I wince. “Actually I do. That’s why Papi doesn’t spank me.”
She widens her eyes. “What does he do to punish you?”
I cringe at the memory and look down at the coloring book I’m holding. I fixate on the wide variety of colors I’ve already used on the page.
“Janie…” she warns in that way friends, who don’t have secrets from each other, do.
I sigh. “It’s embarrassing,” I mumble.
“More embarrassing than having your bottom spanked as a grown-ass woman living at a much younger age on a foreign planet?”
I nod as I finger the edge of the page. I might as well tell her. She’s eventually going to find out anyway. She’s my best friend, and apparently that relationship is now going to last for hundreds of years. We won’t have secrets.
I glance around to make sure Jeikin isn’t listening. He’s with a patient at the counter. “I was very naughty the other day, and Thabo used a yooka root in my bottom to punish me.”
She winces. “I’ve heard about those. Sophie’s Papi uses them on her. She says they’re like ginger. Did it hurt?”
I nod. “It burns. But it turns out I’m kind of a pain slut, so that’s not good enough to punish me either.”
“Oh. Uh, I never realized you enjoyed pain.”
“I didn’t either.” I stroke a finger over the rainbow I drew on my picture.
“I guess we’re both learning new things about ourselves and each other as we go along.” She reaches out to hold my hand. “If the yooka doesn’t deter you, what does?” she asks gently.
I meet her gaze. “Edging.” I squirm. Even the memory of that experience makes me wet.
She swallows. “You mean like stroking you to the edge of orgasm and not letting you come?” she hisses out.
I nod. My cheeks flush. “It’s maddening.”
“I’m sure. I think I’d die.”
“I didn’t die, but I won’t be having a tantrum in the near future either.”
Her eyes pop wider. “You had a tantrum?”
I nod again. “It’s like my reality crashed down around me, and I lost it for a few minutes.” Tears tickle the corners of my eyes, but I brush them away and take a deep breath. “I love him,” I murmur, “and I understand the gravity of how different my life will be from now on, but it’s a lot to absorb and I freaked out.”
“I understand,” she reassures me, squeezing my hand. “I had a harder time than most accepting this reality. I was very defiant at first. Far naughtier than you. I gave my Papi the silent treatment and refused to do anything to get strong. I was late to walk or even pick things up with my fingers. It was the only way I could think of to be defiant. I called it mymad.” She smiles.
I lurch forward and hug her tight. “We’re here now, and we have each other.”
“I’m so glad you joined me. It makes me so happy,” she responds.
A male voice clears above us. “Who’s ready to go to the park?” Papi asks. He frowns when we lean out of our hug. “You okay?”
We both nod.
Papi lifts me out of the playpen and settles me on his hip before kissing me. “You sure, Baby girl?”
“I’m good, Papi.”
I shake the maudlin from my head as Papi carries me outside. I was asleep during the trip home from the transport vessel, so I didn’t see the duocruiser Papi has spoken of a few times. Now I do.
There are two such vehicles in the driveway. I assume the other one belongs to Chadka when he heads toward it. They’re like golf carts but single file with only one seat in each row. I’m guessing duo refers to the fact that these only hold two people.
Papi settles me in a car seat and straps a harness around me. I’m not shocked. Livy told me about this part. I’m so tightly restrained I can’t budge.