What Bad Girls Deserve (The Institute: Bad Girls #10)

Chapter 1

L ouisa

When Charlie told me about the party at his distributor’s—Walker’s—apartment that night, I knew something shitty would happen there. I felt my stomach twist as Charlie explained that Walker had specifically asked for me to come to the downtown penthouse for tonight’s gathering.

“I’m not going,” I said immediately, crossing my arms. “That creep is always touching me or whispering shit about what he wants to do with both of us. I hate being in the same room with him.”

Charlie’s face hardened in that way that always made me nervous.

“Listen, Lou, Walker likes you. He asked for you specifically. You should be fucking grateful he wants to see your face at a party like this one. Most girls would kill to get inside that apartment tonight, with all the catering and shit.”

“Most girls don’t know what a predator he is,” I muttered, but I could already feel my resolve weakening.

The reality was I didn’t have many options.

Six months ago, I’d been a college freshman with scholarships and plans.

Now I was sleeping in Charlie’s bed and selling molly to sorority girls to keep a roof over my head.

“Wear that black dress,” Charlie said, already scrolling through his phone as if the matter was settled. “The tight one.”

I stared at him, wondering how I’d ended up here.

Charlie wasn’t even that cute—just another hustler with a crooked smile who’d seemed like a lifeline when my world was collapsing.

We’d hooked up a few times in the beginning, but lately he barely touched me.

Not that I missed it; sex with Charlie had always felt like a transaction, something I endured because it made him happy and kept me safe.

The irony was that I’d once thought sleeping with him gave me some kind of leverage. Now I realized he’d just moved on to using me in other ways.

“What time?” I asked finally, hating the defeat in my voice.

“Nine. And Lou?” He looked up from his phone. “Don’t embarrass me tonight. Walker’s been good to us, and there’ll be important people there.”

I nodded, already dreading whatever ‘important people’ meant in Charlie’s world. As I headed to the bathroom to shower, I tried to ignore a creeping feeling in my belly that tonight would change everything, and not in a way I would like.

At the party, Walker’s fingers dug into my ass the moment I reluctantly stepped forward for the obligatory greeting hug. His hand squeezed hard enough to make me flinch, his whiskey-soured breath hot against my ear.

“You look fucking delicious tonight, Lou,” he murmured, letting his hand linger far too long.

I shot a desperate glance at Charlie, hoping he’d intervene, but he was busy scanning the room like he needed to take inventory of everyone there. He didn’t even look my way. The betrayal stung worse than Walker’s wandering hands.

“Come with me,” Walker commanded, his fingers wrapping around my wrist. “Got someone special you need to meet.”

He led us down a hallway away from the thumping bass and drunken laughter.

Charlie followed without question, like an obedient dog.

Walker pushed open a heavy door at the end of the corridor, revealing a wood-paneled room where a single man sat in a leather armchair, nursing what looked like an expensive scotch.

The stranger didn’t belong here. Among Walker’s crowd of drug dealers and party girls, this man was something else entirely.

Tall, with military-precise posture even while seated, he wore a tailored suit that probably cost more than everything I owned.

But it was his eyes that made my stomach clench—steel-gray and calculating, they assessed me with unsettling intensity.

“Lou, this is Jax,” Walker announced, his hand settling possessively on my lower back. “Jax, the girl I told you about.”

Jax nodded once, his expression unreadable.

Walker’s smile turned predatory as he looked between us. “Jax has been extremely helpful to our operation lately. Opened doors I could never have accessed otherwise.” Accessed. What an asshole. Walker always wanted to sound smart, and he always ended up sounding even stupider.

He gave me a little push forward, as he continued in a way that made the floor drop out from under me.

“And I promised him a token of my appreciation. Jax, Lou here is going to show you a good time with that pretty mouth of hers.”

My blood went cold. “What the fuck?” I hissed, whipping around to face Walker.

Jax didn’t move from his chair, just watched the scene unfold with those unnerving eyes.

