SAMCRO- Part 2

*based on Sons of Anarchy...I don't own it, nor am I affiliated with it. Emily sat at the kitchen table, watching her mother cook. One thing most people didn’t know about Gemma Teller was that despite her bad-ass demeanor, she was quite the domestic. She kept an immaculate home and was an amazing cook and baker. There wasn’t much she couldn’t do. She was presently preparing a welcome-home dinner for her husband Clay, who was coming home from a week-long run out of state. These runs involved a lot of danger, partying, and other women; Gemma knew this, and although she wasn’t thrilled that her husband was banging younger women, she knew the lifestyle and had become accustomed to it. What happened on a run stayed on a run- that was the rule. The only good part about the whole thing was welcoming her husband home at the end, cooking him his favorite meal, and spending a fantastic night with him. Emily, on the other hand, had no idea what happened on runs, and she was certainly not looking forward to her father coming home. It had been 5 days since her mother punished her in front of half the club and even though the pain and bruising were almost completely healed, her pride was nowhere near. She refused to go anywhere near the clubhouse and was terrified of what would happen to her when Clay got home. “Mom?” Emily said carefully, interrupting several minutes of silence. “Mmm hm?” Gemma responded, looking over her shoulder at Emily. “I was wondering if maybe…” “Don’t even think about asking me not to tell Clay about what you did,” Gemma warned. “But you already punished me!” Emily whined. “Your Dad probably already knows about it anyways. And besides, you deserve “Clay, DON’T,” Jax said, getting off his Harley and stepping between Clay and the front door of his house. “This isn’t your business,” Clay said, attempting to step past him. Jax wouldn’t budge. “Like Hell it isn’t, she’s my baby sister,” Jax said. “That baby sister of yours put all of our lives in danger, and she knew damn well what she was doing. And after I’m done with her, she won’t do it again,” Clay promised, pushing past Jax and opening the front door of his house. “Shit,” Jax said. He threw his cigarette on the ground and followed Clay inside. Clay walked into the kitchen to find his wife cooking dinner, his daughter sitting at the table with a book, and Chibs sitting across from her, feet up on another chair, leaning back with his hands behind his head. “Babysitting, brotha?” Clay asked , laughing, and slapping Chibs’ back. “Aye, you made it back ya old son of a bitch!” Chibs exclaimed, standing up and hugging Clay. “Jackie boy,” he said, acknowledging Jax. Jax nods to him, putting his helmet down on the table. “My beautiful wife,” Clay said, admiringly, approaching Gemma, who dried her hands on a dish towel and approached him, putting her hands on his cheeks, kissing him passionately. “Welcome home baby,” she said. “How are the hands?” she asked, taking both of his hands in hers lovingly. “They’re okay,” he said, shrugging it off, not wanting her to know how much pain he was in. Emily held her breath, praying that her Dad hadn’t heard what had happened 5 days ago. The pain and bruising were almost completely healed, but her pride wasn’t. After being spanked, bare-bottom, by her mother with a belt in front of half the club, she couldn’t look a single one of them in the eye. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure everyone in the room could hear it. Although she knew her father loved her, and although they generally had a great relationship despite her displeasure with his lifestyle, she was absolutely terrified of what he would do to her if he found out what happened. “YOU,” Clay said, pointing at Emily. “Upstairs. NOW.” Emily stared at him, wide-eyed, afraid to move. “Daddy, I’m sorry, please,” she pleaded shakily. “I said NOW,” he hissed through clenched teeth. Emily looked at Jax with tears in her eyes, silently begging for help. “Don’t look at him, he has no say here. Unless you want to do this right here, I suggest you get yourself upstairs before I lose patience,” he warned. “Come on Clay, she’s just a kid, and Mom already dealt with it,” Jax reasoned. “Last chance,” Clay said to Emily. She looked from Clay to Gemma, to Jax, put her book down, uncrossed her legs, and ran upstairs to her room. “You think about what this’ll do to her,” Jax warned, and turned to follow Emily upstairs. “Give me a minute with my wife,” Clay said to Chibs, who gladly complied, relieved to be finished with babysitting duty for a while. Jax knocked softly on Emily’s door, and entered her bring, spacious bedroom that was decorated so differently from his when he was that age. Where he had SAMCRO reapers on the walls, she had posters of Justin Bieber. Where he had dark walls and bookshelves lined with the mug shots of his favorite club members, she had light grey-blue walls and bookshelves lined with….books. He had no idea what it would be like to be stuck in a world you hated. All Jax had wanted since he was 7 years old was the SAMCRO cut and vice president patch. “Jax, don’t let him in here, I’m scared,” Emily whispered, burying herself in Jax’s protective hold. “It’s okay doll,” he said, holding her. “Clay loves you more than his own life. He won’t do over-do it,” he promised, although he wasn’t sure that was the truth. “He looks really mad,” Emily said. Jax could feel her petite body shaking. “You need to make sure you never do this again,” Jax warned, knowing that what she already did was bad enough. “I won’t!” she promised. “Good girl,” he said, kissing the top of her head and releasing her from his hold. “Just don’t make him any more angry than he already is,” he said, knowing that Clay had a temper. He had been on the receiving end of it himself. He also knew that Emily was stubborn, just like him, and would make her point known no matter what. Emily nodded, taking a deep breath. “Just grit your teeth and get through it Em, and seriously, learn something from it,” he advised, leaving her room, closing the door, and sitting outside of it. He leaned up against the door, lit a cigarette, and took a drag. Clay came down the hallway still dressed from his run. Black boots, jeans, black t-shirt, SAMCRO leather cut, blue bandana, and holding a folded belt. “Find something else to do,” he spat at Jax. “Not a chance,” Jax responded. Clay stepped over-top of him, opened Emily’s door and closed it behind him. Sitting anxiously on the edge of her bed was his precious daughter. He had a temper, yes, and was still seething from what Gemma told him had really happened, but his rage came down a couple of notches when he stopped and looked at Emily. He thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Today she was dressed in dark jeans, a brown belt with flowers carved out of it, and a tight white long-sleeve, hooded shirt, her long blonde hair in a pony tail. “Dad…” Emily started. “Get in the corner,” Clay said harshly, pointing at an empty corner. Emily quickly got up and went to the corner, afraid to disobey. “What the Hell were you thinking?” he asked, following her to the corner. “I don’t know,” Emily choked, her Dad’s harsh tone bring tears to her eyes immediately. “That’s not what you said to your Mom last week when this all went down,” he said. “I’m sorry.” “I see you’ve had quite the change of heart. When I caught you with Johnny last month and tore your ass up, I thought you’d learned your lesson,” he lectured, getting so close behind Emily he was talking right into her right ear. “And then to tell your Mom that you can do what you want? I don’t think so baby.” “I didn’t mean it,” Emily whispered. “Yeah, you better not have. If you ever pull this shit again, I swear to God, I’ll pull you out of school and you’ll be watched 24/7 by one of my guys. This isn’t some junior-high game Emily, and you know that. You knowingly put this entire family at risk and I don’t like that,” he spat. A few minutes of silence passed. He let his last statement sink in as Emily cried softly, not daring to turn around and look at him. “This better be the last time we deal with this,” he warned. “It will,” Emily promised. “Turn around and look at me,” he demanded, still standing uncomfortably close to Emily, one of Clay’s best intimidation tactics. Emily turned around, pressing herself firmly into the corner, wishing she could sink right into it. “I’m sorry Daddy, please don’t,” she pleaded, looking at the belt in his hand, tears streaming down her face. “It’s a little too late for sorrys, don’t you think?” he asked rhetorically. “Get your pants and panties off and get over the bed,” he demanded, rubbing his sore arthritic hands together, annoyed that he now had to use them to punish his daughter. “Daddy,” she pleaded miserably. “Don’t make me do it for you,” he warned seriously. Emily slowly undid her belt and the button of her jeans and shakily pushed her jeans and panties down, quickly bending herself over the end of her bed. It took some effort, and once properly in place, her toes didn’t touch the floor. She felt totally vulnerable, and shivered as the cool air breathed on her bare bottom. Clay planted one hand firmly on the small of Emily’s back, his large hand covering most of it. He swung the belt with his other hand, the leather biting into Emily’s tender, pale flesh. She sucked in her breath, surprised by the initial sting. Clay didn’t waste any time in delivering the next stroke, even harder than the first. She tried to follow Jax’s advice and not make him madder but it was hard to stay still and quiet when the pain was so intense. Jax, still planted firmly outside of Emily’s door, winced with every bite of leather he heard. It took all of his self-control not to burst into the room and try to stop Clay. He knew that would only make things worse, and the last thing Emily needed to see was a fist fight between the two of them. It became especially hard when Emily started crying and whole-heartedly begging Clay to stop. As the belt continued to rip into Emily’s bottom and upper thighs, welts started to appear. Emily could hardly catch her breath from crying and screaming so loudly, and Clay was having a hard time holding her down. He stopped, and while still pressing down firmly on her upper back, leaned in close to her ear. “Now, do I have your full attention?” he asked. “Y…yes….sir,” she stammered, unable to control her deep sobs. “I love you. You’re my only daughter and the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me. If anything ever happened to you, especially something club-related, I don’t know if I could go on. Emily, you mean so much more to me than you know and I’m doing this for your own good. I NEED you to stay away from Johnny for reasons that you don’t understand. The Mayans are just as dangerous as SAMCRO and you don’t want to make them mad. They won’t think twice about coming after us and you, and I want you as far away from club business as possible. You have a bright future ahead of you Em, and I won’t let some guy get in the way of that. Do you understand why I’m so serious about this?” he asked. “Yeah,” she choked. “Good. I’m gonna finish here, and you’re going to apologize to your mother for being so disrespectful, then you’re going to sit down and have a nice meal with your family. Got it?” “You’re not done?” she cried, doubting that she could take any more. “Got it?” he repeated. “Yes sir,” she answered, afraid to argue. “Good.” Clay finished with 6 of the most painful lashes to Emily’s upper thighs that he had ever given her. She screamed the entire time, and when he finally put down the belt, she was shaking. He sat down on the bed next to her and rubbed her back. “I’m done baby, it’s over,” he said soothingly. “I’m sorry Daddy,” she cried convincingly. “I know sweetheart,” he said, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. Emily’s bottom was badly bruised and several welts had risen throughout her whipping. The last thing she wanted to do was sit through dinner, but she knew better than to disobey. “Get dressed and meet me in the hallway,” Clay said, picking up his belt and stepping out into the hallway. “Happy now?” Jax said sarcastically. “You know damn well that if you had pulled the same shit she did at that age, your old man would have done the same thing or worse, so get over it,” Clay said. A few minutes later, Emily appeared in the kitchen, followed by Clay and Jax. Gemma and Tara were finishing up the final preparations for dinner. Emily’s face reddened, realizing that Tara was down there and had heard at least part of her spanking. She fought her intense urge to turn around and run back up to her room, knowing that when Clay gave an order, he expected it to be followed. “Mom?” Emily said quietly, her red, tear-streaked face and swollen eyes looking at the floor and nowhere else. “Come here baby,” Gemma said, pulling Emily into a big hug. “I’m so sorry for last week, I shouldn’t have said anything I did, and I didn’t mean it,” she said. “I know,” she said, squeezing Emily tightly and letting go. “Now, let’s all put this behind us and sit down for a nice dinner,” Gemma said as Tara put the last dish on the table. “So does this mean I don’t have to be babysat anymore? Emily asked shyly. “Oh, no, that still stands,” Gemma said, giving her daughter a look that said that although her punishment was over, she wasn’t totally out of the woods. “Great,” Emily thought, wincing as she sat down. “How am I gonna figure out a way to see Johnny with someone watching me all the time?”

