by Livia Grant
She whispered to Charlie, begging him to help her. “Please. I’m so sorry, but please don’t let him hurt me.”
“Honey, nobody’s gonna hurt you. Not if I have anything to say about it.”
His promise eased her a bit. That only lasted until the door slammed on the office, closing the five of them in the vast room. The second Charlie set her on her own feet was the moment she watched Gabe unbuckle his heavy belt. The sound of the leather flicking through each of the loops on his trousers was a sound she’d grown to hate in her time with Albert.
Memories consumed her. Blood pumped through her body so fast she heard a ringing in her ears. She saw Gabe’s mouth moving, his angry face assured her he was yelling, but the words were lost on her. The room was spinning. She tried to speak. To tell Charlie she didn’t feel well, but the blackness squeezed in on her too fast.
Emelie’s knees buckled beneath her sending her crashing to the floor with a thud. The last thing she saw before the blackness consumed her was Jewel’s worried face leaning over her shouting her name.
Chapter Seven
“Ruby, run ask Nettie for the smelling salts she keeps in a tin.” Charlie heard Gabe barking orders, but all he could remember was the look of terror on Emelie’s face as she’d crashed to the floor. Not for the first time, he knew someone had hurt Emelie in her past. As a normally fun-loving man, he was not accustomed to feeling the kind of rage that filled him at the thought of someone hurting the slip of a woman lying helpless before him.
Charlie scooped her into his arms, sitting on the wood planks of the floor and cradling her in his lap. Emelie lay limp in his arms like a wet cloth. Her skin was cool to the touch, yet perspiration gathered on her brow. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at her face, talking to her softly. “It’s gonna be okay, Emelie. Come back to us now, honey.”
Jewel stayed close, hovering over them with a scowl. “How much has she told you about her history, Charlie?”
“Clearly not enough.” He hated to admit he had no idea what terror Emelie had lived through that generated the fear he’d seen in her eyes.
Gabe was still more angry than concerned. “I know you have feelings for her, Charlie, but surely you can see she doesn’t belong here. There’s been nothing but trouble and arguments since she arrived.”
Charlie was too busy swishing damp strands of Emelie’s hair from her forehead to argue back. Jewel did a fine job of that for him.
She’d swirled to face her man. “Gabe, you’re being unfair. Not all the arguments in the last few days can fall on Silver. We’ve all been working around the clock for weeks now. No one is getting enough rest and it’s as hot as blue blazes every day.”
He had his back to the door, so he missed Ruby’s return until she jumped in to agree with Jewel as she handed the salts to her boss.
Charlie wanted to defend Emelie as Jewel knelt next to them with the salts in her hand. “She’s desperate for help. I can tell. She’s an innocent.”
“I don’t think she’s as innocent as you think, Charlie.” Everyone turned their attention to Ruby, pressing her to say more. When she spoke, he wished she’d never mentioned her thoughts. “Nothing specific, but as gems do, we’ve talked about sex a bit. She shared memories that made me know she’s got some experience.”
Charlie pressed her. “Like what?”
“Like she talked about how terrible men tasted and how they’d never once bothered to bring her anything but pain in the past and were only interested in their own pleasure. She definitely has some experience.”
His chest constricted in pain at the thought of the woman in his arms with someone else’s erection in her mouth. He’d thought of her on her knees before him so many times since their shared bath time. That he would not be her first filled him with a new kind of rage he hadn’t felt since his mother died.
He had to push his anger aside. Jewel was waving the small vial under Emelie’s nose and she quickly stirred, sputtering as the ammonia shocked her awake. He pushed his anger down, not wanting his anger to be the first thing she saw.
Emelie started to flail her hands, trying to push away from him. He hugged her tighter. “Shhh. Everything is gonna be fine now, honey.” Jewel handed him a glass of water and he nodded his thanks before holding the beverage to Emelie’s lips. “Let’s pour some cool water in you now.”
