Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
It got worse.
The rest of dinner wasn’t too bad. They talked about normal things, like their favorite music and movies, and discovered they both had a shared love of all things Nicolas Cage. Samuel—she refused to think of him as “Daddy” although he called himself that multiple times over the course of the evening—even promised her a movie night every Friday if she was a good girl.
Her curiosity had gotten the better of her on their drive back to his apartment, and that was where things started going downhill.
“How will I know if I was good enough to earn a movie night?” she’d asked as he parked the golf cart in front of the building.
“I’ll show you when we get up to the apartment.”
Which was how she found herself staring at two different charts, each with her name written in careful block letters at the top. One was a “Good Girl” chart with the days of the week printed at the top of each column. The rows were mostly empty, but Samuel had already filled in a few with things like “Drank at least 64 ounces of water” and “Completed all homework assignments”.
“Each time you complete a task for the day, you’ll receive a Good Girl magnet.” To demonstrate, he wrote in “Ate a healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner” on the next empty line, then added a glittery pink star with the words “Good Girl” printed in the middle to the Monday box for that line. “Once we have all of your behaviors added to the chart, we’ll add a reward system. Things like a movie night, something from the gift shop, little treats you can earn during the week. You can either trade in for several smaller gifts or you can save up for something big.”
That didn’t sound so bad. Childish, certainly, but being able to actually see how she was doing instead of trying to keep track of what she had or hadn’t done in her head appealed to the part of her that constantly felt overwhelmed by trying to remember everything that needed to be done during the day. “What about that one?”
The second chart had “Naughty Girl” printed just below her name, with a list of “naughty” behaviors. To the right of each behavior were three check boxes.
“Each time you earn a punishment for one of these behaviors, you’ll get a check mark. After three ‘strikes’, you lose a good-girl magnet.”
“So I only have to follow the rules once to earn a Good Girl but I have to be naughty three times to lose one?”
“Exactly. The big difference with the Naughty Girl chart is that it doesn’t reset each week. Each behavior resets after the third strike.”
“That… seems pretty fair, I guess.” More than fair, really. And certainly she could avoid breaking the same rules over and over if she really wanted to. The only reason she was always in trouble with the Ranch employees was because she went out of her way to be a brat .
“Good. If it ever starts to feel unfair, or like you ‘can’t win’, you can always come talk to me and we can reevaluate. The purpose of the charts is to help you grow and do better, not to make you feel like you’re constantly in trouble.”
“When did you even have time to go buy something like this?”
He smiled down at her. “I didn’t just come to Rawhide for a job, little one. I had every intention of finding a Little girl during my time here, so I came prepared. Granted, it happened much more quickly than I expected, so I will need a little more time to get everything set up how I usually prefer it, but this will do for now.”
Guilt twisted her stomach into a knot. “I’m keeping you from your real Little girl.”
Placing a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her head back. And when her eyes met his, the gray was stormy with an intensity she hadn’t seen before. “Eliza. You have no reason to feel guilty. I’m right where I want to be.”
“But what if you meet your perfect Little? She’s not going to like you having someone like me living with you.”
“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”
She still felt guilty, but she’d already come to realize that when Samuel Eaton put his mind to something, nothing she said was going to sway him. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m absolutely sure. Now, with that being said, we do have two naughties from dinner to discuss.”
She watched as he wrote “Giving Daddy An Attitude” and “Using Naughty Words” to her list and added one check mark for each. For some reason, seeing her bad behavior written out like that had a knot forming in her stomach. Not the kind she was used to feeling, where she knew she was in trouble but it was all still sort of exciting. No, this just felt… bad. Like a rock sitting in her tummy, making her feel somewhat nauseous.
“All right, little one. Ten with Daddy’s hand for each infraction, and then we can get you settled into your room.”
He pulled a dining chair out from the table and sat, his expression serious as he pointed to the floor in front of him. “Come here, Eliza.”
Tears were already stinging her eyes as she shuffled over to the spot on the floor he’d pointed to.
“Thank you. Now, let’s get these jeans off so Daddy can spank that naughty little bottom.”
Humiliation, hotter and more intense than anything she’d felt during her two years at the Ranch flooded her, heating her entire body as he reached for the button on her jeans. “Do you have to call yourself that?”
“Yes, because I want you to remember who I am to you, Eliza. Your friends will know me as Professor Eaton, but to you I will be Daddy. At all times.”
“Even in class?” The question, asked as he tugged her jeans down to her knees, came out as a whine that did nothing to support her argument that she was not a Little.
“Yes. Even in class.”
“That’s not fair!”
Taking her arm, he guided her down over his left knee, her bare bottom propped up high over his thigh. “I think it’s entirely fair. I want you to remember that no matter where you go on this Ranch, no matter what you are doing, you are my Little girl and as such you will be expected to follow my rules at all times, along with the Ranch rules.”
“Even if you’re not with me?”
“Especially when I’m not with you. And I fully expect you to inform me if you’ve broken any of your rules when I am not around. There’s no point in having the rules if you’re not going to be honest with me when you break them.”
So much for saving up all her f-bombs to use with her friends. “This sucks.”
“I’m sorry you think that, little one. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as you think once you get used to it.” Cupping her bottom, he gave the flesh a gentle squeeze. “Now, this first ten is for rolling your eyes at Daddy.”
