Bubbles

---

We had all kinds of data on what the cartel was up to, but Abbott had asked us to hold off on doing anything.

Jiminy’s never pinged as anything but human to me, but we’d recently been assured he’s about a sixteenth demon, with connections in the Hell realm.

Add to this, when we reconned the El Atroz clubhouse in Henagar, we’d smelled Celrau.

My house has a safe room in the basement, and I made sure it was well stocked with food, water, guns, and ammo.

The entire club seemed to be waiting for the next shoe to drop. We were in a holding pattern. Every last one of us wanted to take them out, but we were doing as Aaron and Abbott asked and holding back. The assumption was that they’d hit Celrau in other places while we took out El Atroz, and it was a good plan, but waiting stung. Still, we planned to blow up a few buildings when we took them out, so having carnage in other places might take some of the heat off us.

Meanwhile, Duke and Brain ordered twice-a-week fight practice for everyone — brothers, ol’ladies, and friends of the club.

Lexi isn’t the best fighter, but she’s scrappy and good at taking people by surprise. Still, I worried about her.

So, when Razor let me know Lexi wasn’t in class ten minutes after it started, I tried to call her. My heart sank into my feet when she didn’t answer her phone. I’m not scared of much, but I was terrified in that moment.

I called the control room and McGyver answered.

“Lexi isn’t in class and isn’t answering her phone.”

Five seconds of silence, and, “It isn’t showing up. Must be turned off. Hang on, lemme see if we have something on her car.”

Twenty seconds later. “She’s on the move. Two miles from Razor.” Ten more seconds of silence. “Based on the turn she just made, I’d say she’s headed to him.”

Lexi and I had been round and round about her learning to be punctual. In short, she sucks at it. It’s one of my biggest demands on her, and I don’t think I’m being unreasonable. This class was scheduled at this time specifically to fit into her schedule. Gen, Gabby, Tippy, Destiny, and even a few of the sweetbutts & workin’ girls were taking it, and I was willing to bet they’d all been on time.

I washed my hands, changed into a clean shirt, and got a text from Razor saying she’d shown up.

Fifteen fucking minutes late.

I grabbed my phone and texted him.

It took me five minutes to drive there and park, and class was underway when I walked in. Lexi looked at me and her scent gave off even more fear than her wide eyes, but I didn’t give a shit. She should be scared after being fifteen minutes late.

I’d give her a chance to explain herself first, though.

“Why were you late?”

She looked at the floor. “I stopped by Etta’s to see her new car and I lost track of time.”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

More fear. “I forgot my charging cord, so I couldn’t plug it into my car. It’s dead.”

The main studio has huge picture windows so people from the street can see inside, but we’d determined it was a security risk to leave them as they were, so we’d put stuff on them to make them cloudy. You could see movement inside, but not who was moving, or exactly what they were doing. I started to take her in the back for this, to keep from disrupting class even more, but this wasn’t going to take much longer, and the lesson would be so much better if her friends saw it.

I met Razor’s gaze. “Stand with Tippy, please.”

He gave me a lopsided smile, obviously looking forward to whatever I was about to do. He went to Tippy and whispered in her ear, “He loves her. This is about correction, not punishment.” No one heard him but Tippy, Gabby, and me. Everyone else taking the class was human.

Meanwhile, I stalked to my Half-pint, yanked her yoga pants and panties down to her knees, dropped to the floor on my knees, and pulled her down over my lap. It was wolf-fast, but I was careful not to hurt her.

Yet.

I looked to Razor. “Fifteen minutes late?”

“Fourteen, but it took her another three to change clothes and make it to the floor.”

I nodded, and then popped her ass hard seventeen times. She was screaming after the fourth, but only because I spanked so fast it took her that much time to process the pain and react. The entire spanking took far less than a minute.

She was frantic when I finished, but I’d locked her hands to the small of her back with my left hand and she wasn’t going anywhere.

“One for each minute you were late. Now, let’s talk about your phone. What’s your number one rule?”

“Don’t do something stupid that could get me hurt.”

She barely got it out between the sobs, but she managed.

“And the second?”

“Unless I’m in class or working, I answer the phone when you call, and I respond to your texts right away.”

“I was scared, Lexi. You were late, and you didn’t answer your phone.”

Her sobs grew even more intense. “I’m sorry!”

Not yet, she wasn’t. I started spanking again, and counted to fifty this time. She was a mess when I finished, but I wasn’t in the mood to coddle her — we’d been through this too many times. I stood her up and made sure she had her balance.

