Story: Drag Race

Misc Story.  Ashley and her friend go to a party, get drunk, then decide to participate in a drag race.

Drag Race
by Breanna Carter

I was ecstatic. Not only was I visiting my old city that I used to live in, but I was also allowed to hang out with some friends who were throwing a smashing party. Of course, Kevin didn’t know about the smashing party. But he had indeed agreed to let me hang out with my friend, Hannah. I was so ecstatic that it only took me about 15 minutes to get ready and run out of the hotel room waving goodbye to the guys that were already like my family. Here I was, 15 years old, not a worry in the world. My parents had died and I was an orphan for a while, that is, until I met Kevin and he said he wanted to take me in. Which was probably the best moment of my life. So he adopted me, and I hung out with him and his best friends, the guys he was in a band with. Those were the best days of my life, going on tour with them, just hanging out and being one big family. I enjoyed having a family for once.

Anyway, as I was saying, I skipped out of the hotel and nearly ran straight into Hannah. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, tackling me in a hug.

“No, not quite, but close enough,” I smirked.

“I haven’t seen you in forever!” she exclaimed as she hugged me tighter.

“I know, I know. Loosen up, will ya? You’re going to suffocate me before we even leave the building.”

She blushed a little bit but let go. “I’m so happy to see you again, Ash. Are you ready for the party tonight?”

“You know it,” I said, grinning. She half-dragged me out of the very expensive hotel lobby, as the lady at the front desk told us goodbye and we grinned telling her bye as well.

“This hotel is grand,” Hannah said, jamming the key into her ignition.

“It’s cool having a rich guardian.”

“I bet.” I grinned widely as we drove into the sunset, arriving at Brett’s house before we knew it. “We’re here,” Hannah said. She smiled and opened her car door and I followed her inside the cozy house. I was hit by loud music, some kind of death metal stuff that I didn’t really listen to, or like for that matter. Brett met us at the entranceway.

“Ah, well hello,” he said extending his hand towards us. He wore super baggy jeans and a T shirt that had a weird Satanic picture on it and a band’s name that I had never heard of, but he was definitely very sexy. I shook his hand and blushed furiously cause he was so freakin’ hott.

“Brett, this is my friend, Ashley.”

“Heya, Ashley.”

“Hi,” I said, blushing a little more. We made our way inside the house. It wasn’t nothing compared to the house I lived in, but it was comfortable. Not too big, not too small, plenty of people were inside, most of them just talking, a few smoking, nearly everyone drinking. I declined every drink that was offered to me, not too keen on the idea of getting drunk off my ass and being dragged home.

The party was still going full blast whenever Hannah came up to me next to a few other super hott guys. “Hey,” one of them said, slipping an arm around my waiste.

“Hi,” I said shyly.

“Hey, Ash,” Hannah said, “we’re going to go down to the parkway, where they have all the drag races and stuff. Wanna come with us? We’re coming back by here later, so if you wanna stay, you can.”

I grinned. Me? Decline on an offer to hang out with sexy guys and my best friends? Hah, yeah right. “Hell yeah I wanna go,” I said, even though I was having a good time talking with some old friends and meeting new ones.

Hannah just smiled and the guy whose hand was around my waiste led me out of the door and outside where the music wasn’t as loud. “I’m Chase, by the way,” he said.

“Oh, yeah. I’m Ashley.”

I piled up in Hannah’s car with Chase and one of his friends, and the other guys, two of them, and another girl piled up in another car. We blared music the entire way there, good stuff this time, and talked loudly over it, but basically just sang along, Hannah and me being the only sober people in there.

Whenever we got to the parkway, I didn’t even know that’s where we were. I don’t know what I was expecting. Drag racing was illegal, it wasn’t like they were going to have checkered flags and a starting line and people sitting in stands rooting for their favorite car. And of course, nothing like this was there. In fact, it really just looked like people sitting down on the river front, talking and having a good time.

We hopped out of Hannah’s car. “We’re here?” I asked, looking around at the empty highway in front of me, and the people sitting on the grass gazing at two cars that were on the highway, a yellow one and a blue one. I didn’t know, nor care, what type of cars they were. Finally they sped by me, the yellow one in the front, the blue one trailing until it was almost the end, a few miles down the highway. There were yells and screams from the crowd and some other people who were closer by the riverfront began cheering too.

“Hannahhhhh,” a drunken voice said then fell onto Hannah in a hug.

