Pool Party

Tonight was perfect.

Jade smiled to herself as she took a sip of her drink, some fruity sweet thing she would never have picked herself, but it fit the mood of the party.  It wasn’t a huge blowout, but close to two dozen of her friends were lounging around, some in the pool, some sitting on the edge, others by the make-shift bar they had set up with liquor bottles and solo cups.  They were all adults, real adults, and getting off for a night was no small task.  She had done the coordinating, but Harper had done the PR– that’s why tonight was a success.  That, and she suspected her friends had the same niggling sense of sudden adulthood that she so desperately wanted to shake, if only for a night.  So babysitters had been called and work notices had been turned in, and somehow she had pulled it off.

“It,” of course, wasn’t just a simple pool party.  They were in the gym of Harrison High School, using the pool facilities, unbeknownst to Jade’s mentor and friend, Lisa Eckridge.  She had been Jade’s protector and unofficial guardian while Jade attended Harrison High, and now they were roommates.  Lisa still looked out for the younger woman, perhaps even more than she had before; certainly she was more hands on.  Jade squirmed as that thought crossed her mind.  Lisa had no idea they were at the school now.  Jade had swiped her keys earlier that day, knowing her teacher friend wouldn’t be looking for them again until Monday morning before work.  It had seemed so brilliant when she’d conceived the plan.  The facilities were free and empty this late at night, and she knew the crowd would leave the place as clean or cleaner than they found it.  Harper had encouraged the idea from the beginning, and even Candace and Connor had been persuaded fairly easily that it was a fool-proof plan.

Not that Lisa would see it that way, but Jade was planning on Lisa not seeing it any which way, please and thank you.  She was supposed to be out at a wine tasting with some of her friends, and Jade had indicated that she might not be home much over the weekend.  If everything went like it was supposed to, they’d be catching up Sunday over dinner, with Lisa none the wiser.

* * *

Even as Jade was settling her troubled mind, Lisa was throwing her car into reverse and leaving the driveway of her home, where she had arrived just a few minutes prior.  It was just after ten and she’d had a nice evening out, disturbed only by a phone call from a friend who worked at a local security firm.  It was the same company that secured the school where she worked, and the friend hadn’t called with good news.  The silent alarm had been triggered, even though no one had broken into the facilities.  Lisa wouldn’t usually be first on the call list, but the young man who had been on duty had pulled up the security cameras and recognized Jade.  He had done Lisa a huge favor by contacting her first, though her gratefulness was clouded by her anger right now.

She paused at the stop sign at the end of her block and took a few deep breaths.  She needed to be calm, at least on the drive over.  Once she was parked, though, all bets were off…

* * *

Candace was by the swinging double doors fixing a drink when they burst open.  She nearly dropped the two liter of coke, and she felt her eyes go round as saucers as Lisa stormed into the room.  The banging of the doors caused most of the attendees to look up, and Candace wasn’t surprised to see more than a few drinks almost slip.  There was near silence as every face turned to see Ms. Eckridge, former teacher to most and terrifying figure to any, standing in the sudden echoey quiet of the room.

“Get. Out,” she said loudly, and the effect was instantaneous.  Suddenly people were gathering towels and hopping out of the pool, some shoving dry pants over wet suits while others merely grabbed for their shoes and began scurrying for the door.  They may have been a group of adults, but every one of them suddenly felt the butterflies of trouble that had been absent for almost a decade.  Lisa didn’t help matters, as she began scolding the individuals trying to make their ways discreetly to the parking lot.

“I see you scurrying, Hunter Ferguson, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself!”

“Don’t you think for a second I won’t be talking to your big brother, Mary Ellen! You, too, Maria!”

“John Michael Morgan, you better put that drink down before you walk out these doors!”

On and on she went, calling almost every party-goer by name as they bashfully made their ways toward the exit.  The entire room had cleared in a matter of minutes, leaving only Jade, Candace, Harper, and Connor to face Lisa’s still fiery wrath.  Before the swinging doors had fully stilled, she had locked her eyes on Jade from across the room and began to advance on her, looking like a lioness who has just cornered her prey.

“This was your idea,” she said, and it wasn’t a question or an accusation, just a fact.  Jade backed up, glancing surreptitiously around the room but finding no place to go.  She held her hands out defensively, uselessly, as she struggled to find words that would stop, or even just delay, the advancing woman, but suddenly she was out of time.  Her face twisted in horror as she felt herself being dragged a few steps over and plunked across Lisa’s suddenly bent knee.

Jade was too shocked to struggle at first as she realized her feet weren’t touching the ground, but the shock didn’t last long.  “Lisa!!!!! Not here!” she squealed, kicking her feet and flailing her arms from her undignified perch.  She actually heard Candace gasp, and she shut her eyes before she could see or hear the others, who had to be watching.  Jade felt the black shorts she wore over her black bikini bottoms being pulled down, despite her desperate kicks.  She didn’t understand how Lisa could be so strong- was this the same thing as mothers lifting cars in a rush of adrenaline?  Was Lisa actually a super hero in disguise?  Maybe she had started taking steroids!

And then Jade’s ridiculous speculation was cut off as the first swat descended on her wet bottom, bare hand on the bare skin of her left cheek below the swimsuit.  Another came shortly after, and another and another, until Jade’s backside finally matched the blush that had graced her cheeks since the moment she’d been hoisted up into this position.  Her body was pulled firmly against the older woman’s, and her hand had finally settled awkwardly on Lisa’s thigh; she could see the woman’s white sneaker upclose from where it rested up on a chair.  No amount of wiggling or yelling phased the teacher as she brought her hand down on the hapless girl’s bottom, and the pool room echoed with the noise of Jade being spanked.

After a solid minute of rapid spanking, Lisa used both hands to pull Jade down. She put her foot on the floor and then plunked the young woman down into the newly vacated chair. Jade let out an involuntary yelp when her throbbing bottom made contact with the rough plastic, then quickly bit her bottom lip as she looked up into Lisa’s fiery eyes. Her former teacher didn’t seem any calmer, as she towered over her, yelling, “Do you have any idea what kind of liability this is for me? This is not some small town school system! I could lose my job if something went wrong tonight! Or you would go to jail! Or both!”

As she paused for breath, a sob echoed behind her. Lisa whipped around, and Jade felt a guilty sense of relief to have the attention off of her. She looked around to see Harper throwing an arm around Candace, who had both hands covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face. Jade grimaced. Her poor friend. The lecture was scaring the shit out of Jade, but Candace skipped right to feeling guilty. She noticed Lisa’s shoulders heave and drop with a deep sigh, and she let out a sigh of her own. She would put money down that Lisa had just snapped out of the yelling portion of the evening.

“Come here,” Lisa said, gesturing to the girls, “yes, you, too, Connor… here… sit.” She waited while the three of them pulled chairs up to sit on either side of Jade, all careful to keep their backsides far away from Lisa. In a moment they were seated, with Jade slouched awkwardly to keep as much of her bottom off the chair as possible. Lisa was having none of it. “Sit. Up.”

When she had them all sitting up straight and focused on her, Lisa began speaking again. No yelling now. Her voice was deceptively calm. “I am very disappointed in the choices you have made tonight. There are consequences you did not consider, consequences that could significantly alter my life, consequences you would have known if you had come to me first with this ludicrous plan.” She focused her attention on each of them in turn, making sure they felt the gravity of her words. “Instead, you were deceitful. You lied to me. You stole from me. And all these decisions that you convinced yourselves were small and inconsequential have landed you in a heap of trouble tonight.”

Now Candace wasn’t the only one with wet eyes, and they all kept their eyes on the floor as they obeyed her clipped command of “Follow me.”

They made a pitiful little line as they followed Lisa into the girl’s locker room; something about it made all four of the young adults blush even harder. They waited along the wall of the main room, across from a long bench and surrounded by dinged up gray lockers. Lisa had moved around the corner to the showers, where they heard her rummaging a moment before returning. Connor let out the groan they all felt when they spotted the long wooden bathbrush in her hand.  He had only recently found himself subject to the disciplinary actions of Ms. Eckridge, and though he consented fully and felt more fulfilled than he ever had since becoming a part of this hodgepodge family, he was no fool. That thing looked wicked.

Jade gnawed on her bottom lip again, while Candace and Harper exchanged worried glances.  Lisa had threatened them both over the years, even planted a swat or two on occasion, but Jesse had always been there to take whatever measures she deemed appropriate.  Both trusted Lisa like they trusted their big sister, but it was a small comfort when they saw the bathbrush. And both were calculating the odds of Jesse paddling them again anyway- Harper shuddered. Best not to think about that yet.

“You four understand why I’m upset?” Lisa asked. Four “yes ma’ams” were mumbled and she barely let them finish before saying “Are you talking to me or the tiles beneath your feet? Because I didn’t catch that.”

“Yes, ma’am!” came four louder replies, and she continued scolding as she paced in front of them, “Now I know how smart the lot of you are. How generally responsible. But this is not the sort of thing that slides by, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” came four solemn voices.

“I expect better, so I will get better. Now, every one of you take about five steps forward and put your hands on that bench. No, Jade, I don’t want to hear it,” she said, cutting off the girl’s protest before it could begin. “You all are responsible, you screwed up together, you can be punished together. Now move it.”

