Chapter 13
VANESSA
There’s no time to discuss an escape plan with my fellow captives with Axel hovering over us the entire time. But not even twenty minutes into our game, Lanie gives us the perfect excuse for some time out from under her Daddy’s watchful eye.
“Daddy, I’m bored,” she whines, sounding so much like a Little girl I almost forget she’s actually a full-grown adult. “I wanna go outside and play!”
An indulgent smile stretches across Axel’s face. “All right, we can go outside for a bit before lunch. Who wants to come with us?”
My hand shoots up so fast it yanks something in my shoulder and I just barely manage not to wince. “Me, me! I wanna go outside!”
Axel’s smile dips down into a frown. “We’ll have to find you some proper play clothes. Tabby might have something that will fit.”
With an excited squeal, Tabby jumps to her feet. “I have so many clothes! Come on!”
Grabbing me by the hand, she ignores Axel calling our names and drags me to my feet and out into the hall. Where we are stopped by her Daddy, his arms crossed and a playfully stern expression on his face. “And where do you think you’re going, little girl?”
“Umm.” Immediately dropping my hand, Tabby shoves both of hers behind her to protect her tulle-covered bottom. “Up to my nursery. Nessie needs something to wear outside and Uncle Axel thinks my clothes will fit her.”
“It’s very nice of you to want to share your clothes, little one, but I heard Uncle Axel calling for you. Were you ignoring him?”
Pink slashes across Tabby’s cheeks as her gaze lowers to the ground. “Maybe a little. We were just excited!”
My instinct to protect these women from the people keeping them prisoner kicks in and I step in between Tabby and Colt, jerking my chin up as if daring him to touch me. “Leave her alone! We didn’t do anything wrong!”
“What’s all this commotion?”
The sound of Dane’s voice strips me of some of my bravado. But I’m not about to back down when Tabby was just trying to do something nice, so I turn and glare up at this man who calls himself my Daddy.
“We’re going outside to play and Tabby was going to help me find something to wear. And Colt is being a big fat jerk about it.”
Beside me, Tabby makes a distressed sort of sound, but I refuse to take my eyes off Dane. To my surprise, however, he doesn’t immediately move to punish me. Instead, he nods slowly, as if he’s giving my point of view some serious consideration.
“I see. And did you check with the grownup in charge before leaving the room you were in?”
Heat infuses my cheeks, a mixture of both anger and embarrassment at being treated like a child once again. “Well, no, but he knew where we were going.”
“Uh-huh. And when I left you with Uncle Axel, what did I tell you?”
God, I hate the way he makes me feel so very small, seemingly without even trying at all. “To listen to what he told me to do.”
“And do you think ignoring him and leaving the room Daddy left you in was a very good choice?”
Some hidden instinct inside me is nudging me to drop my gaze, to show him I’m sorry before this gets out of control.
But I’m far too stubborn for such things, so I keep my eyes locked on his.
“Probably not. But we weren’t going to do anything naughty.
I just wanted some clothes so I could go play outside. ”
“I understand that. And I know adjusting to all the new rules is hard. Which is why I’m going to give you a choice.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up in warning. “What kind of choice?”
“You can either accept a spanking from Uncle Axel and me for not listening, or you can spend the day sitting quietly on the couch while your cousins go out and play.”
It is, in the most technical sense, a choice.
Just a really shitty one.
But I don’t want to miss out on a chance to explore and look for escape routes, and maybe even pick my “cousins’” brains about my options, so there really is only one option available to me. “Fine. I’ll take the spanking.”
“All right.” Bending down, he hoists me up onto his hip and glances over his shoulder. “Colt, if it’s all right with you, we’ll meet you up in Tabby’s nursery to pick out some clothes.”
“Of course. I have my own naughty Little girl to deal with. Come on, little firecracker.”
“Aw, but Daddy. I don’t want a spankin’!”
Tabby’s protests fade as Colt carries her up the stairs to her fate. I don’t have long to worry about her, though, before Dane makes his way into the living room where Axel is still seated on the couch, watching us with a smug look that makes me want to punch him in his stupid face.
Granted, I’d probably break my fingers on his jaw, but it would probably still be really fucking satisfying.
“All right, little fox. Your Uncle Axel is going to spank you for ignoring him and leaving the room without permission, and then you’re going over Daddy’s knee to make sure the lesson sticks.”
“Hey!” Jumping to her feet, Josie plants her fists on her hips and glares up at Dane. “That’s not fair! Tabby isn’t getting two spankings!”
“And that was a decision her Daddy made,” Dane explains calmly. “But Vanessa broke a rule I specifically laid out for her, so she is getting the punishment she was promised.”
“That’s not—”
“Josephine.” Dane’s voice is hard in a way that speaks to the finality of his decision. And judging by the way Josie’s bottom lip puffs out and she huffs with annoyance, the tone isn’t lost on her. “Sit down, or I will spank you myself and then you and Vanessa can both get double spankings.”
With another loud huff, Josie drops down onto her butt and folds her arms. Despite her outward obedience, she never stops glaring at Dane, but that doesn’t seem to bother him in the least.
