American Blue Read online

  ‘I’ll risk three,’ Pippa said, pushing out her gems.

  After a moment’s deliberate hesitation I pushed out three myself, keen to show confidence but not too much. Jemima added a blue and wasn’t even trying to hide her satisfaction at what was obviously a good hand. AJ glanced once at Jemima before advancing a single red gem, then turned the top card, another two. I had a full house.

  Pippa kept her face straight but added only a single red gem, so she had presumably not improved her hand. I knew I could force Jemima and AJ to bet high or withdraw and decided to throw caution to the wind, pushing out two blue gems. Jemima gave me a worried look, but added two blues of her own. AJ shrugged and threw her cards down.

  ‘Let’s see,’ Jemima demanded.

  I put my cards down, hoping to see her face fall, only for a sick feeling to well up in my stomach as her grin grew broader still. She began to put her cards down one by one, the three of clubs, then the four, the five and the six, which with the two on top of the pack gave her a straight flush.

  ‘Three eights,’ Pippa said, tossing her cards down.

  I barely heard. In one hand I had reduced my chips by more than half, while Jemima had a huge advantage. I was going to get caned, bare bottom in front of her, or more likely by her, and while it was marginally less humiliating than an over the knee spanking, that was very little consolation. It was a lot more painful. Her grin grew positively manic as she gathered up the cards.

  ‘This is fun,’ she said as she began to deal. ‘I love it.’

  ‘I bet you do,’ Pippa answered her, ‘but we’ll get you, just you wait.’

  Jemima stuck her tongue out at her sister and continued dealing. I had a single blue chip and seven reds left, so I was well behind but not entirely out of the game. Unfortunately my luck was out, a series of bad hands slowly eroding my chips as the weak feeling in my stomach and the bubble of fear in my throat grew ever greater. Soon only my blue gem remained, a last precious barrier between me and six strokes of my own cane.

  Pippa hadn’t done too well either, and looked a little nervous as she dealt the next hand. I got yet another load of rubbish and was forced to cash in my blue with Jemima for five reds so that I didn’t have to risk too much. The extra card was no good to me either and I was forced to throw in, leaving me with four red gems. Pippa gambled and lost three, but she still had a blue and two reds left.

  ‘I really love it,’ Jemima declared happily as she raked in her winnings, ‘and I am really, really going to love caning you, Auntie Penny.’

  I didn’t bother to answer, but the colour of my face must have betrayed my feelings. She’d always had a cruel streak, more mischief than sadism perhaps, while being the baby of the family seemed to have instilled a desire in her to get back at her elders. I could remember the way she’d tormented her sister at Morris’s, the time they’d been tricked into spanking each other, and now it looked as if it was my turn.

  For once I had good cards, three sevens and a nine, although it was almost certainly too late to matter. My only chance was to play cautiously and hope Pippa went bust first, so I put out a single gem. Jemima turned up the top card to reveal the remaining seven and I silently cursed my luck to see the sort of hand I’d wanted for the entire game.

  I was also last in turn to bet, so could do nothing but match AJ’s bet and push out my last three gems into the centre. Jemima and Pippa had already thrown in with a single red each, so my precious four sevens was wasted on a gain of a mere six reds when I beat AJ’s two pairs. Yet I had ten and Pippa was down to her last six, so all I had to do was bet singles and hope she didn’t win. That would mean taking the cane from her own sister, but better her than me.

  AJ had put the brandy bottle on the table and filled our glasses as I dealt. I’d had the best part of a bottle of wine and three large brandies, but I could only feel the alcohol as a sort of background buzz, and it was doing nothing to reduce my nerves. I had a pair of tens, but risked a single red and folded, which was just as well. AJ took the hand with three aces and I was down to nine with Pippa on five.

  For the next three hands I watched her pile of chips get slowly smaller and the expression of consternation on her face grew. I’d won again and had fifteen chips, but I could feel her tension as she pushed out her second last red. She glanced at her cards, almost put them down and then thought better of it, watching as I turned over the extra card. It was a six, which gave me two pairs, but that made very little difference.

