"Yes, Julie. We have. What's up?"
"I need to teach that conceited jerk a thing or two! And I need your help."
Carrie gulped. It sounded like another spanking to her. But friends were important, and friends stood by each other, even when boyfriends didn't. "What's on your mind?" She stifled a giggle and Julie laid out her revenge.
The next morning, they went through the motions as though everything were fine. But it wasn't, of course. Tom was distant, and Adrian was still furious. The interns tried joking around, but after Tom snapped at them, even they grew sullen. It was a relief to be able to put on their costumes and return to the fort.
Tom's soldiers raised the flag and saluted, then dispersed to their various assignments. Tom came to the Burt house and watched as Carrie welcomed the first group of tourists. She offered them tea, but having Tom watch her made her nervous. She spilled a bit on a tourist's lap, apologizing profusely. The woman brushed it off graciously, and continued to chatter on with her friends, but Tom's warning look was not reassuring. He came up to her and placed his hand on her rump and patted it, although she was turned so that none of the tourists could see.
"Behave yourself," he said quietly.
"I am!" she hissed. "Now go away and stop watching me! You make me nervous."
He didn't go away, so she did. She went into her kitchen and started a fresh batch of molasses cookies. They were a favorite among the tourists and interns alike, and she'd had to order a larger jar of molasses. "Cooking over a wood fire is a lot harder than it looks," she began, interacting with the tourists. Tom tilted his chin in her direction, as though warning her yet again, and then he disappeared.
Good enough! Now she could focus on her job, and be pleasant and informative, and patient, and pretend she knew what she was talking about as she named the fluffs of sheep wool and the parts of the spinning wheel. Maybe she couldn't spin yet, but as long as she was on crutches, Tom needn't know the truth.
She made it through lunch, and through the cleanup, until late afternoon, and Julie came for her. It was time to put her revenge into action.
They slipped past the soldiers demonstrating their weapons. It was tricky for Carrie, as the crutches were awkward and by the end of the day her arms were sore and aching, but they made it to the parking lot, then hid between the rows and rows of cars to find Adrian's van parked at the very back. Julie pulled two tweezers from her apron pocket. "Here we go, girlfriend. Are you in?"
"You're going to get us both spanked," Carrie commented.
"That behemoth isn't going to lay a hand on me ever again," Julie fumed.
Carrie wished she could say the same about Tom... but then again, she didn't want him to go away. She just wanted him to be nice to her. Didn't he respect her? After all his talk about respect, and trust, and such, and he didn't respect her. He didn't trust her. Of course, she'd nearly sabotaged his precious project at every turn. She'd ignored his warning and cut her foot before their first day on the job. She'd been rude enough to the visitors that they had left a complaint about it, and he didn't even know the worst of it yet - that she had lied about being able to demonstrate spinning. But still - he should have forgiven her and forgotten about it after he spanked her for the rudeness, not come into her home to check up on her.
"One, two, three," Julie counted. Then together, they twisted off the valve stems on two tires. The air rushed out, leaving the bright yellow van with two flats.
"I feel kind of bad about this," Carrie said as they snuck back into the Fort.
"Nonsense," Julie huffed. "He deserved this."
"But why both tires? Why not just one?"
"Because if he has half a brain, he has a spare tire, numbskull. He could simply change the tire and catch up. This way, he'll have to call for a tow. He probably won't even come to town tonight."
"Town?"
"Don't you listen to anything? Tom was going to take us all into town for dinner tonight. The camp stove isn't working, and he's tired of sandwiches. After dinner, he'll buy the part he needs to fix the stove. He told us that at breakfast."
Carrie shrugged. She hadn't been listening, because she was too busy stewing about her relationship - or lack of relationship - with Tom.
"Stop worrying, Carrie. You'll draw attention to us, and Tom will know something is up. It's imperative that he takes us back to camp before anyone realizes Adrian's van has a couple of flats."
"I'll try," Carrie said.
"No! Do, or do not! There is no try," Julie said in her best Yoda impersonation. They both laughed, and returned to work.
