Captured by Bosses

Odette

Odette sighed as she dusted the whips and floggers on the kink side of the shop. Endless rearranging and cleaning seemed to be her job on quiet days. Her fingers stroked the soft garment leather tassels of a flogger, then wiped down the wooden handle of a leather slapper. These objects were made to pleasure others, and she had no one to share such moments with. 

She rolled her eyes at her lonely status and moved on to tidying the boxed toys hanging beside them—cuffs, cute fetish masks, and some daring, sexy dark hoods as well. However, she was so familiar with all these bright, inviting items that they did nothing for her. She turned as she heard a noise in the next aisle. 

“Do these things actually work?” a customer asked, holding up a pink jelly pearl vibe from the display stand.

Odette sighed. They wouldn’t be selling sex toys if they didn’t work. Many customers came in without any idea how to use the gadgets on sale, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t have any fundamental functions. She took a deep breath and put on her best sales pitch smile.

“Yes, they do. Some of these work better than others depending on what you’re after, and perhaps I can find you the best one for your budget, too.”

“That would be great, thanks,” the customer said as she laughed awkwardly. “I must say, I’ve never been in a store like this before!”

Odette smiled at the customer but rolled her eyes inwardly and walked out from behind the shelves to talk the customer through the different options of vibrators on display. This toy-selling pitch was a routine she had grown used to over the last few months. She could now sell sex toys in her sleep to all manner of customers, which was a good thing because she spent the hours that she wasn’t working partying hard and distracting herself from life to try to fill in the hollow space in her heart. Retail was soul-crushing at the best of times, but how she ended up there was why this particular job was so wrong. Because of Tom.

After the customer left with several new toys to s**** up their sex life, Odette rearranged the sales display and checked the time on her phone. That had taken up twenty minutes of her day, and she had a lot longer to hope that someone might come into the shop to give her something to do until closing at 11 pm. 

“It’s a slow day,” Kym, her coworker, said as she leaned down with her elbows on the counter. 

“It really is. But Mondays always are,” Odette said as she settled beside the platinum blonde girl to wait for the next customer. 

No one came in, so Odette stared at the displays of dildos to pass the time, wondering how she could make them look more appealing. Mondays were always very quiet and were the day when she usually ended up reorganizing and redecorating until closing. She opened a box behind the counter with new sample models of toys that would be coming to the store in the next shipment to look at the latest trends they would be selling next.

“Oh, would you look at that!” Kym said as she picked up a green jeweled butt plug. “I bet these will sell well. They’d suit all sorts of peoples’ skin tones.”

“Yup. Nothing like a bit of butt play,” Odette said.

As they went through the box's other contents, their boss, Ken, came out from the office at the back. 

“We’ve got new management coming in today. New owners have bought out the store, so let’s try to look our best today if they show up.”

“Will you still be here, Ken?” Kym asked.

“I don’t know—I just heard about this on the phone a few minutes ago. I haven’t met them. I don’t know what they want or if they want to keep any of us on. Unfortunately, I don’t have any definitive news.” 

“Aww, Ken…”  Odette said, hoping that they would keep him on as their boss and desperately hoping that she wouldn’t be out of a job herself.  

Ken was the only thing bearable about this place. He was the calmness to the lary, hideously decorated fluorescent store, the kindness in a sea of sex and self-indulgence. She took some more toys out of the box when they heard the bell over the front door ring to alert them that someone was coming in. A few seconds later, two unfamiliar men approached the counter through the maze of erotic magazines and sex tools on display.

They walked in as if they owned the place, examining their surroundings with judgemental sneers on their lips. The first was dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, tall with a strong frame, dark feathered brown hair that fell across his striking green eyes, straight nose, and olive skin. He looked like a gorgeous K-pop star, minus the cheerful countenance. The other, behind him, had an even bigger frame, his body made up of dense muscle. He was just as handsome, dressed in a smart black shirt with khaki pants that Odette assumed were worn loose to allow him freedom of movement—it seemed like he was the bodyguard type from the way his eyes assessed all of them clinically as they stood behind the counter. He had similar coloring to the other man, but his eyes were a dark, inky blue. 

“Where’s Ken?” the first man said.

“I’m here,” Ken said. “And you must be…?”

“Beaufort. We’re the ones who called.”

“Let me take you back to my office, then….” Ken said as he gestured to the back of the room. 

Odette and Kym watched silently as the men strode after Ken to the room where he did the accounting and took the meetings with toy sales reps. 

“Didn’t even bother to introduce themselves,” Kym said. "I don't know if we'll still have a job in a minute." 

“We’re just the floor staff to them. Nothing to see here,” Odette replied. 

Feeling nervous about the new arrivals and with an unfamiliar fluttering in her heart as she thought of the intensity of the men's gazes, she packed up the gear on the counter to look at later. 

An hour passed, and Ken came in to find her as she wiped the mirrors in the fetish dressing room. 

"Are they gone?" she asked. 

