The Spanked Wives Club (15 page)

“Next we have Ms. Cori Strickland. Stand out, Miss.”

This time it was the lush, mature woman Hunter couldn’t help but notice as the women had taken the stage. Seemingly so out of place among the significantly younger women, he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly she’d done to deserve such a spectacle.

Deserve has a rather elastic meaning in this town, don’t you think?

The woman looked out upon the crowd, lifting her chin, twin points of color at each cheekbone. Though well into her forties, she was still a beauty, and Hunter suspected he was far from the only male in the place who already longed to see how she looked under all the frustratingly prim clothing they seemed to require of the women at these events.

So much for protesting unfair treatment, eh Hunt?

Rather than ruminate on that though, he did what came naturally. Laying his hand upon Lacey’s belly, he slipped a sidelong glance Troy’s way. Rather than shut him down — or even urge Hunter to wait — he simply smiled, the subtlest of nods confirming what Hunter suspected, but hadn’t yet been sure of.

Troy loved this. At least this part. Was it the public exhibition of Lacey’s bounteous charms in this incredibly sexually charged environment?

Or was it that he was sharing her with Hunter so openly, so obviously?

And so easily.

Perhaps it didn’t matter, but still the thought percolated in the back of Hunter’s mind. How was Troy able to manage this?

Hunter wasn’t so sure he’d be able to so freely parcel out the favors of the dark-haired beauty sitting less than a foot to his left.

That’s because you don’t have to make that choice, Hunter.

He eased his hand down Lacey’s gorgeous, soft belly, and rather than protest, her thighs eased open still more, though she kept her gaze fixed straight ahead.

Thank you, God.

“Ms. Strickland,” Keenan intoned. “You’ve been brought before us on a charge of general defiance, and failure to show your husband the respect, as your lord and master, he deserves. Is this true?”

“Of course not.” Her voice rang out clear and true, a slight huskiness to it that only made her more attractive. “Lee… expects too much. I won’t say more than that.”

“What exactly does your husband expect of you, Ms. Strickland?”

Hunter smiled at the way Keenan’s voice lowered, a coolness in the tone suggesting a predator circling, closing, appraising the situation — and the prey.

“He… he’s young, and… sometimes he makes decisions I don’t agree with. It’s something that should stay between a man and his wife.”

The crowd seemed to gasp as one, and Hunter’s cock throbbed anew. This was getting to be pure torture. Perhaps the women on the stage weren’t the ones truly being subject to punishment after all?

“I’ve been waiting for this,” Troy whispered, watching “Lee’s been having problems with her for a while. Nothing bad, just a little defiance here and there, an occasional mouthiness. I asked him if he wanted to send her up, and he refused every time. Said he’d gentle her himself.” Troy tilted his head. “Kid’s young but he’s got a good head on his shoulders. Tackling someone like Cori was never going to be easy, especially for someone like him.”

Cori stood alone at the front of the stage facing the crowd as Keenan walked down the steps, moving up the far left aisle and disappearing into the shadows there. Hunter thought he might be talking to someone, but it was difficult to tell from that angle.

“Oh, I forgot,” Troy said, patting Lacey’s thigh. “You haven’t met him yet.” Troy tilted his head, raising his chin in Cori’s direction. “How old would you guess she is, Hunt?”

He looked at her for a moment. The lushness of her figure bespoke mature femininity, her beauty not dimmed in the least by her years. Still, she had to be at least ten years the senior of even Danae.

“I’d say — forty three?”

“Try forty eight.”

Lacey gave them both a sheepish smile. “She’s forty nine in December. She doesn’t want anyone to know though.”

Troy shrugged. “My date machine here. I don’t know how she remembers it all, but thank Christ she does.” He pecked Lacey on the cheek, and she beamed, despite still holding her tank top up and exposing her breasts to anyone who cared to look their way.

“Jesus, forty
eight
? Good genes, I guess.”

“You should see the pictures of her from a few years ago. She used to be a reporter, I think. Something on television, anyway. The camera liked her — and so did Lee.”

Keenan returned to the stage, climbing the stairs and taking his place behind the lectern again. He cleared his throat and nodded at the man who walked up the stairs next. It was a tall young man with quite narrow hips and broad shoulders that seemed to stress the fabric of his navy suit as he strode up and stood next to Keenan. The man had eyes only for the woman standing twenty feet away, his intent gaze fixed upon her, his square jaw and the firm set of his lips bespeaking a man of drive, of focus.

And right now, that focus was solely on Cori Strickland.

“No… way. Seriously?” Hunter rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, not sure if he was feeling disbelief or a rapacious anticipation. Perhaps a little of both.

“That’s Lee.”

“Christ, Troy. You’re kidding, right? He could be her fucking… kid.”

“Looks younger than he is, but yeah, I suppose, technically, you’re right.” Troy glanced at Lacey indulgently. “How old is he?”

“He’s twenty nine,” she murmured.

“Lee has agreed to come up and join us on this stage for one reason,” Keenan said. “Because I think it would be instructive for a few of those in the audience.”

Hunter’s face heated with a blush, and he wondered just who Keenan might be referring to. But the man didn’t look in their direction, instead closely watching the interplay between Lee and his defiant wife.

Along with every other fucking person here.

Cori’s brown furrowed. “Lee… please, this is—”

He held up a hand, shaking his head. “No, Cori, this needs to happen. I told you if you pushed the issue that I’d make sure you finally understand the truth of things.”

Lee’s voice was remarkably strong. Confident, instead of arrogant; firm, rather than cruel. It belied his years. Hunter wondered if that wasn’t the only thing about Lee that belied his comparative youth.

“What do you think the problem between them really is, hmm?” Troy cradled his chin on his hand, his elbow on the armrest between he and Lacey. “Any tidbits you feel like sharing with us, girl?”

