Chapter 11

Katie's eyes flew open. "Wait… what about your leg?"

Nick chuckled. "Oh sweetheart, I warned you that real punishment was going to be more than a spanking. You have some paper and a pencil around here?"

"Yeah, in my room… why?" Her unhappy expression made it clear she already knew.

It wasn't like he hadn't mentioned lines and essays before when she'd asked about punishments. "I said you're getting the whole package. Since this is something you've been wanting, you should be excited about it. Go get the paper." He jerked his chin toward the hall, and she reluctantly slid out of her chair.

She hesitated next to the table. "Um, not to stall, or whatever, but I wanted to remind you about the library. They're closed on Sunday so if we don't go this morning…"

Nick considered that. He was definitely going to need something to read, or he'd end up bored out of his mind. He also needed her to drive him out to the ranch so he could pick up his clothes and bathroom gear.

His eyes flicked to the old black cat clock on the wall. The tail swung slowly from side to side as the seconds ticked by. "We've got enough time to set up the assignments now. You can work on them later."

There was some prep work he intended to do before she actually started anyway. He might have a broken leg, but his arm was just fine, and writing while sitting on a sore ass would help the lesson sink in. What lesson he wanted her to learn from all of this, was the question.

She was new to submission and although they've been playing around with it from the start, that had all been sexy stuff. He'd made it a point to try not to ‘Dom' her around things outside of scenes. Though sometimes his instincts did kick in. Now that she'd actually made it official, things were going to change.

He needed her to understand that. She was going to have a say in everything, but that meant knowing what her options were. Nick intended to use this punishment to start her education.

He believed in productive punishment. Make-work had its place. The tedium and boredom of lines could be useful in discouraging repeat behavior, but he'd always liked the idea of giving assignments that accomplished multiple goals. It was efficient.

She returned with a seventy-page notebook in blue. It was the cheap kind that went on sale every September, right before school started. She sat down and flipped it open to the first page.

"That new?" he asked.

There was a shrug. "It's not used, but I've had a stack of them for a while."

Hmm.That gave him an idea. "Good. Can you grab a second one?"

"How much are you going to make me write?" Her tone was filled with outrage.

"Don't worry." He laughed. "You're not going to fill them up immediately. I just have a purpose for each one."

She grumbled all the way back to the bedroom but returned with a second notebook. Identical except for the green cover.

"Okay. One is just for punishment. You can write that on the cover." She shot him a narrowed-eyed look and he had to hold back a grin. "You said you wanted punishment," he reminded her.

"I meant the other kind…" She trailed off with a sigh. A second later she closed the cover and wrote ‘PUNISHMENT' in all capitals on the front. "Okay?" There was a little bit of attitude in her voice.

He expected that. Katie hadn't listened the numerous times he'd warned her that punishment wasn't going to be fun. Now she was going to learn the hard way.

"Yep. Now, since this is your first time I'm going to go easy on you. You're going to get sentences and some submissive assignments."

"Submissive assignments?" She looked up, frowning. "What does that mean?"

"It means being a submissive outside the bedroom is more than getting tied up and fucked, Katiegirl. It's a whole mindset and a lifestyle. We've talked about it a lot, so I know this isn't a total surprise to you, but one of the ways to help a submissive learn what it all means, is to have them sit down and write out their thoughts."

"Like… essays?" Her nose wrinkled.

"Sometimes, yep. It will help you organize your feelings about things and put them out there, so I can see them too."

"This is all… you've done this with other women?" Her brow was furrowed, and her mouth pursed. "I don't understand anyone wanting this."

He could guess what she thought about the reality of punishment, and that was good. He didn't want her to enjoy or seek out the real thing. He was happy to play whatever games she wanted for pretend discipline, but the real thing wasn't supposed to be attractive.

"There are plenty of submissives who find discipline helpful in their lives. More importantly, there are submissives who find it easier to move past guilt when they feel thoroughly punished. No one ‘wants' to do lines and essays… but they want the structure that being punished gives them. And, let's be honest, if all I did was spank your ass, it wouldn't be very good at discouraging you from misbehaving, would it?"

Katie squirmed in her seat and looked down. Her answer was clear, and they both knew it. "I guess."

