Branded (The Club)

Sloan sighed heavily and turned me to face him. His fingers tilted my chin up, and his blue eyes bore down into mine so seriously.

“Langley, the only dangerous thing on this ranch is Blackjack. I don’t want you near him under any circumstances, especially if I’m not here with you.”

I snorted, glancing back to Blackjack who was carrying on as if he was showing off for us. “Right because I’m going to jump the fence and ride him.”

A sharp smack landed on my bare ass. “Sarcasm will get you in trouble, and then I’ll be the most dangerous thing on the ranch to you.” His tone brooked no arguments from me, my ass smarted, and I was tempted to rub the pain away if it wasn’t for the stern look on his face.

“O-okay,” I agreed, and he helped me step down from the post and walked with me back inside the barn. The shade cooled my bare shoulders when we stepped inside, making me shiver.

“I’m telling you this for your own safety, Luchadora.” Sloan linked his hand in mine, and we walked back toward the house. I wondered what that name meant and asked him.

“It means something close to feisty. My mother was Spanish and we had a cat she loved named Luchadora. Reminds a bit like you.” He squeezed my hand in his and warmth filled me. For a nickname, it was sweet.

“What happened with Blackjack?” The horse made me curious and I had a hard time believing an animal so beautiful would be dangerous.

“One of the ranch hands was injured this morning by that horse. Conner is okay, but it just reinforces how untrustworthy an animal can be.”

“Does anyone ever ride him?” I asked.

“I do but even that’s dangerous. I don’t want you doing anything foolish. Don’t try making nice with him, you could get hurt. This isn’t me asking either, I’m telling you. We haven’t outlined this relationship very well but this would be one of those things I would punish you for.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Ten spanks at least for disobeying and not the happy tapping kind to get you wet for fucking.” His bluntness wasn’t what shocked me, it was the almost meanness with which he said it. He was serious.

“I guess I’ll have to find other things to occupy my time then.” I try to lighten the mood stepping up two steps to make myself almost even with him in height.

He spanked my ass lightly under the dress, a wicked smile slashed across his otherwise stern expression. “You do that, Luchadora.”

I was wet. I was so wet it was embarrassing. I ran the rest of the stairs up to the front door, my chest heaving and my thighs sticking to together with each step I took boots clacking on the kitchen tiles, and then thudding over wooden floors. I didn’t stop until I reached the bathroom inside the bedroom I woke up in that morning now clean, fresh linens tucked around the bed. In the mirror, my cheeks were bright red and my hair a knotted mess.

11

Langley

The sun peeked through the lacy curtains in another blistering hot day. A week at the ranch felt like a season had passed. I woke in my room alone, Sloan already gone to do the morning chores in the barn. He was long gone before the sun pressed herself up into the sky dotted with fluffy white clouds in the vibrant blue–a blue sky that reminded me of his eyes which seemed fathomless.

Besides Stella, I was the only woman on the ranch. Stella delivered our meals and cleaned house like a phantom. I rarely saw her, and when I did she smiled now. The rest were Sloan’s ranch hands, men whom he hired to watch over the cattle and horses, doing daily chores. He had a foreman who oversaw things at the bunk house including the men’s cooking and laundry duty. I wasn’t allowed to go near the building. Besides staying away from Blackjack that was one of Sloan’s first rules I had to follow. The men there left every Saturday night, rotating weekends because of the cattle, and had until Monday morning off. They could go into the small town, ten miles away, for their fun but were expected

back or fired. Another one of Sloan’s rules.

I found him to be every bit as demanding with his workers as he was with me. Here I was holed up in the house, expected to wait him out and serve him. I learned he liked it best when I presented myself kneeling on the floor by the fire awaiting his pleasure. There wasn’t much for me to do, and over a lengthy lesson of orgasm denial I all but begged Sloan for chores to occupy my time while he worked the ranch. He had given me the task of seeing to his meals and his laundry for the sake of not letting me get too bored. Stella actually thanked me with one of her apple pies and came in the mornings to help me. He had a library I could sit and read in as well as a computer with internet connection I could use. For a ranch, he had a modern home but a few antiquated ideas about the roles of men and women. We were still working out the kinks, you might say.

I had finished prepping the chicken I was going to put in the oven to bake with scalloped potatoes, a recipe I emailed my mother. I felt like a meal always needed three things: A protein, a starch, and something else. The plate looked better with three items on it, and I would leave it at that. I racked my brain to come up with something until I saw the apples hanging off the tree out the kitchen window and decided homemade apple sauce would work.

In the yard, I filled the apron over my dress with apples. Blackjack pawed at the dirt near the fence. The beautiful horse looked hungry and I took a step forward. I looked behind me and no one was there despite the itchy feeling I felt over my shoulder. What would it hurt if I gave him just one? Sloan said going near the animal was punishable, but he looked so lonely. If all his life was about mating with a mare he could rarely see or touch, it didn’t seem like much of a life at all.

“Hey, boy.” I walked up to the fence and saw no one was out on this side of the house. Blackjack tossed his head up and down as if he was greeting me.

“Must suck being out here alone.” His head bobbed again and I stepped closer with hesitation.

“I’m alone here too. Well, not exactly.” I was talking to the animals now, great. I could just imagine what my mother would be saying about this if she knew.

“I’m sort of Sloan’s mare. God that sounds weird doesn’t it?” Blackjack trotted along the fence getting closer.

“Maybe you just want someone to talk to, huh?” I took one of the apples and pushed it through the fence, my hand shaking, careful not to expose my fingers for his teeth to bite.

Blackjack nibbled on the apple, and I tentatively touched the top of his head. His coat was as soft as it looked and shiny. The black reflected the light, and the power radiating off his body was seductive.