Sebastian

by Megan McCoy

  “Have a seat,” he told her. “I’m going to change the sheets, so you can sleep in my bed.”

  “No,” she said.

  “No?” He stopped and looked at her as if no one had ever said that word to him before. Well, it was about time someone did.

  “Your couch is very comfortable, and I prefer to sleep and rest out here,” she said. Folding her arms, Maggie stared at him, and tried not to smile as she saw disbelief cross his face. What? He didn’t know her by now?

  Sebastian left the room, heading to the back of the house and she didn’t know if he was changing the sheets or just getting away from her. Whichever, it made her smile triumphantly. Finding the remote, she flicked on the television. There had to be something decent on.

  Sitcom reruns. Fine, she could deal with that for a bit.

  She sat down, noting her head was throbbing just a little, but knew she had medicine to take after a while, so ignored it.

  A few minutes later, Sebastian came back in the room. “Time for bed,” he said.

  “I’ve basically slept for twenty-four hours,” she pointed out calmly, trying not to whine. “I don’t want to go to bed.”

  “Then I’m going to prove to you I can give a proper spanking,” he stood there as if he’d said something totally normal.

  “I have a concussion,” she said dramatically.

  “I’m going to paddle the other end.” He was entirely too calm for her liking.

  Was he really going to do it? Her heart pounded, and she gave a half smile remembering she was on painkillers which would dull any pain he caused. Right?

  He frowned, and she knew he thought she was laughing at him, because before she realized it, his long legs had taken a few steps and he was right beside where she sat on the couch. He jerked her over his knee and she scrabbled to put her head up on the couch instead of dangling. That was only common sense. She grabbed a pillow to stabilize herself.

  He jerked her sweatpants down and she screeched. Now, that wasn’t playing fair! “No!”

  “Oh, did you want to go to bed?” he asked and delivered a sharp smack to somewhere that hurt. “Too late. You’re going with a red-hot butt.”

  “Ow!” He’d really been taking it easy with her last time, apparently. He had some power in those long arms.

  “Stop it!”

  Of course, that got her no answer. The man didn’t speak but half the words a normal man… “Ow!” She forgot her train of thought as he started peppering her with swats that stung like crazy. She began to wiggle and protest, her hand came back to try and block him. Why couldn’t she roll off his lap? This made no sense. Must try harder, she thought.

  Bucking, squirming and trying to get away seemed to make no difference. Her feet started kicking though she wasn’t certain what good that would do, but there was nothing else for her to do.

  “Please! No more!” she sobbed out. “Okay, I’m done, I’m done.”

  Oddly, this didn’t stop him. He just kept spanking over and over and over and it seemed to go on forever and her brain couldn’t remember a time she hadn’t been over his lap. Her whole entire bottom was on fire and she howled in agony. So much for painkillers. “Please, no more. Please!”

  Yet he kept on. Tears fell, she could feel her pants fall off her feet. Why had she wanted this? She hadn’t! Nothing like this was what she wanted. “No more. I’ll be good.” She tried to think of words, any words. Hell, he wasn’t a man of words. He was probably going to keep spanking her until her butt matched what he thought was the right color or something. “Please, no more, please!” Another half dozen sharp smacks right at the center of her butt and she knew she’d feel those for a few days.

  “Ow!” she screeched and let out a huge sob.

  That must have done it, because he put her up on her feet. She frantically rubbed her bottom, glaring at him and sniffling. Tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t care, she wasn’t going to stop rubbing the fire out of her butt. He reached over for a tissue, and got up to wipe her nose for her but didn’t stop her from rubbing.

  “Who doesn’t spank hard enough?” he asked as he tossed the tissue away.

  Maggie didn’t answer and only glared at him as she rose on her toes. For some reason her body thought that might help the fire. It didn’t. She knew she was doing a tiny dance for him, clad only in her T-shirt and panties, since she had slid her sneakers off when they came in, but she didn’t care. Rubbing helped turn the bonfire in her bottom to a smolder. No way was she stopping long enough to put her pants on, yet.