Slowly and awkwardly, they all shuffled forward, no one daring to look any direction but straight ahead. One by one they bent over, spread along the bench, still in their swimsuits.  Jade’s shorts had been kicked off during her trip across Lisa’s knee, and her bottom glowed dusky pink around the edges of her black suit. She squeaked as she suddenly found her bottoms yanked down to her knees. Harper was next to her; bent down and peering at the upside-down world behind her, she had just an instant of warning before her bottoms, too, were jerked down to rest around her thighs. Candace, dressed in a white one piece, moaned softly with a strange mix of embarrassment and gratitude when her round cheeks were exposed by the upward tugging at her suit. It mortified her to have a wedgie, but she wouldn’t have been able to stand being naked. Connor was last, and he found his baggy board shorts dropped just as unceremoniously as his friends’ had been.

Lisa surveyed the four bared backsides, arms crossed over her chest with the bathbrush still clutched in her right hand. They were a pitiful group, and she felt a moment of sympathy and a faint impulse to offer them comfort. A stronger voice told her honesty was kinder in the long run, and so she said sternly and simply, “Do not expect this to be easy,” before walking over to Jade and resting her left hand on the small of her back. She tested the weighty head of the circular brush a few time, and then delivered a heavy thwack onto the girl’s already sore bottom. It was the first of ten, each placed with steady deliberateness, completely unconcerned with the doleful noises Jade made or the small kicks and wiggles she couldn’t help. The only pause came at swat eight, when a naughty hand reached back to cover her swollen bottom, to be met only with a sharp “move it,” and followed by two swats so hard that the other three committed themselves silently to not moving an inch.

Easier said than done, of course.  Lisa wrapped an arm around Harper’s waist next, bracing herself between Harper and Jade, and began again. Thwack. Harper was generally vocal, and always one to move around.  She had rarely been spanked in this position, though, and never with anyone besides Candace.  Being bent over embarassed her into near silence, though she bent her knees nearly to the floor with every swat and barely made it to ten without reaching back. Her bottom felt immediately swollen; she could almost feel the two perfect circles that now graced the round curves of her butt.

Candace was the opposite of her little sister, practically screaming each time the heavy wood made contact with her bare skin. She remained motionless, though, through the strength of her desperate need to atone.

Connor sucked in a deep breath as he felt his former teacher slide between his body and Candace’s, and he wondered briefly if she would go easy on him since this was only his second spanking. The next second he felt the explosive pain of a well-placed swat on his right cheek and he was most certain that she was doing no such thing. He cried out and reached his hand back after just two more, but it was back in front of him and on the bench before Lisa could say anything. He made it to ten, but felt no relief, no movement from the woman paddling him. Instead she said, “Connor, I admire and appreciate your willingness to accept consequences along with your buds. You’re a loyal friend. Maybe next time, though, you should consider how to avoid getting your bare bottomed spanked alongside the girls.  Use that head on your shoulders, little boy.” Before he could even get out a full yes “ma’am,” Lisa had tightened her grip around his stomach and was spanking him again, still with the bathbrush except now with fast, stinging swats that hurt less individually but were somehow even harder to tolerate. He was embarassed to feel himself kicking desperately, managing to keep himself supported only because of his hands on the bench and Lisa’s firm grasp.

It was over quickly, and he felt his shorts being pulled back up a moment later. Lisa’s hand rubbed his back for a moment, and then he felt himself being guided upward and turned around.  He threw his arms around the teacher, feeling two inches tall and not two inches taller than her, and found comfort in the hug she returned.  After a few seconds, though, he was gently pried off and sent with a gentle push back to the wall to stand and wait for her to finish.  He kept his face pointed away, but when she said simply and quietly, “no,” he knew what she meant and turned slowly around. He winced as he saw their bottoms, knowing his looked much the same, and then tried to prepare for what was next.

Lisa was going back up the line, her strong left arm now back around Candace, and she spoke low, like she had for Connor. Candace heard every word clearly, though.  “You know better than this, young lady.  You have been taught to look at all the possible consequences of your actions before you take them. You will not become swept up in this sort of nonsense again.”  Then the brush was flying, and Connor had no idea how Candace managed to stay so still because these swats were definitely harder than what Lisa had given him, and then it was quiet again, almost as quickly as it had begun.

Moments later, Candace’s suit had been fixed and her forehead kissed, and she was standing next to Connor along the wall, tears still streaming down her face.  Lisa slipped between the remaining two girls, and for Harper’s ears only she said, “You are getting too old to play the sidekick, little girl. You know a bad idea when you hear one.  Your enthusiasm for life makes you easy to adore, but you will not let it cloud your judgement like this again or I’ll buy Jessie a bathbrush myself.”  The second syllable of Harper’s “yes, ma’am” screeched up an octave as Lisa began spanking her again, waking up every little pain that had begun to subside. This time Harper kicked and squealed, but it did her little good and moments later she was standing next to Candace, grabbing her hand as they waiting for Jade’s punishment to be over.

The poor girl let out a whimper, and her friends all felt immense sympathy for her position. They had no doubt she would be getting the worst of it, and she had already been spanked earlier. Though they couldn’t hear the lecture Jade was given– if you haven’t learned yet what you can and can’t get away with, you’re gonna learn soon, and if that means you never sit comfortably again, well you can just take a guess at where that lands on my priority list— but they heard the pitiful noises she made the entire time, and their ears burned in sympathy. Soon the sounds of spanking filled the locker room again, and they seemed to go on forever. Connor found himself reaching for Candace’s other hand, and they all watched as their friend and ringleader had her bare bottom paddled until every inch, from the top of her bottom to the top of her thighs, seemed to glow.

Lisa comforted Jade as she had the other three, then walked with her arm around her charge back to the wall. All the fire was gone from her eyes, and the sharp angry angles of her face had softened into exasperated affection.  She reached her free arm out to gently cup Harper’s face as she said, “you two sleeping at my house tonight?” They both nodded gratefully, and Connor managed a small smile as he realized it was assumed he’d crash there.

“Good,” Lisa said, “let’s clean up and go home.”

The Whipping Girl

Helena sighed as she eyed the smug face of her charge, Princess Phillipa. The young woman was reporting to her for chastisement, having nicked a basketful of treats from the kitchen that morning. The cook would be getting an earful from Helena later, because he had gone straight to the king instead of the governess, which meant she had to dole out what would be deemed a proper punishment- and to the King, that meant a spanking. Helena didn’t have a problem spanking Phillipa; she would like nothing better, in fact. However, it was the law of the land that no one could touch a hair on the young royal’s head, and so every swat landed on the poor rear end of Camilla, a young peasant woman who had been plucked from the village and “honored” with the task of accepting the princess’s punishments with as much grace as she could muster.

This was how they found themselves in the Discipline Room, a small space reserved for just such events. At the front was a raised platform, on which sat a straight-backed wooden chair. Behind the platform, mounted on the wall, was an intimidating array of paddles, canes, and straps. Helena eyed them as she walked down the center of the room, between three short rows of benches. The room could probably seat two dozen people comfortably, though Helena had never seen it close to filled. Today, there were three spectators: the cook, who sat on the right row closest to the door, looking pompous; his assistant, who sat beside him, looking curious; and the King himself, who sat on a small throne against the back left wall.

The Princess followed the governess in, walking obediently with downcast eyes and a wholly fake attitude of compliance. The King might see her as a contrite little girl, but the governess knew her for the conniving young woman she was. All of Helena’s sympathies were with Camilla, who sat nervously on the front row, awaiting punishment she hadn’t earned or asked for, but would nevertheless be recieving. It was her job to endure the spanking just as it was Helena’s to give it, and they would both be fulfilling their duties today.

The governess reached the chair and seated herself, arranging her long black and grey skirts around her legs so they pooled on the stone floor by her feet. Phillipa stood to her left, hands clasped behind her, looking down at the waiting lap, the corner of her mouth slightly turned up in a smirk no one but Helena could see. Helena’s own mouth was a tight line, and she was satisfied to see the princess’s smile fade when they made eye contact. Helena knew how to make the princess behave without laying a finger on her, which was how she’d kept the position longer than any other governess, and most of the staff knew better than go over her head. The cook was new. He would learn, though.

“I am so very disappointed to hear about the theft of pastries from the kitchens, Phillipa. You could have anything you desired with a simple request, but you chose to be naughty and disrupted Cook’s work. For this, you will receive a spanking and a strapping on your bare bottom, witnessed by your father the King.”

“Yes, Governess,” came the docile reply, and Helena patted her lap. Camilla rose from her bench and came forward, mirroring Phillipa’s position on Helena’s right side. Both women wore fine dresses over puffy white pantaloons, though the room would be treated to a view of only one pair. Phillipa took the whipping girl’s newly vacated seat, which would give her a perfect view of the other woman’s soon to be bared bottom. Helena turned, sympathy gone from her face now that she had a task to hone her focus. She lifted Camilla’s skirts, and the woman obediently reached to hold them up as the governess reached for the loosely tied strings that would allow the back of her billowy white underwear to fall open. Camilla’s face became heated with embarrassment, and Helena wasted no time. She pulled the girl across her lap, adjusted her slightly, and then began applying the palm of her hand with quick vigorous swats.

