Chapter 34
Edie
Now that they had the poor not-a-llama calmed down, Edie was starting to see some of the humor in the situation.
She was still going to make sitting comfortably a fond memory for all of them, especially her own babygirl, but she was going to be fighting back laughter the entire time.
A rainbow alpaca. Jesus. The thing was, it wasn’t even a bad idea. While she couldn’t say she would have jumped right on it, she probably could have been easily swayed to their side. Which made her think they were, on some level, hoping to get caught being naughty.
Little brats.
“Here.” Grant looped a spare bit of rope through the ring on the alpaca’s harness. “I’ll get her hosed down and put back up, then join you all in the house.”
“Thanks.” Rising up on her toes, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “We’ll have to talk about what to do with our naughty girl after the others leave. Especially since it sounds a bit like she was the ringleader of this whole operation.”
“I have some ideas. We can talk more when everyone else goes home.”
“It’s a date.”
Humming happily under her breath, she made her way up to the house, where five Little girls in various stages of remorse and defiance were standing in front of four stern Daddies in various stages of annoyance and amusement.
The latter was mostly Rex, who looked like he was about to lose the battle with his laughter at any moment. After shooting him a hard look that had the smile dying on his lips, she folded her arms over her chest and turned to face her naughty little group.
“Carly, since you are standing here, I assume you’re feeling all right?”
The Little girl in question peeked up at her Daddy, who gave a single sharp nod. “Yes, Ma’am,” she answered meekly.
“Good. So, the story as I’ve heard is that you all decided my alpaca needed a makeover so she could get adopted, and in order to give her this makeover two of you staged a physical altercation while the others snuck into…” She paused. “Where did you get the dye from, actually?”
Five nervous Littles shifted from foot to foot as they exchanged glances. “The kitchen,” Jesse said at length. “It’s just cornstarch and food coloring, Edie, it wouldn’t have hurt her. I promise we checked to make sure it was safe first.”
Her poor Little girl looked so worried, it was a struggle to keep the stern expression on her face. “I appreciate that. It still doesn’t answer why you went through all the trouble of sneaking around when you could have simply asked me for permission.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise!” Bottom lip trembling, Jesse sent a pleading look Edie’s way. “It wasn’t even meant to be a prank! We just… wanted to help.”
“And I appreciate that. But these animals are my responsibility. I’m the one being trusted with them, so if anything had gone wrong, it would be on me.”
“We’re really sorry,” Carly chimed in, looking as miserable as her friends. Even Noelle and Ginny looked a good bit more contrite than they had back in the barn.
“Oh, you’re certainly about to be. Rex, I trust you have your pocketknife on you?”
“Always.” Looking every bit the leather-clad bad boy, Rex pulled a switchblade from his jeans and popped it open. “Come on, princess. I’ve been meaning to show you how to pick a switch, anyway.”
Two by two, they filed out of the living room to the back of the house, where there were plenty of trees to choose from. Only Jesse hung back, tears sparkling on her lashes as she stood in place, obviously waiting for something.
“Something you want to ask me, babygirl?”
“Are you really mad?” she blurted out. “Like, really, really mad?”
Though she was enjoying playing the hardass, it wasn’t fair to keep her girl in such emotional turmoil. “No, baby. I understand what you were trying to do, and I appreciate the effort. So much. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t getting your naughty bottom switched along with your friends.”
Relief flashed over Jesse’s face and the tension eased from her shoulders. “I can handle that. I just don’t want you to hate me.”
“Babygirl, I…” Edie pressed her lips together. She couldn’t truthfully say she could never hate her, because she’d spent nearly a quarter of her life doing exactly that. “It’s going to take a lot more than a couple silly pranks to make me hate you. Come here.”
Opening her arms, she waited for Jesse to rush over, pressing herself against Edie so tightly it was a wonder she could breathe. “I don’t hate you. And I’m not mad. But I do need you to learn when it’s okay to surprise me with things and when it isn’t. Okay?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’m really sorry I caused so much trouble. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know, baby.”
They were still wrapped up in each other when Grant stepped into the living room, both his brows raising. “Did I miss the big event?”
“No,” Edie assured him. “We were just clearing some things up before we went out to cut those switches.”
“Wait!” Yanking back, Jesse stared at her with her mouth slightly open. “Switches? As in plural?”
“Of course, babygirl. We need backups in case you pick a flimsy one and it breaks.”
“Oh man,” Jesse groaned. “This is gonna suck.”
Jesse
Cutting switches was much harder than she’d expected. Not only was the physical act of cutting a fresh branch from a tree more effort than she’d anticipated, just choosing one to cut was mentally exhausting. Some were definitely too big and scary, others were so thin she had a feeling they’d snap on the first impact. And Edie had made it clear that if the three she chose didn’t last as long as Edie wanted them to, they’d start the process all over again.
