Chapter 24. Kit #2
He waits.
"Of having to admit it. Of calling you when you'd probably already been trying to reach me. I don't know."
Soren nods once. "That part is the infraction."
My face heats.
"You had a communication problem you didn't create. Then you found the solution standing all around you and chose not to use it because you were uncomfortable."
Fuck. When he says it like that. "I'm sorry."
"I know." His forehead touches mine briefly. "You don't get punished for batteries dying. You do get held accountable for knowing how to fix the communication problem and deciding to disappear instead."
"Yes, Daddy."
He kisses my forehead. "It's okay, baby boy. Daddy isn't mad."
My throat tightens.
"You'll still have a consequence."
"Okay."
He watches me for a moment. "Would you be comfortable with a public spanking?"
My reaction surprises even me. I giggle. When I was with Charles, we used to do public scenes at Redline all the time. I loved them.
"Yes, Daddy."
Soren's mouth curves because he sees exactly how excited I am, and I see that he likes my answer too.
"All right." He lowers his voice slightly. "It'll be two parts. One tonight. One tomorrow morning."
I blink. "Two?"
"You knew you had access to a phone and deliberately chose not to check in."
I pout.
"Yes, Daddy."
"Good boy."
Then he reaches for his belt. My eyes drop. Oh. Fuck.
Soren notices. "Belt okay?"
My entire body goes hot. "Yes."
His eyebrow goes up.
"Yes, Daddy."
“Before your next ride, we're also adding a battery check to Rule Three."
I groan.
"We'll talk about exactly what that looks like together."
"Okay.”
"Good boy."
Then Soren leads me through the door into Redline's main kink space.
The lighting is lower here, pendant bulbs glowing amber above padded sections of floor.
The common room doesn't disappear behind us so much as soften, all the voices dropping into a different register.
There are cages, crosses, spanking benches, scenes already happening in several corners.
Word travels through Redline at supernatural speed. By the time Soren gets me halfway across the room, the audience is assembling. Mainly my friends. Because my friends enjoy watching me suffer.
He chooses a spanking bench near the back wall, solid wood, well-used, the padding worn smooth where bodies have spent a lot of time. I've seen this bench a hundred times. I've watched other people bend over it. I've been over it myself once before, long ago.
Soren stops beside it. His hand leaves my back.
"Jacket off."
I shrug it off. The room is warm enough for the T-shirt underneath. I fold the jacket and put it on a nearby stool.
Soren stands beside the bench with the belt folded loosely in one hand, his expression calm.
Then I lower myself over the bench. The position is familiar from the shop and the apartment: hips over the padded edge, weight on my forearms, chest against vinyl.
What's different is the audience. I can't see most of them because my face is angled toward the wall, but I can feel them behind me.
I fucking love it.
Soren lowers my jeans and my briefs. Fuck, fuck, fuck. His hand settles at the small of my back.
"Still green?"
"Green, Daddy."
The belt lifts.
The first strike lands.
Fire.
I jump, breath catching hard enough that my fingers curl into the padding. My boots shift against the floor.
"Ouch!"
The sound escapes before I can stop it. The second strike lands across a different part of my backside.
"Fuuuuck!"
I dance slightly against the bench. Soren waits until I settle, his hand staying on my back.
Then another. And another.
Each one lands with enough weight to make my whole body react, but never in exactly the same place. By the time I've lost track of the number, my ass is on fire and my cock is painfully hard.
The room is loud around me. Someone near the door lets out a low appreciative whistle.
Then Dex, unmistakable: "That's it! Get him!"
I laugh despite myself.
"Thank you," I call over my shoulder, voice strained. "I hate all of you."
That gets a bigger reaction. The room erupts with cheers, a couple of howls, somebody laughing so hard they choke. Underneath all of it, steady as a metronome, Soren's belt keeps landing.
It hurts like fuck. It is also delicious. I kick once and squirm. Soren's hand presses more firmly into my back, grounding, not trapping. I know how to stop him. Red. Three taps. Neither one crosses my mind as something I actually want.
The last strike lands harder than the others. I whine and jump against the bench.
Then it's over. Soren's hand replaces the belt, rubbing slow circles, and my whole body melts.
"The first part of your consequence is done," he says quietly, just for me.
I breathe out. "Okay, Daddy."
"Still good?"
I check. Body. Head. The happy, buzzy warmth spreading through me.
"Very."
I hear the smile in his voice. "Good boy."
He helps me upright. He pulls my jeans and my briefs up. Then, because apparently privacy has been canceled entirely, he turns toward the room.
"Kit's second spanking is tomorrow morning."
The room immediately wakes back up.
"This one before bedtime," Soren says. "The second after he wakes up."
"That's cruel!" someone calls.
"Can we watch that one too?" Dex shouts. "I need a reason to wake up early!"
I flip him off. That only makes everyone laugh harder.
Soren continues, calm as ever. "And before Kit takes another ride without me, he and I will be adding a battery check to Rule Three."
"Fifty percent minimum!" Allie calls.
I whip around. "Absolutely not."
She looks delighted. "Sixty!"
"You're not helping."
Soren's mouth twitches. "We'll negotiate it privately."
"Thank you, Daddy."
"Don't sound so relieved yet."
Fuck.
Hands find me almost as soon as Soren steps back. My people. Sol hauls me upright properly by the shoulder. Someone presses a cold bottle of water into my hand. Ni clinks his own bottle against it. Then Dex is beside me, arm thrown around my shoulders and squeezing hard enough to make me stagger.
"Fucking traitor," I tell him.
"You loved it."
"I hope your Kawasaki develops an oil leak."
"See? This is why you get punished."
Allie slaps me between the shoulder blades hard enough to knock me forward half a step. I laugh. My backside throbs. My friends crowd around me. Soren stands close enough that I can reach him without thinking. I take a drink of water.
Everything hurts pleasantly. Everything is loud. Everybody knows exactly what happened. Nobody is looking at me like I'm strange. Nobody is going anywhere.
I'm so fucking happy.