Chapter Twelve

I managed to survive both Thursday and Friday without running into Aubrey, but she still sent me a text reminder that I needed to take Kailee out, and soon. A-Tech decided they wanted me to handle the firing - the C-level didn't think the directoral level would be able to handle it, especially as I had recommended that the junior management layer be eliminated entirely, along with several entire teams. Their org chart was too tall by far, and there were managers just managing managers - fine in a functional organization an order of magnitude larger, but there was a lot of dead weight in the company. If they wanted it to be fit, they'd have to trim. Thankfully for them they listened to me - I was reasonably certain the company would survive. They had interesting ideas, they had some core differentiation, they had some valuable assets.. it was promising.

I was a little troubled that Seth hadn't gotten back to me about Julian, but he hated being "nagged" when doing a favor. I was wishing that I had just done the legwork myself, like I had with Dani - he was probably just busy with his day job and it got moved to the back burner since he knew that things were going reasonably well with Dani anyway. I was probably just being paranoid.

Dani was busy that weekend, but Kailee - to my chagrin - was not.

When I showed up at her door, she tackled me, throwing herself into my arms and nearly bowling me over.

"Mommy!" she cheered, squeezing me tightly around the neck.

"Hello Kailee," I smiled a smile that said 'We will have a fun time tonight if you behave'. She was wearing a very tight scoop-neck white shirt that read "I <3 Mommy" under a too-short suspender skirt.

"Hewwo Mommy!" she wiggled. "Where are we goin'? Are we gonna get candy?"

I stepped back and took her by the shoulders, turning her around - as I suspected, the shirt was a onesie, the bottom of it peeking out beneath her skirt... as was the edge of her diaper. I could see the blue and green pattern of a Little Paws and by the bulge, she was wet - though it was hard to tell with the onesie, she might have just doubled up on the boosters. Kailee liked her diapers to be thick. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she was wearing two. I pushed her gently into the apartment, spotting Aubrey looking sour on the couch.

"Kailee," I said softly but sternly. "We can't go out with you dressed that way. You can wear a onesie, but not one that's so brazen. You can wear a skirt, but it has to cover your diaper."

"But I don't wanna," she whined, stomping her foot. "I look cuuuuuute."

"What you are doing is not okay," I crossed my arms over my chest. "We've talked about this before - it's good that you're not ashamed of your kink, but it's not okay to flaunt it in public. It's not okay that you're forcing other people to participate in your fantasy."

"But mommy," she continued her whining - I hated that tone of her voice, "I like it when they look at me funny, when they know I'm just a baby."

"That's not right," I scolded. "That's a consent violation. If they don't get a chance to tell you that they're willing to participate, then you are being unkind and unfair. Go change."

"Nooooo," she fussed, crossing her arms and turning her back to me.

"Then we're not going anywhere."

"You have to!" she whirled on me, "Aubrey said you had to! You can't just change your mind, you have to take me out!"

"The only thing I have to do," I countered. "Is paddle your bottom for your attitude. You don't get to decide what I have to do, just like you don't get to decide where we're going or what you're eating. Unless you want to be the boss? Is that what you want?"

"No," she wilted. "I don't."

"Then go change."

"I don't wanna," she pouted, as if that ever worked. The evening hadn't even begun and already I was exhausted by her attitude. She was unbearable.

"Aubrey," I addressed her roommate finally, stepping further into the room. "Kailee doesn't mind it when other people who are not part of the scene witness her play, I do - and so I ask you: if I spank your roommate right here, right now, as she so richly deserves - do you consent to be present and witness it, or should we move this to her room?"

"You can't spank me in front of Aubrey!" Kailee objected, stomping again.

"Go nuts," Aubrey shrugged. "I just want her to be happy."

"Wait, no!" Kailee begged as I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to the couch, gently shoving aside the corner of the coffee table so she didn't accidentally bump into it with her inevitable flailing. "Mommy, please!"

"I'm not your mommy right now, Kailee," I said sternly as I pulled her over my lap. She wasn't really resisting, not really - I could tell she was reluctant, she was embarrassed, but she was flush and her breathing was rapid. She was enjoying this. "We are not together. I'm taking you out tonight because we want to be friends, remember? But you, dear girl, are being a spoiled brat."

I pointed her diapered bottom right at Aubrey on the other end of the couch. She moved to the very edge to give us space, and I could see some concern on her face out of the corner of my eye. I had never disciplined Kailee in front of her before, it was always behind closed doors. I had never intended for her roommate to learn of my fetish, the fetish that Kailee also fell in love with, we had kept the play to my place. I had no idea that she had been caught until after we had broken up.

"Mommy please," she pleaded, ignoring my words. Her rear would pay for that. I hooked a finger into the legband of her thick diaper - she was wearing two - and pulled it aside, exposing a little more of her bottom, and with an ever-so-slightly cupped hand, I struck her, lightly, just where the curve of her buttocks met her thigh. I gave her a few more, warming the flesh and making it nice and pink before I started in. I didn't bother even touching her other thigh, I would give her no relief - I focused all of my attention on her right leg.

