Beautifying Bernadette: A BBW Romantic Comedy (The Jackson Tribe Book 1) (6 page)

She was so busy trying to give him an “out” that she missed him grabbing a wooden spatula from the holder on her kitchen counter and, coming up behind her, bringing it down with a loud “Crack!” upon her bare bottom.

“Hey! Ouch!” She tried to turn, but he had an arm across her back and was pushing her down onto the table. As it cracked down again, hard on her other cheek, Bernie squealed, “Oh God! Stop! What did I do?”

He lectured and paddled her bottom in full force, this time bringing the spatula down every few words.

“I’ll tell you what you did. You are demeaning yourself again. And that is
not acceptable.
”

At “not acceptable” he started bringing it down hard and methodically back and forth, alternating left to right, as he made his views on her self-deprecation known.

“You are beautiful, funny, sassy, incredibly intelligent, and someone I am very much looking forward to getting to know. And you are sexy as fuck! I do not give attention to people who I do not want to give attention to. I did not dream about chastising this sexy ass for months because I felt obligated. I am attracted to your body, Miss Douglas. Not just your body, but your body was the first thing I noticed and everything else is catching up to my desires in that regard. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”

By the second volley of swats, Bernie felt like her bottom was going to bruise, that erotic cleansing hand spanking from twenty minutes ago was like a feather dusting compared to the assault that she was experiencing on her rear. She tried to kick him away. She tried to stop the spatula from falling. She screamed like a banshee. But he just continued raining down blows on her bottom. She felt like, well like someone was beating the crap out of her ass, and she did not like it. If this is what spankings were going to be like, they could stay in her erotic novels. This was no fun!

Her fighting and screeching seemed to be falling on deaf ears though, as the spatula just kept falling over and over. Levi held her firmly against the table, and stopped her feet from kicking, by pressing his leg against them. Bernie wore herself out screaming and trying to get away until finally, she collapsed against the table, physically weary and sobbing. She lost count of how many times the wood cracked against her ass.

Levi however did not lose count. He had planned for twenty, but her fighting had let him know that she was not ready for it to be over and so he continued. He was relieved when around fifty, she seemed to give in, even if it was just exhaustion, and he did twenty-five more, slightly lighter, but, on her cherry red bottom, she probably could not differentiate anymore. Setting the spatula down, he lightly ran his hand over her bottom. He was surprised at how hot it was to the touch. He felt a twinge of guilt, but immediately replaced it with stern resolve. She needed to know where he stood on this issue, and it wasn’t his fault that she had fought back so hard and needed to be broken. Well, he hoped he had not actually broken her, he just needed her to submit.

Her body limp against the table, Levi’s legs and torso pressed against her literally the only thing keeping her standing, Bernie barely noticed that he had stopped. She was fluctuating between release, anger and hurt. Not just physical, not even mostly the physical, but a deep hurt in her soul. She felt like she had been damaged. Like he had spanked her to her very soul. She wasn’t sure if she loved him or hated him for it.

Levi could sense the conflict in her, it was radiating out of her body, and he gently rubbed her back. “We are done with spanks, Bernadette.” He started to turn her around to hold her. She surprised him by shrugging his hands off of her shoulders and slipping out of his reach.

In a deadpan tone, she pointed towards the door. “I think it’s best that you leave now. Thank you for your help last night, and I hope you have a good day.”

Levi looked at her in shock, feeling like he had missed some integral piece of information. “Bernadette wha—”

She glared, her tone getting sharper, “Out. Just leave. Now.”

“Bernie, I just want to hold you and ta—”

“Get the fuck out!”

Anger and hurt flared up in Levi’s belly, but he knew that responding in the moment would only lead to a fight. He quickly and quietly gathered his things, putting them into his duffel, Bernie unmoving just watched him.

Once he had packed up, he turned to her gently. “I don’t know what happened just now or why the sudden vehemence, but I will call you later. Or better yet, call me when you’re willing to talk sensibly.” He walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Bernie immediately went and did the deadbolt and chain and leaned against the door. Then, unsatisfied with that, she undid all the locks, opening and slamming the door several times screaming. She repeated the sequence one last time and fell against the door onto the floor, sobbing. She wasn’t even sure why she was so angry. Or so sad. Yes, her ass hurt, but this was something else. Something she couldn’t explain. After about five minutes of sobbing bitterly she heard her phone go off and suddenly remembered Ashley.

“Shit!” She grabbed her phone and shot Ash a quick text.

Be there in twenty - sorry! I’ll explain later.

She threw on some yoga pants, grabbed her keys from the table where Levi had left them, and raced out to her car to retrieve Ashley.

She passed Pete who was back at his post on the way and he looked concerned, but she didn’t have time to stop and chat. Speeding down the road, and hitting every yellow on the way, she got to the address Ash had sent her in record time. It was a run down duplex, the paint peeling off the sides, trash in the yard. Bernie shivered and contemplated locking her doors and just texting for Ashley to come out. But, she felt like that would be irresponsible, so she got out with her purse and locked the car, jogging up to the door. She knew it was racist and classist, but she was really more comfortable around affluence than she was poverty. She didn’t have issues with the lower-income students at the school, but this felt like a drug den. She went up to the door and banged hard waiting.

