Prince Charming was waiting at the door when Lacey got home from work. Then again, the lazy fucker didn’t often go anywhere else.

“Good afternoon to you too,” she cooed as he pawed lustily at her calves. She’d had him neutered too late, and certain habits had never gone away. Jodelle, her ex, had warned her about picking up strays.

Prince mewed softly, having seemingly lost interest in his typical molestation. Lacey glanced toward his food bowl and wasn’t surprised to find it empty.

“Rae?”

The townhouse wasn’t large, and it wasn’t as if her… roommate?... was hiding. A trail of dirty clothes on the floor led to the living room where Rae was, as usual, glued to the TV. Lacey was about to remind her that she’d promised to feed the cat today, but there didn’t seem to be much of a point.

With Prince considerately reminding her of his predicament, Lacey proceeded to dig his wet food out of the refrigerator, regretting her earlier decision to skip lunch to prepare for the staff meeting. She remembered having a Greek salad tucked away on a shelf.

Opening the door, she amended that memory. There had been a Greek salad.

“Rae!”

To add insult to injury, there were a handful of black olives left out to dry in the sink. Bad enough that Rae helped herself to Lacey’s food, couldn’t she at least eat all of it?

Jodelle had warned her about picking up strays…

***

Back in January, she’d stepped off the bus at the station and seen the young woman sleeping at one of the benches in the waiting zone. Lacey had taken her to be about twenty, maybe twenty-five, with a shock of short dark hair and rings in her ears and eyebrow. With a pair of large black garbage bags at her feet, she might have passed for someone on her way to the laundromat with a couple of loads – save that it was almost one o’clock in the morning.

Lacey’s mother would have had a fit, but she prodded the girl awake. She caught a whiff of days-old sweat from inside the girl’s coat as she rose.

“Are you going somewhere, honey? The station’s about to close.”

The girl stretched, and for an instant Lacey caught sight of a thin tan line around her neck. Then she raised the hood of her coat, and it was gone.

“Is it?” She rolled uncomfortably in her seat. “Thanks for letting me know.”

And Lacey could have just left it there, if she hadn’t heard that hint of fear in the young woman’s voice. Not from the reedy librarian who’d awoken her, of course – Lacey might have dressed butch, but her thin frame and hunched shoulders made her anything but intimidating.

More likely it was the poor girl’s first night sleeping rough, and she was terrified.

A thought had formed in Lacey’s head, one that she immediately regretted. In the best-case scenario, she’d be saving a life. In the worst… she could see the headline, something like “Bleeding Heart Dyke, 31, Murdered by ‘Harmless’ Waif, continued on page four”.

The stranger called herself Rae, though she spoke the name as if it were something new and strange. She was coming out of a three-year relationship with a man who’d held a lot of financial and situational power over her. She’d lost contact with her friends and family in the meantime and was now reaching out to… to anyone, really.

And she’d found Lacey.

That first night turned into a week, turned into a month. Rae was overjoyed to have a roof over her head again, and at first she was eager to be a part of the household, doing chores, helping to cook dinner, keeping Prince Charming from clawing the furniture while Lacey was at work.

And Lacey was content. She expected nothing more, so she was dumbfounded one night when Rae slipped into bed with her, asking if Lacey wanted any company. Lacey hadn’t been sure what the other girl wanted – she’d assumed Rae was straight, but her gaydar had been wrong before – but Rae had giggled, then vanished beneath the covers. Lacey had felt her boxer briefs being tugged down to her knees, and then there was a warm, gentle breath on her crotch. Something soft and wet stroked her gently, then more insistently…

In the glow of her first orgasm since Jodelle, both of them covered in sweat and propped up on the headboard, Lacey finally asked about the line she’d first seen on Rae’s neck. While by then it had faded, it had never gone from Lacey’s memory.

And Rae, finally feeling secure and wanted, told her.

“You were his sex slave?”

“I was his submissive, there’s a difference. You’re acting like a I didn’t have a choice.”

“And if he didn’t agree to your choice? Did he force himself on you?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking. I got tied up and spanked sometimes, though.”

The revelation blew Lacey’s mind. She’d never been spanked before, but her older siblings had been subjected to that kind of punishment in the past and it was never something they would mention so nonchalantly. Rae sensed her unease and dropped the subject, nestling into Lacey’s chest and falling asleep.

The chores stopped shortly after that.

After the second month, the first piles started to appear. Rae maintained that she’d pick them up whenever Lacey needed to take them to the campus laundry, but there always seemed to be more. One of Rae’s sweaters had gone missing, only to be found under the bed, shredded to bits and covered in cat hair.

After three months, Lacey hesitantly suggested that Rae look for a job. Thinking that she’d be able to work with Lacey at the university library, Rae was willing at first – until Lacey reminded her that she needed a degree and academic references. Rae gave her the silent treatment in return. The topic of employment wasn’t brought up again.

After five months, a letter arrived from the landlord, expressing their disappointment that they hadn’t been informed about Lacey acquiring another tenant, and that the next month’s rent would be adjusted accordingly.

Something had to be done. And Lacey was going to have do it.

***

Lacey considered herself in the bedroom mirror, mining her expression for every once of gravitas she could summon. Her scalp itched, but she’d already scratched so much as to leave an angry rash on the left side of her head, where her hair was shortest. Rae was showering in the next room, and Lacey had to be ready by the time she finished.

There had to be changes. Sacrifices had to be made. Lacey had repeated those words as a mantra as she took a seat at the foot of the bed, but it didn’t make it any easier to prepare for the conversation she was about to have.

