Jack broke the long silence. “What do you think? You take yours, and I’ll take mine? I think I might have found a use for the new cane I got for my birthday last month.” Bella’s mouth hung open, but she was smart enough to keep her response to a whimper.
Marcus nodded slowly. “Sounds like a plan. Upstairs to our room, Sophia.”
With a firm smack on her bottom to move her along, Sophia took a hop toward the steps but chuckled quietly when Bella mumbled behind her. “But, Jack. Let’s be reasonable. It was only one text message…”
* * *
Sophia’s self-righteous grin didn’t last long. In the quiet of their room, Marcus didn’t waste any time. With a snap of his fingers to accompany his icy glare, she grudgingly shed her clothes and kicked them to the corner. A small smirk formed at the corner of his mouth, and he ran his hand over the still tingly nerves of her freshly waxed pussy. “Nice… but you’re still getting spanked.”
She tried to save her bottom. “But I didn’t start it. The girl has had it coming since the first grade. And Bella was the one texting. I was just trying to save us both.”
Her nonverbal communication skills had grown dramatically since moving to the ranch, but unfortunately the frightening scowl and closed body language provided no comfort. She made one final attempt to make him see reason. With a small stomp of her foot, she whined, “But this isn’t my fault.”
He didn’t wait for her to settle herself. He grabbed her wrists and tugged her over his lap until Sophia found herself staring at his dusty leather work boots. When her feet left the floor, her bottom moved a little closer to obvious doom.
Beating up a bitch apparently didn’t warrant a warmup nor did he offer any pre-spanking words of encouragement. The first stinging smacks found their sensitive destination with a vengeance. She jumped a mile, but she didn’t want him to start over and worked hard to stay put.
She could, however, squeal. “No, Marcus. This isn’t right. I didn’t…”
His hand peppered her bottom with a relentless volley. She had thought the first few were at the power end of his punishment until it became apparent he had a much bigger range than he’d ever shared in the past. Her protests continued. “Stop… I’m not wrong… This isn’t fair…”
He let his hand do all the talking, and she felt his punishment in a very personal way as he turned her soft white skin a burning shade of pink. A second stinging layer was added to the first with no time for her brain to adjust between attacks.
When the fire finally settled with enough strength to defeat her hatred of Mary Zilensky, she realized she needed to rethink her strategy. “I’m sorry, Marcus. Please stop… it hurts… I won’t do it again. I promise.”
When his chastisement finally ended, she was grateful his belt had stayed in its familiar location. A small superior grin appeared with the realization that Bella had faced a much unhappier Jack, but before she could sit up, Marcus took her hairbrush off the nightstand and continued her spanking. Apparently, the first bottom reddening connection was his warmup.
There was nothing sensual about it, and he didn’t neglect a single piece of her formerly white target. Under the stinging plastic, her mind gave up her training and told her to break away from the power of his makeshift paddle, but he locked his strong thighs around her kicking legs and continued his chastisement simultaneously with his scolding. “We’re not going to beat people up. We’re going to learn alternative ways to express our anger. And if we are ever in an accident again, we will tell the truth when we come home.”
Sophia wanted to demand an accounting for his use of the proverbial ‘we,’ but she could not get past the stinging smacks. Volley after volley covered her bottom as a thin layer of nerves felt like they popped to the top of her ass, and the tears gave way to the most sincere promises she could manage. “I won’t do it again. I won’t beat anybody up again… and I won’t hit Bella when she’s driving… I … Please stop…. ow… it fucking hurts, Marcus.”
She regretted the misstep in vocabulary with the last three whacks to the most sensitive place where her thighs met her ass, but finally he was finished. Her tears were real and so was her remorse, but she stood in the corner with her flaming bottom exposed to the room and strict instructions to not make any attempt to put the fire out.
