"I love that he wanted us to stay out late," Daphne said. "That paved the way for our shoe shopping expedition. The stores stay open until 10:00, so we can go from the shoe store to the movie theater. Isn't it just perfect?"
"I'll say," agreed Lilly. "We'll have to thank him for that." The girls were laughing, while the men just shook their heads.
After dinner, they went to the mall. The shoe shopping was going well, when the men ran into a friend of theirs in one of the shoe stores. The three men were visiting while the women kept shopping. A friend of theirs, Valerie, worked at the shoe store and they were soon visiting, as well.
Valerie told the girls, "I got a new car, and I love it."
"I'm looking for a new one," Lilly said. "What kind did you get?"
"I got a Volkswagen Jetta. It's right outside; why don't you come look at it?"
"I thought about looking at one of them, but someone told me they don't get very good mileage. How's yours do?"
"That's one of the things I like about it. It gets terrific mileage."
"Really? Maybe I should look at one then."
"Come out and look at mine. It's right outside," Valerie urged.
The girls looked over at the guys, but decided they were so busy talking they wouldn't even notice if they were gone for a few minutes. It wouldn't take long just to look at it. Lilly thought of the vandal on the loose and paused. "What about whoever's been doing all the vandalism?"
Daphne stopped to think. "Hopefully he's at your house now, getting ready to break in. But even if he isn't, he sure won't be expecting us to go out the back door here. I mean, even if he knows we're at the mall, he wouldn't know where, and he certainly wouldn't expect us to go out a back door."
Lilly grinned. "You're right. I mean, what are the odds of him even being here at the mall or knowing we're here, let alone seeing us go out a back door for five minutes?" The girls looked back at the guys, who were still completely involved in a conversation with their friend. She smiled at Daphne and Valerie. "Let's go, Valerie."
Valerie led them out the back door and off to the side just a little ways and showed them her car. They all got in the car to look at it. Valerie handed Lilly the keys. "Here, drive it around the parking lot if you want, see if you like it."
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Lilly did really like the car.
"I don't mind at all. Go ahead."
Lilly started the car and drove it around the parking lot for a couple minutes, and returned it to Valerie's parking spot. She asked a couple questions, which Valerie answered.
***
While they were looking at the car, Brian glanced over to check on Daphne and Lilly. He didn't see them, and casually moved a bit, looking for them. Dalton picked up on his movements right away and turned around, as well. "Where are the girls?" he asked.
"I don't know," Brian answered. "I've been glancing over at them and they were talking to Valerie, but now I don't see them anywhere."
Brian quickly started searching the store, while Dalton talked to the employee he saw. Dalton had been told the three ladies went out the back door, and he called to Brian and headed to the door.
On his way to the door he told Brian, "The other lady said the three of them went outside."
Brian looked shocked. "Why would they go outside? They know better than to go somewhere right now without telling us."
They went outside and looked around, but no one was anywhere in the vicinity. Brian went one way and Dalton went the other, but they didn't see any of them. As they were going back to the door Dalton noticed a sign in front of an empty parking spot. "This is Valerie's parking spot," he said, "but it's empty. Surely they wouldn't all go somewhere without telling us, would they?"
Brian was nervous. "You don't suppose someone forced them to, do you?"
"I don't know," Dalton said. "I hope not." They hurried in to talk to the other sales lady on duty. "Was she on a break, or would she just leave? Her car's gone."
Before the sales lady could answer Dalton's question, the three girls came back in through the back door, giggling. "Thanks for showing me your car, Valerie," Lilly said. "It's really nice."
"We better go back in before the guys miss us," Daphne said. "If they see us missing they'll blow it all out of proportion."
They turned the corner and ran into the subjects of their conversation. The guys quickly reached out and met Lilly and Daphne and escorted them to the front of the store. "Too late," Dalton growled.
"We've already blown it out of proportion," Brian finished.
