Straightening again, he raises an eyebrow at me. “Yes, little one?”
Eyes locked on the small bar of soap in his hand—is it really that small, or does it just look extra tiny because he is so very large?—I swallow hard. “I-I’ll say it if you don’t use that on me.”
“But then how will my naughty Little girl learn not to use such big girl words?”
He chuckles then, and the sound creeps up my spine like some kind of sinister little monster I can’t see.
I should beg. Plead with him for mercy as though my very life depends on it, since it very well might.
But I can’t bring myself to do it. To humiliate myself any further than he’s already managed to. “Fine,” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest and turning my head away, refusing to give him the satisfaction of watching him as he prepares my punishment.
The sound of crinkling paper as he unwraps the soap is followed by the sound of running water, and I have to swallow hard again to keep the bile from rising in my throat.
“All right, little runaway. Time to take your medicine.”
CHAPTER 4
MELANIE
Rough fingers grip my cheeks, forcing my lips to part as I try to shake my head, jerk away, anything to dislodge him. But he’s far stronger than I am, so it’s nothing for him to keep me still as the acrid scent of soap fills my nostrils.
And then it’s in my mouth, coating my tongue as I cough and sputter and gag.
“Some words are grown-up words,” he explains with a calm that seems almost obscene given the pounding of my own heart and the terror coursing through my veins. “And Little girls do not use grown up words. Daddy and your uncles and your Auntie Gray will try not to use them as much around you, but sometimes grownups need those words. If you use them, however, we will end up right back here with your mouth full of soap before Daddy spanks that naughty bottom. Am I understood, little one?”
No. I don’t understand. I don’t understandanyof this.
But I understand enough to realize that right now, compliance is my only option. So I nod as best I can with his hand still gripping my face and my mouth full of soap.
“Good girl. Another minute and then we can be done. If Daddy has to punish you for this again, it will be five wholeminutes with the soap and you’ll be holding it in your mouth while you stand in a corner with your red, welted bottom on display.”
An image pops in my head, of me facing a corner, my fluffy confection of a wedding dress hiked up around my hips with my red ass sticking out. It might actually be funny if I wasn’t so fucking terrified.
Every breath causes more bubbles to tickle my throat, which makes me gag all over again. And every choking cough brings fresh tears to my eyes, tears that run down my cheeks to mingle with the drool on my chin.
By the time he pulls the bar from my mouth, I’m ready to promise never to speak another word for the rest of my life if it means I don’t have to taste soap again.
Setting the evil bar aside, Axel reaches for a cup on the sink and fills it with water before handing it to me. “Rinse three times, and then you're going over Daddy’s knee for a hard spanking.”
I’m too grateful for the opportunity to rinse the horrible bitterness out of my mouth to really concern myself with what comes next. Taking the cup from him, I fill my mouth as much as possible, swishing the water around before spitting it out into the sink.
“Good girl. Two more times.”
Sniffling against the humiliating tears, I fill my mouth again and rinse. It isn’t until the third and final time that his words really register and I delay as much as I’m able, moving the water around my mouth over and over, even though it’s stopped really helping anything by this point. But I’m willing to do whatever it takes to delay the rest of my punishment.
Axel, however, seems to catch on relatively quickly. “Time to spit it out, little girl.”
The low growl of his voice settles low in my stomach and if my mouth wasn’t full of water I might actually have whimpered.
No.No. There is absolutelyno wayI am the least bit turned on by any of this.
Am I?
Before I can think too hard about it, a hard swat lands on my ass, shocking me into spitting out the water in my mouth. It barely stings through the layers of tulle, but the humiliation of being spanked like a naughty child burns hot along my skin.
Plucking a hand towel from the rack, he uses it to wipe my face clean, his hands oddly gentle in comparison to the rough treatment I’ve received so far and I’m not exactly sure what to make of it.
Then he gently grips my chin between his thick fingers, forcing my head back, and my heart trips in my chest. “Are you going to use any more of those naughty words, little one?”