SAMCRO- Part 1

*based on Sons of Anarchy...I don't own it nor am I affiliated with it. “You son of a bitch, get your hands off my sister,” Jax Teller said, pointing his gun at the messenger, a 30-something year old Mexican wearing a Mayan cut, holding Jax’s fourteen year old sister Emily with one arm and pointing his own gun back at Jax. “Jax, help!” Emily cried, tears rolling down her face, and visibly shaking. “She’s FOURTEEN!” Jax yelled. “Listen to me, and nobody gets hurt. We found your slut of a sister making out with my brother in the back of the clubhouse. I’m not gonna hurt her…this time. Either she stays away from Johnny or your guys start dropping like flies. Got it?” “Jesus Christ, Em,” Jax said, pulling her out of the Mayan’s grip and pushing her behind him, through the door of the clubhouse. “It won’t happen again,” Jax assured him. “And if you ever call my sister a slut again, I’ll kill you,” he promised, shutting the door of the clubhouse and turning to face his sister. Emily Morrow stood in front of him, reflecting his own blonde hair and hazel eyes, kind and easy-going demeanor, and intense stubbornness. What she didn’t reflect was his bad-boy persona. She was a straight-A student who would rather spend her time reading than doing anything else. She didn’t want to grow up to be some biker’s old lady, and she couldn’t wait to turn eighteen and be out from under the thumb of her parents, Clay Morrow, president of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy, and Gemma Teller, his wife. This wasn’t because she didn’t love and respect them, it was because she didn’t love and respect the Sons. She hated the biker gang lifestyle and had always known that it wouldn’t be her future. Unfortunately, she was stuck right in the middle of it for the time being. “What the hell are you doing making out with Johnny, and at the MAYAN CLUBHOUSE?!” Jax demanded. “I really like him,” Emily choked, breaking down in tears. “Come here, sweetheart,” Jax said, pulling Emily into a hug. “It’s okay, you’re fine, nobody’s going to hurt you,” he said soothingly, stroking her hair. After a minute Emily calmed down and he released her, turning around to face a few Sons who came running when they heard the commotion. “Nobody breathes a word about this to Gemma, got it?” Jax warned, knowing she might very well kill Emily if she found out. “We’ve already told you twice to stay away from him” Jax said, turning back to Emily. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” “We like each other!” Emily exclaimed. “He’s the son of the Mayan’s president and you’re Clay’s daughter! You KNOW you can’t date him! Jesus Emily, when are you gonna learn that when it comes to club business, you DO AS YOU’RE TOLD?” he yelled. “We’re in love Jax!” she fired back. “Love? You’re fourteen! You don’t even know what love is! And if you are in love with him, you better get over it fast before one of these guys ends up dead….your FAMILY,” he stressed turning around and pointing to the guys standing, watching the situation unravel. “Which one should it be, huh? Opie? Piney? Tigs? What if they went after Tara instead? Is that what you want?” “No,” she whispered. She did love them all, they were her family. “That’s what I thought,” Jax said, pulling her in to lean on him. “But I love him,” she said, and started crying fresh tears. “Teenagers,” Tig mumbled, walking away. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Jax said, rubbing her arm. “Will you stay away from him? Promise me.” “I will, but I won’t be happy about it,” she grumbled. “That’s my girl,” he said. “And remember,” turning to the guys, “nobody tells Gemma and Clay anything about this.” They all nodded in agreement. Emily was like a daughter to half of them and a little sister to the other half. They lived to protect her and they all knew that the wrath of Gemma Teller could be a scary thing. “Too late,” Gemma said, walking into the room from the back. “Jax’s room, NOW,” she said, pointing at Emily. “Jax,” Emily whispered desperately to her brother, her eyes widening in fear. “Mom, let’s just talk about this,” Jax said, guessing that his little sister was in for a beating. “You stay out of this, Jackson” she snapped, grasping Emily tightly by her upper arm and marching her down the hallway and into Jax’s room. The Sons stood and watched the fading image of Gemma, a tall, thin woman in her early fifties wearing tight jeans, sexy heels, a black shirt and a leather jacket. Only one word could describe Gemma Teller: hot. Being dragged along with her, Emily, dressed much differently than her mother: black Capri tights, a flowing flowery tank top and a white cardigan, paired with delicate flip flops. Where Gemma wore a generous amount of make-up and had her dark hair highlighted and styled in a sexy half pony-tail, Emily wore none and her soft, light blonde hair was curled and held back with a black hair band. “Shit,” Jax mumbled, taking out a cigarette. As much as he wanted to protect Emily, he respected Gemma to the point that he wouldn’t interfere. He knew his mother wouldn’t endanger Emily in any way. She’d be spanked, just like he was growing up, and true, she did deserve it this time. He still hated to see her hurting. Gemma pushed Emily into Jax’s room and slammed the door. “Did they hurt you?” she asked. Emily shook her head. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” “I love him,” she said through her sobs. “God damn it Emily, I don’t care if you love him or not. Have you not lived through enough bloodshed to know what happens in situations like this? That brother of yours out there, who adores you so much…he’s the one this is all gonna come down on. Do you want that?!” “I’m sorry Mom, I don’t want anything to happen to anyone, especially not Jax, but what does it matter if I go out with Johnny? He doesn’t want to be in the club!” “Did you not learn anything from that whippin’ your Daddy gave you the last time you did this?” Emily looked at the floor. “Seriously Emily, this isn’t a joke. This is the kinda shit that gets our guys killed. Not to mention what they’d do to you. I refuse to let my only daughter get killed over some damn teenage love affair. After everything we’ve done to protect this family, you go and do something so stupid!” “I’m sorry, but I won’t stop seeing him,” Emily said. Very few people in this world are brave enough to stand up to Gemma Teller, and unfortunately for Emily, she’s one of them. Gemma stared at her daughter for a long minute, her eyes shooting daggers at Emily. If looks could kill, she’d be dead for sure. Gemma and Emily generally had a great relationship…until Emily did something that endangered her own life, or the life of her family, which she was doing now, and Gemma was determined to make sure Emily knew that this was a “my way or the highway” type of situation. Gemma stepped forward and slapped Emily across the face. Emily gasped, immediately bringing her right hand up to comfort her cheek, tears streaming down her face. “You listen to me little lady, and listen good,” Gemma said, pointing a finger at Emily and staring into her eyes. “You will do as I say, and that’s that. If you so much as look at that boy again, I’ll make your life a living Hell,” she threatened harshly. “ If I have to make you miserable to keep you alive, then that’s what I’ll do. I love you Em, and your safety is my number one priority. Dad, Jax and I know what’s best and you need to listen to us,” she explained, her tone much softer during the second half of her speech. Emily stared back at her mother for a couple minutes, breathing deeply and focusing on not crying. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions, and I’m choosing to go out with Johnny. You can’t do anything about it,” she countered bravely. “Is that right?” Gemma asked. “Yep,” Emily said back, matter-of-factly, shaking only slightly. She had never disobeyed her mother so blatantly before. “I’m gonna show you just how wrong you are,” Gemma said, grabbing Emily and dragging her easily out of Jax’s room and into the main area where everyone was still standing around awkwardly, waiting to make sure Gemma and Emily both came out in one piece. “Hey guys, I want everyone’s attention here, now,” Gemma demanded, standing in the middle of the room, still holding onto Emily who was, at this point, shaken and not sure what her mother was going to do. “My lovely daughter here says she’s old enough to make her own decisions and she’s going to keep seeing Johnny, who, for those of you who didn’t know, is the son of the president of the Mayans. Now, who’s wearing a belt?” she said, looking around the room. “Ope, give me your belt, we have an issue of disobedience to deal with here,” she said. Realizing what was about to happen, Jax stepped forward, gently putting his hand on Gemma’s shoulder. “Mom, don’t do this here. Take Emily home,” he begged. “This has become a club issue, and we’re dealing with this right here, right now,” Gemma said, stepping away from Jax. “Jesus,” Jax said, shaking his head and turning away. “Opie, NOW,” Gemma ordered. Opie looked around awkwardly and reluctantly undid the SAMCRO buckle of his old leather belt and slowly slid it through the loops of his jeans. He held it out to Gemma, who stepped forward, still gripping Emily’s arm, and took it from him. “Thanks,” she said sweetly. Meanwhile, a shaken Emily, who now had a visible red mark forming on her cheek where her mother had slapped her for the first time in her life, started to realize what Gemma was planning. “I’m sorry Mom, I’m sorry, okay? I won’t go out with him, I promise!” she said desperately. “Too late sweetheart,” she said. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell these guys…your family what you just said to me, huh?” she suggested. In response, Emily covered her face and started crying. “She says that she’s old enough to make her own decisions and that she’s going out with Johnny and there’s nothing I can do about it,” she said. “Shit, Emily!” Jax said, sitting down and burying his face in his hands. He knew it was all over now. “I want a patch on her 24/7. I don’t care who, you guys work it out. She goes nowhere near this guy, got it?” Gemma demanded. They all nodded, most looking away or at the floor. They all knew the consequences of Emily and Johnny hanging out together, and they pretty much spelled death to someone. “No, Mom!” “Excuse me?” Gemma asked, raising her eyebrows. “That’s so embarrassing, I don’t need a babysitter!” “Obviously you do! I’ve told you to stay away from this guy so many times, and you promised you would. I don’t think for a second that you’ll stay away from him. This matter isn’t up for discussion, you’ve lost that luxury.” “I’m sorry, I swear I won’t go anywhere near him, I SWEAR! Please don’t do this to me!” Emily begged, her face red both from crying and from absolute humiliation. “You had the choice to either learn this lesson the easy way or the hard way…you chose the hard way. If you go near that boy EVER again, I promise you, this will seem like paradise,” Gemma promised, pulling Emily toward a table in the center of the room. “No, Mom, pleeeaaassseeee! I’m sorry, I’m SO sorry!” Emily pleaded as she was dragged along to the table. “I want you to look at every single one of these guys and tell them you’re sorry for putting their lives in danger,” Gemma demanded, turning Emily around to face the group once again. “I’m sorry!” Emily cried through her deep sobs. The guys nodded and looked at the ground. “Mommy, I’m sorry! Please, please don’t do this!” she begged. “Sorry sister, you’ve earned this one,” she said unsympathetically, turning her daughter around and bending her over the pool table. “Prospects, come hold her,” she ordered. The two prospects reluctantly approached the table. They both gently held Emily down, one of them also taking her hand and squeezing it tightly in support, the other whispering “Sorry honey,” in her ear, rubbing her back for a second. Everyone in the room was deadly silent. All that could be heard was Jax slam the door as he left the clubhouse, the belt buckle rattle as Gemma folded it in half, and Emily crying and pleading with her mother not to do this. Gemma approached Emily, hooked her fingers in Emily’s black tights, and pulled them, along with her light blue panties, down in one swift movement. This elicited a desperate and panicked “noooo!” from Emily. “The next time you even think about going near that boy, you can think about this and I promise you, it’ll happen again and again until you get it through your head to stay away from him. Got it?” Gemma said, pressing down on Emily’s back with her left hand. “I won’t! I promise! Don’t do this!” Emily cried, breathlessly. “You better not,” Gemma warned. Without further conversation, she pressed firmly down on Emily’s back and, with her right hand, whipped Emily with Opie’s belt. The first lash took Emily off guard. The belt burned searing pain into her tender, pale, perfectly rounded petite bottom, a welt raising immediately. Gemma definitely wasn’t holding back. She started at the top of Emily’s bottom and worked her way down to Emily’s upper thighs. That amounted in 6 lashes, and by this point, the prospects were struggling to hold Emily in place. She was wriggling from side to side trying in vain to avoid the punishing leather of the belt, while sobbing and begging her mother to stop. Gemma wasn’t as heartless as she seemed. She was scared to death that something bad would happen to her family as a result of Emily seeing Johnny and was determined to be as scary as she had to be to avoid that. Her main goal here was to scare Emily, not hurt her badly. She knew her husband would take care of that when he got home. She already knew that this wasn’t going to be a long and drawn out belting. She was making a point and embarrassing Emily to the point of making the punishment seem a lot more severe than it actually was, and paired with some intense, but short-lived pain, she didn’t think Emily would be seeing Johnny any time in the future. She repeated the process from the beginning once more, delivering a total of 12 lashes. Emily’s bottom was deep red with a few welts and a bit of bruising coming to the surface. It would be cleared up within a couple of days, and she had certainly felt worse. But the humiliation of everyone watching, and seeing her bare bottom, was so intense that Gemma could have given her 2 smacks and she’d be just as hysterical. “Opie,” Gemma said, holding out his belt. He took it from her, and crossed his arms, looking at the ground. Gemma went to Emily, quickly pulled up her tights, nodded to the prospects, who released her and stepped away, and helped Emily stand up. Emily’s hands immediately started rubbing her bottom furiously as she stared at the ground, mortified. Gemma lifted Emily’s chin with her finger and thumb to force her to look into her eyes. Reluctantly, a red-faced, swollen-eyed Emily looked at her mother as she knew she was expected to. “You WILL do as I say. Got it?” Gemma demanded. Emily nodded her head yes, completely defeated. “Good. Clay will finish this when he gets home.” This promise caused fresh tears to form in Emily’s eyes, and a slight shake to wave through her body. “I’m sorry Mommy,” Emily whispered, sniffling. “I love you baby,” Gemma said, pulling Emily close and holding her for a minute before letting go. “I have some work to finish up, I want you to wait in Jax’s room until I’m done, and then we’ll go home and talk.” Emily nodded and quickly left down the hallway, disappearing into her brother’s room to cry out her pain and embarrassment. “Who’s on her?” Gemma demanded. “I’ve got it!” one of the prospects said, jogging down the hall and sitting outside of Jax’s room, making sure Emily didn’t go anywhere. “Alright…show’s over,” Gemma said, dismissing everyone, and heading towards the office.

