Chapter 12

"It's my fault!" Jean erupted.

"Yes, it is," I agreed, "but that's almost irrelevant. It's about expectations, too -- and Karen expects to be punished. If I DON'T punish her, she'll have gotten over one time too many and there will be trouble down the road -- trust me on this." I headed up the hall.

Pete made to follow, but I waved him off. "You won't gain anything by this. There will be times when things need to be public, but this isn't one of them. You all stay upstairs." Pete nodded and backed off; Kate was even more reluctant, but she did, too. I headed on down the stairs.

Karen was right where she was supposed to be -- in her kennel, peeking out. That made things clear, from my viewpoint; if she'd just been fooling around, she might have been anywhere downstairs. She might have tried to justify her actions, too -- but she didn't. No, she was doing as she was told, and waiting to see if I was going to do what was necessary to justify her faith in me -- and at this point, the necessary tactic was to bring smoke.

I didn't disappoint. I went over to the collection of goodies I'd laid in and selected a wide, heavy leather strap, then turned to her, letting her see it. "Crawl over here." Eyes wide, Karen did as she was told. "Jean was wrong -- but you were, too, weren't you?" I asked.

"Yes, Cletus."

"Put your head on your forearms, and don't fucking move!" I warned, then, without further ceremony, I let her have it -- twenty-five good, solid licks with the strap. It left wide, red welts all over her ass -- some of which moved on to purple. I didn't take it easy, and I wasn't particularly slow, so the burn built up quickly to an unbearable level. When she started to dance on her knees, I stopped and warned her -- twice -- before adding strokes twenty-one to twenty-five because she wasn't holding still.

Obviously, it hurt like a bitch; she was crying loudly by the time I finished. I had her follow me to the couch on her knees and climb up on my lap, where I rubbed her back and ass and asked her if she was going to behave and other silly shit designed to make it clear who was boss while giving her a little post-punishment affirmation. She blubbered and sniffled and made promises and all was well with the world.

Could I have handled it differently? Sure. There were probably any number of ways to fuck it up -- and conversely, any number of ways to make my point. But this was the first big fuck-up -- and she needed to know that I was on the job and she had standards to maintain. I'd made a commitment to her and I was going to fulfill it, one way or another. Punishment needed to be swift and merciless in order to ensure that she was very clear on what to expect -- and I made damned certain it was. It would save us a lot of trouble down the line.

Now, remember, this isn't the Dr. Spock book of child-rearing we're dealing with here. Would I have done this to ANY of the kids? No. But Karen was in full submissive mode, and she didn't need Mr. Wishy-Washy, she needed a master who would hold her feet to the fire. I made sure she got everything necessary. Was it fair? Fuck no! But that didn't matter, either. A response was required -- I delivered it. Period.

When she'd settled down some, I had her get up. "Go over and look in the box and find a dog collar." She did as she was told; the intent was for her to see the tools I had acquired for her correction and control while digging for a collar. She got the point. She came back with an item with diamond-shaped studs on it and I buckled it on her neck. "Now go figure out what you have to do to give me a warm breakfast," I instructed her. That was all part of the deal, too; the teenagers upstairs would be abuzz over her little adornment...

You have to think about these things -- or at least, I do. Psych warfare isn't something you just do off the cuff. Every move needs to be thought about -- or you send the wrong message; every situation has nuances. I knew I wasn't going to get it right one hundred percent of the time, so I was going to have to build up an excess of respect that I could draw upon to cover screw-ups. I waited until she got to the top of the stairs to follow.

The kids were more or less bug-eyed; well, I couldn't blame them. "This is only the first episode of strange shit you're gonna see," I warned. "Get used to it. The rules that apply to her are not the rules that apply to you, so don't think that I plan such things where you are concerned. This is between Karen and me -- and you would be best off ignoring it as best you can. Understand?"

"You hurt her!" Heather was horrified.

