Shane's pov

Checkmate ladies. Time to accept defeat.

I suppress a sly grin, narrow my eyes, and sternly say, "Let's go, Carrie," as I forcefully grab her arm.

Stacey, Lisa, and Julie all shout, "NO, SHANE, WAIT!" The three of them simultaneously come to Carrie's rescue as I knew they would.

"Wait for what?" I ask angrily, still keeping a firm grasp on Carrie's arm.

Stacey's pov

That bastard knew we wouldn't let Carrie take the fall for us. If it had been me, Julie, or Lisa, he knew it wouldn't have worked but Carrie's just so sweet and innocent. We could never do that to her.

"I'm waiting, ladies!" Shane says impatiently.

I look to Julie for approval and she nods.

"You can't just punish Carrie," I say, accepting defeat.

"WHY NOT?!" Shane demands.

"Because it was all of us! We were the four girls in the woods." Seeing the icy look on Shane's face, I wish I had let Carrie take the fall. Well, almost wish. That would have been too cruel.

"Is this true, girls?" Shane looks to Lisa and Julie for confirmation, despite knowing the truth all along.

They nod in agreement.

Shane's pov

I let go of Carrie's arm and turn my back to the girls, biding my time. It took them long enough to come clean. I was afraid I was going to have to lead the sacrificial lamb to slaughter, in other words, severely punish Carrie for the sins of the flock. Now they can all suffer the same fate and endure the consequences together.

I'm not entirely sure how I want to proceed, though. If we were in England, I would probably give each of them six of the best with the cane but Americans don't seem too keen on using a thin acrylic rod to stripe their kids' asses. Perhaps I'll keep that option open for a later date.

I turn and face the girls with my arms crossed and a disapproving glare.

"I want the four of you to wait for me in the conference room. I need some time to calm down before doling out your punishments."

Truth is, I'm not that upset but they don't need to know that. They're good kids but if I let this slide, I know a couple of them will take advantage and escalate the next occurrence. Spending some time waiting and wondering will do them some good. I decide to watch tv and relax in one of the common rooms while I let the girls stew in the conference room. I become inspired as to how I'm going to punish them after watching an episode of the tv show Friends. I make a side trip to one of the rec rooms before returning to the conference room to administer their discipline.

Lisa's pov

After what seems like an eternity, Shane finally returns. He has that stern no-nonsense aura about him that I'm sure he perfected during his military service.

"SIT!" he barks at us. "I'm most disappointed in you ladies." He gives us the disapproving paternal glare. "Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Ugghh!" I sigh a little too loudly and roll my eyes. Can't he skip the boring lecture and just get this over with already?

"You have something to say, Lisa?" Shane asks menacingly, clearly daring me to defend our actions last night.

"Nah, not really." Judging by how much darker Shane's eyes just became, I would like to modify my answer.

Shane slowly approaches, stopping right in front of the chair I'm seated in. He towers over me, making me feel like a tiny timid toddler in this position. I gulp and push myself as far back in my seat as humanly possible. Shane leans in close, literally only a few inches from my face.

He slams his hand down on my desktop. The loud echoing noise startles me and I jump.

"Not really," Shane mocks my response. "No, please enlighten me, Lisa, as to why the four of you deliberately disobeyed me and snuck out past curfew last night."

He stares me down, waiting for my response. Since I don't have a death wish, I keep my mouth shut and avoid his stern gaze. He slams his hand down on my desktop again, scaring the crap out of me.

"Not really," Shane scoffs, as he turns and walks away. He stops behind the long table at the front of the room. He takes a minute, silently standing, arms crossed, looking incredibly intimidating and imposing. He narrows his eyes as he commands, "I WANT THE FOUR OF YOU BENT OVER THIS TABLE, NOW!" He reaches behind his back and pulls out a ping pong paddle from his waistband, previously hidden by his suit coat. "NOW!" he yells harshly, smacking the paddle on the table.