Addie and Alexis- Part 6

“Do you have the green crayon?” Alexis asked her older sister, who was kindly sitting cross-legged on the floor coloring with her.

“Yeah…do you want it?” Addie asked without looking up from her picture.

“Yeah, I need it for my trees.”

“Okay, just a sec, I’m almost finished with it,” Addie said, filling in a grassy area.

“Kay.”

Addie finished coloring the grass and looked up, handing the crayon to Alexis.

“What IS that?” Alexis asked laughing, pointing at some sort of animal Addie had drawn.

“Um…obviously it’s a squirrel!”

“THAT’S a squirrel???” Alexis laughed.

“Okay, okay. I told you I suck at drawing!” Addie exclaimed jokingly, and then wrote the word squirrel with an arrow pointing to the animal, which made Alexis laugh harder. “Wait a minute…what’s THAT?” Addie asked, pointing at an unidentifiable creature on Alexis’s page. Alexis gave her an over-dramatic shocked look.

“It’s a bird!!

“Huh. Doesn’t really look like a bird to me,” Addie retorted, smiling.

“Fine!” Alexis exclaimed, and wrote the word bird with an arrow pointing to it on her page. “Better?” she asked, and they both burst out laughing. Between their laughter and the Justin Beiber music coming from the CD player (compliments of Alexis, who did NOT, for the record, have a crush on him), neither of them heard their mother come home from work and both jumped when she appeared in the doorway of the living room wanting to know what was so funny.

“That’s a squirrel??” Téa asked, mirroring Alexis’s earlier reaction.

“Seriously…I get the point, I suck,” Addie said, pretending to be sad.

“Did you guys have a good day?” Téa asked, sitting down on the ottoman closest to where the girls were sitting, and reaching out to smooth Addie’s hair affectionately.

Addie said she did, and chattered a bit about something that happened at soccer practice. Alexis became unusually quiet, and went back to her coloring.

“What about you Alexis, did you have a good day?” Téa asked curiously.

“It was okay,” Alexis answered without looking up.

“Mmm hmm, and did anything happen today that you’d like to tell me about?” Téa asked pointedly. Addie immediately knew that Alexis was in trouble. That was the type of question that suggested so, and she also knew that it would be in Alexis’s best interest to tell their mother exactly what happened before she wound up in more trouble. Alexis, on the other hand, wasn’t as experienced with this sort of thing, and would continue to deny that anything had happened until Téa made it obviously that she knew something.

“No, it was just a normal day,” Alexis said, still not looking up from her picture.

“That’s not what Miss Smith said when she called me at work this afternoon,” Téa said, sounding less than impressed.

“She called you?!” Alexis exclaimed, looking up, slightly panicked.

“Yes, she did. So I’m going to ask you again. Did anything happen at school that you’d like to tell me about?”

“Well…I guess so,” Alexis said.

“Go ahead then,” Téa prodded, leaning in, resting her elbows on her knees to be closer to Alexis’s level.

“Well…me and Robin were talking, and Miss Smith asked us to stop. So we did for a little while, but then we started again,” Alexis said nervously.

“And then what happened?”

“Um..I said “yeah whatever” and rolled my eyes, and she sent me to the principal’s office. I had to write lines at recess,” she finished quietly.

“You know how I feel about your behavior at school young lady, and I don’t like being called in the middle of the day to be told that my sweet daughter has been extremely rude to her teacher and had to be sent to the principal’s office. I expect you to be polite to everyone, and you certainly know better than to talk during class, especially after you’ve been asked to stop. You were very disrespectful Alexis, and I want you to write Miss Smith a letter apologizing for how you acted today,” Téa lectured.

“But everyone laughed, my friends thought it was funny!” Alexis exclaimed. Addie rolled her eyes, annoyed. Alexis had turned nine a couple of months earlier and not long after that she had developed quite an attitude, and would say anything if she thought it would be funny. She was a sweet and kind girl, and truly was Addie’s best friend in the world, but she wasn’t loving Alexis’s new and constant attention-seeking behavior. A few too many adults had been laughing at Alexis’s smart comments and telling her how cute she was, and things were starting to go too far. Addie knew that she would never get away with half of what Alexis did. But she remained silent.

“I’ll bet they did, but your teacher and principal didn’t think it was funny, and I most certainly don’t find it funny at all. I’m very disappointed that you acted like that, you know better,” Téa said seriously.

“Okay, sorry Mom,” Alexis said quietly, knowing that she would always be overruled by the opinion of her mother.

“Okay, I want you to go to your room and work on your letter until dinner’s ready, and you’re grounded for the weekend,” Téa said.

“The weekend?” Alexis exclaimed, standing up. “No, I can’t be! What about the movie? Addie’s taking me to see Eclipse!”

“I’m sorry Alexis, you’ll have to see the movie another time.”

“No! I’ve been waiting for…ever! I HAVE to see it tomorrow! Addie already bought the tickets!” Alexis cried, looking to Addie for help.

“I did buy the tickets already,” Addie offered.

“Well then Addie will have to go to the movie with one of her friends because you’re not going Alexis, and that’s final. Now go to your room,” Téa ordered more firmly, sensing a tantrum.

“No! MOM! That’s not fair! You HAVE to let me go!” Alexis raged. She had been looking forward to going to see Eclipse for the entire week. She always loved it when Addie took her places, thinking her older sister was so cool, and being with her made Alexis feel like she was cool too.

Téa approached Alexis and kneeled down, gently grasping her arm.

“Listen to me Alexis. Your behavior today was unacceptable, and you’re being punished. I won’t change my mind, and unless you want a spanking I suggest you do as you’re told and go to your room right now,” she said quietly and seriously. Alexis yanked her arm free, stomped her foot, let out a loud growly sound of anger and frustration and stomped out of the room.

Téa ran her hand through her hair, stifling her anger. She stood up and turned to Addie apologetically.

“I’m sorry sweetie,” she said.

“It’s okay. I feel bad though, should I wait and see the movie when Alexis can go?”

“Aww that’s sweet, but you already have tickets. You shouldn’t have to suffer because Lex is in trouble honey. Besides, you could always see it twice,” Téa said putting her arm around Addie and hugging her close.

“I’ll go call Bailey then, she wants to see it too!” Addie exclaimed, and skipped into the kitchen to find the phone. Téa started to follow Addie into the kitchen to start dinner but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a loud crash coming from upstairs. Téa angrily rolled her eyes and shook her head, quickly running up the stairs. She stopped first at Alexis’s room. The door was open but the room was empty. Confused, she turned and continued down the hall. Addie’s room was empty too. The office? She crossed the hall and poked her head into her office. Also empty. That left either the bathroom or her own bedroom.

She continued down the hall and stopped at her room, letting out a loud gasp when she saw what was inside. A large glass vase was in pieces on the floor, and Alexis had a simple pearl necklace in her hands and was about to pull it at each end, which would send pearls flying.

“ALEXIS!” Téa snapped, unable to control her anger. Alexis turned to see her mother standing in the doorway looking absolutely furious. She had planned to do this without getting caught, and as her plan quickly fell apart she immediately realized that she was in big trouble. She took a step backwards right onto a shard of glass, and cried out, lifting her foot up.

“Don’t move,” Téa said calmly, her anger being replaced by concern as she realized that Alexis was surrounded by glass. As she quickly grabbed a pair of shoes and slipped them on, Alexis started to cry.

“It’s okay sweetie, just stay calm. Don’t move or you might cut yourself again,” Téa said, carefully walking over the glass and picking Alexis up. Alexis latched onto her mother and cried into her shoulder as Téa carried her out of the room and down the hall into the bathroom, setting her down on the countertop.

“Okay, let’s check out the damage,” Téa said, kneeling down to look at Alexis’s foot.

“Mommyyyy it hurts!!” Alexis sobbed.

“I know baby, it’s okay, I think I can fix it,” Téa said, smiling at Alexis. “Alright. This might hurt just a little,” she said as she quickly pulled the chunk of glass out, discovering that the damage pretty much just amounted to a semi-deep scratch. Alexis sucked in her breath as her crying started to stop and her breathing return to normal.

“Ow ow ow ow” Alexis whined as Téa quickly put a dab of polysporin and a bandaid on the bottom of Alexis’s foot, and then stood up.

“Okay?” Téa asked, kissing Alexis’s forehead and rubbing her back. Alexis nodded her head yes.

“Good,” Téa said as she lifted Alexis down off the counter, setting her on her feet. “Because you are in SO much trouble!”

Téa landed two firm spanks in the middle of Alexis’ denim-covered bottom and gently pushed her out the door and lead her across the hallway into her office. She took hold of Alexis’s upper arm and walked her to the corner. It all happened so fast that Alexis didn’t have a chance to protest, except to loudly express a snotty “OW!” in response to the spanks.

“I want you to listen to me very carefully Alexis because I’m very angry with you, and I’m very serious. You’re in time-out until I come back to talk to you because what you did was very, very bad and I need some time to calm down. I want you to turn around and face the corner, and think about what you did. Do you understand me?” Téa said slowly.

“But Mommm! Who cares that I said fine whatever? It’s not like I swore or anything! This is stupid, and so not fair,” Alexis said, her voice dripping with sass.

“I love you to pieces Alexis, but I don’t like you very much right now. You better lose the attitude by the time I get back or you’ll be in one pile of trouble. Turn around, NOW,” she said sternly, and held her breath as Alexis rolled her eyes and turned to face the corner.

Téa swallowed her frustration with Alexis and went over to her desk. She opened the bottom drawer, took out the oval, thin wooden hairbrush that had thus far been reserved for her older daughter, and slammed it down ontop of her desk. Alexis jumped and turned around, and when it clicked that the hairbrush was being taken out because her Mom was going to spank her with it, she started to realize that she had gone too far.

“Mommy, I’m sorryyyy!! Please don’t!” Alexis pleaded quietly, tears building beneath her eyelids.

“Alexis, I told you to turn around and face the corner,” Téa said, looking at Alexis expectantly and motioning for her to turn back around.

