You can stay if you want

Riven

Kennedy looks mortified, and I can’t say I blame him. This wasn’t exactly on the menu as his ideal way to handle one of his waifs and strays.

But it was the right way to handle her.

I’ve no doubt we’ve done the right thing, even if things veered dangerously close to the edge.

“She needed that,” I tell him and he nods even though I’m unsure he believes me.

“She needs to stay away from Eddie fucking Stevens,” he says and I’ve no argument there.

“She will stay away from him. She has us to keep her on the straight and narrow.”

He lowers his voice. “By spanking her every time she does something we disagree with?”

“By spanking her every time she deserves it.”

“It’s wrong,” he says.

“No,” I argue. “It worked. How can that be wrong? The girl is crying out for discipline. She’s crying out for people who’ll stand up to her shit and stay firm through it.”

“And that’s us, is it? We’re going to be the ones to do this?”

I shrug. “Unless you have any better ideas?”

He runs his hands through hi