“You wouldn’t be pregnant would you, hon?”
An unladylike snort erupted from Regan, if she only knew the irony of that question. “Sadly no, they made me take a pregnancy test and go back on birth control since I started the damn pills.” She suspected that her bad temper was a side effect of the hormones and fertility drugs but she hadn’t told anyone about it. They were the reason she hadn’t taken the antidepressants. If by some miracle she did become pregnant, she didn’t dare risk the harm the drugs could do to the baby.
“Ok well, then, just keep taking them. It takes two to three weeks for them to get into your blood stream enough to start working.”
“You sound just like Bear.”
“Was he real disappointed about you having to go back on birth control? He told Tony you guys were trying to get pregnant.”
“Really, he told Cap that?” Well, hell. Now Regan felt even more miserable. He was sharing his plans with his friends. Megan had misunderstood the stricken expression on her face.
“You did tell him, didn’t you Reg?”
Muddled, Regan looked at her sister. All these lies were getting confusing. She couldn’t keep them straight. What did Megan want her to tell him?
Megan rattled on. “I know you can’t take the pill. So, what are you using? Dammit, Regan. You have to let him know what’s going on. He’s your husband. You’ve got to worry about birth defects while on those drugs.”
“Megan, calm down, he knows about the antidepressants and the birth control,” she snapped at her sister, which was very unusual for good natured Regan. “Sorry, class-A bitch right here, remember. But he doesn’t need to know everything about me, does he? Can’t I have any thoughts that are just mine? He’s my husband, not my keeper.” She caught Megan’s knowing expression and it pissed her off, “He doesn’t own me, you know.”
“Uh, honey, he kind of does. You have a marriage license and a Dom/sub contract. Not to mention the DD stuff. With all three of those things going on, he does kind of own you and you gave him the right.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk about this crap anymore, and I’m tired of everyone telling me what to do.” Regan angrily stood and started slamming things around, opening and closing desk drawers as she searched for her purse and keys. “I’ve gotta go. I need some air and can’t look at that fucking computer screen for one more minute. I’ll see you tomorrow, sis.”
Megan grabbed her arm gently as she passed. “Wait, sis. What’s wrong? You’re not yourself lately and I’m worried.”
“Well stop. My problems aren’t any of your business anyway so stop trying to fix me. Maybe I don’t want to be fixed. Did you ever think about that? Everyone can’t be as fucking perfect as you, Megan.”
“REGAN!” Both women turned and saw Cap standing in the doorway. “What the hell is wrong with you? I can’t believe you’re talking to your sister that way. I have a good mind to take you over my knee and paddle your ass raw myself.”
Tony was right. Megan didn’t deserve her anger and vitriol, she was just concerned. Instantly contrite, Regan rushed to apologize to her sister. “Oh Meg, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it.” Regan grabbed her sister and wrapped her arms around her. She started to cry again. Damn hormones. They were turning her into the kind of woman she had always despised and sworn she would never become. “I told you I was a moody, crying bitch. Please forgive me.”
“I know you didn’t mean it¸ hon. Forget it.” Megan’s eyes went to her angry husband who still stood fuming in the doorway. Tony wasn’t as forgiving.
Regan turned to look at him, too. She could tell he was seriously ticked off. She went to stand in front of him and took an appropriately submissive position. Her head was down and her hands were clasped in front of her. “I apologize, Cap. Megan didn’t deserve that and I am very sorry.” Her tears continued unabated, she was ashamed of her behavior.
“Damn straight she didn’t. She loves you and is worried about you. Megan and I are both concerned and after what I just witnessed we have good reason.” He confirmed. He lifted her chin with a crooked finger and waited until she met his eyes. She could see him considering what action to take. “When is Rick due back?”
“I’m not sure, Sir. Another couple of days I think, four at the most.”
“Hm, when was the last time you had a good spanking Regan?”
“Uh…” Regan wasn’t sure why he needed to know that. Megan called out to him wondering the same thing but he held up a hand gesturing for silence.