As the girl’s bottom became more heated, her feet began to kick. Helena glanced at the face of the princess, and noticed a look of glee at this development. No one else could see, as all eyes were focused on the girl being spanked, but Helena saw and she didn’t like it. She paused and rubbed the bottom in front of her, leaning down as she did to whisper firmly in Camilla’s ear, “Keep still. Not so much as a twitch.”

She heard a little moan escape the woman, so low no one else would hear, but Helena ignored the pitiful sound and resumed the spanking, not holding anything back as the swats echoed in the small chamber. She was pleased to see Camilla’s feet still, toes pointed obediently toward the floor. She could feel the muscles of the whipping girl’s stomach tighten occasionally, especially when harder swats fell low across her bottom. They were tense and hard against the governess’s sturdy thighs. Helena knew it felt cruel, that in some ways it was cruel to be spanking the woman so hard from the start. She wouldn’t being doing her any favors if she didn’t warm her up properly, though. There was still the strap to come, and the watchful eye of the King.

Mindful of this, Helena bent over, pulling the young woman’s body closer with her left arm and swinging her right arm mightily, listening to the carefully controlled breathing that she knew was Camilla’s only hope of being still. Eventually her arm slowed, then stopped, and she rubbed small circles across the girl’s back and bottom. She took a moment to look at the King, whose impassive face shared little of his thoughts. The cook looked mortified, as did his assistant, both embarrassed to witness the humiliation of an innocent girl. Phillipa looked bored, which satisfied Helena. There was no chance of the selfish princess feeling genuine contrition, so the best the governess could hope for was to not provide a show for the spoiled young woman. She eased Camilla up, then stood herself and arranged the whipping girl so that she was bent over the chair, bottom blazing and bared, framed by the white pantaloons that contrasted sharply with the color of her freshly spanked backside, face turned up toward the wall of implements.

The governess made a show of looking sternly at the princess, then eyeing the display, as if contemplating the appropriate measure to take. In reality, she knew exactly which strap she planned to use. It was a brown and supple piece of leather, heavy and loud, hanging by its polished wooden handle. She saw Camilla looking at the canes, wide-eyed at the quantify of them, ranging from whippy and thin to thick and terrifying. Despite her penchant for trouble, Phillipa hadn’t managed to get the whipping girl caned… yet.

Helena took her favorite strap, and moved to bend down face to face with the waiting and embarrassed woman leaning over the chair. She tipped her chin up slightly with her finger, and said in a low voice that carried only from her mouth to the girl’s ear: “Not a wiggle. Not a peep.” Camilla shut her eyes tight for a second and then opened them again, meeting Helena’s and whispering, “yes ma’am.” The governess walked slowly to the edge of the platform, affording her plenty of room to swing. She announced loudly, as the King would expect, “Twenty two with the leather. One for every year of your life, Princess Phillipa. May we not have to repeat this lesson again.” And with that, she brought the strap sizzling down on the bared bottom in front of her, letting the echo of the sharp “thwack” die off before she bought it down again, and again, until she had reached twenty-two. She was proud to see that Camilla had listened, kept her stoic silence until the end, letting the only evidence of her struggle be her white-knuckled grip on the chair.

The governess turned and looked to the King, who nodded. Phillipa stood and practically pranced to the back of the room, going to stand by her father and laying her head sweetly on his hand where it rested. “Have you learned your lesson?” he asked. “Oh yes, Papa. That was just terrible. I’ll never do it again,” she said, her voice saccharine sweet. “Good girl,” he replied, standing and putting an arm around her, and he walked with her out out the room, without a glance back toward the stage. The cook and his assistant followed awkwardly.

“Good girl,” whispered Helena quietly as she fixed Camilla’s pantaloons and lowered her skirts gently. “Such a very good girl.”

If You Play With Fire

“Fuck. Fuck.  A thousand times fuck.”

“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.”

“A thousand times fuck off, Connor.  How’s that?”

“Better.  What are we going to do?”

Jade looked around at the backyard, which was currently more ash than grass.  Lisa was out of town, and Jade had had some friends over to sit around the fire pit in the mild winter weather.  That in itself wasn’t a problem; Jade was an adult, and plenty old enough to have a contained party at her house.  This meant that she was too old to forget to put the fire out before she had gone inside and fallen into a deep sleep in the wee hours.  Her best friend, Connor, had slept over and felt partially responsible.  He had convinced her to drag out the fire pit in the first place, and had gone to sleep after she had.  Unfortunately, he was also just as much at a loss over what to do now.  It a total fluke that the grass had caught fire, but a very avoidable fluke if they had just made sure to put the cover on and the flames out.

“I can fix this.  I can fix this.  I can fix this,” Jade was mumbling to herself as she walked around the backyard. Connor looked doubtful, but ready to do whatever he could to help.  Unfortunately, it was at that moment that he heard a car pull up in the driveway.  His eyebrows knit together worriedly as he said cautiously, “Hey Jade…”

She looked up, then followed his gaze toward the driveway.  Her view was obstructed by the house, but she read the signs. Connor turned to see her shoulders visibly sag.  He couldn’t blame her.  He’d had Ms. Eckridge in high school, and she could be scary when she wanted to be.  He shivered a little as he remembered the only time he’d ever been in trouble with her, and the telling-off he’d received.  He’d seen her again since Jade had moved in here, but it was always brief hellos and goodbyes.

“You gotta go, man.”

He looked at Jade as he heard the car door shut.  Miss Eckridge would be walking into the house now.  Jade was making her way toward the back door.  She had her time-to-face-the-music face on.  He followed her, but she turned to him as she reached for the metal handle of the screen door and repeated herself, “You gotta go.  Just go around the house.”

“I have to get my wallet and keys.  Besides, if you’re gonna get yelled at, I should get yelled at, too.”

Jade snorted.  “Okay, tough guy.”

He rolled his eyes and followed her inside.  Lisa was putting her purse down at the kitchen counter and looking confused.  “Hey guys,” she said.  “Why does it smell like smoke?  Is someone burning leaves?  It’s kinda late in the year for that.”

Jade took a deep breath, walked over to the window facing the backyard, and yanked open the blinds. Connor watched Ms. Eckridge’s eyes go wide and she walked quickly over to stand next to Jade and look out the window.  “What the hell happened?” she asked, taking in the large, vaguely circular patch of burnt grass covering her usually nice little backyard.

“I had some friends over and we got the fire pit out, and it got really windy later, and I guess some of the dried leaves in the pile blew out and…” She made a sweeping motion with her hand.

“It burned this much before you could stop it?” Lisa’s eyes were still wide with disbelief, confusion, and worry.  Jade glanced at Connor, then said to the older woman, “Can I say goodbye to him first?”

Connor saw Ms. Eckridge’s features shift, as she put on her impassive teacher face and said, “Of course.”  But Connor didn’t want Jade getting yelled at by herself, not when he had been just as dumb.  “It wasn’t her fault,” he blurted out.  “I went to bed later than she did and I should have doused it.  It was mostly just embers but still, it was my bad.  I’ll pay for the damage.”

Jade closed her eyes in frustration and brought both her hands to her forehead as she sighed, “Coonnnoorr.” Miss Eckridge’s attention all on the younger woman, and she spoke through her teeth now.  “You went to bed with a fire still going?”

Connor started to interject again but Lisa held up a silencing hand without even looking in his direction, her eyes still on Jade, who slowly cracked her eyes open and said, “Yes, ma’am.”  Connor felt compelled to look out for his best friend and couldn’t stop himself from interrupting. “I said I would put it out though.  It’s my fault, Miss Eckridge.”

Lisa’s eyes snapped over to look at the young man in her kitchen, and he took an involuntary step back, though she hadn’t moved an inch in his direction.  “Her house, her responsibility Connor.  You need to leave.”

“I’m not leaving!  I’ll help… clean it up,” he said uncertainly.

Jade gave him a frustrated look and said “There’s no more fire, nothing we can do right now.  Just go.”

“I’m not going,” he said stubbornly.  He wasn’t sure why he felt so sure that he needed to stay, but he did.  He wasn’t the best guy who ever walked the earth but he was loyal to a fault, and something about this felt like trouble, though he couldn’t figure out what exactly he was afraid was going to happen.  Lisa threw her hands up, saying to Jade as she walked away, “Work it out.  I’ll be back down in thirty minutes.”  And she grabbed her small rolling suitcase and walked down the hall toward the stairs and up to her room.

As soon as they heard the first stair creak, Jade pulled the blinds shut and walked over to Connor, grabbing his wallet from the small dining table and shoving it into his chest before physically pushing him toward the front door.  “Bye, Connor.”

He dug his feet in, pushing back against her.  He was several inches taller than her and lanky, and easily turned around to avoid being herded.  “I’m not going!  What is she gonna do to you?  She can do it to me, too.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.  Just go home, Connor!”

“No,” he said, crossing his arms stubbornly and planting his feet.  “I’m staying.”

“You know what, fine.  Stay.  Enjoy being a hero.  It’s not gonna make my ass feel better tomorrow, though, I bet you that.”  She stomped down the hall and yelled up the steps, “We’re ready, Lisa!” in an irritated voice, though barely five minutes had passed.  She stomped back into the living room and sat on the couch, arms crossed, adding a quick, “Come on, Connor.  Come sit.  Let’s wait on the grand finale together.”  He made his way nervously toward the couch and did sit next to her.  After a few minutes of silent fuming, she even uncrossed her arms and leaned against him.  He didn’t speak, but watched the ticking second hand of the clock on the wall.

