You Bet Your Butt (M/f)

[goodgulf]

You Bet Your Butt

Stan Mulvey arrived home early that day on purpose. His current schedule had his shift ending at two in the afternoon, which usually meant grabbing a couple of drinks and a late lunch with co-workers, but today he grabbed a burger at a drive through so he could have a little talk with his niece, Lauren Sutton.

Not that there was anything wrong with the girl as a houseguest, but he thought she should be doing something more than lazing around the house. Even if she didn't need the cash for college Stan was sure that she should be working. Lauren hadn't managed to find a summer job during her freshman year, but she wasn't his problem then. This year her parents were going a month's long cruise, leaving her spending a month at their place, a month at his house, then finishing the summer back home. Not that Stan minded having his niece for a month, or envied his brother-in-law's luxury cruise (at least that's what he told himself), but none of his kids had ever spent the summer sitting on their butts. All of them, from high school on, had worked every summer. Even before high school they had scheduled summer activities that kept them from being couch potatoes.

Lauren had grown up differently. She'd done a bit of volunteer work here and there but had never really worked a day in her life. It wasn't that her parents had more money than his family; from what he heard from his wife Julia, the Suttons didn't out earn them. Bernard Sutton did make more than Stan, but Lauren's mother Shannon didn't work and that evened things out. The real difference between the two families were their debt loads. Stan owed on his mortgage, his car (only the newer of the two), but paid off his credit card most months while the Suttons had a larger mortgage, a line of credit, and several active credit cards. Sure they took vacations and cruises, but Stan had money in the bank, educational investments for his kids, and something set aside for retirement.

Sometimes his wife joked that she had married the ant while her sister was stuck with the grasshopper, but she enjoyed her work and liked how their kids could now afford their own extras. It was a good marriage, and while they agreed on most things Lauren wasn't one of them. Stan knew how she had been raised, but felt that this summer it was his roof, his rules. Julia countered that Lauren was her niece and she wasn't going against her sister's wishes. That disagreement wasn't a new one, and the discussion had ended the way it always had - with Stan muttering something about it not being worth fighting over.

But Julia hadn't stayed with them alone since she was little, and those times were just weekends so she could get to know her cousins. Now she was halfway through a degree, staying for a month, and the only one in the house who wasn't working.

Which was why he was going home early. He'd have two, maybe three hours alone to work on her. He even had a counter to Lauren's "no summer job lasts less than a month" argument as a friend of friend was hiring. It was temp work, bussing tables, there wouldn't be that many hours and the pay was under the table, which was why the guy always needed to recruit new workers, but it would get her off the couch and put some money in her pocket. And she would keep all her pay; her parents had offered to kick in for food and things, but Stan didn't believe in taking money from family. Now if it had been both her and her brother then he might have thought about taking something to make up for the aggravation, but her brat of a brother was staying at a relatives on his father's side.

Being a realist, Stan knew that he had to inspire his niece, and if the hard sell didn't work before his wife got home then he might have to put with his niece working on her tan all summer. She'd been staying with them for three days and as far as he knew she was spending all her days in his backyard maintaining the tan she arrived with.


Opening the door, he was in his living room before he noticed that Lauren wasn't in the backyard. She was sitting on his couch going through brochures from the casino. Worse, she had some of the flyers that they only gave out in the casino, putting lie to her claims of working on her tan. When she saw him she gathered the papers together, but there was nowhere to hide them.

"Lauren, you're not thinking of going to the casino, are you?" Stan asked. "I know your parents gave you some spending money, but you'd only waste it there."

Lauren flushed, seemingly embarrassed at being caught, but her answer was more defiant than defensive.

"I've already been to the casino." Lauren countered. "In fact I had their lunch buffet."

"The buffet, which is on the far side of the gaming floor." Stan stated.

"Um, yes, okay, it's none of your business, but I got some chips and I've been winning." Lauren told him.

Stan just shook his head slowly. He took off his coat as he mentally switched gears, going from a "you need a job to keep you busy" speech to a "don't throw away your money" lecture.

"You might be winning now, but the house always wins." Stan said, hanging up his coat. "That's how they stay in business. No one would spend millions building a casino just to give money away. All those expensive fixtures, that cheep buffet, the comp drinks, and the rest are paid for by people who think they can beat the house."

"Yeah, well I'm smarted than that." Lauren countered. "I have a system."

