by Logan Tyler
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Beth turned her phone over, ignoring the call from Melissa. Her mind was still reeling over what she’d seen earlier that day and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. She almost wanted to corner Sarah, just to make sure she was alright, but then that would entail her confessing what she saw. Certainly, that would embarrass Sarah, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Thinking about what she saw though, she couldn’t help wiggling in her chair. Her bottom was almost tingling and try as she might, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d been a little jealous of Sarah. Besides some memorable childhood punishments, she’d never really been spanked, at least nothing more than an occasional friendly swat from a lover or a girlfriend, but she’d always harbored the desire to be.
How wonderful would it be to totally lose control like that? How great would it be just to cry freely, without worry and without judgment? Did Sarah even understand what kind of gift Melissa was giving her? Did she even see it the same way? What if she didn’t? What if Beth was the only one? Beth bit her lip. What if she was the only one? Maybe there was something wrong with her.
She turned her phone back over and read the text that her twin has sent. Melissa wanted her to call her back. She wanted her to come to dinner, and she said that Sarah wanted to talk to her too. That was strange, but then what part of today wasn’t?
With a sigh, Beth turned the phone back over. She needed time to think and the last person she wanted to talk to was her sister… or her sister’s partner for that matter.
Part Three: Tuesday
“Any luck?” Sarah asked as she noticed her girlfriend staring at her phone.
“No, and it’s been two days. I’m getting worried.”
Sarah frowned and sat down on the kitchen chair opposite of Melissa. She winced and shifted slightly. Her backside was almost back to normal, but those darn sit-spots and the hard-wooden chair just weren’t helping. “I’m sure she’s just been busy, Mel. You know how her work gets.”
“I know, but not even to text me back? I think something else is going on. I think I’m going to stop by her office tomorrow at lunch and talk to her.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Sarah asked shifting again.
Melissa looked up and smirked. “Still tender?”
“I hate that paddle.”
“Come here,” Melissa invited, pushing her chair away from the table and making her lap available.
Sarah gave her a small smile but took the invite. Settling into her favorite lap, Sarah sat sideways and gave her girlfriend a quick kiss. “Ah, much better. Seriously though, you think something is up with Beth?”
“I just worry about her. I have you, she doesn’t have anyone.”
“I offered to introduce her to Maggie, you know Beth could use someone to give her a little direction. She’s always under so much stress.”
Melissa chuckled. “Beth isn’t like us, honey. She and Maggie would just argue who is in charge all the time. Plus, you know Beth hasn’t officially come out yet.”
Sarah frowned but resigned her position with a sigh. Maybe Melissa was in denial, but she’d seen Beth watching them or even taking a little direction now and again. She almost always followed Melissa’s lead, but then her girlfriend was easy to follow. Melissa had an almost demanding presence, something that Beth lacked.
Sure, Beth could speak up and was actually very confident in her own abilities, but when it came to her personal needs, she would often neglect herself. It was frequently up to Melissa to make sure her sister got her yearly check-up and flu shot, not to mention practically dragging her go to the dentist or the doctor when she was actually sick. Melissa may be in denial, but Sarah could spot a fellow brat a mile away. Beth was certainly not identical to her sister in that regard.
“Would you feel better if we drove out to her place tonight?” Sarah asked. She’d wrapped her arms around Melissa and was looking into her concerned blue eyes.
“No, it’s late. I’ll offer to take her to lunch tomorrow. I think she needs a little sister time.”
“Okay, Mel. I’ll go work from the library for a few hours, in case you want to bring her back here. Might be better if something is going on to have a little privacy.”
“That’s a great idea, thank you,” Melissa smiled before kissing the end of Sarah’s nose.
Sarah wrinkled her nose with the kiss and then promptly stuck out her tongue.
“Oh, being cheeky, are you? Maybe I should turn you right over my knee. How’d you like that, naughty girl? I’ll pull down your pants and bare your naughty backside right here in the kitchen.”
Sarah squirmed as her cheeks flushed. She loved it when Melissa teased her like that. “It is getting late,” she drew out. “Maybe we should head to the bedroom?”
“Best idea you’ve had in days, brat.”
“I’m a brat now?”
“Always,” Melissa smirked as Sarah slid off her lap. She then tried to run, but Melissa grabbed her arm, landing a swift swat to her backside. “You’re an imp too,” she added before practically chasing Sarah into the bedroom.
Part Four: Wednesday
Beth stormed into her office slamming the door shut behind her. She dropped her bag and jerked the coat from her body before flinging it against the far wall. It gave her a small satisfaction as her coat bounced off the thick glass surface, making the whole wall rattle against her wrath.
“Ugh!” she then yelled into her empty office. “That woman! She...she... THAT woman!” Beth stuttered, hardly able to get the words out. Fire was rolling through every nerve of her body as she thought of the gall of that woman to call her out in front of clients and LIE to all of them about her!