"Yeah, I did -- but I didn't HARM her. She's not permanently damaged. Talk to her about it before you condemn me," I replied. "This isn't something you're going to understand -- it isn't what you might think of as mainstream behavior. But I have Karen's permission to do these things -- remember that! She can leave at any time! I'm not blackmailing her, like I am your momma -- she's a volunteer. So you have to think she's getting something out of this, you know?"

"You're blackmailing Mom?" Heather gasped.

"Sure. Do you think she would behave herself if I didn't?"

"Think about it, Sis," Michael piped up. "He's just keeping her head on straight. You know how she gets."

I nodded. "The same thing applies to Karen -- the techniques are merely different -- and the level of cooperation."

Karen circled to my front and knelt before me. "I should cook you fresh eggs," she said carefully.

"Over easy," I told her. "Just two."

"And toast?"

"Raisin toast," I ordered. "Dry. I'll make the coffee -- I'm particular about it."

"Yes, Cletus." She rose to go take care of business.

"Are we going to see a lot of that?" Heather asked.

"Quite a bit," I agreed. "Once again, this applies to Karen and Karen alone, at this point. If it involves someone else, it probably won't be anyone in this room."

"So, you don't expect..." Kate said carefully.

I locked eyes with her. "Not at this time." She got it. If she wanted to play, she was allowed -- but I didn't think she was ready yet. I flicked my eyes to Karen, "Put on the apron -- if I want your titties burned, I'll do it myself."

"Yes, Cletus!" There were a couple of gasps from the younger set, which I thought about quelling by chiding them about believing everything they hear -- but then I remembered wax play and shut my mouth. Jean came in about then; I just looked at her and she dropped her eyes.

"Karen, apologize to Jean," I ordered.

Karen dropped what she was doing and went right over. "I'm sorry!"

I gave Jean a look; she got it. "It was my fault as much as it was yours -- maybe more. Forget it," Jean told Karen.

Karen flashed me a look; I waved it off. "Okay. Friends?" she asked Jean.

"Sure."

Karen nodded and went back to my eggs. I waved at the kids, "Hey, if you don't have anything to do, we still have to empty the truck before things get too hot..." That put THEM in gear and allowed me to eat; Jean went out to supervise.

The truck was at least fully unloaded by the time I finished eating; it would take a while to integrate things, but we could move on. I got dressed and drove the truck back to the rental agency, with Karen following in the Saturn to bring me home. Once that was done, we settled in to attempt to enjoy the rest of Sunday. Jean dragged her kids home after dinner, much to their displeasure, but it did allow the Moffats to settle in. Pete had a bunch of boxes and crap to deal with downstairs, but seemed more than satisfied with the trade-off for having his own little empire.

Bedtime came and Jean didn't return, so I took Karen to bed, making her blow me through one nut, then taking her anally, knowing that her ass was still sore from the strap. The purpose of the exercise (well, aside from the two nuts) was to ensure that she was challenged properly, which would keep her out of trouble. If I seemed rough and unfeeling, part of it was deliberate. Besides, she LIKED it -- I gave her a little vibrator time while I was poking her ass and she got off on it. That being the case, I might have been too easy on her -- only time would tell.

Monday morning, Jean toddled off to work before I got up. I waited until around ten, then asked Kate to wander over and see how Michael and Heather were getting on. Michael came back with her after about ten minutes. "Hey, Sport!" I greeted him, "How's your mother?"

"All over the place," Michael grunted. "She's been bad, but you're worse; we shouldn't come over here because you're evil, but she can't stop us because she has no control of things any more. I think she was up half the night between the heat and her brain frying."

"Where's Heather?" Heather was off Mondays.

"Dithering," Michael chuckled. "Hopping from one foot to the other. Mom tried to scare her and read her the Riot Act for sucking you, then tried to talk to her about sex -- which just fucked up her head. She's nervous, but she knows Amy will give her crap if she gets all chicken-shit."

