The rest of the haunted house I don’t even get scared. My mind is fixated on his words, and if he’s actually going to follow through on them. Something tells me he’s not a guy who just says something to hear the sound of his own voice.
Before long we step through a door, which I’m expecting to be a trap, but it actually leads us outside and I exhale a breath I didn’t know I was holding, knowing I’m now safe.
Or am I.
We walk through some trees that are decorated with fake cobwebs and I have to admit it’s really cool. I’ve never really celebrated a holiday like this before. Christmas usually consisted of my dad watching whatever basketball and football games were on TV as did Thanksgiving. Halloween wasn’t really even a holiday in my house, and my dad would keep the light out in fear that some of the neighbor kids might actually come over and see him drinking his Jim Beam straight from the bottle.
This is what a family holiday feels like, and I’ve only ‘known’ Henry for a few hours. I pinch myself and yep, I can feel it. This is real. But apparently Henry has other ideas regarding how to make me feel.
“Pick one?” he says, his eyes wandering around at all the tree branches.
“Excuse me?”
“A branch. Pick one?”
“Based on what? They’re all beautiful.”
“Based on which one you want coming down on that sweet ass of yours, Little Treat.”
“What did you say?”
“I. Said. Pick. Your. Poison.”
My eyes narrow on him. I want him to hold his ground, but I need to test him to see if he will. I want him to ‘win’ this stare-down, so to speak. And he doesn’t disappoint…
“Either you pick or I will, and trust me…you won’t like the switch Daddy chooses.”
“Yes, Daddy,” I say, looking for something thin.
I break off a small branch and hand it to him, only to realize the thinness of it is actually going to sting more than a thicker branch.
My eyes lock onto his hands as he pulls back the supporting, even thinner, branches coming off the one I chose until he has a perfect spanking switch.
But perfect according to whom?
He takes my hand and drags me behind a few trees, out of sight of everyone. His eyes move to a tree just off to his right, and he nods at it.
“Assume the position.”
7
Henry
I’m hard as a steel pipe as Hannah flashes me an ‘are you kidding’ look. No, I’m not kidding. Not one fucking bit.
“Now…I’m going to count to three, and when I get to three you better have your hands plastered against that tree and your ass pressed out so I have a clear target.”
“I beg your pardon?” she fake protests, her hands on her hips and her head swirling around in a circle like an owl.
“I told you to quit the negative self-talk. You didn’t.”
“It’s a free country and I can do whatever I want, say whatever I want.” Damn, she’s really pushing my buttons now.
“Free? You belong to me, little girl. See, the thing is if I were a boy, and not a man, I’d allow the negative self-talk and manipulate you like a weak man would, but I’m not a boy nor a weak man. I’m a real man, and one who wants an equally real, and strong, woman by his side. I want you empowered, filled to the brim with self-belief and self-confidence just as you should be. You’re young, beautiful, talented, and have the world in front of you. You need to cut the negative shit out right now, get that garbage out of your head. And I’m going to help you with that right now, by stepping in where no one else but me can. See, naughty little girls who disobey face consequences. Isn’t that right?”
I lean forward and she nods. “I can’t hear you,” I whisper into her ear and I can see goosebumps immediately cover her neck.
“Yes, sir.”