The door was opened by a scrawny kid in dreads, he couldn’t be older than fifteen, but he reeked of marijuana and booze. “What you want, country club?” He gave her a skeptical look. “I think you’re on the wrong side of town, lady. Tiffany’s is back that way.” He gestured with his hand and a snide look back the way she had come.

She stood up to her full height, gaining confidence; a punk kid she knew how to deal with. “Well, first off, it’s ‘What do you want?’, or even better, ‘What is your business here, madam?’  Second, I hate country clubs, and third, I am here to pick up a friend. The polite thing to do is invite a lady in and offer her a seat, not scoff at her from the doorway. Don’t you have a mother?”

The kid looked taken aback and stepped back letting her inside. “Yeah, I had a ma… but she wouldn’t let you inside neither.”

Bernie looked around, trying not to look disgusted. Everything was covered in a light film and smelled of a mixture of sex, body, and, she sniffed again, kettle corn? “Have you seen a lady named Ashley? She’s probably wearing a sparkly dress and has really long braids?”

“Oh, yeah, Jessie’s ho. I’ll go get her. She’s been whining all morning. Jessie! Yo’ gal ready? Her alabaster taxi’s here!”

Bernie wasn’t sure if she was more shocked by the fact the “going to get her” was screaming through the house, or that this apparently uneducated punk was using a word like “alabaster” to describe her. She tried to hide her smile and sat lightly on the edge of the filthy couch and waited.

Ashley stumbled down the stairs. Her make-up was all runny.  Barefooted, shoes in hand, she looked like she had had an incredibly rough night. “Let’s go. Now. Bye, Saul.”

The kid gave a half wave. “See you around, J-Ho, Country Club.”

Ashley shook her head and stomped out the door. Bernie smiled at him and said, “Nice to meet you, Saul,” and followed Ashley out to the car, unlocking the doors for her.

“Sooo… what happened?” she asked cautiously as she pulled away from the house.

Groaning, Ashley looked out the window. “Don’t interrogate me, okay? Just—thanks for coming.”

Bernie was worried that something
really
bad had happened, but she just pursed her lips and drove. A few minutes later, she asked carefully, “Are we going to your car or do you want to go back to my house first?”

Ashley shrugged. “Whatever. You can just drop me at my car and I’ll go home.”

Bernie knew something was really bugging her, but, with Ashley, the best course of action in these moments was to just give her space.

“Do you want to drive through Starbucks? Does some coffee sound good?”

Ashley looked mildly interested for the first time and nodded.

Bernie pulled into the drive thru, there was a long line. “So… I had an interesting night.”

Ashley perked up. “Oh yeah? Spill.”

Bernie took a deep breath. “Okay, so, Cop McHotty is a, he is a, well, he’s a spanker.”

Ashley had spent hours listening to Bernie’s fantasies, so she was very familiar with what Bernie meant. But it didn’t stop her mouth from dropping open. But before she could speak, Bernie kept going,

“And… He spanked me. Twice.”

Ashley’s hazel eyes threatened to fall out of her head she was opening them so wide. “He what? You… you’re okay with this right? Whoa, girl, you’d better start over. Start at the beginning. He took you home last night, and what… you got jiggy with it and then he, like, laid some sexy swats down or…”

The line started moving, so Bernie had to move up. “No! God Ash! We did not ‘get jiggy with it.’  I have no memory of him being there last night. I puked on him, he put me to bed, nothing torrid or even appealing. By the way, don’t ever give me that much booze again. No more. I’m done. But anyways, when I woke up this morning, he was still there and so sweet. He took me to breakfast at IHOP, we shared life stories, and then—” she pulled up to the loudspeaker to order, “he asked me why I said I was going to get spanked if he ticketed me, and told me he’s been dreaming of spanking my ass for months.”

She heard coughing and laughing over the speaker. “Wel-welcome to Starbucks. C-c-c… Oh my God, I’m so sorry, did you say someone wanted to spank you?” She could hear a male voice angrily muttering in the background apparently directed at the female who had tried to take their order and, a moment later, a more cowed voice came over the speaker. “Sorry… can I take you order?”

Bernie’s face was so red she couldn’t move it. She just sat there staring at the menu, opening and closing her mouth wordlessly.

Ashley was not wordless, however, and leaned over. “Yeah, we’ll take two venti triple shot hot cocoas.” They came often enough that the barista wasn’t thrown off by their order and told them to come to the window.

Bernie drove silently, and, when she saw the girl at the window, they both avoided eye contact. The girl mumbled, “The drinks are on the house and we apologize for any issues you had today.”

Ash shrugged as she put the drinks in the cup holders. “Hey, free drinks? Sistah, you can announce your kinky side anytime if it gets us free stuff.

