by Measha Stone
Yes. He’d calm down, she’d apologize, and they’d move on.
Good.
She wasn’t a very good liar. Not even when doing it to herself.
Chapter Fifteen
She’d never done that before. Blown out a car window and shot at moving targets; it was new for her. John didn’t dare look over at her sleeping form in the seat beside him. If he did, odds were good his blood pressure would rise again.
Her doubting him had started to piss him off, but when she climbed in the back and shot out the window his temper simmered. He wouldn’t act. Not yet, not now. Not when he was still hot under the collar. But once he calmed down. Once he had her safe, and he could assure himself his actions weren’t ruled by anger, he was going to tear into her ass with a fever she couldn’t conceive.
The spankings she’d received so far were foreplay compared to what she had coming to her. Oh, maybe spanking wasn’t enough. Maybe she really needed to learn who was boss and who was kitten around here.
He had given her the gun to protect herself, because she was no fucking wallflower, and she had turned it on him? Then she’d destroyed his car and nearly killed two innocent people. Forgetting she had an excellent shot, when he finished being pissed as hell he might take a moment to find some pride in her shooting ability. But not now. Not while the evening began to descend on them and the cold air from outside whipped through his car.
Going back to Chicago wasn’t going to happen. Not while Tommy still had anything to do with the situation. They would have to wait until her mom called again and go from there. If she couldn’t get away on her own, John would have to take stronger measures. He’d have to call in a few favors, but he’d find her and he’d get Julie’s mom back for her.
Julie stirred in the passenger seat, yawning and stretching before righting herself in her seat. Her hands were cut up from her little adventure, but from what he could see while he drove they were small nicks and would heal pretty quick.
“Where are we?” she asked.
He didn’t respond. He needed to be firmer with her. The little bit of compassion and care he’d shown her obviously made her think she could do whatever the fuck she wanted and he would just cow to her whims. Well, that was fucking over.
“Right. No words,” she whispered, more to herself. She settled back into the seat and leaned her head against the windshield. He had the mindset to roll down her window and let the cold air hit her in the face, but he recognized the act as petty and talked himself out of it.
His phone rang, interrupting the quiet of the car.
“Hey, Blake.”
“Not going so well from what I hear?” Of course, he’d know what was going on. Since he started this whole fucking mess by asking him to check in on Julie, he should know what a shit show it turned out to be.
“I cannot tell you how big of a favor you owe me.” John glanced over at Julie. She picked at the soft scabs forming on her hands. “Knock that off,” he chastised her.
She put her hands at her sides but made no comment. Finally, she started to listen.
“Yeah, if she’s as impulsive as Kara’s described, I think I do. I got your message. Aubree said there’s plenty of clothes at the house for Julie to borrow if she needs. In the main bedroom. The code is seventeen sixty-nine. You could go to Whispered Desires if you want, there’s plenty of people there and Julie might like seeing Kara. I know once she finds out Julie’s so close she’ll bug Devin until he brings her over.”
“No. No one comes over yet. I’m not sure how safe we are yet, I’m not even sure using your house is going to be safe. But other than a hotel, I’m not sure where else to take her.” John merged off the expressway down the gravel road, taking them to Blake’s vacation house.
“What did she do?” Blake asked.
“What?”
Blake laughed. “I know that tone. She’s in hot water.”
John looked over at her. “She shot my car window out. Then she shot at Tommy Addante’s men. Luckily, she hit her mark and ran them off the road, but not before scaring the shit out an old couple driving just behind them.”
Julie scooted closer to the door. Like she could actually hide away from what she had coming to her.
There was a long pause. “Don’t blow up the house,” Blake said with zero humor.
“What?” John laughed.
“I’m serious. It was just rebuilt. Do not let her blow up the house.”
John recalled hearing about the little mishap at the house before he found Aubree. “I won’t let her blow up the house. You still have that back room though, right? You rebuilt it?”
Another pause. “Yeah.”
“Cage?”
Julie sat up at the question.
“John—” Blake started with a warning in his tone.
“Just need a safe place to put her while I calm the fuck down, John.” Just looking at her still made his blood boil.
A heavy sigh. “Yeah. In the back room. John, make sure you’ve got a level head before you fucking touch her.”
“I’m aware of how this all works, thanks. Tell Aubree I said hi, we’re almost there. I’ll call you tomorrow. I may need another favor.”
“Whatever you’re going to do with her, remember you’re supposed to be protecting her.”
“Blake, if you suggest once more that I will do anything but what’s right for her, I may just let her play with some matches near the gas can in the fucking garage.”
“Okay. Enough said. I got it.”
“Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow.”
The house came into view after a few more turns down dirt roads. If Julie worried about what lay before them, she gave no indication. She remained quiet, either not tempting fate or actually giving him the space he needed to calm down. Either way he had the silence he craved.