  “I don’t know,” she wailed out.

  “Don’t know what?”

  “Who doesn’t spank hard enough? You spank too hard!” Maggie glared at him, realizing she wasn’t very ferocious with two sets of red cheeks, tears on her face and both hands seriously rubbing her bottom.

  Sebastian looked at her impassively. “Was it everything you wanted this time?”

  “No!” she stomped her foot.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You’re supposed to hold me, tell me it's okay and I’m forgiven, and rub my back and…” In one step he was in front of her and pulling her to him.

  “Who knew there were so many rules?” he whispered in her ear.

  Me!” she said and put her head against his chest and felt his arms tighten around her. Now, this was good. She liked this part. Sighing, she stopped rubbing her bottom and put her arms around him, too, not wanting to let go of him. Her bottom was hot and sore, but not unbearably. As soon as he let go of her, she wanted to go see what it looked like in the mirror. But she was in no hurry. Right here was just fine with her for now. He hadn’t held her or hugged her like this before and it made her wonder what else he could do just as well. For an undemonstrative man, he was quite the cuddler.

  A few long seconds later, and he scooped her up in his arms. She clung to his neck. “I still have to go to bed?” she pouted.

  “Yes, you do,” he said, striding down the hall.

  “Any chance you will come with me?” she asked hopefully.

  Sebastian looked at her as if she’d grown three heads and she giggled. “Hey, you created the heat after all.”

  Shaking his head, he put her down gently on the bed. “Do you need your pants? Wait, no. I’m keeping your pants in case you think about escaping.”

  “Escaping? Like I’m a prisoner or something?”

  “Whatever thought floats your boat.”

  He pulled the covers up, tucked her in, then brushed a kiss across her forehead and she sighed in sheer bliss. “Take a nap,” he said, as he turned, flicked the light off and shut the door behind him. It was dark in here she noticed and remembered he had light darkening curtains on the windows. Of course.

  She reached around the nightstand and found the TV control and flicked it on. She was tired, but she wasn’t really sleepy and hoped something mind numbing would bore her enough to sleep. How much did they think a person needed to sleep anyway? She’d slept an entire day away after all and that was plenty. Ticking off her mental list of things needed doing while she flicked the stations around, for the second time this hour, she knew she needed to call her mom, and call Sherri, her ball coach. She wanted to call Cambry and check on Simon. Her phone was in her purse in the other room. She would have to fake a nap and then hopefully Mr. Bossy would let her make some phone calls.

  Finding a movie, she put down the remote and rolled over on her side to feel her bottom. Yeah, she needed to look at it. It felt like he’d lit a fire on there that would never be extinguished but in reality, it had mostly faded already. She knew there was a bathroom off the back of the bedroom, and made her way there using the TV for a night light. She flicked the light on and blinked, pulling up her shirt and dropping her panties. “Ow!” she said out loud. Her bottom wasn’t welted or maroon, but it was way more than pink. He’d done a great job. Should she praise him? Give him an A and a gold star? She heard the door open to the bedroom, but didn’t care. What was he g
oing to do, spank her? Oh yeah. He’d already done that.

  “Why are you out of bed?” he asked.

  “I’m in the bathroom, why do you think I’m out of bed?” she said, eyes not leaving the mirror.

  “Because I don’t spank hard enough?” he suggested.

  Quickly, she pulled up her panties and dropped her shirt, blushing wildly. “No.” She flounced past him and tucked herself back into bed.

  “I brought your pills,” he said. “After your nap, I’ll get you something to eat.” She took the pills he handed her, and the water to wash them down.

  After that, he took the remote, turned off the TV and took the remote out of the room with him.

  Maggie sighed, rolled over on her stomach and thought about her spanking and the man who’d given it to her, until she drifted off to sleep.

