“Time to learn when Daddy gives you a rule, you’re to listen and obey.” Smack, smack,
smack. “I’m not doing it to be mean. You can still have your candy.” Slap, slap, slap. “But not so much that it puts holes in your teeth and gives you diabetes. Understand?”
He paused. And she sobbed, trying to catch her breath, knowing he was waiting for a reply.
“I-I understand.”
“Good. I’m going to carry on, and give you the thirty you’ve accumulated.”
“No,” she cried out, kicking her feet.
“Believe me, baby. You won’t feel like waiting until later for these.”
He placed his hand on the small of her back. Then his hand landed again and she screeched, certain she couldn’t take another thirty. But she didn’t say her safe word. She’d earned these. She knew the consequences. And he wouldn’t ever harm her.
Tears dripped down her face, falling on the floor. They poured out of her. She let out a deep sob, this one less about the pain of the spanking and more about the ache that lived inside her. A dam broke, tears poured and she felt the tight lid she kept on her most agonizing memories start to loosen.
She barely noticed him stopping, was too caught up in the rush of emotion filling her. Then draining away. Her breath hitched and sobbed. Jed turned her in his arms and carried her through the living room and upstairs to her bedroom. He murmured to her soothingly the entire way. She didn’t pay as much attention to the words as she did the tone, which was loving and sweet.
He laid her on the bed then lay beside her, gathering her close. She half-lay over his chest and cried. He ran his hand up and down her back and let her. He didn’t try to make her stop or get her to talk. He just let her be. Gradually, the tears disappeared. The sobs died down. She was left feeling drained. Her insides were empty. For the first time in years the pain wasn’t there.
She was under no illusion that it was anything other than a temporary fix. But it felt amazing.
She also had a throbbing head, was thirsty as hell and her butt hurt.
“My butt’s sore,” she commented, lifting her head.
He rolled them so she was on her side. His gaze stared down at her as he leaned up on one elbow.
“That was a lot of tears, baby,” he commented cautiously. Probably worried he was about to set her off again.
Poor guy.
“I know. Sorry.”
“More tears than I figure that spanking warranted since I was pretty easy on you.”
Her mouth dropped open. “That was easy?”
His lips twitched. “Guess it’s safe to say you don’t have the highest pain tolerance.”
She nodded solemnly. “I don’t think you should ever spank me again.”
He tweaked her nose. “All you got to do in order to avoid a punishment spanking is follow the rules, little one.”
She sighed. “I’m doomed then.”
He let out a chuckle and she smiled.
He sobered up. “Wanna tell me what was going on in that head of yours?”
She shrugged. “I just. . .I don’t know. I started to cry from the spanking and then I was crying for other reasons.”
He stiffened slightly. “Anything I can do about those other reasons?”
Not unless he wanted to reopen the past. “No, I don’t think so. It was just stuff about my family. About the past. Stuff I guess I buried deep and haven’t dealt with.”
He was silent, thinking. She didn’t think that was good. “You know, I’m thinking you should cut down on your workouts.”