A few minutes later Lisa did come downstairs; they heard her walk through the kitchen and rummage for something before she entered the living room. Jade groaned as she saw the wooden spoon in her mentor’s hand, and Connor eyes were glued to it.

“He’s still here?” Lisa asked Jade.

“He’s too stubborn for his own good.”

“And you’re okay with it?”

“It’s not my favorite thing but I just want to get it over with.”

“And does he–”

“I’m right here!” Connor interjected indignantly, though as both women turned their full attention on him, he suddenly wished he was anywhere else.  Lisa contemplated him for a moment, then pointed at a chair behind her. “Sit,” she said, pointing. Connor looked over at Jade, who made her eyes wide as if to say “what are you waiting for?!” So, Connor got up from the couch and moved to the chair, and Lisa took his spot.

She put her arm around Jade and said, “Do I need to go over why you are about to be spanked?” The younger woman felt her face begin to burn with embarrassment. Now that the moment was here, having Connor around seemed like the worst possible idea.  She resisted the urge to glance in his direction and just nodded.  Lisa must have been feeling sympathetic, because she accepted the nonverbal response.  But of course, Connor wasn’t finished yet.

“You can’t do this!  You can’t… spank her.  She’s 27 years old!”

This time it was Jade who exploded, leaning forward and shaking her hands in Connor’s direction.  “You see any handcuffs?  Does this place look like a prison to you?  I told you to leave.  You stayed.  So shut the fuck up, Connor.  It’s bad enough that you’re here without you talking. Besides, you’ll get your turn,” she added caustically. “Fair’s fair, right?”

And before anything else could be said, she flung herself across Lisa’s lap.  The teacher rubbed her back for a moment as she shared a silent exchange with Connor.  He had finally been startled into silence, and she felt confident he would remain that way for a while.  She leaned down, running her fingers through Jade’s hair and whispering things he could not hear, though he noticed Jade seemed to scoot even closer to Ms. Eckridge’s body and her right arm curled around the woman’s left ankle.  When the first swat landed, he jumped at the noise, though Jade didn’t seem fazed.  The soft thud of a hand on denim didn’t last long.  Soon the girl’s pants were around her ankles, and Connor watched as his friend’s brown skin began to turn pink around the edges of her underwear.  He winced with every swat.

Jade was being unusually stoic.  For all her bravado, she usually spent her time over Lisa’s lap whining and kicking, sometimes arguing about how unfair things were and sometimes promising the moon if she thought that’s what Lisa wanted from her.  Today, though, she felt guilty, angry, and embarrassed.  So she didn’t do much wiggling… at first.

Soon after Jade’s body began to shift, Lisa broke her steady rhythm and reached over to grab the spoon.  She clutched it firmly in her hand and leaned down again to talk in Jade’s ear. Connor was transfixed; he was mortified to be watching and equally unable to look away.  He heard his friend groan into the pillow, her fist coming down in front of her to bang the couch.  Then he watched as Lisa slowly pulled down the black and white striped underwear she wore, revealing a bottom that was already a dusky shade of pink.  Soon the spanking had resumed and this time it was a wooden spoon landing on bare skin.  The sound was distinctly different and his mouth was hanging open as he watched white oval patches appear and disappear.  Jade was making lots of noises and moving all over Lisa’s lap by the time the woman finished. Connor seemed not to exist as the older woman rubbed Jade’s back and bottom, then fixed her underwear and pulled her up into a hug before sending her with a push toward the corner of the living room.  She didn’t even glance in Connor’s direction.

Ms. Eckridge, however, shifted her full attention to the young man sitting in her living room.  “Well?” she asked.  “Are you ready to go home now?”

“No,” he replied immediately, though his voice sounded much higher than it normally did.

“You are going to take the same consequences as Jade?”

“Yes,” he said, and then at her raised eyebrow, “…ma’am.  Yes, ma’am.”

“Good,” she replied, “because I happen to agree with you.  You deserve a spanking almost as much as she did.  Come here.”

Connor rose, and walked unsteadily to the side of the couch where his former teacher still sat.  She gestured at his belt and jeans.  “Undo those, please.”  He did so, fumbling and blushing the entire time, and then took the hand she offered him.  She guided him down over her lap, and adjusted his body until she felt comfortable.  She wrapped her left arm around his waist, then rested her right hand on his denim clad bottom for only a moment before she brought it up and back down. Connor’S eyes darted back and forth as he thought about what was happening.  It stung, though barely.  But she was spanking him.  It was really happening.

He was almost comfortable, and he began to wonder if maybe she would leave his jeans up because it was his first time.  No such luck– she pulled them down without so much as a warning, and when her palm landed on the thin cloth of his blue boxers, he heard himself yelp.  There was suddenly nothing comfortable about this position, and he tensed his arms in an effort not to reach back.  Before he could analyze his thoughts on this second phase of the spanking, she began to scold him.

“You know, I think Jade is fully aware of what went wrong last night, Connor. I think that you think you’re getting spanked because you stuck around. Because you’re still here. Well let me make something very clear to you,” Ms. Eckridge said, picking up the pace and adding some strength to her swats, “you are being spanked because you made poor choices. Under no circumstances should either one of you have gone into the house for the night, much less crawled into bed, with a fire still burning.”

Connor was unable to control his rear, though no amount of wiggling seemed to keep the teacher’s hand from landing on his quickly reddening behind. He made constant noises, little grunts of pain, and felt his blush intensify at her scolding.

“And it’s not because I’m upset, or just because there are physical consequences for girls and boys who misbehave in this house. It’s not because of the damage to my property, though I am not particularly thrilled about that.” Her hand seemed to be finding the meeting of his thigh and bottom more and more often at this  point in the lecture. “You put people needlessly in danger. It may have felt like a low risk, but it was also low reward, young man. You are lucky the fire just burnt a big hole in my yard. What if the wind had carried those escaped leaves further? To my house? To the neighbors’ houses?”

“I’m sorry!” Connor said, straining to stay still.

“No,” Ms. Eckridge replied, “sorry comes next.” She stopped spanking, and the young man took several deep breaths; his backside burned! She rubbed his back and bottom as she spoke, though not to him. “Jade, come over and have a seat.”

“Lisa…”

“I’m not asking, I’m telling.” Connor heard the chair he had vacated scoot a little, then a hiss from his friend as she sat. He didn’t turn his head to see, instead becoming engrossed in the floral pattern of the sofa.  Ms. Eckridge began talking to him again, saying “We’re almost finished, Connor. I wish it was over now, but this was a big deal. Very big.” And the next thing he knew, his boxers has been whisked down to his knees. He reached back with his right hand, grabbing for them and turning his head without thinking.  He made eye contact with Jade, squeaked and jerked his hand back as he turned toward the couch again.

“Give me that hand,” he heard the voice above him say firmly, and he reluctantly did as he was told, slowly reaching his right hand back and having it grasped around the wrist.  The next thing he knew, pain was exploding on his already sore bottom and he completely forgot about Jade, and being embarrassed, and anything that existed in the whole wide world besides the awful smack of the wooden spoon on his hot bare skin.

Thankfully, it seemed to be finished almost as soon as it was started. The throbbing ache in his bottom continued, and she let go of his hand, rubbed his back and his hair.  He leaned into her comforting touch, needing it more than he had realized he would. Soon, he felt his underwear and jeans being pulled up, though he could have done without the jeans. He sat up and felt himself being hugged, and he hugged her back hard. He felt like he should say something, but he had no idea what. He opened his mouth, and all that came out was “ouch.”

Both women burst into laughter, and he peeked up to see Jade smiling at him. “You’re an idiot for staying,” she said affectionately. He grinned back at her. Maybe she was right, but not all the way right. His bottom hurt and his pride was bruised, but he wasn’t worried or anxious like he had been all morning. He felt like he had just joined a secret club, one with high dues, but totally worth the cost.

Power Exchange

“Ben, come on babe! We were supposed to be on the road ten minutes ago.”

“I’m coming!”

~ ~ ~

“Honey, we’re going to miss our flight. I told you to eat before we left.”

“I wasn’t hungry earlier! It’ll just take a minute to order.”

~ ~ ~

“Benjamin, put the phone away. They have already asked you twice.”

“It doesn’t matter, Oliver. My one phone is not going to be the reason our flight crashes.”

Oliver leaned in very close to Ben, who sat by the window in their row of three. “No, it won’t be. Because it will be turned off and stowed in the seat back pocket in the next thirty seconds.” Ben glared at his boyfriend, a frown on his face that looked distinctly pouty, but Oliver continued talking in the same low controlled voice, “You have used up the very end of my patience, little boy. Your behavior from this moment until we land better be close to perfect, or the first thing I’m going to ask your brother is if I can borrow his hairbrush.”

Ben squirmed in his seat, glancing around the cabin conspicuously as he stowed his phone, but no one was paying attention to him besides Oliver. He crossed his arms and slouched in his seat, pulling his hoody lower over his head and across his eyes, all under the watchful glare of his disapproving boyfriend.

~ ~ ~

They made it to Danny and Emma’s without incident, much to Oliver’s surprise and relief. Ben’s efforts to sulk had lead to an accidental nap, which seemed to have improved his mood. It was a fun reunion for the brothers, who only saw each other a few times a year, and their respective partners got along like old friends.

