“Man cave?” Grant asked.
Brent nodded. “That’s what Matt christened it when he first moved in. It fits. It’s our one place where we can just hang out and be men. Most of us spend a good bit of time down here, especially on the weekends during the summer when all the women and kids are at the pool.”
Looking around, Grant quickly realized that despite there being a number of small groups scattered throughout the room, the population was entirely male. That answered the question of where all the men had gone.
“Well, come on,” Matt said, drawing him further into the room. “Don’t just stand there. Have a seat. Relax. You want a beer?”
Grant shook his head. “Better not. It’s early yet.” Despite Matt’s invitation, Grant remained standing by one of the pool tables, trailing a hand absently over the felt top, not quite sure how to join in.
“You play?” Matt asked.
“I used to,” Grant replied. “I played a lot back when I was at the police academy, but I haven’t played in years.”
“Oh good,” someone, Grant wasn’t sure who, called out. “Matt might stand a chance against you then.”
“Bite me,” Matt shot back, good-naturedly, but he was already racking up. “What do you say, Grant? Want to play?”
Grant shrugged. “Sure, why not?” He chose a cue from the rack on the wall, and Matt did the same. They flipped a coin for the break, which Matt called. Despite the good-natured teasing, it soon became apparent that Matt wasn’t as bad as the others liked to make him appear to be. If anything, he and Grant were fairly evenly matched. The first game, which Grant won, quickly turned into a best of three.
Sometime during the second game, Matt asked, “So how are you settling in?”
“Pretty well,” Grant told him. “Thanks to everyone’s help, we’ve gotten the house pretty much in order. I start my new job on Monday.”
“That’s great,” Matt said, neatly depositing his ball into the pocket. “Where are you working?”
“I’m with the campus police department at Sandy Ridge College,” Grant answered. “It’s a bit different from what I’ve done before. I was a sheriff’s deputy back in North Carolina, and I suppose I could have tried to get on in Denver or Boulder, but I was ready for something different. Something that wouldn’t be so much of a time commitment. That was part of the problem before. I was always busy and ended up never being home. I didn’t want to fall back in that trap again.”
Matt missed his next shot and settled back to watch Grant play. “That makes sense,” he said. “Not that I know anything about law enforcement, but it seems like security on a small college would be a lot less stressful than being on a city police force.”
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Grant agreed. “By some miracle, I managed to get a day shift slot so for once, Lainie and I will actually be working on similar schedules, although I will be teaching a self-defense class one night a week.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea,” Jonathan said from the sidelines where a small crowd had gathered to watch them play. “Would you be interested in teaching one here?”
“Here?” Grant echoed. “Surely you don’t have a need for that here. Everyone seems to get along so well; I can’t see where knowing how to physically defend yourself would ever be necessary.”
“I hope it never will be, but we have run into an occasional bad situation,” Jonathan went on. “I could put some feelers out, and see if anyone is interested.”
“That would work,” Grant conceded. “If there’s enough interest, let me know, and we will see what we can work out.” Grant actually wasn’t at all opposed to the idea, if there was interest. He liked the idea of being able to contribute something to his new community.
“Would you want it to be adults only, or would you be willing to open it to the teenagers too?” Jonathan asked.
Grant made a careful shot before replying, “I’m open for either. I’m going to be teaching mostly young adults at work so teenagers shouldn’t be much different.”
“Speaking of teenagers,” Matt put in, “how are your girls liking it here?”
“Natalie seems to be excited about being here. She’s really looking forward to getting to know some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Kathleen, on the other hand, is another story.” Grant sighed. “She seems to be determined to hate it here.”
“It can’t be easy,” Matt said, “moving all the way across the country and away from all her friends.”
“That’s what Lainie keeps telling me,” Grant told him. “She says it is natural that she will be angry, and I guess I can understand that, but it’s the being rude, and mouthy, and disrespectful part of it that is driving me crazy.” That was absolutely true, but Grant was slightly surprised that he had said it. He hadn’t even really said that much to Lainie. Somehow, it felt like he could say it here though, like the other men would understand.
“It would me too,” Matt said, confirming Grant’s thoughts. “Have you told her that?”
Grant ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve tried. I’ve tried explaining that there are ways to express how she feels without being rude or disrespectful, but I might as well be talking to a wall.”
“What else have you tried?” Matt asked.
“She’s lost her electronics for the week for her most recent tantrum, but Lainie seems to think that’s only making the problem worse by cutting her off from her friends,” Grant explained.
“So Lainie isn’t in agreement with you?” Matt questioned.
“Hardly ever,” Grant said. “She agreed to letting me be Head of Household and said that included making final decisions, but it seems like every time I try to make a decision, especially when it comes to disciplining the girls, she rushes to their defense and argues with everything I try to do.”
“And what are you doing about that?” Matt wanted to know.
“What is there to do about it?” Grant said. “I hate it, but I can’t just magically make her stop doing it.”