Tom picked them up at closing, continuing to bring the van in from the parking lot, in consideration for Carrie's foot. She felt badly about deceiving him, about her part in vandalizing Adrian's car, but then Tom the Jerk continued in his jerkiness. He didn't open the passenger door for her. It was the first time since leaving Wisconsin that he hadn't opened her car door. She hadn't realized how quickly she'd come to see that simple gesture as a sweet symbol of his thoughtfulness. She blinked rapidly, refusing to let him see he had made her cry. She yanked open the side door and climbed into one of the back seats with Julie. Another student was quick to take her precious front seat, and Tom talked to him as though everything was right with the world.
They stopped at the campground long enough to change into shorts and tee shirts. Then they grabbed their wallets and purses, eager for a night on the town. He didn't take them to Hank's Steaks, though. That was a little pricey for a larger group. Still, the fast food burgers tasted delicious, and better yet, no one had to clean up afterwards.
One student opted to go to the sporting goods store with Tom. The rest wanted to hang out in what comprised the downtown area of Fort Laramie. There were two bars, a bowling alley, the movie theater, a couple of shops, gas stations and restaurants. All of the students headed into the bar, although two of them - Carrie and Henry - weren't quite legal yet. Carrie flashed her driver's license at the bar tender when he asked for it, and he nodded, not actually reading her birthdate. Or else he just didn't know enough about Wisconsin driver's licenses to see the difference between over twenty-one and under. She slid up on the bar stool, trying not to grin like an idiot. Of course, hanging out with Julie made people assume she was older. Julie was older by a full year, and a bit more sophisticated. She'd lived in Europe before her parents split and her dad them moved to Madison. Carrie used to be a bit in awe of her.
Julie bought the first drinks, Carrie bought the second. She wasn't sure what they were drinking, only that it contained orange juice and tasted very, very good. She felt lightheaded, and then she felt sleepy. She would have quit with two, but Julie ordered another round. And then she lost count. Julie was beginning to act very silly, and she was a riot when she was drinking. She told bawdy jokes, she sang off key, and she flirted with everybody.
"Hey, girlfriend," Julie said later. "Don't look now, but I think Mister McKay jush came in."
She was slurring her words together. Carrie should tell her it was time to quit... if she could remember what it was she wanted to tell her. Oh, right. Tom McKay. "Really?" She was holding her liquor better, maybe. Or maybe it was the adrenaline spike just hearing Tom's name mentioned caused to course through her. She chewed her lower lip nervously. Vandalizing Adrian's van had been a stupid prank. Was it enough for Tom to drum them both out of the internship?
"Yup! He's with Adrian. You know, my husband the blacksmith?"
"Shh, Julie!" she whispered urgently to her friend, "Pretend we don't see them."
"Are you kidding? There are only three tables in the whole joint!"
"Hi, girls. Mind if we sit down?" Tom McKay sat down next to Carrie, and Adrian sat next to Julie.
"Hi guys!" Julie said with too much boozy cheer.
Adrian took Julie's glass and motioned to the waitress to bring her some coffee.
"Hey buster! Whadya think yer doin'? Thas my beer!"
"Can you get her home okay?" Tom asked Adr
ian.
"It would be my pleasure," Adrian said meaningfully.
Without saying a word to Carrie, Tom grabbed her upper arm and began to propel her toward the door.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Carrie's voice rose in volume, and the waitress looked warily between Tom and the guy behind the bar.
"It's okay," Tom reassured him. "She's my wife."
This seemed to satisfy the guy behind the bar. He totally ignored Carrie's frantic clarification of "Pretend! Just...pretend wife!"
Julie shouted the damning parting shot. "I guess it wasn't such a good idea after all. Sorry, Carrie."
Carrie would have to remember that Julie was a lousy drunk.
Although the soft evening air was pleasant, it did nothing to cool Carrie's burning cheeks. Before Julie's outburst she thought she had a chance of bluffing her way out of this, but even in the uneven light of a pink neon sign in the bar's window, Carrie could tell Tom's jaw was clenched. So that's what "tight-jawed" looked like! she thought incongruously. Tom didn't say a word, just opened the door to his van and shoved her in. If her reflexes hadn't been dulled by beer, Carrie might have let herself out while he went around to get in. As it was, however, he had fastened her seatbelt and made the engine roar to life before she even knew what had happened.
