Two Guardians for Little May (18 page)

"I won't. I swear."

"I don't want to lose you,"
Caine said. His chin quivered and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Neither of us do. Not to peer pressure and not to disease."

Guilt surged inside of May's heart.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"I know, sweetie. I love
you." He hugged her tightly.

"I love you, too," May said.
She looked at Layton. "You too. Please, forgive me."

"I don't want you to do anything
like this again, do you understand?" Layton said, his voice solemn as he
locked his arms across his chest.

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, come on then. Get your
bottom over here." Caine patted his knee.

"But I've learned my lesson. I
promise!"

"I'm going to make sure of
that," Caine responded, taking her wrist and moving her to his side before
depositing her over his lap.

"And when he is done, I will
reinforce it," Layton added, his arms still rigidly crossed.

"Daddy please," May begged
as he positioned her bottom high in the air. "I'm begging you…"

"Maybelle Corrine, I give you my
word that if I ever find out you've done something so stupid again, this will
seem like nothing. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," May said,
gripping her fingers around the legs of the chair. She squeezed her eyes shut,
and held her breath as he
rested the cool wooden hairbrush
on her backside.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"No. Not that it matters
anyway."

"True. Maybe you should spend
some more time in the corner and come out to me when you're prepared to accept
your punishment. What is your opinion about that?"

"It sucks," May said
quietly. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, it certainly is."
Caine patted her bottom with the brush, lifted it in the air, and presented her
with the first, shockingly painful, swat.

"Fuck!" May screeched,
trying to levitate off his hard thighs.

"You are not going
anywhere," Caine said, accentuating each word with a smack of the brush.

"That hurts! Stop! Oh, MY
GOD!" Tears spilled in pools from May's eyes. She kicked furiously,
flailing her legs wildly to make her bottom an uncatchable moving target.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Her
backend felt as
though a bag of smoldering coals had been dumped upon it, and she desperately
wanted to put several miles' distance between her rump and that evil hairbrush.
"I'm sorryyy!"

He shifted the hairbrush down and
clapped it heavily on her delicate sit spots. No longer able to keep her grip
on the chair legs, May reached back in a futile attempt to avoid another stroke.
"Please Daddy, please. No more," she begged, her sobs shaking her
shoulders.

Caine grabbed her hand, and held it to
the small of her back, without once breaking the rhythmic pounding of the hard
brush to her jiggling flesh. Her screams melted into defeated whimpers as the
brush continued to accentuate the lesson that Caine was determined to teach
only once.

 
"What have you learned today?"
he asked her, finally pausing the spanking to allow her to speak.

May panted for her breath, suddenly
filled with intense anger. The words "I learned you are a fuckfaced
dickweasel" slipped from her lips, followed by an angry scream.

"Are you insane, girl?"
Layton asked.
"Unbelievable. Caine, allow me—"

"No,"
Caine said, "not this time. She is going to learn this one lesson if it
takes all day. And she will learn it from me. I will not have any woman of mine
behaving this way."

"Nooo,"
May howled when he began spanking her hard and fast again, this time using only
his hand. It felt like a wooden plank! "I'm sorry! I was angry!"

 
"Angry or not, that type of
disrespect is never allowed in this house." He spanked with more intensity
while maintaining a tight hold, and moved his hand down to thoroughly paint her
sit spots and thighs a bright scarlet. 

"Owww.
Please, please, please Caine!" May pleaded, despite knowing how futile it
was to beg.

"Please
what?" he asked, taking a break to grab her ponytail and pull her hair
slightly so as to lift her head to look up at him. "Please let you drift
into subspace, like you do when Layton punishes you? Absolutely not. I know
exactly what you are doing here and it won't work."

"No, Daddy.
Please no more spanking. I swear, I won't ever pick up another cigarette
again," May begged.

He picked up the
pack of cigarettes to show her. "If I
ever
 find out that
you're touching this shit again, I swear to God, this paddling that you are
feeling right now will feel like nothing compared to what I'll give you. Do you
understand me?"

He looked so
serious, more serious than May had ever seen him. His blue eyes glared at her
with such intensity that she wanted to puke. May gulped, sniffling again before
hiccupping out, "Yes, sir. Please, tell me you are done. I can't take it
anymore."

"No. I am
not done here. You will be lucky if I don't keep this up all night and turn
your little butt to hamburger. Could you please hand me a leather paddle?"
he asked of Layton.

"No!"
May protested. Just the thought of the untried leather upon her ruby red bottom
terrified her.

"Yes. It
will deliver the sting without the damage. Thank you," he said to Layton,
accepting the implement. Caine dropped the cigarettes on the floor in front of
her, released her hair, and resumed the punishment. The leather slapped
mercilessly in the center of her bottom, and May began to sob again in earnest.

"Oh, dear
Lord! I'm really sorryyy!" she bayed, her kicking slowing down as she
exhausted herself.

"I'm sure
you will be, if not now. You will never touch that crap again. You will never
lie to either of us, either. Do you get my point?" Caine asked,
embellishing every word with one or two harsh slaps of the leather.

"Yes! I do!
Ow!" May bellowed.

"I don't
think so. There is still too much fight left in you. A fuckfaced
dickweasel?" Caine moved the flexible paddle to color the backs of her thighs.

"I'm
sooorry!"

"I would
never disrespect you like that," he scolded, working his way back to her
bottom.

"Caine? I
think she gets the point," Layton interrupted after a few more minutes.
"She's close to blistering."

