Page 64 of Disciplining Dana

The room had gone dark, and still Dana stood there, torn between fuming and fear, each emotion jerking her from one side of her brain to the other. It was a relief when the red numbers on the alarm clock glowed 9:15, and she strode from her room to meet Kurt at the bar and set his ass straight.

He was right where he’d said he’d be, sitting at the counter inside Rawhide’s Dungeon, drinking what appeared to be a glass of water.

Dana strode up and took the stool by his side. “Okay, I’m here. What’s this all about?”

Her intent had been to throw him a little off-guard with her abruptness, but he simply surveyed her cooly.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“I mean… besides the obvious?” She glanced toward the waist-high railing that provided a place to stand and observe the play floor slightly lower than the bar area.

Kurt sighed. “Yes, Dana, besides the obvious.”

“No.”

“You remember what we discussed this morning? When I asked if you’d work with me on some compromises in our relationship?”

“I remember you threatening we had to, or else.”

“Oh my God, Dana,” he groaned. “It wasn’t a threat.”

“Really?” she fired back. “Because it sure as fuck felt like it from where I sat.”

He set down his glass, his fingers opening and closing. “I’m not going to get into an argument with you right now about whether it was a threat or not. We can discuss semantics later. Right now, we have more important matters to attend to.”

“Like what?”

“Do you also remember me bringing up disciplining you?”

Dana stiffened. “Yes.”

“Well… tonight we start.”

Every nerve in her body went taut. “What! Are you serious? Here? Tonight?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.”

Dana regarded him closely, trying to understand if he was being serious or merely trying to get a rise out of her.

He gazed back, waiting.

“Oh my God… Kurt, no.”

“Yes, Dana.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is stupid.”

He leaned in toward her. “What did you just say?” he asked softly.

“I said this is stupid, Kurt, because it is. Come on…”

His eyes blazed. “Dana, I know I’ve made it clear how important this is to me. If you think you can tell me no and I’ll just blindly accept that and this’ll all blow over like it has in the past, let me set you straight: that’s not going to happen. You need to pull your head out of your ass and accept that things need to change, and that change is gonna start tonight.”

“What the fuck, Kurt? You have no right to speak to me like that!”

“But I just did.”

This is insane. “I don’t have to take this,” she seethed. Slipping from her stool, she started to turn away.

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