“But Mom…..” Alexis whined desperately.

“Now!” Téa exclaimed, and Alexis finally obeyed. Téa was only planning to use the hairbrush to get Alexis’s attention. Only a few well-placed swats would be necessary, and she was sure Alexis wouldn’t soon forget it. She then left the room, and went down to start dinner.

After she had everything put together and in the oven she poked her head into the living room where Addie was sprawled out on the couch chatting on the phone.

“Ad,” Téa called from the doorway, not wanting to interrupt.

“Just a sec,” Addie said into the phone. “Yeah?”

“I just put dinner in the oven. Can you take it out in 45 minutes if I’m not down?”

“Yep, sure,” Addie said.

“Thanks sweetie,” she said, and turned to go upstairs. She was still quite angry with Alexis, and also a little surprised by her behavior. Although Alexis frequently had major attitude problems at home, she never acted poorly at school. Her teachers have always praised Téa for raising such a well-mannered, polite and sweet daughter. She always did her best to never punish her kids when she was still angry but Alexis was only 9, and couldn’t be expected to stand up there alone in the corner for hours. This was after all her own fault for letting Alexis away with too much. She couldn’t help it. Alexis was her youngest daughter and the cutest kid in her class. But Téa was a little biased. She resolved to stop giving Alexis everything she wants and, more importantly, to stop bending to meet Alexis’ mood and temper. This would only be her little girl’s third real spanking ever and Téa was more angry than she had ever been with her.

She walked down the upstairs hallway with an even pace knowing that little Alexis would be able to hear her steps and hopefully feel a little fear. She stepped inside her office to find Alexis lounging in an overstuffed leather chair in the corner of the room. Téa stopped dead in her tracks, feeling her blood pressure raise slightly.

“What do you think you’re doing young lady?” she asked, not at all impressed.

“What??” Alexis asked, acting like she didn’t know what her mother was talking about.

“I told you to stand with your nose in that corner,” she said, pointing to the corner and approaching Alexis, “and think about what you did to end up there.”

“I did!” she exclaimed.

“You were supposed to STAY there!” she emphasized.

“Well I didn’t know that, you just told me I was in time out, you didn’t say for how long I had to stand there!” Alexis sassed.

“I want you to pay very close attention to what I’m going to say right now. I am sick and tired of you pretending not to know things and thinking it’s cute. You may fool other people Alexis, but you’re not fooling me. I know that you know exactly what I meant when I told you to stand in the corner, am I right?” she asked, drilling holes into Alexis with her furious eyes.

“No! You never said!” Alexis yelled back, her voice thick with attitude.

“Don’t…..yell….at me.” Téa said slowly, fighting herself to stay calm. “And don’t ever lie to me again. Did you know that I meant for you to stay in the corner until I came back?” she asked more slowly. By now Alexis was growing slightly nervous at the fact that her mother hadn’t relented, laughed, and told her she was cute or silly for misunderstanding, like she normally did. She just stared, causing Alexis to squirm a little, and pick at a loose thread on her sleeve. She eventually hung her head and nodded yes.

“Yes. That’s what I thought. Look at me when I’m speaking to you please,” she said, lifting Alexis’ chin with her fingers and thumb. “You’re 9 years old Alexis, not 6. I’m finished letting you run this house. I’m not going to buy you a Kit-Kat bar just to keep you happy when we have to run an errand anymore. I’m not going to buy you a magazine to stop you from pouting and complaining when we have to pick Addie up from her dance class, and I’m not taking you to McDonalds after school when I already have dinner in the oven just because you demand it because you’re 9 years old…almost 10 actually, and you’ve been acting very immature lately throwing tantrums and being snotty and rude when you have to do something you don’t want to. From now on there will be consequences for behavior like that, do you understand me?”

Alexis didn’t like what she was hearing one bit, but she nodded anyways. Her mother almost always gave her what she wanted if she put up a big enough fuss and it was clear that those days were over because she knew her mother also never made empty threats.

“Good. Now, I want you back in that corner right now, young lady” she ordered. Alexis sighed dramatically and slowly got out of her chair and returned to the corner. She crossed her arms, shifted her weight, and sighed again, obviously annoyed with the proceedings.

“Stop being such a drama queen Alexis, it’s getting really old,” Téa lectured.

“I’m NOT!” Alexis retorted.

“Alright, that’s enough. You’re obviously not getting the point here….”

“I DO get it!” Alexis interrupted, turning around. “But I don’t WANT a spanking!!!” she whined.

“And you think that by arguing with me and being rude you’ll avoid a spanking?” Téa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeassssseeee???” Alexis begged, smiling sweetly.

“Enough,” Téa snapped, reaching out and grasping Alexis’ arm and pulling her over to the chair that had been placed in the middle of the room. Sitting down, she pulled Alexis over her lap and held her there firmly with one arm while the other went to work stinging Alexis’ bottom quickly and with purpose.

“Ow! Let go of me!!!!” Alexis yelled, fighting with every ounce of her small being to free herself.

“The more you fight with me, the more this is going to hurt,” Téa warned.

“Noooo!” Alexis cried, struggling harder. In response, Téa tightened her grip and continued spanking Alexis quickly and firmly. She continued until Alexis started to cry and consequently weakened her fighting. She took this opportunity to tug Alexis’ jeans down to her knees, taking her white flowery panties with them. This all happened so fast that Alexis didn’t have a chance to stop her. At 9 years old she was still quite small for her age and was easily lifted, moved around, and held in place by her mother. Téa then maneuvered Alexis so that both of her legs were pinned between Téa’s, and her ability to move was completely taken away from her.

“Mom!! No!” Alexis cried. “I’ll be good!!”

“Mmm hmm, I certainly hope that after this performance you will start being good,” Téa responded, accompanying her words with firm spanks to Alexis’ right cheek, then left. She spanked Alexis quite vigorously, forgetting for a few minutes that she was dealing with Alexis, not Addie, and although she thought she might be using a bit too much force, she was really angry with Alexis and didn’t think she should be let off lightly just because she was younger.

After a few minutes of Téa silently spanking Alexis in a firm, methodical way, and Alexis trying to be stoic and prove to her mother that she wasn’t bothered by what was happening, she finally couldn’t take it anymore and started sobbing and promising to be good forever and ever no matter what. Téa let her go on like this for a little while before stopping and standing Alexis up. Her bottom had been bright red for a while now, so it was nearly time to stop anyways. She held Alexis in front of her with her panties twisted around her knees and let her cry for a moment, hopping from foot to foot to alleviate some of the pain that she so badly wanted to rub away.

“Now that I have your full attention, I’d like you to tell me why you’re being punished please” Téa said, looking Alexis directly in the eyes.

“Because I got in trouble at school” Alexis blubbered.

“No. Alexis, calm down and listen to me. You’re not being spanked right now because you got into trouble at school. I grounded you for the weekend for getting in trouble at school. You’re getting this spanking because you threw a tantrum and broke my vase. I understand that you were angry and didn’t like hearing that you can’t go to the movie this weekend, but being rude, stomping your foot, and breaking things is not how we express our anger in this house. We speak to each other civilly and accept the consequences of our actions. Do you understand that?”

Alexis sniffled and nodded her head that she understood.

“Good. I don’t ever want to see that kind of behavior from you again,” she warned. “And to make sure you fully understand what will happen to you the next time you act like you did today, I think it’s time you felt the hairbrush.” She said, pulling Alexis once more over her lap and securing her in place with her knees. “Give me your hand please, I don’t want to accidentally nip it with the brush,” she said, reaching out and grasping Alexis’ hand and pinning it at the small of her back.

Téa picked up the shiny, mahogany oval hairbrush and tapped it lightly on Alexis’ bottom. Alexis jumped at its touch, and whimpered slightly.

“I want you to repeat after me Alexis….I’m being spanked because I threw a tantrum…” Téa started, speaking gently.

“I’m….being..spanked..because I threw a…tantrum,” Alexis repeated shakily.

“And because I broke my Mom’s favourite vase on purpose because I was mad,” Téa said, and Alexis repeated it slowly, and with a slight cry of anticipation, with tears now falling onto the carpet.

“Good girl,” Téa said, lifting the hairbrush off of Alexis’ bare red bottom and brought it back down with stinging force, leaving a hairbrush-shaped imprint on Alexis’ little bottom, and eliciting a high-pitched cry. Téa delivered a second forceful spank to her bottom, and then a third and fourth.

“Mommmmyyyyyyyy!!! Pleaseeee stoppp!” Alexis cried, trying to twist herself in any direction she could, which was nearly impossible.

“You’re 9 years old, so you’ll be getting 9 spanks,” Téa explained calmly.

“Noooo, it…it…it…hurtssssssssssssss!” Alexis wailed.

“It does, doesn’t it? Just remember that it’ll hurt much more next time, I’ll make sure of that. So remember what I said about being rude and throwing tantrums when you don’t get what you want,” Téa lectured gently.

She delivered the next five spanks slowly, giving Alexis ample time to think about what was happening and why, and by the time she finished, Alexis was a sobbing little girl who was struggling to catch her breath.

“I’m all finished sweetheart,” Téa said, reaching down to tuck Alexis’ fallen hair behind her ear and softly smoothing it.

“It hurtssss” Alexis repeated, crying.

“I know,” Téa said, rubbing Alexis’ back calmingly.

After a couple of minutes, she helped Alexis up, pulled her panties back up, which made Alexis cry harder for a moment, and led her back to her corner.

“I want you to stand here and think about what you did. I’ll come back and get you when dinner’s ready,” Téa said.

Alexis crossed her arms somewhat angrily, stomped her foot slightly, and let out an annoyed heavy breath.

“So help me Alexis, if you don’t lose that attitude by the time I come back, we’re starting all over again,” she said, firmly slapping Alexis’ bottom twice.

“Ow!! Sorry!” Alexis cried, covering her bottom with her hands.

“I’m serious. I’m sick of this, and I’m not putting up with it anymore,” she said, spanking Alexis twice more. She turned and left her office, stopping outside the door to run her hand through her hair and gently massage her head…it was starting to ache, and she had a feeling that Alexis wasn’t going to be quite as easy to deal with in adolescence as Addie had been.

Brothers and Sisters- Part 1

“Oh my gosh….your brother is so hot!” Ashley gushed quietly as Cara’s older brother Jamie walked past the front desk with a smile and a nod towards them on his way from the back storage building up to the office he shared with his assistant Lauren.

Cara acknowledged the fact that Jamie was often the subject of her friends’ obsessions. Why not? He was a museum curator with a master’s degree in history, and a carpenter by trade. Could there be a more attractive combination to a girl? He was tall, strongly built, and dressed the part very well. On this particular day he must have been meeting with someone important because he paired a spiffy black blazer with his usual semi-loose fitting darkish jeans and standard museum t-shirt. He was bald by choice, quite pale, yet with a healthy tan, had one pierced ear and a round, happy, smiling face.

One major perk of having a museum curator for a brother was the guarantee of a part-time job. Cara was currently stationed as a floater between the front desk and gift shop with Ashley, a fellow university student who she met when they were both scheduled to work the same shift in the gift shop. They quickly became good friends, and along with that came Ashley’s unrelenting crush on Cara’s brother.

Eighteen years separated Jamie and Cara, and when their parents were killed in a tragic car accident eight years ago, Jamie jumped in and insisted 10 year old Cara move in with him and his wife Candace. Cara was eighteen years old now, and a history student at the university located in their city, with plans of following in her brother’s footsteps and eventually securing a professional job in a museum. She was given the choice to live at home or move out and live on campus, but she chose to stay at home. Although she was an adult she didn’t feel quite ready to move out and adored her brother and his wife. They didn’t have any kids yet and in many ways, Cara had become more like their daughter. She loved them and their home and wouldn’t have chosen to live any other way, despite the fact that Jamie and Candace’s method of discipline wasn’t exactly something Cara liked. But she respected them and their rules. If she chose to break one, it was her own fault….usually. She had argued that she was too old to be subject to their discipline, but that was no use.

