Page 23 of Blade

“Why?” she asked again, making me chuckle from where I was sitting on the bed beside Eloise.

“You’re about to go live in the pond, kiddo,” Tyler said as he closed the door, shutting out the sound of Tinsley’s constant questions.

Lifting my hand, I tucked some hair behind her ear.

“Am I-I in trouble?” she asked, actually looking fearful.

“No, darlin’. Not even a little,” I assured her, taking her hands and making her let go of the blanket she was holding so tightly. She trembled slightly and this time not from her persistent fever.

“Hey, look at me, Eloise.”

She obeyed.

“You will never be in trouble like you’re talking about ever again. That was abuse, Eloise. Abuse of power and an abuse of your trust. You are perfectly safe here. We will never put our hands on you.”

She nodded.

“Do you spank the others?” she asked. Her sweet mouth crinkled on one side as she worried about something I couldn’t quite understand.

“I used to play with Rogue before she and Leland got together and I did spank her.”

She nodded.

“With what?”

“My hand and sometimes a belt.”

“Did she cry?”

“No, she didn’t because she didn’t need a spanking for emotional release.”

“What did she do to earn the spanking?”

Finally the flood lights came on in my brain and I realized what she was trying to ask.

“Eloise, are you asking about punishments?”

“Yes.”

“There is a huge difference between a punishment spanking and the abuse you endured.”

“I know, but it’s kinda the same too.”

“How so?”

“Well, with B-Billy I did something he thought was bad and he spanked me and if I’m a Little and I do something bad someone would spank me.”

I choked down the possessive groan at her mention of someone that wasn’t me.

“I know that Billy beat me. Like I know I wouldn’t be spanked that hard again, but I don’t know if I could handle it,” she admitted with tears pooling in her pretty green eyes.

“And that’s okay. You can negotiate to never be spanked, sweet girl.”

“I can?”

“You can. Sometimes people don’t like, want, or even need spankings.”

“But, what if I broke a rule that someone thought was bad?”

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