  Jemima was smiling as she added a blue chip to the pile. AJ followed suit and Pippa was left with no choice but to add her last red or fold. She added the red, her mouth twitching into a wan smile as she put down her cards.

  ‘Jacks and sixes.’

  ‘Jacks and eights!’ Jemima crowed. ‘You’re bust, Pippa!’

  AJ had actually won the hand, but it made no difference. Jemima had by far the most chips, so she got to wield the cane, and Pippa was bust, so she had to take it. I felt weak with relief at my narrow escape, but guilty too as the whole thing had been my suggestion and Pippa was looking extremely sorry for herself as she got up.

  ‘You can touch your toes,’ Jemima said as her sister stepped out into the middle of the floor, ‘and keep your feet apart. I want to see pussy.’

  Pippa was so slim that she was going to be showing everything anyway, and I knew that Jemima was only doing it to torment her sister and show off to me and AJ. It certainly worked, because Pippa’s mouth was working in furious consternation as she took her position, holding her ankles with her feet braced well apart and her bottom lifted for punishment. Jemima was giggling as she came close, and her face was full of mischief and wanton delight as she took hold of the hem of her sister’s skirt.

  I could see the emotion on Pippa’s face as her skirt was lifted on to her back, exposing the bright yellow bikini bottoms beneath. They barely covered her, the bending position ensuring that most of her tight little cheeks was already on show, spilling out either side of the canary-coloured material, while the gusset was pulled tight over her pussy to show the outlines of her sex lips and the groove between. She’d also made the mistake of choosing a bikini that fastened with a bow at either hip.

  Jemima didn’t even have to pull her sister’s pants down, but simply took hold of both bows, waited a moment so that Pippa could appreciate what was about to happen to her, and pulled. The bikini came loose and fell away, landing on the floor between Pippa’s feet to leave her bottom completely bare, her smooth pink pussy on open show between her thighs and the tiny pale star of her anus winking sullenly in her apprehension.

  ‘Now where’s that cane?’ Jemima said sweetly.

  I’d hung it over the back of my chair, in full view, but she pretended she couldn’t find it, forcing Pippa to hold her humiliating position. AJ chuckled.

  ‘You’re good, Jemima, a real bitch. Now get on with it.’

  Jemima smiled at the compliment and came to fetch the cane. Pippa braced herself, clutching her ankles tightly and closing her eyes as the cane was laid across her cheeks.

  ‘Six,’ Jemima said. ‘Six across the bare bottom.’

  She lifted the cane and brought it down, hard and fast but above Pippa’s back, missing completely. Pippa jerked, the muscles of her bottom and thighs tightening in fear and a faint sob escaped her lips. Jemima laughed and once more laid the cane gently across her sister’s cheeks, pressing to make the soft flesh bulge out above and below the long dark rod. Again she lifted it, and again she missed, leaving Pippa shaking visibly, while the fluid had begun to run down from the slippery hole of her vagina.

  ‘Just do it!’ she snapped, her voice breaking as she spoke.

  Jemima gave an excited little chuckle at her sister’s desperation and brought the cane down for a third time, but now on target. It landed full across Pippa’s cheeks, at the level of her anus, making her shriek and gasp before she could get herself under control. A long, white welt had appeared, which turned quickly red betwe
en a pair of darker, neatly laid tramlines that broke only briefly across the crease of Pippa’s buttocks.

  ‘One,’ Jemima stated. ‘Five to go.’

  ‘I know!’ Pippa hissed. ‘Get on with it!’

  ‘Temper, temper,’ Jemima chided, and lifted the cane once more.

  This time it came down harder still, diagonally across Pippa’s bottom and the turn of her thighs. Pippa’s shriek of pain was louder than before and there was a choking quality to her sobs as she struggled to get herself back under control, but it was left to AJ to comment.

  ‘Only cane her thighs if you mean to, otherwise keep the strokes to the meat of her bottom.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Jemima answered. ‘It’s my first time.’

  ‘You’re doing very well then,’ AJ assured her, just as the third stroke was laid across Pippa’s bottom.