“Hey, baby,” she said, patting the boy on the head. “How are ya?”

“Drunk,” he replied then stood up and grinned. “How are you?”

“I’m great. Guys,” she called to the group of people as we walked towards them, “this is my friend Ashley. I know some of you remember her...”

“Ashleyyyyyyy,” the drunk boy said then fell onto me in a hug.

“Uhm, hi,” I said nervously. I was about to say something, but was interrupted by voices approaching us.

“My car can kick your ass, dude.”

“No way, man, my car definitely is better.”

“Nope.”

“Yep.”

They stopped instantly as they arrived to us. “John says that he can beat me. Wanna take bets on it?”

Everyone started an instant chatter, looking around at the cars and telling which ones would win. Everyone put five dollars down on their choice of car, and some people put ten down. I, on the other hand, just stood there and watched.

“Have a drink?” the drunk boy said, shoving a sprite in my hand. It was against my better judgement, but I figured, what the hell. Hannah is the designated driver, I might as well. So I gratefully accepted the drink and took a huge gulp, which was the first mistake, seeing as it wasn’t sprite at all.

“Jesus Christ, what is this shit?”

“Smirnoff,” he smirked. “Yummy?”

I took another sip then grinned, pleased with myself. “Very yummy.”

I watched as the next two cars lined up and sped down the highway, the guy whose name was John actually winning, though most of the people betted against him. He seemed pleased with himself and so did his fans.

“... don’t you race, Hannah?” John asked.

“Why WOULD I race?”

“She knows her car wouldn’t do worth a shit,” someone says.

“Sure it would,” Hannah defended. “I just don’t feel like racing, that’s all.”

The guy shrugged. “Whatever.”

She kind of blushed a little and looked at me for some moral support. I drank the last sip of my drink and then said, “I’ll do it. That is, if Hannah doesn’t mind...”

Hannah smiled a bit, and blushed some more, obviously debating in her head on whether or not to let me drive her car. After all, I was underage, I only had a learner’s permit. I could probably have used some more practice, but it was better than those guys hassling her about it. Besides, I’m sure her car could race perfectly fine. I knew Hannah wouldn’t race it, though, cause she’d be a nervous wreck. She had always been like that.

“I’ll race you then,” the jerk guy who had said that Hannah was too chicken said.

I looked back at Hannah. “Fine,” she said, loudly. “She’ll beat you, too. Cause my car kicks ass!”

I giggled a bit and she threw me the keys. I started up the car, backed out carefully, looking at the crowd that was already cheering me on. Frankly, more people liked me than that annoying guy.

I sat at the starting line for a minute, next to him until he started counting down.

3... 2... 1....

We sped off. I was in the lead. I was winning. He got in front of me for a minute, but then fell back behind as I was flooring the gas. 80, 90, 100, 105, 110, 115.....

The next thing I noticed was the flashing lights behind me. My speed had increased to 120 and I looked beside me to see that nothing was there. I looked in the rearview mirror once more, and the asshole’s car was out of shit. My body began shaking like crazy and I slowed down, the lights still flashing behind me. Finally I pulled over and took a deep breath in. I had almost made it to the finish line...

“License and registration, please,” the officer said in a very unamused voice.

“Er, officer..” I said, fumbling through my head to make up an excuse. “I...”

“Hand me your license and registration.”

I looked through the glovebox trying to find the registration. I had no idea what the registration even looked like. “Uhmm... is this it?” I asked, handing up a sheet of paper.”

“Ma’am, is this your car?”

“Uhmmm, no sir,” I stuttered.

“Whose is it?”

“My friend's.”

“Where is your license?”

I searched through my wallet that was in my back pocket and found my learner’s permit then handed it to him. He peeked at me from over the permit.

“I need you to step out of the car.”

“I... um... please, sir...”

“Now,” he ordered.

Scared half to death, I complied, stepping outside of the car and meeting him face to face. He was a good 4 inches taller than me, and a bit chubby.

“Where is your friend?” he asked in the same stern voice.

“Uhmmm, back there,” I said, pointing to the group of people where I saw more sirens.

“Very well. Come with me.” I followed him to the car where we stood for a moment, he talking to someone on his walkie talkie and scribbling down stuff on a pad. I was almost to tears being so scared... but maybe they’d let me off easy. “... minor driving a --” he broke off and looked at me. “Have you been drinking?” he asked, sniffing the air.