"You think
she's gotten the point? Has she really gotten the message this time?"
Caine said, almost mockingly. He pulled May's hair again to look into her eyes.
She was barely able to focus through the cloudy tears, and unwilling to face
the look of disappointment that was plastered on his handsome features.

"Yeah,
you've been smacking her bottom for half an hour now. I think she's had
enough."

"You should
be wanting to help me," Caine snapped as he released May's ponytail and
set the paddle on the edge of the bed. His voice choked with emotion. "Mom
died of lung cancer. You saw how she suffered. You cleaned that hideous hole in
her throat, and wiped up the blood she coughed up. You remember the chest pain
she had after radiation, and the endless days of misery with her chemo. She started
smoking when she was in her twenties. That is May's age! Do you want the same
thing to happen to our May? You act like this is no big deal."

"Hey, calm
down. I am on your side, remember? Mom's disease was the worst possible thing I
could imagine anyone going through, and I completely agree that the girl
definitely deserves to be punished. But," Layton said calmly, "I also
I think we need to add a mental element, not just a physical one. May, you are
grounded for one month. You are under house arrest, and won't even pee without
one of us giving you the okay. Understand me? I am so incredibly disappointed
in you. You not only hurt yourself, but you hurt us. The only other time I've
seen my brother cry was when he delivered his first stillborn. It took him weeks
to recover."

"I am so
sorry," May blubbered, feeling as though she had failed both of them. With
an anguished sigh, Caine helped her off his lap and pulled her trembling body
in for a hug. She pulled back until he buried her face under her jaw. She could
taste his tears mingled with hers.

"I'm sorry,
Daddy," she bawled. "I am so very sorry. Will you ever forgive
me?"

"Yes,"
he whispered, holding her tightly. "Please don't ever push me to this
extreme again."

"I won't. I
promise."

"I love you
so much," he whispered, his silent tears soaking her neck. "Don't
leave me that way."

May held him
tightly, wiping his face with her hand. "I didn't think you would be so
hurt. If I did, I swear, I never would have thought of being so dumb."

"There are
very few things that put me into this place," Caine sniffed, rocking her.
"When someone hurts a child, and when someone I love hurts
themselves."

"It's like
committing slow suicide, baby," Layton explained, stroking Caine's back.
"If you are that unhappy, it hurts us."

"It had
nothing to do with me being happy." May looked up at him with red eyes.

"Our
acceptance and approval wasn't enough for you, so you had to do this to get the
attention from the other cowboys," Layton said, moving his hands to
massage his brother's tense shoulders. "So, yes, you were unhappy."

"That never
even crossed my mind. I swear," May said frantically. She dug her fingers
into Caine's jaw and forced him to look at her. "I swear to God. Please
believe me."

"I love you.
I want to make you happy. I don't care about what anyone else thinks about you
and neither should you," Caine said despondently. "We want to be the
ones to fill the voids in your life, not any other men for any other
reason."

She flung her
arms around his neck and held him as tightly as she could, her heart breaking
as she accepted the truth of his statement. Truly, they gave her everything.

"I'm so
sorry."

"So am I,
baby."

"I'll do
anything you want."

"The only
thing I want, May," Caine held her, stroking her hair, "is to love
you with all my heart, mind and soul. And I want you to try to love me back
with whatever you can give me."

"I do love
you that way! Both of you. I need you to believe me."

"We believe
you, baby. We really do," Layton said, leaving one hand on his brother's
shoulder, and stroking May's tousled hair with the other.

"Promise?"

"I
promise."

"You've had enough for this
evening, Maybelle," Layton said, pulling the girl gently from Caine's
hold. "Go get ready for bed."

"W-whom should I sleep with
tonight?" She sniffled.

Layton looked at his brother and
then shook his head. "Neither. Tonight you can sleep in your own
bed."

May stared at him in disbelief.
"Don't you want me anymore?"

"Subbies." Layton rolled
his eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her. "You
are being punished. Grounding includes no sex. That hurts us as much as it
hurts you, but this is necessary. Let's go."

May turned around as he led her
into her bedroom. "I need to be held. Can you? Just a little while.
Please?" she begged, trying desperately to catch her breath between the
new onslaught of shaking sobs.

"I will be back in here after
I comfort Caine and get some food into him, before he crashes and gets the
crankies." He lifted her chin with his index finger. "You really hurt
him, baby."

"I know." She lowered her
eyes.

"Go," Layton said softly.
"I'll take care of him and then I'll be back to take care of you."

"Are you going to punish me
too?" May's lips quivered.

"No. I really should take a
belt to your ass for this, but doing that would be wrong. It might appease my
own anger, but would not benefit in teaching you a lesson. I think Caine was
plenty thorough, don't you?"

"I still feel guilty."
May wrapped her arms around his waist.

"We'll talk about it later
when we're cuddling. Jump in the shower and put on your pajamas. I'll bring you
up something to eat."

Layton watched May limp painfully
towards her bathroom and close the door behind her. He returned to where his
brother was still sitting on the chair in his room. "You okay?"

"No." Caine hid his face
in his hands. His shoulders once again trembled with silent sobs. Layton pulled
a chair in front of him and placed his hand on his knee, encouraging him to
talk. "All I could see was Mom. Reduced to nothing and that hole in her
neck. May…"

"Made a huge mistake for the
stupidest excuse on the planet. Come here, little brother," Layton
ordered, embracing Caine protectively. "I doubt she will ever do it again.
Shhh, it will be all right. You did what you needed to do."