"A system?" Stan laughed. "Boy, the casino loves people who have a system. Have you talked to Toby about the time he hit the casino with a system? Your cousin was barely legally allowed in the casino when he lost all the money he'd saved for a car using a 'can't lose' system."

"Yeah, but that's Toby, not me." Lauren smiled. "My system works. I got it from a book and always works."

Stan shook his head sadly.

"A book? If it's in a book and it works then why hasn't every casino gone bankrupt?"

"Um, well it works." Lauren asserted.

"Then how about we test that system right here and now?" Stan offered. "I know a guy who can lend us any game they have in the casino. What's your game? Craps, roulette, blackjack, keno, baccarat..."

Lauren interrupted him with a smile.

"It's poker. Texas hold'em." Lauren told him.

"The house edge for casino hold'em is 2.16%." Stan told her. "Now that can vary between casinos, but at our local games the house is looking at a steady 2.16%."

"I don't play that game." Lauren said. "I play in the side room. And it's got a limit so even if my system lets me down I can't lose that much."

"Are we talking the $2 / $4 table or the $20 / $40 table?" Stan asked.

"You know about the tables? Well I started at the $2 one, but I'm planning to hit the $20 one." Lauren informed him. "Because I'm winning, and if I'm not betting big then it's like I'm losing even when I'm winning."

Stan nodded, recognising the phrase. She was almost quoting Mackie Pierce, a house player who shilled at the $2 game. Mackie was an okay guy, at least off the table, but part of his job was convincing first timers that they should up their ante. Every time a newcomer won a hand Mackie would point out what they would have won if they had been playing with real money, at $20 table. He had gift for making every winner feel that he had left 90% of his winnings at the table.

Of course when they hit the $20 table the quality of player changed, and there went their winning streak. The house players didn't always win at that table, but Mackie got a bonus for every mark he sent there.

"You might be winning now, but every serious player has read every good poker book." Stan told his niece. "They recognise the patterns and once they know your system they clean you out."

"Look, you might be against gambling, but I'm good at it."

"I never said I was against gambling." Stan countered. "I'm only against losing money while gambling. And that's what you're going to do."

"Will not." Lauren said, almost sticking her tongue out at him as she said it.

"Okay, how about this? We play a bit of cards, and if I bust you out you agree that I know what I'm talking about." Stan offered.

"What's in for me?" Lauren asked. "Why should I waste time playing for chips when I can be at the casino winning real money?"

"Okay, if that's the way you want it, we can do it like I did with my kids when they were younger." Stan nodded. "It kept from finding out one of the casino's dirty little secrets: they don't always card you when you're playing, but they always card the winners."

"Huh?"

"They let 16 year olds sneak in, as long as they make an effort to pass, and take their money when the kid loses." Stan explained. "And if the kid wins, they confiscate his winnings because he's too young to gamble. Usually. Sometimes they mess up and a kid tells everyone at high school how he turned $20 into $500 at the casino and every kid who hears it thinks he can do the same."

"You mean you gambled with your kids for real money? Just to teach them a lesson?" Lauren asked. "Did you ever give them their money back, or did you spend it on yourself?"

Suddenly Stan wished he hadn't started this conversation. That he had ignored her gambling and was urging his niece to get a job. He could lie to her now, but all it would take was one question and her cousins would tell her just how he had taught them not to gamble.

Or he could suggest the same method to her. If she went for it, well Julia couldn't blame him if that happened, could she? His wife might not even know. Stan didn't think that Lauren would tell anyone and Stan sure wasn't going to mention anything after the fact.

If he'd thought ahead then he wouldn't be in this conversation, but he was trapped. The only way out was to keep talking and see how Lauren reacted.

"No, I didn't take their money." Stan told her. "I was staking money, but they were betting their butts."

"Their whats?

"Their backsides." Stan clarified. "If they won they'd get to keep my money, but if I won they'd get a spanking."

"You're joking." Lauren stated. "You're really joking, right? WTF? You're not joking, are you?"

"Nope."

"But... but okay, I know you spanked them when they acted up, but if they were doing something wrong then weren't you just as bad?" Lauren argued. "How could you spank them for gambling when you were gambling with them?"

"I didn't. We set the stakes, just like at the casino, and they could stop at anytime, but if they were behind when they stopped they had to settle their losses." Stan explained. "And no, I didn't let them welsh. Losing money at gambling is bad enough, but I didn't raise them to duck out of their debts. I made sure they knew that they should be prepared to lose everything they bet."