"As for other people… I will tell you as much about my past relationships as you want to know. But the truth is, Katie, I've never had a relationship like this. In some ways I'm going to be feeling my way through, just like you."

Her head snapped up. "What? I thought you'd done all this before." There was an accusing tone to the words, as if she'd caught him in a lie.

But he hadn't lied. "I've been a Dom a long time, darlin'. I've taken on subs, and I've doled out discipline. Including assignments like this, but it was always pretty obvious that it was going to be a short-time thing. I never made promises."

"But—"

"I've always traveled, Katie. I've made it a point to be honest about that, so women didn't get too dependent on me. I've formed temporary relationships, and if they wanted punishment and rules, I gave it to them, because it wasn't any trouble, and because I enjoy helping people. But this is different, and you know it."

She swallowed hard. "Why is it different though?"

"Because I'm in love with you, Katie. Wasn't that obvious?"

"No. I mean… yes, but I'm sure I'm not the first woman you loved."

"Bet me." He bit the words off sharply and her mouth thinned into a line.

"You're telling me you never loved any of those other women?"

"Never. And I never told them I did either. Sometimes, Katiegirl, people use each other to get what they need. And as long as the cards are on the table, that's fine. Those women got what they needed from me. I got what I needed from them, and then I left."

There was silence as she considered that. It seemed to draw out for ages, until she finally came up with another question. "So, how are things different now. I mean what will you be doing differently with me?"

"I'm committed to you, Katie. I never pictured myself settling down until now. That means I'm looking to the future." He hesitated, trying to figure out a way to explain it.

"In the past, when I was with someone who needed more than just bedroom kink, I was happy to give it, but it was very much a ‘take it or leave it' situation. I told them what I was willing to do for them, and they had the option to accept it, or find someone else. Sometimes maybe that came off as cold. Sometimes their expectations changed, and they hoped to get more from me—it didn't happen.

He shook his head. There were situations that had gone south in unexpected ways. He still felt bad about some of them. But he'd been honest from the start. "I stated my limits up front, and I stuck by them. I used my boundaries to wall myself off from any feelings, because I knew it wasn't going to last. But you… it's different with you."

"Because you love me?"

"Because… I don't even know Katie. You crawled under my skin that first night I saw you. Even before I loved you, there was still something about you that I wanted, needed to have. You were just… perfect."

Katie snorted. "Perfect? Me? I'm just a lousy bartender in a dead-end town in the middle of nowhere."

"Hush. I'm allowed to punish you for putting yourself down now," he reminded her.

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else.

"You're the first woman I have ever wanted to keep, Katie. I'm planning for our future, so there's not going to be any ‘take it or leave it' here. We're going to plan out this relationship together and we'll find a way to make it work, because anything else is unacceptable."

"I like that," she said. "I like it a lot." She looked down at the notebook and poked it. "I don't like the idea of homework though."

Nick grinned. "Then stay out of trouble. It should be easy since you don't have many rules yet."

She made a huffing sound and picked up her pen. "So, what am I writing?"

"I think ‘I will not lie to my Daddy' fifty times is a good start."

"Only fifty?" She straightened and her expression lightened. "I can do that."

"Yes, just fifty… per day, for the next week."

She stared at him, eyes narrowed, and then she picked up the pencil and wrote the sentence down without a word.

He figured it was time to drop the other shoe. "Just so you know, you'll be getting a spanking every day, before you sit your bare ass down to write them. I'm sure it goes without saying that there won't be any fun, sexy stuff attached to those spankings."

The loud explosion of breath made it clear how she felt about that. "That's just mean, Daddy. We finally have time together and it's going to be filled with this crap."

Her dramatic frustration was amusing. "Punishment isn't supposed to be fun. I think I mentioned that a couple of times. And I'm sure we can fit in time for other things while I'm here."

"Ugh. So, that's it? Spanking and lines?"

"No, you'll also be doing a writing assignment each day in the other notebook. You can label that one ‘Submission'." He waited for her to do that before he continued. "Now write, ‘Five short term things I'd like to improve on,' at the top. Halfway down the page you can put ‘Three long term goals I'd like to work towards.'"

She wrote it down. "That won't take long."

