Breaking the Chain

by Golden Angel

  Grinning, Leigh went and sat on the edge of Angel's bed. Her friend had flopped back and was staring up at the ceiling, taking big, deep breaths. Obviously trying to calm down. "Hey there, baby mama."

  Angel whimpered. "I can't be pregnant."

  "What, do you want a second opinion? I'm pretty sure this is the place you would come for that," Leigh said, waving her hand. "I can run out to the drug store and get you a pregnancy test if that'll make you feel better."

  "I hate you."

  "Hey, I'm not the one who got you pregnant."

  Moaning, Angel pressed her hands over her face. "I've been on the pill for years. Years! Not one scare, not ever... and now... this!"

  "Did you miss your last period?"

  "No... I mean, not really." Angel sighed. "It was really light, but that happens sometimes. I just figured my next one would be super heavy and awful. That's usually what happens... I had no idea... I didn't even think..." She pulled her hands away from her face, looking at Leigh with anxious remorse. "I would never have drunk so much tonight if I'd known."

  Aw, so that's what was bothering her. Leigh scooted forward, wrapping Angel in a hug, despite the protests of her own, sore body. "Sweetie, I'm sure it'll be fine. People get accidentally pregnant all the time and probably do stuff like that. Now that you know, you'll be the best pregnant mom ever."

  "Did you see him?" Angel asked grumpily, abruptly changing the subject, which Leigh took to mean that she was feeling reassured. "He's all smug and happy about his super sperm getting past my birth control."

  Leigh's lips twitched, because she couldn't exactly deny that Adam was both of those things. He'd looked elated, before Angel had started shrieking. Then again, he'd always been the one pushing for things to move faster. Angel wasn't commitment-phobic exactly, but she didn't like to be rushed.

  "You know you were going to get married and have babies with him eventually," she pointed out. "It's just that the timetable has been moved up a bit."

  Crossing her arms over her chest, Angel gave her a dirty look. "Are you going to defend his crap-ass proposal too?"

  "Hell no." Leigh smiled. "I'm sure he'll make it up to you."

  "He'd better." Angel sighed again as her arms relaxed and she leaned back, resting. "I wonder what kind of kinky pregnancy sex dreams I'll have."

  "They'll probably be about vanilla sex."

  ******

  Hearing laughter behind the door, Jared smiled. He'd been leaning against the door frame, not exactly guarding it, while everyone had been congratulating Adam and slapping him on the back. Even Angel's brother, who had seemed reassured by Adam's immediate marriage proposal - as ill-timed and awful as it had been. Angel's mom was crying and hugging her husband, who was patting her back and smiling. So far Jared's impression of the man was that he was very, very quiet. When his wife had demanded to know what he thought about their impending grandparenthood, he'd just shrugged and said, "I'm pleased." Which had made her roll her eyes and complain about his lack of enthusiasm, although she had more than enough for the both of them.

  It didn't surprise him at all when Lexie announced that she and Patrick needed to head out. She was already clutching her phone in her hand, probably dying to start spreading the news. Man... the rest of their friends were going to be royally pissed that they'd missed out on tonight. Jared predicted a lot of phone calls and texts would be happening, the second everyone left.

  As if she'd started an exodus, a few minutes later it was just Adam, Jared, and Angel's parents waiting outside the door. A few more minutes of blissful peace, before he left the hospital and his phone would start buzzing off the hook.

  Maybe he'd just keep it off for the rest of the night. That way he could focus on taking care of Leigh.

  When the door finally opened again, Angel’s parents went back inside and her mom fussed over Leigh and Angel some more. Leigh bore it patiently, Angel less so. When they left, Angel’s mom called him and Adam ‘good boys,’ and told Leigh that she’d call her parents to update them.

  “But you call your mom tomorrow, after you’ve had some rest,” she said sternly, which Leigh assured her she would do. Then she turned to Adam and Jared, soliciting promises that they would take care of the girls – which both of them were more than happy to give. As far as Jared was concerned, Leigh wasn’t going to have to lift a finger while she recovered.