“You heard me,” Walker said, all pretense of friendliness gone. “On your knees for my friend.”

I turned to Charlie, disbelief making my voice shake. “You’re okay with this?”

Charlie wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Just do what he says, Lou.”

“No,” I said, backing away. “I’m not some fucking party favor you can pass around.”

Walker’s face darkened. “You ungrateful little?—”

“Bring her here,” Jax said. “I think I can persuade her.”

I felt a mortifying, traitorous heat bloom between my legs at the sound of his words.

Something about the cool confidence in Jax’s voice made my body react in ways my mind tried desperately to reject.

The thought of being ‘persuaded’ by those obviously strong hands sent an electric current straight to my core, and I hated myself for it.

“Bring her to me,” Jax commanded again, his eyes never leaving mine.

Walker smirked. “You heard him, Charlie. Deliver the merchandise.”

Charlie hesitated for just a second before grabbing my arm. “Come on, Lou. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“Get your hands off me!” I shrieked, twisting violently in his grip. I kicked backward, connecting with his shin. “I’m not your fucking property!”

Charlie grunted in pain, but tightened his hold, wrapping both arms around my waist and lifting me off the floor as I thrashed. My heels caught the edge of an end table, sending a crystal ashtray crashing to the floor.

“Jesus Christ, control your bitch,” Walker snapped as Charlie struggled to carry me the few steps to where Jax remained seated, watching the scene with detached interest.

“Let me go!” I screamed, my voice raw with panic and rage as Charlie deposited me beside Jax’s chair. I tried to bolt, but in one fluid motion, Jax reached out and caught my wrist, tugging me forward with such unexpected force that I stumbled directly across his lap.

Before I could process what was happening, I found myself face-down over his knees, my ass elevated in a position that made my cheeks burn with humiliation. His left arm locked firmly across my back, pinning me in place with surprising strength.

“What the hell do you think you’re—” I began, but my words died in my throat as I felt his free hand grasp the hem of my tight black dress and deliberately pull it up, exposing my thighs and the thin black thong I wore underneath.

“Young ladies who use such filthy language,” Jax said in a calm, almost instructional tone, “need to learn the value of old-fashioned discipline.”

The cool air of the room kissed my exposed skin as he tugged my underwear down just enough to bare my bottom completely. I froze in shock, mortified by the vulnerability of my position and the audience watching my humiliation.

“You can’t do this,” I whispered, my earlier defiance crumbling under the weight of my exposed position. “This is assault.”

“This,” Jax replied evenly, “is a consequence.” His hand came down with a sharp crack against my right cheek, the sting immediate and shocking.

I gasped, more from surprise than pain. I’d expected many things tonight—being pressured for sex, maybe having to fight off wandering hands—but not this ritualized punishment that felt like it belonged to another century.

Another sharp smack landed, harder this time, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. The room fell silent except for the sound of Jax’s hand connecting with my bare skin.

“Tell me, Charlie,” Jax said conversationally, as if we were discussing the weather instead of my exposed ass, “have you ever disciplined Louisa like this?”

I twisted my neck to see Charlie’s face turning a deep shade of red. He shuffled his feet, looking everywhere but at me.

“No,” he mumbled finally. “Never saw the need.”

“Never saw the need,” Jax repeated, his tone mocking as his hand caressed the spot he’d just struck. “Look at how she’s responding. Her body is practically begging for correction.”

My cheeks burned with shame because I knew he was right.

In the midst of the humiliation and pain, my body had continued to betray me.

I could feel the wetness growing between my legs, the way my nipples had hardened against the fabric of my dress.

The clinical way Jax discussed my arousal made it somehow worse—and inexplicably more exciting.

“If you’ve never spanked her,” Jax continued, “you’ve clearly never understood what she needs sexually.

You’ve never trained her to please a man the way she so obviously craves to be trained.

” His fingers traced the curve of my bottom, making me shiver involuntarily.