“Stop,” Cara said to Ashley, rolling her eyes. She didn’t need to hear yet another analysis of her brother’s good looks, sense of humor, and personality. “Wanna go to the movies tomorrow?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Sure…let’s go for sushi too.”

“Deal,” Cara said smiling.

“Oh hey, it’s 5! We can cash out,” Ashley said enthusiastically. They had been anxiously awaiting closing time for hours. They didn’t have a customer all afternoon and had been getting more and more bored and restless.

“Oh thank goodness,” Cara said, standing up and moving over to her place at the cash register. As she and Ashley started counting their registers, the phone rang.

“Hello?” Ashley asked, noticing by the ring that it was an internal call. “Yep, just a sec,” she said handing the phone to Cara. “It’s your brother.”

“Hi,” Cara said into the phone.

“Can you stop by my office before you leave?” Jamie asked.

“Sure, I’ll be up in a few minutes,” she said. She and Jamie usually travel separately because their hours differ quite a bit from day to day.

The girls finished cashing out, gathered their bags, locked the doors, and headed upstairs to the accountant’s office. They put their floats into the drawer, locked it, and continued down the hall toward Jamie and Lauren’s office.

“See ya tomorrow?” Ashley asked as they approached Jamie’s door.
“Yeah, think about what movie you wanna see”

“K. Bye!”

“See ya,” Cara said, turning the knob to Jamie’s office. Ashley continued down the hallway and down the back staircase.

“Hi Cara!” Lauren said cheerfully. Cara had always liked Lauren. She wasn’t all that much older…only eight years actually. She had long, natural red hair, and was the most down-to-earth person Cara had ever met. Very simple and direct, yet very friendly and fun to be around.

“Hey Lauren,” Cara replied. As she entered Lauren left, a pile of papers to be photocopied in her hand.

“Close the door Cara,” Jamie said, spinning in his chair back around to face his desk, and Cara, who closed the door and turned back to face her brother.

“What’s up?” she asked, casually, and a little impatiently. She was anxious to get home and out to meet a friend with dinner.

“Do you have plans tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah, Katie and I are going out for dinner.”

“I’d like you to cancel please, Candace and I need to talk to you about something.”

“Well…talk to me now. What?”

“We’ll talk about it when I get home. I want you to go straight home and stay there please.” Jamie said seriously.

“Is something wrong?” Cara asked, sifting through her recent memories for a clue.

“We’ll talk about it when I get home,” he repeated a bit more slowly.

“Jamie….” Cara protested.

“Cara….” He warned.

“Okay. I’ll stay home,” she sighed, turning and leaving his office. She racked her brain about what he could possibly want and couldn’t come up with anything. It was probably nothing, she convinced herself as she hopped in her 2009 Chevy Malibu and started home.

Candace wasn’t home yet either, so Cara was totally lost. It was probably nothing. Nine times out of ten she knew when she had done something she wasn’t allowed to, and was never surprised when she was called on it. This worried her- maybe it meant that she wasn’t in trouble after all, maybe something was seriously wrong. Maybe someone was sick, or someone had died. No. Jamie would have just told her. He wasn’t into game-playing, and if there was something serious to say he would have just said it.

She went into the kitchen, flipped on the light and started cutting a banana and some strawberries into a bowl of plain yogurt. She didn’t get very far before Candace came home, and seeing the kitchen light on, went right in.

“Hey Cara,” Candace said in her usual soft-spoken, friendly voice.

“Hey” Cara responded, turning around from the counter. “What’s going on, why did Jamie want me to stay home?”

“We’ll talk about it when he gets home,” she answered. She had a way of being strict without actually being strict, in her diplomatic way. She owns her own event coordinating business and Cara once followed her around and helped her gather up all of the calculators from different office areas around her building because Candace had made several lighthearted suggestions that her employees were using calculators to avoid using the new computer system the way it was supposed to be used, and when they didn’t make an effort to change, Candace cut them off at the source. This was how Candace was. She gave people a lot of leeway until she hit a wall, then she made it impossible for them to disobey her any further. She was like this with Cara as well.

“Okay but what’s wrong. Did someone die or something, you guys are freaking me out.” Cara pushed.

“You have no idea what this is about?” Candace asked, a little surprised.

“No!” Cara exclaimed, frustrated.

“You called me this morning to look in your backpack to see if your wallet was in it.” Candace offered.

“Yeah…” Cara said, baffled.

“Cara, your wallet wasn’t the only thing I found in your bag,” she said, and left the room with an armful of books that needed to be moved into the other room.

“What?” she called behind Candace, confused. When Candace didn’t turn around, Cara went back to her bowl of yogurt, went into the living room, sat down on the couch and picked up the newspaper that was sitting on the coffee table. She looked over the front page while deep in thought about her backpack. Mid-bite, it hit her. How could she be so stupid and careless?

Jamie and Candace had a few rules. Not many, but a few. Among the most important regarded underage drinking. Jamie and Cara’s parents had been killed by a teenager who was drinking and driving, and because of this, Jamie had very strict rules about alcohol. Ever since Cara had started university, they had stretched this rule a little. Over summer break, Cara was allowed to have a couple of drinks with her friends on the weekend if she wanted to. Jamie felt that forbidding her from doing something that everyone around her from doing would completely fail, so he agreed that as long as she didn’t drink at all during the school year, he would allow her a glass of wine or two during the summer. This wasn’t a rule that Cara followed, but Jamie and Candace didn’t know this. She was very careful, and didn’t drink much, or frequently. She might have a drink or two on the weekends at a friend’s house. The problem was that she did this throughout the school year as well, which was strictly forbidden. The problem today: an older and of age friend had picked up a bottle of rum for her a couple days ago and she had thrown it into her backpack and forgotten about it, and then had indeed called Candace and asked her look through her bag because her wallet was missing.

“Ohh no,” she said to herself quietly. “What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do….” She repeated to herself under her breath while searching her brain for some sort of excuse that would be believable.

She was on the verge of panicking when Jamie came through the front door, his museum nametag still clipped to his blazer, briefcase in hand. Cara got up off the couch and hurried into the hallway.

“Jamie, I can explain,” she started. He looked at her with a serious/angry expression that almost never crossed his face. When Cara saw this, her breath caught and she couldn’t bring herself to continue.

“I’m only going to say this once Cara. I don’t want to hear a single lie come out of your mouth, so you better think long and hard before you finish that sentence,” he warned, walking past her and into the kitchen, gently setting his briefcase on the kitchen table. “So? Can you explain?” he called from the kitchen when she didn’t continue. She stayed firmly planted in the hallway.

“Not…really.” Cara said quietly, knowing there was no way out of this. She wouldn’t lie to her brother’s face. That would land her in more trouble than she could imagine.

“Well…” he said coming out into the hallway, “you better try, because I want some answers here young lady.”

Cara looked up and into the mirror on the wall across from where she was standing in the hallway. Looking back at her was a petite, blonde-haired young adult wearing cute black ballet flats, dark denim jeans, a white long-sleeve shirt and a thin, black flowy vest. Her hair was kinked and half of it was pinned back by a little black clip and her museum nametag was clipped to her vest. She looked like a professional adult and could hardly believe that that same person she was looking at in the mirror was being spoken to and disciplined like a little child.

She remained silent. She crossed her arms and leaned her side against the wall.

“Candace!” Jamie called. Within seconds Candace was coming out of the den, her long black curls bouncing along with her.

“Hi,” she said smiling.

“Hey baby,” he said, pulling her in for a quick kiss. Cara stared at them, a little annoyed and very concerned.

“So you asked Candace to look for your wallet and she found a bottle of rum,” Jamie said, cutting right to the chase.

“Yep,” Cara said, not knowing where else to go with it.

“Tell us about the alcohol. Who’s is it?”

“Jamie, please…” Cara started, in attempt to whine her way out of this.

“Who’s is it?” he asked slowly, giving Cara “the look.”

“Mine,” she said, looking at the ground and picking at her sleeve nervously.

“How long has this been going on for, Cara?” Candace asked in a concerned voice.

“A while I guess….a year,” Cara choked, knowing from past experience that tip-toeing wasn’t an option.

“How often?” Jamie asked.

“Not really that often. Once a month sometimes…but Jamie, I only ever have one or two, and always on the weekend!” she exclaimed.

“I don’t care how often or how much you drink Cara, you deliberately disobeyed one of our only rules, and our most important rule at that. You know what my reasons are and I thought you respected me enough to obey it,” Jamie lectured.

“I do respect you…both of you, and I know why it’s a rule and I know it’s important! But Jamie, I’m responsible about it! You know me, you know that I would never do anything stupid!”

“I thought I knew you. I also thought you would at least try to talk to me about something like this rather than going behind our backs and lying and hiding things for a whole year,” he said quietly and directly.

“Cara, this is a rule because we love you and we worry about you. We don’t want anything to happen to you, and I’m very hurt that you hid this from us for so long,” Candace added.

These two little lectures tugged at Cara’s heartstrings. She owed her life to Jamie and Candace and didn’t mean to disrespect them so deeply. She didn’t think about it like that until now. A couple of tears escaped her eyes and she wiped them and sniffled a little.

Taking a deep breath, Cara apologized whole-heartedly to her brother and sister-in-law. Both stood firmly and unwavering, clearly not ready to cave yet. Cara began to tremble as she realized what was in store for her.

“I want your car keys Cara,” Jamie said.

“What?” she asked, caught off-guard.

“Right now. Go get them,” he ordered.

“Why?” she demanded, growing defensive.

“Because I refuse to take the chance of anything happening to you because of alcohol,” he said simply.

“Jamie, I have NEVER driven after having even one drink,” she said seriously.

“I want to believe you Cara, but you’re apparently very good at hiding things. I don’t care whether you have or not, I’m not taking the chance. Go get them.”

“No, Jamie! How will I get anywhere? I have school and work!”

“Candace or I will drive you. I’m not playing games here Cara. You’ve lost the privilege to drive your car until further notice.”

“But it’s MY car!”

“We paid for it! I’m not going to argue about this, and I’m not asking you again.” He said firmly.

Cara stared at them for a minute, waiting for them to waver. When they didn’t, she went to the coat rack, dug her keys out of her jacket pocket, and handed them out to Jamie, who took them from her.

“Thank you. Now, go to your room and wait for me in the corner,” he said, pointing toward the staircase.

“No…Jamie…” she whined, deathly afraid of what she knew was coming.

“NOW” he said, staring into her eyes without blinking.

Cara looked to Candace for help, tears running down her pale cheeks.

“Candace, please..” she begged.

“We love you sweetie, and we’re doing this for your own good. You know that,” she said sympathetically, reaching out to stroke Cara’s arm.

Cara wiped her eyes once more and quickly walked past them, up the stairs, down the hall and into her spacious bedroom. She stood in the middle of the room for a minute with her hands on her hips trying to think of what to do but didn’t come up with any reasonable options. She sighed and went to the far corner and stood in it, feeling very childish and also very afraid, knowing that Jamie’s hand could be very punishing, and if he chose to use something more serious, which he rarely did, her life might as well end right now anyways because the pain could kill her.
She had only been standing in the corner for about a half hour when her brother came in, and softly closed the door behind him.

“Come here,” he said kindly, opening his arms. She turned around and buried herself in his big hug and sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to choke out. Jamie stroked her back and held her strongly.

“We love you Cara, we want you to do well in life…that’s why we have rules,” Jamie said softly.

“I’m so sorry…I won’t do it again, I promise. I didn’t mean to disrespect you and Candace, really, I wasn’t thinking about it like that.” She sobbed.

“I know, and this will help make sure that you DO think about it like that next time you have the chance to do something you know we don’t allow,” he explained.