“Thank you for listening, Josie-Posie.” Turning to me, he fixes his expression into what I’m starting to think of as his “stern Daddy” face, but unlike last night when I kicked him, this feels more for show than actual anger.
I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that knowing he isn’t really mad settles the nerves jumping in my stomach, at least somewhat.
“When Daddy leaves you with another grownup, I expect you to listen to them and do as you are told. It was very naughty of you to leave the room without permission, Vanessa Dawn.”
“I don’t see why,” I mumble, feeling more like a Little girl than I have this entire time. “We weren’t doing anything bad!”
“That is not the point, little girl. I heard Uncle Axel calling for you all the way down the hall, so I know good and well you heard him too. Come here and let me get that diaper off you so we can take care of your naughtiness and then you can go outside and play.”
I really do want to get outside, though for my own reasons.
Regardless of the why, it’s pretty clear I’m only getting there if I submit to this punishment, so when Daddy reaches for the tabs on my diaper I don’t fight him.
And when Axel pulls me over his lap, I resist the urge to kick him in the face like I did with Daddy last night.
But just barely.
“When you are under my supervision, it’s my responsibility to ensure you’re safe and cared for, Vanessa,” Axel lectures in his deep, rumbling voice. “I cannot do that if you leave my sight and ignore me when I try to call you back. Hopefully this will help you remember that going forward.”
His heavy hand connects with my bottom, and it’s all I can do not to cry out at the pain. It’s impossible to say who spanks harder, but Axel definitely spanks faster. Far too fast for me to keep track of the swats he rains down on my bare skin.
All I know is that it’s too much for me to bear with the stoicism I’d imagined when I first let myself be pulled over his lap. Only a few swats in I’m kicking and squirming for my life to try and escape his punishing palm.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The plea bursts out of me without my permission, humiliating me all over again. “Please, Uncle Axel! I won’t be naughty again!”
To my complete and utter shock, he stops spanking and a deep laugh rumbles in his chest. “Oh, little one. Nobody is expecting you to be perfectly well-behaved all the time.”
“It sure seems like it.” Again I feel impossibly childish, sulking over this giant’s lap with my bottom on fire from the spanking he’s just delivered.
“I’m sure it does.” His voice isn’t unkind, which somehow I find both comforting and humiliating.
“But I promise we don’t expect anything of the sort.
You are free to be as naughty as you want.
” Chuckling again, he pats my aching bottom.
“You are not, however, free from the consequences of that naughtiness.”
That makes sense, more than I want it to. “Got it.”
“Good girl. Do you want a snuggle before it’s your Daddy’s turn to spank your naughty little bottom?”
Some part of me—I suspect the same part that was pushing me to act so submissive with Dane earlier—really does want a snuggle. To be held and comforted and told I’m a good girl in spite of what my red ass might say.
But that way lies madness, so I shake my head. “No, thank you.”
“Very well.”
Am I imagining the disappointment in his voice? I must be, I assure myself as he helps me to my feet. There’s no possible way he’s feeling slighted because I didn’t let him snuggle me.
Right?
I’m distracted from my mental wanderings by the sound of Dane’s voice, firm but tinged with amusement. “Come here, Vanessa.”
It suddenly occurs to me I’m completely naked from the waist down in front of multiple strangers and one of my closest friends. Face flaming as hot as my bottom feels, I tug at the hem of Dane’s shirt as I shuffle over to him.
“None of that,” he scolds gently, swatting lightly at my hands. “Naughty Little girls don’t need privacy.”
“I did not consent to all these people seeing me naked,” I grumble, earning myself a wicked laugh from my tormentor.
“That ship has sailed, don’t you think, little fox?”
A memory of me, splayed out atop their makeshift altar while he strips me naked pops into my mind and all I can do is scowl. “Still. This seems excessive.”
Brown eyes blaze with hunger. “Trust me, little fox. I can be far more over the top if you’d like. This is me showing restraint.”
I really, really do not want to know what his version of over the top looks like, so I don’t argue any further as he pulls me down over his lap and flips the shirt up to bare my bottom.
A rough hand cups my ass, squeezing the freshly spanked skin, and I have to roll my lips together to stop the pained whimper from escaping.
“It was very naughty of you to leave the room without waiting for Uncle Axel, little girl. Next time you’re tempted to ignore the instructions another grown-up gives you, I want you to remember this spanking.”
Just like Axel, he spanks hard and fast, covering every inch of my already aching bottom with blistering swats.
And just like when Axel spanked me, it takes almost no time at all for me to succumb to the pain. “I’m sorry, Daddy! I’m sorry!”
To my horror, he doesn’t stop the way Axel did.
Instead, he shifts his focus lower, catching those sensitive spots where my ass meets my thighs.
Spots that are still sore from my whipping last night.
Tears well in my eyes and when I open my mouth to apologize again, a sob bursts out of me instead, furthering my humiliation.
“Poor little fox,” Dane murmurs as he scoops me up, cradling me on his lap, my aching ass pressing against the stiff denim of his jeans and making me cry even harder. “Are you going to be a good girl and follow the rules from now on?”
“Y-yes, Daddy,” I choke out. Right now, I’m willing to say whatever he wants to hear, even if I don’t mean it.
After all, it’s not like he'll be able to spank me for lying once I escape.