“Maybe not,” Matt agreed, “but you can certainly make it uncomfortable for her to keep doing it. Look, I don’t know what you’re agreement with Lainie is like or what your rules are, but if Julie were doing that, I would consider it extremely disrespectful, and it would be grounds for punishment.” That said, Matt sank the eight ball, easily winning the second game.
Grant wasn’t at all surprised. His mind was barely on the game now. He hadn’t realized until he started talking just how much this whole situation with Lainie had been bothering him. “We do have a rule about being respectful, but they’re her children as much as mine, and truthfully, she’s had the bulk of the raising of them up until now. Who am I to say she can’t speak her mind about it?”
“Their father, her husband, and most importantly, her HoH,” Matt replied. “She gave you authority over the family when she agreed to this type of relationship. Besides, I’m not saying she doesn’t get a say. There are ways to express an opinion privately without being confrontational or undermining about it. Maybe you should make a point of talking to her before you decide on any sort of discipline or consequence with the kids, if this is a problem, but you’ve got to make it clear to her that you feel the way she’s going about it now is disrespectful, if that’s the case.”
“It is. I told her if she did it again, I would spank her,” Grant admitted quietly.
“Good,” Matt said. “If you ask me, that’s a step in the right direction.”
For the most part, Grant thought so too, but doubts still nagged at him. The idea of actually spanking Lainie was at once intriguing and terrifying. At a gut level, he knew it was right. He had seen the closeness and solidarity this type of relationship brought his parents and grandparents. He wanted that for his own marriage, but at the same time, he was deathly afraid of hurting Lainie.
“I haven’t actually spanked her before,” he confessed. He felt the heat rising on the back of his neck. Somehow, here, among this group of men, that felt like
a monumental failure in the HoH department. “Not for discipline at least. She heard some of the other women talking about erotic spanking and was curious so we tried that.”
“And how’d that work out?” Matt wanted to know.
“Great,” Grant replied, unable to stop a grin from spreading across his face. “I wish I’d brought it up with her ten years ago. I’ll owe your wife forever for mentioning it to her.”
Matt chuckled and began racking up the pool balls for their final game. “Why does it not surprise me Julie was involved in that conversation?” he said, watching Grant take his shot. A moment later, he continued, “You know, even though most of us incorporate spanking as both discipline and sex play, you don’t have to. Some people here only do one or the other and that’s fine. Practicing DD isn’t a requirement.”
“I want to though,” Grant insisted. “Lainie isn’t as sure about it, but she agreed to it.”
“Fair enough,” Matt agreed. “So what are you doing in terms of DD?”
“We’ve talked about it and made up a list of rules, and of course, we moved here,” Grant answered.
“Rules are a good first step,” Matt said carefully. “That’s where we all started at one point. So how long have the two of you had this agreement?”
“Since we decided to apply to move here,” Grant replied. He lined up and took another shot. It missed his target by a mile, which didn’t surprise him considering the state of his focus and what they were talking about. “Six months or so.”
“So basically, you’re telling me you’ve had an agreement and you’ve had rules for six months, but you haven’t been enforcing them,” Matt summarized. “Why on earth not?”
Grant winced inwardly. When you put it like that, it sounded like he had completely flaked out on his responsibility. That was the last thing he was trying to do. If anything, he’d been trying to take on more responsibility by making more of the decisions. “I don’t want to hurt her,” he said quietly.
“First of all,” Matt told him, “you need to understand that there is a difference between hurt and harm. A punishment spanking may not be pleasant, but it’s not going to do any real harm. Not if you’re doing it right.”
“That’s the problem,” Grant interjected. “How am I supposed to know if I’m doing it right? I have considerable experience of being on the receiving end when I was growing up, but absolutely none on the giving side.”
“If that’s what you’re worried about, that’s easy enough to fix,” Matt said. “Brent gives lessons.”
Grant loved Corbin’s Bend. He didn’t regret moving here for a second, but there were moments it felt very much like he was living in an alternate reality. They talked so easily and openly about things here that anywhere outside of the community would have likely gotten someone a one-way ticket to a psych hold. “Seriously?” he blurted.
“Yes, seriously,” Matt confirmed. Their final game had never stopped. They were having this ridiculous conversation as they moved back and forth around the table, setting up and trading shots, but Grant didn’t think either one of them really had their mind on the game at this point. He knew he didn’t. He didn’t see how anyone could talk about this stuff and still concentrate on angles and lines of trajectory. The conversation alone was mind-boggling enough.
“I do,” Brent verified, coming over from where he had been sitting.
Grant turned in Brent’s direction and realized that the small audience they had attracted when they had first begun to play had disbursed at some point during the intervening time. Belatedly, he hoped they had been gone before the conversation turned to the personal. He was both surprised and ashamed that at the time he hadn’t even noticed.
“I’m more than willing to help you,” Brent went on. “I’ve taught a lot of the others here.” Then, addressing himself to Matt with a raised eyebrow and a pointed look, he added, “In fact, I helped fine tune your spanking expertise. What’s stopping you from teaching him? I know you know it yourself.”