“I know that what I did was wrong, you really don’t have to spank me Jamie…I said I was sorry and I swear I won’t do it again,” she pleaded.

“If there ever was a time to give you a spanking, this is it. This doesn’t come down to a simple thing like you having an attitude issue, or fighting with Candace and I. This is a matter of life and death, and repeated lying…Cara.”

“Please…it hurts too much, I’m scared,” Cara whimpered.

“You obviously weren’t scared enough when you decided to lie to us for a YEAR,” he stressed. “This is serious, and I want to make sure you learn a lesson from this,” Jamie said, gently pulling away from Cara and unbuckling his belt.

“What are you doing? No! Please, Jamie!” she cried, panicking. She had only been spanked with his belt once in the past, and was only given a couple of strokes with it as an example of what would happen if she repeated her punished behavior. And those two strokes had caused the worst pain she had ever experienced.

Jamie continued silently, slipping his thick, rustic leather belt out of the loops in his jeans and setting it down on the desk next to him.

“We can talk about this and work it out some other way. I’ll do all the chores you want, or…or..or I could be grounded like…forever! I promise, I won’t even go out anywhere anymore!” Cara rambled quickly trying to avoid the absolutely worst punishment that could possibly be dished out.

“I can’t believe you’ve been lying to us for so long,” he said in a tone that made it obvious he was both very angry and very hurt and disappointed. “This is your punishment for drinking. I don’t know yet what I’m going to do about the lying,” he said shaking his head.

“I didn’t actually lie…you never asked! I just didn’t tell you! I don’t tell you everything. You didn’t ask what I had for lunch today, so I didn’t tell you. Does that mean I lied about lunch?” she asked in a last ditch effort, knowing full well she was completely wrong.

“I seriously hope you don’t believe that,” he said. When she didn’t answer, he continued. “Do you remember what it was like when Mom and Dad died?” he asked quietly.

Cara hesitated before quietly saying “yeah…”

“Good so you remember how horrible it all was? That one stupid kid’s mistake shattered our lives in a matter of seconds? That it’s taken years and years for us to start to live normally?”

“Stop, I don’t want to talk about this…” Cara said. She had been in the car with their parents when they were killed and it had taken several years of therapy to make the nightmares stop.

“Well we’re going to talk about it Cara, because in case you forgot, that was an 18 year old kid who hadn’t intended on drinking and driving that day, and just like you, he only had a couple drinks with his friends once in a while until one night that went too far! Did you forget that?” he demanded calmly. Cara looked away, wiping tears off her face.

“Did you forget that, Cara?” he pressed.

“No,” Cara choked. She could never forget that as long as she lived, and knew exactly why her brother and sister in-law didn’t want her drinking at her age.

“Good, then you can stop trying to talk your way out of this,” he said intensely, pointing his finger at her.

“I’m sorry,” Cara said, realizing that she was just making him even more angry.

“We have a major trust issue here now, and you’re grounded until I decide what to do about the lying.”

“Okay,” she said helplessly.

“Good,” he said, gently urging her toward the edge of her bed with his hand pushing on the middle of her back.

Jamie was a man of few serious words. He usually had a friendly smile on his face and laugh was always quick to escape his lips, and when serious situations arose, he tended to become very quiet and focused. Delivering strict discipline to Cara was no exception. After his lecture was over he didn’t say much else.

He guided Cara to the bed and sat down.

“Jeans down,” he ordered flatly. Cara whimpered, and didn’t move, crossing her arms shyly. She watched as his large calloused hands moved, one to grab her arm and pull her close, and the other to deliver a sharp smack to her denim-covered bottom.

“Ow!” she cried, reaching her free hand back to rub the sting.

“When I give you an order I expect you to obey. NOW” he said seriously. Cara tried to pull back on instinct, and got nowhere. She knew her brother was incredibly strong and that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“I’d really prefer to do this the easy way Cara. I don’t want to have to be mean about it,” he warned.

“But you ARE being mean! I really, really don’t wanna do this at all!” Cara whined, afraid of both the consequences of obeying her brother and not obeying her brother. Neither option ended well for her.

“I’m sorry, do you not agree that you’ve done something wrong and deserve to be punished?” he asked skeptically.

“Yes….I know I did, and I feel really bad! I know you have to punish me for it but can’t you find some other way?” she pleaded.

“There’s always a choice. You’re eighteen years old, you’re free to move out if you’d like. Candace and I love you, and we’re a family. We don’t want you to move out, but if you decide you don’t want to follow our rules, that’s your choice. Otherwise this is my house, I am your guardian, and you broke a house rule and will be punished. You’re usually much more mature and accepting of punishments when you deserve them, why are you fighting me on this?”

“You haven’t taken your belt off since I was thirteen, and when I was thirteen, I had no say!”

“You’re right,” he said, chuckling to himself a little. “I haven’t taken my belt off since you were thirteen. You’ve been a really good kid Cara, I haven’t had to. But what you did is really not okay with me. So you have a choice. Do you want to move out?”

“…no,” she cried quietly.

“Then STOP fighting me on this,” he said firmly. He stared at her for a minute to let his words sink in before he continued. “Now…I want your jeans down please,” he said slowly, releasing the grip he had on her arm so that she could comply.

Cara rubbed her arm; Jamie’s grip was strong and had hurt. Then she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and slowly undid her jeans and shakily slid them down to her knees, exposing her pink and red polka-dotted boy-short panties that had a picture of a reindeer and the words “all I want for Christmas is you” written across the butt. Aside from the fact that they were slightly out of season, they were also embarrassingly sexy and she silently hated herself for choosing to wear them today, of all days.

“That’s good, over here please,” he said approvingly, patting his lap. She reluctantly went to his right side and allowed him to guide her over his lap. She fit there easily. She was petite and slim, while he was tall and strong, and both of them knew that once she was over his lap there would be no escaping his hold.

While Cara grabbed a handful of blankets for comfort, Jamie pulled her panties down to her knees and wrapped his left arm around her waist, just to be sure she wouldn’t be going anywhere.

He raised his right hand and slapped it strongly down on Cara’s right cheek, then left. The sheer strength of his swing was painful enough, and when coupled with the sharp sting that accompanied it, Cara began to cry out immediately. He continued with this, his usual method, for several minutes, and when Cara was squirming and struggling to avoid some of the spanks (which was absolutely impossible), he turned his focus to her legs…just the couple of inches right under her bottom.

“Stop!” she cried, unable to bear the pain. At this moment, she began to wish her brother was a computer nerd with soft, fragile hands rather than a curator and a carpenter with large, strong, heavy working hands. He caught her wrist as her arm flew back to protect her bottom from the spanking, and pinned it at the small of her back, restricting her movement completely.

“Pleeeeease stop! I’m sorryyyyy!” she cried, gasping for breath. Jamie continued silently, leaving not an inch of her bottom untouched. It was now glowing red with small purplish spots beginning, and he could feel the radiating off it.
He stopped, and released her wrist.

“Up,” he said simply, ready to help Cara to her feet.

“No…please, that was enough, I’m soooooo sorry! I’ve learned my lesson, seriously, you don’t have to spank me anymore!” she cried, her breath ragged.

In response to this, Jamie delivered the most painful smack to the back of one of her thighs, causing her legs to kick up, and her to squeal in pain.

“I said up, now,” he repeated calmly.

“But…” she began, and before she could continue, he repeated the smack on her other thigh.

“Oww!” she cried, struggling to catch her breath.

“We can go on like this all night until you stop fighting me,” he warned.

“I’m sorry…I just…” she tried again, and received a searing slap on her thigh again.

“Again?” he asked, as she burst out in fresh sobs.

“No, no, I’m getting up!” she managed. Silently relieved, he helped her to her feet where she struggled to stand. Her legs were like jello from a mixture of the pain and her fear of what was still to come. He helped her walk to the other side of the room, panties now around her knees, jeans kicked off somewhere along the way, to a large, cozy chair in the corner of the room.

“Kneel here, facing the wall,” he said, helping her into place, her knees sinking into the soft cushion of the chair, leaning her body on its high back. “It’s very important that you don’t move. I don’t want your hands or arms or anywhere else hit by accident, and trust me, you don’t want that either,” he warned. “Understand?” She nodded silently, tears streaking her face.

He went to the desk and picked up his heavy belt. Cara didn’t watch, she had her head resting on the back of the chair, crying into her hands. He doubled it, and gently touched Cara’s back.

“Just lean over a little more for me” he said, and she did. “Good,” he said, pleased.
He placed his hand firmly on her back to steady both Cara and himself, and swung the belt sharply, biting into her already tender flesh. She sucked in her breath, trying to focus and stay calm. He swung again, hitting a centimeter below his first, leaving another long, deep red stripe across her bottom. She whimpered a little at this one, losing her short-lived focus and calm. Again and again he swung as her bottom began to form a couple tiny welts, and she began crying hysterically and begging him to stop. He continued, delivering a few more firm stripes to her bottom, knowing that she was struggling and wouldn’t be able to stay still for much longer.

“Cara, calm down and listen to me,” he said, moving to the side of the chair and lifting her chin with his hand to look into her eyes. She reluctantly looked up with a great deal of difficulty, her bottom on fire and pounding in agony, and her eyes burning from crying so hard, her throat sore from crying and screaming. “I LOVE you. And Candace loves you. We have this rule for a very, very important reason that I know you don’t want to talk about, so we won’t. You know what it is, and I think that’s enough for you to respect it in the future. If I catch you breaking it again, this will seem like a holiday, do you understand me?” he lectured. She nodded her head, crying. That was good enough for him, he knew how hard this spanking was for her, for several reasons. They had attended enough family therapy, and had a close enough relationship that he could read her like a book. They had talked this to death in the past, and he could tell exactly what was going on inside of his sister right now, and the nod of her head was enough for him to know that she was truly sorry and that he could finish up.

“Good girl. We’re almost finished,” he said. He moved behind her and placed his hand on her back again, and delivered 4 of the most intense, biting lashes to her upper thighs she could ever imagine, Cara screaming the entire time. He stopped, put his belt back on the desk, and went to his sister, pulling her into a hug. She allowed herself to be held, and cried into her brother’s strong chest. They stayed like this for a long time before she pulled away, calm enough to speak.

“I’m sorry. Really,” she said.

“I know honey,” he responded, kissing her forehead. “I’m going to see how Candace is doing with dinner. Come down when you’re ready, okay?” she nodded, and he squeezed her shoulder and left the room, closing the door behind him to give her some privacy.

Cara didn’t go down for dinner, and nobody bothered her. It was okay with Jamie and Candace that she wanted to be alone. They checked in on her a couple of times and she was doing homework.

The next day Jamie went to a meeting and Candace was home working in her office. Cara didn’t leave her room at all, except to quietly sneak down for a cup of coffee in the morning, and back up to her room before anyone noticed her. When Jamie got back home and they realized that most of the day had gone by, they became a little worried. Jamie wanted to make her talk about whatever was bothering her without being confrontational. He went upstairs and knocked on her door once, then opened it, sticking his head in with a big, friendly smile. She was laying on her stomach reading.

“You mind giving me a hand at the museum for an hour?” he asked casually. When she stared at him blankly, he added “I have to move some furniture around in storage, there’s a big piece coming in a couple hours that we thought there would be room for, but there isn’t.”

“Sure,” she said.

The drive to the museum was silent, and the only words the spoke upon arrival was in friendly greeting to some volunteers who were cleaning. They went into the storage area, and set to work.

“Here, we’re going to lift this down….carefully…and move it to the rack over there,” he said, lifting his side of a large Victorian couch down off a shelf.

Cara stood up on her tiptoes and tried to reach the shelf, but she was too short.