"We are going out tonight, little girl," my voice was even and calm as I struck her, really starting in and hitting her quite hard after her flesh was warmed. I wouldn't go too far, I wouldn't make her bleed - Aubrey was right there. "And you are going to put on a more appropriate outfit and then apologize to Aubrey for behaving the way you did."

The spanking continued in full force until Kailee was yelping at every hit, squirming helplessly over my knee. As I neared the end of what Kailee could actually take without bruising or bleeding, Aubrey was wincing with each blow, clutching a pillow to her chest tightly. A soft whimper came from her when Kailee began crying in earnest.

"Vanessa, I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'll go change, Vanessa stop!"

When I was done, I rubbed her leg gently further down and stood her up - the back of her right thigh a bright, angry red.

"Go," I pointed toward the hallway. "Change."

"Holy shit," Aubrey breathed after Kailee had left the room. "Holy fucking shit, Vanessa - you beat her!"

"She wanted it," I pointed out. "You saw the way she was acting."

"She was begging you to stop!" Aubrey was shaking, she was horrified at what she had just seen. The reaction seemed extreme... which meant there was likely some past trauma there that I wasn't aware of. I had never done any kind of recon on Aubrey - it could be anything. She seemed triggered, however, so I needed to proceed with care. One thing I did know from the past in dealing with the woman was that she did not like being spoken down to. Trying to comfort her in my usual ways would only cause her to lash out.

"She enjoys begging," I pointed out reasonably. Audrey seemed unconvinced. "If she truly wanted me to stop, she would have said 'red'. We kept our safewords simple, and I know how much she can take. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she's masturbating in there right now."

"Are you serious?" she asked, shocked. "This is what she wanted all along? For you to beat the shit out of her!?"

"Kailee is what we in the scene call a 'brat' - and a selfish one at that, sadly," I chose to ignore Aubrey's accusation and focus on explaining rather than defending. "There's nothing wrong with bratting, as long as you still approach it with care to your partner. Kailee doesn't care if her fussing bothers me or not, it's too much fun for her." I turned to look at Aubrey directly. "It's why I broke up with her."

"So you... you were actually bothered by her whining?" Aubrey had a puzzled look on her face, the shock of the violence she had just witnessed fading. Her shaking subsided - she went from triggered to mildly disturbed.

"Of course - I came to take her out to dinner, not to argue about her clothing." I flexed my wrist - I had almost overdone it myself, my hand stung a great deal. Were I at home I would have gotten some ice for it, but here I had an image to maintain. "We're already twenty minutes later than I planned. I'm glad I didn't pick a place that requires reservations."

"Wait, so let me get this straight... she was complaining because she wanted you to spank her? You would've stopped if she said the word 'red'?"

"Of course," I nodded. "It's paramount to have a clear safeword, or a signal. Otherwise it would be abuse. I'm not abusive, regardless of what you think of me. What you just witnessed was a game. I promise, she got a thrill out of the fact that it all happened right in front of you. Are you okay? Do you need to talk about your feelings?"

Aubrey looked at me in pure shock, her mouth hanging open just a bit.

"I... I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? You didn't hit me ," she looked nervous, uncomfortable. "Don't hit me," she added quickly. Definitely trauma there.

"I would never," I promised, "I had Kailee's consent for that, she let me pull her over to the couch, she let me turn her over my knee, she let me spank her. If she truly didn't want it, she would have struggled more, and she would have used our safeword. As for you, you just witnessed some reasonably intense violence against a person you care about deeply. It's very understandable if you're shaken. This is why I asked your permission first - permission, consent... is everything."

"I see... but- "

Her thought was interrupted by Kailee returning to the room, dressed in a dark blue blouse over a ragged-edged fairy skirt that fell to her shins. Much better. Without a word, I took her by the wrist, turned her around, and lifted her skirt - displaying her diaper clearly. It was wet, without a doubt now that the onesie was gone. I turned her back around to face Aubrey.

"And you are going to say?" I prodded.

"I'm sorry Aubrey," Kailee answered, contrite. She dragged one toe along the ground, looking down. "I'm sorry you had to listen to me fussing."

"Did you... did you enjoy what just happened?" Aubrey asked, clearly concerned. Even Kailee should have been able to pick up on her anxiety.

"Uh huh," Kailee grinned, the sorrowful façade dropped instantly. "Momm... Vanessa is really, really good at domination and spanking. She's better than anyone I've ever met... I love that feeling."

"Thank you for being truthful," I added, standing. I looked at Aubrey, adopting my date-persona again and giving a warm smile. "I'm going to take her to dinner and we'll be back soon. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be a good girl now that she's remembered who she wants to be the boss."

Kailee let out a small squeak as we walked for the door, leaving Aubrey wide-eyed on the couch.

Vanillas were an interesting bunch to me, you never knew how one might react to seeing the spicier side of life - some would turn away, some would turn toward it. I wondered which one Aubrey would be.