Chapter 11

“What did they say?”

“I was grounded for a month, but they both got their heads together after that. Never got an apology for the rough mood and none of us ever mentioned it again. Mom just marked the calendar with when my punishment would end and I was stuck in my room until that day came.”

By this point, a very subdued Kelsey came to the breakfast table and gave me a very delicate hug before taking her seat.

“Morning, Sugar,” I told her. “Your mom tells me that you two discussed punishment for yesterday. She’s decided to ground you for a full week, but you haven’t discussed what that specifically means.”

She nodded. “No, Daddy. I figured I was stuck in my room.”

I nodded. “Not much of a punishment with your phone and laptop to keep you company though, is it?” I asked.

She looked at me in shock, but didn’t say anything.

“For the week, you can have your cellphone while you’re at school. If you’re home, you turn your phone over to one of us. Same with your laptop. If you need it for school, that’s fine, but take this time to think about how bad things could have been. I don’t think you need to be confined to your room, but you’ll be here or next door all week. No going out with friends on the weekend and no after school activities unless it’s with me or Lisa.”

She nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”

“I thought about spanking you, but I worry that you’d enjoy it, like your mother,” I smirked, trying to lighten the mood some.

She bit her lip. “Maybe if you spank me real good, we could talk about shortening my punishment?” she offered. “You said bad girls get spanked.”

I looked at Lisa and she shook her head at me as if to tell me I was on my own. “Nope! I’m not getting in the middle of this. I’m gonna be the buddy parent for once.” She actually laughed at me. Well two could play that game.

“Be careful what you ask for, Sugar,” I told her. “You have to be aware that you’re asking for a different kind of spanking than a few swats with a hand.”

She looked at me and wondered what I had in mind, but let it drop for now. They had to go and I had an appointment too, so we separated at that point. I told them that I’d call the alarm company and get them their own codes for the security system later on so they could get in and out without the alarm company freaking out.

I loaded my gear into the car and took off. The job was for a vet’s office. They had an IT guy that would install the software they needed, but he was crap at networking. It was a relatively easy install and I quoted them a price for install and for maintenance. They were happy with the installation fee, but weren’t interested in being a regular customer. They seemed to think their guy could handle it. Everyone assumes that. I was just as happy. I’d make $1200 for a single day of work and be off in time to pick Kelsey up after school for the pepper-spray I promised.

I set to work and got lost in it, fishing Ethernet cable through the walls and setting up the ports where they said the computers were going to be stationed. I talked to both of the doctors that owned the business and tried to convince them that contracting for network maintenance was really the way they wanted to go.

“Things go wrong in networks,” I told them. “It’s inevitable that something will need attention. I’m willing to troubleshoot on an as needed basis, but my rate for that is much higher than my support contract rate.”

They were adamant that their computer expert could do the work once I crawled under the desks to plug it all in and I let it drop. Not a big deal. I was only really interested in cultivating them as a customer because I liked animals.

The day passed relatively quickly and at the end of the day, they cut me a check for the install and promised they’d consider me as a consultant if their computer guy wasn’t up to the task. I’d had to skip out on lunch with Cryin’ Ryan, but he’d see plenty of me tomorrow.

I thanked them for their business and left to pick up Kelsey and her friends, knowing that I’d get a call to come in when their network was so unstable that the consult fee would amount to them taking one on the chin.

I got to the school in time to meet the girls after class and they all came up to meet me.

“No bike and no suit today?” Rose asked. “Always something new with you, huh?” she asked with a smile.

“Well, I know girls tend to get bored,” I told her with a little playfulness. “If I want to keep you interested, I need to keep changing it up.”

“So you want us interested?” she shot back, her hazel eyes twinkling mischievously.

“Every guy wants pretty girls interested in him,” I said and then corrected myself. “Except the gay ones. They just want your clothes. The rest of us want what’s inside them.”

She giggled about that and the five of us got in the car. I was glad to see Swan’s father had decided that the biker threat wasn’t something to be afraid of any more as she piled in, pausing to give me a hug around the waist. She really was tiny and crawled into the backseat with Rose and Leanne. Leanne gave me another hug before I got behind the wheel and took us shopping for pepper-spray. I took them to a store that specialized in self-defense and martial arts. They each got two cans: a small one that clipped onto a key-ring and a larger one they could carry in their backpacks.