Lacey’s breath grew shakier by the second, Hunter’s hand inching lower, the tips of his fingers just teasing the top of her slit. He caught Troy’s gaze then, watching the man’s expression closely. Troy’s eyes scanned down Lacey’s body, purposefully, pointedly, the message clear. Then he looked at Hunter again. Rather than reproach, or caution, or even uncertainty, Hunter saw only one thing in his friend’s eyes.

Eagerness.

“It’s… the age, ahhhh, difference…
jesus
,” Lacey whispered as Hunter’s touch slipped through the soaked folds of her pussy, curling two fingers inside her, the swollen clit a hard, prominent bud against his palm. Troy played with the erect point of her nipple as once more he turned his attention to the drama unfolding below them on stage. Hunter had to remember to breathe as he tested her wet heat, as he realized that this too was another threshold, another turning point, another door opening in… whatever it was that was happening here.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have mattered, but to him, somehow, it did.

Relax and enjoy this, asshole.

Lee and Keenan conferred together, quiet discussions and murmurs rippling through the watching crowd. Troy swiveled his head on his hand, looking at Lacey and Hunter both. “How about a little wager then? Hunter, take a guess as to what the real problem is between Lee and Cori. If you’re right, then you get to pick what happens once we leave this room.” He fixed Lacey with a stare, his gaze growing cooler. “And if you’re right, Lacey-girl, then
I
get to choose.”

Lacey panted, her hand wrapping around Hunter’s forearm as he eased a third finger into her soaked pussy. Thrusting them gently inside her, the wet sounds her sex made were so loud, Hunter wondered absently if the people seated a few rows down from them could hear it.

He found he really didn’t care anymore.

“W-why don’t I get to… choose?” Desperation and need warred within her trembling voice as she spoke the words.

Troy let go of her nipple and smoothed a palm across her cheek, presenting it to his wife’s lips. She quickly kissed it, her eyes closing as she did it.

“It’s tough to be mine sometimes, isn’t it?” Troy grinned over at Hunter. “Ah, the sweet injustice.”

Then Troy looked back down at the stage as Keenan and Lee appeared to come to an agreement.

“Time to see what the future holds for us.”

* * *

L
acey worried she was in danger of flying apart — in front of everyone in town.

Between the harsh pinching and twisting of nipples grown much too sensitive from the cruel attentions of her husband, and the devastatingly adept fingers of Hunter, she wasn’t sure how much longer this torture could go on before she screamed out her release.

But she knew it would go on, it
must
go on — because Troy wished it.

Keenan tapped his papers against the side of the lectern, waiting patiently for the crowd to quiet.

“We have a serious charge up before the Session today. Lee is sending up his lovely wife for General Defiance, and refusal to recognize his authority over her.”

The crowd was so quiet the sound of Lacey’s own breathing was like a freight train in her own ears.

“I never heard a guess from you, Hunter.” Troy glanced over, looking down pointedly at the fingers buried to the last knuckle deep in her sex. “Last chance on that wager.”

Hunter’s mouth fell open, then he winced. “Maybe a… spending disagreement?”

“That’s a shrewd guess, my friend.” Troy winked at his wife, her nipple throbbing once more under the cruel attentions of his iron hard fingertips. “He just might have you beat, Lacey.”

Please, God.

The thought of Hunter beating her conjured an entirely different image in Lacey’s mind than her husband intended.

Or did it?

Of course, she’d never stopped thinking about that sweet December night. How she’d cried so many hot tears, how much being able to give Hunter such a special gift warmed far more than her scorching bottom.

Troy had — as men are wont to do — minimized the meaning, the emotional implications of what they’d done. Hadn’t they discussed it initially as simply a hot fantasy? But what had it become once fantasy had become reality, once she’d seen how much it had affected that sweet, adorable man who happened to be her husband’s best friend.

Had any of them really been prepared for its effect on
her
?

She wondered if Troy would ever have agreed to something so crazy, had he known how much it would stay with her, haunt her.

Maybe she hadn’t been the only haunted by that wonderful night?

Then Keenan continued, stepping out from behind the lectern and walking slowly toward the waiting Cori as he spoke to the crowd.

“The reason the esteemed Cori Strickland stands before you today is a complicated one, but rather than get into the minutiae of it all — that’s really something I trust Lee can address, uh,
later
— I think the Session should hear the gist of it.” He turned to Cori, fixing her with a basilisk gaze. “In her own words.”

All color drained from the face of the auburn-haired beauty, her mouth working soundlessly as her startled gaze scanned the dark gallery before her. Then she seemed to gather her strength, straightening her shoulders, her jaw firming.

“I—I don’t know what you’re referring to. This is between myself and my husband.”

Keenan swept an arm toward the gallery. “What say you, Session?”

A deep rumbling voice sounded from somewhere down near the stage. “Did you not take your vows to love and obey your husband — in all things?”

Color flooded up Cori’s cheeks again, and Lacey felt herself blushing sympathetically. She remembered well the additional vows she’d recited at her own wedding, the ones that had the women in the audience aghast, and more than one man in the audience grinning.

She couldn’t even imagine what they’d make a woman say at a marriage here in White Valley.

Cori finally managed a response. “Yes, I spoke the vows, but that—”

“Did you
mean
those vows?” the anonymous spectator continued. “Or were you simply saying what you knew your husband — the man who loves you — wanted to hear?”

“I would never do such a thing!”

Lacey knew better though. She’d heard the stories about Cori’s defiance. She always wondered how such a difference in ages could possibly work. Even though she knew it was a very common fantasy for a younger man to take an older woman, whether as a one-time fling or as his wife, it didn’t seem to matter. Every man she knew seemed to take pleasure in the idea.