I nodded, grunting. I don't rape my women, but I was coercing the living shit out of Jean; that made it a bit difficult to get up on my hind legs and claim I was as pure as the driven snow. "I'll go talk to her."

I went and threw on a pair of shorts and some running shoes and snagged a cup of coffee, then went and pounded on the Cantrell's front door. Heather opened it cautiously, "Yes?"

"Can I come in? We need to talk. I won't bite -- I promise," I told her.

She backed up. "Mom says not to trust you."

"Good advice," I agreed, "but probably for the wrong reasons. From my perspective, you mother's head isn't on quite straight. Your mother is afraid of men -- and it colors everything she says and does. I know she's working hard on making YOU afraid of men, too -- she calls it protecting you, but it's more like she's scaring you to death."

"You're blackmailing her," Heather accused.

"Guilty as charged," I agreed, "but if she hadn't been making like a voyeur, she'd never have gotten caught. It's another hang-up she has -- an indication that she's got issues and she isn't coping well. I'm doing it mainly to try to fix things by forcing her to get back in the saddle where men are concerned -- but I admit that my reasons aren't squeaky clean; she's a fine little piece of ass, okay?"

"Okay. What's this got to do with me?" Heather asked.

"Well, I'd prefer that you didn't hold what I'm doing against me, because I AM trying to help," I replied. "Also, I want you to know that you're as safe as you want to be around me. Your mom is an exception, but I generally don't force myself on my women -- and that includes Karen, visual evidence to the contrary."

"That's scary," Heather opined.

"What could happen if Karen went hog-wild is even scarier," I replied. "I'm using discipline and some challenges to keep her from going out looking for a new, kinky experience every night -- and having them get kinkier and kinkier until she ends up in a ditch somewhere. Talk to her about it -- it's a little weird, but I'm trying to help her whole family, because if she's stable, she won't lose them and Pete in particular won't go off the deep end."

"If you say so," Heather said dubiously.

"Don't take my word for it."

"I won't." Heather puffed out a breath. "Mom says you're worse than Dad -- more manipulative."

"Maybe I am. Maybe she attracts my type," I replied. "At least, taking advantage of her isn't my ONLY objective. If you look at things, I think I've helped out occasionally."

"Mom hates that," Heather ventured.

"I'm not surprised," I replied. "But she needed help and I was there. She needs a man in her life -- maybe not all the time, but on a regular basis. She needs someone to lean on -- and, frankly, someone to fuck."

"She's not sure about that."

"If you'd seen her sexual response, you would be," I retorted. "Jilling off isn't doing it for her -- and now that she's had a taste of the good stuff, it'll be even less satisfactory. The plan is more or less to let her discover that on her own -- but if she's as stubborn as she tends to be, we may have to rub her nose in it first."

Heather grimaced. "Who died and made you Mr. Fixit?"

"That's a fair question," I replied. "Nobody. Your mother just makes my dick hard -- and she's broken -- and I find the combination to be irresistible." I got up and headed for the door. "Don't let her issues become yours. The door is always open -- and it swings both ways." That said, I let myself out.

Next on the agenda, whether I cared to deal with it or not, was giving Karen's notice. We got in the Saturn and headed for her place, just Karen and I. I asked her who her landlord was, and she related to me that the guy's name was Ignacio.

"Ignacio Flores?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's it."

I knew Ignacio -- he was a member of the local Landlord's Association. He spent a lot of time bitching about his tenants -- but then, he wasn't any too selective. I think he liked drug dealers because they tended to pay on time and in cash -- let' face it, drug dealers do NOT want legal problems -- even an eviction notice. Can you imagine having the Sherriff's deputy show up at your apartment while you're weighing out nickel bags? Anyway, given Karen's neighborhood, Ignacio's name was one I was unsurprised to hear. "Great. Let me handle this." She directed me to Ignacio's place.

"Cletus?" Ignacio got up from his office couch. "What brings you here?" Then his eyes took in Karen and he frowned. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Look, Karen is moving out."

