Although she had her back to him, as she turned to wipe clean the white board, Lily could feel Tom’s presence in the room and her nerves continued to hammer as her arms stretched out in jerky motions sweeping the cloth over the board.
Behind her she heard the door of the class room gently shut and she stilled, her arms dropping down to her sides, but unwilling to turn around and face him.
“You know, Lily,” Tom’s deep voice came from across the room, ironically soothing her nerves even though he was the cause of them, “you’re going to have to look at me eventually. I promise I don’t bite.”
Knowing he was right, Lily braced her shoulders, knowing that the slight action wouldn’t be lost on him, and slowly, so slowly, she turned round and lifted her head to meet his gaze defensively.
To her surprise, his eyes were not filled with the anger she had expected. Instead, they were almost curious.
“Lily, you could have called me this morning to say you were going to come into work.” Tom’s voice was steady, but again not angry.
Cautiously, not sure she wanted to reveal too much, Lily said quietly, “I... It would have been difficult to arrange cover for my class, and I was feeling better so I thought I may as well come in.”
One dark eyebrow was raised at Lily, as he said, “So you didn’t decide to come in until this morning then? You were still planning last night to have the day at home?”
Sucking in a deep breath, Lily knew she was a pathetic liar and, in any case, wouldn’t be able to bring herself to tell an outright lie to this man. “Not exactly,” she admitted, her gaze now wavering from his penetrating stare.
“Hm,” he said, and then seemingly changed the subject to ask, “When is your next class?”
Surprised, she answered quickly, “Half two this afternoon. I’m on a free period until then. Why?”
Nodding, he said, “Good. Are these your papers?” Tom indicated the pile of paperwork that was sitting by her handbag in the corner of her desk.
Blinking, and wondering where this conversation was going, she said, “Yes. Why?”
Moving swiftly, Tom picked up the bag and papers from the desk and motioned for her to follow him to the door.
“But, what are you doing?” Lily was confused, “Where are you going with my papers?”
“I’m taking them, and you, home, Lily,” he answered smoothly.
“Oh no!” she protested quickly, annoyed with herself that she had fallen so easily for his act. “I told you, I’m feeling fine!”
“I’m not denying that you’re feeling fine, Lily, but I’d prefer to have this conversation away from the school, as,” he added, “I suspect would you.” He turned to meet her gaze steadily.
Lily stopped in her tracks as his words sank in, and she realised the trouble she was in. “No...” she whispered weakly, “really, Tom, please...”
“Lily,” he said evenly, “we need to talk about this. Now, if you would prefer to wait until tonight if you have work you definitely need to do now, then that’s fine and I can come round to your apartment tonight. But,” he emphasised, “I would rather that we talked about it now. This isn’t about your shoulder, it’s about you lying to me last night and pretending you were going to stay at home when we both know you had no such intention. What would you rather?” Tom asked Lily, “Now or later? It’s your choice.”
Bleakly, knowing that she had no way of avoiding the discussion, and that he was right and that the school was no place to conduct it, she said miserably, “I guess now is okay...”
“Good,” he said and, carrying her papers for her and ushering her out of the building, he bundled her into his car for the second time in as many days and silently drove her home.
* * *
When they entered the living room, Tom carefully placed her papers on the small coffee table and then took his coat off before settling down on the sofa.
“So,” he said softly, as he saw she was still standing there, having taken off her coat but otherwise looking lost and unsure, “come here.” He patted the sofa next to him.
Uncertainly, Lily moved towards him and perched on the edge of the sofa. Tom gently pulled her back into the cushions, slightly off balance so she was resting against him.
“Now tell me Lily,” he asked, “why did you pretend last night that you were going to stay here today, when it seems you had no intention of doing that?”
Lily bit down on her bottom lip, not knowing how best to answer him, not knowing what he wanted to hear.
Interpreting her silence correctly, he said, “You know, Lily, all I want to hear is the truth, even if the truth is that you don’t know.”
“I...” Lily stumbled, “I don’t know for sure. Well, that is...” she corrected herself, “I think I know, but well...” her voice trailed off, and she bit down on her lip harder, sure that she was messing this up properly.
Tom sighed and pulled her to him closer, so that Lily’s legs automatically came up and drew in under herself and she was snuggled into his side and shoulder.
“Why don’t you just start from the beginning, hm?” Tom asked. “When I first said to you last night about you staying here today, what did you think?”
“Well,” Lily started... “I guess I thought you were overreacting a bit, as my shoulder really was feeling okay.”
“Okay,” Tom said. “So what about when later on I said again about you staying here and that I’d pop in to see you tonight?”
Lily squirmed noticeably. “I... ah...” and she looked away from him, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to admit that she had deliberately deceived him, thinking she could get away with him not knowing that she had been into school that day.
“Lily.” Tom’s voice grew perceptibly sterner as she prevaricated.
“Well.” Lily gulped nervously, knowing it would be worse for her if she continued the deceit. “I thought you wouldn’t find out!”
