"Do it, Ted," Chris snarled.

Ted just stood there for a moment, looking down at the ground. He didn't say anything.

"Only one of you is required," Marc said after a few moments.

"I'll do it." I stepped forward. "I will take the punishment for the entire class, Brother Kearney."

"You are certain?"

"Yes, sir."

He nodded. "The rest of your pledge brothers will return to the chapter room and dress. We will come for you when we are ready for you."

He held the door open as they filed out. Ted was the only one who wouldn't meet my eyes-everyone else touched me on the shoulder or arm to thank me.

To be honest, I was absolutely terrified. I had no idea what was going to happen, what kind of punishment I was about to take-but one thing was for sure, if it took the rest of my life, Ted Norris would pay for it somehow. After they had all gone, Marc came over to me. "I'll be back in a little while for you. Are you sure you want to do this, Jeff?" he said in his normal voice.

I raised my chin. "Yes, sir."

"I'm sorry, Jeff." He put his arms around me and squeezed me. "I know I wasn't really friendly to you after, well, you know"-he hesitated-"but Blair was so mad about it,I didn't really want to give him any reason to think, well, you know" He swallowed. "But you're a great guy. Jeff. I wish you were my little brother instead of Blair's. You really understand what Beta Kappa is all about. I respect you, man." He shook his head. "I can't tell you how disappointed I am in Ted. I really expected him to step up to the plate after he screwed up. He is so not a true Beta Kappa, but now it's too late to do anything about it. How many chances do you have to give someone, you know?"

"I'm sorry, too, Marc." I replied, my heart swelling with pride. My pledge master thinks I am a true Beta Kappa! And at the same time, I felt sorry for Ted. I couldn't imagine how awful it would be to have the pledge master disappointed in you. I couldn't understand why he even wanted to be in the Brotherhood. He didn't seem to understand the con cept of brotherhood, of selflessness, of being a part of something that was greater than the sum of its parts.

"Good luck, Jeff." He hugged me again and brushed his lips against my cheek. "I'll be back in a little bit for you."

Afterwards, when my pledge brothers asked me about it, I told them honestly that the waiting was the worst part of it. As I stood there, naked, in the darkened kitchen, my mind raced through a million possibilities of what my punishment would be. There was realistically no telling what it could be. All I could hope for was something benign. But then again, there were all those paddles hanging on the walls of the Great Room-and no matter how many times the brothers told me they were symbolic of the hazing days of the past and had no real modern day significance, I always wondered. I tried to focus on remaining calm, mastering my mind and not letting it think dark thoughts like that. This was a sacrifice I was making for my pledge brothers, so we wouldn't have to start over again in the spring semester, and that was the most important thing. I cleared my mind of my anger and animosity toward Ted.

And when Marc came back for me, I was ready.

When he led me back into the Great Room, it was impossible not to notice the big round wooden object mounted on the wall where we always lined up. There were four straps, two up high and two down low I inhaled sharply. "Pledge Morgan, are you ready to take the punishment on behalf of your entire pledge class?"

"SIR! YES SIR!" I shouted as loudly as I could, even though I felt like I was going to faint at any moment.

"Please approach the Wheel." Marc said.

I started walking over to it, and the Brotherhood parted to let me through. It was also impossible not to notice that every paddle had been removed from the walls, and every brother I passed was holding one. I am going to be beaten, oh my God. When I reached the Wheel, I stopped. "Step up to the Wheel," Marc ordered. I walked right up to it. "Raise your arms." I did, and two brothers stepped up, strapping my wrists to it while two other brothers strapped my ankles to it. I was completely spread-eagled. My entire body was pressed up against the cool, polished wooden surface. "Bring out the prospective brother candidates!" Marc shouted, and I heard the door to the chapter room being opened. "Candidates, step to the front!" Marc shouted. "Behold your brother, Jeffrey Morgan, who is about to take the punishment decided upon by the Brotherhood for your collective failure! Behold the justice of the Brotherhood!" In a lower voice, he went on, "His big brother will strike the first blow. Step forward, Brother Blanchard. Strike whenever you are ready."

I was conscious of someone behind me, and my entire body tensed. Blair leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "Relax, Jeff. If you're tense it will hurt more. Trust me. Let your ass go limp."

"Okay." I managed to gasp out. My heart was racing.

The Brotherhood began to hum, a low sound that built until just as Blair touched my ass lightly with the paddleat which point they all shouted "WHAP!"

Blair whispered, "Most of the brothers will not hit you any harder than that. But some will-some are sadistic assholes when it comes to this kind of thing."

And so it began. Blair was right-the next three people who swung at my ass just lightly touched it. But whoever the next brother was, put everything he had into it. My entire body went rigid from the shock and the pain, and I couldn't help it, I cried out, and my eyes started watering. I didn't think I was going to be able to catch my breath, but as I struggled the next brother swung, even harder than the one before. My brain could not comprehend the excruciating pain, and my knees buckled, and I hung there from my wrists, and pain tore through my shoulders. Through the blinding agony I could hear the Brotherhood murmuring, and the next few hits were very mild. But that was how it went; a few minor taps followed by full-strength swings. Tears streamed down my face, but I refused to cry out again. I refused to allow my knees to buckle. I tried to channel the pain into anger-anger at the assholes who were hitting me so hard, anger at Ted who was the cause of this torture-and after a few more brutal blows the stinging in my ass seemed to fade as it went numb. I somehow crossed a border from intense pain to pleasure, and I began to look forward to the next blow. I don't know how it happened. It was as though the pain synapse in my brain overloaded and blew out, and the pleasure synapse opened up in its place. My cock grew hard, and I began to look forward to the next major blow I couldn't keep quiet, I began moaning when I was struck-but it wasn't moans of pain. It was pleasure, pure pleasure, and my cock throbbed, my balls swelling with every stroke. I gave myself in to the feeling, not knowing what it meant, and the next thing I knew it was over.

And oddly, I wanted it to go on.

A soft robe was wrapped around me, and then someone was undoing the straps. When my arms came free, they were completely numb and I almost fell. In the distance, I heard Marc shout at the pledges to return to the chapter room, and as I collapsed, someone caught me and picked me up in his arms. I opened my eyes and saw Rory Armagh's face, and his eyes were filled with tears.

A million miles away I heard Blair say, "Take him to my room."

I was vaguely aware of being carried through the darkened hallway, and then gently set down on Blair's bed. As soon as my ass touched the mattress, I cried out, and Rory rolled me over onto my stomach. "Here, take this," someone said, and a pill was pressed into my mouth, and a bottle of water held up to my lips. I swallowed the pill with a big gulp of water.