By the time he punched in the key code and had the car parked in the newly built garage attached to the massive house, which Blake still insisted on calling a cabin, his nerves had settled to an even hum. The urge to throw her across his knee and blister her ass still remained. She deserved at least a spanking. But what he planned was much more.
She needed to get it through her head once and for all she did not call the shots here.
Once the garage door was closed he got out, rounded the car, and pulled her from her seat. He ignored the back windshield. If he looked at it again, at the glass splattered all over the back of his car, he would get angry all over again. And he needed to keep his head together for what came next.
“I know you’re pissed. And I know shooting out your car probably was a little jump the gun sort of thing, and I know you’re gonna spank me and I’m not gonna argue about it, but maybe you could look a little less psychotic about it?” she rattled on behind him as he dragged her into the house.
He hadn’t been inside since the house was completed. The layout was different, but still pretty open. He pulled her through the mud room, the laundry room, briefly into the living room before realizing he’d gone the wrong way and turned back to walk through the dining room and kitchen.
“John—”
“First thing we do is take care of your mouth,” he said, more to himself than her. He punched in the second code Blake gave him for the playroom. He never understood why Blake needed the extra security for his playroom, but he couldn’t blame the man for being cautious.
Once inside, he pulled Julie over to the cabinets along the far wall. Having friends in the community made things like stopping by their pads to punish and secure a wayward sub much easier.
He quickly found a gag and released her in order to work it open.
“You’re not putting that in my mouth.” She turned, like she was going to run away, but he snatched her arm, jerking her back to him.
“You have not one ounce of power right this moment. I’m done with being nice and catering to you. This is dangerous shit we’re dealing with. These are real people with real guns really wanting to hurt you, so as o
f this moment, you have no say. And I don’t want to hear your fucking voice.” He swept her leg out from beneath her and shoved her to the floor.
She scrambled trying to get up, but he threw her to her belly and pinned her to the floor.
“John. No. John.” She continued to push up at him, but he had more skill, more weight—she wouldn’t win. He unbuckled the red ball gag and made easy work of getting it around her, in her mouth and buckled behind.
“Now,” he whispered in her ear, while he pressed his head against hers. “If you really need something—and I mean really need it—you can lift your right hand up in the air. If I ask you a question you can nod or you can shake your head, but I don’t want a fucking sound out of you. Do you understand?”
He lifted up enough for her to move. Her eyes darted around the room, her cheeks flushed, he could feel her heart hammering beneath him. Finally, she nodded.
“I’m not angry anymore. I get you did it to protect us. I get you are capable of taking care of yourself. But I’m not battling you for control anymore. Either you give over, or we give up.”
Shifting over her, he repositioned her until she was on her back and he straddled her. He took her hands and pinned them over her head. He would have her full attention.
“You’ve spent most of your life chasing your mother around with a safety net. Being the adult when you should have been the kid. And when you finally take time for you, when you finally say enough and move out, this horrible thing has happened. So, I get the uncertainty, I get the guilt. You’ve done everything your way because you had to, but your way isn’t always the only way.”
Her nostrils flared as he spoke, but he pressed on.
“If you want to work with me, I have to be able to trust you. Trust that you aren’t going to go off halfcocked shooting out tires and nearly killing innocent people.”
She bucked her body up at him, a weak attempt to move him off her. When would she see she didn’t need to fight him? He wasn’t the fucking enemy.
“But I’m not going to fight you. You either get in line, or I’ll put you there. This doesn’t work any other way, and you wouldn’t want it to.”
She twisted her torso and tried to tug her hands free.
He shook his head. “Stubborn kitten.” No hope for it.
He climbed off of her, moving his hands into her thick hair and fisting it at the scalp. She tried to scramble away, but he held tight. She screeched behind the gag but moved to her hands and knees. His grip on her dictated her movements, even if she didn’t want to make them.
Crouching as he walked to keep her on the floor he pulled her forward, making her crawl beside him to the cage in the corner of the room. Blake had a larger crate than John would have allowed, but it wasn’t his house.
The moment she saw the cage she tried to break free, muffled screaming filling the room. She slapped at his hand. He paused, gave her five hard swats to her ass and jerked her head back until her eyes met his. Unshed tears shimmered back at him.
“You’re going in there until we’re both cooled off. You’re going to crawl your ass into that cage and you’re going to stay put until I’m ready for you. And before bedtime, before I put you to sleep tonight, I’m going to take that strap—you see it there, right?” He twisted her head to see the wall with the implements hanging and pointed at the thick brown well-worn leather strap. “I’m going to use that on your ass until it glows.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. He caught it with his middle finger and smeared it over her stretched lips. “Tears won’t help you now, as beautiful as they are.” With a jerking motion he got her moving again and shoved her into the cage.
It was large enough to stand in, so as soon as he released her, she jumped to her feet, but he was already outside, shutting the gate. Her fingers gripped the chain link.
“Don’t touch your gag, and you sit tight like a good kitten.” He took another look at her. The long tresses of her hair were in complete disarray from his treatment, drool already formed at the corners of her mouth, and tears flowed freely now from her eyes. The perfect picture.
