Don't Mess With Jess

by Megan McCoy

  That wasn’t it. “It hurts! Ow, ow! Please!”

  Before she knew it, she was bawling and sobbing and begging. Kicking and trying to get away. “Please, please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He just kept whaling away on her until she thought she would break. He was going to break her butt. He was. Sobbing so hard she could barely catch her breath, she didn’t even notice he’d stopped. Then she felt his hand on her bottom, rubbing it and sagged in relief. This, this was everything in the world. All of it. Trying to catch her breath, she heard him saying words but couldn’t comprehend them yet. Hopefully it was nothing important.

  “Settle,” he told her. Okay, she heard that. He kept rubbing while she tried to catch her breath.

  “Now, do you want to go stand in the corner?” he asked.

  “No, sir!” she said as soon as she was able.

  “Please no, hold me?” she begged. Last thing she wanted to do was be away from him. She needed comfort, not a horrible corner. “I’m sorry, I am.”

  She didn’t need to say anything else, he pulled her up and into his arms. Yeah, that’s what she needed. This was where she belonged.

  Chapter 6

  “Seriously? Another pink wall? Come on, Jess.” Mac frowned at her and Jessie giggled.

  “You knew it was going to be pink,” she said. “Until he’s old enough to pick out his own paint colors, he will have his mom’s favorite color in his room to remind him of her. And I just bet he’ll want to keep it.”

  “Bet’s on,” Mac said. “First time he has friends over, that pink wall will be gone. Truck should be here any time now.”

  “Won’t be my house anymore,” she said a little wistfully. “It will be our house.”

  “Until we get the new one built,” he reminded her. “This is a sweet little house, but if you’re wanting that big family you keep talking about, we are going to need more than two little bedrooms.”

  “Well, at least another bathroom,” she agreed.

  “Darn right another bathroom,” he said. “A few more bathrooms. One of us, and I won’t mention any names, hogs the one you have here.” She grinned at him. Coming from his new, modern, cold sterile house to her little cottage had to be an adjustment. One he was willing to make until their house was finished. They said six months, but she knew people who had built houses before. It always took twice as long and half again as much time as they’d been told. She expected to be here at least another year.

  They’d bought a three-acre lot at the edge of town and were looking over building plans. She did love her little house, but Mac was right. They needed a bigger house and a forever home for their hopefully soon to be growing family.

  “What time did you tell Marnie we’d be over to get Sam?” he asked.

  “After his nap this afternoon,” she said. “I didn’t want the movers to step on him.”

  “I miss the little guy,” he said. Mac had driven in that morning, after overseeing the packing of what he was bringing to the house and what he was putting in storage until the new house was built. She and Sam had come down earlier in the week to get semi-settled before she started teaching next week. Mac had the week off, too, before he started work, taking over the law office of a retiring lawyer in town. He would be working almost normal hours and it would be great to see more of him.

  “You want to go see him before the truck comes?” she asked. “Marnie only lives on the next block.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sure he’s fine and it would probably be more disruptive to him if I ran in for just a minute and then left again. I’ll try not to be selfish. So how’s it working out with her?”

  Marnie was going to watch Sam two days a week and then Jessie had found a daycare at the local community college for the other three days while she taught. The lead teacher, Tori, had gone to high school with her, and the teachers were all students there, earning money as they went to school and worked. She loved their energy and enthusiasm.

  “Great,” Jessie said. “Sam loves playing with Colt, Marnie’s little boy. She’s taking her classes online so she’s home all the time and could use a little extra money.”

  “You sorry you aren’t taking classes?” Mac asked her, looking at her in that piercing way he had that meant tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

  She shook her head. “I’ll start again next semester, but right now, between the new job in the new school, and getting Sam and you settled, I feel like that’s enough on my plate.”

  “Hey, guys,” Ryan walked in with Brent and someone she didn’t know. Brent, Mac and Ryan had all played football together in high school.