He felt her relax some in his arms as she drank. The relax lasted until Gabe spoke from behind them near the door. Terror returned to her adorable face.
“Ruby, as a married woman, I’ve decided to let your husband deal with your breaking of the rules. I’ll be going over to give him an update after things settle down here.”
Ruby whined, “Oh please. Can’t we keep this between us? Does he really need to know?”
Charlie smiled down at Emelie as they listed to Ruby and Gabe’s conversation.
“I’ll be sure to also let him know you asked me to hide your naughtiness from him and that you were prepared to lie to him if it would keep you from going over his knee.” Ruby groaned as he finished his instructions. “Now go out and get back to work. Take someone else with you back to the laundry and Red…”
“Yes?”
“Be sure to change your petticoats before you leave.”
“Yes, sir,” she grumbled.
As soon as the door slammed leaving only four of them in the office, Jewel braved another suggestion. “Charlie, I think you should go out and get to work.”
Emelie’s hands rushed to the front of his button down shirt. “Oh please, no. Can’t Charlie stay?”
As much as he hated for her to be afraid of anything, he was grateful she didn’t want him to leave. It took a little doing, but he managed to push to his knees and then feet with Emelie still cradled in his arms. He took a more comfortable seat in the chair directly across from Jewel’s desk where she’d sat, Gabe standing directly behind her. They posed a united front.
“Fine, Charlie can stay, but we need some answers. I don’t normally impose on the gem’s background before they got here. We all have our past secrets after all, myself included.” Jewel glanced over her shoulder where Gabe smiled a supportive grin.
She continued, “But I’m afraid once gems start fainting dead away, I feel the need to inquire as to why so I can perhaps help avoid it becoming a regular event. So… do you have any medical problems that explain what just happened?” She left her question hang in the air.
“Medical condition? No, ma’am. I’m not sick if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good, that’s a relief. So, next question. What’s happening that has you all tied up in knots?”
Charlie smiled down at her, trying to urge her to open up to them. “You can trust us, Emelie. We want to help. Did someone from your family hurt you? Is that why you left home?”
When she started talking, even he had trouble hearing her and he was only inches away. But as she started her story, the words fell from her swollen lips.
“I left Wisconsin with a traveling musical troupe. The leader, Albert, promised me that I would become famous and be able to perform on the stages of the grandest of grand theaters in San Francisco. We weren’t even across the great Mississippi before he started… abusing me.”
She glanced away from him nervously. Unable to look him in the eyes as she let the words spill out of her like a sinner would in the confession box at church. Silent tears filled her eyes as she spoke, enhancing her vulnerability as they streaked down her cheeks.
“It took three months of hell to make the trek to San Francisco. We’d stop to play in some small towns and make a bit of coin. Those were the worst days because he’d make enough money to buy a bottle of whiskey. He was not a nice man even on his best day. Filled with spirits, he was the devil.”
Charlie could feel her trembling. He looked up to see Jewel and Gabe watching them intently. He had an urge to stand and stomp out of the room to protect her from having to tell more of her story, yet he k
new he wouldn’t be able to help her start healing until he understood what she’d been through.
“By the time we got to San Francisco, I was too far away from home to turn back. Only then did I find out the worst lie of all. The only theaters he had us lined up to play in were little more than rundown warehouses in the bad parts of town. The shows were bawdy vaudeville and he expected me to put on a risqué burlesque each night. When I refused, he replaced me with another woman in a heartbeat and planned to sell me off to the highest bidder. Only the kindness of one of the troupe members helped me escape.”
Gabe pounded his fist on the desktop making Emelie jump with fear in his arms. “Sorry, Emelie. Listening makes me want to hook the horses to the wagon and head west to find this asshole.”
Jewel agreed. “I almost feel sorry for him if Gabe were to catch up with him.” She smiled kindly. “So why not go back home to Wisconsin?”
