Page 32 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

Hulker-dude seems offended. “I don’t know why you’re so pissed at me? She’s the one who was coming on hot and heavy to every guy at the bar. I did her a favor by following her home. There were a lot worse guys than me eyeing her up, believe me.”

It’s a sad state of affairs when the intruder who just manhandled his sister is actually speaking more coherently than said victim. Still, Troy can’t help but think about what the hell would be happening to Traci right now if he hadn’t been here to surprise her. She could have been beaten or worse, raped.

Troy’s anger is slowly spreading from the man trapped on the floor to include his wayward sister. “I’m gonna let you up now.”

“About time. I was beginning to think you bat for the other team, you know? You seem to like it on top.” He flashes a lopsided smile, revealing a mouth full of uneven teeth. Seems Ronnie has a sense of humor.

Troy is in no mood to take shit from the jerk. “Nope. Just protecting my baby sister.”

The men push off to stand and with one last look over his shoulder at Traci now nursing what appears to be her throbbing head on her sofa, Ronnie stalks out the door to his truck. The loud engine can be heard as he tears out of the driveway, only to gun it, fishtailing in the snowy streets of Eagle’s Pass.

Troy watches until he sees the truck’s taillights disappear in the darkness before turning around to get his first good look at his sister. He’s never seen her like this. Her outfit is too skimpy. Her too-much makeup is smeared. Her beautiful long brunette hair is messed as if she’d just gotten out of bed. In a word, she looks a mess.

It is so uncharacteristic of his sister, that it alarms him. Traci had personified professional even as a teenager. While most teenage girls were into boys and makeup, Traci had already been pushing herself academically, knowing at an early age she planned on going into the medical field like their dad. She’d been voted ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ by her classmates her senior year and even after losing their parents in the accident the summer before starting college, she was able to maintain a straight A average all through college and grad school. Troy has never understood why some guy hasn’t come along and swept her off her feet yet. Traci is the epitome of brainy, bold and beautiful. Well at least under normal circumstances. Troy knows something big must be going on in his sister’s life for her to act so foolishly tonight.

She finally lifts her head from her hands. The siblings spend a long minute eyeing each other up. With each passing moment, Traci appears to transform from carefree drunk to guilty young woman. Troy speaks first. He has no chance at keeping the anger he feels out of his tone.

“So why don’t you tell me what the hell has gotten into you today?”

She’s going on offense. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell you’re doing here first? I thought you were still in DC?” Maybe she isn’t feeling very guilty after all, which only angers her brother more.

“I wanted to surprise you for your birthday. You know. Take you out on the town to celebrate. Help you ring in the big 3-0.”

Traci scoffs. “I don’t need any help celebrating. I’d forget the whole damn thing if I could.”

Troy sees the pain flashing through her eyes, and it helps tamp down his anger. “What’s gotten into you, Trace? This is so not like you.” He uses his nickname for her, trying to get her to open up.

“How would you know, Troy? You’re barely here. I’ve had to learn to take care of myself, you know?”

A pang of guilt hits Troy hard. “Well, that’s part of the surprise, sis. I’ve moved back to Denver. I’m stationed out of Buckley now. I’m gonna be close enough that we can see each other all the time now.”

Troy had expected a smart-ass remark from the tipsy occupant of the sofa. Instead, he sees tears forming in Traci’s brown eyes. “You aren’t just kidding me, are you? You really are moving back to Colorado?” Her sarcasm is gone, replaced with a vulnerability Troy has never seen on his fearless sister’s face before.

Moving towards her, Troy reassures her. “I promise. I wouldn’t joke about something like that.” Troy has stopped to stand in front of the couch, looking down at Traci in a way that forces her to crane her neck back to look at him. “Now, why don’t you answer my question. What the hell has gotten into you that you thought it was a good idea to pick up some guy in a bar and bring him home with you, driving drunk to top it off?”

Large, sloppy tears stream down her cheeks as she remains silent.

“Traci Lynn Jackson, answer the question. What the fuck were you thinking?” Troy has tried to stay calm, but the reality of how bad things could have gone tonight keep piling in on him. Reaching down to pull Traci to her feet, Troy sees his sister’s regret followed closely by a flash of anger as he holds her upper arms in a vice grip.

He watches so many emotions flitting across her tear-stained face. She settles on a shouting rant. “What d’you wanna hear, Troy? You wanna hear how lonely I am? How I moved here in hopes of finding a man who wanted the same kind of relationship I did… the same kind of close marriage Mom and Dad had. Instead, I get here and find there are hardly any single guys, unless you count Father Beauchamp, but since he’s old enough to be my father, he doesn’t really count. This is a wonderful community for families… couples… Not so great for those of us who come here alone. Add to that the fact that while everyone in town is very nice to me, don’t think I don’t know they all hold back being too friendly. God forbid they get too close to the shrink. I feel like everyone’s afraid I’m gonna try to psychoanalyze them to figure out why they’re so into spanking. Little do they know I’d never judge them since…” Her angry rant trails off as she closes her eyes, fresh tears dropping from her wet lashes. Troy doesn’t need her to finish her sentence. He knows what she was going to say.

“That’s why you moved here, isn’t it? It wasn’t just to start up your practice. You sought out Eagle’s Pass because you understand where they’re coming from, didn’t you?”

Her emotions are all over the board. When she opens her eyes, he sees an anger he’s never seen there before, and it scares him. “So what if I did? Are you gonna call me a freak too, like so many other guys I’ve dated? Are you gonna ridicule me like all the other psychologists did at the annual convention I went to last summer? Maybe call me the ‘spanko quack’ like…” The pain on her face as her voice cracks breaks Troy’s heart. How could his sister be so unhappy and him not know about it? He’d sensed something was wrong, but he had no idea she’s been in such pain.

“Calm down, Trace. I’m not the enemy here.” Troy tries to pull her into a hug, but she pushes away.

“You could have fooled me. Some birthday this has been. Even throwing myself at a room full of guys and I still can’t manage to get laid.”

Troy’s fury returns. “Oh for Christ’s sake. So that was the goal? Go out and pick up a one-night stand? Real smart. Are you just trying to get yourself hurt?” He’s shouting loud enough he fears the neighbors are going to hear.

He’s unprepared for her to collapse into his arms. “At least I’d know I’m still alive. I feel like I’ve been going through the motions for months, I was starting to wonder.” Her crying is coming harder now, and Troy suspects she needs to cry it out. He holds her tight until her sobs have turned to quiet hiccups.

Pulling back to look down into her eyes, Troy sees the sadness in his sister’s face. He reaches to swish away some tears with the pad of his thumb. “I’m sorry you’re having such a shitty birthday. I’m gonna stay for the weekend and you and I are going to start sorting this all out so we can get you back on track again. First things first. March back to your bedroom and take a hot shower. We have more to talk about tonight, and I’d rather not do it sitting next to someone who smells like stale cigarettes and beer.” At least that got the smallest of smiles.

“I’d rather just go to bed and sleep it off. Maybe tomorrow I can pretend this whole night never happened.”

Troy knows sleep is not what his sister really needs most to feel better. The kind of funk she seems to have fallen into needs a bit more of a hands-on approach to resolve. A strange calm hits Troy as the clarity of how his father would handle this situation becomes clear. He can almost hear Dad’s voice coaching him on how to best show his sister his unconditional love while helping to relieve her of the guilt she’s sure to feel when she sobers up and realizes just how careless she has been tonight.

---