The next morning, however, Ben’s bad attitude was back in full force. He was cranky about getting up for breakfast, so Oliver let him sleep; then he was mad that he had missed it. He stomped around the kitchen, looking for cereal and complaining loudly. He shut a cabinet door with particular ferocity, the bang echoing loudly through the house. Ben’s shoulders hunched and he froze, not wanting to turn around as he heard two doors swing open. He slowly peeked over his shoulder, then turned to see his boyfriend standing with his arms crossed in the guest room door, leveling a glare in his direction. Ben pushed his back against the counter and glanced upstairs, where Danny stood in his own bedroom door in a similarly intimidating position. “Sorry,” Ben mumbled. “Accident.”

Danny’s arms uncrossed as his hands found their ways to his hips and he repeated back, “Accident?” Ben looked up at him, attempting to look contrite, and watched his big brother hesitate uncharacteristically. Dan glanced at Oliver’s equally rigid figure, then gave Ben a look that made the younger man blush and look down. “No more accidents, please,” he said in a deceptively casual voice before turning around and shutting his bedroom door behind him.

Benjamin caught himself halfway through a sigh of relief before he remembered another pair of eyes were still watching him. “Sorry, Ollie,” he said sheepishly.

“I’m going to show you what sorry looks like if you keep it up” Oliver said sternly, keeping his gaze leveled at his boyfriend. When it became apparent that he was going to have to fix his meal with an audience, Ben turned slowly and opened the next cabinet door, very gently, finding the cereal and continuing his task. He was embarrassed to be overseen but grateful to have his boyfriend. On a good day with just Danny, Ben would be parked in a corner right now. On a bad day…

Ben squirmed a little at the thought, trying to pass it off as getting comfortable as he sat at the kitchen table. He relaxed a bit as he heard Oliver’s retreating footsteps, and he knew he was finally alone.

~ ~ ~

It could have ended there, but of course it didn’t. They had a lazy day, a nice dinner, and part of a fun round of mini-golf. Ben’s bad mood began to creep back in the further along the course they got, and as he began to lose. He made comments that were less funny and more snide, and his body language was aggressive as he took his shots across green felt fields full of miniature windmills and into the mouths of plaster alligators. He and Oliver were ahead of Emma and Danny, and the mood of the group was definitely taking a hit. Things came to a head at hole 17. They had caught up to the family ahead of them, and in his impatience, Ben had shot while one of their members was cutting across the green to catch up with her parents. His ball ricocheted off her foot, a product of bad timing that should have resulted in an agreeable do-over. Instead, Ben raised his small golf club up and rammed it back into the ground, hard, as he swore.

Oliver’s mouth dropped open and his eyebrows shot up; he quickly spun toward the other group and was grateful that the girl had simply apologized when the ball hit her foot and kept walking. The rest of them either didn’t hear or were politely ignoring the outburst. When he turned back around, it was to see Danny walking forward, eyes laser focused on his little brother. Though for a second he was sure that Dan was going to start wailing on Ben right there, Oliver was grateful things did not play out that way. He was already embarrassed enough at his boyfriend’s tantrum.

“Wait, Danny!” came Ben’s panicked voice. He was clearly worried about the same thing. Dan took his brother’s club and handed it and his own to Oliver without looking over. His attention was still completely on Ben, which was not something most people ever wanted to happen. He still didn’t speak as he grabbed the younger man’s right bicep with his own left hand and practically marched the boy off the course and toward the parking lot. Oliver shook his head and sighed, bending down to retrieve Ben’s ball. He and Emma exchanged awkward glances. She looked worried, and he guessed she was right to do so. All evidence suggested that Dan was going to tear Ben a new one as soon as they got home, and Oliver couldn’t blame him. He sighed again as he and Emma walked toward the hut to return their equipment. He should have just spanked his boyfriend at the airport.

~ ~ ~

The ride home was painfully silent. Emma and Oliver had approached the car slowly; they could see the silhouette of Dan in the front seat turned around, talking to the shadowy figure that was Ben, slumped in the back seat with his arms crossed, his entire body pushed back against the door. Suddenly shape one turned back around and the car came to life. Emma and Oliver hurried the last few steps, since it appeared the lecture was over, and loaded into the car. Oliver was a little worried about Ben, but his worry turned quickly back into aggravation. He thought the younger man might need some comfort or reassurance, but no, Benjamin’s face was once again defiant and pouty, and he refused to look anywhere besides out the window. Fine, he thought, be that way and see if I don’t spank you again before bed tonight.

Ben barely waited until the car was stopped before jumping out, not quite slamming his door and snatching the hidden key on the front porch and storming into the house, all while the three in the car watched. Emma made a small worried sound, and Danny moved his review mirror to look at Oliver as he spoke. “Are you going to sort him out?” he said bluntly.

Oliver stammered at first. The question caught him off-guard, but Dan watched the confusion turn to resolution as he answered. “I… well. Yeah, I think I will.” And then he unbuckled his seatbelt, got out the car and walked purposefully into the house.

Danny reached over and put a hand on Emma’s thigh and squeezed gently. “You okay?” he asked. She put her hand over his and returned the squeeze as she said with a small shrug and uncharacteristic nonchalance, “It’s about time.” Danny smiled, and they headed into the house.

~ ~ ~

Oliver wasted no time once he had made a decision. Whatever patience he’d possessed was long gone, and he felt empowered by Danny to do what he should have done days ago. He found Ben in the small bathroom attached to their room, drying his freshly washed face over the sink, clad only in dark red boxer-briefs as he prepared for bed. When he brought the towel down, he was startled to make eye contact in the mirror with Oliver, who had moved into the room quietly and now stood behind his boyfriend with his arms crossed. Ben’s mouth dropped open and he watched in horror as Oliver’s arms unfolded and he reached over, taking Ben’s bicep and pulling him toward the bed.

“You guys can’t just haul me around whenever you feel like it!” Ben yelled, resisting, but despite their relatively similar body types, his efforts were no use on the short walk. In no time, Oliver was perched on the edge of the bed, one foot propped on the wooden frame that held the mattress, elevating the knee over which he deposited his bratty boyfriend. Ben struggled the entire time, which was new for Oliver but didn’t slow him down. He had spanked his boyfriend a few times now, but only playfully or for something Ben himself felt guilty over. Now he was beginning to see that his boyfriend needed this physical reassurance even when the big stuff was taken care of. Well, thought Oliver as he ran an appreciative hand across the fabric of Benjamin’s underwear, I think I am up to the task.

He lifted his hand and began the spanking, bringing it down forcibly enough to rocket Ben’s body forward, even as he redoubled his efforts to rise. “Let me up!” he screeched.

“This is happening whether you make a big production of it or not, little boy. But Danny and Emma are plenty aware of your situation without the yelling.”

His words had the desired effect. He glanced down to see a tremendous blush rising on Ben’s face, and he was much less vocal as swats continued to reign down on his still wiggly behind. Oliver wasn’t holding back, perturbed as he was by the constantly ignored warnings and continued naughty behavior from his boyfriend since the beginning of their trip. Several minutes passed with just the steady sound of one young man’s hand landing rhythmically on the other’s bottom, accompanied by the occasional grunts and shifting of blankets as Ben continued to struggle quietly.

Almost to the moment, it occurred to Oliver that his arm was wearing out much earlier than he wanted, and there was a knock at the door. Two sharp raps echoed and both boys paused, Ben craning his neck awkwardly to look, his eyes wide. Oliver said “come in,” knowing it could only be one of two people. Ben groaned; it was Danny, carrying his hairbrush and handing it wordlessly to Oliver, who nodded his thanks.

Ben was too busy burying his face in his arms to watch Danny leave. Oliver rested his newly acquired implement on the red boxer briefs; the thin fabric did little to prevent the heat emanating from his boyfriend’s backside. He began to speak.

“It must be very embarrassing to have your brother see you getting your backside spanked by your boyfriend.” The remark caused a low moan from Ben, who was suddenly feeling very small. “Today, Benjamin, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed by your behavior at mini-golf. I was embarrassed by your poor attitude on the way home. Especially because I know, and Danny and Emma know, what a charming and fun person you usually are.”

Oliver could feel Ben’s body tensing, and suspected that his boyfriend’s resistance wasn’t totally out of his system. Not wanting to give him a chance to get worked up again, Oliver picked up the brush, then hooked his thumbs under the elastic of Ben’s underwear and pulled them down. Ben did start to wiggle immediately, accompanied by an indignant “Oliver!”

Oliver began spanking again, and the sound of the wooden hairbrush on bare skin echoed in the room. “I think that’s enough talking, little boy. You know how unacceptable this attitude of yours has been and the behavior that came with it. Now we are at the consequences stage, and you have earned yourself a nice long spanking, so that’s what you’re going to get.”

“Ollieee…” came a pitiful response, and Oliver felt confident that the wiggles and kicks were almost involuntary now. He was going to have to invest in a hairbrush soon.

“You don’t need a hairbrush! I’ll be good!” said Ben. Oops, thought Oliver. Didn’t mean to say that out loud. He began to wrap up the spanking, concentrating on Ben’s sit-spots, making sure his entire bottom was a uniform shade of red, not much different than the underwear dangling around Ben’s knees. He slowed, then stopped, setting the hairbrush down and running his hand up and down his boyfriend’s back and bottom, inspecting and comforting at the same time. Eventually he pulled the young man up, reassuring him with forehead kisses and gentle touches, then guiding him to bed.

