by Misty Malone
***
Ty didn’t even try to hide his smile as Clay left, leaving Cheyenne screaming. He started the spanking again, talking as he did so. “You may as well settle down, Cheyenne, because we’re going to be here a little while. We had a few things to discuss when we started, and you just added another one.”
“What? Ow! What did I just add?”
“So I’m a Neanderthal now, huh?”
“Yes. Oww! You stop that right now. It hurts!”
“That’s good to know, darlin’. It’s actually better for you that way, too.” He never slowed the spanking while he was talking to her, spreading his swats around to cover her entire bottom.
“How is it better for me? Ow!”
“Because this is a spanking and spankings are supposed to hurt. If this wasn’t hurting you, I’d have to step it up a bit and spank harder. So you see, it’s to your advantage that it hurts. Now I don’t have to spank harder.”
“Ooooh, I hate you.”
“Well, I hope you don’t, because over the few weeks I’ve gotten to know you, I kind of like you. I can certainly see why you’d be upset with me right now, though. So maybe we should get to the talk we need to have so I can bring this to an end.”
“Oww! Stop, right now!”
“Darlin’, I’ll stop when I think you’ve learned your lesson, and it’s obvious we aren’t there yet. Not the way you’re fighting. Let me tell you what exactly it is you need to learn. The first thing we’re going to talk about is you spooking the cattle. What on earth made you think it was okay to do that? That’s a good way to get cattle hurt or killed, and an even better way to get your brother and the hands hurt. Did you ever think of that?”
Cheyenne stilled, and it appeared to Ty that she hadn’t ever thought of that. He stopped the spanking a bit to let her concentrate on that thought. “Had you considered that, Cheyenne? Did you want to get someone hurt?”
He heard her fighting back tears. “How would someone get hurt just by the dumb cows getting a little exercise?”
Ty couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. This little lady may have grown up on this ranch, but she obviously didn’t know anything about ranching. He let his voice soften a bit as he explained it. “Darlin’, those ‘dumb cows’ weren’t getting a little exercise. They were scared. And when they’re scared, they run. If they get too scared, they stampede. If that happens, they just run. They become scared and desperate and they’re running for their lives. Fences don’t stop them. They run over each other, and some of them, especially the calves and smaller heifers, get trampled to death.”
“Oh.”
“It was up to Clay and the hands out there to stop them before that happened. Trying to stop a running herd of cattle is a very dangerous thing to do, Cheyenne. You don’t want to get in front of them or they’ll run you over. But you have to get them slowed and headed a different direction, then slow them and turn them again, until they realize they’re okay. It’s very dangerous because you never know when one of the cattle at the head of the herd is going to turn and run right toward you. If the rest follow, you’re in deep trouble.”
Cheyenne was crying now. “I didn’t know that. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Ty wasn’t sure what to do now. She seemed genuine in her words, and he didn’t believe she would have done anything to get her brother hurt, at least. From what he’d seen, she and Clay seemed pretty close. He thought just a moment. “Well, now you know, and I better never ever see you doing anything like that again.” He gave her several more solid spanks. “Do you understand?”
“Oww! Yes. Yes, I understand. Let me up now.”
“Not so fast, Cheyenne. We’ve covered your spooking the cattle now, but there’s something else we need to talk about before we’re done here.”
“What? No! Ty, I’m so sore now I’ll never be able to sit again.”
“No, darlin’, it just feels that way right now. You may be a bit sore during supper, but you’ll be fine by breakfast.”
“No, I won’t! I won’t ever be able to sit again. Let me up!”
“Not until we discuss your helmet.”
“My what?”
“Your helmet. You know, that thing we spent some time finding the right one to fit; the thing you had strapped onto the back of the four wheeler while you were out tormenting the cattle and driving like a wild maniac? That thing that should have been on your head to protect that pretty little head of yours?”
With those words, Ty started spanking again, crisp, solid swats that he knew were getting her attention. She started yelling again, and squirming with all her might.
