"I pay you people to keep her safe and to keep an eye on her," a gloomy voice said. Gentle hands were examining her scalp while Stacey 'ouchied'. "What's the point of paying you if you don't do your job properly? Do you need to be replaced?"
"I'm sorry, my lord," said Ning's voice.
"You and all your guards, yes, and her assistants too. All of you go to the training grounds for your punishment," the gloomy voice continued. "You all ought to know better. You've all lost her repeatedly. Jannick, arrange a thank you gift for that owner of the martial arts gym, Grices. I'll keep an eye on her this afternoon. Rearrange my schedule, and reschedule this afternoon's meetings."
"Yes sir."
Dark eyes looked deep into Stacey's.
"Where else does it hurt?"
Stacey pointed and cool hands lifted her clothes to rub ointment into her bruises. A flash of recognition.
"You're the mean bastard," Stacey said. "You're my husband? You're being very nice today."
"I'm always nice to you," the gloomy man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Who knew you'd break so easily? When I catch a hold of the person trying to condition you under my nose, I'm going to make them rue the day they were born."
"I am strong," Stacey told him. "Just not the way you were hoping."
"Yes," Thieren agreed. "So tell me about the woman who bullied you and I'll deal with her for you. People are trying to take advantage of my weaknesses again. I really need to make an example of her."
Stacey could only describe the woman's shoes and Thieren pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I can't find her based on your description," he told Stacey. "You'll have to do better than that. Black, pointy high heeled shoes that have no expression tells me nothing. There are too many women in this building wearing black, pointy high heeled shoes."
Stacey shrugged and he imitated her shrug, until they were both shrugging at each other in a silly manner. They laughed.
"Alright, come here, you. Let's take an afternoon nap. I haven't slept well for a long time. Just nice you can accompany me today. We can share the bed."
"No," Stacey suddenly pushed him away.
"What?" Thieren was confused. "What 'no'? We're husband and wife. We've already slept together before. Remember in the hospital, you even invited me in?"
"Nonononono," Stacey suddenly crouched down, holding her head. "I won't share his bed. Nevernevernever. Not again. I won't! I'm sorry! I won't do it again. He's yours. He's yours. I promise."
"Stacey?" Thieren crouched down beside her. "What's wrong?"
Stacey screamed and pushed him away, running to hide from him.
"Stop screaming," Thieren scolded. "I haven't done anything to you. Why are you screaming?"
Stacey punched and kicked, scratched and bit him when he tried to calm her down. In the end, he lost his temper and turned her over his knee to spank her backside.
Memories came flooding back with the spanking. Every time the hand landed with a smarting slap, Stacey felt more memories cram into her head. In a daze, she stared at all these memories that were emerging from the fog and finding their place in chronological order.
What on earth? Wait. No. Wrong planet.
What on Gaius had happened to her?
By the time she had finished sorting through her memories, her backside was on fire. Tears dropped to the floor and down her face.
"Have you calmed down now? Or do you need more?" Thieren asked.
"Mr Huo, you're so mean," Stacey said through her gritted teeth when she was sat upright in his lap. "How can you smack me when I'm sick?"
"Oh? Are you finally back with us, Stacey? So spanking you actually helps? Then I should do it more often."
Stacey felt her red face colour up to an even brighter colour.
"Don't you dare," she hissed, squirming in his lap. Her bottom hurt so much.
"Stop moving," Thieren told her, trying and failing to stop her from wriggling.
"Why?" Stacey frowned. "You smacked me and set my butt on fire. It hurts, you know."
"You're playing with a different kind of fire here," Thieren warned her, rolling his eyes. "If you want me to give more attention to your bottom, you keep moving like that."
"Huh?" Stacey was confused and stopped moving for a moment.
Thieren's lips met hers and her eyes widened. His gentle kisses grew deeper. It sent a strange thrill through her body. Shocked, Stacey could only sit there in a daze, feeling something uncomfortable underneath her while she tried to figure out how to breathe or break free… if she wanted to break free… there was a strange heat that was rising up to cloud her mind and she couldn't fight it.
So this was what being kissed felt like. Nice. It felt nice. She clumsily tried to reply to his advances, becoming lost in it.
It would be better if only that thing underneath her wouldn't keep poking her. It was uncomfortable.
"Oh? So you want it after all," Thieren said in a deeper than usual voice. "We can do it now. Then we can do our public walk today instead of tomorrow like scheduled."
"Huh?" Stacey replied in a daze.
"Nevermind," Thieren smiled, leaning down to kiss her tempting lips once more. "I'll just have an extra day with you."
Stacey wriggled her sore backside on his lap to ease the pain in it and Thieren's eyes deepened. His kiss deepened to become more dominating and overbearing. Stacey felt her lips and tongue turning numb. She also couldn't breathe, making her feel dizzy.
The world turned and she was laid down on the bed.
"Maybe I should thank the person who tried to condition you so soon after you watched the sex education videos," Thieren said hoarsely, reaching down to undo his trouser zip. "It's made you so much more obedient."
"Huh?" Stacey panted, trying to make sense of what was going on.
"This was going to happen sooner or later," Thieren told her. "Just as well that you asked for it yourself. I'll try be gentle."
"What?"