My House, My Rules (11 page)

“Okay,” she said. That wiped the smile from her face. She managed to keep a smile from showing, but it was still lurking very close to the surface, and she didn't know why. It was like when someone dies, and you giggle nervously. Not that anyone had died here, but she was sad that she'd managed to ruin a lovely evening with such a stupid lie. It wasn't like she'd really done anything wrong. Not that she could see anyway. Except for the lie. “There was a little accident.”

“What happened?”

“The boys watched you move away the ladder and the mattress, and Aaron thought he'd see how far it would be from our roof to the fence.”

“He was going to jump?” he asked with wide eyes.

“He didn't actually try to jump—he was seeing if it was possible.”

“Oh, no,” he said, his face and his voice etched with horror. “Obviously he didn't fall right off though?”

Alex shook her head. “No. Thank God. He fell and then clung to the gutter to save himself.”

“Then it broke,” Jay said, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Kelly and I got there just in time,” Alex tried to explain. “Thom had hold of his arm but didn't have the strength to pull him up.”

“That is some pretty serious stuff here, Alex.”

“I know, and I don't know why I lied.”

“I think I do,” Jay said. “You were covering for your son.”

“Maybe,” she said. “I want you to like him.”

“I do like him, honey, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be punished every now and again. He broke a rule,” he said. “I'm assuming he did
break
a rule. They don't normally play on the roof, do they?”

“Of course not,” she said.

“So, how did you handle that?”

Alex shuffled a little and looked around the room, anywhere but making eye contact. “I was very upset at the time,” she said.

“I bet you were. So, how did you handle the situation?”

“I left it for Rick to talk to him tonight,” she admitted. “He's good with coming up with punishments, and the boys listen to him.”

“Alex,” Jay said disapprovingly. “You're his mother. If
you
don't set down rules and make him stick to them, then how will he learn? Next time you tell him to do something and Rick isn't going to be around, he may ignore you again, and something worse could happen.”

“Stop it,” she cried. “Stop trying to make me feel guilty.”

“No,” he said. “You said you wanted to try this, and we are. That means that you accept the consequences of your actions. Especially lying. But we need to talk about a lot of things. You've let your life slide out of control, and I think you need some help to get it back on track.”

Alex stood there with tears running down her face. He was right, and she knew he was right. But was she ready to accept the kind of help he was offering? He didn't even know the half of her financial woes. No one did. She may never sit comfortably again. “I don't know,” was all she could manage to say.

“You have to, sweetheart, because you have to decide if you're in or out. If we are going to try this relationship you have to know you have a spanking coming. A long hard bare bottom spanking that is going to hurt. A lot, because you need to know what to expect if you lie and hide things from me.”

“If I don't agree?”

“Then we'll still be really good friends and neighbors, and you and the boys can still use the pool under the same conditions as I've already laid out. They have to be watched at all times.”

“Okay,” she said sniffling a little. She didn't want this to end, it was the first time in a long time that she'd felt alive. Alive and happy. The thought of the spanking he'd described, however, didn't sound like it would make her feel either alive or happy, but she didn't want this to end.

“Alex?” he asked.

“I'll take the spanking,” she said bursting into tears.

He brushed away her tears with his thumbs and then took her hand. “Save your tears, honey. You're going to need them.”

Chapter Seven

Alex tried to dry her tears as she walked across the living room behind Jay, but they ran down her face anyway. She was dealing with such a gamut of emotions. The prime one was plain old fear. Her already slightly sore ass was about to be pummeled to within an inch of its life, she was sure. If an ass actually had its own life. What she needed at this point was an out of body experience. She could lay her bottom across Jay's lap and then step away until he was finished with it. The silly thought let another one of her nervous giggles escape.

“Tell me you don't think this is funny,” he said sternly as he sat on the couch.

“I don't really,” she said snickering. What the hell was wrong with her? Did she have a death wish? “Really, Jay. I'm nervous.”

“Hmm.” He reached over and yanked his shorts off her hips and let them drop to the ground. “Hold up the t-shirt.”