He stopped once when she was about to wriggle off his lap. He pulled her back closer to him and tightened his grip around her waist. “Settle down, Cheyenne, or you’re going to be earning extra smacks.”
“Extra? Settle down? Go to hell! This hurts! I can’t settle down.”
“Oh, darlin’, you shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what? Oww! Ty, stop that right now! It hurts too much!”
“Cheyenne, the last thing you want to do when you’re over my knee getting your pretty little butt spanked is to swear. I’ve warned you already today about swearing, too. We were just about done with this spanking, but now we’ll have to give you several on your thighs to cover your swearing during a spanking, before we can finish this.”
With that, his hand dropped down and he gave her two quick swats on her thighs. He paused then, knowing she’d scream and step up her struggle to get free. She didn’t disappoint him a bit. She screamed like a banshee, and wriggled and squirmed like crazy. He smiled as he watched the show he was sure she wasn’t aware she was giving him with all her squirming.
As much as he liked what he was seeing, he knew he had to finish this up. A man can only take so much. “Settle down now, Cheyenne.” He gave her a half dozen more swats on her thighs. She screamed through each one.
He went back to spanking her bottom again. “Don’t much care for being spanked on your thighs?”
“N… no,” she finally managed to get out through her tears and sobs.
“Then remember that, and stop swearing. You’re much too pretty a lady to have ugly words like that coming from your mouth.” He noticed she temporarily stopped struggling. “Okay, a few swats on your sit spots so you remember this a little while, and we’re done.” He gave her eight or ten rapid fire, but solid swats where her pretty little butt met her lovely thighs, and stopped.
She was screaming like a banshee again, and he held her still over his knees and rubbed her back gently until she realized the spanking had stopped and was able to catch her breath a bit. He helped her up and reached for her to pull her in against him to comfort her, but as soon as her feet hit the ground she took off.
“Cheyenne? Come back here, Cheyenne!”
“Leave me alone!” She was crying as she ran for the house.
Ty wasn’t sure what to do now. He firmly believed in spanking a woman if she needed it, and he wasn’t sorry he’d done it. If ever there was a woman that needed a firm hand to her bottom, it was her. But he also believed in holding her and comforting her afterward, letting her know it was over and she was forgiven, and most importantly, that if he didn’t care about her, he wouldn’t have taken the time and energy to spank her. She hadn’t allowed him to do that. He stood there watching as she ran into the house, slamming the door behind her. What could she be thinking right now?
He went back in the barn and sat down. That sure didn’t end the way it was supposed to. Now he was concerned about the pretty little lady he’d just taken in hand. He’d certainly intended to give her a sore butt, but he never, ever meant to hurt her. He did the first thing his instinct was telling him to do; he followed her to the house.
He knocked on the door she’d just gone through, and their housekeeper came and opened the door. He took his hat off and said, “I need to talk to Cheyenne a minute or two.”
The housekeeper,
who always seemed friendly to Ty before, looked at him suspiciously now. “Does this have something to do with why she just ran through here to her bedroom, crying her eyes out?”
He never was one to deny anything he’d done, and he shuffled his feet a bit now, but said, “Yes, ma’am, it does. That’s why I’d like to talk to her, and make sure she’s okay.”
“I’ll go tell her you’re here.” She left without giving Ty a chance to say anything further. She returned a minute or two later and said, “Miss Cheyenne doesn’t want to see you right now. She said she’s fine, and to go away.”
Ty calmly and politely said, “Ma’am, she’s not okay or she wouldn’t have run off crying like that. Could I please go talk to her, just for a minute? I promise I won’t barge in on her. I’ll just yell through the door if I have to, but I really have to hear for myself that she’s all right.”
The housekeeper was a bit taken back by Ty’s concern. He was being a gentleman about it, for sure, and she was rather touched by that. She didn’t know what had happened between them, but assumed they must have had some kind of argument. Ty was usually very easy to get along with, so she was a bit surprised by this, although Cheyenne had been in a bad mood lately for some reason.