  It was a better shot, almost exactly across the first, and Pippa was left shivering with reaction, while the juice from her pussy had begun to trickle down one thigh. I could smell her excitement, but I knew that the state she was in would only be adding to the awful shame of having to take the cane from her own little sister.

  ‘Three,’ Jemima said, ‘and aren’t we a bad girl, getting all juicy because she’s being punished?’

  Pippa twisted around and opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it, hanging her head once more as Jemima measured up for the next stroke. It was delivered perfectly, hard and true across the fleshiest part of Pippa’s bottom, to set her gasping and stamping her feet in her agitation.

  ‘Four,’ Jemima said, and immediately whipped the cane down one more time, before Pippa could even brace herself.

  Caught unawares, Pippa shrieked and almost broke, sobbing and gasping as she fought to hold her position, but she managed it, never once letting go of her ankles, although a muscle in one thigh had begun to twitch.

  ‘Five,’ Jemima said. ‘Last one, and this is going to be across your thighs.’

  ‘Hey, no!’ Pippa protested, but too late as the cane slapped down just a couple of inches below the turn of her buttocks.

  She broke, jumping up and clutching at her caned bottom with her eyes closed and the tears squeezing out from beneath the lids. For a moment Jemima looked worried, no doubt thinking she’d gone too far as Pippa ran to AJ and burst into tears, but I’d seen it before and raised a hand to stop her from saying anything. We waited, silent, as Pippa cried her emotions out on her girlfriend’s shoulder, taking a badly needed cuddle. And that was something else Jemima was unlikely to get after a commercial punishment.

  Three

  IT TOOK PIPPA quite a while to calm down, and even when she’d wiped her tears away she was too embarrassed to easily meet her sister’s eye. I knew how she felt, for all that I was so aroused I was having trouble keeping my hand away from between my thighs, but we took our places again for the third round, Pippa and I sitting on our hot bottoms, AJ cool and in control, Jemima looking unbearably smug.

  I wasn’t sure how fair the first two rounds had been, and it seemed likely that AJ had made sure Jemima’s confidence was given a healthy boost, but there was no doubt at all about this round. It would be fixed, and Jemima would be the loser. All I had to do was hang on to my own chips and make sure AJ got to hold the cards as often as possible. That meant she’d win, and be the one to cane Jemima, which left me feeling more guilty than ever as we began to play, but the thought of some insensitive American video maker putting Jemima in the same state Pippa had just been in helped to steel my resolve. It was all very well Hudson Staebler saying he’d look after her, but things could easily get out of hand, and at Morris’s Jemima had always had Pippa with her.

  ‘Now it gets serious,’ AJ said as she took the cards. ‘Share the chips out, Miss Muffet, and it might be nice if you got your sister a cushion, Jemima.’

  Pippa had tucked her skirt up and left her bikini pants off, as dictated by the rules, and gave a heartfelt nod of agreement. I knew AJ was only trying to distract Jemima so that she could fix the deck, but still felt a little put out that she didn’t seem to mind me sitting bare bottom on a wicker chair, although admittedly I hadn’t been caned. Jemima brought two cushions anyway but there was no hiding the amusement in her face as she passed them over to us.

  I felt a great deal more comfortable with the cushion underneath me, while it also made it easier to concentrate on the game. The first thing was to build up AJ’s store of chips without destroying Jemima’s confidence, which meant I should lose on moderate bets for the first few hands. I had a pair of aces and dropped two reds on the first hand, which AJ won. She won the second as well, but Jemima took the third with three fours, presumably on purpose.

  After that the game began to swing one way and another. It was impossible to tell how much control AJ had over the cards, and yet her pile of chips was growing gradually larger. When AJ won again she knocked a gem off the table and shuffled the cards while Jemima leant down to pick it up, so I knew something was about to happen.

  Jemima’s hand would be good, and I had to bet high on the second round to force her to follow suit, thus making sure she took a big loss. I’d lose badly too, but with AJ fixing the game that wouldn’t be a problem. She’d done it well too, as I had three fives and a king in my hand, which gave me every excuse. I put a blue gem out and was delighted to see another king turn up, leaving me with a strong hand yet one that I knew would be weaker than AJ’s.

