* * *
“Roomy,” Thorton observed, sitting behind Ellie’s seat in the SUV as she started the car.
“Just so you know, what you did was inexcusable,” Graham said in a dark tone as he watched his wife pull out of the lot. She was trying not to drive like a maniac this time. “On so many levels, what you did was unjustifiable. I literally thought you were dead for two months, Eleanor. Two months.”
“It’s true,” piped up Thorton from the back seat, where he was beginning to feel forgotten about. “The only reason Jack got me on the ship was to keep Graham from swallowing his own blaster. Didn’t want him to come out here alone.”
“I’m sorry. I promise you, it wasn’t my plan to break my wrist comm,” Ellie assured them. She was feeling herself again since she and Graham had reconnected. He had even let her cry on him for about a half an hour. “Or the ship, for that matter! It was a cluster-screw of epic proportions.”
“You’re damn well right it was,” Graham seethed.
Ellie drove in silence for a while, contemplating how Graham’s happiness over seeing her alive had so rapidly dissolved into a sickening shock as he realized that it could have very easily not been the case. Ellie did feel guilty about that, but she wasn’t quite Mary. The only human girlfriend she had in space, Mary was the epitome of penitent after she had disobeyed her husband, Peyton. Mary would look for and welcome her husband’s firm hand.
Which made Ellie think that it was possible Graham had a firmer hand than Peyton had ever used on Mary. Looking for and welcoming a punishment, even when she undoubtedly deserved it, wasn’t ever going to happen in Ellie’s foreseeable future. Her bottom was already tingling uncomfortably just thinking about its impending doom.
She lifted her finger in the air and finally said, “But… Aren’t you gonna ask me how I got here in so little time?”
“I don’t think you appreciate how little I’ve slept since your apparent demise,” Graham lectured. “So no, I wasn’t going to rush to ask. I’m more interested in what were you were thinking! What if it didn’t work? Nobody knew where you were—a thousand things could have gone wrong!”
“Nothing would have been wrong if you'd let me train for a pilot’s license,” she mumbled. She heard Thorton chuckle wryly, shaking his head as he looked out the window. “What?” she demanded, annoyed.
“You are dumb as a rock sometimes,” he said, shaking his head, “that’s all. Boss couldn’t care less what you’ve invented, Kitten. And let me tell you why—Graham can’t live without you, and he certainly can’t enjoy the doodads you created snuffing yourself out of existence if he’s also dead. You follow?” He suddenly straightened himself and curled his lip upwards in a sneer. “I feel like I’m having déjà vu…”
“That’s because this has happened before. Hasn’t it, Eleanor? When you created the Fledge and got yourself stuck outside in freezing temperatures for God knows how long?” Graham fumed. “Only this time it’s worse. And you’d better believe your punishment is going to be worse!”
Her throat tightened, mostly from the humiliation. She hated being threatened in front of anyone, even if that someone also believed she deserved a punishment.
“I should have brought the damn kit,” Graham stated with exasperation. “We need to stop by somewhere and pick one up.”
Suddenly, she was blushing so much she was afraid her face was going to fall off. “Graham…” she whined quietly, pained by the knowledge that Thorton was listening in on their conversation. “Relax. You know I’m sorry I scared you…”
“Not nearly sorry enough,” he told her with a cynical smile. “Where do they sell their kits?”
“They don’t have kits,” she assured firmly, nearly sick with humiliation. “Can’t you just punish me when we get back to the mothership?”
“Oh, I plan to punish you there, too,” he assured. “You’re gonna be one very sorry little girl when I’m through with you.”
She wrung the steering wheel with her hands. “Thorton—can you please talk to him?” she begged, biting her lower lip.
“Ha!” Thorton coughed callously, reading his electronic tablet that he had produced from his coat’s inner-pocket. “No. I hope he gets creative about punishing you,” he told her firmly. “If you’re looking for sympathy, Kitten, look elsewhere. Possibly to someone whose leave wasn't spoiled because of you. I should be surfing the shores of Beh’leer right about now.” He looked up from his tablet to get eye contact with Graham in the rearview mirror, “So, she’s lying. They have kits.”