  “Jess, Mac, this is Hunter. He and his sister, Hannah, bought the hardware store downtown and moved here a few months ago. Where’s the truck? We came to work.” Brent looked around. “Looks like you have a full house already. Where’s it going to go?”

  “But more important than the truck, is the beer cold?” Ryan asked.

  “What good is warm beer?” Jessie said. “Cooler is out on the back patio. Thank you all for coming to help, and good to meet you, Hunter. Thank you for coming to help.”

  “I was promised free beer and pizza,” Hunter said. “How could I resist?”

  “Come on, let’s have one while we’re waiting,” Mac suggested and Jessie rolled her eyes at him, earning herself a playful swat. “Don’t you be interfering with man’s work!”

  Interfering with man’s work sounded rather fun right now. It had been days since she’d either had some good love or a good spanking and she wasn’t sure which she missed most. Especially the loving right after the spanking. What a beast he’d turned her into. How she could crave something she didn’t enjoy was extremely irritating. Yet, for some reason she did crave them. Not during. During, she just wanted them to stop, but luckily for her, he paid her no attention when she told him that. Or unluckily. Something. Whatever.

  Walking into Sam’s room, she smiled. This. This was what she wanted from the moment she knew he’d be motherless. Sam with her. Raising Carly’s kid like she knew Carly would have done for her if the situation were reversed. Here in her town, with all the people who loved Carly, where he could go visit his grandma who might or might not know him in a few years, but he would have some memories of her, she hoped.

  He’d be going to the elementary school she now taught at, in a couple years and maybe she’d be his teacher. She had been in her grandma’s class in school and she rather liked the family legacy. She would be teaching fifth grade in her new school this year and while she much preferred second or third, she’d make do, and who knew, might like it better after a while. What was left of the too short summer would be filled with unpacking, house plans, and lesson plans. And loving Sam.

  “Knock, knock,” came a call from the front door, and she left Sam’s room.

  “Bronwyn!” she pulled her friend into a hug. “Thank you so much for coming on such short notice. How’re you doing?”

  “Crazy busy,” she said, adjusting her tool belt. “But I hadn’t seen you for so long, I decided to let the rest of the appointments wait on me. People do so enjoy complaining about late handy people, you know. Might as well let them have some fun.”

  Jessie laughed. “I do know that. Come on, let me show you the leak. I could probably YouTube it and fix it, but with the moving truck coming today, I just didn’t want to mess with it.”

  “YouTube is trying its hardest to put honest, hard-working plumbers out of business,” Bronwyn laughed and pulled her hat off her short auburn curls.

  “Most of us are lazy,” Jessie reassured her. “We don’t want to work that hard when we can get someone to do it for us.”

  “Thank goodness. So you and Mac, huh?”

  “Who would have thought?” Jessie said, leading her to the kitchen.

  “Everyone in town,” Bronwyn said, turning on the faucet. “Yeah, that’s a bad leak. Let me get something from the truck. Hey, your moving truck is here.” She motioned out the window over the sink
.

  What did she mean, everyone in town? What kind of weird answer was that? Mac had been like her brother growing up. She’d never thought of him that way and she felt quite certain he never noticed her as other than Carly’s annoying buddy until she’d moved in to take care of Sam. Everyone in town, indeed. That was just Bronwyn messing with her.

  Jessie went to tell Mac and the other guys on the patio the truck was there, and then watched it back into her, their, driveway. Mac’s stuff, some of it, Sam’s stuff and he better have made sure he got it all packed. His house went on the market at the end of the month and she wasn’t certain she’d have time to go back and check it all over. Well, Mac was a grown man, surely he knew when the house was empty or if there was still stuff in it. She’d have to trust him. If she trusted him with her heart and her bottom and her, his, son, then she could trust him to move out of a house. Right? Right. Besides, he had people to do it. People who were paid to know what they were doing.

  “Jessie, you need a new faucet,” Bronwyn said a few minutes later. “Not that big a deal, but your gaskets are all corroded. How about I grab one when I’m out today and swing by after work to install it.”