Beth went to her desk and began to throw things as hard as she could into the box which had somehow appeared on her desk before Beth made it back from the meeting. Realizing with the materialization of the box, that it had to be a setup, she banged her fist on the desk in anger. They knew they were going to do this to her. That hurt almost more than anything. The people she worked with, the people who she thought were her friends, hadn’t even given her a heads up.
“Well, screw you, Ben. You too, Georgia,” Beth growled, as she started to fill the box. Her pristinely framed law degree was the first thing to hit the bottom of the cardboard. Next, the mini-heater she kept sitting on her desk was chucked into the box. Not pausing even at the sound of breaking glass, she reached for the picture of her and Melissa. The sight of her and her twin smiling, holding hands, both in caps and gowns gave her pause.
Her sister, her twin, used to be her best friend. They did everything together and had no secrets. Beth was the first person Melissa had confided in when she discovered that she was gay. She’d also been the first to know how ridiculously in love her sister was with Sarah. After their second date, Melissa had confessed that she knew that Sarah was the one she wanted to spend her life with. They’d been inseparable ever since.
That had obviously changed though. Beth still couldn’t get the image of what she’d witnessed last Sunday out of her head. Deep down she knew it was an interest they shared. As children, they’d fascinated over books, or even played house or with dolls, it was inevitable that someone would be naughty, and someone would need to be spanked, but it was always just play.
Never did she think that Melissa would take advantage of Sarah in such a way. It was unfathomable. It made Beth wonder if she had really been hurting Sarah, and Beth was still worried about the conversation she’d recently had with Sarah. Sarah had made her promise not to tell Melissa she’d left the house. That was alarming, and it made Beth wonder if that was why. How much say did Sarah really have? She obviously wasn’t enjoying getting her backside blistered. It was confusing and honestly, Beth didn’t quite understand why, but over the last three days, the only word she could describe her feeling was jealousy.
It made no sense, but she wanted to be where Sarah had been. She wanted to give up that control. To f
eel something other than being lost and afraid. She wanted to be able to cry freely in a safe place and feel protected and cared for. She wasn’t sure how spanking fit into that, but it somehow made sense. It was all she could think about since she’d seen it, and all she wanted to do was to ask questions. The only problem was she couldn’t. It was too embarrassing, and to confess that she’d been spying on her own sister was too weird. It was just too…. everything!
Beth looked back down at the photo in her hand, and taking a deep breath, she collapsed into her desk chair. Frowning, she remembered the day it was taken vividly. There were so much promise and hope of changing the world, but little did either of them know what the real world was like.
Times were tough and after their parents had died in the car accident, Melissa and Beth had been left alone. Although adults, they were orphans, and the only family they had was each other. Melissa had moved back home and in rural Eagle Lake, South Dakota, her business degree barely qualifying her for an assistant management position at a local shop.
Beth was a little better off with her law degree, but she couldn’t bear to be away from her sister. Fortunately, she landed a job with the only law office in town, but she spent the first year being a secretary, answering phones and fetching coffee. She’d been little more than a paralegal, but she’d been learning. After a time, she was given more responsibility and had managed a handful of clients.
Another two long years had passed since then. She’d gotten bolder and was now taking on clients on her own. This latest one, however, hadn’t been what she’d been expecting at all. From the start, it had been a difficult and long litigation battle that had stretched on for four months over a complicated personal injury case. Both sides had finally been willing to settle. That was until the local paper ran a story on the litigation and advertised the amount which was about to be settled upon.
One thing led to another, and Mary Parker, the owner of the firm and her boss ended up blaming Beth for going to the press to brag. Nothing was further from the truth, but it was enough for Mary. She claimed she had enough evidence, and after showing the clients, she’d promptly fired Beth.
Beth felt a tear stream down her cheek. Years of hard work, long hours, and doing menial tasks for a chance to really learn something had all sunk in a matter of moments. Her student loans weren’t even paid off. What was she going to do?
Beth looked up at her cluttered desk filled with stacks of old proposed agreements, pages of witness statements, hospital records, and tons of other research needed for her case. Feeling heat bubble once, more she stood swooping her hands across the desk and flinging papers across the room.
Seeing the papers fly was satisfying. At least if Mary wanted any of her research, she’d have to work for it herself. “Good luck with that, bitch,” Beth muttered before startling as the door suddenly opened. There was probably a knock too, but Beth had been in too much of a rage to notice. Looking up, however, and meeting her sister’s wide and surprised eyes made her take a take a mental step back,
“Beth, ah… are you okay?”
“No, I’m not fucking okay. Why are you even here? I don’t need you here. I don’t even need me here. I need to leave.”
“Hey, take a breath, okay? I was concerned about you, even more so now. What the heck is going on?” Melissa pointed at the papers strewn all over the floor. “I’ve tried to contact you for the last three days and you haven’t responded to my voicemails or texts. And now I walk into this? What’s going on, B?”
With Melissa’s caring tone came guilt. She had been ignoring her calls, but only because she didn’t know what to say. How could she admit that she’d seen what Sarah and Melissa were doing? It wasn’t like she walked in on them naked or something, this was much deeper and much more concerning.