Still, she was the daughter of her boss, so she told Ty, “I’m sorry, but she doesn’t want to see you right now. Maybe if you come back later, she’ll talk to you.”
A very dejected Ty thanked her and turned to leave. He went back to the barn and called Clay.
Clay, who was on his way back to the barn, looked at his phone and saw it was Ty. “Hey, buddy, what’s up? Your hand okay?”
A very serious Ty asked, “Clay, what are you doing? Are you anywhere near the house?”
“I can be there in two minutes,” Clay answered, suddenly concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to you. Actually, I think you need to talk to your sister, but I need to fill you in first.”
“I’ll be right there, Ty. Is she okay?”
“Physically, yes. I’m sure she’s sore, but she’ll be fine. I think she needs to talk to someone, though, and she won’t give me the time of day.”
Chapter Four
Clay rode in on his horse and jumped down. Ty took the reins. “I’ll brush your horse down. You just go talk to her.” He quickly explained what happened, and how he tried to take her in his arms to comfort her, but she ran off first, crying her eyes out. “She ran off, no doubt with a sore butt, but probably with a sore heart, as well. I didn’t get to tell her that if I didn’t care about her I wouldn’t have spanked her. I can understand if she hates me right now, but she probably thinks I hate her, as well, and I don’t want her thinking that. She won’t talk to me, but could you please go talk to her, make sure she’s okay, make sure she doesn’t think I hate her?”
Clay studied his friend a few moments. “And how exactly do you feel about her?”
Ty looked up at him and answered his friend honestly. “I’m not exactly sure right now, but I certainly don’t hate her.” He looked toward the house and expanded on his statement. “Your sister doesn’t seem very happy, but there’s a sweet young lady hidden underneath the sadness. I think I’d like to get to know that sweet young lady better.” Looking at Clay sincerely, he said what he knew he had to say. “But if you and your dad don’t want me to, I’ll end it before it gets started.”
Clay thought a moment before responding. “No, I certainly don’t intend to interfere, and I’m sure Dad won’t either, Ty. Cheyenne is sad right now, for several reasons, I think. I also think what she needs is a man who can be a man for her, and not let her get away with all the shit the other men she’s dated have let her get away with. I think that’s where part of the sadness comes from. The men she’s dated have all been pushovers. None of them have stood up to her at all. Now, our mother pretty much ignored her for the last four years before abandoning her. I think you could be exactly what she needs. And you’re right, she’s a sweet young lady, but you have to look hard right now to find it. The fact that you’ve found it tells me a lot.”
Ty was listening carefully to what Clay was saying. “Well, I’d like to try to get to know her better, but I’m worried about her. She may never want to speak to me again, but right now she needs someone to reassure her, and she won’t let me do it.”
“We’ll talk more, Ty, and soon, but I’ll go see if I can talk to her.”
Five minutes later Clay was knocking on Cheyenne’s door. “Cheyenne?”
“Go away, Clay.”
“Come on, Cheyenne, open the door.”
“No. Leave me alone.”
“Cheyenne, I can take the door off the hinges if you want me to, but I’d rather you just open it and let me in. I just want to talk to you, make sure you’re okay.”
“It’s a little late for that.”
“Cheyenne?” There was warning in his voice, but she didn’t care.
“If you wanted to make sure I was okay you would have stopped him.” She sobbed as she continued. “You didn’t. You told him to have at it.”
“Cheyenne, we’re going to talk about this. Instead of yelling through the door I’d rather we talk privately. Do I need to take the door off the hinges?”
He was just about ready to get some tools and do just that, when she opened it. She’d changed out of her jeans and was wearing a sun dress. Cheyenne didn’t often wear dresses, but a dress certainly wouldn’t hold all the heat from a spanking in like jeans do. It took all his willpower not to smile at that. Ty must have done a thorough job. He sat down on her bed and patted a spot beside him. “Come talk to me, Cheyenne.”