  “You have time for that?” Jessie asked.

  Bronwyn laughed. “I’ll make time for you. Besides I want to see Sam’s room when you get all his stuff moved in. Bet you make it cute.”

  “Bet you are right,” Jessie said. “Okay, just come by anytime you get done. Can I use it today?”

  “It won’t leak any worse than it did, just use it sparingly. It will be about six when I get back,” Bronwyn said.

  “I’m ordering pizza for all the guys about then,” she said. “Plan on staying, if you don’t have plans.”

  “Will do,” she said. “Who’s the new cute hunk?”

  “That’s Hunter, Brent’s friend apparently. He and his sister own the hardware store downtown, now.”

  “I might need something from that hardware store soon. He’s got some muscles.”

  “Does he now?” Jessie laughed. “Well, see you later this afternoon then, thanks. Bring your bill when you get done.”

  “Will do,” she said, and walked by the guys, shaking her curls, making them bounce and Jessie laugh. Then Bronwyn put her cap back on and climbed into the truck, waved at Jessie and drove off.

  The guys were all carrying things in, with the help of the moving men, so she went to the kitchen to start unpacking some of the things Mac had brought. Taking a handful of utensils, she grabbed the wooden spoon and dropped it in the trash. Seriously? She might like a spanking now and then, or tolerate them, or use them as stress relief, but that spoon had to go. If he’d ever noticed that things disappeared, like that horrific clear paddle, he never said a word about it. Ugh. Why couldn’t he just give her what she called funishments? Nice warm butt, no kicking, screaming, and howling? Well, maybe a bruise now and then, but, still!

  “How’re you doing?” Mac asked her a little later. “We’ve almost got it unloaded, and then we have to unpack it all. But no hurry on that. As long as we get Sam’s room set up, we should be good.”

  “I’m doing good. What time is it?” She looked over at the clock. “Oh, it’s almost five. Marnie called earlier and said she’d bring Sam over once Thomas got off work, so I told her to stay for food. I’m going to order pizzas. How many do you think we will need?”

  “Order extra so we can have leftovers. The guys are starving.” Mac leaned over and kissed her. “At least seven.” Yum. The man could kiss.

  “Seven? That’s a lot of pizza,” she said. “But whatever. Seven it is.” She held her hand out. “Card.”

  He didn’t even groan or complain which was odd, but just gave it to her. Seven pizzas. Well, there were the four men, then her, Marnie and her husband, Bronwyn. Still a lot of pizza, but if Mac wanted to pay for seven pizzas, that was fine with her.

  Ordering three with everything, one with pepperoni, one with cheese, one veggie, and her favorite, bacon, onion, mushroom and peppers, she winced at the amount. Whatever. Free moving and babysitting help was worth it. Plus, she wasn’t paying for it. Though she’d bought all the beer and soda so it probably evened out, and it didn’t matter. Soon her money would be his and his hers. They needed to talk about finances here in the future sometime. Not today, though.

  “Moving truck is gone,” Mac told her a little later. “Got everything inside or in the garage.”

  “Are you happy?” she asked him. “This is a big change for you.”

  “Very. I hope to be happier later.”

  He probably meant in bed that night, but she looked at him innocently and said, “When Sam gets here?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Hey, any chance you could run out and get more ice and another case of beer? The guys are wanting to hang out this evening and have a good time.”

  Jess thought about protesting, but then decided it might be nice to run a quick errand and get out of the house for a few minutes. She’d been working all day. Maybe she’d have a couple of those beers too this evening, why not?

  “Sure, I still have your card,” she teased. “No problem. Might swing by the store and grab a fruit platter, too, for dessert.”

  “Good idea,” he agreed.

  What was with him tonight? He was just too agreeable. Probably the stress from the move. Weird.

  Grabbing her keys, she went through the garage to get to her car, parked on the street to keep it out of the truck’s way. Brent, Ryan and Hunter were still stacking boxes. What all had Mac brought? She’d thought he was sending most of it to storage until their house was built. “I’m going to buy beer,” she said. “Any requests?”