“I am not, and no we don’t!” she argued, a look of betrayal obvious on her face.
“I’m on your interplanetary information platform,” Thorton informed her. “And yeah, you do.”
“The internet? That’s not a physical place. You can get anything on the internet, but it would take days before they could deliver it,” she assured bitingly.
“They’ll sell them in mostly any sexual equipment store,” he informed Graham, shrugging dismissively. “And there’s a LOT of them. They’re everywhere—like, every ten miles.”
“Thorton… I swear to God, I will cut you down,” she promised scathingly.
“Eleanor,” Graham drawled in a warning. “Stop stalling. If you didn’t want to be punished, then you shouldn’t have made it your goal to be the most disobedient wife imaginable. Stop at one of those stores.”
She waved her hand in the air dramatically. “Look, I just can’t walk into a local place with two huge guys and buy a bunch of anal punishment gear. People will talk. People are already talking about me—they think I disappeared to do a bunch of weird sex-slave stuff somewhere.”
Thorton and Graham both snorted in disbelief, as if they thought she was telling tales. “Why? Is that what you told them?” Thorton finally asked with curiosity.
“No, but I couldn’t tell them I was abducted by aliens. I’d end up on the funny farm! But nobody believes my story about the witness protection program, either. They’ll make up what they want to hear, and I’m not going into a place that will only confirm their suspicions!”
“The only thing we’ll be confirming is that you’re a disobedient wife who has a husband who loves you and wants you to not kill yourself with unauthorized escapades,” Graham assured firmly. “Make a stop.”
She rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip. There was nothing for it. She heard her phone vibrate from the dashboard and grabbed it. She glanced down at the message, then started to thumb-in a response.
“You’re making me nervous,” Graham told her, his teeth gritted and reaching up to grab the handle that was very usefully placed above-head.
“I’m just texting my cousin,” she snapped.
He grabbed her phone out of her hand and threw it into the backseat. “Just drive,” he said with a lecturing gaze, as if he didn’t need to explain himself.
Thorton picked up the phone and read the message. “Ruok?” he asked, confused. “What’s that mean?”
“Are you okay,” she translated crisply. “That’s what it says. Can you tell her I’m fine?”
“How do you say that?” he asked, wondering if there was some special code that she knew.
“You know English, just type it normally and hit ‘send’,” groaned Ellie, making a turn to go down towards the sex toy shop.
Thorton typed it in carefully with his large fingers and then hit ‘send’. Within seconds, another message popped up: R U married? 4 RLs? “Huh,” Thorton chirped. “This is pretty cool. I didn’t know your language could be broken down like this.” He was already typing out a response.
“I’m glad you’re entertained,” she hummed miserably, parking the car. She looked over at Graham, who seemed eager to get out and explore how he was going to punish her. “I’ll give you money,” she said. “That way, you can just go in there without me.”
He arched an eyebrow and left the car in response. She sighed as he walked around the car and opened the driver’s side door for
her. “Come on, Wife.”
She sighed and turned around. “You’re staying here, right?”
Thorton was looking for notes on text messaging through the internet. He glanced up just to say, “Yup.”
“Thank God,” she groaned, stepping out of the car and being guided towards the entrance of the store.
It took two seconds of looking around in there before Graham found himself grinning, and saying in Swarii, “Now I really feel sorry for humans… So deprived.” He picked up a movie. “Two women at once? But why? To what end? Doesn’t one bring enough pleasure here?”
Her lips pursed as she looked around, looking dead-on to a girl she knew back in high school who was running the front counter, watching with both delight and curiosity. “Can we not drag this out?” she hissed, folding her arms sourly in front of her.
“Watch your tone with me,” he warned, taking her firmly by the shoulder and leading her across the room. She couldn’t watch to see what he was choosing—she could hardly believe there could be so many anal plugs and anal stretching kits in one place. She put her hand over her eyes, wanting to melt into the floor. “Hold this,” he demanded, putting an object firmly in her hand.