“Yep. They said they’d be bringing in some of their own staff and will do a makeover of the shop,” Ken said. “Be prepared; they seem really strict. No more extended breaks or phone conversations when the store is quiet. They’ll have a supervisor tomorrow to check what changes they want to make. At least they kept all of us on.”

Odette smiled. Ken really had been a soft boss for them.

“I’m glad,” she said.

She checked her phone, and it was 10.30 pm. “Let’s pack up and rest before tomorrow, then,” she said with a supportive smile. 

They closed down the registers, brought in all the signage, turned out the lights, and returned home. It was nearly midnight when Odette stumbled down the driveway of the rundown boarding house she lived in. She could still stay up for a few hours, so she grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge and settled in her room. After she had changed into comfortable tracksuit pants and a t-shirt, she received a text from a few friends.

Mark: What are you up to? Can Christian and I come over?

Odette looked at her watch. 12.30 am. It was still early, so why not?

Odette: Yup, but bring beer if you have some. I’m running out.

Half an hour later, Mark and Christian arrived with Odette’s friend Genna, as well.

“Hey, Odette,” they said as they unloaded a case of beer from the boot of their car. 

“Hey, guys.”

Odette let her party friends into the room, clearing space on her bed. They all sat down together to drink. Odette didn’t even know what any of these people did for work, what their interests were or their dreams, or even their surnames. They only knew each other in the context of getting wasted at random hours of the night like they were doing right now.

“I have something for you guys to try,” Genna said as she passed around tiny squares of cardboard. “I’m going to sell these, so I need someone to review them.”

The three of them put the paper in their mouths to dissolve as they continued drinking, while Genna observed and asked pertinent questions about their experiences as the hours ticked by. Odette had many dreamlike experiences and saw patterns on the walls and ceiling, which she reported back. The other two also gave their feedback, and the night was getting wilder, with lots of alcohol consumed. Finally, as Odette saw the sunrise through the window, she cursed. 

“I have work at ten!” she said. “Sorry, I’d better turn in.”

The others got up and stumbled out the door, fumbling for their sunglasses and taking the remains of the beer to Genna’s to continue partying so that Odette could sleep for two or three hours. Odette shook her head as she pulled the sheets over her face to hide the sunlight—why did she always fuck up like this? Work was going to be hell.

Four hours later, during which she’d just twitched in confusion under the sheets and had weird, disturbing thoughts but no sleep, she dressed her rumpled self quickly and grabbed a coffee. Then, she was standing behind the counter at work, swaying slightly and blinking as some of her vision was still strange.

“You look like shit,” Kym said. 

“Yeah. Rough night’s sleep,” Odette replied.

Pretty rough for a Tuesday, she thought.

Kym giggled. “One of these days, that rock ‘n roll lifestyle will catch up with you. You won’t be young and pretty forever, so you’ll stop being able to get away with it, you know.”

Odette pouted at that, then smiled because she knew it was the truth. The bell over the door rang as someone entered the store. It was the two men from the night before. They led a consultant behind them who looked sourly at Odette’s careful store displays.

“We’re going to do a little redecorating,” the man dressed in the suit said. “I’m Clint Beaufort, and this is my brother Sam.”

“Hi, I’m Odette.”

“And I’m Kym.”

“You’re looking a little worse for wear, Odette. Did you get any sleep?” Sam said.

Odette scowled. “I have insomnia, but I can do my job just fine.”

Clint frowned as he looked her up and down. 

“Sure you can,” he said, but he didn’t seem too convinced.

He turned away to talk to the consultant who had begun measuring the walls near the entrance.

“That was close,” Kym said. “I can tell working around here won’t be fun anymore.”

“No, it won’t,” Odette agreed.

Over the next week, Odette had a few more sleepless nights with her friends, and the hammering of the contractors who were redecorating the store beat a painful pulse in her head. She gritted her teeth and did her best, but the constant noise and distraction were getting to her. She was leaning her head against the wall, massaging her temples, when Clint came into the store to oversee the store redesign. He towered over her, looking perfectly manicured and exotic as he studied her with his unusual green eyes, his bangs artistically crossing them, obviously a very expensive haircut.

“You haven’t slept again,” he said. “It’s not good enough, Odette.”

Odette glared back at him defensively. Who was he to say that to her? 

Sam, also ideally put together and just as damn handsome, regarded her over Clint’s shoulder. 

“One more time, and you’re out. You’re on notice,” he said.

“You can’t be serious!” Odette replied with a gasp. 

They ignored her reply and walked around her shop as if they owned it, which they did. Odette tried her best to look capable and fresh in front of them but struggled quite severely from lack of sleep. Before they left, Clint approached Odette and handed her a card.

“Sleep for the day tomorrow, then show up at this club at eight,” he said. “I think you’re more suited to working the night shift.”

“What’s this?” Odette complained as she looked at the card.

“There are vacancies in the cloakroom and concierge. You’ve got the looks, so you could stay employed with us if you work there.”

“WHAT?!”

What did they mean by ‘stay employed?’

“You heard me. See you there tomorrow,” Clint said.