  They all threw different names at her and she laughed as she got in her car. Running into the big box store ten minutes away, she headed back to the liquor section first, and got six-packs of the beer the guys asked for, and a case of the kind Mac liked. Heck it wasn’t like it would go bad, after all. He had a lot of chores this week while he was off, he might need to cool off. Hitting the produce department, she grabbed both a large veggie platter and a fruit platter, then since it was close, got a cake. Why not? She felt like cake and hadn’t had time to bake one. Party time! She couldn’t wait to get the cake, or make the cake for Sam’s first birthday party. Would they be in their new house by then?

  Getting to the check out, she told the cashier she wanted two large bags of ice, too, and picked them up on her way out. She was so lucky to live here in Macintyre, with her friends coming over to help move, and with Mac, and Sam. This time last year, she never would have thought she would have the life she did now.

  Sitting in the car, she sniffled a little, wishing Carly could be there. Knowing if she were, her life wouldn’t be like this now. Feeling guilty about it, she looked up and said, “Thanks Carly. I love you and miss you. You, more than anyone, know how I feel right now.” Just then, the sun came out from behind a cloud and she smiled. Sunshine. That was Carly smiling at her, she just knew it.

  Jessie pointed her car toward home. She was ready to be there, with Mac, with Sam. Their first night in their new house. Pulling up, she noticed her driveway was full and there was no place to park in front of her house. Annoying. She turned around, parked across the street, and wondered who all Mac had invited for supper. No wonder he wanted so many pizzas. Grabbing the platters and leaving the beer for the guys or the next trip, she headed up to the house. What was that line of people? Had her house caught on fire? She hurried a little faster but Ryan stopped her at the edge of the sidewalk. “Let me take those, Jess.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Suddenly she heard music. “It’s a beautiful night and we’re looking for something dumb to do.” And her breath caught as Ryan motioned her up the walk to the house. The music played and her friends, the teachers she worked with, her neighbors, all started handing her roses, and she started crying. Damn it, Mac, she thought. Was he really going to? Yeah, there he was at the front door of the house, holding
Sam. Waiting for her. Because he thought he wanted to marry her. Just like the song said. Damn right you do, boy, she smiled and took the roses, but kept her eyes on Mac as she walked up to her proposal.

  Epilogue

  Jessie winced as she sat down on the hard-wooden seat. Dang, Mac thinking she needed a good paddling this morning before they left. He was wrong, she didn’t, but had that stopped the man? Nope. He’d yanked down her pants and whaled away on her bare butt with the hairbrush. She swore their entire house would be empty of anything wooden by the time she got done tossing everything he used on her butt. Why he couldn’t use something softer, she didn’t know. He’d done a fine job, too, she had a couple bruises and splotchy red marks, and it hurt to sit and would for a few days. Ask her how she knew. Once he decided she needed a butt whipping, there was no talking him out of it. And he never stopped until she was kicking, howling and begging, and would she change anything? Nope, not one thing, Well, in the middle of it, she would. She never liked the panic part where she thought it would never end, she couldn’t endure it and no more. However, she now knew it would end, bottoms could take a lot and often she wished he’d even done a little more. Weird, but true. In that moment though… “Jess, you doing okay?” Mac asked her.

  She smiled at him and nodded. “Just nervous.”

  “Me, too,” he confessed. “Even though I know this is just a formality. I am a lawyer, after all.”

  “Yeah, I heard that somewhere,” she said and squeezed his hand. She turned to look as the door opened and a crowd of people came in. Ryan with Kelly. Marie and her husband. Marnie and her entire family, including the new baby. Shannon who owned the cafe where they had breakfast every Saturday morning. Hunter and his sister Hannah. Bronwyn. Tori, Sam’s day care administrator was there. The people from Mac’s office, and a half dozen of the teachers she worked with. She tried to swallow through the lump in her throat and waved through the tears in her eyes that made it hard to see everyone.