"Then how did Toby lose all that money?" Lauren challenged.

"You know your cousin. Sometimes he doesn't listen." Stan told her.

"Um, okay, how much?" Lauren asked.

"How much what?" Stan asked, snatching at the threads of the conversation.

"How much will you bet me?" Lauren asked. "I'd go to the casino, but I don't think I'd make it back before Aunt Julia gets home and I don't want her ratting me out to my mom. Again. She was always ratting me out when I was growing up."

"Now that's not fair." Stan said, stepping up to defend his wife. "You know that your mom always said that she wanted to handle things when you messed up. Your aunt never even sent you to think in a corner without checking with your mom first."

Left unsaid were all the times that Lauren hadn't been the only one facing a corner, just the only one who hadn't been spanked before being put there. Her being treated differently than her cousins, those had been other times when Stan had tried the "my roof, my rules" argument, but Julia had always held firm that if anyone was going to spank Lauren it would be her own parents, and the girl's parents never agreed with spanking.

"How about $2 a chip?" Stan offered, citing the stakes he had offered his own children. "That way it will be just like the $2 / $4 table at the casino."

"Okay, and what am I risking?" Lauren asked. "Not that I'm going to lose, but I want to know."

"That depends on your chips." Stan told her. "If you want 50 chips you're risking a spanking. Fifty more and your jeans will come down first. Fifty more and after I warm you up with my hand my belt comes off to finish things. You can get another 50 for risking your bare backside, and you can risk corner time for 50, but the corner time can't be the only thing you don't buyoff."

"Um, could you explain that again?"

"You start with 50 chips, and can stop at anytime." Stan explained. "If you want more chips you can get them, but only by increasing your risk. When you cash out, if you have more chips than you started with then I pay you in cash. If not, you start buying off the penalties. For example, if you want to start with all 250 chips you'd be risking a spanking on your bare backside, one that includes a belting, and standing in the corner afterward. If you call it quits when you have 105 chips left then you can start buying off things. Maybe the belt and the bare backside bit, or maybe the bare backside and the corner time, or any other combination."

"And the bit about corner time not being the thing?"

"That means if you stopped when you had more than 200 chips you couldn't buy off the spanking to take the corner time." Stan explained. "The idea is that you're taking a real risk, gambling for stakes that matter, or you won't take it seriously. You'd tell yourself that you weren't really focusing because you were only playing for chips but if real money was on the line you would have played better."

Lauren nodded.

"Okay, I think I understand. But when I win you'll really pay me in cash?"

"If you win I'll pay you in cash." Stan nodded. "But you won't win. That's what I'm trying to tell you, that if you gamble you'll lose."

"Okay, I'll play." Lauren grinned. "And then I'll have fun spending your money."

"Are you sure you want to risk losing?" Stan asked. "I don't know how we'd explain things to your aunt, let alone your parents."

"But I won't lose so there's nothing to explain." Lauren countered with a smirk.

Stan nodded, hoping that he would nip her gambling bug in the bud.

"Then we should move things out to the table." Stan told her. "I'll get the chips and the cards. You can bring your book with you, notepad to track things, and I'll even spot you a calculator to work the odds."

"I don't need any of that." Lauren told him.

Stan nodded.


He kept the chips and a notepad in the back of the garage, but he had to go to his room to get the cash. And the special cards. As he gathered things up, Stan wondered if he should explain to his niece that he wasn't antigambling, wondering if she'd do things differently if she knew he was a gambler with discipline and a budget.

No more than $50 a paycheque went into the "entertainment" fund he used for gambling. Whenever it hit two grand or more (and that sometimes happened) he put all but a thousand into a special windfall account he kept at the bank, and when he busted out (which also happened) he avoided the casinos until he had saved up enough for a decent bankroll. He'd entered a few one-day tournaments, but never a big one, because multiday tournaments would mean time off work.

He didn't gamble everyday, but he did it enough that they all knew him at the casino. And that included Mackie Pierce. Stan liked to think that Mackie would have gone easy on Lauren if Mackie knew she was his niece, but knew that was wishful thinking. Mackie lived and died on the felt, and nothing would stop that man from landing a fish.

When he played Stan worked the odds, the people at the table, various systems, statistics, but never luck. He knew he was a better player than his niece, but he wasn't going to leave things to chance. He had bought this 'special' deck to teach his kids about poker, blackjack, and other card games, and never used it in a real game.