“Erm..” I muttered. “I had a little..” I said, deciding that the truth would be better in this case. A breathalizer test would insure that I had indeed been drinking, and I’d get into more trouble that way.

Before he could say more, another police car arrived behind him and a woman stepped out. She couldn’t have been older than 30, long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

The male officer finished his sentence, describing the car to the other person and the woman said, “okay, hands on the car, legs apart.”

I shuttered a little bit as I remembered movies where people had been molested after an officer told them that. Once again, though, I complied, hoping that it would help me get off a bit easier. The woman padded me down, searching in my pockets and things then took my right hand and cuffed it, then took my left hand and cuffed it, too, and just like that, I was unable to move my arms at all. She opened the male officer’s back seat and halfway pushed me inside then slammed the door in my face. The noise from outside faded, but I could still hear the nervous ringing in my ears. My heart was still pounding inside my chest and I couldn’t do anything but sit there and refrain from crying. I had been arrested... Kevin wouldn’t be very pleased if he had to find out. But maybe they were just going to take me to the hotel and I wouldn’t have to tell him.

I saw the woman officer drive back past me, the drunk guy and the asshole in her backseat, both muttering insanely. A pit of guilt settled in my stomach, making me want to cry more. But before I had the chance, the front door opened and the officer chunked his notepad inside and plopped himself down in front of the steering wheel.

“Miss Ashley. 15 years old, drag racing and under the influence of alcohol. Were you actually trying to kill yourself?”

I said nothing. I felt bad enough as it was, I didn’t need this guy to make me feel worse.

He slammed his door shut and drove off, leaving Hannah’s car on the side of the road. “What’re we going to do about my friend’s car?”

“She’s getting the keys back, as she wasn’t drinking or racing.”

I nodded, relieved that she wasn’t in trouble. The officer didn’t speak to me the entire way there. Instead, we listened to the constant chatter of policemen on the walkie talkies, having rather interesting conversations I might say. If I hadn’t have been in so much trouble, they would have been indeed very amusing.

We arrived to the juvenile detention center at 12:30 in the morning. The officer opened my back door for me and escorted me inside, finally uncuffing me and such. I ended up in front of a desk where I was fingerprinted and photographed. “I need you to call your parent or guardian,” the monotone lady said then handed me a phone. My hands shook nervously as I dialed Kevin’s cell phone number, praying that he wouldn’t answer...

“Hello?” she sleepy voice answered. I noticed that it wasn’t Kevin, but Brian, his friend, instead.

“Hey, Brian,” I tried to say, sounding all cheerful.

“Hey,” he said, still half asleep.

“Is Kevin there?”

“Nope, sure isn’t. He downtown with the other guys.”

“Ohhh,” I said, then figured that since Brian was over 21, he might as well come and pick me up himself. “Well, think you can come pick me up?”

“Sure thing, kid. Where are ya?” I could hear his voice getting less sleepy and heard him get off of the bed.

“At the juvenile detention center place,” I said, yawning as if it was nothing at all.

“What?!?!?”

“Uhmmm,” I mumbled.

“What the hell happened?”

“I uh, kinda got into some trouble. Can you pick me up?”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” The phone clicked in my ear and I handed the woman her phone back then sat down on the chair in front of her desk. I waited for what seemed like two seconds until Brian appeared behind me, hair messed up, eyes raging with anger.

“Hello,” the woman said, standing up and shaking his hand.

Brian nodded a hello and sat down next to me.

“Ashley’s gotten into a bit of trouble. Driving without a license, under the influence of alcohol, speeding...”

Brian glared at me, but I just gave a half smile back.

“Due to her cooperation and age, and the fact that she isn’t even a residence of this county, we decided to let her off with a warning, this time.”

I sighed heavily. Ahh, relief.

“I do not want to see this again, though,” she said, looking at me. “What you did was very dangerous. You could have killed yourself or someone else.”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry,” Brian said, “it won’t happen again.”

The woman smiled. “I’m sure it won’t.” She stood as if dismissing us so we did, too, then she shook our hands and Brian led me out of the door. He said nothing to me, didn’t seemed angry at all, though his clouded eyes showed me that he was still pretty upset.

I didn’t speak to him the entire way there, even after we pulled into the hotel parking lot and walked to the elevators. We finally arrived to our floor and he led me to his room where he unlocked the door and halfway pushed me in.