“Can’t reach it? Okay. Just a sec,” he said, putting his end back up and moving over to hers. He lifted her end down and placed it in her hands. “You’re okay?” he asked. She nodded silently. “Good,” he said, going back over to his end and lifting it down. “Lets go this way,” he said, nodding to the left, and starting to walk backward. A few steps into the move a large piece of fabric fell off, and the couch began to creak.

“Oh…Jamie…we lost a piece, and it’s making a lot of noise,” Cara said, concerned.

“Okay, careful, let’s keep going,” he said moving slowly to the other rack. “I’m going to put my end up first, then I’ll come get yours,” he said, easily lifting his end up onto the shelf, then quickly running over to Cara’s side and taking it from her. “Alright…we need to move this big piece of fabric over here,” he said, leading her to the other side of the room. “It’s really old, so be gentle. We’re going to roll it, and tie it,” he explained. They each went to a separate side and began to slowly roll it.

“So, you’ve been awfully quiet today,” he offered as they rolled. She looked up and shrugged. “Anything you wanna talk about?” he asked.

“Nope,” she said.

“What have you been up to all day?”

“Just…thinking about some things,” she said, opening up a little to the conversation.

“What things?”

“Nothing really,” she said as they stopped to re-adjust the fabric, and continue.

“Like…yesterday?” he asked casually.

“I guess,” she said.

“Are you angry with me?” he asked.

“No,” she said.

“Are you upset about what happened?”

“Sort of, yeah,” she said timidly.

“Let’s talk about it,” he offered. Cara looked around at the various volunteers working around them and knew it was safe to talk here because it wouldn’t get too specific.

“I’m just mad at myself. I shouldn’t have done…what I did,” she said, looking around again. “I just feel really stupid about it all, it was really childish of me to act like that,” she whispered loudly.

“So you’re a little embarrassed?” he asked gently. They tied the fabric and lifted it onto a table.

“I guess so, yeah,” she said, crossing her arms and looking at the ground.

“Well, no need. I did some pretty stupid things when I was your age too. Trust me, you’re pretty perfect compared to me,” he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her close.

“Really?” she asked in disbelief. She had always been under the illusion that he was the perfect one.

“Yep, but its wayyy too embarrassing to tell you. Way dumber than that you did,” he said.

“Thanks Jamie” she said, leaning into him, stretching her arm around his waist.

A few weeks later, that was the picture on the monthly newsletter. Jamie in his work boots, jeans and tshirt, tool belt draped around his waist with his arm around Cara, wearing dark sneakers, a cute pair of jeans and a black zip-up hoodie, blonde hair waving down her back, her head reaching her brother’s armpit, leaning into him. This was the picture that was unknowingly taken of them by a volunteer who was documenting their time at the museum. It now sat framed, in their kitchen, to remind them of that day and the bond they share.

Addie and Alexis- Part 5

“Mom, can I sleep over at Bailey’s tomorrow?” Addie asked, walking into the kitchen where her mother was reviewing notes, cooking dinner, and reading a story written for her by Alexis, all at the same time.

“Will her parents be home?” Téa asked without looking up from her notes.

“Yep,” Addie responded, smiling.

“Okay, sure sweetie, do you need a ride over?”

“I’ll probably just go home with Bailey after school.”

“Sounds good to me, just call me when you’re ready to come home on Saturday and I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks Mom,” Addie said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

“I saw on the guide that Grey Gardens is on tonight…want to stay up a little late and watch it with me?” Téa asked, smiling.

“Really? It’s on? I’ve been waiting for weeks to see it!”

“I know, it’s on at..”

“Mom! Guess what!” Alexis said, running into the room, interrupting Téa. Téa turned to Alexis, obviously annoyed.

“Alexis, don’t interrupt!” Téa snapped, irritated at having to tell Alexis this same thing over and over every single day.

“Sorry,” Alexis said, joining Addie at the table.

“Anyways, it doesn’t start until 9, but I think it’s definitely worth staying up for,” Téa finished.

“Me too, I’m so excited now! Did you know that none of my friends have even heard of it? Weird eh?” Addie chattered.

“I know, I don’t think it’s very….” Téa started.

“New Moon comes out tomorrow, can we go get it?” Alexis interrupted again. Téa turned and stared at her, giving her a threatening look. Alexis stopped talking.

“Alexis, I am trying to talk to your sister right now. If you can’t sit here without interrupting us, then go to another room until we’re finished,” Téa said.

“But I just want to know if we can get New Moon tomorrow,” Alexis whined.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Téa said, turning back to Addie.

“Anyways, I don’t think it’s very well-known. I saw the original version years ago.”

“Yeah, but since Drew Barrymore is in the new one, more people might see it. Can we have…” Addie started, only to be interrupted by Alexis yet again.

“What’s Drew Barrymore in? I love her in ET!” Alexis exclaimed, smiling widely, obviously just trying to annoy everyone at this point.

“Out!” Téa yelled, pointing at the door. “Go watch TV until dinner’s ready.”

“Whaaaatttt?!” Alexis asked, innocently.

“Alexis, go!” Téa stressed, not letting Alexis’s cuteness take over.

“Fine,” Alexis said dramatically, rolling her eyes and skipping out of the room.

“This might not be the best time to ask, but can you watch Lex for an hour after dinner? I have to meet with a client,” Téa asked, a look of desperation on her face.

“Fine,” Addie said, mimicking Alexis. Téa laughed, and rushed over to give her a big suffocating bear hug.

The next day after school Addie met her friend Bailey outside on the sidewalk, and started to walk home to Bailey’s house for their sleepover.

“It worked. I told my mom that we were going to someone’s birthday party on Rogers Street, and that we’d be home at 11. She thinks their parents will be there, and since we’re going together, we can just walk. By the time it’s 11 she’ll be asleep and won’t have a clue!” Bailey chattered excitedly.

“And my mom thinks I’m just sleeping over at your house!” Addie exclaimed. The two girls started talking about the party, held by some older kids who invited them. It was the first time they’ve been invited to a party with the older kids, and the first party where there would be alcohol. Both girls were excited to try their first taste of beer, thinking that it would be harmless just to try it. And of course, neither girl ever imagined they would get caught. To them, their plan was flawless.

…later that night

Having just put Alexis to bed a couple of hours ago, Téa finished wiping down the kitchen counter, and sauntered into the living room, stretched out on the couch with her laptop and a glass of wine to review one of her court cases for the following week. Five minutes into her reading, the phone rang. Wondering who would be calling at midnight, she quickly grabbed the cordless phone, thinking it must be some sort of emergency.

“Hello?”

“Téa? It’s Bailey’s mom.”

“Allison, hi. Is everything okay?” Téa asked.

“I was just wondering if the girls were there.”

“No, they’re not, I thought they were staying at your house.” Téa replied, confused.

“They are. They left to go to a birthday party and said they’d be home by 11. That was an hour ago, and Bailey isn’t answering her phone.”

“They went to a party? Do you know where?”

“I know it’s on Rogers Street…”

“I’ll be over in a few minutes, I think I know what’s going on,” Téa said, hanging up the phone, remembering mention of a party at some older kids’ house while she was waiting outside the school for Addie one day last week. She got Alexis out of bed and drove her over to Rachel’s house, and continued on her way to Bailey’s. Allison was waiting outside, and hopped in Téa’s car as soon as she drove up.

“I think I know where they are…and I don’t think it’s a cake and ice cream kind of birthday party,” Téa said, driving in the direction of Rogers Street. “We know what street the house is on, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find the one with a bunch of partying high school kids.”

Sure enough, there was music blaring from one house, the front door wide open, kids hanging around outside drinking and smoking. Téa parked the car, and both mothers hopped out, on a mission to find their younger daughters. They walked through the front door relatively unnoticed, and stopped dead when they came to the kitchen, seeing both Addie and Bailey with red plastic cups in hand, laughing with their friends in a smoke filled room.

“Addison Matthews!” Téa snapped, approaching Addie.

Addie and Bailey both looked up, horrified.

“Mom?!” Bailey cried, thoroughly embarrassed that her mother was crashing a party.

“What’s this?” Téa asked, taking Addie’s cup from her.

“Nothing! It’s just Coke!” Addie cried, trying to grab the cup back from her mother, Téa moved back, out of Addie’s reach, and took a sip.

“Mmm hmmm, tastes like Coke to me,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Let’s go, right now,” she snapped. Addie and Bailey quickly got up and followed their mothers out the front door, hoping not to be noticed by too many people. The drive back to Bailey’s house was silent, and when Téa stopped the car, Allison and Bailey got out of the car without a word. Allison thanked Téa, and walked up the driveway, and Téa backed out and continued home. She didn’t say a word to Addie, and Addie was growing more and more afraid of what was going to happen to her. It wasn’t often that her mother had nothing to say to her. After a few minutes, she decided to break the silence.

“Mom?” Addie said timidly from the back seat. Téa looked at her in the rearview mirror. Addie noted that she looked more angry than she had ever seen her before, and decided it would be best to keep her mouth shut. Within minutes they were home, and inside. Once they had their coats and boots off, Téa picked up the hallway phone and dialed Rachel’s number. Addie took this opportunity to sneak away up to her room to formulate some sort of story. Seeing that she was about to escape, Téa pounced from behind, grabbing her arm. She angrily pointed at the couch in the living room, and let go of Addie’s arm. Knowing she was defeated and had no way out of this, Addie went to the couch and sat down.

“Hi Rachel, it’s me,” Téa said as soon as Rachel answered her phone. “Can you keep Lex there tonight? Yes, everything’s fine, I found her. Yeah…I’ll talk to you in the morning. Thank you so much. Bye.”

Addie sat on the couch, cautiously watching her furious mother pace back and forth in front of her. In her hurry to get out the door she threw on the work clothes she had been wearing that day, consisting of a sexy form-fitting grey suit with a flashy red tank top underneath, paired with her signature, a pair of high-heeled boots that we clicking across the hardwood floor with each step that Téa took. Between the outfit and the clicking boots, Addie felt like she was in a courtroom being cross examined, which scared her half to death. After a few minutes of this, Téa stopped and looked at Addie.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself young lady?” she asked angrily.

“I’m so sorry Mom,” Addie responded, her timid voice shaking noticeably.

“You’re sorry? That’s it? No story, no lies to get yourself out of trouble to go along with the lies you told to get yourself INTO trouble?” Téa raged, letting her temper get the best of her. Addie had never seen her mother this angry with her before. She had seen her this angry while arguing her point in court, or when having to deal with a difficult client. But she had never ever spoken to her daughter with this harsh of a tone. Addie didn’t have a chance to answer this seemingly rhetorical question because Téa continued on quickly.

“Drinking? At your age? Are you kidding me Addison Matthews? I am so angry with you!” she said, pointing at Addie as she spoke. “I trusted you! I don’t even know what to do! Should I ban you from being friends with Bailey? Should I send you back to boarding school where alcohol isn’t even available? Should I ground you for the rest of your life, lock you in your room, stop you from going to school, make you come to work with me so I can see you all the time and make sure you aren’t sneaking off and doing things that you know you are NOT allowed to do?”

Téa stopped to take a breath and when she did, Addie, who was staring wide-eyed at her mother, burst into tears. She covered her face with her hands, her long blond hair falling forward, her small body shaking with each sob. She was so scared by her mother’s tone and harsh words, and even worse, felt so guilty because she knew she deserved every single harsh word. Téa wasn’t in the mood quite yet to comfort her daughter. She usually couldn’t stand to see Addie hurt and crying but at that moment, she didn’t care, and felt justified in everything she had said and was fighting back a louder voice and harsher words as it was.

“Go to your room,” Téa said sternly and simply, standing with her hands on her hips, her weight shifted more onto one leg than the other, slightly tired from all that had happened.

“W…w..what?” Addie cried, looking up.

“I said go to your room. I’ll be up to discuss this further,” she said, knowing she desperately needed to calm down before dealing with any sort of punishment.

“B..but…” Addie started.

“I mean it Addie, RIGHT now,” Téa snapped, taking a step backwards as she felt her temper ignite once again.