The girls looked at each other, eyes wide. Lilly tried to calm them down. "Dalton, wait. There's a pair of shoes I was going to buy. Valerie told me about her new car, and she wanted to show it to us quick. I haven't paid for the shoes yet."
"You'll be paying for something tonight, my dear, but it won't be shoes."
"But Brian," Daphne tried, "we were gone less than five minutes."
"What about whoever has been doing all these break ins and vandalism? He could have grabbed you outside when we weren't there to protect you."
"Like you were doing much in the store," Lilly tried. "You were talking to your friend."
"Yes, we were," Dalton admitted, "but we were standing at the door to the store so that no one could get into the store without us seeing them. Then we kept glancing up to check on you every couple minutes, right up until you disappeared."
Daphne was still upset at Brian. "You asked what about the bad guy out there? He's probably at the ranch about now. And even if he's not, we don't know where he is. But even if he followed us here, he'd be following us around, and you wouldn't have let him in. How would he know we'd be going out the back door of a specific store at a specific time? Get real."
"Oh, the way I'm looking at this is very real, Daph, and it will become very real to you when we get home."
Dalton, who had been leading Lilly by the arm toward the mall exit, stopped. Brian stopped himself and Daphne beside them. Dalton looked at both girls. "If you two both feel that way, we need to have a serious conversation." He turned to Brian. "We can't go to the ranch yet, but can we go to your house and have a group chat? Then we can split up and go to separate rooms to bring home the point we're about to make."
"That sounds like a good idea," Brian agreed.
Both girls were appalled. They were both ready to object, when Dalton quietly said, "Not a word, either of you. We'll talk when we get to Brian and Daphne's house. Arguing before we get there is not recommended." The girls looked at each other and sighed. They both knew how serious their men were.
The drive was very quiet. Since they went in Brian's car, Dalton helped Lilly into the back seat, and climbed in beside her. He knew she was fighting several emotions. She was angry, but she was also nervous. He hoped she also felt at least a little guilty. It would make this evening go a lot easier—for both of them. He reached over and took her hand in his. He had to make her understand that she had to let him keep her safe. He loved her too much to risk anything happening to her.
In the front seat, Brian knew Daphne was upset as well, but he knew she was quiet because she was nervous. She knew she'd ignored rules to keep her safe. He reached over and took her hand in his, as well. He may be upset with her at the moment, but he still loved her dearly, and she needed to remember that.
They got to Brian and Daphne's home and the men escorted the girls into the living room and sat them both down on the couch.
The girls were nervous. Daphne was worried about Lilly being right beside her. She'd never had anyone else she knew of that also got spanked until Lilly started dating her brother, and they'd never gotten into trouble together. Surely they weren't planning on spanking them both together, would they? That would be awful! A spanking is a private, intimate thing. Lilly may be her best friend, but it would still be terrible.
Lilly was just as nervous. She'd only been spanked a few times, and she wasn't a fan of it at all. When Dalton spanked, he meant business
and it hurt! But the thought of being spanked in front of someone, or at the same time as someone was more than she could even think about. She'd be so embarrassed.
Dalton, who had started talking to the girls about why they couldn't go outside by themselves, looked from Lilly to Daphne, and sighed. "So that's why we feel the only solution to this problem is to sell the ranch and your house and move to Alaska. But it's important that you not tell anyone where we're moving to, so whoever is doing this has no idea where we are. Do you understand what I'm saying? Daphne?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
Dalton met Brian's eyes and they shook their heads. Dalton asked, "Lilly, do you understand?"
"Yes. I'm really sorry, Dalton. We thought we'd be safe for just a couple minutes."
Dalton tried again. "So since you both know what you did wrong and you agree with the plan, where in Alaska would you like to move to?" Neither girl said a word, and the men knew they weren't listening to a word they said.
Dalton spoke to Brian next. "Brian, first things first. We need to get their attention before we can do anything else."
Brian nodded and sat down next to Daphne and took one of her hands in his. Dalton did the same to Lilly.