“You have a point,” Matt conceded. Addressing Grant, he continued, “He’s right. I can teach you if you want. So could most of the other HoH’s. We’ve all been where you are at one point. Even our resident expert here was a newbie at one point, even if it was in the dark ages,” he added under his breath, grinning at Brent.
Brent gave Matt a look that even Grant could see promised retribution later but didn’t rise to the bait. “This is exactly why we had the mentoring system in place so that everyone has someone else they can turn to for help when they need it. However, just because Matt is your mentor, doesn’t mean he’s the only one you can turn to. I think you’ll find that most people are willing to help if you ask. You can feel free to go to whomever you feel most comfortable.”
“Thank you, both of you,” Grant said. “I’ll take one of you up on that one day soon.”
“What’s wrong with now?” Matt asked.
“Now?” Grant echoed, feeling utterly ridiculous when apprehension rose in his throat. He counted on having at least a few days to wrap his head around the idea before going to someone.
“Why not?” Matt pressed. “Our families are occupied, and it’s not like either of us have anything else we have to do. You know what they say, no time like the present. We can practice here or go somewhere more private. Nothing we talk about will surprise anyone here in the least, I promise.”
Grant took a deep breath, resolutely forcing down the uneasiness that plagued him. Matt was right. There was no time like the present. It was time he got himself together and manned up like the leader he claimed he wanted to be. It would be stupid not to take Matt up on his offer. He firmly ignored the voice in his head that insisted his father or grandfather should have been the one to teach him this, and it was wrong for him to do this without them. That excuse had kept him from stepping up for far too long. Neither man would have believed that, and he knew it. Both of them would have been telling him to get his head out of his ass. “Okay,” he replied, praying he sounded more confident than he felt, “but can we go somewhere a little less public?”
“Sure,” Matt agreed easily. He moved immediately to return his cue to the rack on the wall, heedless of the fact that they were abandoning the game in mid-stream. “Let’s walk down to my place. If I know my kids, they won’t be ready to leave the pool for at least another couple hours.”
“What about this?” Grant asked, gesturing at the pool table where balls were still scattered in every direction.
“What about it?” Matt countered. “I was kicking your ass anyway.”
Grant rolled his eyes. “In your dreams,” he shot back, going to put away his own cue.
“Can we borrow the dummy?” Matt asked Brent, rolling balls into pockets and setting the pool table back to rights.
“Of course,” Brent replied. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, tossing them to Matt. “You know where it is.”
Matt caught them easily. “Thanks. I’ll get it back to you later.”
Before Grant could question that bizarre exchange, Matt was hustling him toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”
Chapter 5
Wonder what they’re up to?” Lainie asked as Grant and Matt walked off. The men had come out to let them know they were going to Matt and Julie’s house and to make arrangements for both families to have dinner together later that night.
Julie shrugged. “Who knows?” She sprawled back against the side of the pool, stretching her legs into the cool water and basking in the sunshine. “I love the sun,” she said, sighing. “It feels like coming out of hibernation when it finally gets warm around here. That’s the one thing I missed most when we moved.”
“Where did you come from?” Lainie questioned.
“Arizona,” Julie replied. “Talk about culture shock. I’m a desert rat, born and bred. The first winter I thought I was going to freeze to death. And snow. I had never seen so much snow.”
“I’m kind of looking forward
to the snow,” Lainie admitted.
Julie snorted. “You say that now, just wait. It’s pretty at first, but then it’s just a pain in the ass.”
“I thought you liked that,” Lainie said with a cheeky grin.
Julie’s expression turned quizzical. “Liked what?”
“You know, pain in your ass,” Lainie said, giggling. “Sorry, too much time with middle school kids telling lame middle school jokes. It’s an occupational hazard.”
Julie groaned, giggling. “Not that kind of pain.”
“You know what you were talking about when we were unpacking, about how the other kind of pain can sometimes be a turn on?” Lainie said after a minute, hesitantly. “I get it now.”
“Oh?” Julie said, one inquiring eyebrow raised.
“You got me curious,” Lainie said. “I mentioned it to Grant, and, well, we ended up trying it.”
“And you liked it?” Julie questioned.
Lainie bit her lip, feeling a blush starting at the base of her neck and spreading rapidly to cover her face and the tips of her ears. Not for the first time, she cursed her fair skin. Every emotion she felt bloomed plainly on her skin. She couldn’t hide a damn thing.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Julie said. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be blushing like that if you hadn’t liked it. Am I right?”
“Yes,” Lainie told her. “I liked it all right. Very much. Truthfully, it was the best sex we’ve had in a long time.”
“Told you,” Julie said, looking smug. “We’ll convert you into a spanko yet.”
“A what?” Lainie asked.
“A spanko, someone who is turned on by spanking, either giving or receiving,” Julie explained.
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