“These are for real,” I said. “You don’t use these unless you’re in danger. If someone corners you, hose him down. If he touches you, hose him down. Don’t wait until it’s too late, but don’t be too free with it if you’re not in trouble.”

“If Chihuahua tries to talk to us, what should we do?” Kelsey asked.

“If it’s at school, tell a teacher he’s not supposed to be in contact with any of you, but ultimately, if he touches you, spray his eyes full of this shit ... and kick him in the balls until someone pulls you off of him.”

That got some laughs and we took the girls home. Rose wanted to get out first and seemed eager to get to some things she had to do around the house. We took Swan home next and she wanted me to come in and talk to her dad.

I shook hands with him and she showed him the pepper-spray we’d gotten her.

“You really think she’ll need it?” Darryl asked, concerned.

“Think of it like condoms,” I suggested. “As a father, you hate the thought of her needing them, but you’d MUCH rather she had them than not, in case the issue came up. I don’t want her to have to use the pepper-spray any more than you do, but the kid you saw yesterday isn’t taking no for an answer, so better that they’re armed.”

He nodded in agreement. “Thanks for looking out for Swan,” he said.

“It’s the least I can do,” I told him. “She’s friends with Kelsey and sweet as pie. I’m glad to do it.”

Swan came up and gave me a hug. “Thank you, Sugar-Daddy,” she said sweetly, making all the blood drain out of my face. She didn’t just say that in front of her father. No. No one would ever ... Yeah. She said it. Time to make a run for it.

“Sugar-Daddy?” Darryl repeated, looking back and forth between me and Swan.

She handled it far better than I did. She rolled her eyes at him. “Kelsey’s nickname is Sugar,” she explained. “He’s her dad now. Sugar’s Daddy. Sugar-Daddy.”

“Oh,” her father relaxed and I learned to breathe again.

“Pumpkin, you nearly gave your dad a heart attack. Sugar-Daddy’s also a nickname for an older, rich guy that buys the affection of a young pretty girl with presents. I guess pepper-spray is a pretty weird gift for a sugar-daddy to give out though.”

“Oh,” she said as if she was thinking about that. “I’m sure you’ll buy me something nicer next time,” she giggled. “My birthday IS coming up.”

That got a laugh out of me, but I thought I should get out of there while I still had my skin in tact. I told Darryl that Swan was welcome to come hang out with Kelsey any time and was getting ready to go when Swan wanted a hug.

“Pick me up,” she demanded. “I want a proper one.”

I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck so she’d have the chance to whisper to me. “I know what a sugar-daddy is,” she said and then squeezed me tighter. “I already have a Daddy, so you can be my Sugar-Daddy.”

I hugged her back just as tightly and then put her down before shaking hands with Darryl again. “I promise not to have her out past midnight on weekends,” I joked crookedly.

“10:30,” he countered.

“ll:30,” I countered playfully.

“11 sharp,” he said in his best poker-face.

“11 doesn’t give us time to go to a late movie,” I pointed out, “let alone talk about it afterwards.”

“Go see an early movie,” he suggested.

“I’d have to pick her up right from school for us to have time for a decent dinner,” I negotiated.

“It seems like you’re there to pick the girls up every day this week anyway,” he said dismissively.

“True,” I said brightly. “Swan, honey, your Daddy just gave you permission to go on a date Friday night. I’ll pick you up after school.”

“What?!” he blurted out.

“He suggested we go see an early movie and that I make sure to have you home here by 11.”

“No,” he objected, trying to recover. “I ... I didn’t...”

“Thank you, Daddy!” she said brightly, beaming at him. He was fucked. He couldn’t pull the rug out from under her now and his wife was gonna castrate him when he was forced to tell her. I decided to take pity on him.

“I think he might be more comfortable if we were chaperoned though for our first few dates. Maybe instead of going out somewhere, we can invite Kelsey, Leanne and Rose to come over to Kelsey’s place and her mother can keep an eye on me to make sure I treat you like a lady.”