“Answer me, Regan.”
“I guess it’s been a week or two.”
“Ok then, with Rick out of town so much lately you are obviously out of sorts and in need of discipline. Your language, tone of voice and message just now were way out of line. Plus, this is not the first outburst you’ve had recently, although I think today has reached a new low. Don’t think I’ll allow this behavior to go unpunished, little sister. Go ahead and lean over the desk and place your hands flat on top. We’ll take care of this bratty attitude here and now.”
“Captain, you can’t spank my sister.” Megan protested. Was he out of his mind?
“Hush, Megan. You know she has the same club contract as you do. Now, just sit over there on the couch and keep quiet. This won’t take long.” Tony waited until his wife did as she was told. Regan knew she deserved a good paddling and had already assumed the position over the desk. Both women watched Cap cross to the storage shelf on the far wall and peruse the kitchen tools and implements stored there. His eyes landed on a short handled wooden bread paddle about the width of a loaf of bread. It was a foot in length and about a half an inch thick. “Perfect.”
“We’re not in The Club now, Tony,” Megan objected, still sounding pissed off.
“Watch your tone, Megan. And I know we’re not in The Club. Rick and Regan practice domestic discipline just like we do. Rick asked me to look after Regan while he’s away, same as I expect him or one of the other Doms to do while I’m gone. That means I’m in charge and this bad girl is getting a spanking. If you’d like to join her, keep it up.”
He grabbed the paddle but went to stand before his angry wife. Looking down on her from his intimidating height, he waited patiently until her expression relaxed into a more compliant demeanor. “So, are you done questioning me because I’d like to get this over with and get on with our evening?”
“It’s OK Meg. I deserve it for the way I acted.” Regan gave her twin a pleading look and shook her head, pleading with her through silent twin communication not to piss off the big, bad Dom who was about to take a large wooden paddle to her ass.
Megan frowned at them both, he could see the wheels turning before she gave a short nod, conceding the argument for now although he expected to be revisiting it again when they were alone.
“Good girl. We begin then.” He turned and missed the tongue she stuck out at his back. Regan didn’t and gave a relieved, nervous giggle.
“Something funny, Regan?”
“No, Sir. Just nervous; no one’s ever spanked me other than Rick and daddy.”
“I hear the Major could swing a mighty powerful paddle in his day. I bet he wore your naughty behind out a time or two.”
“Daddy’s weapon of choice was Big Bertha. It makes that bread paddle look like a toy, right Meg?”
“I wouldn’t know Reg. I never did anything to deserve a paddling. That was all you and Michael. I was the good girl, remember?”
“Funny how things change,” Tony murmured to Regan in a stage whisper as he teased his wife.
“I heard that, you know.”
Despite the situation, both Tony and Regan laughed at her offended expression. Then Tony returned his attention to the business at hand. “Regan, if you’re ready we’ll get this over with quickly and put this incident behind us.” He stood next to his sister-in-law and pronounced his sentence. “You’ll receive ten swats, little sister. Tell me why you are being punished.”
“I was rude and bitc
hy, Sir. I also said some mean things that are inexcusable. I’m so sorry, Megan.” She turned her head and met her sister’s tearful gaze. “I love you, Meg and never wanted to hurt you.” Regan turned her face away in shame laying her check on the desk; her volatile moods were making everyone around her as wretched as she was.
“We’ll leave those jeans up to protect your modesty. That means I’ll have to put some extra muscle into these swats for you to feel them. Are you ready?” Tony asked as he prepared to deliver the first swat.
“Cap?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“Um, what I did was very bad, Sir. I don’t think ten is enough. Rick would wear my ass out if he were here.”