"Where exactly are you taking me?" She tried to sound imperious, and only succeeded in sounding whiney.
Tom didn't answer.
"Listen, you! I know my rights! Innocent until proven guilty! Don't you know your...uhm...history? And how come it's his story and not her story, I'd like to know!" Good lord! She was babbling and she was sober enough to know it, but too drunk to stop it.
Tom didn't say a word.
"Okay! Okay! It was petty and petulant! Is that what you want to hear?"
No answer.
"Would it help if I said that it wasn't my idea? It was Julie's. I guess that sounds pretty stupid. But she's my girlfriend, and your buddy Adrian hurt her feelings. I'd do anything for her."
Tom's silence was annoying. Annoying enough that she felt the need to fill the silence with mindless chatter.
"I woulda given a lot to have seen his face when he found he had two flat tires!" She laughed and curled into a ball of pure joy as far as the seatbelt allowed. She was laughing so hard; she didn't even notice that they had stopped. When she finally became aware, she began to be alarmed.
In front of her, she could just make out the sheen of the Laramie river. As for the rest, it was pitch black and deserted. No lights. No cars passing on the road. Hell, she wasn't even sure there was a road back there. She hadn't been paying attention...but she was now! She just knew another spanking was on the horizon. And damn it all, that didn't even bother her. In fact, she hoped he would get to it soon, so she could go to sleep. She yawned. Sleepiness was why she rarely got drunk. One drink and she was fine. Two, and she was tired. Usually by the third drink, she was asleep. Tonight adrenaline had kept her going. She'd done something really naughty, something totally immature and deserving of a spanking, and she knew it was only a matter of time before Tom put her over his lap.
"Adrian didn't do anything to deserve your mean-spirited prank. The only thing he did was fall in love with your self-centered, spoiled girlfriend. And when he called her self-centered and spoiled, she tried to break up with him. You should have stopped her, instead of encouraging her. Instead, you went right along with it, and added at least two more hours to my already long day."
"Tom, I-."
"Shut up. It's my turn to talk. You've been self-centered, too. You act without thinking, putting yourself and others in danger. You've repeatedly put this program in jeopardy. I forgave you, because I'm in love with you, and because you're so beautiful, I figure that everyone has always catered to you."
"Tom," she tried again. He was so wrong! She wasn't beautiful, for one thing. And she wasn't self-centered. She never thought of herself at all!
"I always tried to focus on your sense of humor, your intelligence. You shone with those qualities in class, and I wanted to believe that the good in you outweighed the bad. I'm not normally a stupid man, Carrie. But somehow, where you're concerned, my intelligence has left me as flat as Adrian's two tires tonight."
"Tom, I'm sorry! Truly, I never meant to hurt your feelings - just to help Julie bring Adrian down a notch. I didn't know what their fight was all about."
"Well the trick about vengeful behavior is that you can't control whether people take it personally or not. For me, it was personal. Very personal."
Carrie didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. The silence in the van was so heavy, it was palpable. She had to do something, say something, to make things right again. "Spank me, Tom. Please?"
"No," he said.
"But, Tom! I'm sorry! I said I was sorry!"
"I know. And I wish I believed you. But I've spanked you three times already, and if anything, your behavior is worse."
"It's your fault, you big oaf!"
"Talk to me, Carrie. I want to understand what's going on inside that crazy head of yours, but talk respectfully. I will not tolerate name calling."
"You said that after a spanking, all was forgiven and forgotten. So yesterday, I was rude and you spanked me for it. But then this morning, you were checking up on me, as though you didn't trust me! You lied! You didn't forgive me!"
Tom stared at her, the tension suddenly leaving his jaw. Then he looked down sheepishly. "You know, you're right, Carrie. I didn't trust you. I am so anxious about this internship, and you've put it in jeopardy several times already. I was worried that you would screw things up again. And I was checking up on you. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me, honey?"
Tears spilled down her face. "Yes, Tom! Of course I will. Do you still like me? At least a little? Or are you giving up on us?"