“Let me demonstrate what this little girl has been missing.”

“I don’t need your fucking demonstration,” I hissed, finding my voice again. “And I’m no one’s fucking little girl .”

In response, Jax brought his hand down with stunning force, the crack echoing through the room. I cried out, unprepared for the intensity.

“Language, young lady,” he warned.

“What?” I gasped.

“You will speak with the proper decorum from now on. You may call me Daddy or Sir .”

What followed seemed like a methodical, calibrated destruction of my defenses.

Jax spanked me with precise, measured strokes that gradually increased in intensity.

Each time his hand connected with my flesh, fire bloomed across my skin.

Between strikes, his fingers would trace the heated flesh, sometimes dipping dangerously close to where I had grown mortifyingly wet.

By what I thought was the tenth or eleventh swat, I had begun to squirm uncontrollably over his lap. By fifteen or so, tears streamed down my face. By what must have represented at least twenty spanks, I was sobbing openly, all pretense of resistance shattered.

Through my tears, I could see Charlie watching with a strange mix of horror and fascination.

Walker looked amused, leaning against the wall with a smirk.

I should have felt nothing but hatred for all of them, but my actual emotions had gotten much too complex for me to tease any single one of them out.

I did hate Charlie, and I hated Walker even more…

but toward the one I should have despised most of all, this weird interloper, my ideas and feelings seemed almost the opposite of what I knew they should have been.

Before I could stop my brain from going there, a thought formed… one I wanted to pretend had never risen from the depths of my mind. Finally, a real man. A man who knows how to keep a naughty little girl like me in line.

“Stand up,” Jax commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument. “We need to assess what we’re working with.”

I stumbled to my feet, my legs trembling and unsteady. My face was wet with tears, my bottom burning from the punishment he’d administered.

Jax looked at Charlie with cold authority. “Take her clothes off and bend her over the coffee table. I need to inspect her properly.”

My heart hammered in my chest. This was happening too fast, spiraling out of control.

“Do what he says,” Walker ordered Charlie, his voice thick with anticipation.

Charlie approached me with hesitant hands. I should have fought him—should have screamed and kicked and bitten. But as his fingers found the zipper of my dress, I felt only a shameful, pulsing need between my legs. My resistance felt performative at best as he slid the dress down my body.

“Stop,” I whispered, but the word had no conviction behind it.

He unhooked my bra with surprising gentleness, letting it fall to the floor. My nipples hardened instantly in the cool air of the room. My thong was still bunched up around my thighs, and when he hooked his fingers in the waistband, I placed my hands over his.

“Please,” I said, not even sure what I meant to ask for.

Charlie couldn’t meet my eyes as he pulled the last scrap of fabric down my legs, leaving me completely naked in front of these three men.

“On your knees,” Charlie murmured, guiding me down.

He positioned me in front of the low coffee table, facing away from Jax, then pressed between my shoulder blades until I bent forward, my chest against the cold glass surface. The position left me completely exposed, my backside presented to Jax like an offering.

“Hold her wrists,” Jax instructed.

Charlie moved around the table, taking my hands in his. His palms were sweaty, and I could see the conflict in his eyes as he secured me in place.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed silently.

I felt Jax’s presence behind me before his hands touched my skin. He traced the bruises he’d left on my bottom, making me flinch.

“Beautiful,” he commented. “The way her skin pinks up under discipline.” His fingers moved lower, brushing against the wetness between my thighs. “And look how ready she is. Her body knows what it needs, even when her mind thinks differently.”

I pressed my face against the table’s hard surface, completely humiliated by my body’s betrayal.

“Walker, come verify what I’ve found,” Jax said. “Charlie’s little Louisa is absolutely dripping from her punishment.”

Walker’s coarse laugh filled the room as he moved behind me. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I could disappear as I felt another pair of hands on my exposed flesh.

“Fucking hell,” Walker chuckled. “Charlie, man, your girlfriend’s like a river down here.”