Daphne looked at Brian with pleading eyes. "Brian, please tell me you guys aren't going to spank us both out here, where we can see and hear each other being spanked."
As if on cue, the second she finished her pleading question, Lilly said, "Dalton, please. I couldn't stand that."
The guys' eyes met again and there was a bit of understanding now. Brian looked at his wife. "You've been afraid we'd spank you both out here, and that's why you agreed we could sell our house and move to Alaska?"
Daphne looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "What? What does Alaska have to do with anything?"
Lilly looked at Dalton, scared and confused. "Alaska? What's he talking about?"
"I was talking to the two of you, explaining again why it's so important you not go outside without us, and we could tell neither of you were listening to a word I said. So to try and get your attention back, I said since we couldn't get you to stay inside where we can keep you safe around here we'd have to move to Alaska. Neither of you made even the tiniest objection, which told us you weren't listening to me at all."
"I'm sorry," Lilly said sincerely. "I've been so afraid you'd spank us together; I couldn't think about anything else. Please tell me you won't do that. I don't think I could stand it. It's still so embarrassing to me every time you spank me, having you see me like that. I can't even begin to imagine how awful it would be for someone else to see me." She couldn't hold the tears back any longer and burst into sobs, clutching at his shirt.
He picked her up and sat her on his lap and wrapped his arms around her before he actually realized what he was doing. He comforted her much as he did after a spanking. He whispered in her ear, "Ssshhh, honey, it's okay. You're trembling. If you were that scared, you should have talked to me. I'm not trying to embarrass you, honey, just to keep you safe."
He looked up, and Brian was doing much the same for his wife, who was sitting on his lap.
Both men comforted the ladies until they calmed enough to listen to them. Brian tried talking to them both again. "Ladies, I realize now that this is the first time you two have gotten into trouble together. I doubt that it'll be the last, but we should have realized since it's the first time, it makes it different. You both need to know that our goal in spanking you two when you need it is not to embarrass you as much as possible. It's to make you understand that your behavior needs to change so we can keep you safe."
He gave them a moment to absorb what he was saying. "This situation we find ourselves in right now is very serious. We don't know who this guy is or what he wants. But we do know he cut brake lines on a vehicle, which shows he's not afraid of hurting someone. That means we have to be very, very careful."
Dalton took over. "We want you two safe and happy. We have a lot of respect for you both, or we wouldn't love you the way we do. We've also worked hard to earn your respect, and we don't plan on doing something we know would embarrass you greatly and risk losing that respect."
Daphne was the first to respond. "I'm sorry, both of you. I was so scared when you said you were bringing us both here, I guess I let my imagination get the best of me. I do trust you, both of you, to keep us safe and happy. Lilly doesn't know Brian well enough to trust him yet, but I know both of you and I should have known. I'm sorry."
Brian's love for his wife was evident. "It's okay, honey. I know you've both been under a lot of stress lately."
Dalton joined him. "Brian's right. You've both got to be stressed out, and I imagine a bit scared. That's understandable. But that's all the more reason that you have to trust us. You have to let us protect you and keep you safe."
"You're right," Daphne said. "When we thought we'd only be out there a few minutes to look at her new car, and it was the only kind Lilly was thinking of getting and didn't look at, we thought the odds were really low that anyone would see us out there. That's probably true, but I see what you two are saying now, too. When we came back in, you two looked scared to death. We didn't mean to scare you like that. Honest."
"I believe you," Brian said. "But when we couldn't find you and saw her car gone, we thought maybe whoever this is had gotten to you and kidnapped you, forced her to drive her car with you two in it."
Lilly looked from him to Dalton. "I'm sorry, I had no idea."
They were all quiet for several long moments, the men reliving those terrifying moments when they thought they'd lost the girls, and the girls remembering their scared expressions when they went back in the store. What Lilly said next surprised them all. "I guess we earned a pretty good spanking, didn't we?"