“Now?” she asked.

“Now.”

“But couldn't you just lift it up when I'm over your knee?”

“Lift it up. Now.”

Alex grabbed the hem of the shirt and hiked it up a little.

“Higher,” Jay said.

Alex blushed furiously as she stood there, t-shirt held up, leaving her private lady parts on display.

“This, Alex, will be your first proper punishment spanking, so I'm going to allow you to keep the shirt. Next time, you will strip naked and stand in front of me until I'm ready to place you across my knee. Do you understand?”

Alex nodded, her long, still-damp curls bobbing along in nervous agreement.

“You need to say it,” Jay said gently but firmly.

“I understand.”

“Sir.”

“Sir.”

“Good girl,” he said. “This is going to be a long and hard spanking, Alex. You've lied to me and tried to hide things. In the future when I ask you a question, I expect you to answer openly and honestly.”

“Yes… Sir,” Alex said.

“If your sons misbehave or break a rule, especially one as serious as climbing out of a window and running around on a
roof
, you will
not
leave your brother-in-law or your sister to handle it. You'll act like a grown up and handle the situation yourself.”

Alex wasn't sure if she was supposed to answer again, but she didn't get the chance anyway. For the second time that evening she was staring at the chocolate carpet. Jay's hand was resting on her bottom and she found that sort of comforting. It was warm and nice, but she knew that it was the calm before the storm and when that warmth lifted, it would be replaced with fire.

She wasn't wrong, and when Jay's hand lifted she squealed before the first smack had even landed. Her bottom clenched tightly of its own accord, and she chided herself. Way to be brave, girl, she thought.

“Don't clench,” Jay said.

“I can't help it!” she squeaked.

Jay brought his hand down sharply on her thigh. “Yes, you can,” he said.

Who knew? Alex thought as another hot and sharp handprint burst across her thigh, and she unclenched, like magic. The next spank came so hard across her right cheek that she spun around to see what Jay was using to spank her with. He wasn't using anything—it was just his big paddle-like hand. She saw and felt it land at the same time.

“Stop it!” she yelled. “I can't take it like that.”

“You can,” he said, ignoring her protests.

Alex had never felt anything like those spanks. The first spanking had been love pats by comparison, although she didn't know that at the time. The second had been, well
that
had been nice. Her thoughts petered out as the spanking seemed to get harder and faster. She tried to sway from side to side to avoid that large punishing hand that found her aching bottom wherever it tried to hide.

“Keep still, Alex,” Jay said, firmly placing her back where he wanted her.

“But it hurts!” she wailed. Still, he kept on spanking, rhythmically but erratically. She never knew where a new flame was going to be ignited. It seemed that he'd covered every spot twice already, until like magic, he found some untouched flesh and touched it hard. There was nothing else for it, and she burst into tears. But Jay seemed oblivious to her dire straits, and the smacks just kept on coming. It crossed her mind that it was entirely possible that she may not live through this pain. He spanked way down low where her bottom met her thighs, and he spanked high across both cheeks and over the crack in her poor damaged bottom. He spanked right in the center but lower and then back on her thighs. He seemed to like it there. His hand repeatedly fell in the same spot over and over, until she was sure she was going to burst into flames.

Finally he stopped and raised her to sit on his knee. She sobbed pathetically. It hurt a little more to sit on his knee, but her bottom hurt so much anyway that it didn't really matter.

He put his hand up her shirt and rubbed long slow circles on the bare skin of her back while she calmed a little. “That's it. Big breaths,” he soothed. “We're nearly finished.”

“Nearly?” she asked tearfully. She was horrified. He wasn't finished yet?

“That's right, nearly,” he said. He kissed her forehead. “That was the first part of your spanking.”

“I don't want another part.”

“Alex, this is how it works. I'm not asking you what you want.”

He didn't say another word but kept on rubbing until she'd gotten herself under control. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded. When Jay stood, Alex had no option but to stand with him.

“I want you to go to the kitchen and fetch me the big wooden spoon from the container on the counter,” Jay said.