As he climbed into bed himself, Oliver felt strangely satisfied. He felt very confident that the next two days would be pleasant, and he liked knowing that he had take care of his partner. He pulled Ben close, smiling as they both drifted off to sleep.

~ ~ ~

The trip did finish well. Despite some initial protesting, Ben had returned his brother’s hairbrush with an apology for his behavior. He got off with barely any lecturing, for which he was grateful. He had always recognized his brother’s quiet alpha status, his ability to find what motivated people and use it to bring out their best. He was starting to see, too, that Danny had no stake in who handled the consequences or encouragements he thought necessary, at least for the people for whom he felt responsible. He just wanted them taken care of.

On the return flight, Oliver smiled and Benjamin scowled as they made their way through security. The oak hairbrush was tucked innocently into a side pocket of Oliver’s carry-on backpack, an unexpected souvenir. They went through without incident, and were soon homeward bound.

~ ~ ~

Back at home, Danny was straightening their room as Emma stripped the bed in the guest room. She was just tugging the fitted sheet off the far corner of the bed when she heard a call from upstairs.

“Emma, have you seen my hairbrush?”

That’s a Good Mutual Friend

David was not a confrontational man. He wasn’t prone to raising his voice. He never interrupted others, even when they insisted on yelling. He didn’t need to. When David had something he needed to say, people listened. Sometimes, it took a look. Sometimes, a gentle clearing of his throat. Occasionally, a loud “Excuse me.” People listened, of course, excluding Emily Anne.

She had waltzed into his life like a gentle tornado several months ago, a date set up by a mutual friend. He found her charming and charismatic, endearing and endlessly frustrating at the same time. And though he knew there was really no such thing as a gentle tornado, he found himself falling for her just the same.

Emily didn’t need to fight to make herself heard, either. She was fiercly independent, the kind of woman who did not ask permission and did so unapologetically. She found David steady and kind, intriguing and genuine, and above all, trustworthy. She was falling for him as well.

When they had their first fight, David was unprepared. It was over such a small thing… he had come to pick her up for a date, and her front door was unlocked, keys dangling from the beneath the handle. He’d grabbed them and let himself in to her apartment with a knock. “Emily?” he had called. He gave her a reproving look as he handed them over. “Be careful, babe. You left these in the door.” Instead of a thank you, she had rolled her eyes as she took them, dismissing him with a flippant “oh I do that all the time.”

“You leave your keys in the door? All the time?” he had asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Not a big deal. Where are we going for dinner?” she answered, brushing him off.

“I think it is a big deal, young lady,” he said, followed by a pause as he tried to mask his own surprise. Young lady? Where had that come from? He continued though, “This is not the worst neighborhood, but keeping your door locked is an effortless way to keep yourself a little safer.” His second surprise came when she didn’t argue or agree, but huffed at him. She huffed!

For her part, Emily had no idea where the huffing came from either. She just felt herself give in to some small unreasonable voice that rarely escaped. In restropect, she recognized that David was the first man she had ever trusted enough to hear that voice, but in the moment she just felt confused, and instead of backing down, she picked a bigger fight. They both got mad. Dinner was cancelled.

A week later, laying in bed at his apartment and both feeling the warmth from a now empty bottle of wine, Emily let the little voice take over again. Playfully she walked her fingers up his bare chest, smiling mischievously until…

“OW!” David yelled.

Emily snuggled closer to him as he covered his freshly pinched nipple. “Oops,” she said. A minute later, her fingers crept back up to his chest, this time taking only a few tiny steps before they were captured in his much larger hand. Leaning his head down close to hers, he said in a scary and quiet voice, “if you pinch me again, I will spank that little backside of yours until you can’t sit still.”

Butterflies errupted in her stomach and she jerked her hand back, tucking her mischievous fingers between their bodies and hiding her face in the crook of his arm. He smiled, though she couldn’t see it. The wine had made him bold, but he had listened to his instincts, and been prepared to apologize if he had read her wrong. It seemed to have paid off.

Two days later, it was date night again. As David climbed the steps to her apartment door, a bit of metal glinted in the evening sun. His expression darkened. Surely not.

Her keys again hung from the door. David grabbed them and walked inside, calling out. “Emily Anne?” though he expected no answer this time; he could hear a hair dryer running in the bathroom. When he appeared in the mirror behind her, she jumped and shrieked. “David! You scared me!”

“That is not all I plan to do,” he said, reaching over to unplug the hair dryer before taking it from her hands and setting it on the closed toilet lid. “You have some thinking to do.” With that, her grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the bedroom, steering her directly into the one unoccupied corner by the bed. Her outfit for the evening was laid out neatly, but for now she wore only her underwear and a blue tank top. “Why?!” she said as he arranged her hands behind her back, and he was pleased and affirmed in his choice by the faint whine he heard there, what he recognized now as a secret and rare glimpse of her most free self.

“Because a certain little girl left her keys in the door. Again.”

Emily made to turn around, and he knew she was rolling her eyes. A sharp thwack rang out, and Emily practically flung herself back into the corner. He had swatted her! And it hurt! She felt her face begin to burn with embarrassment. This was what she wanted, she thought. She had danced around it from practically the beginning of the relationship; it was perhaps the only thing in her life for which she had never directly asked.

David stepped back and watched the handprint bloom on the undercurve of her left cheek, faint fingerprints reaching out from beneath her peach colored underwear. If David had not been David, she would have eventually been forced to have one of those direct and difficult conversations. But perhaps their mutual friend knew more than they gave her credit for, because David suspected exactly what she wanted, and now he felt more confident than ever.

When he was sure that his girlfriend would stay put, at least for the time being, he walked back to the restroom and grabbed the sturdy wooden hairbrush she’d been using when he arrived. He returned quickly, set the hairbrush on the bed and moved her outfit to her dresser. Then he made himself comfortable, sitting on the bed’s edge and watching Emily shift her weight from foot to foot for a moment before he began to speak. “Stop fidgeting,” he began sternly. “You have landed yourself in trouble, and from now on, that is going to include corner time, so I suggest you get used to this position.” She groaned and leaned her head forward, letting it softly thunk into the joint of the walls.

“And when you are finished with your time-out, I am going to put you across my lap and spank your bare bottom.”

“David!!!” she wailed, having been unprepared to actually hear those words, and her hands jumped to cover her backside. He had expected something like this, and easily took the two steps from the bed to her corner and planted a matching swat on her right cheek, more pink fingerprints blooming. He smirked to himself as she went rigidly back into position. She wasn’t the only one who knew how to push buttons. He was thoroughly enjoying this.

He settled himself back on the bed and began to scold her. “I believe I was very clear about my feelings on you leaving your door unlocked, much less having your keys left there for the taking. And I understand that accidents happen, and we all have our moments. But you did not take me seriously the first time I showed concern, so you are going to take me seriously now.” She had begun to shift again as he lectured, and this time he let her. Her time in the corner was going to be over soon. He let her stand for several minutes in silence for good measure, though.

When he said “come here,” she jumped and pushed herself farther into the corner. He kept quiet, and was proud to see her ease herself out a moment later and shuffle to his side. She looked down at him pitifully, her mouth curved in a pout. “Do we have to?” she said softly.

“No,” he replied thoughtfully, taking her hands in his and squeezing them reassuringly, “but we’re going to.” And he pulled her gently to his side and then across his lap. She settled herself, would have even called it comfortable if she hadn’t been so nervous. David didn’t make her wait long. He pulled her in close with his left arm and said, “I think this is long overdue, little love. When I’m finished, you are going to have a very sore bottom, and a new motivation for keeping track of your keys. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” she said into her arms, and though it was muffled, he felt a second surge of pride. Not wanting to make her wait any longer, her raised his right hand and began to spank her. She remained still as his hand bounced on her quickly warming backside, absorbing each swat stoically. He smiled as he spanked her, unsurprised. His instinct to grab the hairbrush had been right; she had never been entry-level at anything, and spanking was no exception for his exceptional girl. He paused and hooked his fingers under the elastic of her underwear, ready with his free hand when she did react with a squeak and a frantic attempt to stop him. He paused, his left hand around her wrist as she clutched the thin fabric with her right hand. “What kind of spanking did I say this would be?”

She jerked her hand free and pulled it back under her, attempting to get out of the question by showing compliance, but he had no plans to let her get away with it. “Emily Anne,” he said sternly, and he could feel her body tense in resistance. Alright, he thought, and he resumed spanking her, underwear still up but his hand now much further down, softer swats because that’s all it took when one spanked a pair of naughty thighs. Emily didn’t think they felt softer at all, and now her feet did kick and she finally yelled “bare.”

He stopped, resting his hand on her bottom again, and asking in the silence, “how?”

She screwed up her face and her courage and said again, quickly but clearly, “on my bare bottom.”

“Good girl,” he said, and then she felt the cool air hit her hot bottom and she attempted to bury her face under the bedspread. David resumed spanking her, a little surprised to see that she still remained fairly still. That wouldn’t last long, he thought, glancing at the hairbrush. A moment later, he paused to grab it, gripping her tighter before resting the smooth wood on her bottom to prepare her. Again her muscles constricted, this time in anticipation, and he proved to be right about her stoicism as he brought it crashing down.