“What?” Tom’s voice was genuinely full of surprise and he turned her round to face him more fully and tilted her head up to his with one hand. “You really thought I wouldn’t find out?” he asked incredulously.
Flushing, Lily nodded miserably.
“You knew I was going into the school; you didn’t think that I would see you?”
“But you said you were going in later, so I thought my class would be over by the time you came in!” Lily protested, feeling foolish.
Tom’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “So you thought you could time things so that you disappeared when you thought I would be around?”
Hearing the disappointment in his voice, Lily blinked back a couple of tears that were welling up.
“You didn’t think that I might, anyway, talk to Sam? Or even try to call you here during the morning to see how you were feeling? That I might be worried when you didn’t answer?”
Groaning audibly at her own foolishness, Lily let the tears roll quietly down her cheeks. “I didn’t think. I’m so sorry.”
“No,” Tom said solemnly, “you didn’t think at all. I called here this morning and there was no answer. At first I thought you must be sleeping still, but then I called Sam to arrange a time to see him today, and he told me that you were in school bright and breezy first thing this morning.”
“I’m sorry!” Lily hiccupped, burying her face into his shoulder as the guilt she’d known that morning she was carrying with her came to the surface. “I really didn’t mean to deceive you, I’m really not that kind of person, I just didn’t want to let the school down and stay at home when I was feeling fine.”
“That’s fine, Lily,” Tom said. “I don’t have a problem with you deciding to go into work if you were genuinely feeling better, but I do have a problem with you, last night, pretending that you were going to stay here today knowing full well that you would go to work. That's lying, Lily,” he added. “I know you probably think it’s just a white lie, but it’s a lie all the same, and I won’t allow you to lie to me, ever.”
“I w
on’t, I promise!” Lily exclaimed. “I knew it was lie, I did, and I hated myself for it, but I didn’t want to create a scene, not after everything that had happened yesterday. I’m so sorry.”
Tom sighed softly and reached over for a tissue from the box on the coffee table and, raising it to her face, gently wiped away her tears.
“I believe you, Lily. Really, I do. I understand why you didn’t want to make a big deal out of it; I would probably have felt the same in your position. But Lily, you have to understand, there’s no way I’ll let you lie to me, no matter how small or insignificant the lie. It’s a question of honesty and respect between two people, and for me that has to be the basis of any relationship.”
At his words, Lily didn’t think she could feel more shame than she did. She had always prided herself on her personal ethics and honesty, and to have Tom gently berate her – for good reason – for such a lie was more than she could bear, and the tears flowed down her cheeks again as she told him as much.
“It’s okay, Lily,” he said, as he rocked her gently to his chest. “It will be fine. But you know,” he added quietly, “that I’m not going to let this go, don’t you?”
Lily stiffened at his words, although in her heart she had known from the beginning that this conclusion was likely. Then, to her surprise, once the initial impact of his words had eased, she felt herself relax and let out a deep breath that she hadn’t even realised she had been holding in. He would spank her. She knew he would. But, bizarrely, she knew it would help her deal with her own feelings of guilt and shame for her deceit.
Lifting her head, Lily looked at him through her tears and nodded her head and whispered, “I know.”
Slowly, Tom extracted himself from their embrace and rose to his feet, holding out his hand to help her up from the deep sofa. He took her hand and walked her towards her bedroom.
In the corner of her bedroom, to his pleasant surprise, was a small armchair, with a little day table next to it holding a couple of paperback novels, Lily’s hairbrush and a variety of girly hair baubles.
Tom sat himself down in the chair and beckoned Lily to come over to him.
“I can place you across my knee, Lily, but I’d rather you did it for yourself. Will you do that for me?” he asked, knowing that his request would entail a huge amount of trust from Lily and that he hadn’t yet had the opportunity to earn that trust.
To his surprise, Lily nodded and approached him, if a bit cautiously, hesitating when she was in front of him.
“I...” she stumbled, “I’m not sure how...”
Relief, and a certain amount of pleasure, flooded through Tom at the trust evident in her voice.
He held out his hand to her and guided her so that she stood facing him to the side of his knees.
“Now,” he said, “I want you to push up your skirt and lie down over my knees so your bottom is over my lap.”
Lily’s hands went to her skirt to hold it down firmly against her legs but, seeing the kind yet determined expression on his face, she drew in a deep breath and forced herself to relinquish her grip on her skirt.
Standing there in her bare feet, she slowly raised her skirt, taking care to try to protect her modesty at the same time, and lowered herself as best she could over his knees, squirming as she did so in an attempt to settle herself.
Tom adjusted her, raising her bottom and making sure her skirt was flipped properly over her waist so it wouldn’t get in his way. Deftly, he pulled down the little pink panties that she wore under the demure tweed skirt so they caught below her knees.
Immediately she cried, “No, Tom! You can’t do that!” and reached back with her arms in a futile attempt to rescue the scrap of cloth.
“No, Lily. No protests,” Tom said resolutely. “I told you yesterday that keeping your clothing was a one time only event!”
“But it’s not right!” Lily cried, humiliated that Tom had taken away her one item of protection.