“We're not baking anything, are we?” she asked miserably.

“Afraid not.” Jay said, turning her around and pointing to the kitchen. “Go ahead.”

Alex turned and frowned at Jay, but that was as much as she was prepared to risk retaliating. This bossy man was
not
her favorite person at this point. Her bottom and thighs were burning, and she wasn't even sure she was going to make it to the kitchen. A smack on her already burning bottom got her moving though, and she was soon facing the container that held the big wooden spoon. There were several, but there was no doubt in her mind which one she was expected to take back to Jay. The biggest one was MUCH bigger than the others. She did toy for just a second with the thought of playing dumb and taking back a smaller one, but after having her backside pummeled for what felt like half the night, her survival skills had finally kicked in. She snatched the large spoon out of its container and stuck her tongue out at it before stomping out of the kitchen. When she got to the living room, she managed to walk normally back to Jay.

“Thank you,” he said taking the spoon first and then her hand.

She expected him to sit down and turn her over his knee again, but he led her instead to the back of the couch. Alex balked slightly but found herself lifted and unceremoniously tipped over the couch anyway. It was soft and very well padded, but her feet didn't even reach the floor.

“No!” she wailed as she twisted and saw Jay raise his arm with that awful cooking implement in his giant paw. She could feel his other hand holding onto her lower back to keep her in place, but she still kicked like there was no tomorrow.

“Hold still,” Jay said as he rested a steadying hand on Alex's lower back. He raised the spoon and did his best to ignore his errant girlfriend’s premature kicking and squalling. The spoon cracked against both cheeks at once. Both cheeks flattened and then bounced back with a red mark in the oval shape of the spoon.

“Yeow!” Alex blurted again in a combination of a cry and a shout.

Four more quick but solid whacks and she was crying loudly and begging. “Please, no more.” Her legs kicked wildly as she tried to dull the pain. “Please, Jay,” she sobbed. “It hurts so bad!”

Alex's legs thrashed around, giving Jay a glimpse of her shiny, wet lips, while that dreaded spoon kept connecting with her burning bottom. Hard and fast flicks of Jay's wrist paddled every inch until it was shiny and red.

“That's it now, honey,” he said at last. “No more spoon.” He helped her to stand and pulled her into his arms for a quick hug. “Shh,” he said when she continued to cry. “When you've calmed down there's just a little corner time, and then you’re done.”

* * *

Alex stood there in the corner, t-shirt held up to her armpits, sobbing like her heart was broken. Her bottom and thighs burned like nothing she'd ever felt before. The skin felt like it was stretched, like it was literally on fire, and the inside throbbed like a massive toothache. Stupid part was, her heart hurt more. She'd brought all this on herself—she shouldn't have lied, and she shouldn't have hidden the roof thing, and she should stop ignoring Aaron's antics. Her own little boy could have fallen off the roof because he didn't respect her. Her life was a mess, and she needed to do better.

Her sobs gradually petered out, and Alex wondered how long she'd have to stand there. She could hear Jay behind her taking the coffee cups and such back to the kitchen, and she could hear his soft footsteps behind her stopping every now and again. She even felt his fingers once on her bare scorched bottom.

“Just checking you’re okay,” he'd whispered as she squeezed her damaged cheeks together in reaction to his touch. “Not much longer.”

“You can come out now,” Jay said.

Alex turned and wasn't sure if she should drop the T-shirt or not. “Can I let this go now?” she asked in a voice that was husky from crying. She was a little surprised at the look on Jay's face. He seemed sad and like he needed to have a hug as much as her.

“Of course,” he said holding out his arms. “You're forgiven, your punishment is over.”

Alex had to admit as she walked across the room and into his arms that she'd never felt more free. Yes, her bottom was probably broken and a good deal of her pride had been sacrificed, but she felt a lot better. Like a weight had been lifted. She thought when she'd been walking to that corner that she was only going to talk to Jay long enough to tell him what she thought of him and his rules and where he could shove them. Now though, she found herself walking into his arms, and the only thing she wanted was his comfort.