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But she’d been determined to make them proud of her so she’d put on her best brave face and turned to them. “Where’s my mower?”

When Aaron had held up a pair of scissors, she’d just blinked at him in confusion. “You’re going to use these.”

“But… but… that’s…”Ridiculous.The word sprang to her lips right away, but she swallowed it back. She couldn’t think of a way to say it respectfully, and her asshole felt too tender for another workout just then.

“It’s going to be hard, no doubt about it, darlin’,” Chandler answered, and he truly did look sympathetic.

“It’s going to take all day,” she answered, forcing herself to speak evenly.

“That’s kinda the point,” Aaron put in, and though he too looked like he felt for her, he was matter-of-fact. “Keep your head down and do a good job. This punishment is from Nate himself, and you owe him for the extra work you caused us yesterday.”

Before she could swallow the sassiness, the words just popped out. “Will I be paying anyoneelsefor my mistakes?” As soon as the words left her lips, her bottom crawled, and by the smirk on Aaron’s face, he’d seen it.

“No. Not if you do what you’re told,” Chandler assured her. “One of us will be here ‘round lunchtime to get you. Then you’ll work here until dinner. I know it’s a lot, but I have faith in you.” He’d squeezed her shoulder, his handsome face more optimistic than she felt.

“And remember,” Aaron whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her pussy sit up and take notice. “Be agoodgirl and you’ll get rewarded tonight.”

She’d tried. She really had. With every teeny-tiny snip, she’d repeated his words to herself:Be a good girl. Good girl. Be a…

But the memory of his voice had faded hours ago and her fingers ached even when she stopped cutting and wiped the sweat from her brow. At least she was making progress… Her hand damp from her own sweat, Chyanne turned around and eyed the yard. Her heart sank.

This is never, ever going to get done. Ever. And that was the whole point… to torture me. Isn’t that what Aaron said?

The truth was, as hopeless as she felt faced with what felt like a wild jungle of grass to cut—by hand!—she couldn’t quite remember his exact words. But she was sure it had been something like that.

“Geez, are they trying to punish me? Or make me run away?” she muttered to the open field.

Maybe thatwasit. Maybe they were tired of dealing with her already and didn’t have a nice way to tell her so.

“What’s a girl gotta do to get a lawnmower in this place?” she asked, a bit louder than before.

“I don’t know. I think they’re in the shed.”

Chyanne gasped and, still on her knees, pivoted at the sound of the voice. A petite brunette was smiling at her.

“You want to go check?”

“I… I… don’t know where the shed is,” she mumbled, blushing at having her musings overheard.

“That’s okay. I’ll take you.”

Chyanne considered her. She looked familiar… then, with a jolt of recognition she realized the girl had to have been a part of the crowd she’d encountered yesterday.

The other girl giggled as though she could read Chyanne’s thoughts in the air above her head. “We met—kinda. My name’s Ashley.” She offered a hand.

Surprised that the girl was even speaking to her, let alone being so nice, Chyanne reached for her hand and found herself being pulled to her feet.

“So, what do you say? Wanna go find a mower?”

“Um…” Chyanne chewed her lip. She didn’t have to think about the answer: it was a definitiveyes, but she was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to leave.

Ashley clearly read her hesitation because she said, “Or we could go find another pair of scissors and I’ll help.”

Chyanne’s brows shot up. “You… you’d do that?”

“Sure,” she chirped. “Why not?”

Um, because I’m sure I got you in trouble and I assumed none of you would have anything to do with me…