With a click of his cell phone, she realized he had taken a picture and she sent him an incredulous glance. He smirked. “To send to Jack and Linc. Look… here is the one of Bella.” Sophia wasn’t impressed and turned her head back to the corner with a scowl as Marcus gave her bottom another smack. “I wouldn’t push the attitude, little girl.” In a small act of defiance, she continued her scowl on the inside, but worked on a simple pout for his benefit.
All too quickly, however, she grew lonely in her exiled state, and her stinging bottom clearly needed his comfort. She wiggled and leaned into the wall, but he would not set her free until she stood without moving for a very unreasonable amount of time.
When her corner time was up, he snapped his fingers with a quiet command, “Come here, Sophia,” and she enveloped herself into Marcus’ arms for some familiar cuddling. She was very disappointed when his scolding continued. “No more fighting, little girl. There are a lot of ways to handle a bitch, and you have to find the place somewhere between letting an enemy walk all over you and beating the shit out of her. I want you to list three things that you could have done differently.”
She frowned. “I thought all was forgiven after a spanking, and we could move on?”
His scowl was settled before he spoke. “Who said I was done with the spanking?”
Given the new information, she thought quickly. “I could have ignored her. I could have just yelled at her, and I could have…”
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t come up with a third option, and her already sore bottom rebelled against her stupidity.
He sighed. “You could have come to me. I would have told you that I didn’t want to play with her, and you didn’t have anything to worry about. We’re in an exclusive relationship, and you have as much control over my sex life as I do. I would have pointed out your beauty, intelligence, and incredible sass then reminded you that some stupid bitch from your past will never again have the power to hurt you. Now, if you had to do it all over again, which one would you choose?”
Secretly, she liked the empowerment that had come from the shocked girl’s face, so she tried to find an honest answer that reflected both of their needs. “I would come and talk to you. But I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t bitch slap her again either.”
Despite his dedication to sternness, he choked back a laugh. “And that’s why you’re confined to our room for the rest of the weekend. No party… you stay up here until Sunday afternoon, and your unfortunate victim is halfway back to Gillette.”
The pout was inevitable, but the first twinges of grownup guilt rose to the surface of her conscience. “I’ve never been grounded in my life. This is silly. I’ll apologize to her.”
“No way. You aren’t getting anywhere near her. As we speak, Linc is taking her on as his own personal weekend project. Apparently, her date canceled, and Linc’s going to show her a good time to keep us from being trashed on an Internet review. You’re just lucky her fun buddy for the weekend doesn’t appear to be her fiancé, and she has good reason to lay low and not press charges against you. Bella figured it out, and Linc called Mary what’s-her-name on it.”
Sophia almost shuddered. “If she isn’t kicking my ass, Bella does always have my back… but Linc is a pretty tough dom. Does she know what she’s getting into?”
He laughed. “I can only promise that she will end up with a butt that’s redder than yours, and she may never fully comprehend the reason why.”
She fell back into his comfortable arms and sighed. “I let Bella pull all the hairs out of my crotch with a bunch of wax, and nobody’s going to even see it. I need to murder her when I get the chance.”
A warm han
d slid over Bella’s handiwork and rubbed between her legs softly. His mouth found a taut pink nipple, and he gently massaged the nerves with the tip of his tongue. He added slowly, “Who said nobody was going to see it?”
“Maybe being grounded isn’t such a bad thing…” she murmured.
Chapter Fourteen
By the end of August, conversations involving Sophia’s future had changed focus with such quiet subtlety that she barely remembered when the transition started. Instead of making plans that ended with her leaving Cloudcroft forever, everyone spoke of her future at the ranch with weekends and holidays just around the corner. She loved everything about her new life, and the thought of extending her commitment fed a euphoria that she couldn’t hide.
Jackson was a long two hours away, however, and she considered dropping out before the last semester. She mentioned it at dinner and faced an unrecognizable brick wall of resistance. Jack and Linc glowered while Marcus spoke. “No way. In this house, you finish school. All four of us kept going, and you’re going to get the diploma, too. It’s Elijah’s rule, and he’s coming at Christmas. Trust me when I tell you not to piss him off.”