Bernie smacked her arm. Not lightly.

Ashley just laughed. “So, anyways… You want your ass beaten, he wants to beat it—and then what? He just dragged you to the IHOP bathroom, spanked your ass, and then you finally got jiggy with it?”

Bernie smacked her again, swerving the car.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t crash or your cop will spank your reckless butt.” Ashley was still laughing.

Bernie however, sobered and just shook her head. “No, no, he won’t. I won’t be seeing him again.”

Ashley looked confused. “What? You just said he is a spanko, what you’ve always wanted.  You said he spanked you—twice—spill, woman.”

“Okay, so, yeah, we talked and it seemed to go really well. He took me back to my apartment and did this whole bare ass in the corner spanking me thing, and it felt really good, and we snuggled and it all seemed to be going perfectly, only then I got all… self-conscious and he didn’t like it, and started whaling on my ass with a wooden spoon or something. And, he just kept going and it hurt like hell and I didn’t like it, and I told him to leave and never come back. And he did. He just left. So, I’ll never be seeing him again ‘cause I fucked it all up. Just like I fuck up every single fucking thing in my whole entire fucking life…”

Ashley glared at her—she was used to Bernie’s self-deprecation, but it didn’t mean she liked it. “Bea, stop it. You’re not a fuck up, and my bet is you didn’t even fuck up this one thing. If he liked you as much as it seemed like he did, he isn’t going to drop it just because you got bitchy. Were you being bitchy? Or were you scared? Why do you think you pushed him away?”

Bernie started to shrug, and then realized that Ash was her best friend and deserved an answer. She was safe. “I’m not sure. I mean, when I was pushing him away to start, it was just that he is perfect. I mean, Ash, he is like six feet, strong, slim, perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect job, perfect family, perfectly dommy, perfect in every way and look at me. No!” She could see Ash was about to stop her. “Look! I know you’re my best friend, but I could fit three of you in one of my body and that's without you even scrunched up. I am a slob. I don’t make a lot of money. I would be a terrible submissive. I fucking puked on him, Ash. And I don’t even remember it! Why would he want someone like me?”

Then the tone to her voice changed a little, from angry to contemplative. “But he spanked me. I don’t know what happened. Part of me was like ‘oh my God he really cares; he wants me enough to spank me for being down on myself.’ But then I got really scared like, it really hurt, Ash. It hurt a lot. And he is bigger than me and stronger than me. I couldn’t stop him. And I just got scared. And worried and… I don’t even know. I just needed him to leave.”

Ashley listened patiently, nodding where appropriate and giving encouraging “mmhmms” where needed.

Once it seemed that Bernie was caught up on what she needed to say, Ashley asked in a dry tone, “Are you quite done? Let’s start at the beginning. You could not in fact fit three of me into your body. And, even if you could, who gives a flying fuck? You are curvy and hot, you have epic boobs and a very pert ass. Levi apparently thought it was so perfect he couldn’t keep his hands off of it by your own account and dreamt about you for months having never seen your ass. Secondly, you have a great personality, you’re giving, you’re patient, you’re an incredible counselor, you’re a spectacular friend, and you’re funny as hell. You’re super smart. You have a lot to give. You just need to stop putting yourself down. Literally, your greatest flaw is that you insist on putting yourself down. If anyone said the shit about my bestie that you do, I’d lay them out. I would take my earrings out, tie up my braids, and lay them the fuck out. Got it?”

Bernie bit her lip with a blushing smile and nodded.

Ashley continued, “Also, any man who wants you, is going to have to work his ass off because you are worth it. You deserve to get the guy. You deserve to have your dreams come true. And if Levi is the one who can fulfill those dreams, then I suggest you track him down and throw yourself at his feet. He’s religious, right? Pull a Ruth; climb into his bed and fuck him, so he can’t wonder if you actually want him.”

Bernie started giggling imagining showing up in his bed naked. She didn’t think she could ever do something so bold and drastic, but it was a funny thought. By this point, they had pulled into the empty parking lot at the club and next to Ashley’s car. “But, I don’t even know his number. I have no way to get back in contact with him. And besides, what would I say? ‘Sorry I was a psycho, want to give me another chance?’ Really?”

Ashley shook her head. “No, I think ‘Sorry I overreacted—can we talk?’ would suffice. And, as for how, you happen to have an amazing best friend who has his number.” She texted it to Bernie’s phone.

Call Or Text NOW Dingbat

Bernie scrunched her face. “I’ll think about it.”

“All right, you do that. I need to go home and take like twenty showers and then sleep until Monday morning.” Ashley air-kissed her and then hopped out of the car and into her neon green bug and sped out of the parking lot.

Bernie was slower to move. She kept looking at the text in her phone and hovering over the number and then fidgeting and locking and unlocking her phone. Finally, before she drove off, she just texted him.

It’s Bernie.

And hit send before she could chicken out again. She drove home, making sure to stay within the speed limit. The last thing she needed was to get pulled over and one of his buddies tell him. She knew how cops worked in this town.