“Good for you,” he said, quietly. “You deserve to be happy.”
His despondent tone brought her eyes up to meet his. “So, do you,” she whispered.
He gave a shake of his head, the jet-black locks moving with it.
“I wasn’t as good to you as I should have been, Buttercup. You deserved more.” Running his hand through his hair he looked up at her with those icy eyes. Once, just a glance from him would make her melt. Now, she just felt sorry for him.
When she spoke, she was surprised that her voice was strong and did not waiver. “Then treat your next girl better, Jake. But it isn’t meant to be me.”
His friendly gaze darkened as he looked her over, absorbing her words.
“When I came here, I told myself it would just be goodbye. Then you walked in here and I laid eyes on you.” He reached his hand out as if to stroke her face.
She cringed. When she did, a sadness came to his face. He looked down.
“I understand,” he said softly.
She gave a nod.
“But I want you to know, I’ve changed. I’m not angry like I was.”
“Good.” Buttercup was starting to have a feeling in her stomach. It was that nauseous trouble feeling one gets sometimes. When they realize that the thing they told themselves was okay to do was the wrong choice all along. She knew she had made the wrong choice. And she knew she was in trouble.
Buttercup went to stand, saying, “I should go.” That was when Tom’s long fingers reached out, wrapping tightly around her wrist. Buttercup’s eyes snapped open, wide, locked on his blue ones. She felt panic running through her body. What was she doing here, with him, and no one knew where she was? She should have told Jake, of that she was now certain.
His pale eyes pleaded with her. “Just give me a lift to my hotel. I have a flight out of here in the morning. It’s the last you’ll see of me, I promise.”
She was overreacting. Tom had no idea that no one knew where she was. For all he knew, Ray might be right outside. There were people here in the coffee shop. They were in a public place. She was safe. She just needed to get him to the hotel, go back home, and crawl in bed. Making the decision whether she would come clean with Jake about her little escapade, she could do tomorrow.
“All right.” She gave him a nod and he let go of her wrist. She could still feel where the pressure had been on her skin. The memory of bruises that had been in that same place months ago flashed in her mind.
She stood still, fingering the keys in her pocket, waiting for Tom to put on his jacket. He brushed past her, his touch sending old familiar shivers down her spine. But they only served to make her miss the type of shivers that came when Jake’s arm touched her.
It’s just a ride. Just giving a ride to an old friend who’s having a tough time. Then life in Poke Town will go right back to normal. And Jake would not even need to know, she decided.
Tom held the door open for her, as he had always done. He placed his hand on her lower back, guiding her to the Lexus he must have seen her getting out of when she arrived to the coffeeshop.
Taking the keys from her pocket, Buttercup pushed the button on the fob twice, unlocking the doors. It was just a ride. As she went to grasp the handle of the driver’s side door, Tom stepped between her and the door.
Holding out his hand and flashing her his classic Tom smile, he said, “I’d love to drive. I’ve always wanted a car like this.”
Red flags popped up in her mind’s eye, the nausea trouble feeling welling up in her tummy.
“That’s okay—it’s Jessica’s car. I’d better drive, just in case anything happens.”
“Aww, come on, Butters. Let me drive. You always said I was a good driver.” After using the familiar pet name he had for her, he reached up to her and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Bringing his hand down, he smoothly removed the keys from her hand with one swipe. Again, placing a hand on her lower back, he walked her around the front of the car to the passenger side.
It was just a ride. But if it was just a ride, why were her hands shaking so badly?
As Tom opened the passenger side door, and Buttercup went to get into the car, bright headlights blinded her from a car that had pulled into the spot across from them. Lights still on, Buttercup heard the door of a car slam and a familiar, deep voice call out, “Oh, hell no, Buttercup.”
Getting out of the car, Buttercup shielded her eyes from the blinding light. Jake stood, tall and broad, hands on his hips. “You want to sneak off and meet this scum bag, that’s just fine. But if you think for a second I am going to let him drive you off somewhere you are mistaken.”