“What?” I said, referring to the fact that he was still pissed at me. “Come on, Bri, it wasn’t that big of a deal... I just wanna go to my room and get some sleep.”

“Sit,” he ordered, pointing to the bed, blocking the doorway so I could not get out.

I sighed loudly and plopped myself down on his untidy bed. “What?” I muttered.

“What in the hell do you think you were doing?!” he asked in a sudden yell.

“Uhmmm,” I said, trying to think of a good excuse in my head. “I was just driving for a little while... besides...”

“Besides nothing. You don’t have your license yet and you were going 120. 120!”

“That’s not... too... fast.”

“Not too fast? And you were drinking? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Uhmmmm, I was thinking that it would be fun...”

“Fun? Would it be fun if you ended up in a ditch and nobody knew where you were cause we all thought you were going to your friend’s house? Would it be fun whenever you killed someone, or even yourself? I don’t see any fun in this...”

“I didn’t know I would get caught..”

“Is that all your sorry for? Getting caught?”

“Well, I wish I hadn’t been...”

“You’re 15 years old! You can’t go ruining your life by drinking and driving. You’ll end up dead before you graduate.”

I ignored him and looked off at the wall, that wasn’t very interesting, but more interesting than looking at Brian who was still furious with me. “Can’t believe you, Ashley.” He stopped speaking, suddenly, then said, “okay, I’m going to punish you for this.”

“Que?” I said, Spanish for ‘what?’

“I’m going to punish you. I’ll punish you and whenever you tell Kev, I’ll tell him that I took care of it, but I don’ t know what time he’s coming home tonight and I’m not going to just wait, especially with the attitude that you’re having.”

“What attitude!” I spat out.

“That one,” he said, voice almost calm.

“This is stupid!” I screamed. “I didn’t hurt anyone, didn’t get arrested, I’m not in jail, you should just get over it!”

“Thank God that none of that happened. But it could have and..”

I sighed loudly then stood up. “No,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes. “I’m going to my room now where I can sit on my own bed and have a little bit of fucking peace!” I turned around and tried to storm out of the room, but Brian caught my arm.

“Don’t you use that tone with me and walk off while I’m talking to you!” he said. I tried to jerk away from his grip but he pulled me closer to him.

“Let me go!” I screamed.

Surprisingly, he let go. “I won’t have this, Ashley. If you’ll just do what I tell you, it’ll be much easier and...”

“Much easier my ass,” I said, trying to push past him again, but he stood right in front of me. I don’t know what I was thinking... but something inside me told me to... and I pushed him, hard. It didn’t hurt him any, couldn’t have. He barely moved back, but he moved back enough to give me a little space and get closer to the door. He grabbed my arm again and I kicked him in the shin. That did it all.

He gripped me tighter than he had before and dragged me over to the bed where he sat down. “Young lady, you will NOT push me or kick me ever again!” he said, still holding me with his right hand and moving towards my pants with his left.

“What the hell are you doing?” I said in almost a whisper, already knowing what he was about to do...

“And you will not use that type of language with me either. You are acting very childish, Ashley. And you need to stop.” His left hand landed on the button of my pants and he unbuttoned them.

“No!” I said, trying to pull away again. That didn’t stop him any, he just kept at what he was doing and soon enough, my pants fell to the floor and i stood in front of one of my best friends in only my t-shirt and panties, trying to wiggle free from his grip.

“Stop it,” he said sternly. The next thing he did was totally unexpected... he yanked me over his lap and pulled my panties down to my knees.

“What are you doing? You can’t do this! I’m 15! That’s too old!” I protested, having never been spanked before in my life.

“If you really were 15, you would act like it!” he said then landed a sharp smack in the center of my bottom.

“Owwwwww!” I whined. It hurt way much more than I had every thought it would...

He gave me five hard smacks on my right cheek, not even giving me time to breathe between each one. “Ow!” I exclaimed after every smack. Then he landed five more on my left cheek, causing me to yelp in pain.

“Owwwwwwww,” I whined, louder now. “Stopppppp,” I said, kicking my legs again.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

“Ashley, you know better than to drive without your license.”

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

“And you know better than to drink.”

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

“And you know better than to drag race like that.”

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

“And you will NEVER hit me like that again, understand me?”

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

“Owwwwwww,” I still whined after each smack, now begging him as I felt my bottom getting warmer and warmer...

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

He lay his hand down on my bottom for a moment, giving me a bit of a break. It hurt like crazy, but I wasn’t going to cry. I couldn’t do that...

