Little Miss and the Law (5 page)

“Come on, let's get you a coffee,” Mackenzie said when Jake had extracted herself from her arms. She opened the large polished doors and ushered Jake inside. The young woman looked entirely out of place in her dirty trainers and nigh comical clothing, a small ragged backpack the only evidence of any form of luggage.

“I'm going to backpack and hitchhike across all the states!” Jake announced, trailing Mackenzie through the lobby.

“No you're not.” Mackenzie vetoed the idea as they waited for the elevator.

“You can't tell me no,” Jake laughed.

Mackenzie raised a brow at the young woman. If she thought that, she had clearly forgotten the last time she'd butted heads with her aunt. “It's dangerous. Too dangerous,” she clarified.

“More dangerous than a swamp full of crocs?” Jake asked flippantly.

“Much more.” Mackenzie replied dryly.

***

Jake busied herself with the coffee machine in the staff room as Mackenzie attended the meeting she was now regretting having scheduled. When she emerged three hours later, it was to find Jake lolling about on the reception desk, her feet dangling off the ground as she regaled the wide eyed receptionist with tales of killer 'roos.

“Mate, they'll tear your guts open and you have to pick em up and put 'em back in,” Jake said, lifting her shirt to reveal a tight torso and a long jagged scar that ran across under her ribs to her abdomen. Those who knew better knew that it was not the result of a roo attack, or a shark attack or any other tale Jake might concoct, but rather it was the result of riding her bicycle through a plate glass window as a child.

The receptionist turned a delicate shade of green. Mackenzie promptly took her niece by the arm and guided her off the reception desk.

“Enough, Jake, this is a law firm.” Mackenzie reminded her..

Jake looked up at her with a grin, not at all phased by her height disadvantage or Mackenzie's increasingly stern demeanor.

“Ease up Auntie,” she drawled.

Mackenzie sighed. “I'm out for the rest of the day,” she informed the receptionist. She took Jake lightly, but firmly by the ear and ushered her out of the building. Far from being cowed by the undignified exit, Jake laughed and giggled all the way to the car.

***

Stephanie was curled up on the couch when Mackenzie returned home with Jake in tow. Stephanie had all but moved in these days, the women could barely keep their hands off each other and it simply made no sense to spend long nights apart from one another when they could be in each other's arms. Mackenzie noted that the touch of jealously in Stephanie's gaze as she laid eyes on Jake. Jake was a pretty little thing, boyish, but charming, even in those ridiculous clothes.

“Stephanie, this is my niece, Jake. Jake, Stephanie,” Mackenzie introduced the pair, smiling inwardly as Stephanie's features relaxed with relief at the realization the likeness between the two women wasn't down to mutual attraction.

“Gidday,” Jake threw herself down on the couch next to Stephanie. “You're my aunt's sheila?”

Mackenzie clipped Jake lightly over the ear. “Have some manners, brat. Stephanie is my girlfriend.”

“Right, sure thing, yep,” Jake acquiesced, putting her dirty sneaker clad feet up on the coffee table.

“Jake! Down!” Mackenzie admonished.

Looking momentarily crestfallen, Jake removed her feet from the coffee table and kicked her sneakers off onto the floor.

“You're from Australia too, I take it?” Stephanie asked politely .

Jake nodded. “Yep, right off the plane. Going to crash with my favorite aunt for a while,” she said, grinning hopefully over at Mackenzie.

“You're more than welcome to stay, but remember Jake, there are rules. And there are consequences for breaking them.” Mackenzie spoke casually, but there was a pointed note to her tone, as if she meant to evoke some long forgotten memory.

“Consequences?” Jake asked suspiciously.

“The very same as there were last time you stayed with me,” Mackenzie nodded.

Jake rolled her eyes. “Come on, that was years ago. I was a kid. I 'm not a kid anymore.”

“I don't care if you're ancient, you behave yourself under this roof or you'll get your backside tanned, young lady.” Mackenzie spoke sternly, and Jake flushed bright red with embarrassment, looking pointedly at Stephanie.

“She won't save you. Act up in front of her and you'll be over my lap whilst she watches.” Mackenzie knew she was laying it on thick, but Jake had a tough hide, both figuratively and literally. It was best to make sure she knew Mackenzie meant business.

“Okay, okay, I'll be a good girl. Will you be putting me in nappies later too?” Jake drawled sarcastically.

“That's an idea,” Mackenzie mused. “Maybe I'll get a pacifier too, to quieten you down when you run your mouth into trouble.”

A soft giggling sound interrupted the repartee between niece and aunt as Stephanie dissolved into laughter.

“What are you laughing about, hmmm?” Mackenzie asked good humoredly.

“It's like watching you threaten yourself with a spanking,” Stephanie said with a smile.

Mackenzie looked over at Jake who was frowning furiously at her. There was a certain family likeness, the sharp chin, the wide eyes, the broad smile. Jake's unrepentant, bold approach to life wasn't entirely unfamiliar either, but Mackenzie knew all too well where that could lead and was prepared to make very sure that her niece did not repeat her mistakes.

***

Jake did not take long to test the house rules. Mackenzie could have guessed that she would get herself in trouble sooner rather than later. She had however, been forced to retire to her study to get a little work done. Jake's arrival had not come at the best time work-wise.

“Er, Mackenzie,” Stephanie poked her head around the door.

“Yes?” Mackenzie looked up, barely concealing her irritation at being interrupted.

