The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The First Collection by Frost, J (great novels .txt) 📕

to be exhausted. Today’s been tough already, she napped for barely fifteen minutes, and her punishment’s going to be an endurance test. There’s an appeal to leaving her at Blunts to sleep and coming back for her after interviewing Dovie Donegan. I’m not sure who’s monitoring today, but worst-worst, I can call Maude to keep an eye on her. Blunts is closer to Manny’s, too.

“Baby doll, while I’m washing up, I want you to put out dry food for Sable, then pack a couple of stuffies, one of your binkies, and a nightgown.”

“Should I pack my toothbrush, too?”

“Yes, just in case, but I’m not planning on spending the night. Bring your laptop or your tablet so you have something to do if I run a little late.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

After I wash up, I collect Advil, witch hazel cream, and Epsom salts from the bathroom cabinet. I don’t usually give my bottoms painkillers after a punishment. Part of the lesson is suffering the discomfort afterwards. But I’m not sure how Emily will react, and if she’s in real pain, rather than just discomfort, I want to be prepared to relieve her.

Blunts has everything else I need for the scene, but I bring my toy bag anyway, so I have my favorite tools, and the small cuffs, for Emily’s slender wrists. I throw in some clothes and my toothbrush, just in case. Once we’re packed, I pick a pair of pink cotton knickers for Emily to wear and take her to lunch.

Konk’s a trendier place than I would pick, with menu items like “smashed avocado toast.” But I like the setting, a converted greenhouse, and the clientele is so eclectic we fit right in.

I keep our conversation light. There’s a serious talk we need to have, but it needs to wait. Emily tells me about her white dragon dream, and as always, I can’t tell if she’s spinning the tale on the spot or if she actually did dream it. She’s a master storyteller, my little girl.

When she finishes, I tell her about an idea I’ve had for one of our next big scenes. There may be those who are uncomfortable with Emily’s littleness at Blunts, but not even Caddy could object to some school-age role-play. I want to riff off The Breakfast Club, which is one of Emily’s favorite movies, with the subs in detention. There’ll be interrogation of the naughty detainees, some corporal punishment on bare legs and bottoms, some sneaky nookie in the janitor’s closet, and we’ll finish with a sushi buffet, a la Claire Standish’s lunch. Emily grins like a loon all while I describe the scene, so I figure I have at least one enthusiastic participant.

Of course, I’ll have to delay the scene by a few days to let her recover from her punishment, or she won’t be quite so enthusiastic.

Once I’m finished my “twisted Reuben,” which is just a Reuben sandwich with fried gherkins instead of bread, and Emily’s had her crab salad, we hop on the train to Blunts. I haven’t called ahead to book a dungeon, because it’s mid-afternoon, mid-week, so the club should be quiet. Cappa’s on the upstairs door. He’s a good man and a conscientious sub, but Emily barely knows him. I’d prefer to have someone she feels close to watching over her while I’m gone.

While Cappa books us into one of the dungeons until midnight and reserves an upstairs room in case we need to stay the night, I pull out my phone and text Maude.

Before I even slide my phone back into my pocket, Maude pings me to let me know that she, Javier, Ten, and Austin are just finishing lunch in the Trattoria and she’ll be right up.

I reply to say that Austin’s excluded from the scene, and I’ve barely hit “send” when the phone rings.

“What’s going on?” Maude asks coolly.

“White and red scene with a gold star,” I tell her.

“A white and red scene, with Emily?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” She’s silent for a long moment. “I’ll monitor—”

Javier’s voice rises in the background. “I’ll monitor.”

“I’ll monitor,” says a deep, gruff voice. Pretty sure that’s Ten. “You’re both too close to the girl.”

“We’ll draw straws,” Maude drawls. “In any event, I’m available to keep an eye on her. We’ll be right up.”

“Thanks. We’re in the Western Room.”

Emily’s big, baby eyes are on me through this exchange. She wrings her hands, but she doesn’t say anything. I put my arm around her shoulders and draw her to me. “No house subs will be allowed to watch, sweetheart.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she whispers, clinging to me, crumpling my shirt in her little fists.

“I’ll blindfold you if having others watching will be too much for you, Emmy.”

She nods. “Please, Daddy.”

I slide my finger under her chin and tip her face up to me. After making sure she’s not panicking, I give her a gentle kiss. “Relax, sweet girl. We’ll get through this and then we can move on, right?”

She nods and huddles against me. She’s not panicking, but she is shaking. I rub her back while I wait for Cappa to finish.

Cappa passes me the room key card silently over the big desk, his eyes on Emily and concern creasing his fine-boned face. On the wall behind him, the dungeon board updates with my member number in white, on a red background, with the small gold star above my number. There are three other dungeons in use, but none of them are punishment scenes, so I expect our scene will attract some attention, particularly from the club’s sadists. Blindfolding Emily is definitely the way to go. I’m glad I brought my toy bag so I have her own blindfold; that will help make her comfortable.

Once I’ve pocketed the key, I nod my thanks to Cappa and steer Emily down the corridor towards the playroom. We don’t need to change since I’m going to stay clothed for the scene; I’ll take off Emily’s clothes as we go. Not changing first also helps establish that this is punishment, not