Addie jumped slightly, shocked that her mother wouldn’t talk to her and settle the situation right away. She quickly got up off the couch and ran upstairs as fast as she could. Téa let out a ragged breath, ran her hand through her hair and covered her face, letting her own tears of frustration fall freely now. She walked back into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, pulled out an island stool and sat down. Taking deep breaths and slowly drinking the water, Téa was able to bring herself back down to a calm and rational place.

Addie’s heart started to pound harder when she heard Téa’s steps approaching her bedroom, but to her surprise, she kept going right past, and into her own room, shutting the door behind her. Addie let out a sigh of relief, thinking her mother had decided to go to bed.

Shutting the door behind her, Téa stepped back to examine her collection of belts that hung from the back of the door. There were many, one to go with each possible outfit it seemed. Many of them had funky raised designs or little jewels on them, which were immediately ruled out because they would cause much more harm than necessary. Some were brightly coloured, and she dismissed those as well, not wanting to be overly theatrical. As she ran her hand through her collection she stopped at one that jumped out at her. It was plain, dark brown and quite thick, without a glossy finish- just plain old heavy leather. She took it down off the peg and set it down on a chair. She changed into a pair of fitted dark grey yoga pants, a black camisole and a red zip-up hooded sweater, quickly tied her dark brown hair back into a pony tail, picked the belt up, left her room and crossed the hall, stopping in front of Addie’s door. She didn’t have to talk herself into giving her daughter this spanking like she normally did. She was really mad, and knew Addie completely deserved what was coming to her this time. She opened the door and stood in the doorway holding the belt, with her best “angry mom face” on.

Addie was laying on top of her made bed with her eyes closed, trying to calm down herself. When she heard her door open she opened her eyes and looked to see her mother standing there holding a belt folded in half. Addie immediately sat up, realizing what was about to happen.

“Mom, please, I’m so, so sorry! Please don’t!” she pleaded, terrified of the belt that had not once been used to spank her, but had been used on several occasions as a threat.

“Addie, don’t start,” Téa warned, putting her hand up to signal that Addie should stop talking. “I’m very disappointed in you, and very angry with the choices you’ve made today. You know what my rules are, and you know that there are consequences for breaking them. For lying to me, you’re grounded for the rest of the month. For drinking, you’re getting a spanking. This is not negotiable, and no amount of your crying and pleading will change your punishment.” She lectured in her often-practiced lawyer’s bluntness and sternness.

Addie, not trying to hide the fact that she was terrified, started to cry and got up off her bed and approached her mother. She was quite short for her age, and only came up to Téa’s shoulder.

“Mommy, please don’t be mad, I’m so sorry!” she cried, and wrapped her arms around her mother. Téa returned the hug, gently stroking the back of Addie’s head, smoothing her hair. She softened a little, her natural instinct to protect her daughter kicking in.

“I love you so much Addie, and I care about you more than you can imagine. That’s why I’m so upset sweetheart. I want the best for you in life and I know that making bad choices now will only lead to more bad choices later on. I can’t just sit by and watch. It’s my job as your mom to make sure you do the right things, not the wrong things,” Téa said softly as she held Addie, slowly rocking back and forth. “Okay?” Addie nodded her head. Téa squeezed her, then released her, and stepped back.

“Please don’t spank me with that, it’ll hurt TOO much!” Addie sobbed whole-heartedly, shaking a little, half from crying, half from fear. “I’ll do anything you want, I’ll be grounded for….EVER! Just please don’t!”

“Addie….Addie, stop and listen to me,” Téa said calmly, lifting Addie’s chin with her fingers, forcing her to look at her. “What you did was really bad, and you deserve to be punished for it. I think you understand that. I know this is scary, and I know it’s going to hurt a lot, and I know that you will never want me to give you another spanking like this one ever again. And that’s the point. Okay?”

Addie, taking deep breaths, wiped her eyes and nodded in agreement.

“Good. Now let’s get this over with, and hopefully we’ll never have to re-visit this issue again,” Téa said, taking Addie’s hand and leading her towards her oversized bed. She sat down, and reached out to unbutton Addie’s dark denim jeans. Addie didn’t protest, but did whimper a little and look at the floor.

“Let’s just get these out of the way,” Téa suggested, pulling the jeans all the way down to the floor and helping Addie step out of them, which left her standing there in a pair of skimpy black lacy panties that Téa had no idea she owned. “Where did these come from?” Téa asked curiously, a little surprised by how revealing and sexy they were for a young teenager to be wearing.

“Um…Bailey gave them to me,” Addie replied shakily.

“Oh. Okay….well, we can talk about that later,” she said, silently reminding herself that maybe the panty choices of young girls had changed a little since she was Addie’s age.

“Come on,” Téa urged, gently pulling a slightly reluctant Addie over her lap. She adjusted herself a little, wrapping one of her arms tightly around Addie’s waist, her hand resting strongly on Addie’s outer hip. She rested the other hand on Addie’s pantied bottom, and let a few seconds of silence pass before speaking, to be sure she had Addie’s full attention.

“I’m SO disappointed in you Addie, and it’s going to be a long time before I’ll be able to trust you again,” Téa said slowly, letting each word sink in. Addie choked out an “I’m sorry” which was the best she could do at the moment.

Téa lifted her hand off her daughter’s bottom and sharply and briskly began spanking her rhythmically, alternating between her left cheek and her right. The skin around the panties immediately began to blush a bright pink and Addie was yelping out in quiet pain with each spank. There was no warm-up happening this time; Téa was giving it her all, and Addie knew it. Aside from Addie’s quiet yelps and sobs the only sound in the room was that of skin slapping skin over and over again. As Téa began to notice a dark red hue peeking out from underneath the panties she decided that they needed to go. She stopped spanking for a moment and flexed her hand to ease the sting that had built up, then, taking the waistband in her hand, peeled Addie’s black lacy panties down to her mid-thighs. Addie didn’t protest, but did begin to cry harder. This was by far the hardest, longest hand-spanking she had ever received, and had wrongly assumed it was over.

Once the pulled-down panties were where Téa wanted them, she continued her hand-spanking while Addie started to panic. If this was the “warm-up,” then the real spanking with her mother’s belt would surely kill her! This thought process was interrupted by the stinging pain that continuously seared her bottom, and decided that it would be best to try to talk her way out of this before things went too far.

“Mom!” Addie cried desperately through her sobs. “Please, please stop! Let’s just talk about it, pleeeeaaaasssssseeeeeeeeeee stop!”

Téa didn’t respond with words but with sharper spanks to Addie’s upper thighs.

“Ahhhh! Mommy, please! It hurts too much….pleaseeee!”

When this plea was met with even sharper slaps, Addie reached back in a desperate attempt to block the spanks. Téa quickly had hold of her hand, pinning it at the small of her back, and continued. She was on a mission, and was determined to carry it out effectively this time to avoid having to address the issue in the future. When Addie realized that she had no other choices she began to fight. She wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, but she knew she couldn’t handle the promised belt-spanking, and she had to do something. Not thinking very clearly, she began kicking and trying to roll around in an attempt to fling herself off of her mother’s lap.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Téa said, stopping the spanking to grasp her daughter tighter and force her back into place.

“I want you to stop Mom, you won’t listen to me! It hurts too much, please stop!” Addie pleaded.

“It’s supposed to hurt too much Addie, you’re being punished. Now, I suggest you stop right now unless you want another spanking added to the list,” Téa warned. She waited a second, and Addie didn’t stop.

“Alright, I’ve had enough. Get up, right now,” Téa demanded, helping Addie up and off her lap. They both stood up, and Téa grasped Addie’s arm and marched her to an empty corner in the room, placing her in it.

“I’m giving you 5 minutes to calm down, and I suggest you do just that young lady,” Téa said sternly. “And don’t even think about rubbing your bottom.”

Addie said nothing, and Téa pulled out the desk chair, sat down, and crossed her arms. The room was silent except for Addie crying and Téa tapping her fingernails on the desk unknowingly, and the 5 minutes passed slowly.

“Alright,” Téa said, motioning for Addie to come back over as she herself moved back over to the bed and sat down. Addie silently obeyed and allowed herself to be guided over her mother’s lap again. Téa started spanking again, and only about 5 swats later Addie started fighting again. Téa stopped, and, more aggressively this time, pushed Addie up and led her to the corner.

“I’m not going to fight with you Addison. We can do this all night, I have nowhere to be. You’re getting this spanking young lady, and I refuse to be kicked and slapped in the process. If that means that we spend the next 6 hours going back and forth like this until you can behave properly, then so be it,” she said, and sat back down in her chair.

They made this trip to the corner and back two more times before the hand-spanking was over, and by then Addie had exhausted herself and came to fully understand that her mother wasn’t going to cave like she expected, and that she was just prolonging the process, and also making her mom more angry. That final time, only a few minutes into Addie’s corner time, she whispered her truce from her spot without turning around.

“I’m done….I’m sorry Mom, I’ll stop fighting with you.”

“Okay, good,” Téa said, hiding the frustration and exhaustion she was feeling. She met Addie in the middle of the room, and, placing her hand on Addie’s upper back, led her to her large bed.

“I want you to bend over the side of the bed,” Téa said, gently helping her crying daughter into position. Addie complied, and found herself fairly immobile with her feet not touching the floor.

“I want you to seriously listen to me for a minute, okay? I understand that you didn’t drink much, but you are far too young to be drinking anything at all. You shouldn’t be going to parties with older kids and from now on I want to speak to parents before you go anywhere. Anything could have happened tonight at that party. Someone could have put something in your drink, you could have ended up in a car with a drunk driver, you could have had alcohol poisoning. All of these things could happen to anyone but especially someone like you who is so young and doesn’t know better. Your life is more important to me than anything, and I’ll do anything to make sure nothing happens to you.”

“I know, I’m so sorry. I love you Mom,” Addie whispered.

“I love you too, so much,” Téa responded, stroking Addie’s cheek and brushing some fallen hair behind her ear.

Téa picked the belt up off its spot on the bed, folded it in half, and put her other hand on Addie’s back, pressing down to keep her somewhat in place. Addie took two handfuls of her quilt, squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. A second later she felt the intense burn of the belt sear into her bottom, leaving a crimson stripe. She sucked in her breath and sobbed. Only a couple of seconds passed before she felt the next one, landing right below where the first one had. Téa worked her way down Addie’s bottom to her thighs, and back up again. By now Addie was crying out with each strike. Téa silently decided on only five more, and delivered these with strength and speed, all the while Addie screamed in pain, but didn’t move.

Téa gently dropped the belt and sat down on the bed next to where Addie was laying. She slowly started to rub her back and whisper soothing words, a concerned look on her face. Her anger had left her and had been replaced by her need to nurture.

“It’s over sweetie, shhh. You’re forgiven, I’m not angry anymore,” she said.

“I’m soo sorry Mom…I’m sorry I lied to you, I won’t do it again, I promise,” Addie cried, feeling quite guilty about her behavior.

“I know you are honey, I know you’ve learned your lesson,” she said, helping Addie up. Addie winced at the pain of her bottom making contact with the bed, and cried fresh tears as Téa wrapped her arms around her and rocked back and forth.

…the next morning

“Good morning, my beautiful chicklet,” Téa sang, looking up from the newspaper she was reading at the kitchen table while having her coffee.

“Morning,” Addie said tiredly. She went over to the cupboard and took out some cereal, poured milk on it, leaned up against the counter, and started to eat.

“How are you feeling this morning?” she asked, her voice a mixture of concern and sternness.

“I hurt a lot,” Addie said softly.

“I’d imagine you do. It’ll serve as a really good reminder of what will happen to you if you ever drink or lie to me again,” she said.

“Ohhh do we really have to talk about it AGAIN?” Addie asked, sounding tired.

“No, not right now. But we will be talking about it….a lot.”