“Believe me, ma’am, I’d sure like to, but it is already late summer. There isn’t time to catch one of the few wagon trains headed back east. They left weeks ago. And I tried to buy a fare on a ship headed to New Orleans where I could take a Mississippi Riverboat towards home, but it seems the crewmen are all abandoning ship when they pull into San Francisco, coming out to the Sierra’s in search of gold. They put me on a waiting list, but without money, I knew they wouldn’t be putting me onboard a ship for a long time. “
Jewel smiled a sad smile as she listened to Emelie’s story. “I see. Just one more question and this is important. Why did you faint when we came into the office?”
Emelie glanced in the general direction of Gabe, refusing to make eye contact. “Please…”
“I need to know.”
“Albert beat me with his belt—and a strop—sometimes his fists.”
“How often?” Charlie wasn’t sure why he’d asked. Did he really want to know?
She looked back as her answer cut him. “Almost every day.”
“The bruises. I saw them during your bath.”
She nodded before confirming. “Those are a few weeks old now.”
“Damnation. I want to go with Gabe and find this bloke and show him how we handle men who abuse women around the Red Petticoat.”
Always the voice of reason, Jewel replied calmly. “I don’t think that will be helpful right now. Emelie, as much as it pains me to say this, I’m not sure working here at the Red Petticoat is the best thing for you right now. It appears that some of the activities happening here are triggers of bad memories for you. “
Charlie could see panic returning to Emelie’s beautiful silver-blue eyes. She thought Jewel would turn her out.
She spoke straight to Charlie when she opened her mouth. “Please, let me try. Can you be patient with me as I get acclimated?”
“Of course, I can. I would never turn you out but… well, perhaps you should stay out of sight during business hours. We all just want what’s best for you.”
Gabe had been quiet for some time, but Charlie could have punched him in the gut as he brought back the memories of what had started the whole scene in the first place. “Fine. We want to help you, but that doesn’t mean you have a pass on the rules. They exist for valid reasons and you broke one of the most important ones having to do with your and Ruby’s safety. We just discussed them a short time ago and yet you put yourself and Ruby in danger and if you aren’t punished for breaking the rule, it will cause a deeper rift with the other girls who know damn well they wouldn’t be sitting comfortable for a day or two.”
Charlie used the handkerchief to try to clean up the remnants of her tears.
Her next question was so quiet he wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “Can Charlie do it?”
His pulse shot through the roof at the thought of flipping the beauty in his arms over his lap right now and baring her bottom for her earned spanking. He tried to hide his excitement, not wanting her to think he looked forward to disciplining her. If they didn’t change positions soon, she’d get her proof considering his now erect cock was poking her bottom through her conservative gown.
***
Emelie held her breath, waiting for Gabe’s answer, unsure what she hoped to hear. Had she really just requested Charlie give her a spanking?
She’d do about anything to avoid it, but if it had to happen, the only sliver of hope she had at getting through without falling apart was having Charlie there.
“I don’t know. I worry he’s gonna go easy on you,” Gabe said.
Emelie couldn’t help her small smile. That was exactly what she was counting on.
“You know good and well that he has doled out spankings to darn near every gem under this roof at one point or another when you were unavailable. I didn’t see you complaining then that he didn’t do a strict enough job,” Jewel countered.
“Yes, well he wasn’t sweet on any of the other gems like he is for Silver here.”
Conflicting emotions warred inside her. Was Charlie sweet on her? The hope of it filled her with a rare lightness she hadn’t felt since leaving Wisconsin. It was tempered by finding out he’d spanked all the girls. She wasn’t fond of that image.
Jewel wasn’t helping. “I’ve heard the gems talking that they almost prefer it when you’re here. Seems Charlie takes his job as back-up disciplinarian a bit too seriously to suit the ladies.”
“Fine, you can handle this one, Charlie, but I expect you to follow through.”