  ‘Five,’ she said, moving a blue gem forward.

  ‘I’ll match that,’ Pippa responded, adding one of her own.

  ‘Eight,’ I said, pushing out my remaining blue and three reds.

  Jemima didn’t even hesitate.

  ‘Eight it is. What have you got?’

  She hated to show her cards first, and was craning forward to see what I had. I saw her face fall as I put down my full house, and Pippa immediately threw down her cards.

  ‘Fives and kings!’ Jemima exclaimed, spreading out her own three aces. ‘I thought I’d got that one.’

  I shrugged and looked up at AJ, expecting her to coolly lay out a winning hand, but she looked irritated and when she put her cards down all she had was a flush. She was obviously playing a more complicated game than I’d anticipated, and as I raked in my winnings I tried to figure it out. I was now well ahead, and Jemima was in trouble as arranged, but so was AJ. Either she’d made a mistake or she’d decided that I ought to do the caning, but either way I had to get the cards back to her as quickly as possible.

  A quick shuffle allowed me to get the aces and kings I’d seen back to the top of the pack, or so I hoped. With any luck AJ would get some, and if Pippa and I threw in without showing our cards she would probably win. I dealt and found that I had two of my fives from the previous hand, which seemed to suggest that I’d succeeded.

  ‘I’ll risk two,’ I said, pushing out my gems.

  ‘So will I,’ Jemima put in, and AJ and Pippa followed suit.

  I turned up a six, leaving me with just my pair of fives and a perfect excuse to throw in.

  ‘Five,’ Jemima stated confidently and laid out a blue gem.

  AJ could throw in or match Jemima’s stake, which would leave her with just four gems, an awkward decision, but her face was unreadable as she pushed forward her single blue gem.

  ‘I’ll match that,’ Pippa said. ‘Can any of you beat three aces?’

  ‘Three kings,’ AJ answered, and now there was emotion in her voice.

  ‘Two pairs, queens and sixes,’ Jemima added, and for the first time she’d begun to look unhappy.

  She had six left, one blue gem and one red. I still needed to get the cards back to AJ, and as Pippa dealt I was desperately trying to work out my best tactics. I had three tens and I put a blue gem out, watching to see what AJ would do. She bet just one, but Jemima had gone for three, which showed a lot of confidence. Pippa turned up the top card, a ten. Surely I could bankrupt Jemima?

  ‘Not for me,’ Pippa said, and threw
in her cards.

  ‘Three,’ I declared, staying low in the hope that Jemima would follow, and if she was going to she had no choice but to put out the remainder of her gems.

  She did so and I carefully snaked my foot out under the table, giving a gentle tap to the toe of AJ’s boot in an effort to signal that she could throw in safely. Her face never even flickered as she pushed out her remaining three gems. She had either misunderstood my signal or had a very strong hand, because unless she won I was going to be dealing with both her and Jemima. We’d done it, though, and it was impossible not to grin as I spread out my cards.

  ‘Four tens.’

  AJ looked slowly up from her cards, her poker face dissolving in horror. She made to speak but thought better of it, limply dropping her cards on to the table, four hearts, which gave her a flush with the ten on the pack. Again her mouth opened, but whatever she wanted to say it couldn’t be said in front of Jemima and I could only shrug in helpless apology.

  ‘I … I’d better do you side by side with Jemima then,’ I managed.

  ‘Who says Jemima’s going to get it?’ Jemima cut in, and she laid out her cards. ‘Four queens beats four tens, I think you’ll find.’

  I turned to her, speechless. She’d won, which meant she was going to leave without taking a punishment at all, unless we carried on playing after I’d beaten AJ, which wasn’t something I was sure I could do. Words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

  ‘You don’t have to take it, if you’d rather not.’

  AJ shook her head.

  ‘I don’t want anyone saying I can’t take what I like to dish out. How many strokes?’

  ‘Um … let me see. We each had ten red chips and … so, um … seventy-two.’