by Sammi Cee
“Weren’t you going to the store tonight?” Daddy asked when he caught me fixing my hair in the bathroom mirror.
“Nope.”
“Oh?” he asked when I didn’t elaborate further.
This was it. This was my chance to push him, and the urge to gnaw on the inside of my cheek was palpable.
“That’ll have to wait. I have something else to do.”
“And that is?”
His expression was cool, his demeanor calm, and that was annoying. I wanted to test him, dammit, I wanted to see him lose that control he possessed—and not from sex.
“Work,” I said flippantly. “I picked up Billy’s shift.”
“When were you going to tell me?”
I turned and stared Daddy in the eye, trying not to squirm under his steely gaze. Channeling Billy, I added as much sass to my voice as possible. “I believe I just did.”
“Are you breaking a rule?”
I averted my gaze and turned back to looking in the mirror. “It’s only one extra shift. Besides, aren’t rules meant to be broken?”
Daddy growled his response. “Not mine.”
I shrugged and picked up the brush. “There’s a first time for everything,” I sing-songed.
Rather than say anything else, Daddy wrapped a gentle, yet firm hand around my elbow and pulled me from the bathroom.
Since the bathroom was attached to our bedroom, it was only a few steps until we were standing in the middle of the room.
“I know you’re testing me, boy. You keep trying to bite that cheek—even though it’s a habit you’ve practically kicked—and your eyes are filled with wariness you’re going to piss me off each time you do it. But the question I’m not going to ask is why you’re doing this.”
“Y-you’re not?” I stuttered.
Daddy shook his head and reached up his other hand to cup my cheek. “No, we’ll get to that later, because apparently, you have to get to work soon.”
Damn me for impulsively picking up that extra shift. “Then, what question are you going to ask, sir?”
“How am I going to discipline you for being a bad boy?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sarge
Disarming Davis while he worked was proving to be funnier than I’d anticipated. He was having a hard time concentrating on his customers and kept shooting wary glances in my direction.
“Sarge,” Rex said. “Why are you sitting here making him nervous? He’s gonna lose his shit if you don’t knock it off.”
“Seriously,” Law said from the barstool next to me. “Full Throttle is your bar, why don’t you cut the kid a break already?”
I sighed. They were probably right. It didn’t make much sense to antagonize him while it was my customers that he was giving shitty service because of my presence. “You’re right.” I finished my beer, then set the bottle on the bar-top. “I’m headed home.”
“Good. Get out of here already,” Law said.
“You’re staying?”
He rubbed his hand over his bald head and shrugged. “I don’t really have anything else to do.”
Rex rolled his eyes, saying, “And we’re all waiting for you to leave so we can find out why Davis came running in here like an animal being chased by a fire with you strolling in two minutes later like the cat who ate the canary.”
“That, and you’ve barely said more than two words to each other in the last two hours. Usually, you guys are kinda cringy with your affection. So get your old ass outta here so we can get the goods from the kid.”
“You guys are ridiculous.” I crooked my finger at Davis across the bar and waited until he’d walked painfully slow over to stand in front of me. “Okay, boy, I’m heading home. I’ve made a decision for you, which we will discuss once you’re done with your shift.”
“Yes, Daddy,” he said with his eyes downcast.
I tilted up his chin so that I could see into his scared blue eyes. “And tell these jokers nothing. It’s none of their damn business what’s going on between us, and they plan on attacking you like a couple of gossiping ol’ ladies. Got it?”
He wrinkled his nose in confusion at my request, but said, “Got it, sir.”
“Good boy.” I wanted to teach him a lesson, but I wasn’t mad at him, not really, so I leaned down and gave him a quick peck on his surprised mouth and headed home.
It was while I worked on my Harley waiting for Davis to come home that I remembered he’d called his friend from college. The one who’d first talked to him about being a boy. I barked out a laugh when I realized what must have happened. I’d hoped that by reconnecting with his friend that he’d have someone he trusted that he could talk to about our dynamic, but it hadn’t occurred to me that his friend may guide him to try his hand at being a brat.
While Davis had displayed a possibility of leaning toward being bratty upfront, once we’d made our communication rule, that had gone right out the window. We talked constantly about everything. We’d dissected my relationship with Jeffrey to death. He’d talked endlessly about his devotion to his mother and his sadness that his father had died while he was young, and when he’d expressed concern over his uncle’s care and told me how much he missed him, we’d taken a drive to see the old man. I’d enjoyed his uncle’s quick wit, and Davis and I had both been pleased by the level of care he received at the home and how many friends he had made.
He’d also spoken fondly of the joy taking pictures had brought him during those times. Currently, a brand-new camera with all of the fancy accessories and software that he could want was hidden in my closet. I’d planned to surprise him with that tonight and offer to take him to a local park that had a nice bridge over a small pond, but he’d upended that with his attempt at bratty.