Emelie’s stomach fell to the floor when the handsome man who held her close confirmed his intentions. “You can count on me. I don’t want her to ever forget and put herself in danger any more than you do.” Only the small smile playing at the same mouth she’d had fun kissing the night before helped to ease her worry.
Too soon, Charlie pushed to his feet, holding her close as he moved towards the door. Gabe was there to prop it open. They stopped briefly giving Gabe time to lean in and place a platonic kiss on Emelie’s forehead. “We care for you, is all, Silver.”
Her small “thank you” was out before she could stop herself. She was insane to thank him for sentencing her to a beating.
Only once they were inside her small room, a few doors down, did Charlie set her on her own two feet. She wobbled, still weak from her fainting spell. But as soon as she gained her equilibrium, Emelie rushed to cross the room to get as far away from Charlie as she could.
“Emelie. Look at me.”
His voice wasn’t angry, but was forceful. It was hard to ignore his instruction, even though she was afraid of what she’d see in his expression.
When she’d complied he prodded her, “Are you afraid of me?”
The truth surprised even her. “No. Not really.”
“I’m glad. Even knowing that I’m going to discipline you?”
“I’m only afraid of the beating. Not you.”
Anger flared in his eyes. “Let’s straighten one thing out right now, young lady. No one does any beating in this house. Ever. Not Nettie, not the customers, not even Gabe and certainly not me. Got it?”
Genuine confusion consumed her. She was already on edge, but she couldn’t stop to worry about the small nuances between words like beat and discipline. To her clenching bottom it all felt like the same thing.
“Emelie? I asked you a question.”
She was beginning to see the side of Charlie that Jewel had warned her was there.
“Yes, sir.”
“You don’t look like you believe me,” he prodded.
“It’s just… well, I’m confused is all.”
Charlie crossed to sit on the edge of her bed. “Then let me help you. I’m going to give you a spanking. It’s meant to be a punishment that will help you learn a lesson and will keep you safe. While I may roast your bottom, in the end you will be forgiven and the slate wiped clean. On the contrary, a beating would use fists. It might be on other parts of your body where it would do bodily harm and it would make you feel worse instead of better when it was over.”
She d
idn’t know what to say so she said nothing. Still keeping her distance. He wouldn’t let it drop.
“Tell me, Emelie. What is it you’re most afraid of right now? If not me, what?”
She whispered, “Your belt.”
“Well, that’s easy then. I won’t use my belt.” He grinned. “What do you say we start with this?” Charlie held up his right hand, his long piano playing fingers stretched out. When she failed to answer, he took charge. “Come to me now, darlin. Don’t make me chase you down.”
How she put one foot in front of the other she wasn’t sure, but she slowly closed the distance to the bed to stand directly in front of Charlie. He reached out and placed his hands on her hips, opening his legs wide and pulling her closer until she stood between his thighs. He took the time to wrap his ankles around her to hold her captive.
“Look at me now.” When she refused, he added a stern, “Emelie.”
Her gaze snapped up. She could get lost in his dominant glare. It took her breath away.
“Now. Tell me why you’re gonna be spanked.”
Oh God. Why was he going to make her talk about it again? This was humiliating. Couldn’t he get it done and over? Why drag it out?
“I’m waiting,” he pressed.
“Because I broke a rule.”
“Which rule?”
“I left Ruby in town by herself,” she muttered.
“Correct. Why is that rule important?”
“Because gems can be a target out in town and we shouldn’t go anywhere without an escort.”
“Exactly.”
Oh please, let the questioning be over. She could feel her cheeks burning from embarrassment at being lectured like a small child.
“Do you feel guilty?”
“Of course!” She snipped, tired of his intrusive questions.
His right hand slipped from her hip to her left bottom cheek. He squeezed as he warned her. “Careful with that tone.” When she bit her tongue to keep from snapping back, he added, “Now let’s get this over so you can be forgiven and put this all behind us.”