"No, but we're going to use that to form the basis of your rules with me, so I want you to take your time and think about it carefully." He added, "Be honest, please," a second later.

Maybe it was because she could see the point of that one. Or maybe it was because it showed they'd be making her rules together, because she didn't seem to mind this assignment.

His eyes flicked to the clock. "Now, I guess we better head out if we're going to hit the library before it closes. And then, if you don't mind, I'd like to go out to the ranch so I can pack up some stuff."

She dropped the pencil and jumped up, as if thrilled to put off the boring punishments until later. "I'll get dressed."

Twenty minutes later they were in her car. It took almost half of that to ease him in without jarring his leg too much. He was still wearing the dusty jeans from the day before, since he didn't really have any other options. His t-shirt was clean though, so at least he looked somewhat presentable. He'd left a few at her house on previous visits and she'd retrieved one for him.

They got into the library just before it closed, so he hurried as fast as the crutches would allow, grabbing a few books. He could read almost anything if he had to, but he preferred horror and westerns, and that comprised most of the stack he plopped onto the counter.

And that was when he realized he didn't have his library card with him. It was in his wallet, which was still, hopefully, under the seat of his truck. The town was small, but not so small that the librarians knew him on sight, and without his license to prove who he was, he was looking at leaving empty handed.

"You can use mine," Katie said, as she came up behind him and heard the tail end of the conversation. She pulled it out and passed it over the counter.

"Thanks, darlin'. If I'm going to be sitting on my ass for a couple of weeks, I need something to read, or I'll lose my fucking mind."

The librarian, a fifty-something woman who looked like she'd been assigned librarian at birth, cleared her throat and frowned. "Language."

That was the problem with spending all his time out on a ranch. Cursing was second nature, and his instinctive response was, "Oh shit, sorry," which didn't help. Katie giggled behind him, and they both got evil looks.

Since it was now several minutes past closing, there was no one else left in the library, so he wasn't exactly concerned about contaminating any young minds with his foul mouth. Still, he didn't want to turn the woman into an enemy, so he simply smiled and said thanks when she huffed and pushed the books at him.

Katie took them, because he couldn't manage the crutches and the stack as well. They were followed to the door, and it was locked behind them with a sharp click. He might have imagined it, but it seemed as though it had been turned with more force than necessary.

"Well, I don't think I made any friends there," he said, as he made his way slowly to the car.

"Oh, don't worry about Linda. She's um, always like that." Katie slid the books into the backseat and helped Nick to ease himself down into the front.

"You must come here a lot if you're on a first name basis."

"Just once a month maybe, but Linda went to my mother's church. That's why she got annoyed about the swearing, but she's always mad about something."

Well, that made sense. He really hadn't meant to set her off.

He gave Katie directions to the ranch and settled back, trying not to yelp every time they hit a bump or pothole. His leg was aching something fierce after the short work out. And of course, he hadn't brought his painkillers with him, so there was nothing to do but grit his teeth and ride it out.

It got worse when they turned off the main road and followed the graveled private drive to the ranch. He had her pull up outside of the bunkhouse, and was relieved to see his truck around the side.

"Do you want me to go in and get your stuff?" she asked, shooting him worried looks. She'd obviously notice the rising pain levels.

"No thanks, darlin'. The other men wouldn't appreciate a stranger poking around." The fact that he wouldn't send a lady in there with that crew of rough cowpokes didn't need to be said. Who knew what she'd walk into. "Just help me out of the car and wait outside. This won't take long."

And it didn't. Most everyone was either working, or had fled to town for the weekend, so only one of his roommates was around. Skip was passed out in his bunk. Probably drunk, judging by the waves of alcohol fumes.

He made it a point to move as quietly as possible anyway. Everything he had was kept in a chest at the bottom of the bed. He didn't own much. With the way he traveled and how he lived, it just wasn't practical to hold onto things. He emptied the chest and piled it all into his traveling bag.

It was mostly clothing, his bathroom stuff, the paperback he'd been in the middle of reading, and a few small odds and ends. When the chest was empty, the bag still had room inside. It was heavy though. He managed to swing it up over his shoulder, and was crutching toward the door when Skip woke up.

