September Fall. Jenny Plumb

boots. I probably would have lost the foot if I hadn't had a sturdy shoe on. Then they had a helicopter take me to the hospital. I had three broken ribs, a bunch of scrapes and bruises, and half the bones in my foot were broken."

      "Wait a minute," he said, leaning back to get a full view of her. "I saw that on the news." He scrutinized her face for a few seconds, and then suddenly his eyebrows went up and he let go of her hand. "Sadie? Sadie Patterson?"

      She couldn't decide if she should be offended by his expression of shock or not. She nodded and muttered, "Yeah."

      "That means… shit, that means we, uh…" He put a hand on the back of his neck and his face turned pink.

      "Yep." She turned to face the front of the class.

      After several seconds of excruciating silence, Adam said, "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. Your hair—"

      "Is gross. I know."

      Adam leaned towards her again and put a hand on her thigh. "No. Just different, not gross. I prefer long hair, but it doesn't look bad on you."

      His touch was now more confident and intimate than it had been seconds ago, and it helped her forgive him. She turned towards him and said, "I hate it, but when you're stuck in a hospital bed and you can't wash your hair for weeks, long hair isn't practical."

      "I bet. Are you…" his hand moved back to his own lap, "…still dating Garrett?"

      "No. He graduated just before summer, and he knew I had two more years of college left, so we'd already decided to break up before I fell. He was really sweet and tried to visit me in the hospital a few times, but I asked him to stop, because I didn't want him to see me all bruised and doped up on pain medication. He still texts me sometimes. He got picked up by the Arizona Cardinals."

      Before Adam could respond, Dr. Stryker announced that break time was over. Sadie turned towards the front, but Adam leaned closer and whispered, "Hey, did you drive yourself here?"

      "No." Legally, she could still drive since her right foot was fine, but her mother had gotten pissed when she suggested driving herself to this.

      "Did you want a ride home once it's over?"

      Grinning, she nodded. "That would be great."

      He smiled too, and Sadie got her phone out of her pocket. She sent a quick text to her mother. Adam from the football team is in class with me. Getting a ride home with him.

      Her mother's reply was almost instant. That's wonderful. It's about time you started hanging out with your friends again.

      Sadie rolled her eyes but stuck her phone back in her pocket and focused on the teacher's lecture about healthy ways to express feelings.

      When the class ended, Adam watched Sadie grab her crutches from the floor and maneuver herself out of her chair. She was still attractive in an 'I'm not trying' kind of way. Her face was symmetrical, she had a small, straight nose, light brown eyes, and full lips that naturally curved up at the corners. He didn't particularly like the short hair, but hair grew. He could barely remember the night they'd fucked. They'd both been wasted, but he did remember her boobs. They were quite large for an athletic woman who didn't have much fat anywhere else her body. She was definitely a C cup.

      He noticed her movement stop and looked up at her eyes. He saw her smirk and knew he'd been caught staring at her chest. He smiled, because she clearly didn't mind.

      "I'm going to go to the bathroom, and then I'll be ready to go," she said.

      "Okay." He walked along beside her as they left the room and started down the hall. "It's almost noon. Did you want to get some lunch before I take you home?"

      "I'd like to, but I have another doctor's appointment for my foot this afternoon. Maybe on Thursday after class?" she suggested.

      "Sure, Thursday works for me. My dad's always at work during the day, so we could hit a drive through and eat at my house. I live about ten minutes from here."

      She tilted her head to the side and looked at him closely for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, okay."

      "Great." He watched her go into the bathroom, checking out her ass while devising plans to get her in his bed on Thursday.

      Chapter 2

      Sadie found herself thinking about Adam repeatedly over the next couple of days. She knew there was a good chance that he'd want sex, and the more she thought about that possibility, the more she hoped he would. When she was getting ready on Thursday morning, she shaved her good leg and above the cast on her bad one for the first time since getting out of the hospital. That simple act helped her to feel sexy again for the first time in months, and she decided to put on some makeup as well. Then she put on a fitted tee-shirt and a skirt instead of her cut off sweat pants, and she felt almost like herself again.

      When she went into the kitchen, her mother's eyes popped open wide. "You look so good today!"

      "Gee, thanks, Mom," Sadie muttered.

      "No, I mean… you look good every day, but today you look… never mind."

      "Are you ready to go?" Sadie asked, wanting to get away from the scrutiny.

      Victoria picked up her purse and nodded. "You're having lunch with Adam after class, right?"

      She almost groaned but held it in. Instead, she headed for the door as she answered, "Yes, I'm having lunch with Adam, and then he'll drive me home after lunch. I'm not sure what time it will be, because we have a lot to catch up on, but I'll be home before dinner."

      Her mother wisely didn't comment.

      On the way to class, Sadie couldn't keep her mind out of the gutter. She'd slept with a total of five guys; Two in high school, and three in college. The first was her boyfriend for most of junior year. They'd slept together a few times over the summer between her junior and senior years. The second was her boyfriend for the last two months of her senior year. They'd only slept together on prom night, and it hadn't been great, because they'd both been drunk. Then in college, she'd had two one-night stands, one with Adam, and one with another guy from the football team named Tim. Then there was Garrett.

      Garrett had asked her on a date out of the blue one day during football practice, and she'd said yes. He was a linebacker, and he was huge. She loved their size difference and often had fantasies about him manhandling her. She also loved their color difference; he was African American, and she was a pale Caucasian. She loved seeing their skin together when they had sex. She'd dated him for almost a year, and they'd slept together often, but she'd never had the courage to tell him what she really wanted in bed. He was a sweet and considerate lover, and she was worried that he'd be horrified by the thought of hitting her, especially if she got off on it. She often felt like she was his safe space. It was all rough and tumble with smack talk on the field, but then with her, it was gentle touches and loving conversation. And she didn't want to ruin his safe space with her kink.

      They would still be together if he had another year of school left, but she knew deep down it was for the best that they go their separate ways, because she'd never been honest with him about sex. She'd never been honest with any of the men she'd slept with, but that was going to end today. If Adam wanted to fuck her, he'd have to give her what she wanted first, and what she wanted was a whipping.

      Belts had always captured her attention, even before she hit puberty. Her parents didn't agree with corporal punishment, so she'd never even been swatted, let alone spanked or whipped with a belt, and yet belts had always held a prominent spot in all of her fantasies. She had no idea where, when, or how her love of leather had started. It had just always been there, as far back as she could remember. Leather paddles, floggers, and straps were nice, too, but not as good as a belt. In high school, she'd given herself a few smacks on the thigh with one of her dad's belts when she was home alone and knew without a doubt that the lovely bite of pain it caused