  Chapter 18

  A week after her visit to the hospital, Leigh was sick to death of being pampered. Jared had been amazing, taking care of her every need until she'd gotten the stitches out of her hand a few days later, and spoiling the heck out of her. Despite her admonishments, she was pretty sure he still felt guilty about what had happened. There wasn't even going to be a scar, but he was so gentle about holding that hand that she kind of wanted to smack him with it. Things at Adam and Angel's weren't much better. Angel was snapping at Adam, who was fussing over her like a mother hen, and both of them would fuss over Leigh to distract themselves from each other. Plus, one of their friends was always stopping by whenever Adam wasn't home, to "check in." They also texted or called just to see how she was doing.

  Leigh wasn't sure if they were on pregnant-lady watch or Jared's ex-girlfriend watch. He'd told Leigh about his confrontation with Marissa at the hospital, she'd told Angel and Adam when they'd expressed concern, and of course word had spread from there... but no one seemed to believe that she was really gone. Which meant that whenever they went out, even to Stronghold, someone was always sticking to her like glue.

  It would be enough to make her scream, except that they all had such good intentions that she didn't feel like she was really allowed to be frustrated. At least she was up on all the gossip – which this week had mostly been about how everyone had updated their insurance information and emergency contact numbers. Leigh was getting kind of tired of talking to several of her friends a day, every day, though. She needed some alone time, or even just time where she wasn’t having to talk to someone.

  She couldn't even go to the gym alone. Angel had insisted on coming, which meant that Adam had ended up meeting them there, to make sure that Angel didn't overdo her workout.

  At this point Leigh was pretty sure that Angel was just putting Adam through the wringer, and he didn't quite seem to know how to handle her ire. It didn't help that he was strutting around with obvious pride at knocking her up, which everyone but Angel found hysterical. Leigh had advised him not to bring up marriage again, unless he was backed up by a ring and a serious amount of romance. She was pretty sure he was waiting for Angel to stop being mad at him for the original botched proposal, but Angel seemed to be enjoying watching him writhe a bit. She was definitely holding a grudge. If she wasn't pregnant, her ass would be bright red by now, but Adam seemed reluctant to spank her. Since it was so early in Angel's pregnancy, and the statistics he'd looked up had said that miscarriages were most common early in the pregnancy, he was treating her like glass. But Angel was driving him nuts and Leigh wasn't sure how long he was going to put up with it. Right now he was bending over backwards for whatever Angel wanted, and she was taking full advantage of it.

  So Leigh was spending a lot of time at Jared's, giving her friends space to hopefully make-up. Or for Adam to finally come to the end of his rope and spank Angel into a better attitude, pregnant or not.

  Jared seemed happy with her constant presence, and she liked being there. Some of her clothes were even hanging in his closet now, so that she didn't have to take a bag back and forth.

  Sitting on the couch in his home office, she graded papers while he finished up work for the day. It was nice being able to come over and do her work in the same room that he was, even though neither of them were interacting. There was something intimate about sharing each other's space. Leigh liked it.

  "Checked my email," Jared said, swiveling around. "Still haven't heard a word from Marissa."

  "That's good," she said, putting down the essay she'd been reading. "Maybe she's left t
he country already. She did say she would take the first job away from here"

  "Yeah... I hope so." He gave her a lopsided smile. "I know she said she won't be back regardless, but I still prefer that she's far, far away."

  "I don't blame you." Leigh didn't feel that way about Michael, but then again Michael had never acted the way Marissa had. For which she was eternally grateful. She wanted Michael to be happy and she knew he wanted the same for her. She wished that Jared could have that kind of closure with Marissa too. "All we can do is hope that she's gotten the message."

  "Yeah." Jared frowned, his gaze becoming thoughtful as his eyes unfocused, making it seem as though he was looking past her. His frown deepened.

  "What?"