"What? Why? Are you stealing my tenants?"

"Well, it's not that simple," I replied. "She's moving in with me."

"Oh." Ignacio pursed his lips. "Well, I can't blame you. I had plans..." He turned to Karen and asked harshly. "What about my rent?"

"Do you owe him?" I asked her.

"No," Karen replied, looking nervous. "I'm up to date."

"It's the middle of the month!" Ignacio burst out. "I suppose you want..."

"Keep the last, Ignacio. Karen cleans buildings professionally, so she will leave the place spotless," I interceded.

"Deposit?" Ignacio grunted. I just looked at him. "What?" he complained.

"Okay, so why do you REALLY have the ass?" I asked him.

He pulled me aside. "She was gonna fuck up," he murmured.

"Yeah? And?"

He eyed me. "Why is she with you? Are you...?" He waved a finger..

"Come on, Ignacio -- you know I'm not the love and marriage type," I growled.

"Okay, well, I had plans for her."

I raised my voice a bit. "So, did you just plan to fuck her or were you gonna have her peddle her ass on the street?"

"Jeezus, Cletus!" Ignacio erupted, snapping a glance at Karen.

"If you were gonna have her hook, well, sorry about that -- it isn't happening. But if you just wanted a piece, we can talk about it," I plowed on.

Ignacio froze. "What? What was that?"

"Were you gonna have her pay late fees on her back? It's a simple yes or no answer, Ignacio," I pressed.

"Well..." He rolled his eyes up and down Karen and gave that liquid shrug that Latin Lovers do so well. Karen was in a red halter top and her jean skirt, so there was stuff to look at.

I chuckled. "I didn't think you liked your girls chunky, Ignacio -- it never occurred to me."

Ignacio shrugged, still eyeing the subject of conversation, who now stood hipshot, her face composed. "Eh, well, women are a case-by-case thing, not something I categorize. There was just something..."

"Sure," I nodded. "I don't pick 'em based on type, either." I turned to Karen, "Fuck the man."

Everything kind of froze. Things had been drifting in that direction, but neither of them expected them to make the complete trip. Karen eyed me for about three seconds, then said, "Yes, Cletus." Turning to Ignacio, she asked, "What would you like?"

Ignacio shifted his eyes back and forth between us. "No shit?"

"One time -- wear it out," I confirmed. "I figure you've got rubbers, somewhere, right?"

"Si." Ignacio was too distracted to stay in English. He headed for his desk and went digging, surfacing a couple; I wasn't surprised. There had been comments at the Association meetings that made it pretty easy for me to figure out what he was all pissy about -- and the gist of said comments was that he periodically entertained in his office.

"Do it up," I told him. "Let me know where you're gonna work, so I know which furniture to park my ass on."

"Lock the door," he directed, his eyes not leaving Karen. I was a little miffed -- I'm not his office boy -- but, hey... I turned the latch.

"Let me see them," Ignacio breathed.

I cleared my throat, and Karen flicked a glance at me. "Make it fun," I admonished. Karen smiled and wiggled her shoulders -- and we both watched Ignacio's eyeballs try to track her titties independently. She squeezed them together and offered them up to him and he settled into his office chair, so I plopped on the couch. He wheeled the chair around his desk so he was out in the open, then waved his hands for her to continue; she swayed up and bent over, bringing them to his face, pressing him into her dangling cleavage with one hand for a moment while he made delighted noises. Then she backed off just enough to pull the halter over her head before putting them back in his face.

"Dios mio!" Ignacio gasped, palming her globes. I watched him rub his thumb over her left nipple, and watched it grow and the areole crinkle. Then he sucked in the right one; Karen didn't complain. Instead, she gasped and held his head to her breast while he suckled.