He stood me up and allowed me to pull my pants and panties back up. “You’ll stay in here until Kevin gets back,” he ordered, and from the previous experience I decided not to tell him what I was thinking but instead I huffed loudly and folded my arms.

I debated in my mind on whether or not to sit down on the bed. My bottom still stung like crazy, and whenever I had tried to rub the sting out, to no avail cause it still stung like crazy, I felt how hot my bottom was, and knew for sure that it would probably hurt more whenever I sat down. I had never been spanked before... and believe me, it hurt way more than I had always thought it would.

Of course, I didn’t have to debate long on whether or not to sit down, because moments later I heard a knock out the door and Brian walked over to get it. “Ah, hello...”

“Hey,” I heard the familiar voice say. I got my hopes up, seeing that it was Kevin, and knew he would see my side of this... “Have you heard from Ashley?”

“Actually...” Brian said, then turned around to face me, “she’s here. We have something we need to discuss with you.”

I knew that Kevin now wore a look of confusion as Brian led him into the room. He saw me standing there, still rubbing my bottom absentmindedly, and said, “what happened?”

Brian sat down on the bed next to me and Kevin just stood there, towering over me. The difference in our heighth was definitely noticable now...

I looked at Brian and he looked back at me. Obviously, he wanted me to explain it. “He hit me!” I spat out, the anger in my body catching up with me.

“What?” Kevin asked, voice full of confusion.

“He hit me!” I shouted again. “He was mad and he just started hitting me and it isn’t fair!”

“Why did he hit you?”

I didn’t say anything, just held back my anger.

“Well?”

“Cause I asked him to come pick me up, and he was mad. So he hit me!”

Kevin glanced at Brian, knowing that I wasn’t telling the entire story. “Young lady,” Kevin said in a threatening voice, “tell me exactly what happened and no messing around,” he warned. The tone of his voice told me that he wasn’t on my side.

“I was just having some fun and we got picked up by the cops and I called and you weren’t home and Brian decided he’d hit me instead.”

“Having fun doing what?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer this. The pit in my stomach had now moved to my throat and I was truly feeling bad about what I had done, or most likely, about getting caught. I couldn’t speak or I’d cry... I’d break down and cry like a baby. And I couldn’t let Brian see that he had won.

“Ashley, what were you doing?” Kevin repeated.

But I still did not answer. He looked over to Brian who had not spoken at all.

“What was she doing?”

Brian looked at me and seeing that I wasn’t planning on saying it any time soon he said, “she was racing some kid in someone else’s car while she was drunk.”

“I wasn’t drunk!” I defended.

“And she called me and I had to pick her up from the police station. But luckily the let her go with a warning because she complied so well. But I would have never known, the way she acted with me...”

Kevin raised his eyebrows, urging Brian to continue. “And how would that be?”

“Like she was 5 instead of 15. Throwing tantrums, exclaiming that she did nothing wrong. Using profanity and shoving me out of the way whenever I told her that I was going to take care of her.”

Kevin nodded. “This true?” he asked me.

I didn’t answer.

“Obviously, Ashley, you haven’t learned your lesson. What’s this attitude you’re giving me? You’re not usually like this...”

I still said nothing, just waited for him to ground me for a month or something. “You spanked her?” he asked Brian. I shuddered hearing the word.

Brian nodded.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing me by the arm and tugging me towards the doorway. “Sorry about this, Bri.” He looked at me to see if I would say anything, but I refused. There was no way that I was going to apologize to him.

Kevin dragged me the entire way to my room because I wasn’t into walking on my own. I was still pissed off about Brian and my bottom hurt like crazy...

We arrived to the room and Kevin plopped me down on the bed. “Explain yourself,” he said suddenly.

“Uh,” I muttered stupidly. “I um...” I was at a loss of words. “Look, Kev, Brian’s already lectured me about drinking and driving and how I could kill myself... please, I’ll do better without another one.”

“Obviously drinking and driving wasn’t the only thing you’ve done that would deserve a lecture. What are you doing with this attitude?”

I shrugged.

“I am NOT going to let this slide, Ashley,” he said in a warning tone. “I think that Brian had a good idea to spank you like that. And I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson yet.”

“But I have!” I whined.

“No, you haven’t. Drop your pants,” he ordered, but I did not do so. “Ashley, I will NOT ask you again, young lady. You are this close to getting it worse,” he said, holding up his fingers, centimeters apart from one another. I still did not budge, though.

