Page 374 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

Chuckling in spite of the situation, she shook her head, and they continued walking until town faded away and the street become the same backwoods country road that they’d traversed the day before. “Are we going back to the web?”

“Nope. It only looks like same. They had limited quantities of film when they shot this flick and had to get creative with the scenery.” Morgan looked up at the trees above and, as if judging by some cue she couldn’t see, said, “And… here we go…”

The grey all around them brightened and her stomach tightened as the now familiar pull of the vacuumed sucked the air from her lungs. She shut her eyes against the blinding flash of light and when she opened them again the world was a brighter place. Birds were now singing and the branches in the towering evergreen pines above were swaying in the slight wind that played with her hair. An invisible director had just called action and the movie was once again playing.

“This way.” Morgan took her elbow, leading her off the road and down a short incline into the woods.

“What are we looking for?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” he said cryptically. “It’s right over here.”

With him leading the way, they picked through a rolling green wave of blackberry bushes and stinging nettles.

On the lookout for spiders and spider webs, when they ran across the car it took Audrey a moment to realize what she was looking at. The long green station wagon was wedged between two towering pines. Both the driver’s and passenger doors were wide open and the headlights were on. Seriously, cars back now must have had Energizer batteries. They just kept on going.

Twin splashes of illumination fell across the bushes and trees spread out before the crashed vehicle and lit up the glittering spider silks that ran across the headlights and which covered everything in area. The trees, car, ground; all was blanketed in fine gossamer lines.

Although still a good thirty feet from the nearest part of the cocoon-like web, Audrey froze. “Is that—?” she paused, unable to finish the sentence.

“Your father’s car,” Morgan said for her. “Yup.”

Her gaze darted up into the treetops, and then all around them. “I don’t see any spiders.”

“Don’t worry. They’re long gone. Go ahead and call to him.”

Audrey looked back at him in surprise. “Isn’t he—I thought he was—”

“Dead as a door nail,” he affirmed. “But it’s in the script. You’re supposed to call three times.”

“And bring every spider within hearing distance running straight to us?” Audrey laughed. “Forget it! The script can go hang, for all I care. I’m not doing it!”

Morgan held up his hand, palm flat and at the ready to deliver a necessary spanking. “One…” he counted. Counted! As if she were five! His smile didn’t waver, but a steely determination entered his eyes. “Two…”

Audrey cupped her hands around her mouth. “Dr. Walker!”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “You call your father ‘Doctor Walker’?”

“No,” she said sarcastically. “I call my father stone-cold deceased and buried in Blodgett Cemetery.”

He held his upturned palm out for her perusal. “Do we need to discuss this with Mr. Hand?”

That took her from five-years-old all the way down to three. She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Father!”

“Beth called her father daddy.”

“I’m not doing that!” she snapped. “It feels weird. I’m a grown woman, and grown women don’t call their father’s daddy. Except in the South. And only because it’s a different world down here.”

“With a little incentive, I’ll bet I could make you call me daddy.”

Her jaw dropped and yet there it was again, all that glorious heat sparking to life down low in the pit of her belly. It flowed molten even lower, as her face burned.

Morgan moved his menacing palm several inches closer. “Does Daddy need to swat his little girl so she’ll behave?”

She looked at his hand, damn near mesmerized by the threat of it. The soft skin of her bottom tingled, suddenly very sensitive and very aware of just how near he was to her. “No.”

The word came out as barely a squeak.

“I think Daddy does.” He took a step towards her, and, when she tried to back away, grabbed hold of the waist of her pants and pulled her so close that their chests would have bumped, if only she hadn’t braced her hands against his. He was very solid beneath her awestruck palms.

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