“You followed her here? Man, get a life.”
“You want to talk about following someone, punk? What about stalking them across the country, then showing up unannounced because you know the woman doesn’t want to take your calls. Then you talk her into letting you drive. Where were you going, huh? Looks like an abduction to me.”
Tom gave a callous laugh. “It would have to be against her will for it to be abduction, wouldn’t it? She wanted to go with me.”
Buttercup looked pleadingly at Jake. “I was only driving him to his hotel. He is leaving in the morning.”
Wrapping an arm around Buttercup, Tom said, “Come on, Butters, let’s go.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jake had closed the space between the two men. “Get your hands off my girl,” he growled.
Buttercup pushed Tom away, planting herself between the two men. “Tom, I’ll take you to the hotel, Jake can follow us. Then it’s goodbye. I’m with Jake, now.” She locked eyes on Jake’s brown eyes. Where there was usually warm kindness, there was absolute rage.
Tom growled, “We were fine. She will be home before you know it, Jake.”
“We will call you a cab, Tom,” Jake growled back.
“You can’t let Buttercup make her own decisions? You control freak.”
“She made her decision, Tom. She left you. You should have respected that fact.”
“And maybe I was about to show her what she was missing. How can you be so sure she wasn’t going back to the hotel with me for the night?”
Disbelief entered Jake’s eyes. He turned to Buttercup. The look that was there broke her heart.
“I was very clear it was just a ride. He’s lying,” she said softly. Her eyes turned to Tom. The livid look she saw there told her what was coming next.
“Bitch,” he muttered.
Before she could turn her eyes away from him, Jake had thrown the first punch. It landed square on Tom’s jaw, his head flying back. He quickly recovered. And Buttercup knew firsthand what Jake did not. Tom was quick, and Tom fought dirty. In a flash, Tom delivered a right hook to Jake’s side knocking the wind from Jake.
“Get in the truck, Buttercup,” Jake gasped as his breath returned to his body.
Buttercup quickly made her way behind Jake into the passenger seat of the truck, slamming the door. Taking a deep breath, Jake unleashed his full strength, wrapping his arms around Tom’s middle and throwing him to the ground.
Unable to watch, Buttercup hung her head in her hands.
“You are in a world of trouble, little lady.”
Her insides melted underneath his stern gaze.
“Ouch.”
Buttercup moved the ice over the bruise that was showing up on Jake’s cheek bone.
“Hold still,” she murmured as she held the towel wrapped icepack to his face.
“What were you thinking? Going with that guy? Sneaking off like that, not telling anyone where you were…”
“I know.” Placing her hand gently on his knee to stop his lecture, she moved the ice slightly to the left to get more coverage.
Sitting still, she could feel Jake’s warm gaze over her as she worked. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She snuck a peek at his warm, brown eyes. His wide, white smile broke across his tanned face. “So much trouble.”
Leanin
g in he kissed her warmly. As he kissed her, Buttercup could feel her mind leaving her body, her existence becoming a bundle of nerves. Lowering the ice pack, she placed her free hand over his chest. Pulling away, he whispered, “I’m so glad you weren’t going away, Buttercup.”
“Never,” she answered. “Not ever.”
“You are still in trouble, but it can wait until tomorrow. My spanking hand is sore anyway.” Jake said, stretching out the fingers on his hand.
Buttercup moved the icepack to his hand. “Can’t have that, now, can we?”
“You might regret icing that hand for me, tomorrow, when you are getting paddled with it.”
Unable to meet his eye, she said, “I don’t think so.”
Buttercup was quickly becoming friends with the truth. And the truth was she felt awful. Plain and simple. She had let Jake down, gotten the men into a fight, and lied to everyone. The whole thing could have been avoided if she had just shown Jake the note.
She wanted the cleansing that she knew would come with the discipline.
