Chapter 20
Lord, she had to pee.
Glancing at the clock, Jolie saw that it was nearly eight at night. That explained the rumbling in her tummy, too. They must have both fallen asleep after he’d rocked her world.
Twice.
Grinning to herself, she slid out of his hold.
All right, so she knew the rules. But she’d just get up, pee, brush her teeth since they were feeling kind of gross, then just back into bed to wake him up.
Hmm. How could she wake him?
After peeing and taking care of her teeth, she realized she needed a drink and to take her medicine. Today was the last dose and she didn’t want to miss it. Grabbing Brand’s T-shirt, she put it on and snuck down to the kitchen.
There was a noise at the front door, and she walked out of the kitchen, staring over in shock as someone stepped into the house.
Her heart raced and she turned to run to Brand when a familiar voice stopped her.
“Jolie?”
She swung back around, staring at Mikey’s unhappy face. “Mikey?”
What the heck?
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” she said, dumbfounded.
“This is Brand’s house.” Mikey scowled. “Oh, this is just great. Now I’m going to have to find a new fucking band. Why the fuck couldn’t he keep it in his pants? First Rocco, now him.”
Brand was so fast he was almost a blur. He grabbed Mikey, pushing him against the wall, his arm over Mikey’s throat. The other man tried to pull his arm away, his nails scoring Brand’s skin, but Brand didn’t even flinch.
“What the fuck did you just say to her? Because you better not have been disrespecting my woman in my fucking house!”
“Um, you might want to ease up so he can answer,” she said hesitantly.
Moving forward, she touched Brand’s arm.
He stepped back immediately, pushing her gently behind him.
She tried to move around him so she could see Mikey, but Brand shot her a dark look.
Okay, then.
She settled for leaning a hand on his back and peering around him. He was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else. His skin was hot and smooth against her hand.
Brand grunted but didn’t push her back so she guessed this was all right.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Mikey? How did you get in?”
“I have a key!”
“For emergencies,” Brand replied.
“You weren’t answering your phone.”
“I just got back. I was fucking asleep. And you do not enter my house and speak that way to Jolie.”
“You’re fucking her!” Mikey accused.
“She is mine. I’m not fucking her. She’s mine and I’m hers. Forever.”
Yikes.
Mikey’s eyes widened. “You know what happened with Rocco?—”
“That’s different. Jolie and I are not breaking up.”
“You say that, but when it happens, I’ll be left scrambling for someone to fill her spot.”
“It’s not going to happen. And you might want to think carefully about your next words and actions. I won’t allow anyone to speak badly about Jolie. Or scare her. We’re going back on tour. We’re together. And no one is coming between us.”
Mikey swallowed heavily. “Right. Well. I can see I was wrong. I apologize.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Brand said harshly.
“Brand,” she protested quietly.
He reached around and tugged her to his side, his arm around her.
“I’m sorry, Jolie,” Mikey said. He did look genuinely remorseful. Mikey was the type of guy who took his job seriously. Sometimes that led him to speak and act before thinking, though.
“Now, leave your key to our place on the table and get the fuck out.”
Mikey nodded and quickly left.
“I’m rethinking working with Mikey,” Brand said darkly.
She didn’t think Mikey was a terrible guy, but she agreed.
Brand turned her to face him.
Uh-oh. She didn’t like that look on his face.
“Daddy?”
“What was the rule about getting up without me?” he growled, glaring down at her.
Uh-oh. She stepped back.
“Um, I needed to pee.”
“You should have woken me,” he said, stepping forward.
“I was coming straight back.” She moved another step back, hitting the wall behind her.
He moved forward. “Then how did you end up down here?”
“I also needed a drink and to take my medication. And then I heard the door opening.”
He put his hands on the wall, resting them on either side of her head. “You’re in big trouble, baby.”
Uh-oh.
“You’re owed a number of punishments, and you just keep racking them up. Time to pay the piper.”
He took her hand and then tugged her into the kitchen. Lifting her onto the counter, he got her medication for her and a glass of water.
After she’d swallowed the pill, he lifted her down and carried her into the living room. He put her down in the corner, then stripped off the T-shirt she’d put on so she was naked.
“Turn around. Face in the corner, butt out. Ten minutes to think about what you did.”
Urgh.
Corner time sucked so badly.
But she did as she was told. She didn’t want to push him. Still, it was really, really boring.
“Right, time’s up. Out you come.”
Turning, she saw him sitting on the sofa. He spread his legs and crooked a finger at her.
Slowly, she walked forward. “Am I in big trouble, Daddy?”
“Yep. You are. You’re also owed a number of punishments. Time to get some of them cleared. Over you come.” He patted his thigh, then held out his hand to her.
He helped her climb over his lap. Her torso and legs were supported by the sofa. Brand rubbed her ass, making her jump. Shoot. The anticipation of being spanked was getting to her.
“Easy, Bumblebee. Do you trust Daddy not to take things too far? Not to give you more than you can take?”
“I do, Daddy.”
“You can always use your safeword if you need to.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“You need to learn to obey Daddy. To stay where he puts you, understand?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
The spanking started without warning. It took her a few moments to react.
“Daddy, ow!” she finally managed to cry.
But he didn’t stop. Even when she started kicking her feet. Or she attempted to reach behind her to protect her poor bottom.
Nope.
He just kept spanking her butt.
And. It. Hurt.
“Daddy, stop!”
To her shock, he did. She didn’t think that would work.
“Are you wanting to say your safeword, Bumblebee?” he asked as he rubbed her lower back. “Is it too much? Are you at your limit?”
Well, she didn’t think she was. She also wouldn’t mind it stopping.
“We can stop here and finish tomorrow,” he suggested.
What?
“With all the punishments that you’re owed, I figure a spanking each night for the next nine days is about right. But we can split this one into two.”
“I’m never going to sit comfortably again,” she said sadly.
“Poor baby.”
There wasn’t much sympathy in his voice.
“Do you want to stop?” he asked.
“No, Daddy! I’m all right. K-keep going.”
He smacked his hand down on her poor bottom again, spanking her butt cheeks and upper thighs until she started to cry. Finally, he stopped and rolling her over, he gathered her up into his arms.
She sat with her legs straddling his, her face buried in his chest as she cried. He hugged her tight, rocking her slightly, whispering words of praise.
As she stopped crying, he reached over for her a tissue and dried her face, holding it to her nose so she could blow. She coughed a bit as she cried and he frowned.
“You okay, baby?”
She knew that he was concerned that he’d gone too far. That he shouldn’t have spanked her when she was still recovering from bronchitis. But she was fine, and she didn’t want him worrying.
“I have a sore butt-butt.” She reached behind to rub it.
“Uh-uh.” He grabbed her hands. “No rubbing.”
“Daddy! You have all these dumb rules.”
He frowned.
Uh-oh.
“Dumb rules, huh? I’m starting to think that I didn’t spank you for long enough.”
“No, Daddy! You did. You did. But you spanked me so well I don’t think you need to do it ever again.”
He snorted. “Oh, I doubt that. Somehow, I think I’ll still be spanking your ass when we’re eighty-three and sitting on our porch in the rocking chairs.”
“Well, hopefully you don’t spank me on the porch. We don’t want to scare the neighborhood kids.”
“No promises. I’ve got to keep up my badass rock god reputation.”
She giggled, leaning into him. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too, babygirl.”