“David! Please!” she yelled, keeping her hands away but moving her backside and legs this way and that in a vain attempt to escape the dreadful sting of the wood on her bottom. “I won’t do it again!”

“Oh, you might do it again. And we will deal with that if and when the time comes,” David said as he continued his steady assault on her backside. “What you will not do is ignore me when I express concern for you, not without facing consequences. Also,” he said, as if it were an afterthought, “no more pinching.”

“Okay! Yes sir. Yes sir. Okay!” she replied. He swatted her a few more times, then set the brush aside and asked, “Are you going to behave yourself for the rest of the evening?”

She nodded meekly, and he swatted her thighs. “Ouch! Yes sir!”

“Good,” he said smiling. He pulled her underwear up and allowed her to stand; she immediately began rubbing her bottom, her bottom lip trapped by her teeth as she hopped up and down. “That really hurt!” she said accusingly, but her expression was more pitiful than challenging. He smiled and opened his arms, whispering gently into her ear a moment later, “Spankings are supposed to hurt. The next one will hurt, too. And the one after that.”

And though she knew it was supposed to be a threat, she smiled into his chest, feeling content and happy, and very very sore.

No Smoking

Fall was Candace’s favorite season.  She reveled in the bright colors and cold air, and had a scarf collection that grew every year.  Never one for neighborhood walks, she suddenly became energized and looked forward to free afternoons just so she could slip into her favorite boots and walk around the block, taking pictures of her favorite trees against the clear blue sky.

She was just returning home from one of these happy walks when she noticed smoke coming from one of the windows.  Not billowing black smoke, but thin wispy white smoke that disappeared quickly.  The happy peace she felt dissipated just as fast.  That was Harper’s room… was she smoking? Inside??

Ohhh, Jessie is going to kill her, Candace thought angrily.  No, I’m going to kill her.

She stormed inside, and was throwing open the door to her sister’s room seconds after she’d entered the house.  Harper was scrambling to shut the window and hide a pack of cigarettes under her pillow at the same time.  She visibly relaxed as she saw it was only Candace.  “Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me.  I thought you were Jesse.”  She actually looked up, seeing the thunderous look on Candace’s face.  “What?” she asked nervously.  Candace had been her best friend since they were children, and had always looked out for her; she had become even more of a big sister since Harper had actually moved in the Candace and Jessie last year.  She’d seen her look angry before, but she’d never seen that face directed at her.

“What do you think you’re doing, Harper?!  You don’t smoke!”

“You don’t know my life!” Harper replied, trying to be jokey and lighten the mood.  Candace didn’t take the bait, though.  Instead she walked over to the bed, reaching under Harper’s pillow and grabbing the pack of cigarettes, then turning abruptly and heading for the kitchen.  Harper scrambled after her, indignant.  “Hey, those are mine!”

Candace stepped on the peddle of the garbage can, dropping the pack resolutely and letting the metal top shut with a bang.  Harper walked over, making as if to take them back out, but was stopped by a hand on her chest.  “No.”

Harper’s mouth dropped open.  No? she thought, but she was too surprised to speak at first.  As she recovered, her expression became stubborn and she shoved Candace’s arm away forcefully.  “Yes!” she practically yelled.  Her face flushed at that, because even to her own ears, she sounded like a little kid about to throw a tantrum.  She continued stubbornly on, though a little more quietly.  “I’m old enough to smoke if I want to.  Who made you the boss?”

Candace took a step into Harper’s personal space, and the slightly younger woman stepped back, again caught off-guard.  “You shouldn’t need a boss to tell you not to be so dumb, Harper.  You know Jessie would lose her shit.  Since when do you even want to smoke, anyway?”

Harper tried to recover, embarrassed that she felt so intimidated by a girl in Ugg boots and a cable-knit sweater.  “I just wanted to!” she said hotly.  If it had been anyone else, she might have shoved them at this point, but this was Candace, who had backed down from every fight they’d ever been in.  She was pissed, but she’d just get the cigarettes later.  She turned, faking nonchalance and walking toward the living room.  “Whatever, Candace.”

“Hey, I asked you a question.  I’m serious!  Why do you suddenly want to smoke?  You haven’t touched a cigarette since we both coughed our lungs up trying them at 15.  What changed?” Candace was following her, and Harper was beyond annoyed at this point.  She turned, her expression challenging as she looked right into her sister’s face, and said “Hey Candace, do me a favor? Fuck off?”

She turned back around just as quickly, smiling smugly to herself. If she’d been less amused by her own rude indifference, she might not have turned back around so quickly, or plopped down on the couch so casually, reaching with purposeful cheer for the television remote.  She might have watched her best friend and chosen family stand up a little straighter, and perhaps noted how much she looked like a short, blond Jessie in this moment.  She might have taken a moment to wonder why Candace headed down the hall to their bedrooms so determinedly, or been ready for her return a moment later.

Instead, she got her third shock of the day when her ear was suddenly grabbed from behind.  In no time she was off the couch, feeling oddly powerless to do anything but go where she was tugged– which happened to be right back on the couch, but in a very different position.  She was across Candace’s lap when her now-red ear was released, and immediately began trying to get up again.  She didn’t even yell; she just grunted and struggled.  She had twenty pounds on Candace at least, and had played soccer and basketball all through high school!  “Fucking Zumba!!! ” was what finally came out of her mouth, it being the only explanation her brain could fathom for her now helpless state.

Candace laughed, not even sounding out of breath.  “And surprise and leverage.  But yeah, Zumba helps,” she said as she held Harper easily in place.  The dark haired young woman was getting tired quickly.  Candace had her legs locked around Harper’s, and the other woman’s body close against her with one arm pinned behind her back.  With her free hand, Candace quickly tugged the sweats Harper was wearing down just below her butt, revealing Amazing Spider-Man underwear.  “Enough!” yelled Harper, “Let me up!”

“You know what, Harp, you may not realize it, but you got two big sisters the day you moved in here,” Candace said, resting her hand on the girl’s bottom.  Harper practically growled. “You are like six months older than me!”

“Eight,” came Candace’s reply, “not that it matters.  You earned a  spanking and  how much older I am has nothing to do with it.  I find you smoking, in the house like a crazy person, and then when I say something you’re a jerk to me?  I don’t think so.  I don’t deserve it.  But you deserve this.”  And with that, she brought her hand down on the web-covered design of Harper’s underwear.  The first dozen swats were a little stingy, but nothing Harper would describe as painful.  It got worse, though, and quickly.  She was sure Candace had never spanked anyone before, but she had been on the receiving end more than once and was apparently a quick study.  In no time at all, Harper’s bottom was a bright shade of pink that clashed horribly with her underwear and brought Candace great satisfaction.

Harper was silent, though it was getting harder to stay that way.  Once she’d realized she was pinned, she had decided to just wait things out.  She didn’t plan to give an inch; no noise, no wiggling, no kicking, no whining.  That was her plan.

A swat landed low and a little “umph” escaped her.  The involuntary noise made her angry, and Harper decided to pass this emotion along in the form of a hard pinch with her left hand, which had been jammed between her body and the back of the couch.  She got a hold of the skin of Candace’s stomach beneath her gray sweater and squeezed.  The spanking stopped as Candace jumped and yelled “Ow!  You little brat!!!”

Harper smiled to herself, happy with the reaction, and then “HEY NO” as her underwear were whisked down and suddenly she found herself getting a real true blue no holds barred spanking as she felt the unfortunately familiar sting of Jessie’s wooden hairbrush land on her now bare bottom.  There were no more thoughts after that, unless “ow” counted as a thought.  There was just the loud smacking of the brush and the increasing pain in her bottom and the strain of her muscles against Candace’s unbreakable hold.

“Please stop!” she finally yelped, and to her surprise, she did.  Harper lay there panting, eyes shut tight as she tried to catch her breath.  Above her, Candace began talking again.  “This isn’t how I thought my day was going to go either, Harper.  But here we are now.  Do you think I like having to do this?  You don’t think it would have been easier to just turn you over to Jessie?”

Harper’s mood had shifted dramatically after the rapid fire spanking.  She felt her mouth turn down into a pout, and she buried her face into the couch instead of responding.  Candace continued lecturing, “I don’t want to be in charge.  But I’m not going to stand by and watch you pick up such a nasty habit.  How long have you been sneaking around with them, anyway?”

The younger woman groaned instead of answering, and Candace brought the brush down once on her left cheek.  “Ow!  Not long!  Like a month! That’s the first pack I’ve ever bought!”

“You’ve been smoking for a month without buying cigarettes?” asked Candace sharply, and if her legs hadn’t been pinned, Harper might actually have kicked herself.  “I mean a week,” she said quickly, but Candace wasn’t buying it.  She rubbed the back of the brush against Harper’s hot bottom as a warning, saying “Where have you been getting cigarettes, Harper Adele?”

Harper groaned into the couch cushions again.  She really, really did not want to answer this question.  She also really, really did not want to be spanked any more.  If it had been Jessie, her lips would have been sealed (until Jessie unsealed them, a mean voice in the back of her mind said, which she pointedly ignored). What was Candace going to do about it anyway, honestly?  She felt the brush lift from her bottom and her decision was made. “Jade!”

