Page 11 of Margo

“At least they gotta choose.”

“You and I have a different relationship. Mark my words, little girl, I will be your Daddy one day soon.”

“If you say so.” He saw a hint of a smile play on her lips but she immediately covered it with a scowl. “Okay, I get it. I have no control. You and Baze are big mean bossy butts who made my choice for me. Can I go now?”

He didn’t correct her. He didn’t bother pointing out what she knew deep down. She’d given her consent already and then tried to renege when the frying pan was in the fire. He didn’t want to argue that point, and he didn’t want to go back on what Baze had said. He knew that if he gave Margo an inch and agreed not to spank her, she’d take a mile and spend the next ten days terrorizing him and making him regret his moment of weakness. He decided to take a different approach.

“You can go,” he conceded. “But before you do, I just want to remind you that you do still hold the control in this situation.”

She was already walking away, but when she heard that, she turned to face him. “I do?”

“Yes, you do. If you don’t want me to punish you, you can choose to be a good girl and not break the rules.”

“That sucks donkey dicks,” Margo informed him. “But fine, challenge accepted.” With that, she turned and walked from the room.

Margo

“Stupid, mean, bossy heads,” Margo grumbled under her breath as she threw herself down on the bed, dramatically.

“Knox is really nice,” Jilly disagreed. “He’ll make a really good Daddy, Margo.”

“I told you, I don’t want a Daddy,” Margo snapped. “I changed my mind.”

Jilly hopped off her own bed and crossed over to Margo’s sitting down on the edge of it. “I know you don’t really mean that and you’re saying it because you’re scared. But I’m really sorry you’re upset.”

Margo looked up at her to see genuine concern on her face.

“What did Knox say?” Jilly asked.

“The usual stupid bossy Daddy stuff.” Margo sighed, rolling onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. “He said if I didn’t want to be punished, I could be a good girl and follow the rules.”

“Oh.” Jilly looked down at her with a bemused expression. “That’s true I suppose, but you’d hate that. You’d be miserable.”

“Maybe. Probably,” Margo agreed. “It’s gonna suck big time, but I’m still gonna do it.”

“You are?” Jilly looked shocked. “Are you sure you can?”

“Of course I can,” Margo answered, sounding doubtful even to her own ears. “I mean, I think I can. Ugh. It’s gonna suck. But I won’t give Knox the satisfaction of spanking me, so I’m sure as heck gonna try.”

“God help us all,” Jilly muttered under her breath.

Margo

“Where’s Knox?” Margo asked Jilly, coming out of her room with her favorite Care Bear jammies on. She’d watched the clock all day, making sure to follow every rule to a tee, and avoid Knox as much as possible. She had about an hour before lights out, and she was already fully ready for bed, and surprisingly tired.

Apparently being good all the time was exhausting.

Jilly raised her eyebrows as she took in Margo’s pajamas, braided hair and minty fresh breath, but she didn’t say a word about it, only answering Margo’s question. “He’s in Tessa and Ellie’s room. I think they are getting spankings.”

“What?” Margo shrieked. “What did they do?” She figured it had to be something bad for Knox to have decided not to wait for Baze and to punish them himself.

Jilly shrugged. “I don’t know. Broke a rule, I guess?”

“But… why isn’t he just giving them lines or a timeout and writing it down for Baze?”

Jilly looked down and traced the pattern on her bedspread with her finger. “Margo”—she sucked in a breath—“I don’t know how to tell you this but… nobody wanted to have to wait for Baze. We all gave Knox permission to spank us if we are naughty.”

Margo’s heart skipped a beat as she stared at her friend in horror. “What?” she shrieked. “You all did? Even you?” Now that she heard it out loud from Jilly, she vaguely remembered Knox mentioning it at their “meeting,” but she’d been too upset to really hear what he was saying. Now she felt blindsided. She had not seen that coming. Her friends were supposed to be her friends. They were supposed to stand with her in solidarity. They were supposed to give Knox a hard time and be as good as possible, and instead, they’d just rolled over and… and given in. They had betrayed her.