This new, different pain somehow focused my mind on her voice and I was able to hear her warning. “I swear to God, Laura, if you don’t keep still and stop squirming around like that, I will get your Stepdad in here to hold you down whilst your bum continues its conversation with my brush.”
It took me a few seconds to comprehend this threat, as my mind was so utterly scrambled with the pain, but when I realised what she was saying, my wailing became punctuated by begging. “Nooo! Waah! Please!” In reality, my stepdad Stuart would probably have refused to come in.