She was finally understanding.
Chapter Sixteen
John didn’t leave her alone in the room like she expected. But she slowly learned he didn’t do anything she expected.
Using the gun in the car may have been a little reckless, but he had to be taking this punishment a little too far. Her gaze wandered over to the strap he’d pointed out. Thick and long, unlike anything she’d had used on her before. She’d taken his belt, and that had been horrible; the fucking strap looked like a death sentence.
She sat in the corner of the cage, her knees tucked up to her chin and arms hugging her legs. Every now and again she had to wipe the drool from her mouth. Fucking ball gags. Even aroused beyond comprehension, she hated them. Her jaw ached, and her lips burned from being stretched like they were.
John sat at a small table across the room, typing away on a laptop. She’d stopped banging on the cage after he came back into the room, giving her a pointed look that explained everything. If she didn’t knock it off, the strapping would be worse.
She perked up when he answered his phone and began walking around the room. She couldn’t understand him well enough until he came closer to the cage. When he was standing just on the other side of the fencing, she pressed herself closer.
He turned around to face her, noticing her standing, and signaled with his finger for her to get back on her knees. The fury she’d seen in his expression earlier was missing; disobeying now would only awaken that beast again, so she sank down to her knees.
Slipping his fingers through the chain link, he rubbed behind her ear.
He petted her.
Swallowing and wiping more of the drool away, she forced herself to focus on his words and not the soothing feelings his touch brought.
“I was hoping I had been wrong,” he said, looking down at her through the fencing. “No. I know what we’ll do next. I was hoping we could wait, but I don’t think he’ll be patient for much longer. When her mom calls tomorrow I’ll put it in motion.”
She pushed her ass off her heels, but he pressed his finger to the ball stuffed between her lips, wiping away some of the drool and smearing it on her cheek.
“It will work. We don’t have much of a choice anyway. We need her mom away from those assholes and we need to catch them at the same time. Parole violation will be the least of Tommy’s worries once this is done.”
She strained to hear the voice on the other side of the line but failed.
“Just get what you need ready, okay?”
Get what ready? She wanted to tug on his shirt, to stand up and listen on the call, but doing so would only go badly. She needed to keep a level head, show John she could think before acting.
“Okay, then. Tomorrow.” He clicked off the call and walked back to the table, putting down his phone and heading to the door.
She whimpered, smacking the cage to get his attention.
“One second, kitten,” he called over his shoulder and disappeared.
When he returned, he carried a small bowl and a bottle of water. She knew what he was going to do, but still she wanted to be wrong.
He placed the bowl down beside the table and poured the water into it.
“It’s almost time for your punishment, but first you need some water.” He left the empty bottle on the table and strode to the cage. Opening the door, he snapped his fingers. “You stay on the floor, crawl to your bowl and wait for me.”
Could she really do that? Crawl like the kitten they played at her being? At least she didn’t have the tail in. How much harder would the task have been? Or would it have been easier, being able to lose herself in a fantasy role instead of being forced to crawl toward her own humiliation for no gratification except his own.
Fuck him. If he thought this would break her, having to crawl a few feet and lick up some water, he didn’t know half as much as he boasted about. K
eeping her eyes steady with his, she sank back to her hands and knees and crawled from the cage. As she passed his booted feet, she humored herself by imagining squatting over the leather and peeing on them. If he wanted to treat her like an animal, maybe she should start behaving like one.
“Hold on.” He reached down and snagged her collar between his fingers, pulling her back toward him. The leather strip cut into her throat and made her cough. “I almost forgot.” His hands left the collar and grabbed the back of her neckline. In one swift movement he had the shirt ripped open from neck to hem.
She groaned. He’d ruined another piece of clothing. Couldn’t he have just asked her to take it off? She started to move again, but he placed his foot to her back and pressed her to the floor. She didn’t fight him off, not when she was so close to getting the ball out from her teeth and getting some cool water into her throat. He wanted to look at her ass up in the air, fine. She could withstand that.
The skirt was pulled off next. She didn’t have panties. He hadn’t bought her any and he’d torn the only pair she had had with her when they escaped the city.
His hands pried her ass cheeks open and her decision to remain docile took a hike. She pushed upward and tried to wiggle free, but the jagged sole of his boot dug into her skin. A small dollop of gel fell onto her tight ring just before the rounded tip of a plug pushed past, invading her, stretching her before she was ready for it.
She cried out against the gag, slapping the floor with her hand. The burn eased quickly enough, having had the plug in enough times by then her body accepted it readily. But her mind didn’t.
Her mind told her to stand up and kick him in the groin.
“There. Better.” He patted her ass and removed his foot from between her shoulder blades. She eased back to all fours, noting the fucking tail swinging behind her. When had he grabbed it? “Now, go.” He gave her ass a light shove with his boot and she stumbled forward.
