5
Julia
Electricity buzzed under her skin as Owen’s piercing blue eyes stared down at her. Was this why brats behaved the way they did? So they could feel this excitement all the time?
“Did you just tell me no, Julia Lynne?”
Oh, she was in so much trouble. Butterflies danced and rolled inside of her stomach while her heart hammered against her ribcage. “Ummm…”
Quick as a snake, his hand moved from her face to her hair, gripping tightly enough for her to squeal at the flash of pain. Using her braid to guide her, Owen pushed her towards the little bathroom off her bedroom.
Fear mingled with arousal when he released his hold on her hair and crouched down to open the cabinet beneath the sink. Despite a few threats from Connor when she’d lost her temper in the kitchen, she’d never actually had her mouth washed out before.
“I had a feeling I would be needing these, so I took the liberty of purchasing a few new bars before this weekend.” His tone was even, almost conversational, but the hard set of his jaw and the glint in his eye gave him away.
It had been far too long since she’d had a hard, thorough punishment. The kind that left her weak and shaky and empty when it was done. The need for it was a hunger inside of her, scraping her stomach raw with want.
Setting the unopened bar of soap on the sink, Owen picked up the heavy wooden hairbrush he’d used on her during her first spanking. She only had a moment to wonder when he’d brought it back upstairs before he’d wrapped an arm around her waist and bent her in half, tucking her up against his side as he flipped her skirt up over her back.
“Telling me no was a very naughty thing to do, wasn’t it, little girl?”
Before she could answer, the hard, unforgiving wood of the brush cracked against her unprotected bottom half a dozen times, three in the exact same spot on each cheek. She sucked in air, holding it until the assault stopped and the breath exploded out of her in a loud whoosh.
“I understand this weekend is difficult for you, Julia. But defying me, calling me names, refusing to use my proper title — all that will get you is a sore, red bottom.”
Another set of six, this time delivered to the sensitive crevice where ass met thigh. Tears burned at the corners of her eyes, but she ruthlessly blinked them back.
“I’m not the enemy here, babygirl. And the sooner you recognize that, the sooner I can help you deal with everything you’ve been bottling up inside.”
And with that, another round of stinging, unimaginable pain exploded across her backside.
Only this time, he didn’t stop at six. Didn’t stop at all, in fact, until every inch of her bottom and the very tops of her thighs had been scorched by the brush over and over again. Didn’t stop until her frantic cries turned to sobs and her wild thrashing ceased as she slumped against him. Didn’t stop until every ounce of fight had left her, until she’d been reduced to a very sorry, well-punished little girl.
“There we go, little one.” Maneuvering over to the edge of the tub, Owen sat and pulled her onto his lap as she wept. “Have yourself a good cry. Daddy’s got you.”
Relief filled up all the empty places the punishment had carved out. Curling into him, she clutched at his shirt, not caring that her tears were soaking the material beneath her cheek.
Finally. The tension that had been building inside of her ever since she’d agreed to this weekend had finally been released, leaving her weak and trembling in the wake of her punishment.
With a final, heavy sigh, the last of her tears quieted and she relaxed in Owen’s embrace. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. Do you feel better, baby?”
“Yes, sir.” Now that she was done crying and starting to feel more settled, embarrassment crept up her spine. “I’m sorry I was such a brat. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
“Other than an incredible amount of stress between accepting the loss of a man you loved, then your job, nearly getting yourself embroiled in a legal battle you had no hope of winning, then being forced to work a job you hate for almost two years?”
She thought she’d used up all of her tears, but more trickled out from the corners of her eyes. “I thought I loved him. He used to get so annoyed with the Littles and their antics. I thought if I could just show him what a good submissive I was, he’d notice me. But all he noticed was Hayleigh.”
There was bitterness there, but it was more the memory of it than the actual taste. Like a food she remembered trying once but couldn’t quite recall exactly why she disliked it.
“I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
She waited for the ‘but’. For the lecture about how, despite feeling like her heart had been ripped from her chest, she hadn’t had the right to behave the way she had.
When it didn’t come, she sighed again, allowing the simple acknowledgement of her pain to warm her. It seemed to fill her up, sealing some of the cracks inside of her.
“This sucks.” An understatement, but those two simple words still managed to convey exactly what she was feeling.