Up until this point, the most I’d had to do to get my boy’s attention and remind him of the rules was a quick, hard smack to the ass. After the first time, when he’d turned on me startled and wavered between getting mad and heeding the warning I was giving him, he’d handled each spank with a roll of his eyes directed at himself and apologized to me for breaking one of the rules I’d established to take care of him and give him his best possible life. Since he’d purposefully pushed my boundaries today, he’d backed us into a corner where I’d have to make the consequences of his actions a little less appealing.
Davis arrived home about as quickly after closing as one could get and still have performed their closing duties. He walked into the house, eyeing me warily where I sat in the wingback chair my mother had given me when I moved out of the house at eighteen and into my first apartment with no furniture and barely any money. We never sat in it as it was horribly uncomfortable, but it was perfect for tonight. Davis stopped halfway across the room and said, “I’m really sorry, Daddy. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I do.” His searching gaze met mine, and I beckoned him closer. “You wanted to see what would happen if you pushed my buttons. Correct?”
He nodded, shamefacedly.
“Here’s the problem with what you did. You didn’t mean it. You weren’t being sincere, and you didn’t really want to irritate me. Did you?”
He shook his head, sniffing miserably.
“Okay, well, we can’t let this go. You understand that, right? If I let it go this time, then it makes our rules kind of meaningless, doesn’t it?” He began to nod again, but I said, “I need you to use your words, boy.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“And why do you have rules?”
“Because you want me to be safe and healthy and cared for, Daddy.”
“And do you feel like you are, duckling? Do you feel like I’m keeping you safe, like your health matters to me, and I care for you? Or am I slacking somewhere?” His eyes widened, but I held up a hand, stopping him from answering immediately. “Remember, our rule is that we’ll always communicate with each other, so if I’m falling short in—”
He rushed across the room and dropped down at my feet, leaning h
is painfully bony elbows on my knees. “No, Daddy. Everything is so close to perfect I want to pinch myself sometimes. Of course, I don’t because if I pinched myself and left a bruise, you’d be upset with me, but I’m so happy with you and this life is more than I’d ever hoped for, and I’m so sorry that I tried to be a brat but Russell, you remember, my friend from college said that I should try to push your limits, and it sounded like a good idea at the time, I guess, but he made it sound fun, and you being frustrated with me isn’t fun at all.”
“Woah. I’m going to need you to breathe, boy. I’d already worked all that out on my own, so you’re fine. But here’s the thing, we’ve talked about how everyone's relationship looks different, right?”
Davis barely moved his head as he stared up at me with big tear drops twinkling in the corners of his eyes.
“Well, I told you we’d have to figure this part out as we went, didn’t I? That I needed to see how we were going to fit together and how your rules were going to work for you. They’ve fit your personality marvelously, Davis.” His head reared back at my use of his name, which truth be told, I hadn’t really used even before we were together. I rested my hands on his shoulders, caressing them with my thumbs, and said, “I didn’t mean anything by calling you Davis. I’m just trying to make sure you understand how serious I am. Our relationship is peaceful and comfortable. We have fun together. We may not enjoy all of the same things, which was to be expected with how young—”
“Old,” he interjected as I spoke, but then flushed guiltily at joking during a serious conversation.
“... you are.” I grinned at him to ease the sting, and let him know that he hadn’t spoken out of turn. This had become a thing between us when one thought the other was being too “their own age” and we’d had a lot of fun with it. When differences in music or movies could’ve become volcanic or led to us spending time apart, we’d laughed and been able to compromise. “See, you're my sweet boy and I like being sweet to you. Now, we don’t know the dynamics between Russell and his Daddy, so the way they handle his boy’s consequences may be different than ours.”
“He said it gets fun for them.”
I chuckled. “I assumed that was part of the deal. And you said Russell is a lot like Billy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, we both can agree we adore Billy, but even you have to admit part of his charm is that he’s a brat.”
Davis cocked his head, and I could see the wheels spinning by the little furrow that appeared between his eyebrows. “That’s true,” he said slowly. “Actually, those two really are a lot alike, but I’m nothing like either one of them for the most part.”
“You’re perfectly suited to be friends with them, though. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with you not being like them. I’m rather charmed by the way you are.”
His cheeks pinkened. “Thank you, Daddy.”
“So, you’re turning into a firecracker in bed.”
The color in his face deepened and he giggled self-consciously. “What? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything.” I reached down and wrapped my hands around his waist, pulling him up onto my lap on the godawful, uncomfortable chair. I had meant to do this in a different order, but by the look of devastation on his face when he’d arrived home, I knew we had to have this talk first. “Someday, and based on how much you like me fucking your face, maybe not too far in the future, we’ll have to discuss what all we’re both open to sexually. I’d wanted to ease you into the physical side of our relationship, but you took to it like a duck to water. In fact, in this case, my old ass may have a hard time keeping up with you before you know it.”
“Whatever, Daddy. You aren’t even old and you’re insatiable.”