  "I just remembered something." Refocusing on her, Jared's gaze pinned her in place, and a small feeling of foreboding sparked inside of her. "When I talked to Marissa in the hospital, she said something that bothered me, but I couldn't figure out what until just now. When she said that you didn't have to worry, she said that you wouldn't be getting any more messages from her. What did she mean by that?"

  "Oh..." Leigh had actually almost forgotten about those. She hadn't told Jared because it really hadn't been that important at the time and she hadn't wanted him freaking out or feeling responsible for more of Marissa's actions. That and, truthfully, she hadn't wanted to bring up Marissa more in conversation than was absolutely necessary. Now, looking across the room at him, sitting like a king in his computer chair throne, her dismissal of them as unimportant seemed less certain. "It wasn't a big deal, she just got drunk and sent me a couple messages on Facebook." She shrugged. "Nothing new, just the same stuff she would say in person."

  The thundercloud on Jared's face grew, making her squirm. She already recognized that look even though she hadn't seen it that often. She was in trouble with a capital T.

  "Why didn't you tell me this before?" he demanded.

  "It really wasn't a big deal and I didn't want you feeling guilty over yet another thing she'd done that you had no control over," Leigh said, trying to sound as reasonable as she could while guilt crept up her spine. Truthfully, now that she was saying it to him and not Angel, she could recognize how mad she would have been if Michael had sent something similar to Jared and Jared hadn't even mentioned it. "I'm sorry... I should have told you."

  "Yes, you should have." The look he gave her was implacable and made her squirm even more.

  "I really thought it was for the best though," she said, trying to make that expression on his face go away.

  "Considering that you ended up in the hospital because of her, I'm not able to agree with you," he said calmly.

  Leigh stared at him. "That was an accident! Besides, it's not like she said she was going to come after me or anything."

  "No, but if I'd known she was messaging you I could have made things clearer to her beforehand. Maybe she would have left town instead of following you out to girls' night." Jared looked at her mutinous expression and sighed. "I hope this never comes up again, but next time you will tell me, right?"

  Something in his face softened and Leigh realized he was actually feeling a little hurt that she hadn't confided in him. Well, crap. She could understand that too. Now she was really feeling guilty. "Of course."

  She meant it, too.

  Jared held out his arms in a hug position and Leigh dropped her papers off to the side, scrambling to climb onto his lap and curl up against him. He was so big and solid; his very presence a warm haven... she should have told him about Marissa's messages. After all, she'd told Angel. But she'd known that Jared would be upset about it and that's why she'd kept it from him. Which really wasn't a good reason at all.

  "I don't want you to hide things from me, sweetheart," he murmured, as he started finger-combing her hair, increasing her guilt.

  "Maybe you should spank me," she said, joking.

  His fingers stopped. "Really?" The astonishment in his voice made it clear he hadn't expected that from her.

  Leigh bit her lower lip. The truth was, even though she didn't really want him to, she thought she would feel better if he did.

  "Yes but... maybe not really hard?" she said, hopefully.

  He laughed, which made her feel better. "So you want to be punished, but not really punished." He shook his head and her stomach sank. "That's not how it works, little girl." His hand slid down to her bottom, making her skin tingle as if in anticipation of being swatted. "Do you want to be punished or not?"

  "Yes," she whispered, her hands knotting in front of her. Strangely, warmth pulsed between her legs even though her brain knew this wasn't going to be a fun spanking. "Yes, I do. I think... it will make me feel better if you spank me when I do things like this."

  ******

  Brave, little Leigh. The look on her face was one of anxious reluctance with a tinge of shock, as if she couldn't really believe what she was asking for. Truth be told, Jared could barely believe it either. While she'd agreed to be disciplined for issues pertaining to her health, this was completely different. This was even more trust in him, more control that she was ceding to him...

  He felt like his chest was about to crack open. "Okay, sweetheart... but tomorrow we're going to sit down and define what you mean by 'things like this,' because I don't want you to ever be resentful of it."

  Leigh tilted her head back, giving him a rueful look. "I mean, I'm not happy to be spanked and I'll probably resent you a little, but as long as I know I deserve it, I'm not going to be holding a grudge."