He hoisted me up from the couch and smacked me solidly three time on the bottom then proceeded to tell me once more to do as I was told. I just folded my arms and stood there, unmobile. He gave an exasperated sigh and unbuttoned my pants for me, even though I didn’t let him do it with my arms folded. I kicked and yelled for him to stop, trying to push him away. “Ashley, stop!” he said, then held onto my arms with his left hand and finished doing what he had started. I felt the button slip through the hole then my zipper sliding down, and before I knew it, my pants were on the ground.

“Nooooooo!” I whined, still fighting with Kevin.

“Ashley, you better stop acting like this right now,” Kevin scolded. “I won’t put up with this.”

I stopped fighting a bit and Kevin let go of me for a second, after giving me a very pissed off look as if saying I better stay right where I was. I watched him as I heard the sound of his belt buckle unclasp and then slip through the loops of his jeans.

“Nooooo,” I whined again. “Please, Kev... I’m sorryyyyy.”

It was too late. He had his belt folded over and was lying me across his lap. “I won’t put up with the way you’re acting, Ashley.” My panties were tugged down to my knees and I wiggled a little. I felt the nice cool breeze pass my bottom and silently prayed that Kevin wouldn’t be too hard on me, no matter how much I deserved it. He said nothing else, just began spanking me with his hand, pounding my bottom where it already still ached from my spanking from Brian.

Instantly, I began kicking and pleading for him to stop. “Pleaseeeeeee stopppppp, I’m sorryyyyyy,” I whined.

“This is just the beginning, young lady,” Kevin replied, still spanking me with full force.

“Owwwwww,” I whined.

“I told you if you didn’t obey me, you’d get it worse. Maybe next time you’ll believe me.”

“Owwwwwwwwww, Kevinnnn stopppp pleaseeee,” I whined louder, kicking my legs a bit and crying like crazy.

He stopped spanking me for a minute and all I could think of was that I wish that cool breeze was still over my bottom... that’s how much it stung...

“You’re 15 years old, Ashley. You could have hurt yourself or someone else really badly by what you did tonight. And I am your guardian, and you won’t disrespect me or Brian or anyone else who has the right to punish you. Got it?”

I nodded. “Yessss, I’ll be good.. please no more.”

“15 with the belt, then I’ll be finished.”

“Pleaseeeee, I don’t need the belt.”

“Yes you do, sweetheart. I’m sorry I have to do this, but you’ve gotta learn, okay?”

I cried harder, but I understood him completely.

“I’m only doing this because I love you...”

WHACK!!!

“Owwwwwwwwww.”

WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!! “Are you going to drink anymore?”

“Noooooo...”

WHACK WHACK!!!! “Are you going to drive without a license anymore?”

“Noooo, I won’t.. I’m sorryyyyyyyy,” I said, pleading and crying to him because the belt stung much more than I imagined.

WHACK WHACK!!!! “Are you going to go 120 miles per hour whenever you do get your license?”

“Definitely not,” I said through tears.

WHACK WHACK!!!! “Are you going to do what Brian and I tell you to do from now on, or anyone else from the band?”

“Yesssssssss.”

WHACK WHACK!!!! “How old are you, Ashley?”

“Fifteennnnnn, owwwwwwwwwww...”

“And that’s too young to be drinking, isn’t it?” WHACK WHACK!!!!

“Yesssssss, I’m sorryyyyyy, please no moreeeeee.” I cried like crazy. “I’m sorry,” I muttered.

“This is the last one, Ashley. You know I’m very disappointed in you. Have you learned your lesson?”

“Yesssssssss I have, I have..”

WWWHHHAAACCCKKKK!!!!

“Owwwwwwwwwwwww, owwwwwwieeeeeee. Owww it hurts, it hurts.” I whined and kicked and missed hearing the belt hit the floor with a thud.

Kevin scooped me up in his arms. “It’s okay, sweetie,” he said, rocking me back and forth, stroking my hair gently. “It’s okay, honey. Shhhh shhh.” I buried my head into his chest and cried, listening to his soothing voice console me.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

“I know. I forgive you, okay? I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said as he kept rocking and singing to me. Lost in his arms and his singing, I drifted off into a dreamless sleep, my bottom still aching like crazy, but my conscience feeling much better. I had no intentions to ever again speak to Kevin or Brian the way I had... and the next day I would definitely apologize to Brian.