Page 80 of Stand: Part One

“Well, I guess you shouldn’t be writing checks your ass clearly can’t cash then, huh?” I retorted bitterly.

Nice impulse control, dumbass.

The heavy squeak of Darren’s chair against the floor had my stomach clenching in anger.

“Come here,” he ordered, pointing at the space in front of him.

Refusing to look at him, I huffed a breath and scooted out from my chair, keeping my arms folded tightly against my chest. It only took a single step for Darren’s arm span to reach me and yank my body the rest of the way to haul me over his lap.

Wrapping his arm around my waist, he held me in place as he lifted the back of my dress and smacked my bare ass so hard, the sound echoed off the walls.

I bawled and jerked in his hold as he smacked me again.

“You ever talk to me like that again, and you won’t have a working jaw to even speak with anymore.” His hand cracked down against my ass a third time, making me inhale with a sharp gasp, the pain radiating everywhere. “Do you understand me?”

I blew out a frustrated breath. “I just?—”

He smacked me again so hard that an involuntary tear slipped from my eyes, a cry scraping up my throat.

“Do you understand?” he roared down at me, making me flinch internally.

“Yes!” I shouted back, my ass so inflamed I dreaded having to sit back down through breakfast. He spanked me again, slightly less hard this time, but it was enough to make me grit my teeth until my jaw ached.

“I don’t know where this sudden sense of entitlement is coming from, but it’s really starting to piss me off.”

I scoffed. “Excuse me for expecting you to honor our agreement. How stupid of me to trust your word,” I practically spat.

That earned me another hard swat, making me growl in agitation.

“Yes, you were very adamant during our negotiations, weren’t you? The what, the where, the length of time. You knew exactly what you wanted.” His hand came down again, the sharp burn making me whimper. “However, you failed to negotiate one very important provision,” he stated, rubbing his palm across my sore and stinging ass. “You forgot the when.”

I immediately stiffened, my mind circling back to the day we discussed the terms, trying to find the lies in his words. But I knew there were none because Darren never lied. I hadn’t even felt the need to consider the when. I was too damn excited over the rare possibility of it even happening in the first place.

What was worse was that I had the chance to renegotiate before the rematch, but I didn’t. My brain just automatically assumed it would happen immediately like most pay-ups did.

Fucking rookie mistake.

I sighed in frustration and hung my head low in defeat. For all I knew, the when could be a fucking year from now.

“You’re unbelievable,” I murmured under my breath.

I groaned as he landed another hard swat, my ass scorching with fire.

“I’m also unbelievably fucking busy right now. So you will have to continue waiting until I have time to make those arrangements. Do you understand now?”

When I didn’t answer fast enough, he landed one final hard slap, making me jerk in his lap.

“Answer me.”

“Yes, I understand,” I spat.

“Good,” he seethed and wrenched me back up to standing. All the blood rushed from my head, making me sway. “Now sit your ass down and shut your mouth. I don’t want to hear one more fucking word out of you.”

I huffed an irritated sigh as I moved away from him and eased myself back into my seat. I clenched my jaw so hard as the pain from his hand burned along my skin, the pressure making me grimace.

I was being a petulant child, and I knew that, but that was only because my recourse could only come in the form of being a brat. If someone hadn’t honored an agreement with Darren, he had the ability to remedy that in any way he wanted—intimidation, blackmail, murder…

I didn’t have that luxury.