“I’m sure he would, Hon. And I appreciate your honesty.” Tony laid a warm hand on her shoulder and squeezed. He knew she needed the punishment to relieve her guilt, even though she had apologized. He also suspected she was the type of sub that needed a spanking on a routine basis to keep her grounded and on an even keel. He would talk to Rick about maintenance spankings when he returned. For now, he planned on giving her only a small punishment to ease her guilt and help her regain control. “I think ten is enough. Rick is your Dom and your husband. I am only your brother-in-law and have to live with your sister. There’s no way in hell I’m wearing out your naughty ass in front of her then going home to hear about it. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir, sorry.” She giggled then at the image of her brother-in-law getting the freeze out from her little sister. “I didn’t think about how Meg would react.”
He chuckled softly. “Not a problem, hon. But don’t think this is going to be a few love pats. You were out of line and I mean for you to feel every swat. If it happens again, you may be sure the count will be doubled and will be delivered on your bare ass.”
“Yes, Sir. It won’t happen again.”
Tony proceeded to apply ten hard swats to her ass with the wooden paddle and he delivered as promised, they were no love pats. He focused on her sit spots which being just below the pockets of her jeans were less protected by only one layer of denim. The blows sounded muffled rather than the sharp ringing crack when given on the bare. Even though they sounded different they were solid swats and she felt every one, yelping and wiggling with each smack. When Tony was done, she stood up and started to rub her ass.
“No rubbing, Regan. You know better.”
“Sorry, Sir. Man he really packs a wallop, Meg.” Regan joked a little before she saw how upset her sister was.
“You hit her too hard Tony. She doesn’t have as much padding as I do.” Megan protested and rushed across the room to hug her.
“No, Meg.” She chuckled as she hugged her curvy sister. She certainly did have more padding and Regan had to agree that would come in handy from time to time. She went on to reassure her. “I deserved every swat and then some. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. You forgive me, don’t you?”
“Of course you’re forgiven, honey.”
Regan turned and looked in question at Tony who gone to replace the paddle on the shelf. He held out his arms inviting her in for a hug and then squeezed her affectionately. “All’s forgiven little sister.”
She grunted and acted like she couldn’t breathe, trying to lighten the mood. “Geez Tony, you’re even bigger than Rick. I’m glad I got stuck with the runt.”
They all laughed at the thought of big, strapping Rick ever being thought of as a runt and the tension in the room was reduced. “Thanks for punishing me, Sir. I think I really needed that.”
“No problem, sweetie. You’re just like your sister. Sometimes you need a good spanking to get back in control.”
“Captain!” Megan protested, offended.
“Shh, Angel. You know it’s the truth. Now,” he pushed Regan away to arm’s length and looked at the two lovely sisters side by side, “the reason we came by this evening was to see if you wanted to go to dinner with us.” At her nod, he stepped behind them and with a big hand to each woman’s lower back guided them toward the door. “I will have the pleasure of escorting two of the most beautiful women in Texas. But, let’s go now because I’m starved and my spanking hand gets a little itchy when I’m deprived of sustenance.”
Megan and Regan looked at each other and rolled their eyes at his arrogance, but both decided it was better to comply so the trio headed out for the evening.
“Oh and Megan, be sure to order one of those bread paddles for our house.”
Chapter Four
A few days later, Rick walked into Cap’s office and waited impatiently for the boss to get off the phone. Tony noticed his friend’s edginess and wrapped up his call quickly.
“Welcome back, I hear your mission was a success.”
“Yeah,” Rick confirmed as he plopped down into one of the big, leather chairs in front of Tony’s desk. Rather than leaning back in his usual, comfortable sprawl, he leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands gripped firmly together. “We rounded up one of Mendoza’s biggest suppliers in Corpus Christi and about a dozen of his dealers. We’ve really put a crimp in his operations in the south, but we’ll cover all that at the debriefing later. What I need to talk to you about isn’t the cartel operation.”
“What’s up, buddy?”
“Did you ever make any headway on those email threats you were getting?”