“This isn’t a good time. I don’t want to talk about anything right now, least of all with you.”
“What does that mean? Since when can’t we talk?”
Beth narrowed her eyes but shook her head as she gave in. Despite what was going on between her sister and her lover, she still needed her twin. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“Okay, we can agree on that. Here, let me. Did you quit or something? Let me help you clean out your things and then we can go back to my place for a drink, okay? I think we can both use one.”
Beth nodded her head in agreement, pinching her lips shut tightly. She had wrapped her arms around her body, hugging her abdomen and curling into herself. She was still apprehensive, but her sister’s words were also reassuring. She didn’t want to talk about anything, but after the day she’d had, that drink sounded awfully tempting.
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Melissa quickly helped her sister gather her personal belongings and her computer before carrying Beth’s box to her car. Beth slowly dragged behind, making Melissa even more concerned about just what had happened. She knew that Beth hated where she worked but being the only law office in town didn’t really give her many options.
Neither woman spoke as Melissa led Beth down the hall, through the lobby and out of the front door. Melissa was parked on the street in front of the converted house. She opened the back door of the car setting the box inside and closed it. Without words, she watched Beth crawl into the passenger seat again folding into herself.
Deciding that her apartment was the best place to go, she was even more thankful that Sarah had had the foresight to go to the library today. It gave them the opportunity to not be disturbed.
A short time later, Melissa sat two whiskey glasses on her coffee table between Beth and herself. Again, without speaking, she poured them both two fingers of whiskey and sat the decanter close by. Simultaneously, both women reached for their glasses brought them up and took a long drink.
“What exactly happened today, Beth?” Melissa finally spoke. “Why did you trash your office? It’s been a very long time since I saw you lose your temper like that.”
Melissa waited patiently as she watched her sister’s face pinch in a way that it always did when she was frustrated. Beth didn’t look up at her though as she explained, matter of factly, “Mary Parker is a liar and a bitch. I no longer work for her. That’s all you need to know.”
Melissa felt the warm dulling wash of alcohol but still could recognize that was far from all she needed to know about the disaster Beth left in her office. “So, you quit then?”
“I was fired,” Beth practically spat.
“Seriously? Damn.” Melissa whistled, pouring them each another shot. “Come on, Beth, talk to me. I’ve known you since conception. Tell me what happened.”
Beth sighed, sharply rolling her head up to meet Melissa’s gaze. She downed the second shot before she said, “Today, we were supposed to finish all the paperwork for the Stephenson case, you know the one that’s been going back and forth on that guy that broke his arm falling off the barn?”
Melissa nodded, knowing how much of a headache that case had been giving her sister. In support, she also poured both of them a third glass as Beth continued her explanation
“As you know, I’ve been working on for awhile now. But you remember that story I showed you last week in the paper?”
Melissa again nodded but didn’t interrupt.
“Well, the opposing counsel was pissed about it. They had apparently called and made a big fuss with Mary. Just as the meeting started, Mary walked in and announced she had been through my emails. She told them I was the one that went to the press. That I was bragging. It all went downhill from there. She fired me, right there in front of the client. After so much crap they have put me through, and then this? I should sue her!” Beth proclaimed, downing her third drink.
“Maybe you should,” Melissa agreed, echoing her sister’s movements.
Beth sighed and shook her head, causing her wavy dark locks to bounce around her face. She reached for the decanter to pour her herself the fourth glass of whiskey, but Melissa beat her to it stopping her from picking it up.
Beth frowned, but leaned back and looked at her sister. They again found themselves in silence, and Melissa wondered what was going through her sister’s head. The job was one thing, but it almost seemed as there was more going on. Melissa finally straightened and cleared her throat. “I get that you’re upset, but what’s really going on, B? I haven’t seen you throw anything like that, since, well, since we lost Mom and Dad.”
Beth’s shoulders slumped, signaling to Melissa that she was right. “I don’t know… it’s, I love you Mel, but I have something to tell you, or rather something to confess.”
“It isn’t true, is it? You didn’t contact the paper with the settlement info?”
“Of course not. Why would I even do that!”
“I don’t know. What else would you need to tell me? I’m confused.”
“Yeah, well that makes two of us,” Beth mumbled. “Maybe I should just go.”
“I don’t think so. If you have something to say, then say it.”
Beth looked down at her hands. She shifted on her chair, obviously nervous, but Melissa was determined to wait her out. Her sister had something important to convey and neither of them were going anywhere until she did.
“Alright,” Beth finally said as she took in a deep breath. “Last Sunday,” she started slowly. “I came by. I felt bad about my conversation with Sarah the day before and I wanted to check up on her. Well, I brought some bagels, and both of your cars were here, but when I knocked, there was no answer. I figured you were either still asleep or walked somewhere, so I decided to let myself in and leave a note. It was silly I know but…”
Melissa’s stomach dropped. Her sister… her sister had heard or seen something. Clearing her throat, she rubbed her neck nervously. “How... how much did you hear….”