  Sebastian put the remote down on the dining room table where he’d be sure to find it later. Little brat. Little brat had spunk, that was for sure. He liked some sass and spirit, but she might have gotten a double dose of it. He’d given her a pretty good spanking, while being careful of her head and weakened condition. She didn’t realize he had more tricks, or implements up his sleeve. She’d squalled like he was killing her though, and he’d thought he’d gotten the message across. Apparently not. He smiled, as he went to the kitchen to put on a chicken and rice casserole for supper after she woke up. That would go down easily for her, and be a change from hospital food.

  His phone rang, his new friend, Ben. They’d had several long conversations while Maggie slept. He’d been worried about his little sister, and popped in and out on her when he had a break in his schedule at the hospital. His wife, Cambry, seemed like she was a really good person, too. It was their son, Ryan, who’d broken his window. Cambry said she knew nothing about it until they got home, or would have had Ryan come over with Maggie and apologize. They both offered to pay for it, which was nice of them, but his homeowner’s insurance had it covered, and he didn’t mind using it. He knew Maggie thought she was paying for it, and shook his head. So many members of that family throwing money at his window repair because one little boy hit a ball. That made them good people in his book.

  “Hi, Ben,” he answered.

  “Just checking on the patient,” he said. “Sure, was good of you to take care of her for a few days.”

  Sebastian flexed his hand. Yeah, it was. “She’s under control. Trying to take a nap.”

  “That’s good. We should both be off by seven tonight if you need us to take her off your hands,” Ben said.

  “Nope, we’ll be good. I’ll look forward to our dinner next week.”

  “See if you can talk my stubborn sister into coming, too,” Ben said. “Being paged. Later. Call if you need me.”

  Ben had told him a bit more about Maggie. She had been what their folks called a happy surprise, born twelve years after him when they’d been told they couldn’t have any more kids. She had been well and properly spoiled, and he had been the only one who told her no. He’d gotten so frustrated with her sometimes, he’d turned her over his knee and smacked her bottom a few times. The last time he said was when she was a freshman in college and in danger of flunking out because she was enjoying life at college too much. After he came up for what he called a ‘discussion’ she’d settled down and gotten her degree.

  “She seemed to respond to a butt warming.” Ben had shrugged. “But now that I’m older of course, I know better and do better and might handle it a different way.”

  “Might?” Sebastian had asked.

  “Well, I’d never spank my kid, it would kill his spirit, but it seemed to put Maggie’s head in a different place.”

  “As long as it was a better place,” he said.

  Wondering if he’d put her head in a different place, he put the casserole in the oven and resisted the urge to go check on her again. Instead he went into the living room and picked up her pants. Watching her panty clad bottom wiggling and jiggling over his lap had been very enjoyable. Yeah, he’d heard that a spanker shouldn’t enjoy the process, but instead be sad and sorrowful he had to give one, but he wasn’t that altruistic. What wasn’t to like about watching a pristine bottom turn red and a spitfire turning compliant? Wasn’t that what a spanking was supposed to do?

  He sat down on his comfortable couch, picked up his phone and called his older brother. “Bastien!” His brother seemed glad to hear from him.

  “Hank, how are things going?”

  “If it wasn’t for your brothers, things would be going fine. How are things there?”

  “Oh, they’re my brothers today. That doesn’t sound good.” Sebastian smiled wondering what the twins were up to now. He and Henry had their father’s work ethic. Lucas and Logan took after their mom. Flighty and irresponsible and given too much money too young. He hoped they’d grow up soon, and was just grateful they went to Henry instead of him with all their escapades.

  “Yeah, well, it's nothing major. The folks decided to stay another two weeks in Alaska and they’re taking full advantage.”

  “Enjoy that. I left you a message earlier because I wanted to talk a little about the new store. You got all the information?” he asked, walking back to his computer and flipping to the page he had shared earlier. Henry ran the home office and was the man in charge of everything whenever their dad took off on a vacation, which was more and more the last few years. Sebastian had no doubt he’d be taking over in the not too distant future when their dad retired. He wanted nothing to do with the home office. Too much politics and too much confinement. He loved what he did, was good at it and didn’t want all the headaches Henry had. He liked moving every few years and leaving thriving stores in his wake.