Bella was unusually quiet. “Really, Sophia. You should finish. I wish I had taken school more seriously. Besides, Jackson isn’t that far, and you can come home on weekends.”
Sophia was quiet for a moment as she reflected on her last few miraculous months. “Do you know how great those words sound?”
The four of them stared as they reviewed the dialog in their minds, but their faces remained questioning. Sophia said, “No, really. I’ve heard somebody call me by my name more in the past three and a half months than the last ten years put together. Cloudcroft is home… and… I couldn’t be happier. I’m just glad there’s only one semester left. I don’t know how many long bus trips I can survive before I get back here for good.”
Marcus tossed her the keys to his truck. “We talked about that too. Pass your driver’s test next week then take my truck back to Jackson. I can use one of the ranch vehicles if I need one. It’s only a two-hour drive, and I expect your ass back here every weekend.”
She threw herself into his arms for a grateful hug. “I’m only borrowing it,” she said with a laugh. “I won’t drive over any curbs either.”
“And we’re going to check on your grades,” added Linc with an eye to his ugly paddle that had found a permanent home on the wall in the kitchen. He’d claimed it was necessary to survive having two permanent subs in the house. “If we find out they’re dropping, you’ll answer to all of us.”
Her bottom gave a twinge of recognition as Marcus took her more firmly into his arms. His kiss was so intense, the others alternated between cheers and hissing. Somebody even threw a napkin at them, and she simply laughed and threw it at Bella’s head in what seemed to be a totally logical response.
The last week was filled with final preparations. Her suitcases were packed, but a wonderful sense of permanency blossomed when she left some of her things in the room she shared with Marcus. She planned to spend a whole day in the gardens to weed and deadhead with the full knowledge nobody would truly tend to her babies until she returned. The comfortable morning passed before she knew it, but she finally gave credence to the hungry growl in her stomach and went to the house to find lunch.
A nondescript car in the driveway caused little concern, and she entered through the main door. Linc’s voice called from the library with a clear demand. “Sophia? Come in here, please.”
She couldn’t think of a single thing that she’d done wrong to warrant a formal summons, but Bella had been less than honest about how much money she’d spent on her last dress. Bound and determined not to throw Bella under the bus and still save her own ass, she lifted her chin and walked to the library with confidence.
The formal gathering clearly had nothing to do with Bella. Marcus and Jack stood with stern expressions, and Linc sat behind the large desk facing a curly-haired stranger. The unknown man stood quickly when she walked into the room, and all eyes were on her. Probably in his early forties, his height came close to Marcus’, but his anxious gaze caused her to shudder.
All four men’s angry expressions hinted at an underlying suspicion, and she was frightened. “What’s wrong?”
Linc spoke first. “Sit down, Sophia. We need to talk. How much do you remember about your father?”
Despite his request, she remained standing and shrugged in a failed attempt to make the nagging anxiety disappear, but Marcus spoke sharply. “Answer the question. It’s important.”
His unusual scolding didn’t help her mood, but she answered slowly. “Not much. He was thin and blond. I liked it when he paid attention to me. I can remember him coming home at the end of the day, and once he bought me an ice cream cone. That’s about it.”
The stranger met her eyes with a cutting invasion into her privacy, and she looked away quickly. The room was eerily quiet before Linc handed her a piece of paper. “It says on your birth certificate his name was Grant Montgomery. Is that what you remember?”
“Well, yeah. But where did you get this? The birth certificate I have upstairs is a short version. It doesn’t have my parents’ names or their birthplaces.” She added a little more firmly, “Somebody really needs to tell me what’s going on around here. You’re all scaring me.”
Jack spoke gently with a nod to the stranger who still stood awkwardly by Linc’s desk. “This is Thomas Bianchi. He lives in Delaware and knew both Grant Montgomery and Sarah Hanes when they were in high school near Dover.”