She spoiled it by giggling and told her father to relax, that I was Kelsey’s mother’s boyfriend. “You really thought Jake would go out with me on a serious date?”

“Well, I knew you were both kidding with me,” he said, trying to recover. He was still way off balance. “I was ... just playing along, that’s all.”

“Sure you were, Daddy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Kelsey’s mom is way prettier than me. If Jake was going out, he’d take her.”

“Swan, honey,” I said to her seriously, “you talk to your mom and get her to call me. If she thinks you’re ready, I’ll take you out and show you how you should expect a boy to treat you on dates. You’re a beautiful girl, sweetie. Don’t compare yourself to other girls to judge how you look.”

She frowned at that. “I still look like a little girl,” she complained.

“So?” I said lightly. “Yesterday, I looked like a lawyer. The day before, I looked like a biker and today, I look like a cable repairman. Doesn’t matter what we look like. I know you’re not a little girl. YOU know you’re not a little girl. If you’d like me to take you out, I’ll square it with Lisa so she doesn’t get mad or jealous that I’m spending time with younger girls. You just have your mom call me so I know she’s good with it.”

I gave her one of my cards from the business and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “No more talk about you not being pretty enough though.”

“I’m so short though!” she complained. She wasn’t upset, just disappointed that this was her reality.

“If you want to be tall, you can ride on my shoulders,” I said to her lightly.

“I can’t do that on a date!” she said, scandalized. “I’d be wearing a dress. People would see everything.”

I nodded. “That’s true,” I said, as if I was thinking about how to deal with that problem. “We’ll just save that for when you’re wearing pants.”

That defused a little of the tension between the three of us and I decided to beat a hasty retreat.

“That took a while,” Kelsey commented when I was back in the car.

“Yeah. I had to talk to her dad for a minute and then Swan needed a little reassurance,” I said. “She’s a little sensitive about being so small.”

They both nodded and Leanne spoke up. “We’ve all tried to tell her that it doesn’t matter. She’s fine the way she is. She just doesn’t buy it.”

I nodded. “We’ll have to fix that,” I said absently. It was a worry for another day. “Hopefully her mom calls me to talk about it.”

“She’s just really too shy for her own good,” Kelsey said with a sigh. “She doesn’t talk to anyone at school except us.”

I nodded. “Maybe being small bothers her a lot more than she lets on,” I said. “She thinks that she looks like a little girl.”

“Well, she DOES,” Leanne said sheepishly. “She might have trouble dating now, but when the rest of us look old and tired, she’ll still be able to put her hair in pig-tails and get into the movies for half-price.”

“I don’t think she cares so much about the price of movie tickets,” I reminded her.

“No, but she’ll be able to call some lucky pervert ‘Daddy’ for a long time,” Leanne giggled.

“She already calls one pervert ‘Daddy’,” I said with a roll of my eyes. I told them about Swan calling me ‘Sugar-Daddy’ in front of her father. Rotten little brats laughed at me.

“So are you gonna shower her with presents and be her sugar-daddy for real?” Kelsey wanted to know.

I gave her a withering look. “No,” I told her, “but I’ll take her out on a couple of dates to help her settle her self-consciousness about it.”

“Kel’s just kidding with you,” Leanne assured me. “You should be serious about Swan though. Don’t just take her out for practice. Take her out and make out with her. Be her boyfriend.”

“Hoping I’ll keep my hands off your girlfriend if you find me a new playmate?” I asked her playfully.

She laughed. “It’s a good thing you’re good-looking, Jake,” she told me, “because you’re kinda clueless.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek to take the sting out of her words.

She needn’t have worried. Sometimes guys WERE clueless, but today I was baiting her. I just looked at her in the rear-view mirror with a small smile. “Maybe, but sometimes I’m smarter than people give me credit for.”

“I’m sure,” she said with a smile of her own. “Alright, let’s dance. You tell me what you know and I’ll tell you if you’re right.”

“You wanna know what I know?” I asked, chuckling. “I know that Swan wasn’t the first one of Kelsey’s friends who called me Daddy and mean it. You said as much yesterday when you made sure that I knew that you wanted to have a longer conversation about things. Slipping me the tongue was a particularly nice touch to let me know where your head was.”