She looked at the bed, but shook her head. “I’m good right here.” She was standing about four feet from her brother.
Clay sighed, but nodded his head. “All right. Are you okay, Cheyenne?”
“No, I’m not okay,” she insisted. “You saw what he was doing and you didn’t stop him.” She started crying again, and Clay could tell it wasn’t from a sore bottom. He stood as she sobbed, but went on. “Mom didn’t want me with her any more, and neither do you guys.”
Clay was instantly at her side and pulled her into his chest. “Cheyenne, that’s not true. Dad and I are both elated to have you back with us. We missed you while you were gone. And Ty’s happy to have you here, too.”
She was crying, but looked up at him, her eyes full of doubt. “You and Dad are family. You have to say you missed me. But please. Ty? He obviously hates me. How am I going to cook and eat our meals with him now that I know that?”
Clay hugged her tighter and tried to assure her. “Oh, Chey, Dad and I aren’t just saying that because you’re family. We love you and we really did miss you. And don’t for one more minute think Ty hates you. He cares about you or he wouldn’t have done that.”
She stopped crying long enough to look up at him, astonishment written all over her face. “Are you saying that’s how cowboys show a girl they care for them? By spanking them until they won’t possibly be able to sit down for at least a week? If that’s true, do cowboys ever actually get married? Do they ever even have a girlfriend? Because that’s not how I’m used to having a man show me they care about me.”
Clay was chuckling as he answered her. “Yes, we have girlfriends and get married.”
“So is that how you show your girlfriend how much you care for her, by beating the tar out of her?”
Clay immediately stopped chuckling and frowned. “Cheyenne, Ty did not beat the tar out of you; he spanked you. There is a huge difference. I would never let him beat the tar out of you, nor would he ever try.”
She had tears in her eyes again as she tried to correct him. “But, Clay, you told him to have at it.”
“Yes, I did. Cheyenne, I thought you were getting the cattle upset on purpose. So did Ty. That’s why he spanked you, and why I let him. But he said that when he told you why that was so dangerous you seemed sincerely surprised. He wondered about that, how someone who grew up o
n a ranch would not know that would upset the cattle and would cause a dangerous situation for the men. I have to admit I had to stop and think about it. Once I did, I told him I believe you when you said you didn’t know. I talked to Ty and explained that you really never were involved in the ranching operation, and he believes you now, as well.”
Cheyenne thought a minute. Clay could tell she felt a bit better, but then she frowned again. “But he spanked me again, or more, even after I told him I didn’t know that was dangerous.”
“I know,” Clay replied. “He told me he spanked you for not wearing your helmet after he helped you find one that fit.”
“Yes, he did.”
“That’s where we come to the part about he did that because he cares.”
“But Ty doesn’t care about me.”
“You’re wrong, Cheyenne. Ty does care about you.” He ran his hand through his hair and said, “I’m not going to tell you how he feels because that’s between the two of you. Besides, right now I’m not sure he really knows how he feels himself, other than he’d like to get to know you better. But for now, let me just say if I saw Lynelle riding a four wheeler out like that without a helmet, I would turn her over my knee, as well. That’s a very dangerous thing to do, and I don’t want to see her get hurt. If I saw some other young lady doing the same thing, I wouldn’t like to see it, but I certainly wouldn’t use the time and energy to spank her. I wouldn’t be as concerned about her safety as I would be of Lynelle’s.”
He could see her thinking, and after giving her a little time to digest his words, he continued. “Sis, think about what I said, and if you have any questions ask me. I’ll answer anything you ask if I can. But please don’t think we don’t want you here, because we do; all three of us.” He gave her another hug. “Are you okay now?”
She looked at him quizzically before answering. “I do feel better now, yeah. But what did you mean by am I okay now? What made you think I wasn’t?”
“Ty was really concerned. He called me to see if I’d come talk to you.”