It took a couple of minutes before he moved on to wanting to see what was under the skirt -- and he was surprised that there weren't any panties under there, giving me a glance. I grinned at him while Karen rocked from low-heeled sandal-shod foot to foot, turning, presenting the whole package for his gaze. "Eh, sweet!" Ignacio murmured, his eyes drinking it in. Karen knew the drill; facing away from him, she spread her legs and bent low at the waist and grinned at him from between her legs. Ignacio reached up to palm her ass and rub it, then slide a finger along her gaping pussy lips. "You're wet..."

"Sure..." Karen replied, her tone implying, 'Of course -- we're going to fuck, aren't we? I'm looking forward to it!' Ignacio jiggled her clit with the finger, eliciting a gasp from her, then directed, "Blow me!"

Karen stepped forward and turned around and Ignacio stood so she could open his pants. Ignacio was stocky, but not fat -- just thick through the middle; there wasn't a lot of belly overhang going on as she freed his cock and balls. Karen got him totally out of his pants so he would be ready for action, then turned to me. "Rubber?"

"Not for a blow job," I replied. She nodded and sucked him in. Ignacio had a thick joint that didn't show a whole lot of length -- but he wasn't totally erect. I was generally amazed by such things, since I erect pretty easily given visual stimulation -- and Ignacio had gotten plenty. He firmed right up, though, to something over five inches, but probably not six -- which, given his girth, would probably give Karen an enjoyable ride. Karen nodded over his meat, making liquid sounds, while he gasped and grunted and danced -- it was entertainment...

When he decided that the warm-up was over, Ignacio snatched a rubber up off his desk and grunted, "Put it on..." Karen took the thing and rolled it on, taking a moment to get the thing oriented correctly so it would unroll; it was obvious that they both hated the things as much as I did, but I didn't know what kind of skanks Ignacio might be fucking and I wasn't gonna start wearing them, so Ignacio would just have to deal with it. "Bend over the desk!" Ignacio directed, and I got to see more of his hairy ass than I cared to as he quickly nosed his meat against Karen's opening and slid home, then started pumping.

I had a front row seat at an angle you didn't get every day; I was used to watching a woman's ass shimmy while I busted it doggie-style, but you don't get to watch the tits swing and jiggle from above and behind. Ignacio went at it like he was killing rats, forcing little exclamations of "Uh!" and "Oh!" from Karen on impact -- and I could tell she was loving the whole thing. They went maybe two minutes from start to finish; Karen raised her head and yelled, "Omigod! Omigod! Fuck! Fuck!" and threw herself back at him and when her muscles started jumping Ignacio went nuts in her for about five strokes and then slammed in deep. He got all red in the face and I wondered if I was going to have to call an ambulance, but he staggered back after a second and swatted her on the ass before turning to me and announcing, "She's a pig -- but it's still pussy, eh?"

"Yep." I just nodded. He was trying to get my goat -- and humiliate Karen. No doubt, he'd done similar many times, and this was almost a ritual for him; he'd probably humiliated a shitload of couples by fucking some woman in front of her old man in trade for a few days' grace. But he wasn't getting MY goat, and the more unaffected I was by the whole thing, the more Karen would get off on the humiliation, so he more or less played into our hands. "Get that rubber off him and clean up his dick, Slut," I directed Karen.

She actually shuddered; she was as high as a kite on the whole thing. Life was going to be interesting... I think she was going to pull the rubber off with her teeth, but thought better of it; she had no problem leaning in afterward and cleaning the excess off his dick. "Even?" I asked him, standing.

"The security deposit?" he countered.

"Gimme a break," I grunted. "Fuck her again when she returns the keys."

"Nah," he waved it off. I wasn't giving him his fun, so it wasn't worth it. "Are you out, Bitch?" he asked Karen, who nodded. "Gimme the keys now and hit the street." Karen got up and fished in her purse, removing her apartment keys from her ring and handing them to him. "We're done here," Ignacio announced, waving us off. I could tell I'd moved up in the pecking order as far as Ignacio was concerned; he was going to keep an eye on me. Well, that wouldn't hurt anything...