“Pull your pants up and finish class. If Razor tells me your heart wasn’t in it, you’ll be spanked after class. I’m taking your phone to work with me so I can charge it for you. Stop by there and pick it up before you go to work — and to get your next spanking if you aren’t a model fucking student for the next thirty damned minutes.” I stood and looked down at her. “You’ll get another seventeen from the belt tonight when you get home. You are going to learn to be on time or you won’t sit comfortably ever again.”

I was most of the way to the door when I remembered Tippy. I dropped my shoulders, took a breath, and turned to her. “You okay?”

Her eyes were huge and her arms crossed. However, I smelled alarm and concern, but no fear. “Yes, but thanks for checking in with me. You were scared for her.”

“I was fuckin’ terrified, and I’m not in the habit of feelin’ fear.”

Razor gave me a nod. He had this. I turned and left.

Lexi

---

I was mortified. He’d spanked me like a child in front of my friends, and now my bottom was on fire and I couldn’t stop crying.

How in the hell was I supposed to concentrate?

Razor went to the front of the room and started working through moves we’d been working on for weeks. Block, block, punch, rotate, elbow, run. Block, block, punch, rotate, elbow, run. We’d do it a few feet from a wall, facing it, and spin and run to the other wall to do it again. And again. He told us we were building muscle memory so we’d do this in a crisis without even thinking about it.

And we’d been doing it long enough, it centered me. I stopped thinking about my humiliation and firecracker-hot bottom and focused on the movements.

Later, when he taught us something new, he didn’t make me go to the front and do it like he usually does.

When class was over, he asked me to go to the office with him. He stood behind the desk, leaned over it, braced on his fists.

“I’d have torn Matty up over that, too. I’d probably take it a step farther and give the instructor permission to belt him in front of the class for being late in the future.”

I crossed my arms and stared at the floor. No way would Bubbles do that. I hoped.

“I’ve texted him to let him know you did well in class once we started, but this is me telling you that you disrupt class when you aren’t already dressed and ready to start on time. Bubbles isn’t the only one upset with you. I’ve talked to him about your schedule over the next week, and you don’t have anything planned for early Saturday. I expect you here at six o’clock sharp Saturday morning to wet mop and then dry the floors. We have video surveillance, and I’ll ask Brain to send me the video showing your arrival, your activities while you’re here, and then your exit. The first class is at eight, and you’ll be expected to complete your work by then. The supplies you’ll need will be out and ready for you.”

I glared at him. “So, I’m being punished twice?!”

He shrugged. “Most parents have a rule that if you get in trouble at school, you’ll be in trouble when you get home, too. Consider it the same. This isn’t the first time you disrupted my class by being late, but you had us worried about you today.”

I stared at my feet and tried not to cry, and he touched my chin and pressed up.

“We worry because we care. Get going, so you can pick up your phone, eat, and get to work. I’ll let him know I detained you a few minutes and you’re on your way.”

Bubbles was waiting for me in the parking lot, and I pulled up to him and rolled down my window. With any luck, he’d hand it to me and I’d be on my way.

I should’ve known better.

“If you’d had your phone, I’d have texted you I’d meet you at the restaurant.” He walked around my car, tried to open the door, and glared at me when he realized it was locked. I hit the switch and he got in.

“Don’t even,” I told him. “If it’d been unlocked you’d have bitched about me not being fucking safe.”

He laughed. “Point, but you should’ve unlocked it once you realized I was getting in.”

“Why did you get in?”

“We’re eating at the restaurant.”

I crossed my arms and kept my foot on the brake. “No. Everyone will know you spanked me by now. If you want to eat with me, fine, but not there.”

He sighed. “Yes, there. Hit it head-on or it’ll just be harder later. I’m with you to make it easier.”

“I’m pissed at you.”

“I’m aware, but you knew the consequences.”

“I didn’t know you’d do it in front of people!”

He looked sad. “Yeah, Lex, you did.”

Okay, so yeah, it was technically in our agreement that if I got in trouble in front of the club he could spank me in front of them if it was a repeat offense, and/or if it was something I’d done against the club or a member – but I never thought it would actually happen!

“Razor says I have to mop the floors Saturday morning before the sun even comes up.”

“And dry them. There’s a polisher thing you can use. He makes paying students who aren’t part of the club stay after and clean windows or sweep the floor if they’re late enough to disrupt class a third time. He says you’ve been late way more than three times, but never this late.”

