certain that you leave a lasting impression so that I may seek pleasure this evening.”
“I ask you out of respect, Humberto. You are my friend and she is your wife.”
“I thank you. May I listen to her chastisement?” the man on the other end of the phone asked eagerly.
“But, of course. In fact, she will thank you with every stroke and express how much she loves and appreciates you,” Blake said, twirling his finger to make Giada turn her scowling face back to the cushion. “And if you cannot hear her, I will repeat the stroke. She said it has been two months since her last session. Is this a fact?”
“ Si … I have been neglectful,” the other man chuckled without remorse in his voice. “Please make up the time for her. Perhaps one stroke for every day missed?”
“And they say I am the heartless one!” Blake laughed as Giada again shifted to look at him, this time in panic. “I have my Lucite ruler. Perhaps we compromise? An even thirty?”
“Must you show such leniency? Ahh, very well. I will let you know if I fail to hear her adoration for me.”
Blake pulled his arm back and loosed the ruler to fall across the crown of the outstretched posterior. Giada yelled out with a raspy plea.
“ Nooo! Ay Dios mio ! Muchas gracias , Humberto. I love and appreciate you, husband.”
“Did she say something?”
“Yes, and quite emphatically. Let me increase the volume so you can hear her better. We don ’ t want to have to repeat any of these strokes, do we?”
Giada mouthed the words ‘thank you ’ through the tears. Blake winked and drew back his arm for the next slap of the thick plastic implement. He touched her skin, looking carefully for damage that would make him stop the session. She was fine…
* * *
Blake dropped the very repentant, and very horny, Giada Alonso at her home and then started on his way to pick up Dahlia. He drove to the main entrance of the campus and waited patiently. Six o ’ clock rolled around and no Dahlia. Another ten, then twenty minutes passed, and Blake became increasingly concerned, which rapidly grew to worried. He had dialed her cell phone several times and left her voice messages to call him immediately.
Just as he was leaving a fourth message, a red Ferrari screeched into the far side of the parking lot and two women exited. Blake squinted. The pink ombre gave away the identity of one, but the other… Ginger?
“I ’ ll be damned,” Blake murmured as Ginger kissed Dahlia, smacked her ass, and then hopped back into her car. With a wave, she was off and Dahlia turned in his direction.
Dahlia froze when she noticed the truck parked discreetly under a copse of shade trees. Blake stood on the foot ledge and leaned across the roof, watching her.
“Sorry I ’ m late, I…”
“You should have told me you were seeing your therapist today,” Blake stated, curious to see how far she would take the charade.
“Um… Yeah. She came to pick me up for my visit. I forgot.”
“Aren ’ t you going to ask me how I know her?”
“No. I really don ’ t care.”
“How were classes today?”
“Blake, listen.” Dahlia turned to look at him as he started the truck. “Put the pleasantries aside. You are not my dad, nor are you anyone to me other than the guy who hired me to assuage his guilt for almost running me over. Don ’ t put on this act like you give a shit.”
“Maybe I do give a shit. You are barely nineteen, get tossed out on your drunken keister from a 21-and-over club, and walk into the middle of an unlit road. Thank God it was me who saw you.”
“The only god is the one inside of us,” Dahlia scoffed.
“That isn ’ t what I believe, but no matter. You intrigue me. I want to know what is going on in that beady little brain of yours.”
“Why are you so nosy?”
“Not nosy. Just very curious. Do you have a death wish, kid?”
“No! Why do people immediately assume that just because I like pain, that I don ’ t love to live?
Christina Mulligan, David G. Post, Patrick Ruffini , Reihan Salam, Tom W. Bell, Eli Dourado, Timothy B. Lee