I figured I might as well add to my drawing account in both banks. "Gather up your shit and go get in the car," I directed. Karen reached for her skirt and made to step into it, and I rasped, "I didn't say anything about putting it on! Go sit in the car -- just like that!"

Karen put her head down and made for the door, unlocking it and letting herself out; you'd have thought she would be humiliated, but the look on her face said I'd probably made her day. I merely glimpsed it, and Ignacio didn't see it at all, but it was there. When she was out the door, Ignacio looked at me and said, "I didn't see this coming."

I smiled at him. "We all get surprises from time to time. See you at the Association meeting." I waved genially and sauntered out.

Out in the car, Karen was sitting in the passenger seat, naked -- and her clothing was in the back seat. If I'd needed any verification that I was on the right track, that was it. I got in and pulled out into traffic before directing, "Put your feet up on the dashboard and rub yourself off -- you've earned it!" She got off twice -- and made several people's day from the visual stimulation. When we got home I parked out front and made her go up the walk, rather than pulling directly into the garage; the character of her obedience made it clear that she was happy with the whole thing.

Once she was inside, it was time to handle the results of the ongoing visual stimulation I'd been getting - so I bent her over the couch arm and fucked her silly! It probably wasn't the perfect thing to do with Pete, Michael, Kate AND Heather in the house, but I was too far gone to care. When heads started peeking around the door facing, I waved and said, "If this bothers you, go somewhere else!" Michael didn't leave; Pete bounced back and forth, and from the sounds of things, the girls sat in the kitchen, listening, whispering, and giggling. I didn't last for shit -- less than five minutes -- but the idea was to get my itch scratched and drop a load and I did that just fine. Karen got off twice; I couldn't decide whether having Pete in the room was coincidence or the trigger, but he was present and visible to her both times.

That, of course, left me with two horny boys on my hands. I could put Karen on Michael, but she was pretty well used -- and I had nothing for Pete, since Heather was virgin and not committed to anything. "Sorry, boys," I puffed, when sanity returned after the eruption. Karen went to her knees to clean me with her mouth without prompting -- noisily, as it turned out -- so I was standing there with her head in my crotch while she dripped cum on the carpet where she knelt. "I don't have anything decent to hand out for you to handle this with -- especially for Pete. Why don't you two go down to Pete's room and handle the problem -- and lock the door, so you don't get any giggling audience!"

"Yeah, that works..." Michael nodded and picked up Pete with his eyes. I heard the stairwell door slam.

"Go get something to clean up the mess you've made on the floor and to stanch the flow," I directed Karen, then followed her to the kitchen, where my shrinking organ was a magnet for two sets of young female eyes. "Shouldn't you two be swimming or something?" I asked.

"Well, not really," Heather replied, still eyeing me.

I waggled my hips and my dick flopped back and forth -- which caused the pair to erupt into nervous giggles. "As you can see, I'm not a threat, momentarily," I chuckled. "What brings you to my den of iniquity?" I asked Heather.

"I'm testing you," she replied.

"No doubt I'm failing."

"Well, I have to talk to Kate's mom, but things are definitely up in the air," Heather admitted.

"I'm going to go wash up before I make things worse," I grunted, going into the refrigerator for tea. Karen took one look at the pitcher coming out and reached into the cabinet for a glass -- then went to her knees to present it.

"You're not clean enough?" she queried.

I froze for a moment, then poured, then put the pitcher on the counter. "My armpits are a little sweaty. Three ice cubes, please."

Karen hopped up and put the glass down, then dithered before trying to dispense three cubes into her hand from the icemaker -- which meant two more hit the floor. I watched all of this poker-faced; I'd triggered a mess, so I could stand by while she got control over things. The three cubes went into my glass, the other two hit the sink, and Karen knelt to present the glass. I said "Thank you," collected the glass, and swept out, wondering what Heather was going to think of Karen's absolutely slavish behavior. Time to check on the boys...