Lauren was waiting for him at the table. Stan put the chips to one side and laid down the notepad. Lauren's eyes went wide as she saw it.

"You had a pad of markers printed up?" Lauren asked in surprise.

Each page of the notepad was preprinted with a line that said, "I owe Stan Mulvey", another line that read, "to be paid back by this date" and a place at the bottom to sign it.

"I never said I was against gambling." Stan reminded her. "And these prevent misunderstandings."

Lauren watched as he pealed off five sheets. On the first one he wrote the debt as "a spanking from him", on the second he wrote "with my jeans down", then "on the bare", "followed by the belt", and "followed by corner time". He put the day's date on each of them.

"Now it's up to you which ones you sign." Stan told her. "You can call it quits at anytime, and I'll sell each one back to you for 50 chips each."

"Um, well, I guess... Well I need chips, and it's not like it would be the first time I was stood in a corner."

Stan nodded as she signed two IOUs. On the back of the first one, he wrote out his stakes. Two dollars a chip, with the white worth one, the blues five, and the reds ten.

"You're taking a hundred in chips, and I'll give myself the same." Stan told her. "Not that I'm limiting your winnings, but this way it's easier for you to track the chip flow."

He gave them each 50 whites, ten blues, and ten reds.

"And the cash?" Lauren teased.

Stan flopped his roll down. Lauren stared in amazement.

"You really have cash to gamble with?" Lauren asked.

"Yes, it's my gambling money." Stan told her. "And yes, I'm up. There's about $1500 there, but I know I could lose it all at the casino."

"Wow... Um, okay. Who deals?"

"I'll cut you for first deal, then we switch." Stan answered. "Dealer is the big blind, player the small one, with the blinds at one and two. No ante, and you can quit at anytime."

"Can we play no limit?" Lauren asked. "I'll need to learn that if I want to hit the big time."

"We can if you want to." Stan nodded.

Lauren was lucky with the cut, and ended up in the big blind.

But Stan wasn't depending on luck, and why should he? Only he knew that the cards where marked. In that first deal he had 8 3 off suit while she had a pair of 9s, so he folded.

"First lesson, never call with garbage." Stan said as he flipped and mucked his hand. "Okay, now you're $2 up. Want to stop now?"

"Not when I'm winning." Lauren snickered.

Stan nodded and dealt the cards. This time he played the hand, but his niece made her hand on the river. They kept going, with Lauren having a run of luck, until Stan was down by more than fifty chips.

Stan kept his poker face on as she made a flush on the river. She had the 9 of clubs, jack of spades, and the river turned her hand from a pair of 9s to a jack high flush, which handily beat his set of 10s. He hated to bet, but if he didn't bet this set she might guess he knew her hole cards.

As he counted chips, Lauren broke his train of thought.

"You'd really do it, wouldn't you?" Lauren asked in a serious tone

"Raise? I'm considering it." Stan said.

"No, I mean you really would spank me." Lauren said. "Over a stupid card game."

"Those are the stakes." Stan agreed, looking at the 22 chips in the pot.

"But why? Just to teach me not to gamble?" Lauren asked. "It's not like I ever did anything to deserve a spanking. Not ever in my life."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Stan chuckled. "Remember the day you sat on Peggy and tickled her until she peed herself? Well I came damn close to spanking you that day."

"But that was years ago." Lauren countered. "How can you remember it? I didn't, not until you mentioned it."

"The time my daughter spent more than two hours at a park with wet pants, getting teased over peeing herself?" Stan countered. "How could I forget that?"

"But I was only, um..."

"You were ten, and she was younger, and I'll raise five." Stan said as he tossed a blue chip into the pot.

Lauren thought for a long moment, took a breath, and called him.

"Three tens." Stan said, showing his hand.

"That beats my pair of 9s." Lauren said.

She mucked her hand and started gathering cards before her uncle could correct her, which was a good thing. She'd only turned over the 9 of clubs, not the jack of spades, so Stan couldn't correct her bad call without revealing that he knew her hole cards.

With a mental shrug, Stan put it down to her misreading a flush. That happened sometimes, especially with new players, but even if she had flipped the jack she had under called her hand. When that happened, well, if you didn't say you had the best hand then why would the winner correct you? Stan could remember losing hands like that, and he'd even seen pros on TV doing it, so why wouldn't his niece miss her flush.