"Come here, you nut," he said, tugging her over the center console onto his lap.
"Name calling!"
"It isn't name calling if it's the truth. You are a nut, Carrie. I'm so in love with you, that I pursued you for two semesters, even though you didn't give me the slightest bit of encouragement. I'm so in love with you, that even if this program fails and I flunk out and I never get my doctorate, I will still love you. I will always love you, dear. I've been afraid to tell you how much I love you, because I didn't want to scare you away - but now you know. I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, babe."
Carrie hugged him, kissed him, and they made love in the back seat of the van. But before he took her back to the campground, he did give her that spanking she had earned. It was short and hard and effective, and after that, they made love again, even though he kept saying that post-spanking sex was not supposed to be a reward. Later, as they snuggled inside his little tent, Carrie wondered if her bottom could survive a long-term relationship with him. And she decided that it could.
Chapter 5
Adrian eyed Julie as she slurped the bitter coffee. "We have some talking to do, princess."
"Stop calling me that," she snapped.
"I will when you stop acting like one."
She gave him an icy glare, the kind that had stopped lesser men in their tracks. Adrian remained unfazed, which irritated her. So she switched tactics, trying to seduce him instead. She put an arm around him and slipped onto his lap. She licked his ear, then whispered to him. "Why don't we go find someplace to kiss and makeup."
"Because you're drunk," Adrian said, standing abruptly. She nearly fell to the floor. He grabbed her quick and slammed her butt down into a chair. "Finish your coffee," he barked.
"You're no fun." Julie took another sip, half tempted to throw it at him. He must have read her mind, because he took the cup away from her before she could act upon it.
"That's it. We're leaving," he announced.
"Who the hell do you think you are, Mr. High and Mighty? I'm not going anywhere with you."
"I don't know what you think I did to you
, princess, but vandalizing my tires was overkill. I should just report it to the police and let them take care of you."
"No! Don't do that - what will it do to your friend's project? What will happen to the internship?" Julie suddenly didn't sound so drunk.
"You should have thought of that before you decided to get Carrie involved in your mean little prank. He loves her, you know. And now he's going to have to spank her."
"Well, lucky for me, we don't have that problem. You hate me, so why don't you just shut up and take me home."
"I do not hate you!" Adrian said that too loudly, and other customers were starting to notice. "I like you. A lot," he confessed. "Maybe even more than that. But you are such a porcupine. Or a chameleon. One day you’re a loving and affectionate. The next day you've got your claws out. I don't know where I stand with you. And what's more, I don't think you know, either. Who hurt you so badly, that you're afraid to love anyone? Not even yourself?"
Julie didn't answer, but she burst into tears. Adrian comforted her, but her sobs increased. It was time to take this conversation someplace more private. Unfortunately, the bartender headed their way, looking concerned.
"Are you all right, missy?" he asked.
"Yes," she sobbed.
"No, she isn't," Adrian said. "My wife has had a really rough day, so I'll be taking her home now."
The bartender backed off once he heard that they were married. "Okay," he said. "You take good care of her, you hear? We don't take kindly around these parts to folks who mistreat their ladies."
"Yes, sir," Adrian said. "I'll take very good care of her. Good night, sir."
"I'm not your wife," Julie sobbed. "You wouldn't want me. No one wants me."
Adrian shut her up with a kiss. Then while she was reeling from that, he quickly ushered her out the door. He wanted her in the worst way. He wanted to take her hard. He wanted to take her tenderly, passionately. He wanted to show her how much he cared about her, and then he wanted to bust her butt for the prank she'd pulled on him. But he wouldn't do any of that tonight. Tomorrow, after she'd sobered up, would be soon enough. But there was no way in hell he was going to let her sleep without him again. Luckily, Carrie was tucked inside Tom's tent, so Adrian stretched out next to Julie, letting her curl up into his shoulder. Before long she was snoring softly, undoubtedly from the alcohol. He kissed her forehead. "I'm in love with you, Julie," he confessed, knowing she couldn't hear him. "I have no idea what to do about it. But God help me. I'm in love."
Fort Laramie Page 10
