This is chapter one of an ongoing story. Chapters 2 and 3 are already finished, chapter 4 is nearly there. I file this under BDSM because of the strong power exchange undertones... the full manifestation of the D/s relationship won't happen until chapter 3, but if you're willing to stick with me, I hope you'll find it worth the wait. This isn't a quick story. The plot builds slowly, and each successive chapter is longer than the one before it, so far.
All comments welcome and appreciated, but if you have criticism please keep it
constructive
.
Also, please be gentle, this is my first time. ;)
Special thanks to Fetishep for editing.
*****
I sighed as I clocked in at work. It was only a few minutes after 9, and already this day was a catastrophic disaster. "Authorization code needed" flashed across the screen. I punched in the code, cursing under my breath, and then walked to my desk, listening for the chime of the email that would surely be coming any minute now. My boss was not going to be happy that I'd been late again, for the third time this week, and I was dreading the confrontation that was coming. My only hope was that I could make her sympathize with my horrid week. It had all started last Sunday morning. My boyfriend and I had another stupid fight about another trivial thing, and he had stormed out of the house. He finally returned shortly after dinner with a friend. He and his friend began to throw his stuff into boxes, while I sat on the bed and stared after them. As he handed me his key, he said "I'm sorry. This just isn't working anymore; for either of us." And then he was gone.
Monday was the first day I'd driven myself to work in months, and of course I had a flat tire. By the time I looked up the bus schedule, realized that wasn't going to work, and called a friend to drive me in, I was 10 minutes late to work. That was the day I found out about the authorization code, and that the system notified my boss if anyone hadn't clocked in by 5 minutes after the start of the shift, and again when they finally got there. I got my car fixed after work on Monday, and Tuesday was uneventful. I hoped that my bad luck was over, but Wednesday there was an accident on my way in, and I was again almost 10 minutes late. Then, today, there was some event happening a few blocks over and I couldn't find parking in our lot, making me a full 6 minutes late. 1 minute too long to slide through in the grace period.
The day crawled by, while every time a new email popped up, I jumped. I ate my lunch at my desk, not even bothering to clock out, in hopes that it would count for something with my boss. As it closed in on 3, I began to hope she was going to let it go. By 4:30, I had even begun to believe I'd gotten away with it this time. By 4:45, I was sure I was in the clear. At 4:50, I received the dreaded summons. "My office, 5:01." I cringed at the brevity of the email. She was obviously really unhappy, and I really could not afford to be even a minute late to this meeting. Of course, as my luck would have it, at 4:59 I received a call from an important client that I couldn't afford to blow off. By the time I hung up the phone, it was 5:05 and I was on the verge of a panic attack. I hurried upstairs to her office, checking my makeup in a mirror as I went.