"You just lost a big pot." Stan said as he stacked the 32 chips. "But you're still ahead by about $40. Want to cash out now?"

"What? When I'm winning? That's when I should be on a roll and banking the bucks." Lauren laughed back.

She lost the next few hands, getting close to even, as the cards turned against her. Stan was winning, and not just because of the marked deck. The main advantage it was giving him was in selecting his bet size.

"You read Doyle Brunson's book Super System, didn't you?" Stan said as he stacked his latest winnings.

"Um, maybe, but there's something there about mixing things up and I might do that." Lauren said, seeming slightly unnerved that he had guessed which book she'd read.

"You mean using some of what Bobby Baldwin wrote in the limit chapter?" Stan asked. "Yes, I've read that book. Look, you're still up. If you cash out now you'll get a couple of bucks. I know your system, I'm a better player than you, and I'm on a run. Now it the time to get up and cash out."

"You just don't want to lose money to me." Lauren countered.

Stan just shook his head.

"Don't say I didn't warn you when you should cash out."

"I won't." Lauren told him.

She crowed as she won the next hand, but the pot went big on the next hand and it went to Stan, who had raised on the river knowing that he had won.

"Now you're under water." Stan said as he stacked. "If you quit now you'll be going over my knee for a spanking."

"Then I won't quit."

What followed was wild betting as Lauren chased bad money with good. Seeing that his niece was on a tilt, Stan kept his head, racking in large pots while Lauren took small ones. He even stopped looking at the marks on her hole cards she made the classic newcomer mistakes.

The tilt ended with Lauren with looking at her lone blue chip.

"Well, you're almost busted out." Stan remarked. "Feel like calling it?"

"No, I can win it all back." Lauren snapped. "I just need more chips."

Stan pointed towards the unsigned IOUs.

"Can't you just give me some yours?" Lauren whined.

"How would you ever learn if I did that?" Stan countered. "No one gives you anything for free in life. If you lost in the casino your choice would be to max out your credit card, sign one of their markers, or get up and leave those other 95 chips behind. You say you can gamble at the casino; well this the type of choice you'd face there. Only instead of facing a red backside you'd be out $190."

"But I can win it all back." Lauren whined.

"I'd advise you to cut your losses."

Lauren thought hard about it. Stan could practically hear the wheels turning in her mind. Finally she reached for the markers.

"You used to give me baths, so who cares if you see my underwear?" Lauren said, signing the next one. "And I'm not going to get spanked, so who cares that you'd use your belt?"

Stan nodded, then count her out another hundred in chips. His stack was still twice hers, but he didn't plan to bully her with the chip lead.

The shock of giving for more chips broke her tilt, the way it often did. Lauren was now focusing on her remaining chips, not on the ones she lost, and that reflected in her play.

Stan kept a smile on his face, but he now regretting that he wouldn't have a chance to teach his niece a lesson. The latest pot was up 35 chips. If she call his last raise of 5 she'd be back at 202, or $4 up. Then she could cash and that would be that.

And he had had to bet. There were two busted straight draws and a bust straight draw out there. No card was over a 9, not until the river, when the queen of hearts had given her a set, breaking his pocket kings. No gambler would ever not raise there, not unless he knew her hole cards, so Stan had been forced to value bet a blue chip.

Lauren took a long time to think about it, then called and asked what he had.

"Pocket kings." Stan said as he flipped his card.

Again Lauren hesitated. Stan was preparing to lecture her about slow rolling, when she flipped over a single queen.

"That beats my pair of queens." Lauren said.

Then she gathered the cards and started shuffling.

Stan's poker face was put to the test. He hadn't had this big of a shock at the table since that time a woman had reached over and grabbed at his balls to distract him from the play. That time he had folded what he thought was a losing hand, and left the table, but never said a word. For his niece to under call a flush, that was understandable, but not to know that she had a pocket pair? To only flip one card when three of a kind would win?

Play went on, with Stan slowly gaining ground. He knew that she wasn't intentionally misreading her hand, but he didn't need to know her hole cards to beat her. There was always some luck in poker, but skill mattered in the long run and Stan knew what system she was using.

Lauren was down to 80 chips when a queen on the river gave her a straight. With 20 chips in the pot, a win here could take her back to her initial wager of a hand spanking and corner time. Worse, Stan had made a lower flush, and knew he had to bet and call any re-raise she made.