“Uhm, I think you should probably come into the lounge.”

Mackenzie frowned. “Why?”

“Just... come...” Stephanie disappeared.

Muttering to herself about the dire punishment she was going to inflict on Stephanie if this turned out to be anything less than life threatening, Mackenzie followed her out into the lounge, where a sickly sweet smoke assaulted her senses.

Jake was sitting on the couch with a little pipe hanging from between her lips and a glazed, red eyed expression on her face.

“Oh hey, Auntie, want some?” she offered Mackenzie the pipe.

Drugs. The brat was actually smoking drugs right in her house. For a moment, Mackenzie saw red. Then she spun on her heel, walked into her office and retrieved something she hadn't used in a long time. A red oak paddle, about 6 inches in diameter. She emerged from the office with this clutched firmly in her hand and strode over to Jake, where she removed the pipe from the miscreant's lips and set it on the glass topped coffee table.

“I don't need to tell you that is illegal, do I?” she said grimly, sitting down next to her niece.

“Hey, c'mon, everyone does it!” Jake protested.

“No, they don't. And you won't be doing it again either,” Mackenzie replied, grabbing Jake by the scruff of her neck and hauling her over her lap bodily. It was fortunate the brat was still smaller than her aunt, because she fought like a little devil to get free.

“Let me go!” Jake squealed.

“No, you were warned, and now you'll learn about the consequences of your actions,” Mackenzie said grimly, pulling down Jake's jeans, which were loose enough to pretty much fall down at a moment's notice, but leaving her boy-short panties in place.

“Plea... OWWWW!” Jake howled as Mackenzie brought the paddle down across her cheeks. If Jake thought she might receive any mercy at all, she was very much mistaken. Mackenzie had no time at all for drugs, and she certainly had no time for coddling this misbehaving little brat.

Over and over the paddle landed with hard slaps on Jake's cheeks. By the 10
^th
swat, Jake was crying freely, but Mackenzie continued as the brat cried, not ceasing until a full 30 strokes had been delivered to her cheeks, by which point she was writhing and wriggling like a fish, a loud, screaming fish.

“Now get up and get over to the corner,” Mackenzie said, releasing Jake.

Jake leaped up, tears coursing down her face. “I hate you!” she screamed.

“Hate me from the corner,” Mackenzie replied dispassionately.

Jake stomped off to the corner where she yanked her pants up and cried against the wall.

“Yikes” Stephanie whispered. She had kept very quiet during the entire incident, Mackenzie had noted. “That was harsh.”

“Trust me, she needs it,” Mackenzie replied. “Give that one an inch and she'll take five miles and build a ranch on them.”

It took some time, but eventually Jake calmed down and was allowed out of the corner.

“Where is the rest of it?” Mackenzie asked the sullen youngster.

“The rest of what?” Jake played dumb.

“Jake....”

“Okay fine, it is in my bag,” Jake confessed.

“Get it out and give it to me.”

Muttering and rubbing her bottom with one hand, Jake obliged, pulling out a cigarette case full of weed.

“Where did you get this?” Mackenzie demanded.

“In Oz.”

Mackenzie's eyes grew wide. “You bought this through customs?”

Jake shrugged. “Yeah.”

Forced to restrain herself from beating the brat again, Mackenzie struggled to regain a measure of calm.

“Jake, this could have got you a jail term. It could still get you a jail term. It could get me a jail term, not to mention being disbarred. Do you understand how silly it was to bring this into the country?”

“Everyone...”

“Do not tell me everyone does it!” Mackenzie interrupted.

“Well everyone does!” Jake yelled.

“No, they do not. Go to your room.” Mackenzie ordered in a tone that suggested Jake would very much regret disobeying the order.

Spinning on her heel in a manner reminiscent of her Aunt, Jake obeyed, stomping off to her room and slamming the door behind her.

“What are you going to do with that?” Stephanie asked.

“I'm going to flush it.”

“I meant the screaming hell-spawn,” Stephanie replied dryly.

“It's too late to flush her, I'm afraid.”

Stephanie giggled. Mackenzie did not so much as crack a smile.

***

Jake got over her spanking. As Mackenzie had predicted, she soon bounced back from the paddling and returned to her usual boisterous self. She took a liking to Stephanie, which was fortunate given that Stephanie was becoming a regular fixture in Mackenzie's life. For a time, all seemed calm. But inevitably, the tides of karma brought with them the flotsam of past sins and trouble lurked around the corner on even the brightest of days.

“Cards?” Jake arched a brow at Stephanie and grinned, tossing her head to clear her eyes of the strands of blonde hair that fell into them and threatened to blind her.

Stephanie laughed. “Name the game.”

“Hold 'em Texas,” Jake drawled, her accent half way passably southern.

“What are we playing for?”

“Your virtue,” Jake teased.

“Jake! Enough!” Mackenzie called from her office.

“Just kidding,” Jake yelled back.

Mackenzie shook her head, frowning down at the brief on her laptop screen. Work, work, there was always more work. Briefly she contemplated shutting the firm down and taking up residence on an uncharted island. At least the weather would be more clement, she thought as she gazed out the large floor to ceiling window. From sunny beginnings, the day turned cold and chilly. Clouds were gathering on the horizon and rolling in with speed with a wind that howled through the trees below, making them sway like blades of grass. Though she was quite warm, Mackenzie shivered.