  "And you think you deserve it right now?"

  "Yeah." She looked away from him again, blushing a bit. "I mean, I knew at the time I should tell you, I just didn't want to. And then I kind of forgot about it, but even if I had remembered, I know I wouldn't have brought it up."

  "Thank you for your honesty," he said, patting her bottom much more gently than he would be in a moment.

  His cock hardened as he realized that this was the perfect opportunity to act out one of his fantasies. Especially because he wasn't planning to spank Leigh all that hard. This was going to be somewhere in between a fun spanking and a punishment spanking, because he realized that she already knew what she'd done wrong and he believed her that she wouldn't do it again. Although if she did keep things from him in the future, then that would be cause for true disciplinary measures.

  "Alright, sweetheart," he said, patting her bottom again, enjoying the way her soft flesh jiggled against his palm. "Stand up and bend over my desk."

  Leigh's eyebrows shot up. "Over your desk?"

  Oh yeah.

  He pointed to exactly the spot where he wanted her, which was conveniently free of any paperwork or books. Not that he'd been planning this, although he'd been keeping his desk much cleaner lately. Ever since she'd started hanging out in here sometimes while he worked.

  "Right there."

  A tiny smile curved her lips as she shot him an amused look. Standing, she placed herself in front of his desk, giving him a saucy little look over her shoulder as she tugged down the yoga pants that she was wearing, letting them fall to her ankles, before she bent over. She wasn't wearing any panties.

  Jared groaned, his cock throbbing as he pushed his chair further away from the desk, admiring the view. Leigh's gorgeous, heart-shaped ass in the air, her upper body resting on the sturdy desk, right next to his computer. Between her pale cheeks, the swollen lips of her pussy were like a tightly closed shell, but he could still see a little bit of glistening between them. She was wet.

  Standing up, Jared moved around to her left, so that he could enjoy the full side view of her bent over his desk. Arching her back, she peeked up at him, obviously a little unsure again, because she had no idea how hard he was going to spank her. She'd reached out across his desk to grip the far edge, spreading her body out and also giving her something to hold on to once the spanking starting.

  Fucking perfect.

  "I love you," he said, without thinking.

&n
bsp; Both of them froze.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  That was not how he'd meant to tell her. He'd wanted romance and flowers and candlelight... not her bent over for a spanking and hot sex. This was not the moment. But she just looked so perfect; the embodiment of his every fantasy, offering herself up to him for discipline, fulfilling every one of his needs.

  "Really?" she asked, sounding breathless.

  Jared crouched down so that they were on eye level. She still hadn't let go of the desk, she was just staring at him with wide, wondering eyes, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "I'm sorry, that just came out... I... this was not how I wanted to tell you."

  She blinked. Her lips trembled. And then she started giggling. Affronted, Jared scowled.

  "Oh Jared... I love you, too."

  "Wait - no, dammit! I told you, this isn't how I wanted to do things."

  Letting go of the desk, Leigh propped herself up on her right elbow and reached out to touch his cheek with her left hand. Her mismatched eyes were bright and dancing with mischief. "Jared, I've had the big romantic gestures before. The roses, the music, the trips to an exotic location... and I wasn't happy. I mean, those things are wonderful, don't get me wrong, but what makes me feel loved is the little things. The daily things. The fact that you like me in your work space. The way that you've taken care of me while I was injured - not just for the things that I requested, but you jumped in and took care of things before I could even ask. Like when you immediately grabbed plastic wrap and duct tape when I wanted to take a shower. That you always respond when I send you a stupid joke. And I absolutely prefer a spontaneous, sincere expression of love over a planned and rehearsed declaration any day."

  Well that was a relief. Jared pressed his hand over hers as he smiled back at her.

  "Well, good, because I'm actually not great at the planned stuff. But I want to show you every day how much I love you. How much I like having you in my life. I was just standing here, realizing how fucking blessed I am with you and your trust in me. I want to take care of you, but the fact that you want me to, that you trust me to... that means everything to me."