He tossed in a red chip, bring the pot to 30. Lauren looked at her hole cards, stared at the cards on the table, and rechecked her hole cards again. She picked up a single red chip, then used her other hand to push the rest of her chips in the middle.

Stan counted then as Lauren sat there silently.

"That's a total of 70, so it's 60 more to me." Stan said. "If I call and you win, then you're almost even. You'll be back at 170, with enough chips to buy off everything except the basic spanking. And you'll be in spitting distance of making a profit."

Lauren pressed her lips firmly together as she nodded her agreement.

"I call." Stan said, putting chips in with one hand as he flipped his cards with the other. "I hit a queen high straight on the flop. With no flush and the board not pairing you never had a chance. The only way you could beat me is if you had king ten for hole cards."

Which were exactly what she had.

Lauren didn't say a word.

"Well what do you have?" Stan asked. "If it's king ten, then you're slow rolling me, and that's not nice."

Lauren didn't answer him.

"Well?" Stan asked again.

"I got nothing." Lauren blurted out. "You were supposed to fold when I raised you high. Why didn't you fold?"

"If I'd just had a pair I would have, or even two pair or maybe a set, but only a higher straight could have beat me and you didn't play like you had the winning hand." Stan said, leaving the chips and cards on the table. "That's what the books call a tell. I could read you well enough to know that you knew that you weren't winning that hand."

Which was true. If he didn't know her hole cards he would have never believed her nervous call.

Stan paused, then raked in the chips. He took time to stack them, then gathered the cards, grabbing his niece's hole cards last.

"Um, wait!" Lauren exclaimed.

"Wait for what?" Stan said as he shuffled. "Once your hole cards are with the others we can't tell what they were. Besides, it wasn't king ten, was it?"

"Um, no." Lauren said weakly, looking at her last chip.

Stan thought that his niece had lost her nerve there, but it was really too late to go back. Maybe she changed her mind about losing, but she had done it too late. He'd even stated the size of the pot, just in case she tried to flip her cards as he was stacking, but once those cards were gone the hand was over.

"You'll need change for that red." Stan said as he dealt the cards.

"No I don't." Lauren said. She looked almost relieved that the game was ending, that she no longer had decisions to make. She tossed her last red chip as she said: "All in."

Stan nodded, adding five whites and a blue to the pot so that she would have change if she won.

And she did win, but she didn't need change. She went all in again, with ace three suited, but Stan made a set of queens on the river.

Which was almost symbolic, as that was what Lauren had had when he realised she was playing to lose.

"You're out of chips." Stan noted. "Do you feel like signing that last IOU and making another run at it?"

"Um, no." Lauren said. "I know I said that you used to give me baths, but that was a long time ago."

Stan noticed her glancing at a clock as she said that, which reminded him of the time.

"Right, let's get this over with before your aunt gets home." Stan said, getting up from the table.

"Can't you do it here?" Lauren asked.

"Your body would have more support if I was sitting on the couch." Stan pointed out. "That would make it more comfortable."

"Whatever." Lauren said, rising. "Let's do it here. I just want this over with."

Stan nodded and turned his chair so its back was towards the table. He removed his belt, placing it on the table behind him, then patted his lap.

"Well let's get it over with then." Stan told his niece.

Lauren swallowed hard and undid the front of her jeans. In a small voice she asked if she could keep them up until she was over his lap.

"Of course." Stan said. "It's not like you signed that final marker."

Not that they stayed on for long. As he was gliding her into position, Stan hooked a hand in her jeans and pulled them down.

To see how meaningless that final marker was. Lauren was wearing a thong that barely covered her crack. Stan was sure that it would disappear up her crack the moment she started to squirm and kick. Even with it, he could see how her tan perfectly framed her white cheeks.

Not that it mattered much to him. Stan had given her baths and watched her grow up. She might not be blood, but she was family. Stan didn't know (or want to know) what Lauren thought she was getting out of this, but he just couldn't picture her as a woman. He was going spank her as if she was a little girl, abet a large little girl.

Lauren hung there, her head pointed down, as Stan adjusted his grip.

"Maybe the couch would have been better?" Lauren suggested nervously.

"Too late for that now." Stan answered, raising his hand.

"Wait! How many?" Lauren asked frantically. "How many with your hand? How many with the belt?"

"You should have asked that when we set the stakes." Stan told her, bringing his hand down hard on the middle of her bottom.

