Brain (27 page)

Brain

She looked at me a few seconds, shrugged, and tugged at her laces some more before she tied them. “I guess I got over it after I knew the guys heard us in the villa. It seemed a big deal, then, but now? It feels more like I’ve claimed you as mine. Especially knowing you’ve probably fucked half the women I met last night.”

I did the math in my head, figured it might be closer to sixty percent, and figured she didn’t need the math correction. I’d overheard conversation in the main room last night and this morning, though, and she
did
need a heads up about what was going to happen after breakfast.

“Okay, one more thing. There’s rules the women have to follow, and I’ll let you know what they are, so you can be sure you don’t break them, but the only things you’ll probably need to be aware of is not disrespecting a brother to an outsider, and not telling club business to anyone — not even other wives and girlfriends, ‘cause not everyone shares as much as I probably will.”

“Gen knows everything, right?”

I shook my head, put my lips to her ear, and spoke low to be sure no one but her would hear. “Their agreement is she has plausible deniability. She never wants to have to lie under oath for the MC, so he keeps the illegal shit from her.”

Her eyes were a little incredulous as she said, “A forced oath is completely different than one given freely. The legal system can bite me.”

I grinned. “One of the many reasons I love you. Okay, thing is, the women who belong to the club have different rules than the ones who belong to a brother. Anyone considered club property is subject to club consequences for…
other
broken rules. For the women, that usually means a fine, being banned for a period of time, and or a public, bare-bottomed spanking.”

I smelled anger and fear, and I explained, “The rules for the spanking are that, if a woman refuses to bend over and accept her punishment with grace, she’s banned from RTMC property permanently, or until she changes her mind and accepts her sentence. It automatically doubles when she walks away and refuses, though, so it’s a bigger deal if she comes back for it, later.”

“So, no one is held down and spanked?”

“Once they submit to it, yeah, sometimes they are, depends on the woman and the circumstances. For a paddle or belt, we don’t want them to reach back and get hurt, so someone often holds their hands, but they bend over and offer their hands, knowing they’ll be held down. They submit to it.”

She was quiet a few minutes and I kept going. “If the transgression was against the club, Duke generally handles it. If it was against a particular member, the brother can handle it himself, or he can delegate someone to do it on his behalf.” I touched her chin, lifted her face so she looked at me. “Gen goes into the back so she doesn’t have to watch. You can always go with her, if you don’t want to watch.”

She shook her head. “No, I can watch, I just need you to promise me you’ll never put me in that situation.”

“We’ll talk about it later. There’s some things I’d have a hard time keeping you clear of. I’ll have Duke’s help, and likely Bash and Gonzo, but if you were to talk about club business to the wrong people, I’d have limited options.”

“I’m never going to do that, but someone says something wrong to me, I’ll tell him to go fuck himself.”

I laughed. “No one’s gonna have a problem with that. Most of what could get you in trouble would be not following safety protocol, disrespecting someone trying to keep you safe, and making it harder for them to do so. Or, puttin’ someone in danger who’s under our protection. I don’t see you doin’ any of that. You’re too smart.”

“Okay, but there’s a reason you’re telling me this, now?”

“Yeah, Kat’s gonna get spanked after breakfast. If you aren’t up to seeing it, we can make excuses and leave, but I’d really like to hang out and eat with my brothers, with you by my side.”

“What did she do?”

“When Bash and Gonzo finished with her, they went back outside. A girl showed up that Bash has been flirting with. They were about to hook up, when Kat spouted off about how she’d already had him an hour or so ago, and if the bitch wanted her leftovers she was welcome to them.”

“Okay, so that was bitchy, but… she had a point, right?”

“In the outside world, maybe, but Kat’s club property. She doesn’t talk to others about who she’s had or how. It was totally uncool, and Bash is gonna be allowed to spank her after breakfast.”

“So, if you were to accept her offer while you’re working during the day, she’d be required to keep her mouth shut and not let me know?”

I knew she’d get there, sooner or later. No lies, though. Just the truth. “It’s a good thing you trust me, right?”

“You have to know, if you ever cheat on me, it’ll be over between us. I honestly don’t know if I’d disappear so you’d never find me again, or just run you out of the new life I’ve built, but either way — we’ll be finished.”

