Kyle and Jack stared, but Linc suddenly found his role in the drama and dropped his voice to an all-time frighteningly low decibel. “So, both of you knew this? And you knew that she was lying on her applications and on the waivers, which leaves the ranch liable…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence.
“But nothing happened,” said Bella in a panicked attempt to save her bottom. “She just got scared. She isn’t going to sue or anything.”
His anger exploded. “That isn’t the fucking point. You lied to us and put the whole ranch in danger.” He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to process the news, but the veins on his neck pulsed along with his blood pressure.
The girls sucked in their breath under the weight of his unfamiliar anger, but Jack rested his hand on his brother’s shoulders and spoke quietly. The older Sullivan nodded before he exited the room with a door slam that made the unfortunate subs jump a mile.
“He can’t deal with either of you right now, but Kyle and I can,” Jack said with his arms crossed to reveal his twitching chiseled biceps. “You’re both in so much trouble that you cannot even imagine how this is going to end. What do you think, Kyle? There’s a nice birch tree in the front yard. I’ve heard about people who bundle the branches together and that little sting lasts awhile.”
Kyle nodded. “Maybe we can experiment. We’ve a long night of educational instruction ahead of us.”
Marcus closed his eyes and rubbed his brow. “What were you guys thinking? How much experience does she actually have anyway?”
Tami spoke in a veiled attempt to win points for cooperation. “Well, she had a serious boyfriend about two years ago. I think they dated for about six months.”
“She has never even been spanked before, has she?” he groaned.
“It isn’t our fault you took her pants off less than twenty-four hours after she got out of the car,” mumbled Bella. “We couldn’t anticipate that.”
“Oh, my God, Bella. Can’t you shut up?” moaned Tami. “I want my trial to be separate from hers. She just incriminates herself. What I want to say is that I’m really sorry for my deception. I’m willing to take my punishment, but I’d like to throw myself on the mercy of the court. We were just trying to help a friend who would have been homeless. And it was my idea. Bella’s help was just needed to keep her supported once she got here.”
Jack was not appeased. “Why didn’t you just ask? I think that’s actually the worst part. Especially you, Isabella. If this was so important to you, why didn’t you just ask us?”
For the first time, Bella looked contrite. “I don’t know. I guess I thought you’d say no.”
“My God, Bella,” he snapped in exasperation. “We have talked about everything from sex with strangers to what color tail you want on your anal plugs. Are you telling me that our marriage is so shallow you can’t come to me with something you think is really important? Even if we’d said no, your opinion matters around here. We would have justified our answer or taken your advice. Either way, it deserved a conversation, not a unilateral decision on your part.”
The tears came easily. “I didn’t think of it that way. I’m sorry, Jack. I should have said something, I just… didn’t think.”
When she broke into wrenching sobs, Jack sighed. These tears were very different from the ones her little red ass generated, and none of them could stand it when she cried with that much sincerity. “Come on, Bel. Let’s go to bed. We’ll talk punishment tomorrow when we all have clearer heads.”
Kyle crossed his arms in closure. “I’ve got a pretty clear head now. Let’s go to the dungeon and gain an audience, Tami. I’ll give you a pillow to sit your shiny little red ass on in the car when I take you home tonight.”
With a heavy sigh, she followed him out of the room.
* * *
Regret hit Sophia before she reached the stairs, but her need to hide from the world forced her to go as far away from the disaster as possible. The third floor bathroom at the end of the hall was the last possible option before she would have to turn around and bring herself a step closer to their anger. With no other choice, she locked the door and curled onto the soft bathroom rug to sob.
Twenty-five long minutes of gut-wrenching misery elapsed before Marcus knocked quietly. “I know you’re in there, Sophia. Open the door so we can talk.”
Her brain willed the solid wood door to transform her to another universe as silent tears consumed her breath. Clutching a white bath towel for some small sense of security, she waited for him to give up.
The determination paid off, and he spoke with a sigh. “Look. I know you’re upset, and I’m not too calm either. I’ll give you tonight, but first thing tomorrow morning, we’re going to talk even if I have to break the door off the damn hinges. I’m going to my room now. I promise you can move to your bed, and I won’t push you. Get some sleep.”
She waited another half hour to slip to her darkened room, but the copious tears continued. Once she started, she couldn’t stop the choking sadness that spilled from her soul, and the night was filled with overwhelming remorse that only slowed under steady nightmares.
Cloudcroft and the staff haunted her as she remembered each and every emotion before she’d bolted from the white lights on the sunporch. Twice during the night, she even gave into the nausea that churned in her stomach, but fortunately, the house remained eerily quiet when she left her bedroom’s security to return to the hallway bath.
She was ready to leave long before dawn. Fleeing Cloudcroft in the wee hours of the morning was a cowardly act, but she didn’t care. Bella and Tami probably hated her, and there was no way she could face any dominant stares. The realization that she’d never again see the ranch, or the gardens, or even Lucky the horse, fed her tears, but the knowledge she’d lost Marcus almost took her breath away.
There was no way, however, she could face his disappointment. He was clearly attracted to somebody who knew how to play, and his rejection was better left to her imagination. She didn’t belong with this big, beautiful family. To keep some small level of control over the alien sadness, she had to leave as quickly as she could.