Dalton's eyes about popped out of his head at her confession, but he wasn't going to let this chance slip by. "Yeah, I guess you did. What do you think we should do about that?"
"I don't really want to have to wait until we get home and the sheriff leaves. What if someone breaks in tonight? We'd have to wait until all that's done and over with, and I don't know about Daphne, but I think that would be enough to make me sick, having to wait through all that, knowing what would happen."
"Lilly's right," Daphne agreed. "Brian, you know when I screw up, things aren't right between us until after the spanking's over with. I don't want to have to wait that long to make things right. But even if we go in our bedroom and shut the door and they stay out here, we'll hear them. That thought terrifies me."
"Me, too," Lilly said, sitting straight up.
Dalton felt her tense up tighter than a knot. "Sssh, honey, relax. We won't do that. Seeing how upset both of you are over that possibility, doing that wouldn't serve any purpose. The only lesson you'd learn from that is that we don't care enough about you two to avoid hurting you emotionally. That's not what we're trying to do here."
"Thank you," Lilly said as she snuggled against him.
"How about this," Brian said, thinking out loud. "We'll turn the television on nice and loud out here in the living room. Dalton, you take Lilly and go upstairs to the farthest guest bedroom, the one at the end of the hall. I'll take Daphne to my office, which is downstairs here, pretty much on the opposite end of the house. With that much distance between the rooms and the television going in between, I don't see how anyone could hear a thing."
"It seems to me that should work, but it's up to the girls. Lilly?"
She let out a deep breath. "I think that would work. I never thought I'd be in a hurry to get a spanking, but I guess I'm anxious to get it over with. Let's go." She stood up and surprised him again by pulling on his hand.
Before Dalton got up he looked at his sister. "Daphne?"
"I'm with Lilly. That should be far enough away. Let's get this over with."
The two couples got up and headed off in opposite directions. "We'll meet back here afterwards," Dalton said. "I don't want to come out too soon, though. How long do
you want?"
"Give us half an hour. If we need longer, I'll call you. Is that good?"
"Half an hour should do us, too. I'll call you if we need longer."
Chapter Seventeen
On the way up the stairs and to the back bedroom, Lilly asked, "How can half an hour seem like not too long, and a real long time, all at the same time?"
Dalton chuckled. "Nervous?"
"Oh, yeah," she said.
He was a bit concerned. "Scared?"
She thought about his question. "Maybe a little scared of the pain, but I'm not scared of you. I trust you."
"Good," he said as he led her into the bedroom. He sat down on the bed and soon had her over his lap with her dress up and her panties down.
"Do we need to talk about why you're getting this spanking, Lilly, or are you clear on that?"
"I'm clear," she admitted. "Your expression at the store made me realize how scared we made you guys. I'm really sorry about that."
"We really did think you'd been kidnapped," Dalton said as he started the spanking.
She gasped at the first swat. He wasn't going easy, right from the start. She knew this was going to be awful.
He kept the spanking going, telling her all the awful things that were running through his mind when they couldn't find them.
She felt terrible, and it was getting worse with each swat. The spanking hurt terribly, and her bottom felt like it was already on fire, even though she knew he'd just started. But in her heart, she felt even worse. Hearing Dalton talking really bothered her. It wasn't just the words he was saying, but the way he was saying them. He truly was scared. Listening to him she realized just how much he loved her, and she also realized how much she hated worrying him, disappointing him.
That thought had her giving up the fight she was having against the pain from the spanking. She deserved whatever he gave her. He'd been doing everything in his power to keep her safe, and she knowingly went against his wishes. She'd known at the time she went out he wouldn't want her to. But she'd reasoned the odds of someone being out there were very slim. She now realized it didn't matter how slim the odds were. Going out there was going against his attempts at keeping her safe. Yes, she deserved every swat he gave her. Tears started falling in earnest, and she didn't even try to stop them. She slumped across his knees and took every swat, tears streaming down her face.
A Beautiful Ranch Page 21