Maybe she was going to extremes. Rae was young, but she was a grown woman after all. All Lacey should really have to do was remind Rae that she had certain obligations as a houseguest, and that Lacey was expecting her to do her share.

And if Lacey repeated that reminder every day for another month, it was possible that Rae just might put out a résumé. Maybe even two.

“Have you seen my clothes?” She stood in the doorway, a towel wrapped around her.

“They were dirty. I put them in the laundry.”

“Oh.” A mischievous glint twinkled in Rae’s eye. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to get me au naturel?”

She pulled teasingly at the edge of her towel and let it fall.  

Lacey almost lost her resolve then and there. Having only seen Rachel beneath clothes or at least beneath the sheets, she’d assumed that since the girl was small, she would also be slim – instead it turned out that Rae had been hiding a knockout figure, with supple breasts and well-cushioned hips. Lacey bit her tongue. Sacrifices would have to be made.

“Rae, you’ve been living here a few months now and I’m happy to have you while you’re trying to get back on your feet. But if you’re going to live here – really live here – I need you to start contributing to the household.”

“I’m sorry, really. If this is about the clothes, I can start doing laundry myself. I would just need…”

Lacey held up her hand.

“This isn’t just about the clothes. You make a mess of my house, you eat my food and spend all day watching TV. It has been almost half a year, and you haven’t even started looking for a job. That’s got to end. I’m not going to keep letting you walk all over me in my own home.”

Rae had probably hoped that her weak apology would be enough to keep Lacey sated for another few days. Well, she was wrong.

“Are you done?” she grumbled, her face red.

Until this point Lacey hadn’t been sure if she’d wanted to take this all the way. But seeing Rae standing there, unrepentant, with her arms crossed, and with that snotty tone of voice – something in Lacey snapped.

“And I’m giving you a spanking.”

That one word changed Rae’s attitude immediately.

“You can’t… I mean, my ex—“

“I’m not doing this for fun, Rae. But if that’s what it takes to instill a sense of responsibility in you, I’m going to give his way a try. Now get over my knee!”

In truth, Lacey wouldn’t have known what to do if Rae decided to fight her. Even if Lacey was bigger, Rae was not only more solidly built than expected, but also still slippery from the shower. Having to wrestle her into position might well have shattered Lacey’s fragile authority.

But Rae’s ex – or Master, or whatever – had evidently trained her well. At Lacey’s raised voice she fell into compliance. Limbs shaking, she lowered her naked body onto the bed, her chubby round butt centered on Lacey’s lap.

Lacey had never spanked anyone before, but she was pretty clear on how it worked: Apply palm to backside. Repeat until contrite.

Taking aim at the widest part of the proffered target, she raised her hand to shoulder level and swung. The smack of skin on skin shocked her with its volume, and Rae’s cheek wobbled slightly from the hit.

But Rae herself didn’t make a peep.

Well, Lacey hadn’t assumed that contrition would come easily.

She put a bit more strength into a second stroke, a bit more yet into a third, hard enough that the shock traveled all the way up Lacey’s arm. It met with a dainty little kick from Rae, and Lacey figured that she’d found her rhythm.

“Am I getting through to you, young lady?”

“Yes, Lacey. I’m sorry—“

“So you’re going to start picking up after yourself and doing chores again?”

“Nn…yes, Lacey.”

“And you’re going to get a job and start paying rent?”

“Owww! Lacey, I can’t—“

Rae’s ex had a lot to answer for. He’d abused this girl’s body and her trust, left her cut off from her friends. But possibly the worst thing he’d done was, for no reason other than his own ego, to make Rae so dependent on him that she thought she was helpless. Well, Lacey was going to change that, even if she had to wear out Rae’s ass first, and she hated that it had come to this.

She kind of hated it had come to this.

If she was being honest, there was something immensely satisfying about paying Rae back for all the grief she’d thoughtlessly given these last few months. And seeing Rae’s cute butt jiggle and turn pink was giving Lacey a tingle in unseen places.

Rae was babbling now, a litany of apologies for every oversight and act of opportunity she could remember, and some she’d probably invented. She swore she’d straighten up and help Lacey around the house.

And she begged Lacey not to turn her back out onto the street.

Lacey stopped.

Rae was breathing hard, the odd hiccup escaping her lips, and Lacey decided that she’d had enough. She took Rae by the shoulders and sat the trembling girl back down on her lap. Rae’s punished derriere burned at her thigh, but Lacey endured the discomfort. After all, Rae had just endured worse.

She brushed Rae’s hair out of her face, flushed and just short of tears. Rae rested her head against Lacey’s neck.

“I’m sorry, Lacey.”

“I’m sorry, too. I’m going to help you get on your feet as much as I can, but I’m not going to let you use me. And one more thing…”

Rae stiffened.

“…I want to know your real name.”

“Rachel. Rachel Marie.” It came without hesitation.

“And do you want to be Rachel, or Rae?”

She gave Lacey a bewildered look, as if it was the first time she’d considered – or even heard – anyone asking her that question before.

“I think I’d rather be Rae for a little longer. Please.”

“Okay.”

Rae’s arms crept over Lacey’s shoulders and held her close. Her mouth was just inches from Lacey’s ear, her breath heavy and damp.

“Lacey… are we girlfriends now?”

Lacey chuckled. The girl was a quick learner.

“Let’s try being roommates first – real roommates, this time. We’ll see where it goes.”

Rae kissed her on the cheek.

“Okay.”