Tony frowned in surprise at the subject and shook his head. “Tech and Lil T have exhausted all their leads, they even got Agents Munoz and Robinson to run what they had through FBI systems and haven’t come up with anything yet. All they know is they were sent from public computers at different locations throughout the southeast. Why?”
“Looks like they’re targeting me now.” Rick’s voiced his concern as he pulled a folded stack of papers out of his back pocket and handed them to Tony. There were copies of five emails that were all sent while Rick was out of town. “The first one came about ten days ago but the threats have escalated. I guess this asshole got pissed when I didn’t respond.” Rick referred to the most recent email that had come in the last twenty-four hours.
Be prepared to pay big,
You and all your snake eater buddies.
Paybacks are hell motherfucker.
“Damn, these look similar to the ones I got. Hold on a minute.” Tony reached over to his phone and dialed an extension. “Jonas? Can you come to my office and bring my file with you.”
“On it, Cap, I’ll be right there.” Jonas “Tech” Mitchell was the firm’s top computer man. It concerned Rick that even Jonas hadn’t been able to identify the source of the email threats, he was the best there was.
“The snake eater comment makes me think I made a mistake by focusing on Rossi threats rather than our unit. Not many people know “snake eater” is a derogatory term for Special Forces or that Rossi is owned by ex-Special Forces, but that not a secret.” Tony spoke aloud as he read over the emails a second time but Rick could tell he was just thinking out loud.
A few seconds later, Jonas strode into Cap’s office with a thick file folder in his hands. Rick’s brows shot up. “Shit Cap, how many of these have you received?”
Jonas answered for him. “There’ve been about two a week since they started back in August. I guess maybe a hundred total in the file, more or less. Their using an onion router and this TOR appears to have thousands of nodes. I’ve only been able to track to the exit relay but we’ll have to take legal action to take it further.
“English please, Tech.” Tony requested with a slightly amused look on his face. Tech had his own special language that few beside Lil T understood.
“Bottom line? It’s complicated and I’m still working on it.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were still getting these threats, Tony? I thought they had stopped when you never mentioned them again.” Rick understood the tight security around Megan now. They all knew Tony was cautious after the kidnapping but even after the arrests the security measures had continued. Now he knew why. He frowned thinking
about all the time Regan spent with her twin sister and at her shop. Cap should have told him.
“I’m sorry Rick, I thought the threats were only directed at me. It’s been months since the first one and nobody else has received any that we know of, until now. They have been vague and no specific target has been mentioned, just references to me or people close to me. I should have told you. I’ve got Megan under constant surveillance with a man on her 24/7. I guess we’ll have to expand that to include Regan and maybe beyond that. Shit! We don’t have enough manpower to keep tabs on the entire team’s wives, girlfriends, and family.”
Jonas reached for the emails that Rick had received. “Home or office, Chief?”
“My office, oh, and better check with the other guys and see if anyone else has received any of this bastard’s love notes.”
“Will do. At least they haven’t tracked down your personal accounts, yet. Let me work on this and see what I can come up with. I’m also going to check on upgrading our firewall and internal security systems.” Jonas always loved a challenge but this one had him stumped. He left the office without another word, his thoughts already consumed with the newest clues.
“I’m going to have to put a man on Regan full time, Cap. Resources are getting kind of thin with all the personnel we have on the cartel investigation. Who do we have to spare?”
“I think we’ll have to pool resources. Meg’s pushing to get back to the bakery but until her doctors and therapists release her I haven’t let her. Looks like she’s going to get her wish. I’ll have to set some limits though, once she’s there she won’t be able to resist diving back into work.” He sighed, thinking about his stubborn wife. She had been frustrated with her slow recovery and would jump at the opportunity to go back to work. He didn’t want her to have a setback by going back too soon and overdoing it. “At least if she’s there during the day, T can watch both of them. We can split commuting to and from work and I’ll do both when you’re on a mission. I’ll have to cut my bounty cases back but that can’t be helped until we get Dex off the cartel case.”
You Said Forever (Club Decadence) Page 4
