Page 32 of Ghost Hunted

“Ijust want to be free, papa. Can’t you understand?”

“Be reasonable, sweetie. There’s nothing out there for you. Freedom is overrated. Now, be quiet—I need to work.”

I sigh, watching him type quickly on his computer, before staring out at the sprawling green hills. Maybe I am being unreasonable. But the world outside beckons to me. I’ve spent all my life locked up in this little cottage, and I’ve only recently been allowed to walk to the little village a mile away on my own.

Maybe I shouldn’t have applied for that job. But I thought I could make a little money. Enough to leave.

I don’t want to leave forever… I just want to see what’s beyond those hills.

But it turns out you can’t get a job without a passport card. And it also turns out I don’t have one of those.

“Have you really checked everywhere, papa?” I plead with him. “There must be some sort of identification somewhere. I can’t possibly have appeared out of thin air, right?”

He pauses again, sighing heavily. “I told you, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is that I’m your father, and it’s my job to take care of you and protect you from the cruel, dangerous outside world. Now, are you going to behave or do I need to take a belt to you?”

_

I inhale sharply, trying to make sense of the images that throb in my mind while at the same time feeling two hands run over the swell of my ass.

They’re Logan’s. They belong to Logan. At least, I’m pretty sure they do.

It’s hard to keep track of my winding thoughts. To hold onto the threads of sanity that feel like they’re always a step away from unraveling again.

I’ve never been so scared in my life, but I can’t let him know that. He wants me right now, and his touch is real enough that I can cling to it and forget, for a moment at least, the darkness that threatens me.

Then, as he pushes me onto my hands and knees, a different kind of fear makes my breath catch.

“Logan…”

He pauses.

“Hmm?”

“I know you’ve… you’ve…” I cough in discomfort. “I mean, I’m sure you’ve had a lot of relationships and… a lot of sex, these past years. But I haven’t done anything. There are probably cobwebs down there.” I try to laugh, but it comes out strangled.

Smack.

I gasp from the suddenness of his hand falling against my left cheek. It stings, but nowhere near as much as I remember it. Is he being gentle, or don’t I remember right? Or have I gained so much weight I don’t feel it anymore? The thought makes my face flame.

“I would never cheat on you,” he says. “Just for that, you deserve the hardest spanking of your life.”

I bring up my hands—awkwardly balancing on my elbows—to hide my burning face. “It’s not cheating. You thought I was dead. It’s okay, Logan. It doesn’t matter.”

Smack.

This one hurts a lot more, and I bite down on a cry.

“I’m going to spank you until I make it matter.” His voice comes out so harsh that I shiver. “Everything matters. Every single fucking thing. And I would never cheat on you.”

Then he strokes my back reassuringly, and I breathe a little easier. “Even if you’d really been in that grave, I would never cheat on you. Didn’t I tell you you’d always be mine?”

I listen to his words, disbelief pushing through my mind’s confusion. “You can’t mean you’ve never been with anyone in all this time… can you?”

“Well, have you?”

I’m still reeling from his words, so I don’t answer right away. He slams his hand down, five times on each cheek in quick succession, so fast and so hard that I couldn’t yell if I wanted to.

“Have you, brat?”