We all took turns discussing our week and enjoying each other's company. I tried to stall the talk of spanking as long as possible, sharing fun little details from the week, until Gabe finally put an end to it and confronted the group about me going over budget.
I batted my eyelashes, trying to sway him. "C'mon, it's just 12 cents, bro. It's not that serious."
"We agreed to you having a strict budget to help curb your impulsive spending."
"I wasn't spending impulsively though!"
"No, I'm sure you carefully planned it out. Twelve is the perfect number of cane strokes, isn't it?"
My cheeks blushed as I let out an uncomfortable giggle. Gabe knew me too well.
"I'd hoped your tendency to protect your friends would prevent you from stepping out of line on this, but it didn't. And the two of you agreed to 1 stroke for every penny over budget. So the first order of business is 12 lashes each."
My mouth opened to argue, but Izaak cut me off with his booming voice. "And I have another matter to bring to attention."
Instantly curious, I turned to my friend. "Ooooo, what did you do, Clo?"
"Against you," Izaak responded plainly, so serious it made my tummy twist into knots.
I chuckled uncomfortably, trying to ignore how tingly he made me. "Me? What did I do? I think you're trippin', bro. You're already gonna torture me all weekend and now you wanna add onto it?"
"When I took you and Chloe to the airport and found the vape pen, you assured me it was yours."
My heart thumped against my chest. "Yeah, and? It was. You know I'm a big pothead and all." Gabe shook his head at me, already figuring out where this was headed, but I continued to play dumb. "And you already spanked me for it. Why bring it up now? Didn't get enough? Damn you're more of a sadist than Gabe."
"The weed was Molly's, and she gave it to Chloe," Izaak said, tone a little more forceful now, which made me flinch before I glared playfully at my best friend.
"What the fuck, did you rat me out??"
"She did not. But if we're all part of this family and helping each other out, I expect honesty from you. How am I supposed to fulfill my role as mentor if you jump in to sacrifice yourself and let everyone else off the hook?"
My eyes gave an exaggerated roll at his seriousness. "Yo, it ain't that big of a deal. Why are you trippin' so much?"
"Is it true, Violet? You interfered with Izaak's mentorship over Chloe?" Gabe shook his head, but was smirking under the fake disappointment, because he loved the idea of me getting spanked extra.
"Don't act like this was a rule I supposedly broke."
"Sounds like adding your bullshit where it doesn't belong. You need to be taken down a notch from always jumping into everyone else's business. I vote in agreement of Izaak spanking you."
"Of course you do."
Izaak launched into a never-ending lecture about respect, and Gabe chimed in periodically. With the two of them banding together against me, there was no use even listening, no way I'd get a word in to argue. So instead I glanced over at Toby, who looked on curiously, and Molly, who seemed rattled with guilt.
Now the two men were having a talk about how they planned to deal with us. It was decided that Gabe would administer the 12 lashes with the cane, and Izaak would follow up with the wooden spoon.
"Violeta, Chloe, do you have a rebuttal?" Toby asked.
"First of all, this is bullshit. Clo didn't even do anything wrong, they're just using her to manipulate me. Second of all, ain't I supposed to be a loyal friend? There was never any dumb rule about lying. And another thing, maybe Clo agreed to the budget stuff with Gabe, but how was she supposed to know I spent more?" I probably had a thousand more brilliant arguments to make, so kept going a little longer, until Toby finally stopped me.
"If you decide to go to law school, please work on focusing on the key points that really matter."
"Fuck off," I responded with an eyeroll.
"She's right though," Molly said.
"Thank you!"
"Chloe didn't have anything to do with Violet taking the blame for the oil, so I don't think she should be punished for that. And we don't know if she knew about the money being spent."
Everyone looked at Clo and I wanted to answer in her place cuz she can plead the 5th, right? But Gabe reached his hand up to pop me if I didn't let her answer for herself.
"I knew about the budget and..."
"Bro, don't answer more than what they ask!" And then a hard swat to my bare thigh. "Ow, fuck!" I yelped, rubbing out the sting.
Molly spoke again. "Yeah, I still don't think she should get punished for it." Then she looked at Toby. "What do you think?"
Toby pondered it for a moment, making us sit in this awkward silence for much longer than my ADHD brain can stand, but Gabe's fierce glare kept me in line. "I agree that Chloe shouldn't pay the consequences for Violeta's loyalty. However, she did make a contract with Gabe to accept punishment if the budget was over. If it was a prior agreement, I don't believe our vote even matters."
"I disagree. She shouldn't get in trouble for it." Molly didn't really have an argument, she just felt guilty and thought that saving Clo would ease her conscience.
"Easy solution, we've already picked a tie-breaker," and within seconds, my brother's voice sounded over Toby's speaker phone. Without giving specific details, he explained the situation to Vic, asking his opinion. I was too pumped up with arguing that I kept it up, claiming that Toby had told the story unfairly, swaying Vic's decision. I tried everything.
"Face it, you lost," Gabe said, amusement in his eyes. He stood, grabbing the cane and wooshing it through the air. "I should give you double for all your backtalk. Skirt and panties off," he ordered.