Jake’s soft gaze told her he wanted the same.
Laying over Jake’s lap, her body stretched out across his blue couch, Buttercup felt nervous trembles in her stomach as his deep, stern voice lectured her.
“You have a little habit of telling lies, don’t you? I will happily be spanking it right out of you, little lady. Now, where should we start? Lying to Jessica about where you were going. Lying by omission to me and Jessica when you told us Tom had left…”
“But he had left.”
A loud, hard spank came down on her bare bottom. “Yeouch!”
“I did not give you permission to speak, young lady. We may have already had our sweet make up last night but that does not get you off the hook, even a little bit, for the stunt you pulled.”
“Yes, sir.” His tone was so severe when he spoke, it made a wave of submission wash over her.
“Lying by not telling us he left a note, lying to Jessica about what you were using her car for and where you were going. Lying when you kissed me goodnight and led me to believe you would be safely tucked into bed. You should be starting to catch onto the fact that I can always tell when you are lying, Buttercup, baby. I can read it right on your naughty face. All I had to do was wait at the bottom of the driveway and ten minutes later—there you were to follow. You almost passed through a stop sign, by the way, which brings me to my next point, your safety.”
Buttercup rested her cheek on the backs of her hands, her elbows bent and her hands beneath her face. Other than the cool air feeling drafty on her bare skin, she was quite comfortable. Jake’s words made her feel safe, protected, and loved.
Then the spanking started in earnest. She was no longer so comfortable. As he spoke, he brought his hand down, hard and fast onto her sensitive skin. As he spanked and spoke he seemed to get more upset over her transgressions. Listing all the ways she had put herself in danger he continued to wallop her behind with his broad hand.
“Now, tell me exactly where you will be from now on when I kiss you goodnight?”
“In my bed!”
“And what will be the punishment for lying, big or small?”
He waited for her to say the word, but she didn’t know if she could. After a moment, his long fingers drummed impatiently on her derrière.
“Buttercup…”
“S-spanking. A spanking.”
“A good old-fashioned, over my knee, panties down, bare bottom spanking, young lady.”
Commencing the punishment, he whacked away. Buttercup’s skin was stinging and burning, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take of her boyfriend’s corrective measures. Just as she began to consider begging for his mercy, Jake said, “Now, for the paddle.”
Flying up from the waist and turning towards him over her shoulder, she exclaimed, “What! You can’t be serious.”
“Look at my face. Do I look serious to you? Did you think you would be getting off lightly after what you did?”
She considered his face. His brow was narrowed, his eyes challenging. And his jaw was set in that way men’s jaws tend to do when they have made their final decision.
“Um. I guess not.”
“Up you go, little girl.” Jake helped her from his lap, standing beside him on the couch. She was grateful she wore a skirt because as she stood, it fell into place. It covered her bare bottom and panties that were currently wrapped around the tops of her thighs, having been put there by Jake’s nimble fingers.
Clearing her throat, she stood nervously. Her bottom felt hot and sore, her face flushed. She waited, fidgeting, as Jake stood up. Her eyes wandered to the side table that he was reaching for. There sat a little teal paddle, about ten inches long total. It was the width of a spatula with a short handle. Her eyes widened as Jake picked up the little paddle, hitting his palm with a ‘whack’.
His warm brown eyes locked on hers. His usual smile was absent. Instead his full, kissable lips were set in a firm line. The look he gave her made her insides melt into a puddle. Buttercup imagined this was the look one would receive from a father figure type when they had been naughty. She couldn’t know for sure since she had never had that herself, but it gave her the perfect mixed feeling of shame and thrill.
“This may be small, but it will instill a lesson that you will not soon forget.”
Gulping nervously, Buttercup gave a nod. Jake grabbed her hand, leading her over to a white, wing backed chair by the fireplace. “Over you go,” he said, helping her to bend over the high arm of the chair.