I started to tell him I just lost track of time, but I shut my mouth before I said the words. He gets really annoyed when I tell him that.

“Please don’t use the belt tonight! I’ve learned my lesson!”

“I’m not so sure you have, sweetheart. You always say you have, and you smell like you believe it, but then it happens again.” Another sigh. “And again.”

“We’ve been back in school three weeks since the Christmas break, and I was only late twice!”

“Drive, Lex. You aren’t helping your case.”

I floored it, burned rubber going through the parking lots, and didn’t slow until it was time to dive into a parking space. I threw it into park, grabbed my bag, and stormed out of the car.

I was nearly to the front door when Bubbles grabbed the back of my shirt, stopped me, and turned me to him. “Unless you want tonight’s appointment with my belt to happen in the clubhouse instead of the privacy of our living room, you’re gonna want to check that temper, little girl.”

He was right and I knew it, but I was so pissed, I didn’t care.

“Still,” said Gonzo from behind me, “girl can park like a pro. That was hella good drivin’.”

Bubbles chuckled and kissed my forehead. “It was, but that kind of driving just because you’re pissed isn’t acceptable.”

“Yep. I’d tear Connie’s ass up for it too, but that isn’t her style, thank goodness.” He glanced at me and looked back to Bubbles with a grin. “You have your hands full with this one. Good luck with that.”

Thankfully, Bubbles walked us to a little table-for-two in the back of the room, instead of seating us at the big table where everyone gathers. I hadn’t been planning to order more than a Coke and some cheese sticks, but I got a burger and fries since I could eat without having to face them head on.

HotPocket looked at me with sympathy when she checked in to see what we wanted, which meant even the sweetbutts had heard. Fuck.

When she was gone, Bubbles sat back, but looped his feet behind mine. I settled my shoes on top of his boots out of habit, then wished I hadn’t. I was mad at him.

“I’m upset with you, and you’re pissed at me,” he said. “I still love you, and I want you in my life, but we have to figure out how to deal with this, Half-pint.”

I sighed, crossed my arms, and uncrossed them. “I’m truly sorry I forgot my phone cord today and you were worried. It was a major fuckup. I didn’t even think about Razor being worried about me, but he said he was, too.”

Bubbles nodded. “Yeah, he was. He stopped teaching class to let me know, so I could find you.”

I’d started to ask Etta to text Bubbles and let him know I was just leaving her apartment on the way to self-defense class, but I hadn’t wanted Etta to bitch at me about being late, either. Plus, I’d hoped Bubbles wouldn’t find out, so I’d just flown to class as fast as possible and hoped for the best.

“I know you say that sorry loses its power when you have to keep apologizing for the same thing, but I am sorry.”

“And I can smell the truth in your words, but I also know it doesn’t mean it’s going to stop happening.”

He needed to understand more about why I was late. “Etta says Mama seems to have lost her ability to function between her binges. Usually, she’s out of it three to five days, then weans herself off and gives herself enough to function for the next couple of weeks without hitting withdrawals. She used to be good for up to three weeks between, but Etta says Mama’s been fucking up the recipes even when she seems functional, and that she hasn’t been able to go more than seven or eight days between…” I stopped talking and stared at the table. Part of me wanted to believe Mama was upset that I wasn’t in her life anymore, but mostly I figured she was under stress with whatever big plans were being made. Mama doesn’t deal well with change.

“Sweetheart, if you needed to talk to your sister about family stuff that couldn’t wait, you should’ve called or texted Razor and let him know you were going to miss class.”

“It could wait, I just forgot about the time. I mean, when I pulled in I knew I had ten minutes to see her car before I needed to go, but then we started talking and the next thing I knew, it’d been a little over twenty minutes.”

He looked at me a few moments, as if he were deciding something. “Seventeen strikes of the belt tonight and then twenty-four hours without an orgasm, or seventeen days without an orgasm, but if you’re late for anything during that time, we add those minutes onto your days, too.”

He was giving me a choice, and I appreciated it on one level, but was even grumpier on another. I wanted there to be a choice where all consequences went away.

But, I’d fucked up — not just by being late, but by worrying them, and by disrupting class for everyone. He hadn’t mentioned it, but they’d picked that class time to accommodate my schedule between school and work.

“The belt, Sir.”

The skin and muscles around his eyes relaxed. He was upset, too. Not just me.

“Good girl. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll try to do better.”