Chapter 12

Chapter 12

It was long past dinner by the time he left her at the dorms. She felt like she was floating on a cloud several feet off the ground. She’d thought the picnic lunch was going to be the highlight of her day, but it hadn’t even made the top five moments by the end.

Her punishment spanking had turned into a dinner date. At least, it felt like it had been a date, even if she had been the one to cook. It had been fun with just the two of them—very cozy and domestic.

She had a lot to think about. Her arousal during the spanking had been unexpected. It had made the first part, the warmup, fairly pleasant and it was probably the first spanking she’d actually enjoyed. There would have been guilt over that, except he’d “fixed” the problem by going to work on her thighs.

Even her greedy core couldn’t hold out when the backs of her legs were being seared with one blistering smack after another. Now though, the sting had started to die down and the warmth was soaking in. Between that and his kiss… she was in a state.

She almost wanted to run after Angel and ask if she could spend the night after all. The audacity of that shocked her a little bit. She was definitely not the type to jump in bed with someone she barely knew.

She didn’t need marriage. She wasn’t going to hold out until her wedding night, but she needed some sign that he was committed to her before she took things further. He seemed to understand and accept that—which was great.

Her own body however… was not so on board with waiting. There was a throbbing low in her body that practically demanded release. Angel was a temptation hard to resist.

What made it even more of a temptation was thinking about what he’d said. The part about spankings feeling different in an adult headspace made sense, of course. When she was in Little mode she wasn’t thinking about sex, and spankings were something to be avoided at all costs.

But then, when she was in Little mode, she rarely got in trouble. She didn’t need to sneak out when she was in that younger place. It was her adult side that was the problem almost all the time, so she was usually still in that place when spanked.

And even if, when things got intense and hurty, she did slip in and out of the Little girl mindset during punishments, she was still mostly adult. And she’d still never felt turned on like she had with him.

It made her think that it was because it was him, and not the situation, or her headspace.

That had pretty much been confirmed when he told her exactly how he would have punished her if she’d been his. She’d pictured things going way beyond the spanking. Being bent over and strapped, had turned into him taking her from behind while her bottom was sore and red. The image had been so clear that it sent lightning through her body.

She wanted that and it was weird. The punishment he’d described had sounded unpleasant all around. Long, painful, and the writing part would be boring as heck—she’d written enough lines since she’d been at the Ranch to know that much.

But… she couldn’t help thinking about the after part, and it kept turning into wicked sexual acts that she could only imagine. Certainly she’d never experienced them. With Angel, she wanted to. She felt a hungry neediness demanding… something.

Something that she wasn’t going to get in the dorm. And any thought of sneaking some private time to at least dull the edge vanished when she got to the third floor. She knew as soon as the elevator opened that something was wrong.

There was an aura of unhappiness that seemed almost physical. She could hear yelping and the sounds of a hard spanking. That wasn’t unusual. Demerits were often dealt with by the dorm Top after dinner, but this time it was different.

Before she’d taken more than a few steps it became clear that there was more than one spanking occurring. And aside from that, she could hear unhappy sniffling from several of the rooms she passed.

Her stomach did a queasy uh-oh kind of feeling, and she wondered what had happened while she was gone. She had absolutely no temptation to knock on one of the other doors and ask. If there was trouble, she wanted to stay clear of it, especially since her backside still hurt.

But when she got to her room, she realized that was where one of the spankings was happening. She stopped outside the door, unsure what to do. She didn’t want to walk in on the spanking, but she also couldn’t leave the Littles’ Wing.

After shifting from one foot to another for a couple of minutes, as the spanking got faster and her roommate, Chastity, got louder, she decided to go hang out in the library. Maybe she’d get lucky and there would be someone there who knew what was going on.

The library didn’t just hold books; it also had plenty of boardgames. In the evening, sometimes there would be small groups of Littles chatting as they played. It was quieter than usual, but the room wasn’t empty.

“Can I play?” she asked, approaching a few who were settled around a table with a Monopoly board set up.

“Sure. Where have you been all day?” Callie asked, counting out a pile of money for Heaven Leigh to start with.