Well fuck me. We're about to get our asses paddled for the first time. I start to hyperventilate from anxiety, just thinking about the damage that man could do to our bottoms with that paddle. We all reluctantly approach the table and the impending doom of our ability to sit comfortably anytime soon.

Shane walks out from behind the table.

"Feet behind the line, palms down, ladies." He gestures with the paddle to a line of yellow tape on the floor where he wants us to stand (funny I never noticed that line before), then taps the paddle on the table where he wants us to place our hands.

He paces behind us once we're all in position. We flinch at the sound of the paddle slapping against the palm of his hand. Even though I can't see his face, I know he has a smug smile upon his lips. Sadistic bastard. Without saying a word, he paces behind us a few more times, enjoying torturing us with the anticipation of that first smack. He slaps the paddle against his palm one more time. I swear I hear him chuckle as we flinch.

"I think fifteen each is a fair punishment for breaking curfew and initially denying culpability. Well that, in addition to the fact you're grounded for the next two weeks. You will leave this building only to go to church and your new bedtime will be 7:30pm with lights out at 7pm."

"SEVEN!?" I cry, in disbelief.

CRACK

Shane smacks my ass hard with the paddle. I jump up and rub my bottom, which is stinging like hell.

"Yes, seven," he says calmly, with no emotion. "And hold your position, Lisa, or that stroke won't count and it will be repeated. Do I make myself clear?" he asks, while tapping the ping pong paddle against my bottom.

"Yes sir," I say respectfully, swallowing my pride.

"Good. Then let's begin, ladies."

He starts from left to right, delivering the first smack to Stacey then Julie then me and lastly Carrie. He smacks Carrie again and delivers everyone's second from right to left. By smack number five, we're all really feeling it and having trouble standing still. I bend my knees and shift my feet, trying unsuccessfully to alleviate some of the searing pain he's delivering with each stroke of that hard paddle against my burning bum. After a particularly hard stroke number ten, I yelp and stand upright to rub my bottom.

"I told you to hold your position, Lisa," Shane sternly reprimands me. "We're going to repeat that stroke now."

SMACK

SON OF A BITCH. That one hurt. I bite down on my lip to keep from crying out in pain.

Apparently, I'm not the only one finding it difficult to stand still. After warning Carrie three times to hold her position and already repeating two of her strokes, I hear Shane yell, clearly frustrated, "BLOODY HELL, CARRIE! If you lose your position one more time, I'm going to start everyone's punishment over at stroke number one!"

"Please don't. I'm so sorry, Shane," Carrie sobs, tears flowing down her cheeks.

I hear Shane sigh softly. I think he finally realizes how hard this punishment is on Carrie. She's only ever been spanked a handful of times by either Mike or Shane. She's not used to this kind of assault on her rear. The rest of us aren't familiar with this exact level of pain either but we've all experienced some pretty severe spankings so it's easier for us to tolerate. Hopefully, he'll go easier on her now.

"Last two, ladies. You're really going to feel these tomorrow. I expect you to count them with sir."

Shane delivers number fourteen right on the sit spots with a lot of force.

"Fourteen, sir," I hiss, through gritted teeth. Number fifteen hits the sensitive spot right between thigh and buttock. I swear, I'm seeing stars after the blinding pain from that stroke. "Fifteen," I hiss.

Shane quickly delivers two harsh slaps to my thighs.

"Fifteen what?"

"Sir, sir. Fifteen, sir," I spit out quickly through tears, as I can no longer hold them back. We're all breathing heavily, wiping our red swollen eyes, and rubbing our stinging bottoms. That was one hell of a spanking. I don't ever want to experience a paddling again. Brutal. Could have been worse though. It's obvious Shane was holding back.

"Turn around and face me," Shane directs us, his tone much softer now. "I sincerely hope you learned your lesson from this punishment, ladies. When I tell you not to do something, I expect you to listen. I don't want to have to discipline you this way again anytime soon. You're dismissed."