She could practically see the eyeroll that accompanied the sigh of “Of course it was Jade.”  All three of them were close, and Candace knew Jade almost as well as she knew Harper.

Candace readjust her grip, and Harper knew the spanking wasn’t over anyway, and she stopped worrying about Jade– her own ass was in the line of fire right now and Jade could worry about herself when and if the time came!

“You gonna touch another cigarette in the near future?  Or do I have to tell Jessie about this later?” Candace asked.  “Don’t tell Jessie!  I won’t smoke again.  I promise.”  Harper was positive Jessie would spank her again, without a second thought to whatever damage Candace had done back there.  And the idea of telling her that Candace had spanked her made Harper squirm with embarrassment.

“Okay, then we’re almost finished,” and the brush was falling again before she’d even completed her sentence, and Harper could barely hear the rest of what she said over the sound of her own yells and the steady thwack of the brush.  “You ever tell me to fuck off again and I’m going to make this feel like amateur hour.  I’m serious.  This is minor league compared to what I’ll do to you.  Tu comprende?”

“I comprende, I comprende!” said Harper, and as suddenly as it had started, the spanking was over.  Candace pulled the girl’s underwear up and released her, and Harper jumped up immediately, kicking off her sweatpants and hopping from foot to foot as she rubbed her bottom, allowing herself to be undignified in a way she never would in front of Jessie.  She glared at Candace’s completely unapologetic face; it was a mark of how close the were that Candace’s response to a look that would wither most people was to open her arms wide.

Her scowl shifted from withering to pouty, and she dove back onto the couch, curling up against the other woman pitifully.  “That was really mean,” she said.

“I know,” Candace replied.  “You weren’t being so nice yourself, you know.”

“I know,” Harper said guiltily.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Candace said, squeezing her tightly.  “I’d say we’re even now.”

Harper didn’t answer, but she squeezed her a little tighter, too.

A Weekend Away (Part Two)

This is part two of a birthday story for a friend!  Part one can be found here.

“Caitlyn,” he said, his voice now very stern, “I want an explanation.”

Corrine had a moment of sympathy for the young woman as she watched her fidget.  Not because Caitlyn was about to be spanked again- that Cory had no problem with and was rather looking forward to watching.  No, she knew that Caitlyn wasn’t sure whether Robert wanted her to turn around or talk into the corner, and so instead of doing either, she froze like a scared rabbit.

Robert did not share Corrine’s sympathies.  After a moment’s hesitation, he walked over and pulled Caitlyn back from the corner, putting an arm around her waist and lifting her up so that her toes barely touched the floor.  Her hands came up abruptly as she tried to steady herself against the walls of her freshly vacated corner, and then there was nothing but the sound of Robert’s hand landing hard and fast on her already bared bottom, disrupted only by Caitlyn breathless cries of “Daddy” and “please” and “I’ll explain!”

Corrine noted with some satisfaction that Shelby was squirming in her corner, but making no move to turn and watch.  She smiled, then watched as Robert returned Caitlyn to her feet, turning her to face him.  Caitlyn pouted at the floor, and her daddy reached over gently to tip her chin up to look at him.  She began to explain, reluctantly.  “Well… Corrine was working.  And we were watching TV.”  She bit her lip pitifully, glancing at Cory as if hoping she would take over the narrative.  Corrine merely raised her eyebrows, and Robert shifted his stance slightly, indicating that he didn’t plan to wait much longer for her to get the words out.  Caitlyn said finally, “We were just playing, Daddy.  With some markers that were in the coffee table.  And we got… a little carried away.”

Robert began to pace with his hand on his chin.  “This is usually the part where I would say ‘I see,’ but I don’t understand at all, little girl.  What do you mean, carried away?”

Unable to stand it any more, Shelby blurted into her corner, “We marked all over each other and Corrine made us wash it off in the kitchen.  Sir.” Robert glanced at Corrine, and an unspoken agreement was made as they shared surprise at the little girl’s outburst. Corrine hoped her look conveyed what she felt- If you don’t, I will!

Seconds later, he was spanking Shelby much as he had spanked his own little girl, scolding as he did so.  “I did not ask for your input, young lady.  I know how much you and Caitlyn care for each other, but that is not an excuse to answer questions I did not ask you.  I love how loyal you are to each other, but I don’t think Corrine tolerates that behavior from you, and neither will I.”  He finished the hand spanking, turning her around. Caitlyn glanced in Shelby’s direction, biting her lip nervously, while Shelby’s eyes flew to Corrine’s, even though she knew her Top would not be pleased, either.

Robert moved to the middle of the room, and pointed in front of him.  “Young ladies, I want you both right here.”  Once more, two naughty girls were forced to shuffle across the living room, their faces almost as red as their bottoms.  “As cute as you both are, I do not like to come home to find that you have been misbehaving.  I see Corrine gave you both nice red bottoms, which is the only reason I am not going to get my hairbrush right now.  But Caitlyn knows that when she misbehaves, she gets a whipping on her bare bottom with Daddy’s belt.  Every time.” Caitlyn let out an audible whine, and Shelby tugged on the edge of her dress, embarrassed to be scolded like naughty school girls.

Robert took a step back, unbuckling his belt and pulling it was a satisfying swish from the loops of his jeans.  “You are both very good girls,” he said as he folded it over, “and that is why you are going to get your bare bottoms spanked today until you are both very wiggly little girls, too.  I know you both know how to make good decisions. You are good friends to each other, and Corrine and I are so happy that you found each other.  But there are appropriate ways to behave, and coloring on each other not one of them.”

“Yes, Daddy,” and “yes, sir,” came two little voices, much more subdued than they had been earlier when they had said the same things.  In a matter of minutes, they were both bent over the coffee table, panties around their ankles and hands on the flat wooden surface. Corrine still sat on the arm of the couch, her expression stern as she watched.  The first crack of the belt rang loudly as he began spanking Caitlyn, and more followed as he settled into a steady rhythm.  “Ow, ow, owie, ow” came her soft voice, and the corner of Corrine’s mouth tugged upward when she saw Shelby reach for her friend’s hand.  Before too long, Robert had shifted his focus to the other bare pink bottom, and it was Shelby squeezing Caitlyn’s hand for whatever comfort she could get as the leather met her already sore backside again and again.

He paused and paced behind them, noting two pairs of feet shifting their weight back and forth.  “I am very proud of how you handle yourselves usually.  I love to see how you take care of each other, and to hear you laugh when you are being silly together.  But you know better than to draw all over each other.  That is unacceptable.  And that is why I have to use my belt to make sure that this does not happen again.  We are going to have a nice weekend, with no more marker fights.”

He began to swing his belt again, spanking Caitlyn as he scolded.  “You know better, don’t you little girl?”  “Yes, Daddy, yes Daddy, yes Daddy!” she wailed in response, wiggling her bottom as much as she could without taking her feet off the ground.  When he was satisfied, he turned his attention to Shelby, asking her also as he spanked “Do you know better than this, little girl?”  “Yes sir!” she answered promptly, sucking in her breath sharply and shutting her eyes tightly.  When he was finished, he reached down and tugged her underwear up, then pulled her into a hug.  “I am very glad that you are friends with my little girl.  I take that very seriously.  She is so important to me, and I am glad she has you in her life.” Shelby nodded into his chest, then made her way to the couch to sit by the arm where Corrine was perched.  She snuggled against her Top’s legs, taking comfort in the hands that immediately began stroking her hair.

Robert also walked around the coffee table, setting his belt down and squatting to look Caitlyn in the face; she had been waiting patiently for her hug, but he wasn’t quite finished with her yet.  “I love you very much, little girl.  And I wish we were finished with this spanking.  But Daddy has rules that he expects you to follow.” Caitlyn’s eyes were wide, full of confusion and apprehension.  “How do I expect you to stand in the corner, young lady?”

Comprehension and dread fell on Caitlyn’s face.  “Oooohhh, Daddy no!” Robert stood and walked back around the table, his arms encircling her waist again as he said “I asked you a question.”  He didn’t wait for her to respond before he began to bring his hand down on her sore bottom, harder than he had before and just as fast.  “Daddy ow, Daddy ow!  Bare bottomed, bare bottomed!” she finally squeaked out.  He continued spanking her for another minute, while Shelby buried her face in Corrine’s lap to avoid watching.

When he was finished, he pulled her up into a hug, rubbing her back and talking gently to her, re-assuring her that he was still the proudest Daddy in the world, and more than happy to correct her when she needed it.  When she had calmed down, he allowed her to fix her underwear and skirt before glancing pointedly at Corrine. Caitlyn flushed and walked over to the couch, hands clasped in front of her as she said “I’m sorry for misbehaving while Daddy was away.” Corrine opened her arms and pulled Caitlyn into a hug, one arm around each girl for a moment before letting Caitlyn return to her Daddy’s arms.

A moment later, the quiet was interrupted by a loud rumble, one which came from Corrine’s stomach and made Shelby jump. Corrine laughed easily and said, “Anyone else hungry?  We forgot to make our own dinner plans while Daddy was away,” she said, winking at Caitlyn.  As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.  “Good thing I ordered a pizza during time-out earlier.”

Robert smiled and moved to greet the delivery person while Shelby and Caitlyn both looked at Corrine, mortified.

“What if they had gotten here early?!??”