The tension continued to build while warning bells roared in her mind. She lowered her eyes, and her muscles tensed to raise a barrier to her emotional core. “I thought they were from Rhode Island, but it doesn’t make any difference. I’m glad he knew them, but I’m not sure how that affects me.”
Marcus came quickly to her side. “There is no easy way to say this. Thomas Bianchi is the one who dated Sarah Hanes in high school. He fathered her baby and has her letters to prove it. He says he is your father, Sophia.”
There was no logical response. Her legs rebelled, and she simply sat, grateful the couch was behind her. It took a second or two before she realized she’d forgotten to breathe. She stared at Marcus, who quickly moved to the couch to wrap his giant arms around her. He whispered, “Relax, baby. I’ve got you.”
The jolt of uncertainty that raged through her system tried to slow under his comfort, but the dramatic change in her self-awareness continued to vacillate her emotions. Without any kind of focus, numbness formed in the void. The stranger took a step toward her, but Marcus glared at the other man and held her tighter. Thomas moved to a chair opposite the couch with an uneasy frown.
“Where the hell were you when she was born?” snapped Jack.
Thomas lowered his head in an almost familiar manner. “I was seventeen years old… and stupid. The idea of being a father terrified me. We had a fight over the pregnancy and I… I wanted her mother to get an abortion just like her parents did. Montgomery stepped up, and the two of them ran off together. Sarah’s mother knew where she was, but your grandfather cut you all off so Sarah never came back to Delaware.”
The silence was deafening, but he was clearly waiting for some kind of response. Confronted with the weight of three pairs of unsmiling eyes and Sophia on the verge of tears, he continued. “When Sarah and Grant died in the accident, your grandfather was the one who turned down custody of you. Nobody else was apparently given the chance, and he didn’t tell the social workers about me. They never managed to contact Montgomery’s parents, either. I don’t know why they didn’t look a little harder, but I wouldn’t be surprised if your grandfather had a role in that, too. He didn’t want any reminder of Sarah back home. He was a real asshole.”
The unfamiliar edge to Marcus’ frightening voice added to her fears. “Why now?” he asked. “She’s been alone for over twenty years. Why are you showing up now?”
Thomas directed his resp
onse to Sophia with a small scowl. “I… I admit I didn’t ask, but I never knew where Sarah went. By the time I grew mature enough to realize what I was missing, I decided it was too late. Montgomery was a good guy… and I didn’t want to confuse you with two fathers when you were a little girl. Once I knew you’d turned eighteen, I went to Sarah’s mother for information on how to find you. She’d been told all three of you died in the accident, and I was heartbroken. I looked on the Internet just to find some connection in the news story, and that’s when we learned your grandfather had lied.
“He’d already died, but your grandmother and I have been trying to find you ever since. You were out of the foster care system and had fallen off the face of the earth.”
Linc finished for him. “It was your social security number, Sophia. Between the nanny jobs and waitressing, you’d been working under the table for a long time, but we used it when you started here.”
She shook her head. “I used it at school too.”
“The private investigators we’d hired connected that eventually,” said Thomas. “I don’t know why they didn’t find it before, but you do have a lot of privacy rights at school.”
“Private investigators? You had me tracked?” she asked in bewilderment.
Thomas took a deep breath. “There’s a whole wonderful family back in Delaware who want you to come home. Your grandfather’s no threat to you anymore, and you have more grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins than you can shake a stick at… and we all want you.”
He handed her several photos. “Your mother snuck these to your grandmother when you were little. I also have the letters Sarah sent her. She talks about me in them, Sophia. Just read them.”
She missed another entire breath when she stared at the first ever images of herself as a baby. Brown curly hair and big dark eyes stared back, but she struggled to identify anything familiar. It wasn’t until she reached the age of two or three that she could see some resemblance to her grown self.
Saving Sophia Page 19