Heaven slid the pile over and picked one of the leftover silver pieces from the box. No one ever chose the iron. “Um, well I was with Angel.” Even admitting that made her face heat and she knew it would be obvious but if she tried to evade, they’d just keep asking.

“Oooh, I like him. He’s nice.” Nat grinned. She had properties spread out in front of her, neatly organized by color.

Heaven grinned back. “He is.” She looked around the room pointedly and then back at the other Littles. “Um, where is everyone? It’s awfully quiet tonight.”

Billy’s eyes widened. “You missed it, huh? Um… Sadie staged her strike, and everyone joined in on skipping classes. They all camped out in the cafeteria and refused to go. They even made those uh, what are they called, the signs you wear that cover your front and back?”

“Sandwich boards,” Heaven said. She’d worn them often enough to advertise the bakery when she’d started out there. Wearing them was easier than carrying them.

“Yeah them. They made Halloween themed ones and demanded more party stuff.” He shrugged. “I was at work when they staged the whole thing in the middle of the dining room, during lunch.”

Heaven rolled the dice and moved the iron ahead nine places. “Callie, I’m surprised you didn’t help.”

“I was gonna, but I wasn’t feeling good after breakfast, so I was in the infirmary when it happened,” Callie explained.

Heaven’s eyes slid over to Nat who just shrugged. “I just didn’t want to. I like nursery class.”

“Huh. Well, I’m glad I missed it. I bet everyone got in big trouble,” Heaven said.

“Darn it!” Billy scowled at the board as he landed on the worst square. He sighed as he leaned over to move his piece to jail. “Well, you didn’t entirely miss it…” he said as he flopped back into his seat.

“I didn’t?”

Nat shook her head. Her mouth was turned down in a pout. “No, everyone’s getting punished for it. Gonna be sprouts for dinner every night until Halloween. And anyone who doesn’t eat ‘em, gets no candy.”

Heaven frowned. She hadn’t been looking forward to Halloween, or the candy, and she didn’t even mind Brussels sprouts, but that still struck a nerve. “But that’s not fair. Why aren’t they just punishing the ones who did it?”

Callie leaned in, even though no one was around to hear, and dropped her voice down low for dramatics. “Oh, they did. The ringleaders all got paddled right in the cafeteria, and then sent to class with sore butts. And everyone who missed class got a demerit too.”

That explained the dorm spankings. “Okay, well they all knew they were going to get spankings. I mean, duh. But why the Brussels sprouts?”

Callie shrugged. “I dunno that part.”

It was Billy who answered. “I heard that in the middle of everything, a tray of food got knocked to the floor by accident and Chef was maddddd. He’s the one who said he’s making sprouts every night, and when people started whining, Master Derek backed him up and said no treats for Halloween if we don’t eat them.”

Heaven’s mouth formed a little “o”. That explained a lot. “It’s still not fair… I mean we weren’t even there. That’s mean.”

“I don’t mind much,” he shrugged. “But Hayleigh was upset. She wasn’t there either and it’s her Daddy.”

Poor Hayleigh. Heaven frowned. “Well, I don’t think it’s fair at all. It’s not about the sprouts. I don’t mind them either. It’s the principle of the thing.”

That was pretty much unanimous, and it cast a pall over the general mood. It was probably the quietest game that had ever been played by Littles. No loud giggles, no arguing, the board didn’t get flipped once.

Heaven was so lost in her thoughts that she barely paid attention to the game. Before she knew it, she’d gone bankrupt. “I’m out. I can’t afford the rent, so I guess I’ll head to bed.”

It seemed like a good idea to everyone, so they all packed up the game and put it away for the night. When Heaven got back upstairs, everything was quiet. She hesitated before slowly easing her door open to peek inside. The lights were off, except for a nightlight, and Chastity was curled up in her bed asleep—or pretending to be.

Heaven changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. She had a lot to think about. There was a whole day of Angel to pick apart and examine, especially the spanking part, but the unfairness of the Brussels sprouts kept intruding in her mind.

It didn’t much matter for herself. She could take or leave the Halloween candy, and the only vegetable she truly disliked was spinach. But the unfairness of it got to her. How many times had she been punished for things that weren’t really her fault as a kid? Too many to count.