Her plans were tenuous, but all her limited options started with transportation. She hoped to find a stable hand to drive her to Marion where she could get the next bus back to Jackson. From there, she’d have to spring for a cheap hotel for a day or two while she looked into shelters and another job before making arrangements to postpone her last semester of school.
Carrying her big suitcase, she worked her way to the back office of the barn to search for somebody with keys to a ranch vehicle and found Meg’s quiet husband already at work. Her muscles ached from the poor night’s sleep, and her swollen eyes betrayed her misery. She stared at the floor and her voice was just above a whisper. “Jerry, I really need to get to Marion today. Can you please drive me? I have twenty dollars for gas and your time.”
His past support had been rooted in kindness, but his loyalty rested with Cloudcroft so she braced herself for the inevitable rejection. He said softly, “Have you talked to Marcus yet, honey? You can’t just run off on him without clearing this up.”
She broke down under the sensitive response. Jerry had no trouble taking her into his arms with a firm hug, and her defeated soul gave in to the fatherly embrace. He patted her back with gentle warmth and comfort, but it took ten full minutes before she could find her voice. “You have no idea what I’ve done. I can’t face him, Jerry. I lied to all of them. They hate me. I… I’d hate me too.”
“This is a small place, Sophia.” He spoke with a gentle smile. “I know what happened, and nobody hates you. Marcus is infatuated with you. You can see it in his eyes every time you’re near. Even Meg notices it.”
“That’s just because he thought I’d play with him. Now that he knows I don’t do that, he won’t want me around. I… I’ve had too much sadness in my life, and can’t take anymore right now. Just help me get to Marion, and I can get the bus back to Jackson
.” She couldn’t add that the small opening to a happy family life was the hardest thing she’d ever walked away from, but the thought fueled more tears.
“What kind of people do you think we are?” he scolded. “Do you really think the only thing we care about is playing a scene? Those are just games, little girl. Real strength lies in the relationships we build with each other. We’re just like everybody else.”
Her face registered clear disbelief, and Jerry laughed. “Okay, fine. We aren’t exactly like everybody else, but that’s not a bad thing. We talk around here. We don’t hold back… and we don’t fight. These relationships are successful because we work hard at them. We sure as hell don’t run off when things get rough.
“You’ve got to go back and talk to him. After that, if you still want to leave, I’ll drive you all the way to Jackson myself and help get you settled, but I’m not going to let you sneak out of here like a jackal.”
She rubbed her swollen eyes with the back of her hand. “But that isn’t me. I don’t talk to people. I don’t need anybody else, and I don’t belong here. I can take care of myself.”
“That sounds like a lot of excuses to me. It’s easier to run and hide from people than it is to form relationships but solid relationships are built on effort. You just haven’t had a lot of practice.”
Sophia allowed the small scoff, but he continued. “I know you were in foster care, and your life was hard. But you’ve got to learn to be part of a group. You can’t spend the rest of your adult life running away from every opportunity you get. If you leave without talking to Marcus, then that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
Before she could fully internalize his words, Marcus entered with obvious relief. “Thank God I found you, Sophia.” He saw her suitcase, and his voice turned to an incredulous growl. “Were you really going to just sneak away?”
Jerry gave her a wink followed by a kiss on her forehead before he walked toward the door. “Talk, Sophia. That’s what we do around here.”
Left alone, Marcus’s quiet presence slowly worked to defeat her need to run, but he crossed his arms without speaking and waited for her answer. Minutes ticked by as her emotions twirled with tornadic force, and her thoughts struggled to find a focus.
Finally, he ordered softly, “Look at me, Sophia.”
Submitting to his demand, she was shocked to feel relief. Marcus had come to find her and suddenly breathing became easier. She surprised herself when she spoke first. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”
For a woman who seldom cried, the tears came back before she finished the sentence. With a sigh, Marcus held out his arms, and she threw herself into his embrace. Having spent the last twelve hours lost in her lonely existence, she drew from his strength to find a rare weapon against her sadness, but it was a long time before she could speak again.
He leaned her forward. “Promise that you won’t try to run off again. We’ve come too far not to have that level of respect for each other.”
She nodded slowly. She’d known him for less than two weeks, but they were very powerful days. “It… It’s just hard.”
“Talking is hard,” he agreed. “But it gets easier with practice. So talk. Why did we get here? What happened?”
His hand rested in the small of her back and ignited the slightest confidence, but her voice still quavered. “I… I lied about the job because I was selfish and needed a place to stay. It was all my fault. Tami and Bella were just trying to help.”
Marcus gave her a small scowl. “Let’s make something clear. Honesty is the most important thing in the world at Cloudcroft, and Tami’s already admitted that this was her idea. I’m not saying you were innocent, but you don’t need to take the blame all by yourself. Bella has a role too. They were enablers.”
“I… it might have been,” she murmured with her head hung low. “But I didn’t say no. I talked to Linc and signed all those papers. I’m an adult who is capable of understanding right from wrong. But once I got to know you, I really wanted to be the kind of person you liked. You wanted a player, and that isn’t me. So I panicked when I saw all those toys. I just don’t belong around here.”