“BUSTED!” Kelsey laughed at her girlfriend. “You should have just asked him in the first place.”

Leanne gave her a dirty look before turning back to me. “Okay, so while poor, grounded Kelsey is sulking in her room, you’re gonna need someone to make sure you stay warm at night,” she told me, reaching out to punch Kelsey in the arm without looking at her. “I can tell my mom that I’m staying over for the weekend. It’ll give her a break from me.”

I shook my head and glanced at her in the mirror. “Kelsey’s not confined to her room,” I clarified. “She’s already told you that though. She’s grounded from going out and she’s not allowed electronics except for schoolwork.”

“The offer’s still there,” she told me. “I know she’s waiting ‘til she’s sixteen. I’m already sixteen and I’m not waiting any more. Take me, Daddy.”

I snorted at that. “Gonna follow me around, calling me ‘Daddy’ until you get the invite?” I asked dryly.

“I’d wear football pads and call you ‘Coach’ if that’s what did it for you,” she told me evenly.

That got the three of us laughing. “Alright,” I relented. “I’ll talk to Lisa tonight and see if she’s willing to host a little sleep-over. You sure your mother’s gonna be okay with you out of the way for the weekend?”

She scoffed. “Mom has a boyfriend. She’s been trying to keep me from getting a hint of it, but she’s been paying more attention to her make-up lately and she’s been going out to dinner without me a lot more. If I’m out of the house, she’ll be able to relax about it.”

“Fair enough,” I said. I wasn’t about to be judgmental about someone else’s sex life. Mine was bizarre enough to keep my attention on my own. “Does your mom know about you and Kelsey?” I asked.

“Are you retarded?” she exclaimed. “After what my dad did, she couldn’t handle hearing that I’m hooked up with a girl. She’d cut her wrists in the bathtub, thinking her daughter was a lesbian.”

I shrugged. “Just asking,” I told her soothingly. “So is this a one time thing or are you looking for a long-term Daddy?” I asked, gauging her reaction.

“Let’s see how the weekend goes,” she said. “You could be awful in bed.” She giggled about that.

“Don’t be stupid,” Kelsey told her. “You know that’s not true. You’ve had to change panties twice today just from what I told you yesterday.”

She pouted. “I’m allowed to be skeptical, Kelsey,” she said. “No one’s as good as you described. If it’s half that good though...” she bit her lip. “If it’s that good, I guess I won’t want to give it up.”

“I want to hear more about you changing panties because of what she’s been telling you,” I said with a crooked smile.

“She said she’s been wet since yesterday thinking about the three of us together,” Kelsey supplied helpfully, earning herself another punch in the arm from her friend.

“If she’s embarrassing you, you can always gag her with a pair,” I told Leanne with a smirk.

She brightened at that and started digging around in her purse. “That’s a good idea,” she said brightly and dug out a pair of neatly folded pink bikini panties.

I shook my head. “Not those ones. Those panties are too clean,” I said, rejecting them.

She dug around again and came up with the ones she’d started the day with. “They’re pretty gross,” she said reluctantly.

“No, they’re not right either. Those panties are too dirty.” By this time, Kelsey knew what was going on and she was giggling to herself quietly.

“They’re the only two pair I have with me,” Leanne said sharply. “I don’t pack my whole underwear drawer for school, you know.”

“I think you’ve got one more pair to offer,” I countered. “A pair that’s not too clean and not too dirty, but Juuuuuust right for our little Goldilocks here.”

Leanne suddenly turned crimson as she realized what I was talking about. “What if someone sees?!” she demanded, suddenly apprehensive.

“Then they get to see a pretty girl changing in a backseat. You wouldn’t be the first girl to do that,” I pointed out.

“That’s usually in the dark and somewhere quiet,” she countered. “Not on a busy street in the middle of the day!”

I shrugged. “No one’s saying you have to do anything,” I reminded her.

She struggled with the thought for a minute and then clicked her seat-belt loose and hunched down in her seat, unbuckling her belt and unzipping her jeans. She pulled off her shoes and then she was wiggling back and forth, pushing her pants and panties down. It was a struggle for her, but she managed to get them off and put them in my hand when I held it out for her. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” she breathed incredulously and started reaching for her pants again.