She squealed when that smack landed, and it left a handprint, but that handprint was soon obscured as Stan brought his hand down again and again. As he spanked, Stan thought less about the casino (which might have been an excuse that Lauren had picked) and more about Lauren as a child. Of all those times that Lauren had gotten a timeout while one (or more) of his had gotten a well deserved spanking.

Lauren started to kick and struggle, only to discover that her uncle knew how to hold someone over his lap.

"Wait! OW! Don't ouch! I changed OW my mind!" Lauren howled.

"Sorry, but no welshers under my roof." Stan said as he spanked on. "You're going to get the same losing spanking that your cousins did."

Lauren kicked, squealed, and begged, but Stan wasn't stopping her long overdue spanking. He paused only to pick up his belt, double it over, and paint her backside fire engine red. He didn't mean to hit her thighs, but he had to spank beyond her tan lines to fully cover both cheeks. He knew that might be days before she would be wearing that swimsuit, and maybe a while before she wore shorts that exposed her thighs.

Stopping long after his niece's pleas had become sobs, Stan marched her into nearest corner and left her there. In theory he had a set time for how long she should stay there, but in practice she might stay there until she was calm or he heard his wife's car in the driveway, whichever came first.

Or that was the plan, which didn't last long. When he went to replace the chips in the garage Stan saw his wife's car. Walking around the house he found her in the backyard. He opened his mouth, but his wife beat him to punch.

"And just why did you spank my niece?" Julia asked in an icy tone. "I would have put a stop to it when I got home, but it was too late for that. And did I hear your belt? I must have, because it's not on your pants. So why after all this time, all the crazy things she's done over the years, did you decide to spank my all grownup niece?"

"It started when I found her with flyers from the casino and-"

"And mister semi-professional gambler decided to take her on, right? Let me guess, a dollar, no, fifty cents a chip? And I can guess which cards you used. Am I right?"

"I used those cards..." Stan admitted.

"I knew it!"

"...which is how I knew she was cheating."

"Of all the lousy, what, you think she knows how stack a deck?"

"Cheating to lose." Stan clarified.

"Cheating to... are you sure?" Julia asked, losing some of her outrage.

"At first I thought she misread a flush, but then she only flipped a single queen when she had pocket pair and there was one on the board." Stan explained.

"Maybe she thought queens would win. Was she slow rolling you and you grabbed her cards before she could show the other queen?"

"She flipped one card after I showed her my pocket kings." Stan explained. "She knew I would beat her pair, but not her set, and only flipped one card."

"I see.... No, I don't see. Are you sure?"

Stan explained about all the under calls, including that last straight, when he had named her cards as the winning hand. Julia texted her eldest daughter, telling her to call her mother on her next break, but accepted Stan's word.

"Wait until she's calm down, send her to her room, then give me a text five minutes after that." Julia said. "I'll pull out and into the garage so she'll hear me coming home. She doesn't need to know that I know, at least not yet."


Lauren was blushing but mostly calm when her uncle told her she could leave the corner. The moment he Lauren waddled off to the room she was using, not pausing to raise her jeans.

Lauren stayed in that room until Julia officially arrived home. When she came out to say hello to her aunt Lauren's face was still flushed and tear stained. There was no way that Julia wouldn't be able to guess that Lauren had been spanked, but Julia said nothing. When her niece didn't say anything, Julia went to start dinner while Lauren returned to her borrowed room.

Stan joined his wife in the kitchen, and learnt about some long talks between Lauren and his daughter Peggy. How Lauren had talked about going to the casino and her cousin told her about the lesson she had learned, and how that had led to other talks that touched on how Lauren wondered if she had missed out by not being spanked as a child. Peggy knew about the day's plan, and had even guessed that Stan would be home early to talk about Lauren getting a job. Lauren hadn't been completely committed when Peggy had left for work, saying something about maybe backing out if her uncle hadn't thought she'd earned a spanking or two as a child. Stan told his wife about how he had been pushed until he brought up something, and they both put it down to young people being crazy.

No one in the family talked about it for the rest of Lauren's stay. Stan wasn't even sure that Peggy knew that he knew about her involvement, but he felt better not knowing that. And Lauren never did get a summer job; after spanking her Stan just couldn't bring himself to bully Lauren into getting one.

Stan never spanked her again, but he'd already spanked her once more than he thought he would. In Stan's mind that balanced the books over her youthful bad behaviour.

Goodgulf