Page 143 of Daddy, Take Me Away
Right. The road trip. That’s what we were talking about.
Shooting him my deadliest glare, I crossed my arms over my chest. “You are not coming with me.”
He glanced at Jared, giving him a look I’d seen them exchange thousands of times over the years.
Usually right before they won an argument with me.
“Hard no,” I insisted.
There was that look again.
Jared sighed, took a step toward me and placed a hand on each of my shoulders. “See, here’s the thing, Polly. I think he is, because you are not going alone, your friends are not available and I have to work. So… your options are Cas or cancel.”
“Aww, Polly. C’mon, it’ll be fun.” Cas gave me puppy-dog eyes. And then he actually puffed out his lower lip. And damn him he had me going for a hot minute until his insufferable ‘my way or the highway’ smirk returned, and he turned to Jared with a shrug. “Guess her choice is cancel.”
Jared stared at me for a long minute as if daring me to change my mind, then shrugged and said “Fine. I'll go cancel all the reservations.”
I squinted at him. Was I calling his bluff? I was perfectly capable of making my own reservations and paying for my own trip, but Jared had been footing the bill and calling it my birthday present. It was a ridiculous two-week trip that started here in Utah, went all through Arizona and New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, and Minnesota before ending up in the black hills of South Dakota. The only thing about the trip that would be exciting to most people was stopping at the Mall of America to shop till I dropped. The rest of the trip was full of silly photo ops and roadside attractions that most people would call a waste of time, but that I loved.
I'd spent the better part of a year reading travel blogs and planning all my stops. I wanted to do it all… so badly I could taste it. So badly I hadn't talked about much else for months and Jared and Cas, damn them, knew that better than anybody.
They knew I’d give in. I could see it on their faces, and I was tempted to hold out just to prove them wrong, but dammit, I wanted to go. I wanted it bad enough to make the trip with the devil himself or in reality, the man bad enough to be him. Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
I was still standing there with my arms crossed, bouncing from one foot to the other, trying to figure out a way to gracefully give in, while still deciding if I really wanted to, when Cas raised his eyebrow at me.
“Watch your mouth.”
And there it was. That overbearing bossy side he couldn't help but aim in my direction every chance he got.
And there it also was. My traitorous pussy’s reaction, because as much as I wanted to, I didn't hate it not at all. Now that he’d scolded me for barely cussing, like I was a freaking child, younger than I'd been when he met me, there was no possible way I could give in right now. I couldn't give him the satisfaction. And I couldn't do it to myself either. My dumb pride wouldn't allow it.
So instead, I glared at them both, stomped down the hallway and when I was just about to reach my room, turned and yelled, “I'll think about it,” over my shoulder before slamming the door.
Juvenile? Sure. But if they were going to treat me like a child, why shouldn't I act like one?
Cas
I didn't even wait for Polly to make it down the hall before I turned to my best friend, shaking my head. “I told you she wasn’t going to go for it.”
“Did you hear her tell me to go ahead and cancel? Because I didn't.”
The door to Polly's room slamming punctuated his retort and I chuckled. “Now there's a sound I haven't heard in a while.”
Jared nodded his agreement. “I think the last time that door slammed was when we wouldn't let her drive across state lines for a midnight concert at sixteen. The door actually rattled on its hinges that time and your face got so red you looked like a pomegranate had replaced your head. You stomped down the hall and told her if she ever slammed the door like that again, you'd throw her across your knee and spank the attitude out of her.”
“Yeah. I lost my cool that night and said things I had no right to say.” It was true. Polly had accused me of acting like her Dad, but in reality, I'd acted more like a Daddy. And that was not acceptable. Not only had she been underage at the time I’d said it, Polly was my best friend's little sister for god's sake, and though I often thought she needed a Daddy, and a good hard spanking, in that order, that Daddy would never be me and that spanking would probably never happen. Oh, to be a fly on the wall if it did, though.
I still wondered all the time how Jared hadn’t kicked me out that night, knowing as he did, what type of lifestyle I leaned toward. But he’d just shrugged and laughed, and Polly had never slammed the door again.
Until now.
And Jared was looking at me with a curious expression like he actually thought I’d make good on a four-year-old threat.
“Well?” he asked with a laugh. “I don't recall that threat having an expiration date on it. You gonna do something about that temper tantrum or what?”
“Oh, get fucked,” I said, and stomped down the hall before my towel could give away the fact that my dick was hard at just the thought of putting Polly over my knee for a good hard spanking.
And though I really did think she was going to tell Jared to cancel the trip, I went ahead and packed a bag anyway. And added a thick leather belt as an afterthought, telling myself it didn't mean anything.