Pain, sharper than she’d expected, radiated across the sensitive skin where her ass and thighs met. Before she could protest, a second swat landed on the opposite side, and then a third in the exact same spot as the first.
All ten swats were delivered right to her sit-spots, but she managed to keep herself from crying out or making too much of a fuss, even though it stung a good bit.
“Are you going to give Daddy an attitude when you disagree with something I’ve said or done?”
“Umm…”
“Eliza.” Her name was a warning, and she couldn’t help but squirm at the sound of it.
“I can’t say yes! You already have lying on the stupid Naughty Girl chart! And I’ll try not to have so much of an attitude, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to control it completely.”
“Thank you for your honesty, little one. I’ll accept ‘trying’ for now, as long as you understand you will end up here every single time you roll your eyes or otherwise cop an attitude with me.”
“Fine.”
Two more swats landed, right where the first ten had, and she yelped at the renewed sting. “Ow! What was that for?”
“What is the proper response when you’re addressing your Dominant during a punishment, little girl? ”
Well, she couldn’t really say she hadn’t deserved those two extra. She knew better. “Yes, Sir.”
“Much better.” He gave her bottom a gentle pat. “This next ten is for using naughty words at dinner. I’m going to warn you, once you’ve gotten your three strikes for this particular rule, the next step is getting your bottom paddled while holding a bar of soap between your teeth. Am I making myself clear, little one?”
“Yes, Sir,” she ground out through clenched teeth.
“Good.”
The next set of ten were even harder. Or maybe they just hurt more because of the first set of spanks. Whatever the reason, tears were blurring her vision by the time he laid down the final two swats across her bottom.
“Up you go, little one. You took your spanking so well and Daddy is very proud of you.”
Something in her chest shifted painfully at his words. When was the last time anyone had ever told her they were proud of her?
Letting herself be helped up, she gave into the ache inside her and curled up on his lap, snuggling into his embrace as he held her tightly and told her what a good girl she was.
Before that moment, she would have said she didn’t enjoy praise. But something about the way Samuel did it just hit different from everyone who had come before him. Or maybe she was just so tired of feeling like a bad girl at that moment she would have accepted it from anyone. She wasn’t sure.
And not being sure of her own feelings was the worst part about all of this.
“We should get you in bed, little one. You’ve had a long day and you need your rest for tomorrow.”
“But it’s not even nine o’clock. ”
“We can discuss bedtimes tomorrow. For tonight, you’re going to get ready for bed and lie down, even if you don’t feel sleepy. You can read for a bit if you’d like.”
“Can I play on my phone?”
“For thirty minutes. It’s not good for Little girls to have too much screen time, especially right before bed.”
“Well, since I’m not Little, I should be allowed to have more screen time.”
“You’re going to be trading your screen time for corner time if you keep arguing with me.”
The threat was delivered so easily, without him even raising his voice, she nearly shivered. Somehow, it was scarier in that breezy tone of his than it would have been if he’d gotten all stern with her like he had at dinner.
And since she had no desire to spend even one minute in the corner, she did something she rarely did: She gave in. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good girl. Go brush your teeth and wash your face. Daddy will come tuck you in when you’re ready for bed.”
The “getting ready for bed” process took significantly longer than usual, since she had to find everything in her duffel bag before she could follow his instructions. And if she used that as an excuse to delay her bedtime by a solid thirty minutes, well, who could blame her?
When she’d finally run out of reasons to delay, she climbed into bed. Samuel joined her, sitting on the side of the bed and watching her with those eyes that saw far more than she cared to admit.
“I know we’ve had a rough first day, but I want you to know I’m very glad you agreed to my guardianship.”
“Really?” She’d just assumed that, like her, it was something that had been thrust on him against his wishes.
“Yes.” Reaching out, he tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear. “You’re a good girl, Eliza. And I see so much potential in you. I hope you’ll trust me enough to help you unlock it.”
“Good luck,” she said with a snort. “My parents tried for almost twenty years to unlock my ‘potential’ before they finally gave up on me.”
“I want you to look at me, Eliza.” He waited for her to meet his serious gaze before he continued, “No matter what you do, no matter how naughty you are, I will never give up on you. That is a promise I’m making to you right now. And you’ll learn I am a man who believes in keeping his promises.”
“Pinky swear?” Wiggling her hand out from beneath her covers, she held up a fist with her little finger sticking up.
And maybe it was a little childish, but it made her heart beat a little faster when he hooked his pinky with hers and leaned in to press a kiss to their joined fingers. “I give you the most solemn of pinky swears, little one.”
“You can’t break a pinky swear. It’s illegal.”
“I’m aware.”
“What if you regret it?”
“I won’t.”
He would. But she was too caught up in the idea of someone caring enough to stick by her no matter what to push the issue. “Okay.”
They released their pinkies and he leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead. And her heart, which was already threatening to beat right out of her chest, pounded a little harder, a little faster.
“Sleep tight, my sweet little Eliza. I’ll be back in thirty minutes for your phone.”
She’d expected to fight him for more phone time. But ten minutes into one of her favorite games, the exhaustion of the day finally got to her, and the phone fell from her limp fingers as sleep dragged her under.