  They discussed work for about half an hour then Sebastian thought he heard a noise. “Get the twins under control and call me if you need me,” he said.

  “Will do. Come visit soon, there’s some things going on here at the office I need to talk to you about in person sometime in the next few months,” Henry said.

  “Will put it on the schedule,” Sebastian promised. He hung up and went to see what was going on where. Or rather what Maggie was up to.

  Walking back to the bedroom, he heard her in the midst of a nightmare, thrashing and sobbing in her sleep. Rushing to her side, he shook her and said, “Maggie, wake up! Wake up.” As her eyes fluttered open, she shrieked and tried to fight him.

  “Stop, no!” she cried.

  “Maggie, it's me,” he said and scooped her up and into his arms. He sat back down on the bed and held her on his lap while she cried herself fully awake.

  “Don’t let him,” she whimpered. “Sebastian?”

  “I’m here, I’m here,” he said. “I’ve got you. No one can hurt you now.” He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head and felt helpless as she sobbed and clung to him. Of course, what happened to her would upset her. She was attacked in a hallway. She could have been raped, and she had been hurt enough to be hospitalized. He should have expected a nightmare and he expected her to sleep in a dark room, alone. His fault.

  She couldn’t seem to stop crying and all he could do was summon his inner empathy and comfort her. He wasn’t good at this, being much better at being matter of fact and unemotional. For Maggie, though, he tried. “Hush, hush, you’re safe. I’m here.” She clung to him as if he were a life raft in a shark filled ocean. He didn’t mind. Not one little bit. He kissed her hair, and kept murmuring soft words as her sobbing became softer. Sebastian Jones would keep this sweet woman safe. Why did he feel as if he’d just made a promise?

  Chapter 5

  One more hit. She needed to hit the two people on base in, and they would be going to state. She could do it. Maggie knew because she’d hit off this pitcher a dozen times, and she’d do it again. She had one strike with two outs, bottom of the ninth. They were behind by two. If she hit a homer, they would win. If she hit a double the game was still on. The girl behind her was not one of their stronger hitters
, so she hoped to just wrap it up now. No worries she told herself. None.

  She did a practice swing and then prepared. Here came the ball. Low and outside, just like she liked. She swung, felt the satisfying crack of the bat hitting the ball, and started running. She saw Tiff running toward second and hoped she could get to third at least, and knew Corrine made it home by the cheers from the crowd. Making it to first base, she looked to run to second and saw Tiff stopped there. She’d only hit a single and the ball was already back with the pitcher. Maggie stood dully on first base and watched the next batter strikeout in three swings. The other team exploded in cheers and she pasted on a smile and started congratulating the other team. What else could she do?

  Heading home a half an hour later, she couldn’t believe she’d messed up so badly. She’d lost them state. Her heart felt as if it were breaking with guilt, remorse and envy. Her team had worked so hard this year and now it was just over. There would be next year, everyone was a winner, she played for the fun of it not the glory, she repeated the pat phrases over and over in her brain and they didn’t help. Help yet, she told herself, knowing her calm practical self needed to take a long walk and come back tomorrow. Tonight, she wanted to wallow in front of the TV with a big stiff drink or a huge bowl of ice cream with blackberry sauce.

  Turning down her street, she saw Sebastian’s car in his driveway. Her stupid heart skipped a beat, but she ignored it, just like he’d ignored her the last week. She’d spent two nights at his house and he treated her wonderfully. Other than that one spanking. But then after she went back home, he’d all but ignored her. The first three nights he checked in as if she were a duty, but she’d heard almost nothing from him since then. Not that she needed to, of course. Oh sure, they waved and said hi as they saw each other in the driveway or yard, but he hadn’t called to check on her again, and the one time she called him, he’d all but hung up on her. What was with him? And who cared what was with him? Not her. Not at all. Nope. She felt as if there had been a test and she’d failed it.