I kinda was a beast in bed; he wasn’t wrong there. “Okay, well, that may be pushing it, you’re right. But…what I’m saying is you’re so new to sex and us as a couple is so new that we haven’t even begun to explore all of the things that are out there. And we can make those choices together as time goes on. But when I smack you for decimating your own cheek, I want it to hurt. I don’t want you inflicting pain upon yourself. When I told you how often I wanted you working, it’s because I wanted you to give your mind and body time to rest—to heal. You were carrying responsibilities and burdens well beyond your age much too young. You’re with me now, and it doesn’t only bring me pleasure, but it’s necessary for your overall health that you get loose from all of the stress that was put on you. It isn’t an area that I want you to test me on. I want your obedience in that. Do you understand?”
“I think so.”
“If you want to role-play getting in trouble, we can do that. But right now, with the rules I’ve set, they’re because I want to be a good Daddy who’s taking care of his boy's very real needs. Okay?”
The precious smile that had come to mean everything bloomed on his face. I so badly wanted to tell him just how loved he was, but now wasn’t the time. I wanted to tell him just how special he was and how much he owned my heart after taking him out and treating him, not when I was about to deliver a very real spanking that wasn’t going to be for enjoyment.
“Alright, let’s get this over with so we can move on to other things and then get to bed.”
The smile fell instantly, and he asked, “What’s that mean?” There was a very noticeable tremor in his voice.
“You’re not getting a single smack for this stunt you just pulled. Tonight you’re getting ten smacks, and while I admit I’ll enjoy seeing the imprint of my hand on your ass, we won’t be going in a direction where you’ll be allowed to get off. There won’t be any dirty talk or getting sexy. This is practical and for you to think about it the next time you want to break a rule that’s in place for your well-being. Got it?”
“Yes, Daddy.” His soft, sad tone about broke my heart, but it had to be done.
“Stand up and take off your pants, please.”
He stood, slowly, but without hesitation and did as I requested. I turned him and laid him across my lap. “I guess I see why you sat in this chair,” he mumbled.
“Yeah.” I stared down at his pale globes and wished so much that this was in a different context. Lord, my boy had a fine ass, and I’d have loved for this to be a prologue to sex. I laid my hand on his ass, wishing I could rub it and make this good, but I steeled my spine, reminding myself that this wasn’t what this was about. “Are you ready?”
“Do I have to count?”
I bit back a chuckle. “Not this time. Maybe if we do this under different conditions. For tonight, I’ll count. It’s going to be fast, and it’s going to hurt. Ready?”
“Yes, Daddy.” His voice was already thick with tears, and it made my heartache.
I delivered his spanking quickly and efficiently, careful not to hit the same spot twice in a row. When I was done, sobs shook his body, but it was still more about being upset he’d broken one of his rules and disappointed me. The smacks hadn’t been any harder than what I gave him whenever I caught him picking at his clothes or biting the inside of his cheek. I turned him over as I picked him up and carried him to our bed. He buried his nose in the side of my neck, apologizing for disappointing me between sobs. I laid him down on his stomach on the crisp, freshly washed sheets and sat cross-legged next to him as I applied the balm that I’d purchased in case I ever got the opportunity to redden his ass. Unfortunately, this hadn’t been what I had in mind at the time.
“Boy, there’s a bottle of water on your nightstand if you need a sip before I’m done applying this.”
He remained quiet for several minutes, giving me the opportunity to perv a little on how truly beautiful my large handprint was stamped across his ass as I gingerly smoothed the balm over his flaming red cheeks. The pale skin glowed brightly where my flesh had connected with his, and I began to fantasize about spankings where he rubbed one out against my thigh as the strike of my hands gave him pleasure, instead of lying across my lap tremb
ling with sadness. “Can I have some water?”
“Of course.” I leaned over the top of him and grabbed the bottle of water I’d placed there earlier when I changed out the sheets and retrieved the balm from the drawer in my dresser.
He propped up on his elbows and took several swallows. I focused on his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat instead of on his tear-streaked face. “Thank you.” He handed me back the bottle and laid back down with his head facing me. “You thought of everything. Water, clean sheets, and that isn’t regular lotion, is it?”
“No. It’s a soothing balm I ordered especially for spanking your sweet ass, boy.” I smiled hesitantly down at him.
He stared at me. Then a small smile hovered on his lips. “You didn’t buy it for punishment, though, did you?”
“You caught me.” I shook my head, snorting. “This was supposed to be for fun time only. I figured one day maybe you’d let me…”
He propped back up on his elbows and wiped his hands across the tears on his cheeks. “Daddy, have you been wanting to spank me?”
The teasing quality in his voice disarmed me, especially so soon after him crying from the spanking I’d just delivered. To buy myself a little time, I leaned over to my nightstand and grabbed a couple of tissues and pressed them into one of his hands. After he wiped his face and blew his nose, I cleared my throat nervously, then admitted, “It is something I enjoy. My handprint on your ass as I fuck into you after would be…uh, something I’d be in to.”
He quirked a brow. “And did you enjoy this?”
“Well, no. It’s not the same if we’re not doing it for pleasure.”
His gaze narrowed. “But your handprint must be all over my ass right now. Are you telling me you aren’t ogling it a little right now?”