And aside from that, of all the Littles on the Ranch, Hayleigh was her favorite, and Hayleigh really hated sprouts. She had specifically said she wasn’t going to be part of the strike and she was still stuck with the punishment anyway.

The thing was… before Angel had spanked her, she really hadn’t understood Littles who went out of their way to get in trouble on purpose. She hadn’t understood the whole big “prank” thing, as a way to get attention and punishment. Now… she was starting to get it, because she kind of wanted to get that from Angel again.

So she understood about the strike. And she understood that everyone who had gotten spankings probably wanted them, at least on some level. But having to eat vegetables that you hated wasn’t the kind of thing anyone wanted. It just wasn’t.

Which was probably why Chef had done it. He was making a point about disrespecting his work, and as a baker she understood this. As a Little… the unfairness bugged her. Something clicked, and an idea popped into her mind.

She didn’t do pranks, and she didn’t usually try to get in trouble, but it suddenly occurred to her that it might be time to make an exception. If she could make it work… she could get a little bit of payback for the innocent parties who had been stuck with a mean punishment and teach the Bigs a lesson about unfairness.

And maybe it would all lead to another spanking from Angel, which she had to admit, was not a downside. Now that the burning heat had faded to a pleasant warm reminder, she found herself looking forward to another engagement with the chocolatier, and this would probably guarantee it.

That threat of what he’d do if she was his kept echoing through her mind. She wasn’t sure if that was something she wanted—being his—but it definitely needed some deeper investigation. Aside from working together, she couldn’t think of any other way to figure it out, but to get in trouble with him and see what happened.

Her idea was definitely going to get her in some trouble. It was for a good cause too, which made it a win in her book. Even so, it was still hard to actually make the decision to go forward and she had a restless night trying to make up her mind.

It was no surprise that Heaven was sleepy the next morning, and getting up was hard. Only the thought of seeing Angel was enough to get her out of bed and into the shower. After breakfast she headed to the kitchen.

Halfway there, her steps slowed. Was it going to be awkward to work with him now? She probably wouldn’t be able to stop turning red every time he looked at her. There was a phantom tingle in her bottom right now just thinking about the day before.

And there was another thing. It had felt so much like a date by the end of the night, but what if that was only in her mind?

She shook those thoughts off. The kiss had to mean it was more than that to him. Either way there was no point in worrying about things being strained between them.

“Morning, Angel!” she called as she presented herself at the table.

He looked up, flashing her a smile. “Morning, Heaven. I’m making a dark chocolate and chili filling this morning. After you take care of the chores, I was thinking you could help me bake some pastry shells. That’s more in your lane anyway.”

Heaven’s eyes widened. “You want me to bake?”

“Yes. If you’re up for it.” He tilted his head in question.

She thought she was. It had been a long time since she’d done any baking. Long before she’d even arrived at the Ranch, but her grief had eased quite a lot recently.

“Yeah, I think I am actually.” She met his eyes and smiled. “It’s been a while, but I’ve been missing it.”

“Good girl. Go ahead and get the washing up done, and by then I’ll be ready for you.” He turned back to what he was doing.

The praise made her feel warm. She watched him for a minute, eyes tracing the strong line of his jaw. She was staring. She shook her head, grabbed up a stack of dirty mixing bowls, and carried them off to the sink before he noticed.

Heaven could indulge in her fantasies as she scrubbed out of sight. The prank she was planning… she had to wonder if other Littles thought ahead to the end result and fantasized about being punished. Or were they just so swept up in having fun that they didn’t think that far?

She wasn’t sure how it was possible to dread something and want it so badly at the same time. There was pre-naughty guilt already rising, but Hayleigh had told her that Dominants enjoyed punishing sometimes.

Angel certainly seemed like he had the day before. She’d felt him getting hard when she was across his lap, and he hadn’t seemed upset at all. Stern yes, but not upset.

It would be okay to do this. She’d get punished and that would suck, but she’d ask for Angel to deal with it. He was sure to agree since her plan made him an unwitting part of the prank. She could feel things growing between them and another punishment scene might just be the trick to bring it out in the open.

“Heaven, you ready to help?” he called.

“Be right there, Angel!” She grabbed a towel to dry her hands and hurried out to him. Already her mind was working, trying to figure out the best way to bring up the subject.