Without a word, he stalked over to the belt and picked it up. I was sobbing hard now, tears running down my face. I hopped onto the bed and scrambled across the mattress on my hands and knees to get away from him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A hand closed around my ankle and pulled. I toppled over onto my stomach. Daddy dragged me to the end of the bed so my legs dangled over.
“Daddy, I’ll be good. I promise!”
Daddy grabbed me between the legs and, with one hard tug, sent the snaps of the onesie loose. He pulled back the tapes at the sides of my diaper, and the material fell from my hips onto the floor, the scent of fresh urine filling the air.
“I don’t like to punish you, baby, but how else will you learn?” Daddy placed a heavy hand in the center of my back, holding me down on the bed. The belt swooshed through the air before the first lash hit my ass. I shrieked and tried to pull away, but he was so much bigger than me. I couldn’t even budge him.
“Daddy, please!” I cried into the mattress. “You’re hurting me. Please don’t hurt me.”
The belt slashed across my tender skin. “Do you promise to listen to Daddy better?”
“I promise. I promise, Daddy.”
Another blow landed across my skin, and it stung as if a thousand ants were biting into me.
“And will you be a good boy?”
“Y-y-yes, I’ll be a good boy.”
Smack. Smack.
Snot ran down my face and into my open mouth as I struggled to breathe through the pain. Why had I provoked him? I should have done what he’d asked me to do.
“And will you pick up your toys when Daddy asks you to?”
“Y-yes, Daddy.” I howled so hard that had we lived close to anyone, they would have likely called the cops. But our farmhouse was in the middle of nowhere, and we never had visitors. Daddy liked it that way. No one could poke their nose into our unconventional living situation.
“Now repeat after me. ‘I’ll be a good boy for Daddy.’”
I repeated everything he wanted me to say.
I’ll do whatever Daddy says.
Daddy loves me best.
Daddy only hurts me because I’ve been bad.
I’ll be a good boy for Daddy.
By the time he dropped the belt on the bed beside me, my bottom hurt so much I could barely move. He gathered me into his arms and sat on the bed with me straddling his lap. I tucked my face into his neck and clutched at the front of his shirt, sobbing.
“Shh.” He gently rubbed my bare ass. “You’re going to make yourself sick from all this crying.”
I hiccuped and tried desperately to calm down. “I’m sorry.”
“I know you are.” He patted my head. “But you have a little devil inside you that makes you do bad things. We’ve got to get rid of it when it surfaces. Can’t let it take over Daddy’s precious little boy, can we?”
“No, Daddy.”
“Good boy. Now pick up your toys, and I’ll run you a bath.”
Sniffling, I scrambled from his lap and, on shaky legs, wobbled over to where my dolls were scattered on the floor. I swiped at my face with the back of my hands, swallowing back sobs, as I dumped the dolls into the enormous chest where Daddy insisted I kept all my toys when I was finished playing.
Daddy watched me for a minute to make sure I was doing what he said, then left the room. On my hands and knees, I picked up after myself. I had to pause every now and then to rub at my smarting bottom.
I’d just put Princess Poppycakes on the shelf when Daddy returned. She was the only one who got to sit high on my bookshelf. She looked happy up there, just looking down her nose at everything that was happening.