After what seemed like hours, they all had three switches cut and trimmed to Edie’s specifications. Now they were standing in a line, each holding their doom in their hands while the Daddies and Edie discussed what order everyone should go in.
In the end, Daddy retrieved a set of dice from one of Edie’s board games and it was decided they’d roll for it. Largest number first, smallest number last.
Jesse rolled a two.
Fucking snake eyes.
Not that she was all that anxious to experience her first switching. She knew what a skinny cane felt like, and she couldn’t imagine this would be much better.
“All right, Taylor Grace.” Edie held out her hand for Taylor’s switches. “You’re up first.”
Sighing heavily, Taylor stepped forward and handed Edie the thin branches. “We’re really, really sorry, Edie.”
“Thank you for the apology, honey. Bend over, hands on your knees, and try not to move out of position or put your hands back. I can promise that’s going to hurt you a lot more than either of us want it to if you do.”
There was nothing inherently sexy about what was happening. Taylor was still wearing her jeans—which didn’t feel remotely fair since Ginny and Carly were wearing leggings and Noelle and Jesse were wearing skirts—and this was very definitely a punishment, not a sexy scene. And yet, Jesse fidgeted in place as her clit throbbed with need as she watched her woman get into position, testing the first switch by whipping it through the air with a satisfying swish before lining it up along her target.
Edie drew her arm back and it seemed as though everyone held their breath as she brought the thin stick down across the middle of poor Taylor’s bottom. With a shocked squeal, Taylor rose up on her toes and stumbled forward a bit, but she managed to get back into place relatively quickly.
It only took about three strokes for the begging to start.
“I’m sorry, Edie, I’m sorry! I won’t ever do it again!”
“You won’t ever do what again, Taylor Grace?”
Taylor squealed again as the switch found its mark a fourth, fifth, and sixth time all in a row. “Do anything with the animals without your permission!”
“Good girl.”
Another six wrapped up the punishment, which couldn’t have been that bad because Taylor wasn’t full on sobbing when Edie let her up again. Tears were trickling down her cheeks, sure, but mostly she was just sniffling very loudly as Edie embraced her and whispered something nobody else could hear before sending her over to her Daddy.
“All right, Carly-girl. You’re next.”
So it went, with Carly, then Noelle, then Ginny all dancing and squealing their way through a dozen strokes of the switch. Poor Noelle did actually cry though, probably because her Daddy flipped her skirt up, leaving her with only her panties as protection. Which made Jesse a little nervous, because she had a feeling her Daddy and Edie were going to sentence her to the same fate.
And then it was her turn. Taking a deep breath, she got herself into position, and she only whimpered a little bit when Edie moved her fluffy skirt up out of the way.
“All right, naughty girl. You’re getting an extra six, because you are my Little girl. And I expect my Little girl to set a good example for her friends in our house. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
Emotion welled in Jesse’s chest. The guilt was still there, obviously, but there was something else. Hope and joy at being so publicly claimed. At having Edie refer to this as their house instead of hers.
Maybe they were going to make this thing between them work, after all.
“Yes, Ma’am. Crystal clear.”
Before she could think too much longer about Edie’s word choices, a familiar swish sound met her ears, a moment before a line of a billion bees stung her bottom all at once.
It was even stingier than the stingiest cane, and Jesse couldn’t keep herself from crying out as the burn settled deep into her flesh.
“Ow! Edie, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”
Two more strokes landed, each one a bit lower than the previous one, and Jesse couldn’t stay still. She popped up, throwing her hands behind her to rub the sting from her bottom.
“That’s two extra, Little girl. Get back in position.”
“But it hurts,” she whined as she forced herself to bend back over. “Please, Edie, I’ll be good forever and ever!”
She was, on some level, aware she was slipping deeper and deeper into her Little space with each word. But she didn’t care. Her friends hadn’t exactly been very big girls during their spankings, either. The only problem was, when she was this deep in her Little space, her filter all but disappeared.
Hopefully she wouldn’t say anything too embarrassing.
With every cut of the switch, she wiggled and squealed and pleaded. Until they were finally down to the last set of six.
“These extras are because you are mine, Jesse Walker. And I want you to remember it.”
The first of those six caught her right across her sit spots, and a sob burst free at the sharp pain. “I’m sorry, Mommy, I’m sorry!”
Everyone seemed to freeze, and for a moment she wasn’t sure why. And then the weight of what she’d just said hit her full force.
Oh, god. She’d just called Edie Mommy. In front of everyone.
Humiliation flooded every cell in her body, and without waiting for an answer, she jumped up and ran straight into the house, the back door slamming behind her like a gunshot. She didn’t stop running until she reached the room they’d all been sharing for nearly a month. Throwing herself on the bed, she buried her face in the pillow and burst into tears.