“I won’t give you the same ultimatum. I’ll at least hear you out, listen to your reasons, and see if we can salvage things, but then you also know that a shower won’t wash someone’s scent off you if you have sex with them, and I’ll know. So, if you fool around, you’ll intend for me to know, which likely means you’ll mean for us to be over, if you go that route.”

“Unless it was forced.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “which is why I’ll hear you out. If someone forces you, I’ll track him down, and then hold him down so you can kill him.”

Her icy smile warmed my heart, which might be fucked up, but it was us, and I told her, “God, I love you. Now quick fucking around with your boots and let’s go eat.”

Harmony went into the kitchen to help the other women with the food, and I heard her take over with the bacon.

I glanced at Kat as I entered the main room — she was standing in the corner with the back of her miniskirt tucked into her waistband, no panties on, so the ass about to be punished was already on display. No one paid attention to her, and wouldn’t until it was time for her spanking.

When it was time to eat, Harmony sat with me, across from Duke and Gen, and we all talked and cut up. I saw Harmony steal glances at Kat a few times, and could smell some distress. I wished she’d go in the back with Gen, but knew she was stubborn enough she’d likely stay out and watch, just to prove she could.

I hadn’t told Harmony the rest of Kat’s punishment — for one month the MC would only use her ass and mouth. She’d be treated as nothing more than a cumbucket, and no one would pay a bit of attention to her pussy or clit.

She’d been spanked for this behavior at least four or five times before, and had gone a week with no pussy action, last time. I had to wonder how she’d hold up for a month. I was of the opinion we should send her to another chapter, see if someone there might take a liking to her. She wanted a man of her own, and no one here was interested.

But, I didn’t get a say in that, anymore. When I was single, I could’ve brought it up, mentioned trading her for another club’s property, but since I wouldn’t be fucking her anymore, I could only speak up as the VP if I felt she was in danger. I didn’t see her killing herself over not being fucked in the pussy for a month, so it was out of my hands.

The spanking is designed to humiliate as well as hurt, and when breakfast was over, Duke stood her on a table while he explained the charges, and how the club had reached the decision of her punishment. She was asked if she’d accept thirty-five strikes with a belt from Bash, and she tearfully replied she would.

She apologized to Bash again before she bent over the table. Gonzo grabbed her arms and the first strike landed, loud and harsh. Bash wasn’t screwing around with a warm-up. A red welt appeared immediately, and Kat screamed and tried to stand, but Gonzo held her arms and she couldn’t escape.

I felt and smelled Harmony go to her bad place. Bash smelled it, too, because he was ready to swing the next strike, and he dropped his arm, stepped back, and looked down. He didn’t glance our way, but I knew he was giving me a chance to get her out before he continued.

I’d situated us near the back of the room, so I picked her up and walked out without having to walk in front of anyone. Every wolf in the room had smelled her terror, though, as well as the fact she’d left, even though her body was still here.

I stopped in the hall, holding her in my arms, and said her name a few times, telling her to come back to me. When she did, I could see her dismay that she’d lost it, and she slid down my body until she was on her own feet. We walked down the hall together, and I made a quick decision, knocked on Duke’s door, and when Gen answered, I asked, “Mind if Harmony hangs out with you while I go back out?”

“Of course she can.” She looked at Harmony and said, “At first, I thought it barbaric, but I’ve come to see some of the girls aren’t women, they’re emotionally stunted girls, and this seems to be the only thing they respond to. I still don’t approve, but I get that the guys either have to do this or banish them, and then they might end up in a worse situation, where they get punched in the face instead of spanked, so…” She shrugged, pulled Harmony into the room, and waved me away as she closed the door.

I stood outside the door, and listened and smelled a few minutes, and when I was sure Harmony would be fine with Gen, I went back to the main room.

They were making Kat count, and she was on nine when I got back out, and already crying.

The scents in the room were interesting. Most of the MC brothers were turned on and horny as fuck, and some of the women were turned on. One of the prospects was sick to his stomach over it, and I made a mental note to investigate him farther, make sure LEO weren’t trying to send someone undercover to infiltrate us.

At twenty, Bash announced Kat would get a break while he drank a beer. Gonzo let go of her arms, but she was told if she reached back, they’d add five strikes.

She had a five minute break, where she was leaned over a table, her red, belted ass on display, some bruises already forming, and the rest of the room talked — some about her, others about something else entirely.

