than you know. And this is the best way I know to do that. No one loses money, and no one has to work harder or do more.

“Once you are able to control your flightiness and stick to one task until it’s completed, maybe we can get rid of all this nastiness. But until then just know that everyone here wants you to succeed ... me most of all.”

“Thank you, Sir. I know you went to a lot of trouble and I know this wasn’t easy on you either. I am sorry, but hopefully, this will help me make it up to you ... and everyone here,” she said.

“My dear, there is nothing to ‘make up’. We know you don’t do this intentionally. No need to apologize either. Just accept our help. That’s all we ask.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Now there’s one more thing. Please give me your hands.” She held her hands out as if to receive something. He snapped a pair of handcuffs around her wrists.

“Handcuffs too, Sir?” she said, somewhat alarmed.

“Yes, my dear. These will remind you every time you move that you are shackled because you can’t focus. A gentle reminder like this may help set it in your mind to pay more attention to your work and not get distracted. Plus, when you do leave your desk, the cuffs will go with you to remind you. I will remove them at lunch and when we go home, of course, but during work hours they will remain on you.”

“Yes, Sir,” she sighed.

“Miss Moore, Crystal, the faster you can train your mind to stay on task, the faster these things won’t be necessary. I don’t like them either ... they are going to be a hindrance to me as well.

“I won’t be able to call you to come in every time I need you. I will have to come out there unless it’s something that needs to be discussed behind closed doors.

“And someone is going to have to have the cell phone with them at all times to release you when necessary. Either I will have it or one of the other girls. We will always let you know who to go to however in case you need to use the restroom or something.”

“You’ve really thought this out haven’t you, Sir.”

“I have tried to cover all the bases, yes. But there may be something I missed that we will need to figure out along the way,” he said.

“Well, at least I know I’m in good hands. I trust you, Sir,” she said.

Now chained to her desk and handcuffed, Crystal began doing her work as Peter left for his own office. Crystal found the handcuffs annoying at first but she soon got the hang of how to type while wearing them. So long as she kept her hands low and just above the keyboard keys, the chain on the handcuffs stayed out of the way.

I guess this isn’t so bad, she thought. Certainly better than losing another job!

Her typing and her computer work were handled easily enough. And since she was chained to her chair pedestal and not to the desk itself she found she could get out of her chair and push it over to the filing cabinets with her on the few times she had to file something or retrieve a file.

So that problem was remedied as well. About the only problem she couldn’t handle herself was when she needed to leave her little office, which was the very reason she was chained to her office chair to begin with!

Crystal was busily typing away when about an hour later Peter came into her office. “How are you getting along Miss Moore?” he asked.

“I’m doing okay, Sir. I think I have the knack of this now. I can type and file and answer the phone with no problems,” she said.

“Good. See I told you this wouldn’t be so bad!” he smiled.

“No it’s not so bad except when I have to leave this office ... like going to the ladies’ room or when you need me,” she said.

“Well, leaving this room too often was what got us here in the first place. But if you need to use the ladies’ room you can just call me on the intercom and I will unlock you. As for needing you, I can come to you for the most part and if not, I will call you and unlock you.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Now just to show you there are no hard feelings and to make sure we are still friends, I want to take you to lunch today. There’s a new Italian restaurant that I have heard wonderful things about and I want to give it a try. How about it Miss Moore? Do you like Italian food?” he asked.

“Y-you want to go to lunch ... with me, Sir?” she asked, shocked that he would invite her to lunch after she had gotten into so much trouble with him recently.

“Yes, my dear. Don’t let all this chains and handcuffs stuff get in the way of our friendship. I am not mad at you and I don’t think any less of you. If I was mad at you Miss Moore, you would be sitting in the unemployment office instead of this one.

“Yes, I want to go to lunch with you. And not a ‘business lunch’ either. I want to go to lunch as two good friends. Are you interested?” he said.

“Yes! Oh yes, Sir! I would love to go to lunch with you!” she said, standing up quickly. She forgot about the chain and almost tripped, but Peter caught her and held onto her.

“Easy there, Miss Moore!” he said, holding her tightly.

Crystal looked up into the smiling face of her rescuer ... and suddenly, the torch was lit! “Th-thank you ... Sir,” she breathed softly. He sat her back down carefully onto her chair.

“All right then, Miss Moore. I will come by and pick you up at lunchtime,” he said. He turned and left and Crystal watched him until he turned the corner of his office.

Oh my God! she thought, smiling broadly. She had never realized how handsome her boss, Mr. Campbell was. And now she was going to get to go to lunch with him! And he had said this wasn’t a business lunch, but more like a real date!

Crystal giggled to herself as she turned back to her work. She looked up at the clock on the wall. It was 9:10 am, she had almost three hours to wait!

Crystal decided that she would throw herself into her work and that would pass the time as well as make him pleased with her efforts. If he was going to take her to lunch, she wanted to be able to show him that she was serious about doing a good job for him.

So she went back to work but every so often she found herself turning around and looking through the small window in the wall that separated his office from hers. She just watched him as he spoke of the phone or looked down at some paperwork on his desk or something.

“What are you doing Crystal? You are acting like a silly schoolgirl with a crush on the teacher!” she said aloud to herself. At least she thought she was talking to herself. But just as she spoke them she heard someone come into the room!

“Who’s acting like a silly schoolgirl?” It was Jenny, one of the other girls in the office and a good friend of Crystal’s.

“Oh nothing I was just talking,” Crystal tried to brush it off. But Jenny wasn’t buying it.

“Oh no, you don’t, missy! Now ‘fess up ... what’s this all about?” she said.

“What do you want, Jen?” Crystal said, sounding annoyed.

Jenny looked at her skeptically. “Well, I was coming in here to ask you if you wanted to go to lunch together today,” she said.

“I can’t, Mr. Campbell is taking me to lunch today!” she beamed.

Jenny looked at her friend and then her eyes got wide. “OH MY GOD! It’s Mr. Campbell, isn’t it! You and he ... Oh, don’t tell me you got it for the boss! Oh, this is classic!” Jenny nearly fell on the floor laughing.

“SHHH! Quiet! Dammit Jenny, Shut up!” Crystal said angrily.

“Does he know?” Jenny asked.

“NO! And don’t you go shooting your mouth off either!” Crystal warned.

Jenny pulled up another chair. “So tell me what happened...”

“Go shut the door then, I don’t want the whole office knowing. Or him either,” Crystal said. Jenny shut the door and then came quickly back to her seat.

“Well, I’m not really sure what happened, to tell you the truth. This morning, Mr. Campbell put me in these chains and these handcuffs then he went into his office.

“A little while later he came in to ask how I was doing and to ask me to go to lunch with him. I stood up surprised and almost tripped on my chains. He caught me and held me so I wouldn’t fall. And when I looked up at him...” she sighed and smiled.