"Heyyyyy, Nick! Saw you yesterday, man! Helluva nice ride." The words were only a little slurred, so maybe he'd slept off most of the alcohol.

"Thanks, Skip. Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, sure. Hey what's up with the crutches?" Skip levered himself up to sit on the edge of the bed, with a groan.

"I broke my leg when I fell off that damn bronc. Doc says I have to stay off it for a few weeks minimum."

"Shit. That sucks."

"Yeah, that's what I get for not shaving before the competition. Lady luck doesn't like a scruffy cowboy," Nick said, laughing. He didn't really believe in the old superstition, but he knew Skip did.

The man shook his head dolefully. "Yeah, that's probably what did it."

"Anyway, since I'll be useless around here, I figured I'd stay with my girl in town. It's a little more comfortable, and there'll be more to do there, since I'm going to be on my ass."

"Don't blame you. Starin' at these walls for weeks would do me in," Skip agreed.

"Yeah, so if you can let the boss know where I am. Tell him I'll give him a call in a week or so to catch up. And I got a note from the doc, if he needs it." Nick wasn't a fan of the owner and wanted to put off calling him as long as possible.

He knew the man was going to try to talk him into working anyway. He'd probably throw in an unhealthy dose of ‘man up!' and ‘in my day we weren't pussies who called out for tiny injuries,' and Nick just wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

"Sure, course, no problem, Nick. I'll let him know," Skip promised.

"Thanks, buddy." Nick grinned and pulled the door open. "Oh, don't let anyone steal my bunk while I'm gone," he added.

Skip grinned, promised to keep it safe, and then let out a long low wolf whistle when he caught sight of Katie in the doorway. Nick handed her the bag and pulled the door shut behind him, before Skip could say something inappropriate. He didn't want to have to punch one of his roommates—it made for problems in close quarters.

"Can you manage? It's pretty heavy," he said, watching her heft the bag.

She snorted. "I'm a bartender. Who do you think lifts those cases and kegs? You think I've got some manly man hiding behind the bar to carry the heavy shit?"

Right. She had a point, and the bag wasn't nearly as heavy as that. "Alright then, sassy pants. Don't forget you have a spanking coming when we get home."

Her eyes widened and she quickly went to load the bag into the car without another word. While she was doing that, he went to his truck. His wallet and phone were still under the seat where he'd left them. His keys were in the ignition. He took them too, almost as an afterthought.

The men he worked with were pretty good. None of them had shown themselves to be thieves, but he'd trust his wallet with them, before he'd trust them with his truck. One midnight joy ride and his old workhorse would be toast.

By the time they got back to her house, he was biting his bottom lip to keep from cursing. His leg was on fire, mostly centered around the knee, and he could feel it swelling up from being down for too long. The first thing he did when he got inside was collapse onto the couch and swing his leg up onto a pillow at the far end.

He was shaking from the strain. "Painkillers. Please." He ground the request out between gritted teeth, and Katie hurried to grab the bottle and a glass of water.

He gulped two down and let his head drop back with a groan. "Suddenly I'm real glad I decided not to compete today."

"You decided huh?"

He didn't need to look at her to know she would be smirking. "Okay, we decided—smart ass." He sighed. "I think I might have underestimated a few things."

"Poor Daddy," she said. There was no hint of mocking in her tone this time. "I'll get you some ice."

It helped a lot, numbing the pain to reasonable levels until the pills could kick in. She fussed around him, getting him settled and adjusting the pillow. Then she fetched his things in from the car and piled the library books on the coffee table near him.

When she was done, she settled on the arm of the chair saying, "Daddy, in all honesty… I think you're going to have to put off spanking me. I'll just go ahead and do the assignments, and you can owe me later, ok?"

He cracked one eye to peer at her, but all he saw on her face was concern. "Just give me a little while to rest and I'll be fine, sweetheart." He cleared his throat. "Tell you what: leave the lines for later but work on your submissive assignment so we can talk about rules."

"Okay, if you promise to relax and rest a little."

Not like he had much choice. He could already feel the pills kicking in and they always made him drowsy. "You got it, darlin'," he mumbled. He heard her say something else, but it was faint, and he was suddenly too tired to ask her to repeat it. Between one second and the next he was out.