Bash didn’t take it easy on her for the final fifteen, and she was frantic with pain when he finished. The final five were hard and fast, and he didn’t make her count them, but she screamed loud enough I knew Gen and Harmony heard it.

When she quieted enough for Bash to be heard, he announced, “She’ll be downstairs in the security room for the next four hours for anyone who wants to use her. First two hours, full-patched only, next two hours, prospects and hang-arounds as well. Remember, no one touches her pussy or clit for one month. We’ll announce it to the club and send it out in a text, to let you know when she’s fully available again.

He grasped the back of her neck and walked her out of the room, and a few guys followed them.

Kat was about to have a very tiring four hours.

Duke nodded at me as he walked through the door to the rooms in the back, and as we hit the hallway he said, “I heard her in with Gen. Let’s deal with this now.”

He opened the door to his room, grabbed his laptop, and sat on the bed. “Sit beside me, Harmony. This is how we communicate when we don’t want every wolf in the building to hear our business.”

I stepped behind the bed so I could see, too, as he woke the screen, opened a word processing program, and typed, “
I vow to you we will never subject you to that. No one will ever lay a hand on you in anger or consequences. I can’t imagine you being stupid, but if you are, and we have to levy consequences, they’ll come in the form of a fine or banishment. I never want to smell that kind of terror in my clubhouse again. If Ivankov were alive, I’d kill him all over again.
”

I spoke up, worried Harmony would take his words the wrong way. “She can’t help how she smells, Duke. Something hits her the wrong way, that’s what we get.”

“Yeah, and I get that, so she needs to leave the room before someone’s spanked, and she needs to remember,” he stopped talking and typed, “
it’ll never happen to you. Not while I’m president and Brain’s VP.
”

Harmony

We’d been moved into our new house six weeks now, and I couldn’t imagine life could get any better.

I’d done several white hat jobs for Aaron, and in return he’d bought me four horses. The dummy corporation that owned the farm had bought three, and I had room for another five before I’d need to expand the existing facilities, which meant I’d soon advertise to board horses for more income.

I already had five riding lesson students, some once a week, most twice a week, with one at five days a week. I’d be taking her to a competition in a few weeks, and I looked forward to getting the Hidden Springs Ranch name out there.

I was about to ‘hire’ Harmony Johnson as the caretaker and head cook. She’d live here rent free, plus get a small salary — enough for her car payment, and to begin paying down on her credit cards.

Meanwhile, the original Harmony had died two weeks ago. I’d arranged for a nurse to take care of her until her final breath, and then arranged for her cremation, and had spread her ashes in the Tennessee River on a beautiful, windy day.

It’d taken some work to acclimate the horses to Brain — they’d smelled wolf and freaked at first, but he’d been as patient with them as he’d been with me, and now they adored him.

I’d even ridden alongside him, my horse running side-by-side with the wolf, for a short time during the last full moon. Every day with Brain was sheer magic, but some days had more fairy dust than others, and I’d remember that night for the rest of my life. We might repeat it a hundred times, but the first time would always stick in my head.

I’ve been held captive twice in my life. I killed my first captor, and I’m living with the second. Funny how life works out, sometimes.

I fed and watered the horses, made sure they had everything they needed for the night, and went in the house to take a shower. Tonight, I was meeting Gen, Bethany, and Pebbles at the RTMC’s bar for a drunken night of partying. I’d been welcomed into Brain’s MC family with no question, and after living on my own for so long, it was surprisingly easy to get used to having a support system, again.

* * * *

Brain

I watched Harmony from the catwalk as she sat beside Gen, and chatted and joked with the other women. Duke was across the street taking a shower to wash other people’s blood off. I’d managed to take my people down without getting messy, so I had time to sit and watch my Buttercup.

She never ceased to amaze me, the way she took on new experiences as if she was an old hand.

And watching her with the horses these past weeks had made me fall even more in love with her. They’d brought a part of her to the surface I’d only seen glimpses of, before. She smiled and laughed, more. She was full of joy, full of life.

Full of sunshine.

She was truly my Buttercup now, come to life under the rays of the sun.

Duke texted me he was on his way across the street, and I met him at the front door so we could walk in, together.

It’d been a long day, but the highlight happened when she turned as I neared, and her eyes lit up with joy at seeing me.

No matter how long we lived, that would never get old.

The End