She looked down and wanted to die. It was an enema kit—and he was still perusing, like he wanted to add to this night of fun. She choked out in his language, “No way, Graham. I said I was sorry, and I am, but it’s not fair that people will see us buying this, and they’ll know that—!” she whined, trying to choke back tears.
“This isn’t up for negotiations,” he assured firmly, putting a few cases filled with plugs into her hands one by one. “I’m not interested in ‘fair’. I don’t think this is fair, either, because I could punish you a hundred times and still not feel that we’re even for the horror you put me through.” He saw a pair of leather wrist restraints and picked them up and looked at them. He raised his eyebrows in a way that showed he was both impressed and interested by their existence. “Genius,” he said, handing those over to Ellie as well. Ellie shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously.
He put a final plug on the stack, one called ‘The Super Big End’. Her eyes widened. “Are you trying to kill me?” she yelped, her eyes pleading. It wasn’t the largest butt plug the store had, but it might has well have been. It was never going to fit. It was even larger than the largest plug Graham had ever put into her—and she had just made it to that level after a year.
“I’m just planning to get your attention,” he assured, grabbing her upper arm and walking her to the counter. When she tried to dig her feet into the carpet, he gave her a firm swat on the bottom. “Come on.”
Ellie saw one of the customers smiling sickly at her and tried to ignore it. She knew him, too. Worked on his cars…
“Never thought I’d see you here, Car Wreck,” the girl behind the counter finally said, glancing at Ellie and then glancing up at Graham. “Interesting assortment…” she said, obviously not trying to grin too widely. “You want lube, too?”
Ellie just searched into her wallet, trying as much as possible not to make eye contact or any conversation.
“Yes,” Graham replied for her.
“What kind?”
“There’s more than one?” Graham said, furrowing his bow.
The girl giggled. “Yes, of course.”
“Just grab one that’s appropriate,” Ellie begged shallowly, her voice monotone as she handed over her credit card.
The girl giggled again and picked one at random from a shelf behind her. She grinned and bagged everything up. “Have fun.”
“It won’t be,” Graham assured, and the girl’s smile suddenly disappeared as she recognized the dark seriousness in his eyes. She looked down at Ellie, whose face was beet red as Graham nodded his chin towards the bag, silently ordering her to carry it as if the carrying of the implements was part of the punishment itself.
Ellie nervously took the black bag with shaking hands and was guided out of the store. “That was Millie Parsons. She’s gonna text Penny before we even get to the car,” Ellie whined, her voice just above a whisper. Her tone was almost accusing.
“I’m not going to be doing much apologizing tonight,” Graham assured, opening her car door and taking the bag out of her hands. He watched her squeeze a tear out of her eye by the time he got to his seat. “Save that cry, little girl. We haven’t even begun.”
She sniffled and started the car. When glancing into her rearview mirror, she noticed Thorton still texting in the back seat. “What IS a roflmao?” he finally asked, sounding both amused and frustrated at the same time.
“Something I’ll never be doing again,” she assured, turning back onto the main road. “I won’t have a butt to laugh off, apparently.”
Chapter Four
“So, Thorton says Ellie wants us to make ourselves scarce,” Penny informed, jumping off of the counter. “I’m thinking about taking Thorton down to Landon’s, if anyone wants to join,” she invited.
“Like hell,” Mike fumed, putting his feet up on the desk. “I’m staying right here. I want to know what the hell’s going on!”
“You can pluck it all out of Thorton,” Penny assured, waving her hand. “If Ellie wants time alone with her guy, she should be alone with her guy. She can come down to Landon’s later.”
“I don’t like this at all.” Mike pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Something’s fishy here, and I don’t like being lied to.”
Tom stood up and cracked his knuckles. “I say we give Thorton some truth potion, if you know what I mean. Get him good and shitfaced.”
Timmy gave a chuckle in agreement. “Make him go for the boot at Landon’s. Everybody’s shitfaced after attempting the boot.”
Mike found himself scratching is chin. “This is true,” he admitted, liking the idea more every second. “And, we’re more likely to get Thorton’s version of the story if Ellie’s not there to manipulate him.”