“And the reason you’ve earned this spanking? Lying last night and deliberately deceiving not just me but also your sister and Luke, your family who love you, that was right?” he queried.
Lily stilled, knowing it was true, but hating it all the same.
“Lily, it’s important to me to know that you understand why you’re here like this now, why you’re being spanked, and also that you’ll remember it, so the next time you’re tempted to tell a half-truth or a white lie, and you don’t think will make any difference, you’ll think twice. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Lily said, so quietly that Tom could barely hear her. “I do, I really do. I know I deserve this and, even though it will hurt and I don’t want to hurt, I know it’s the right thing.”
Relieved that he and Lily did truly seem to understand each other, and amazed that he had found someone who seemed so in tune with him, Tom explained to her that he was going to start by spanking her with the palm of his hand, as he had in Jamie’s office yesterday, but that it would hurt more without the barrier of her panties and would go on for longer so she would remember it, and that he would follow it up with a spanking with her hairbrush.
“Tom, no!” Lily exclaimed again, not having dreamt that he would use anything other than his hand on her. “Not that!”
Tom had eyed up Lily’s hairbrush as soon as he sat down in the chair. It was a solid wooden brush with a flat, broad paddle-like base that would be perfect for the task he had at hand.
“I can and I will,” Tom responded with an edge of determination to his voice. Lily could tell just from his voice that he was taking this with the utmost seriousness.
“The sting of the hairbrush will, I hope, be a lesson that will stay with you for a while!”
Not allowing Lily any more chance to protest, Tom raised his palm and brought it down with a sound smack over her bottom.
“Ow!” Lily cried out, the sting so much worse than it had been yesterday.
Again and again, Tom rained down spank after spank over her bottom, taking care to spank each of her cheeks evenly so that, before he’d even administered a dozen of them her bottom was a delicate pink and he turned his attention to the tops of her thighs, knowing that that’s where the lesson would stay with her the longest.
Quickly, Lily’s cries turned to sobs as the spanks felt like a fire was igniting over her poor bottom.
Reaching behind her, Lily frantically tried to bat his hands away and protect her bottom from his ministrations.
“No, Lily,” he said sternly, clasping her wrists together and holding them tight in his free hand. “No reaching back. This is your punishment and you will lie there and take it. Any reaching back and I’ll add more spanks to what you’re already going to get.”
With her wrists grasped in his big hand, Lily couldn’t even try to wipe her tears, and so they ran endlessly down her face. She knew that she would be a blotchy mess by the time he was done.
Still, his spanks continued, until Lily couldn’t even think about the mess of her face, her entire world revolved around the furnace Tom stoked each time his palm came down with another crack on her bottom and thighs.
Suddenly, after what seemed like an eternity, the spanks stopped and gently Tom stroked her shoulders. She tried to turn round to look at him through her halting sobs.
“No, Lily, not yet,” he admonished her, “we’re not done yet. You still have your spanks with the hairbrush, remember.”
Gulping, Lily wailed at him, “I can’t take it, Tom. I thought I could, but I can’t, I’m not strong enough. Please, stop!”
So gently, so tenderly, Tom massaged her shoulders, but his voice remained firm. “You can, Lily. I promised you these spanks with the hairbrush and you wouldn’t forgive me or yourself if I gave in to you now and didn’t go through with it. There will just be twenty and then it will all be over.”
“I can’t, Tom, I can’t...” Lily cried frantically, squirming and wriggling to try to get free, knowing there was no way she could stand the assault of the
hairbrush.
“Lily, enough!” Tom said, “No more protests, you’re only making it worse for yourself. If you keep this up, I’ll add another five spanks for every minute you prevaricate. I know this is hard for you, but it will be over soon.”
Lily’s struggles ceased, though the sobs continued.
Not wanting to give her any more opportunity to fuss, Tom picked up the hairbrush, feeling the weight of the wood in his palm and calculating in his head the kind of sting it would bring. He wanted Lily to learn this lesson, but he would never risk injuring her.
Swiftly, he brought the back of the brush down with a crack over one of Lily’s red, throbbing cheeks.
“Ouch!” Lily nearly shot off his lap and out of the chair, unable to believe that the old brush she had had since she was a child could inflict such wicked pain.
He pressed down on the small of her back, forcing her to remain in position. Quickly, he brought the brush down again.
Lily’s sobs filled the silence in the small bedroom as the brush made her feel like a million fire flies had descended on her already raw bottom.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Three, four, five times the brush descended with unerring accuracy on its now crimson target.
Alternating between gasping in shock, and sobbing, by the sixth stroke Lily had lost track in her head of how many were left to be administered.
Then, by the tenth stroke, without even realising it, Lily’s sobs quieted and, although the tears continued to roll down her face, her body almost imperceptibly relaxed into the spanking as her mind entered a state she hadn’t even known existed, where she gradually felt absolved of the guilt she had carried with her all day. A feeling of calm washed over her even through the hurt in her bottom.
Lily's Story, A Bentley Sisters Novel Page 5