“Let’s start fresh,” he said with a sigh. “Ropes and whips aren’t really toys. They are a pretty significant part of a serious experience. And yes, I do like to play, but it isn’t a deal breaker. None of us are that shallow. We all care more about the person than whether or not they’ll get kinky.”
He waited for a second before adding in a teasing voice, “But I have to admit your ass is so cute, the thought of a little smack might cross my mind every now and again. But I can restrain myself, or I probably would have been arrested years ago.”
That defining, annoying blush threatened to consume her as she remembered how much she liked his hand on her bottom. She tried to hang her head again, but he wouldn’t let her. “No more of that. Look at me when you talk to me. I like your eyes way too much to lose them to the floor. Besides, you still aren’t telling the truth. I saw your reaction over my knee. You can’t fake that… you were wet and hot.”
“I… I did like it,” she said, taking a deep breath. “The sunporch was just a lot at one time. I liked it when you and I were in the gardens, too. Your hands were pretty…” She tried to find a word that didn’t embarrass her but failed miserably.
He grinned. “Fantastic. You wanted to say that I was fantastic, didn’t you?”
With a laugh, she felt a stronger reconnection to the Marcus she had grown to care about. “Fine, you’re fantastic. But I freaked out on the sunporch when I saw the people and the cross… and the whips just plain terrified me. Even the smells were confining, like the whole room was closing in on me. I felt… lonely. I don’t know why. There was certainly no shortage of people around.”
Marcus shook his head. “I thought you were experienced. I never would have moved so fast if you’d told me the truth. Shit, I had my fingers up your pussy, and spanked your bottom within the first twenty-four hours you were here. That’s not how we treat inexperienced subs around here.
“I’m not so sure I want to know, but I gotta ask. How much experience do you have? I mean, vanilla experience. The regular stuff.”
She closed her eyes. “Five.”
His relief was short-lived when he looked at her embarrassed face and groaned, “You don’t mean five partners, do you? You mean you’ve had sex five times.”
The deepest blush imaginable provided his answer, and he winced before he asked, “How many partners, Sophia?”
“Just the one. It only lasted a few months. He told me I needed to grow up, but I’m pretty sure I just wasn’t warm enough for him. I was a lousy girlfriend.”
“And… I’m guessing you’ve never been spanked either? Until I got my hands on you, that is…”
“No. Not even as a kid, Marcus,” she added with innocent honesty.
He swore slightly, and she cringed under the new guilt. “Relax,” he added quickly. “It’s Bella and Tami who have to worry. I’m going to murder them as soon as their husbands are done with their sorry asses.”
Sophia’s tears began again. “Please don’t. Can’t you stop Jack and Kyle too? The girls were just trying to help. I feel terrible. They’re in trouble because I couldn’t handle it.”
“All they did was traumatize you. Both of them should have known better. Besides, I really can’t interfere between a dom and a sub. And in this case, they’re also husbands and wives. The girls aren’t victims. They have control over what happens to them, and they’ll work out what’s best.”
Sophia clearly remained unconvinced so he continued, “The girls will be fine. They’ll probably get their asses paddled, and then they’ll fall into their husbands’ arms and all will be forgiven. Neither side will hold a grudge, and the girls will think twice before they do something that stupid again. It’ll be over when they settle up.”
Marcus nodded toward her suitcases. “Look. You aren’t going anywhere right now. Let�
�s get your stuff back to the house. You don’t have to worry about Jack and Linc. Nobody will touch you without my permission. You’re fine.”
She didn’t move, and he cast her a questioning glance before she spoke softly. “Spank me, Marcus. I want the guilt to go away too.”
“I told you this isn’t a deal breaker. I don’t find beautiful women I want to form a relationship with very often, and I’m not going to blow it by forcing you into something you aren’t ready to do. Let’s just go slowly.”
“No…” she stammered. “I liked it. When we did it before, I liked it. And I… I want to be able to look Bella and Tami in the eye and know I had the same punishment they did.”
“The kind of spanking you’re asking for isn’t so pleasant,” he warned. “It’s supposed to make you think before you lie again. That message would sting more than the last one. I took it pretty easy on you in the kitchen, being sick and all.”
“It’s a disciplinary spanking, isn’t it? That’s what Bella called it, and that’s what I want. The same as they’re getting.”
He processed her request for a long few seconds while he evaluated her resolve. “If you’re serious, we have to talk first. We need to lay a few ground rules.”
Sophia almost returned to crying, but Marcus insisted, “Relax. This will be the most vanilla negotiation in the world. I only have one request before I give you what you want. Take these suitcases back to the house…”
“Of course, I can do that…” she interrupted.
He held up his hand to stop her. “I’m not done yet. When we are done here, I want you to promise to think about being my sub for the summer. We’ll take the training slowly, but if you really liked the last spanking, then you might be surprised what else you enjoy.”
Under her current circumstances, intelligent words didn’t come easily, but Sophia managed a squeak. “That’s two requests, not one.”
“Sassy little thing, aren’t you? Well, what’s the answer?”
Saving Sophia Page 8