“I could just play with him,” Penny added simply, putting her cell phone in her pocket. Everyone turned to look at her. “What?” she shrugged. “I’m a big girl. It’s the oldest information extraction technique in the book. Besides… He’s kinda cute.” She reached over past Mike and stole a cookie out of a nearby bag. “By the way, Mille Parsons just texted me. Said that Ellie and some tall guy came by and bought a bunch of taboo sex toys. I’m not gonna stay around to listen to it. I’m not that curious as to what she’s up to.”
Mike blushed at this information, looking both horrified and disgusted. “Ugh—I could have lived my life without knowing that, Penny. What happened to the days when people just… kissed and held hands? You know, and eventually introduced people to their families before running away and marrying them and God knows what else?”
“We live in Rogue River, Mike. Not Stepford,” Penny reminded cynically, rolling her eyes as she continued to text. She heard a car pull up in the lot. “She’s here. Let’s go,” Penny demanded, pointing to Mike’s cowboy hat.
Mike huffed, grabbed his hat, and got up from his chair. Everybody filed out of the shop towards his SUV. Penny was excitedly bouncing up to the car just as Thorton was opening the door to leave. “Stay where you are!” Penny demanded. “We’re going to Landon’s!” If Penny noticed Ellie’s dour expression, she didn’t show it. “Can I borrow some cash?”
“I just gave Thorton my wallet. He’ll treat you, don’t worry,” Ellie said, doing her best to force a smile. “Just… just go.”
By now, Graham had stepped out of the car with a black bag in his hand and was pulling leather gloves out of his coat pocket. It wasn’t cold outside by any means—it was actually warm. Graham smiled politely at Penny, and then handed the gloves to Thorton. “Put those on,” he ordered.
Thorton looked grateful to get them, and put them on his six digits without complaint.
“You know, supposedly our great-granddad had six fingers,” Penny announced proudly, watching Thorton pull on the gloves. They looked like something a motorcycli
st would wear—a thick, black material that looked like leather. “The sixth one was functional, too.”
“I heard that,” Thorton said with a smile.
“You wanna sit up front with me?” Penny asked, nodding towards the front seat.
“You’re driving?” Thorton said, looking like he was worried about the prospect.
“Hell yeah,” she said proudly. “I always drive.”
“She's been doing it way, way before it was legal,” Mike added with a sigh. He looked over at Graham, who had his hand tightly wrapped around Ellie’s upper arm. “I’m Mike. Her brother,” he snapped, putting his hands on his hips and not offering his hand in greeting. “I want to talk to you tonight,” Mike informed. “I want you guys at Landon’s no later than eight o’clock, got it? Gives you three hours before I get informed about what the hell is going on.”
Graham’s normally-serious face smiled and he bowed his head respectfully, but somehow Mike got the feeling that Graham thought he was being cute. “You got it, Brother.”
Mike grumbled and sat in the backseat with Tim and Tom. Thorton scrambled around to the front. “I can go, right?” Thorton asked as he sat down, looking past Penny out the window at Graham.
Graham shrugged, “I’d say you’re on leave. Behave yourself.”
“Ha! Don’t I always?”
Ellie and Graham watched the pickup truck and the SUV scoot off through the parking lot to head out onto the street. “My apartment’s above the garage,” she admitted, turning around.
“Unlocked?” he guessed, rifling through his pocket for something.
She shrugged. “Should be,” she told him. “Why?”
“I’m going upstairs. You are going back there,” he pointed to the woods in the back of the business, “and you are finding me three good switches. Do you remember what a good switch looks like?” He passed her a pocket knife.
“Graham—can’t we just… make love and snuggle and worship each other? Just for tonight?” she begged, remembering full well what a “good switch” looked like. She had been on the great planet of Swaraan for maybe two minutes before he told her to search for one. And then when she chose ones that would certainly break after a few stripes, he stripped her leggings off and made her look bare-assed in the forest behind his home as he taught her how to find a ‘good one’ by testing several combinations on her backside so it was nice and welted before the festivities had officially begun.
Learning to Blush: Swarii Brides, Book Two Page 6