When she was settled, Jake lifted her skirts, draping the material over her back. The gentle touch of his hand running over her sensitive skin made chill bumps raise on her skin. She groaned with shame as his finger hooked into the elastic waist of her panties, pulling them further down her thighs.
“Spread your legs for me, Buttercup.”
Could she? The request sounded so simple flowing from his honeyed Texas accent. But it seemed impossible to do. Spreading her legs would mean giving her full submission to Jake, allowing him view and access to her most private parts.
“Buttercup.” His voice became impatient as he tapped her bottom lightly with the paddle.
Taking a deep breath, Buttercup moved each of her feet a few inches out from where they were firmly planted. As she spread her legs, the elastic of her panties stretched tightly around her legs.
“Good girl,” he murmured. “This spanking is to remind you that there are no secrets between us.
The little paddle slapped every inch of her cheeks—even the tender spots where they met in the center. Her upper thigh just below the curve of her bottom got very special attention from Jake’s paddle and had her crying out, promising that she would never, ever keep another secret from him again.
When she could take no more, hanging limply over the chair, Jake untwisted the roll of panties, lifting them up and over her burning bottom. He pulled her up and into his arms. Sitting down on the chair, he brought Buttercup down onto his lap.
She curled up into a snug little ball trying to avoid putting too much weight directly onto her sore spots, wanting to be as close to Jake as possible.
He held her tightly, stroking her hair and her back. Murmuring sweetly to her as he dried her tears. She wanted to hop from foot to foot, rubbing the sting from her bottom but she knew Jake would not approve of that and besides, she would be too far away from him.
Laying her head against his chest, Buttercup tried to process the jumble of emotions that were running through her. She knew this was no ordinary love. She also knew that society would be telling her to run from the room screaming, to call the cops even. But the feeling of a full contented completeness was what she felt. Never had she had such a sense of peace and protection as she did post punishment wrapped in Jake’s strong arms.
Stuff society and their limiting definitions of love. She knew she had found her forever.
After her thorough spanking, Jake had escorte
d Buttercup down to the sheriff’s office where she had begun to file the papers to request a restraining order against Thomas.
She hadn’t wanted to, still convinced that Tom was not trying to abduct her. But Jake had made it very clear that with or without her cooperation, she would be filing one. And he was more than happy to have her standing, her bottom too sore to sit, while she filled the paperwork out if she had second thoughts about it.
“I still don’t know why we need to do this, he left town,” she murmured when she was sure the sheriff was out of earshot.
“Are you testing me, little Buttercup? Because what I said I would do I will deliver. If you want to cause a fuss about this, I will ask this kind sheriff for the use of his very private office. And as a man of the law and a believer in authority, I think he will grant it to me.”
She considered his face. He would spank her. Right here in this very office. She had no doubt. And so, she closed her mouth.
“Good girl,” he said. “I’m sorry you missed out on having a daddy growing up. But I am more than happy to fulfill the role, now.”
Her mouth popped open into a wide ‘o’.
“That’s right, Buttercup, baby.” He raised a dark brow to her, tightening the protective hold he had around her shoulders.
Just then the sheriff re-entered the room.
“Okay, ma’am,” he looked at his files, his brow furrowing, “do I have this right? Buttercup?”
“Yes, that’s right,” she retorted. Named after the lead character in the movie, Princess Bride, she had taken flack for her name all her life. She was not about to take it now.
Jake flashed a warning look at her. “Yes, that’s her name, sir.”
“Great. Well, from what you’ve told me, I sure am glad you are filing an order against this guy. Sounds like a real creep. Did not have a clean record, either.”
“I’m glad you say so, sheriff. My little lady here had her qualms about getting a restraining order on her ex-boyfriend.”
The sheriff raised his brow at Buttercup. “Ex-girlfriend? Were the domestic abuse charges I saw for you, honey?”
“Some. But he had girlfriends before me.”
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