Page 34 of Heaven Leigh’s Little Halloween

It was Billy who answered. “I heard that in the middle of everything, a tray of food got knocked to the floor by accident and Chef was maddddd. He’s the one who said he’s making sprouts every night, and when people started whining, Master Derek backed him up and said no treats for Halloween if we don’t eat them.”

Heaven’s mouth formed a little “o”. That explained a lot. “It’s still not fair… I mean we weren’t even there. That’s mean.”

“I don’t mind much,” he shrugged. “But Hayleigh was upset. She wasn’t there either and it’s her Daddy.”

Poor Hayleigh. Heaven frowned. “Well, I don’t think it’s fair at all. It’s not about the sprouts. I don’t mind them either. It’s the principle of the thing.”

That was pretty much unanimous, and it cast a pall over the general mood. It was probably the quietest game that had ever been played by Littles. No loud giggles, no arguing, the board didn’t get flipped once.

Heaven was so lost in her thoughts that she barely paid attention to the game. Before she knew it, she’d gone bankrupt. “I’m out. I can’t afford the rent, so I guess I’ll head to bed.”

It seemed like a good idea to everyone, so they all packed up the game and put it away for the night. When Heaven got back upstairs, everything was quiet. She hesitated before slowly easing her door open to peek inside. The lights were off, except for a nightlight, and Chastity was curled up in her bed asleep—or pretending to be.

Heaven changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. She had a lot to think about. There was a whole day of Angel to pick apart and examine, especially the spanking part, but the unfairness of the Brussels sprouts kept intruding in her mind.

It didn’t much matter for herself. She could take or leave the Halloween candy, and the only vegetable she truly disliked was spinach. But the unfairness of it got to her. How many times had she been punished for things that weren’t really her fault as a kid? Too many to count.

And aside from that, of all the Littles on the Ranch, Hayleigh was her favorite, and Hayleigh really hated sprouts. She had specifically said she wasn’t going to be part of the strike and she was still stuck with the punishment anyway.

The thing was… before Angel had spanked her, she really hadn’t understood Littles who went out of their way to get in trouble on purpose. She hadn’t understood the whole big “prank” thing, as a way to get attention and punishment. Now… she was starting to get it, because she kind of wanted to get that from Angel again.

So she understood about the strike. And she understood that everyone who had gotten spankings probably wanted them, at least on some level. But having to eat vegetables that you hated wasn’t the kind of thing anyone wanted. It just wasn’t.

Which was probably why Chef had done it. He was making a point about disrespecting his work, and as a baker she understood this. As a Little… the unfairness bugged her. Something clicked, and an idea popped into her mind.

She didn’t do pranks, and she didn’t usually try to get in trouble, but it suddenly occurred to her that it might be time to make an exception. If she could make it work… she could get a little bit of payback for the innocent parties who had been stuck with a mean punishment and teach the Bigs a lesson about unfairness.

And maybe it would all lead to another spanking from Angel, which she had to admit, was not a downside. Now that the burning heat had faded to a pleasant warm reminder, she found herself looking forward to another engagement with the chocolatier, and this would probably guarantee it.

That threat of what he’d do if she was his kept echoing through her mind. She wasn’t sure if that was something she wanted—being his—but it definitely needed some deeper investigation. Aside from working together, she couldn’t think of any other way to figure it out, but to get in trouble with him and see what happened.

Her idea was definitely going to get her in some trouble. It was for a good cause too, which made it a win in her book. Even so, it was still hard to actually make the decision to go forward and she had a restless night trying to make up her mind.

It was no surprise that Heaven was sleepy the next morning, and getting up was hard. Only the thought of seeing Angel was enough to get her out of bed and into the shower. After breakfast she headed to the kitchen.

Halfway there, her steps slowed. Was it going to be awkward to work with him now? She probably wouldn’t be able to stop turning red every time he looked at her. There was a phantom tingle in her bottom right now just thinking about the day before.

And there was another thing. It had felt so much like a date by the end of the night, but what if that was only in her mind?

She shook those thoughts off. The kiss had to mean it was more than that to him. Either way there was no point in worrying about things being strained between them.

“Morning, Angel!” she called as she presented herself at the table.

He looked up, flashing her a smile. “Morning, Heaven. I’m making a dark chocolate and chili filling this morning. After you take care of the chores, I was thinking you could help me bake some pastry shells. That’s more in your lane anyway.”

Heaven’s eyes widened. “You want me to bake?”

“Yes. If you’re up for it.” He tilted his head in question.

She thought she was. It had been a long time since she’d done any baking. Long before she’d even arrived at the Ranch, but her grief had eased quite a lot recently.

“Yeah, I think I am actually.” She met his eyes and smiled. “It’s been a while, but I’ve been missing it.”

“Good girl. Go ahead and get the washing up done, and by then I’ll be ready for you.” He turned back to what he was doing.

The praise made her feel warm. She watched him for a minute, eyes tracing the strong line of his jaw. She was staring. She shook her head, grabbed up a stack of dirty mixing bowls, and carried them off to the sink before he noticed.

Heaven could indulge in her fantasies as she scrubbed out of sight. The prank she was planning… she had to wonder if other Littles thought ahead to the end result and fantasized about being punished. Or were they just so swept up in having fun that they didn’t think that far?

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